Toothless and inept Reds lose to Tigers - Hull 1 Liverpool 0

Blog by dedlfc

Going into this game with confidence severely dented and in bad form we looked second best in terms of having reasons to fight for the win and Brendan Rodgers never addressed a number of seemingly correctable problems, leading to a difficult defeat that kills any last, faint hopes of a top four finish.

With the top four all but out of reach and Liverpool’s season is all but over, there had been widespread reports young striker Samed Yesil would be given a chance to impress from the start.  The much vaunted striker didn’t even make the bench.

Instead, our manager again gave his maverick striker Mario Balotelli another chance and again he didn't repay his faith in him with goals or even a performance of ant note, he was albeit played as a lone striker, a role in which he has admitted himself that he’s struggled with consistently since arriving at Liverpool.  It perhaps shouldn’t be surprising, then, that he once again struggled in it, especially with the lack of support.

As against West Brom, Rodgers went with an unorthodox back four that saw Emre Can playing at right back without the ball but shifting into the centre of midfield when Liverpool had possession while Jordon Ibe provided width. And as with West Brom, as a tactic it was more intriguing than effective.

As with the match we started slowly, it took until the tenth minute for the first good chance. It fell to Hull after Lovren lost his man in the box, but Mignolet bailed out the centre half. Ten minutes later, Liverpool’s first good chance saw Coutinho sting Steve Harper’s palms.

Hull were the better side in the first half despite having less possession and when Michael Dawson headed home off a corner in the 37th minute we could have few complaints. Balotelli was slow to come out and played Dawson onside, but the corner had come from the space and our odd approach—and Can’s struggles—gave Hull time to exploit down the right.

No changes in the second half meant more of the same problems for us and it took until the 63rd minute before we had a decent chance on goal.

Coutinho was the schemer, moving forward and lofting a pass into the supporting Henderson 15 yards out. The captain elect controlled and left foot volleyed in one swift movement, but the fingertips of Harper prevented an equaliser. 

It took until the 65th minute for Rodgers to make any changes, when he brought on Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana for Balotelli and Ibe respectively.  The problematic formation, though, remained. 

With the match winding down, Rodgers tried bringing on Markovic to inject some much needed energy. Nothing came of it, and Liverpool whimpered their way to defeat in the match just as they seem to be in the season. And most worryingly for Brendan Rodgers, it has begun to appear as though—similar to the final days of Rafa Benitez and Kenny Dalglish at the club—many of the players are no longer motivated to play for him.

Man of the match - Phillip Coutinho - again the only true bright spark along with Henderson and the team needs to be built around him next season with Teixiera being his understudy.

Our manager has stated he is the best man for the job but he is not helping his boast by picking sides that are just going through the motions, he should now blood the younger players and future stars of the club such as Yesil and co to see whether they have a future at the club.

Hull City starting XI: Harper, Chester, McShane, Dawson, Livermore, Quinn, Huddlestone, Elmohamady, Brady, Aloko, N’Doye 

HCFC subs: McGregor, Rosenior, Figueroa, Bruce, Ramirez, Hernandez, Sagbo 

Liverpool starting XI: Mignolet, Can, Skrtel, Lovren, Johnson, Allen, Henderson, Ibe, Sterling, Coutinho, Balotelli 

LFC subs: Jones, Toure, Lambert, Manquillo, Lallana, Brannagan, Markovic 

Referee:  Lee Probert

Attendance: 24,843

Our manager (can’t bring myself to keep saying name until he proves he can actually manage the team) stated after game, "We weren't aggressive enough throughout the game and we conceded a poor goal from the set piece".

"We just lacked that killer instinct in the final third. We were never enough of a threat. It's been a mark of the season."  Never a truer word said.

 

Lacklustre Liverpool meander toward Europa qualification

I sat disbelieving and even embarrassed by the ineptitude of Liverpool’s performance against Aston Villa last week at Wembley.    It was woeful, truly grotesque to be in the stadium to witness a Liverpool team perform which no guile, passion and the club byword class was missing in all areas.

I turned up to the Hawthorns expecting to see a revitalised Liverpool champing at the bit, hoping to erase the bitter memory of being so readily out played and dismissed by a dominant Villa side.

The Hawthorns reverberated before kick-off to the sound of Carl Orff’s stirring Carmina Burana.  It’s a piece of music that stokes the fires of ambition and looking across at the big screen in the corner showing the players in the tunnel the players looked buoyed behind Gerrard who seemed transfixed steering ahead as if ready to grab an expectant three points.

