For the
first half hour Stoke were as impressive as any opposing team at Anfield this
season. They negated Liverpool's abilities
to sear through teams upfront by confining the space to roam in. Joe Allen back at Anfield for the first time
since being sold in the summer, looked a class above any player on the pitch,
seemingly possessing masses of time on the ball.
Liverpool
entered the game unchanged for the third successive game with Daniel Sturridge
on the bench as was Lucas Leiva with Anfield abuzz with the news that his
tenure at the club drawing to a close with Inter Milan a suitor for the
midfielder’s talents.
Stoke also
started with old Anfield favourites Glen Johnson and Peter Crouch and to
conclude the Anfield reunion Charlie Adam was named on the bench. Mark Hughes game plan was well thought out,
not just intent on strangulating Liverpool up top, Crouch and Walters were sent
out to highlight the cracks in Liverpool’s perceived vulnerability in defence.
The goal
when it game didn’t just emphasise Liverpool’s susceptibility to the physical
presence of Jon Walters, but to their inability to deal with the height and
aerial ability of Crouch, who to be fair was also knitting the play together
with the assurance as those with long memories at Anfield know only too
well. Crouch caused havoc in the area heading
down a ball played in of which the defence could only scramble out. After 12 minutes in Stoke were ahead
The ball
found its way out to Erik Pieters who delivered a superbly fizzed in cross to
the near post where Walters did well to beat Lovren before powering a headed
toward goal which Mignolet disappointingly palmed in.
Granted Mane should have closed down the
cross; granted Lovren should have defended on the correct side of Walters, but
top class goalkeepers make those saves and it’s those deficiencies which makes
one wonder if Liverpool will fail in the long run. Every top-class team requires a top-class
goalkeeper and Liverpool does have a top-class centre-half, unfortunately for
us it’s not Lovren.
Stoke looked
comfortable and 6 minutes later should have gone two nil up. With Liverpool struggling to cope with
Stoke’s confident brand of football, Joe Allen sauntered in the area, before
his well struck shot was instinctively saved low down by Mignolet with Pieters
shot from the resultant breaking ball blocked off.
It was a
miss that Stoke would come to regret as Liverpool with the ubiquitous Lallana
coming more into the game looking more threatening.
Sensing the
need to bring something else to the party Origi shunted the ball out wide to
Mane who crossed low. Glen Johnson in
trying to control the ball only knocked the ball into the path of Lallana following
in and from a sharp angle the inform midfielder made his former teammate pay
emphatically dispatching his shot past Grant against the run of play.
It was the
kick start Liverpool needed. James
Milner saw his shot saved by the Stoke keeper down to his left. A minute later and Roberto Firmino instead of
burying his shot in the net sent a spiralling shot sailing into the Kop. Liverpool were ramping up the pressure and
Stoke were ostensibly waiting for the break.
The break would come, but not before Liverpool would first see Firmino’s
shot saved off the line by Crouch and then the same player receiving the ball on
the left of the area, was allowed to turn before dispatching his shot off the
far post on to the near post before going in.
With
Liverpool now looking in fine fettle, Mane almost scored hooking his shot just
wide of the far post from the centre of the area.
Stoke will
have felt hard done by having controlled much of the first-half, but the
difference was the clinically nature in which Liverpool took their chances and
once Liverpool grabbed a foothold Stoke looked one dimensional.
After
parrying with each other for the first fifteen minutes of the second-half with
Liverpool looking decidedly comfortable the game was as good as over almost on
the hour. Henderson picking up the ball
centrally, played in Origi with a slide rule pass inside the right-back. The striker showing great awareness posted an
exquisite ball in between keeper and the retreating defence with Imbula feeling
the pressure of the challenging Mane only able to prod the ball into his own
goal.
Liverpool
were in total control and with the festive games coming think and fast Klopp rested
Lallana and Origi for Emre Can and Daniel Sturridge respectively. Fifty-six seconds after Sturridge’s entrance
he’d scored his first Premier League goal of the season. Fastening on to Shawcross ill-judged back
pass, the England striker went around goalkeeper Grant with great alacrity
before rolling the ball into the net from an acute angle to kill off any chance
of a Stoke comeback.
Man of the match: Roberto Firmino – produced an
upgrade on recent performances and could easily have had a hat-trick.
Critical eye:
Showed tremendous tenacity to comeback against a Stoke City side who
were hell bent on pressing Liverpool all over the field and showing up the much
talked about problems at the back.
Worryingly, Lovren’s proneness for sloppy defending continued beaten
all-ends up by Walters and Mignolet’s ineptitude at only palming the resultant
header into the net only highlights the habitual defensive problems.
In a well thought
out game plan Walters and particularly Crouch, spread doubt into the Liverpool’s
backline which eventually led to the first goal.
That we were
able to come back and overrun a Stoke side full of hustle says a lot about the
mindset of Klopp’s side, but the inability to keep only the odd clean sheet
could cost so much more in the long run.
As I’ve continually said, Philippe Coutinho’s absence hasn’t up to now
cost Liverpool in an attacking sense as we continue to be prolific, but just
how long we can go on leaking senseless goals without patching up a suspect
defence is open to question.
When fit
Liverpool’s best choice pairing could well be Matip and Klavan being defenders in
the purist form, but one senses in Lovren Klopp sees the need for a ball
playing centre-half, although Matip is somewhat underrated in that regard.
Daniel
Sturridge first Premier League goal of the season was just what was required
with Sadio Mane on the verge of leaving for the African Nations Cup.
Teams:
Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 2 Clyne, 6 Lovren, 17
Klavan, 7 Milner, 20 Lallana (Can – 69 mins) 14 Henderson, 5 Wijnaldum, 19
Mane, 27 Origi (Sturridge – 70 mins), 11 Firmino (Moreno - 79 mins)
Subs: 1 Karius, 15 Sturridge, 18 Moreno,
21 Lucas, 23 Can, 53 Ejaria, 58 Woodburn
Stoke: 33 Grant, 8 Johnson, 17 Shawcross,
15 Martins Indi, 18 Diouf (Afellay – 75 mins), 6 Whelan (Sobhi – 66 mins), 21
Imbula, 4 Allen, 3 Pieters, 25 Crouch (Bony – 84 mins), 19 Walters
Subs: 12 Bony, 14 Afellany, 16 Adam, 22
Shaqiri, 24 Given, 27 Krkic, 32 Sobhi
Referee: Michael Oliver
Attendance: 53,094
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