With the second leg against Borussia Dortmund four
days away, Jurgen Klopp made seven changes from the team which so manfully drew
the first leg. Among the starters were Daniel Sturridge, Kolo Toure, Martin
Skrtel, Joe Allen, Sheyi Ojo (his first Premier League start), Roberto Firmino
and returning from injury Kevin Stewart, another enjoying his first League
start
With the loss of Jordan Henderson possibly to the
seasons end, we welcomed back Lucas Leiva to the bench.
Liverpool pressed high from the start and for Oriji
read Sturridge, supported by Firmino. Eight minutes in and we were ahead.
Milner rolled the ball into the path of Alberto Moreno from a free-kick and with
very little pressure the left-back hit a swerving shot with the outside of boot
past Haugaard from 25 yards for his first Premier League goal since December
2014.
Notable Joe Allen was already having some influence
from the centre off the pitch both in a creative and physical sense.
Daniel Sturridge also started well looking to
provide evidence that he too was more than capable of leading the line,
particularly after his manager’s reported comments of his place no longer a
guaranteed certainty.
One move was proof positive of Sturridge mood.
Defending on the edge of his area he hooked the ball over his right shoulder to
Firmino and showed a turn of pace to run almost the length of the pitch for a
return, only to see the ball played behind him.
The control Liverpool had on the game was thrown
away by the usual benign defending from dead balls situations. Shaqiri’s
superbly delivered ball into the middle of the Liverpool area, only for
Liverpool’s defence melt away allowing Bojan to race in unchallenged and head
beyond Mignolet. Woefully disappointing and it doesn’t seem to matter which
combination of central defenders we have on patrol.
The inability to deal with the aerial threat almost
cost us dear from open play, as Crouch headed home Peiters’ superb diagonal
cross only to have it wiped for outside.
On the break the ball was fed through to Sturridge
in a central position, with very little back-lift he struck a sizzling 25
yard-drive past the past the post.
Sturridge was warming to the task.
Ojo who had erstwhile struggled to get in the game
on the right side, had immediate success on the left. The winger skipped past
Shaqiri covering on the right before delivering a inch perfect cross for
Sturridge to nod home on the far post.
Liverpool were in cruise mode, but once again our
achilles heel almost halted progress as Shawcross headed wide from another
Shaqiri free-kick. Imbula, then stung the hands of Mignolet with a shot from 20
yards before half-time.
Ojo after his promising first-half performance was
replaced by Origi at half-time and within five minutes of the break the
substitute on the crest of wave after his Dortmund performance struck.
Fastening on to Milner’s whipped cross Origi completely unmarked in the six-yard
box headed home.
Firmino almost inadvertently scored after Pieters’
clearance rebounded off him and onto the roof of the net with Haugaard
scrambling back. Mignolet then saved superbly from Cameron’s looping header
pushing it over the bar.
Liverpool were completely on top. Sturridge found
Moreno on the overlap with an intricate back heel for the left-back to whip in a
cross only for Origi to inexplicably slide his finish wide of the
target.
Stoke was still showing ambition. Origi soon
extinguished any remaining desires.
Picking up the ball wide of the left Origi sliced
past right-back Bardsley, before curling a cross/shot into the bottom corner.
Cross or shot it was stunning and a fitting winner.
Man of the match: Joe Allen – was
superb controlling the play from the middle of the park and supporting the
attack. Displayed enough physical presence to assert pressure in the central
areas and looked displeased when hooked.
Sheyi Ojo with just one piece of brilliance in the
making of Sturridge’s goal had fan’s salivating for more.
Origi’s two goals were excellent, but of more
intrigue was his pairing up with Sturridge who looked more lethal with another
striker to work next to. Interesting to hear pre-match comments from Klopp who
hinted at being able to use them as pairing in the future.
Liverpool are now back in the race for a Europa place.
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