The expectant further disappeared after kick-off just as fast as it had at Wembley.   Unable to gain a foothold in the game with Gerrard playing so deep it was difficult to decipher whether he had started at centre-half or in the defensive midfield position, marshalled so superbly on our winning run by the injured Lucas Leiva.

Emre Can given licence to roam from his position as the right-centre back into midfield was energetic, but failed to find the quality ball to release Ibe, Coutinho and Sterling and the much criticised Mario Balotelli.  If ever a match proved that Mario Balotelli’s shelf-life had finally reached its sell by date this was it.  Unfortunately for the player, he is incapable of leading the front-line, often finding himself in less attacking areas and not in the key area when the ball arrives in the box.

Liverpool had two decent chances with Jordon Ibe coming close drifting in from the left, to play a one two with Balotelli before seeing his left-foot shot smash against the bar while Philippe Coutinho   drew an excellent diving save from Boaz Myhill which was as good as it got for us.

Rodgers is correct is his insertion that the injuries to Daniel Sturridge have certainly hindered Liverpool’s challenge for a Champions League place, but in the cold light of day what has really killed us is his lack of success in the transfer market.   When it became apparent that Suarez would leave in the summer there was enough time to get a quality replacement, but we failed ignominiously in our pursuit of Sanchez and in the end we were left with the not so hot ‘Super Mario’.

Brendan states that the club has to find a way of luring top class talent to Anfield, but the question is should FSG trust him with anymore funds?  In essence, of the 24 players brought in by Brendan during his time at the club only Coutinho and Sturridge can considered anything like a success.

The club’s top goal scorer in the Premiership is not one of the four strikers brought in by the manager which is some indictment

He seems to be possess a retrograde memory in not mentioning that fact as if no blame should be attributed to him.  Daniel Sturridge was injured twice last season, but with Suarez having an all-star season it tended to be glossed over, but his injury record and Rodgers preference to play his free-flowing style of football has basically relegated Rickie Lambert to a bit part player.  

On the way home on the train , I read out to my fellow Reds Karl (Livi), David (dedlfc) and Billy (TrueRed01), the full list of the LFC Transfer Committee: Ian Ayre, Barry Hunter (Chief Scout), Dave Fallows (Head of Recruitment), Michael Edwards (Director of Technical Performance) and Mike Gordon(FSG Investor).  Almost in unison, as I announced each individual outside of Ian Ayre and almost in unison they said “who the f**k is he!?!”

It’s an interesting point because at West Brom we lacked fire power and had the exposed Glen Johnson replacing Moreno at left-wing back.  Just how can Liverpool be lacking in the areas of full-back, central midfield and upfront after bringing in no fewer than 9 players in the summer transfer window.

A year ago in an interview with Sports Illustrated, Ian Ayre stated that the Transfer Committee’s role was to bring together individuals from different areas (the manager, Chief Scout and the Head of Recruitment), which combined would be make-up the role of Director of Football which meant that Brendan Rodgers would not be the sole decision-maker, although he would have a big say.

Ayre said, “We have a head of analysis, a head of recruitment, a first-team manager, myself. All of those people are all inputting into a process that delivers what a director of football would deliver.

“What we believe, and we continue to follow, is you need many people involved in the process. That doesn’t mean somebody else is picking the team for Brendan but Brendan needs to set out with his team of people which positions we want to fill and what the key targets would be for that.

"He has a team of people that go out and do an inordinate amount of analysis work to establish who are the best players in that position.

If we are to raise are game in the transfer market the bar will have to be elevated in spectacular fashion in terms of their willingness to pay top fees.  Brendan doesn’t possess the cache of a Louis van Gaal, Jose Marinho or Arsene Wenger and we look certain to be without Champions League football, thus it’s either a willingness to pay larger transfer fees or to continue with the long-term plan and hope that we can get success by bucking the trend.

The problem with that philosophy is that the four teams above us at the moment are not about to stand still and if proof were required of just how much money talks, Man United’s outlay in the summer in spending £150 million has brought instant rewards in almost certainly returning the club to the Champions League fold after only a seasons absence.

Brendan built an almost guru like perception around himself with his assertion that he cajoled and drove Suarez to reach his sublime heights, hence the positivity around the acquisition of Mario Balotelli.  What he did do was provide the atmosphere around Suarez and his team to free-wheel with an attacking verve unhindered by any thought of defence which arguably may have cost us when it mattered most once injuries and suspensions began to set in.

