Liverpool 0 Blackburn Rovers 0: Blackburn hustle and harry to gain well deserved replay

Seventy per cent of the ball and 21 shots, but by full-time the telling fact was that Liverpool were unable to break down a stubborn and well-structured Blackburn who came to Anfield with a game plan to deny Liverpool space in key areas and stuck to it to such an extent that by the end Raheem Sterling cut a frustrated figure after being well marshalled by Conway and Henley.

Liverpool went into the game without Allen (rested) and Moreno (bench) one wondered whether there was necessity to change a winning team following the ease which Brendan Rodgers side summarily dispatched Burnley.

The suited Steven Gerrard watched on from the stands potentially only two games away from the finality of a goodbye game at Wembley.

Rodgers may now be wishing he’d rested arguably his must effective player of the season Martin Skrtel after he suffered concussion following a heavy fall after a mid-air challenge from Rudy Gestede.

If Liverpool’s players had thoughts of an easy ride, Blackburn victors over Swansea and Stoke made their intensions known from start pressuring at the choke points, through Liverpool’s key plays and allowing the less cultural players time on the ball.   Gestede proved a constant threat aerially throughout.

Concern as Martin Skrtel lies injured     Picture by Jan Thomson

A whipped in ball caused Glenn Johnson playing as the right sided centre-half to chest just past his own upright with Mignolet scrambling to cover.  Another slick move from left to right saw Cairney leave Glen Johnson for dead with a superb dummy and Kilgallon shooting wide.

If Liverpool were fast and sure of themselves against Burnley, against Blackburn they were ineffectual and ponderous on the ball lacking speed and movement to stretch a methodical Blackburn midfield and defence from enveloping their creative flow.

Markovic was one of the main culprits, giving away cheap ball on too many occasions and for some reason shying away from attacking the full-back in one on one situations.

Sturridge, starved of quality ball, found himself some room after being found by Sterling before seeing his powerful shot palmed away by Eastwood.

Baptiste then saw his header from a Blackburn corner brilliantly tipped over by Mignolet at full stretch as the ball looped over the head of Lallana on the line.

Liverpool then should have taken the lead when Kolo Toure latched on to Coutinho’s free-kick whipped in from the left only to head against the outside of the post from barely five yards.

It was as close as Liverpool were to get struggling to adapt to the close attention they received throughout.  Becoming impatient they punted aimless balls forward with Lallana and moreover Sterling frustrated by the lack of room being double-teamed time and again.

Man of the Match: Simon Mignolet – Overcame some sticky early moments to produce a stunning save to stop Liverpool going one down.

Critical eye: Brendan Rodgers was totally out manoeuvred by Gary Bowyer who came to Anfield prepared to do a job on the home team, but also to get forward and score if the chance presented itself.  Rodgers apart from bringing on Mario Balotelli, failed to adapt his formation and tactics to deal with the different problems manifesting themselves from a very fit and extremely well organised Blackburn team who deserved a replay.

Brendan Rodgers comments suggest that his premier defender Martin Skrtel is okay and his treatment was more about following procedures.  Hopefully, that is the case because one wouldn’t want to depend to readily on Lovren and Glen Johnson for the rest of the season.

For Liverpool it’s a disappointed result which adds another game on to a congested fixture list, but with Wembley so close we can have few complaints.

Teams:

Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 2 Johnson, 37 Skrtel, (Kolo Toure – 11 mins), 6 Lovren, 50 Markovic (Balotelli – 59 mins), 23 Can, 14 Henderson, 31 Sterling, 20 Lallana, 15 Sturridge, 10 Coutinho

Substitutes: 4 Kolo Toure, 9 Lambert, 17 Sakho, 18 Moreno, 45 Balotelli, 49 Williams, 52 Ward

Blackburn Rovers: 13 Eastwood, 2 Henley, 15 Baptiste, 4 Kilgallon, 14 Olsson, 17 Williamson, 29 Evans, 32 Conway, 10 Cairney 12 Marshall (Taylor – 68 mins), 39 Gestede

Substitutes: 3 Spurr, 9 Brown, 11, Rhodes, 19 Taylor, 23 Henry, 26 Lenihan, 30 Steele

Referee: Andre Marriner

Attendance: 43,820