The days
leading up to the match were filled with speculation and supposition on the
future of Brendan Rodgers. Just two wins
in seven matches has loosened his firm grip on his occupancy at Anfield and with Jurgeon
Klopp and former manager Rafa Benitez hovering in the background, conjecture was
always going to be magnified with the Liverpool and Manchester City jobs likely
to be the only two top jobs with the possibility of being vacant over the
summer.
As if trying
to apply further pressure to the manager a light aircraft was flown over the
stadium with the trailing banner, “Rodgers out, Rafa in” which felt rather
tactless. Brendan later remarked, "I
thought it was Rafa's agent.”
Captain Steven
Gerrard returned for Joe Allen following the loss away to Hull with Rickie
Lambert replacing Mario Balotelli and Adam Lallana in for Jordan Ibe.
Rangers
started well, seemingly a yard quicker than Liverpool especially in the final
third while Liverpool with Gerrard playing almost as a deep laying quarter-back
sitting just in front of the centre-back struggled to get any sort of possession
with midfield numbers being thin on the ground.
It was no surprise
to see QPR have the first legitimate shots on goal after 10 minutes having seen
Leroy Fer’s earlier effort ruled out in the first minute when the corner was
deemed to have curled out of play. What
it did highlight was our poor defending with Fer literally unchallenged as us
bundled the ball in.
In a bid to
get Liverpool back on track Gerrard join the attack screwing his shot wide of
the mark after Barton had been dispossessed.
Barton again lost the ball which found its way to Rickie Lambert cutting
his way in from the left to fire a shot straight at Robert Green.
Liverpool
were now on top and were soon a head.
Breaking fast from the breakdown of Hoop’s attack, Sterling moved the
ball out wide to Lambert on the right, who cleverly brought the ball back
inside the defender to astutely find Coutinho unmarked on the left side of the
area to duck back inside to curl the ball beyond Green. In that one moment the treatment of Lambert
over the season had one wondering about his manager’s motives in not using the
striker in a more strategic fashion and as such it is not a surprise to hear
the ex-Southampton man being linked to Chelsea.
A superb
passing move ended with Coutinho applying an adroit through ball for Sterling
to finish, but unfortunately he had strayed offside.
As has been
the way of late, Liverpool failed to turn possession into goals and at
half-time while we were well worth the lead the feeling was that QPR was still
in the game.
Early in the
second-half in the space of five minutes the lack of cutting edge in the final
third was clearly exposed. First,
Lallana after being put through by a wonderful reverse Coutinho ball failed the
target and then Sterling, picked out by a sensational Henderson curling cross
from right unbelievably blazed his shot over the bar from close range. After his recent exploits in the media he appears
almost devoid of confidence and Rodgers must be contemplating pulling the
player put of the starting line-up.
As is the
way when chances go astray, Liverpool got their comeuppance when Leroy Fer who
had shown an inclination to shoot on sight all day, volleyed Barton’s corner
past Mignolet in fine fashion.
Incredibly,
Nedum Onuoha seemed threw all his side’s hard away work by dragging down Martin
Skrtel in the box for a nailed on penalty being booked in the process. As he has so many times Steven Gerrard
prepared to take a penalty in front of the Kop, but this time saw his spot kick
saved superbly by Robert Green.
At that
moment it felt the season could be disintegrating into the abyss before our
eyes. But then this was the tail of two
men. Nedum Onuoha, with Jordan Ibe still
just inside his own half decided to hack down the Liverpool winger and at that
moment ended any idea of his side winning the game.
As he has so
often in front of the home faithful, cometh the hour Steven Gerrard spared his
side’s blushes. The Liverpool captain
rose spectacularly between Zamora and Barton to header Philippe Coutinho’s
corner past Green and lift the stadium into delirium with the realisation that
it could well be the last time they would see a Gerrard moment in front of the
Kop.
A minute
before time, Gerrard was replaced by Lucas to a resounding ovation from Anfield
for its favourite son. He had pulled it
off again and one wondered and hoped that Brendan Rodgers is already on the
case finding a top class replacement.
Man of the Match:
Philippe Coutinho – growing in stature in everything game and is fast
becoming one of the leaders of the team and must be in contention to be Brendan
Rodgers vice-captain.
As Coutinho
raises his game Raheem Sterling has gone the opposite way. Obviously effected by his ill-advised public shenanigans
in the media, he appears shot at the moment and Rodgers may feel a stint on the
bench may give the player time to reflect and come again.
Rickie
Lambert led the line well and one wonders whether Brendan Rodgers on reflection
will regret not exploiting the England striker’s experience and undoubted
abilities over the season. His
cleverness in providing the assist for Coutinho’s goal says he’s missed a
trick.
In Gerrard,
we’ve seen it all before. His lateral movement
is no longer as it was and he has lost the spectacular overdrive which set him
apart once he unleashed that raking stride.
What he still possesses is that spring from headers and it shows just
what Rodgers and his committee members need to do in the next transfer
market. Pure and simple we need world
class, not promising world class talent aspiring to be world class to make the
make the leap to challenge Chelsea, Man City and others.
Manager’s comments:
"Steven
Gerrard is one of a unique group of players that when they need to respond,
they do. An outstanding header gets us
the win. "It is a world-class talent. There is a very small group of
players in that bracket when, in the big games, they score the big goals and
make the big contributions and he has done that throughout his career.
"He
missed a penalty and you think it may go against us but there was no-one more
determined to make up for it.
"It
will probably only be when he is gone that people will recognise what a sheer
talent he is."
Teams:
Liverpool: 22 Mignolet. 23 Can, 37 Skrtel, 6
Lovren, 2 Johnson (Markovic – 84 mins), 14 Henderson, 8 Gerrard (Lucas – 89 mins),
10 Coutinho, 31 Sterling, 9 Lambert, 20 Lallana (Ibe – 68 mins)
Substitutes: 4 K Toure, 18 Moreno, 21 Lucas, 24
Allen, 33 Ibe, 50 Markovic, 52 Ward
Newcastle: 1 Green, 15 Onuoha, 22 Dunne, 4
Caulker (Yun Suk-young – 45 mins), 6 Hill, 7 Phillips, 8 Barton, 30 Sandro, 20
Henry (Zamora – 71 mins), 10 Fer, 9 Austin
Substitutes: 11 Wright-Phillips, 12 McCarthy, 13
Yun Suk-young, 19 Kranjcar, 23 Hoilett, 25 Zamora, 39, Grego-Cox
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Attendance: 44, 707
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