In his three years he is correct that Liverpool have moved on under his stewardship, but any Liverpool manager given three years in his position would expect to move forward or he’d be looking for new employment.  Coutinho, Sterling and the injury hit Sturridge have certainly been successes under his tenure, but there have certainly been glaring misses this season from the formation changes against Villa to the resounding failures against the ‘Big Four’ which include losing twice to Man Utd and being demolished by Arsenal.

A good middle of the season doesn’t equate to a great season and for me Liverpool have fallen short of the required standard and at the Hawthorns resembled no more than an average side hoping that the exceptional talents of Ibe, Coutinho or Sterling would pull us out from under.

With Man United’s loss at Goodison Park we may just live to regret the failure to grab three points.  The aim must be for us to us to finish as strongly as we can to at least put pressure on Man Utd and to bolster confidence going forward.

Man of the match: Philipe Coutinho looked to probe at every opportunity and almost provided the break through.

Steven Gerrard in his 500^th League game asserted even less influence than he had at Wembley with only Jordon Ibe aside from Coutinho looking likely.

Critcal eye:  Brendan Rodgers comments suggest he is not seeing the failures, not just in his transfers, particularly his strikers, but in his side falling away since the Man United defeat.  Blackburn provided the initial template to breakdown the Rodgers winning formula in the FA Cup tie at Anfield, Swansea made it work before for a half, before Man Utd applied the breaks.

It sounds almost pathetic when he keeps stating how much the team misses Suarez and how unlucky we have been with injuries particularly with Sturridge.  He’s had two windows to plug holes in his squad and they made the decision not to buy anyone in January, so the blame lays firmly at his feet, but he will be given time and he and the Transfer Committee must buy well in the next transfer window for Liverpool’s immediate future or we could be away from the Champions League for another five years and that would be unfathomable.

Manager’s comments:

It’s going to be very difficult now to make the Champions League. 

“With five games remaining, we certainly need to win four at least. That’s what we must aim to do to give ourselves a chance.

“You never know what might happen above us though. What we have to do right now is make sure that we keep the pressure on.

“We have our game in hand this week and the important thing is that we win that one.”

“If you take 52 goals out of our team, then it doesn’t help you.”

“We just don’t score as many goals, it’s as simple as that. In every other way we have played well, but we just lacked that bit of luck and bit of quality in the final third.

“That is something that we will have to look at in the summer, for sure.

“Our intent was to win the game, but you have to give credit to West Brom, they defended very well, as you’d expect of Tony Pulis’ team.

“In the first half, the idea was very good, but we were a bit slow. Second half was much better, but we just couldn’t find the final pass, the final touch which makes the difference.”

“The feeling of disappointment was there early on in the week, of course, but in top level sport, you’ve got to move on from it.”

“We deserved the result last weekend after our performance, so today it was important to at least perform well and I felt that we did that. The attitude and the effort was there, the creativity too.”

Teams:

West Brom: 13 Myhill, 25 Dawson, 23 McAuley, 6 Lescott, 11 Brunt, 8 Gardner, 5 Yacob, 24 Fletcher, 7 Morrison (Baird – 81 mins), 10 Anichebe (McManaman – 64 mins), 18 Berahino (Ideye – 75 mins)

Substitutes: 3 Olsson, 4 Baird, 9 Ideye, 16 Gamboa, 19 McManaman, 29 Sessegnon, 38 Rose

Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 23 Can, 37 Skrtel, 6 Lovren, 2 Johnson, 14 Henderson, 8 Gerrard, 33 Ibe (Lallana – 75 mins), 10 Coutinho, 31 Sterling, 45 Balotelli (Borini – 75 mins)

Substitutes: 1 Jones, 4 K Toure, 19 Manquillo, 20 Lallana, 24 Allen, 29 Borini, 50 Markovic

Referee: Roger East

Attendance: 26,663

Passive Liverpool miss out on FA Cup glory - Aston Villa 2 Liverpool 1

Blog by dedlfc

The massive news prior to the game was Steven Gerrard starting as Lucas picked up a thigh injury in training on Friday. The fact that we didn't have any midfield back up on the bench was extremely disappointing and points directly at the Liverpool transfer strategy and loan policy.

Villa started as the more dangerous side. Charles N'Zogbia nearly found Christian Benteke with a fizzing cross to the far post and minutes later had a long shot tipped over by Simon Mignolet.

We struggled for long periods to maintain meaningful possession with Villa looking better in the midfield.  Rodgers made a tactical change to four at the back after 20 minutes to try and establish a bit more control.

Against the run of play we scored with our first real chance of the match. Philippe Coutinho ran onto a ball from Raheem Sterling in the box and used a slight deflection to slot past Shay Given.

Villa deservedly bounced back with Benteke finishing off a quick counter attack to bring his side level with Liverpool defensively unable to countenance the Villains power and drive through Delph and the accomplished Grealish who handled Liverpool's frail midfield with relish.

Half-time thoughts: We looked vulnerable at times, but so too did Villa. The result was a wide open first half that promised an even better second.

Mario Balotelli replaced an ineffective Lazar Markovic at the half.  But, to be fair to Markovic who arrived as an accomplished player with a tall reputation who is now reduced to a player who the manager seems to blame for the team’s ills.

Fabian Delph scored to give Villa a 2-1 lead after our non-existent midfield allowed another counter attack to slice right through them.  It was an indictment of Liverpool's flimsy defence that the midfielder waltzed through the defence to calmly put his team ahead.

Seeing Delph dominate the Liverpool midfield, one could only reflect on the demise of Steven Gerrard this season.  Arguably, Liverpool's greatest ever player he was yard off the pace and reminded one of Muhammed Ali in some of his last fights throwing the odd punch from yesteryear, but the flesh was too weak to carry him forward.  There were a few of his raking trademark crossfield passes,  he had a header cleared off the line and superb through ball to Balotelli which the striker tucked away was wrongly chalked off, but it could not disguise the fact that this once great player was playing from memory.

Brendan Rodgers brought Glen Johnson on and moved Emre Can into the midfield as we looked for a late equalizer.

In the dying embers Rodgers muddled tactics was there for all to see when he brought on Rickie Lambert.  The striker could just as easily have made his entrance quarter of an hour earlier rather than languish on the bench.  Rodgers bought Lambert in an effort to give Liverpool a Plan B when the need arose, but unfortunately he has been unable to work the player into his plans with the player failing for the first time in six seasons to get into double figures in the Premier League.

This was a totally abysmal performance.  The manager appeared shorn of ideas panic stricken into changing the formation three times and the players apart from Coutinho who busted a gut in his desperation to get into his first final for the club, failing in dreadful fashion.

Full-time thoughts: In a season filled with tough losses this one is the most painful. Slim hopes of fourth live on, but with this performance it's hard to put much belief behind the hope with three woeful losses in our last four ganes.

The whole side apart from Coutinho, underperformed with biggest disappointment for me is that the captain didn't show enough desire throughout the game to try and influence us to a massive win - one last time.

The manager talked about the player’s failure to cope with the occasion, surely that is down to him and it's not the first time this season.

His lack of prowess in the transfer market is damaging Liverpool Football Club.  Without Sakho and Lucas Liverpool lacked the prowess and nous to stifle the Villains physicality and were reduced to chasing shadows.  It was sad to see Gerrard playing from memory and Brendan Rodgers coming into a game with three strikers and three defenders only exacerbated the lack of depth in the midfield.

We have four strikers in the first team squad and apart from the injured Sturridge, the other three weren't considered good enough to start the game.  Balotelli, Lambert and Borini have no future at this club.

With Johnson sure to move on (thank goodness), I would hope to see the back of Brad Jones, Kolo Toure, Enrique, Joe Allen (short of top class).  There has to be question marks over Markovic if Brendan persist in playing him as a wing-back and Dejan Lovren who has been total failure.

Rodgers is now the first Liverpool manager in the post for over three years since the 1950s to not win a single trophy and the eyes will be on him in the next transfer window and the start of next season. 

Man of the match: N'Zogia - came on and tried to influence the team.

Aston Villa: Given; Bacuna, Baker, Vlaar, Richardson; Cleverley, Westwood, Delph; N’Zogbia, Benteke, Grealish. Subs: Guzan, Okore, Sinclair, Weimann, Cole, Gil, Lowton.

Liverpool: Mignolet; Can, Skrtel, Lovren; Markovic, Henderson, Allen, Moreno; Gerrard; Coutinho, Sterling. Subs: Jones, Johnson, Toure, Lambert, Manquillo, Borini, Balotelli.

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)

Att: 85,416

Man of the match: Coutinho - only player for us offering any positive impact especially in the first half.

The result was, like so many of our disappointments early this season, lacking in energy and urgency, a point Brendan Rodgers was quick to point out in his solemn post-match remarks:

Manager's views:

"You can always lose a game, but you'd hope you can play well and give yourself an opportunity. I thought we were second best today, to be honest. They were better than us. We had some chances but Aston Villa were better than us today. There's an obligation here to fight right until the very end. We have come close now in two competitions but failed to make the steps. Hopefully in the future we can learn from that. I think sometimes you can want to win too much and the focus comes away from what allows you to win.

"I thought our energy was low today. Aston Villa had a good start and I felt we were too passive in the game. I had to change the system, it got us some joy, we started to control the game a little bit and then we got in front - but we didn't keep the lead long enough. We were too passive on the side of the field, Fabian Delph skips through way too easily and they got back into the game. Second half, we hoped to play better but we just didn't create enough today. It was a trademark of the team last year - in the first 20 minutes of games, the intensity of our game was very high. Of late, that hasn't quite been the case. We just were nowhere near our level. Congratulations to Aston Villa because they played well and are through to the final. The better team won."

It's hard to argue with any of what Rodgers offers here--without two clear leaders in Mamadou Sakho and Lucas, Emre Can and Jordan Henderson tasked with less effective roles from the start, Lazar Markovic hauled off at the half despite some promising glimpses, and Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho fading in influence as Liverpool's approach shifted to long balls over the top rather than any coherent build-up, Liverpool's "energy" players were nullified from start to finish. Players can be blamed, but the tactics and setup, which once again failed to address the ongoing lack of attacking creativity in the side. Rodgers failure to address the problem of our midfield getting over run early in the second half.

Where Rodgers' critiques veer wide of the mark is, as it so often does, in discussion of Steven Gerrard's performance, which the third-year boss described as "excellent." Little commentary needed here, as it's been discussed plenty already, but one hopes that Rodgers is simply paying lip service to a club legend rather than giving what he feels is an accurate assessment of the captain's contribution. Which putting politely was very poor for our once influential captain.

Massively disappointing result for us.

  

Liverpool 2 Newcastle United 0

Two days shy of the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster both sets of supporters were impeccable in their respect during the minutes silence in memory of the 96 Liverpool supporters who lost their lives on that fateful April day 26 years ago.

Again without the services of Skrtel and Gerrard, both serving out the final games of their 3 match suspension, Liverpool welcomed back Emre Can from suspension, but without the sick Balotelli and the injured Sakho and Sturridge approached the game knowing that a win would see us close the gap to just four points to Man City.

Newcastle searching for form added to the subdued opening from both teams defending from deep with Liverpool searching for rhythm starting with the pairing of Can and Lovren in the centre of a back four and with defensive and holding midfielders in the shape of Lucas and Allen respectively with the last name given more of an offensive licence to get forward.

Liverpool suddenly burst into life in stunning fashion with a goal which was all about the vision and class.  Henderson with a superb diagonal pass found an unmarked Sterling to instantly control the ball and cut inside two defenders before manufacturing a curled shot with the ball almost under him inside the far post to put us ahead.

The goal stung Liverpool into life and Lovren’s floated ball over the top found Moreno storming through only to see his powerful shot blocked by Tim Krul.  Coutinho thriving in the time and space afforded him by lax Newcastle defending flicked the ball over the head of Williamson on the edge of the area before passing the ball across the area to an unsuspected Sterling caught on his heels.

Liverpool were totally dominant and Coutinho this time found Sterling with an exquisite angled ball which Sterling met with a left-footed drive straight into the midriff of Kuhl.  Newcastle through Abeid fired in their first shot on target from his shot outside the area.

As well as we played, slicing through the Newcastle midfield at will with Newcastle giving the ball away at every turn and the defence looking susceptible to balls on the angle or over the top, the fact was that possession hadn’t been turned into goals and Newcastle began to come back into the game in the final 8 minutes of the half.

A wild kick by Lovren should have penalised with a penalty and we could thank the Mignolet for brilliantly saving at full stretch from Azoye Perez’s header.

On the stroke of half-time Abeid stole in to fire a shot over the bar with the equaliser there for the taking.

Newcastle came out for the second-half as if pumped up by their positive end to the first-half and the nervousness of the Anfield faithful transmitted itself through to the players with the Liverpool midfield, in particular Allen struggling to contain the new found impetus with the away team looking as if they had come to squeeze the life out of our Champions League ambitions.

Counter-attacking with Jordan Henderson storming down the right side before his cross fortunately squirmed past Ryan Taylor and into the path of Sterling at the far post to unbelievably shoot wide of the post from barely six yards.

With Borini having replaced Jordan Ibe Liverpool reasserted their dominance and finally settled the nerves around the stadium with Newcastle struggling to clear their lines the ball found its way inadvertently to Allen off Williamson for the Welsh International to hook home from close range.

Any remaining chance Newcastle had disappeared when Sissoko their best player was sent off for an ill-judged dangerous tackle on Lucas for which he was lucky to see only a second yellow for.

Sterling missed another gilt-edged chance from Henderson’s excellent cross, screwing his shot wide of the post with the goal gaping.  It was to be his last action of the game before being replaced by Rickie Lambert.

Man of the Match:  Philippe Coutinho was the chief instigator and is a different player from the one who used to fade after an hour appearing to be full of running at the end of games.

Jordan Henderson ran him close and if Sterling had had his shooting boots on would have had three assists at the very least.

Critical eye:  Lovren is still struggling at the back and was lucky not to give away a nailed on penalty with a wild swipe which seemed to throw him off his game going into the second-half.  Martin Skrtel’s experience at the back will certainly be a welcomed presence as we approach the FA Cup Semi-Final and the final run in of games.

Great to see Joe Allen score the winner, but too many times in the game he gave away or was caught on the ball.

Defensively, Glen Johnson was as he has always been, suspect in critical areas.  Easily brushed aside on a header which almost saw Newcastle equalise and too easily by-passed down the right.

All-in-all at this point of the season one can’t argue and victory is a victory taking us back above Southampton and four points behind Man City.

Teams:

Liverpool:

Formation 4-3-3

22 Mignolet, 2 Glen Johnson, 18 Alberto Moreno, 21 Lucas, 23 Emre Chan, 6 Dejan Lovren, 14 Jordan Henderson, 10 Philippe Coutinho, 33 Jordan Ibe (Fabio Borini – 58 mins), 31 Raheem Sterling (Rickie Lambert – 88 mins)

Substitutes: 1 Brad Jones, 4 Kolo Toure, 9 Rickie Lambert, 19 Javi Manquillo, 29 Fabio Borini, 32 Cameron Brannagan, 50 Lazar Markovic

Newcastle United:

Formation 4-4-2

1 Tim Krul, 4 Ryan Taylor, 14 Jack Colback, 8 Vumon Anita, 22 Daryl Jammaat, 6 Mike Williamson, 20 Remy Calbella, 30 Mehdi Abeid (Adam Armstrong 74 mins), 17 Ayoze Perez (Yoan Gouffran – 86 mins), 7 Mousa Sissoko (sent-off 83 mins), 25 Gabriel Orbertan (Jonas Gutierrez – 66 mins)

Substitutes: 11 Yoan Gouffran, 18 Jonas Gutierrez, 21 Rob Elliot, 28 Sammy Ameobi, 29 Emmanuel Riviere, 32 Adam Armstrong, 46 Jamie Sterry

Referee: Lee Mason

Attendance: 44,611

Blackburn 0 Liverpool 1 - Coutinho quality shines through again

By David Douglas (dedlfc)

The fallout from our two previous league games (both defeats) was a lost in momentum and confidence going into this vital FA cup quarter-final replay at Ewood Park.

It was always going to be difficult to overcome a Blackburn side buoyed by their performance at Anfield and coming into the game on the back of tremendous three-nil victory away at Leeds.

Glen Johnson and Dejan Lovren came into the starting line up as Brendan Rodgers chose to play with a back four given the suspensions for Martin Skrtel and Emre Can.

We started the game trying to gain a foothold of possession and a long build up resulted in an off-target volley attempt for Joe Allen from the middle of the box.

A Blackburn long ball bounced into the box and Sakho almost allowed the ball to be taken off of his feet through a possible lack of communication between him and Simon Mignolet.

Sturridge did not looked off the pace early on despite receiving the ball in dangerous areas on more than one occasion. It resulted in him changing his boots early in the game to try and get a better grip on a bumpy pitch which was also hindering our slick passing game which had been missing since Rodgers side dismissal of Burnley.

Sakho left with a hamstring injury which Jordan Rhodes almost used to his advantage heading wide with the Frenchman struggling to stay with him.   Kolo Toure coming on as replacement meant that the team's three best central defenders would not be on the pitch for the remainder of the match.

A failed Blackburn clearance gave the focussed Coutinho a free shot from the centre of the area, but Simon Eastwood did well to make a diving save.

Liverpool dominated possession after the Coutinho chance, but could not manufacture a goal as they struggled to create a clear cut chance with the valiant and resilient Blackburn steadfastly refused to give an inch.

Half-time thoughts: Overall, it was a dull first half for us. We dominated possession, but our pressure was meaningless as we couldn't create enough chances.

Blackburn looked to push further in the second-half  and Tom Cairney forced a superb diving from the excellent Mignolet from a long range effort.  Mignolet was also on alert having to make a second important save to defend the ensuing corner.

We took back control of the match and continued to pressure the hosts. However, chance creation was still an issue for the Reds.

If we were going to get to Wembley then Coutinho was always going to be that man to take us there. The magical Brazilian was slipped in by Henderson on the right and he arrowed his angled shot past Eastwood from a narrow angle to give us the lead.

Sterling played in Sturridge, but the striker's attempted chip sailed over the bar.  It was to be his last action of the game with the forgotten Rickie Lambert replacing him in the 85th minute and almost heading in with his first touch of the ball.

The final throw at the dice for Blackburn was when their keeper Eastwood went up for a throw-in but our keeper Mignolet denying Eastwood and to keep Gerrard's dream alive.

Full-time thoughts: This was a tough deserved win for us and it was ugly at times. But after the losses to Manchester United and Arsenal it was exactly what the team needed.

Man of the match: Simon Mignolet - again made some vital saves to keep us in the game.

It was good to see our manager finally replace the back three formation that had served us well over the last three or four months as it was a formation teams now had a solution for.

Still concerned about the lack of goals now in the side with our main striker Sturridge continuing to struggle with his rustiness in his game.

Very good win so we now move onto Wembley to play Aston Villa in the semis.

Special mention to Jordan Henderson who led the side soon after the birth of his second child.

Blackburn: Eastwood, Henley, Baptiste, Kilgallon, Olsson, Evans, Williamson, Conway (Gestede 65), Cairney, Marshall, Rhodes. 

Subs not used: Nyambe, Spurr, Songo'o, Lenihan, Steele, Mahoney.

Booked: Evans. 

Liverpool: Mignolet, Johnson, Lovren, Sakho (Toure 28), Moreno, Henderson, Lucas, Allen, Sterling, Sturridge (Lambert 85), Coutinho. 

Subs not used: Jones, Manquillo, Borini, Brannagan, Markovic.

Goals: Coutinho 70

Referee: Kevin Friend

Attendance: 28,415

Liverpool's Champions League dreams turn into a nightmare

Any remaining hopes of Champions League qualification were firmly extinguished by an Arsenal side full of verve with Brendan Rodgers left looking at Europa League qualification as a point of entry into European next season.

This has been a horrid week with “Sterlingate” being played out on the BBC and then Arsenal gaining sweet revenge after last season’s mauling by handing out a thrashing at the Emirates Stadium.

Without the suspended Skrtel, Brendan Rodgers looked to the experience Kolo Toure to lead the defence in the knowledge he was missing the talents of Gerrard (suspension), Lallana and Ibe (injured) and the returning Daniel Sturridge not fully fit in a must win game.  The Ivorian looked every one of his 34 years, hesitant and slothful against an Arsenal side starting with a pace and fluency reminiscent of so many of Liverpool’s performances under Rodgers.

Let’s make no mistake, but for the brilliance of Mignolet Arsenal could have had the game wrapped up in the first four minutes with the keeper saving brilliantly from Santi Cazorla and then saving well Ramsey with Toure atoning for his mistake by nipping in as Cazorla looked odds-on to score.

Liverpool began to get a foothold in the game on the quarter-hour with decent possession and Sterling screwed a good opportunity wide after being put through.  With momentum on the turn the key moment of the match for Liverpool came and went with Markovic put clean through as Sterling waiting for a simple pass to put Liverpool one-up, the midfielder unbelievably overcooked his pass out of the reach of the striker’s sliding boot.

After getting back into the game an 8 minute period before half-time saw our season unravel without any warning.  Bellerin was allowed to gallop onto the ball down the left before cutting inside past Moreno who offered a token gesture, to curl a superb controlled finish past the despairing Mignolet.

Minutes later Arsenal went two-nil up.  Ozil running away from goal was unnecessarily fouled just outside the area and the German World Cup winner left Mignolet flailing as he tucked the free-kick away with a sumptuous curled shot.  Liverpool looked dead and buried and a heavy beating was definitely on the cards.

Any chance of Liverpool coming back into the game was to get to half-time without conceding another goal.   It was not be as yet again we gave the ball away in a critical area and after receiving a pass Sanchez cut inside from the right leaving Toure floundering before unleashing a pile driver which tore past Mignolet into the roof of the net.

Two weeks ago we dreamt of second place and now at half-time there was the ignominy of possible finishing the weekend seventh in the league.  After the embarrassment of his first-half performance Markovic was replaced by Sturridge.  It could just have easily been Toure or Allen or even Coutinho had there been an alternative.

The second-half was an exercise in how to canter through a half protecting a lead as Arsenal refused to over commit as they have so often in the past.  Liverpool struggled to find Daniel Sturridge with any decent service throughout and it was Arsenal who had the first real attempt with Mignolet flipping over a powerful Giroud header.

Emre Can in a bid to add power and drive to Liverpool in the final third attempted to get further up the field saw his shot pushed round the corner by Ospina.

Liverpool gained a penalty with 14 minutes to go as Bellerin brought down Sterling and was lucky to stay on the pitch having been booked moments earlier for manhandling the same player.  Henderson dispatched the penalty which crept under the hands of the diving Ospina.

Any remaining hope disappeared when Emre Can’s scissor tackled Welbeck out of frustration which sees the German unavailable for the Wednesday’s FA Cup Quarter-Final replay at Blackburn.

Liverpool’s week of implosion was completed in injury-time as Sanchez found Giroud who skipped inside Toure which had been the standard for the day before shooting home a scorching drive inside Mignolet’s far post to leave Liverpool in no-man’s land in terms of where our future lies without Champions League football, “Sterlingate” and the lack of top class success in the transfer market.

Man of the Match:  Simon Mignolet – Head and shoulders above any Liverpool player on the pitch.  Defied Arsenal twice early on to keep Liverpool in the game and just after half-time clawing over a Giroud header.  He also blocked a Danny Welbeck one on one.

Critcal-eye:  The formation which served us so well through the magnificent run in between the two defeats by Man United was worked out partially by Swansea and conclusively by first Man United and today at the Emirates.  It was surprising not to see Daniel Sturridge start with a win the only real alternative in the quest for a Champions League Place.

Toure struggled from the start and his frailty was shared by Lucas, Allen and Coutinho who time and time and again gave away the ball in crucial areas.

The miss was vital and would have changed the momentum of the game.

It seemed a strange decision to start Jordan Henderson at wing-back when he has been vital creative force throughout the season and we missed his drive and bite in the midfield areas with Allen even with the assurance of Lucas behind him unable to assert any control and looked decidedly lightweight in amongst the movement and speed of the Arsenal midfield.

Sterling watch:  In a team performance which was not much to write home about, he did as well as any.  On another day he could easily have scored two, pulling his shot wide and seeing Markovic’s potential assist over hit with the goal gaping at his mercy.   His very clever footwork lulled Bellerin into a rash tackle to gain Liverpool’s penalty.

Arsenal:

Formation: 4-4-2

Team: 13 David Ospina, 39 Hector Bellerin, 4 Per Mertesacker, 6 Laurent Koscielny (Gabriel Paulista – 48 mins), 18 Nascho Monreal, 34 Francis Coquelin, 19 Santi Cazorla, 16 Aaron Ramsey (Mathieu Flamini – 61 mins), 11 Mesut Ozil (Danny Welbeck – 72 mins), 17 Alexis Sanchez, 12 Olivier Giroud

Substitutes: 3 Kieran Gibbs, 5 Gabriel Paulista, 7 Tomas Rosicky, 14 Theo Walcott, 20 Mattieu Flamini, 23 Danny Welbeck, 49 Matt Macey

Liverpool

Formation: 4-1-4-1

Team: 22 Simon Mignolet, 23 Emre Can (sent off 84 mins), 4 Kolo Toure, 17 Mamadou Sakho, 14 Jordan Henderson, 21 Lucas, 24 Joe Allen, 18 Alberto Moreno, 50 Lazar Markovic (Daniel Sturddige – 45 mins), 10 Philippe Coutinho, 31 Raheem Sterling

Substitutes: 1, Brad Jones, 2 Glen Johnson, 6 Dejan Lovren, 15 Daniel Sturridge, 19 Javier Manquillo, 29 Fabio Borini, 32 Cameron Brannagan

Referee: Anthony Taylor

Attendance: 60081