Phew. That’s the first thing that comes to mind after this. We deserved to win it - there’s no question of that - but we deserved to win last weekend as well but didn’t. When West Brom equalised there was every chance we’d be suffering yet another bad result in a season in which they are piling up already. It was therefore really encouraging to see the players roll their sleeves up and just go out and force the win. The three points were the only thing that mattered considering the way things have been going for us.
We beat West Brom last October at Anfield too, but the circumstances couldn’t have been more different this time. We won 4-1 that day, Suarez scored three and Sturridge added a brilliant fourth. I remember writing after that game that I had the feeling that I was witnessing something very special, the kind of thing we’d be telling our grandkids about in years to come. That this front two had the potential to be the best we’d ever see… They could have been too, except… well y’know.
Little could we have imagined that just under a year later we’d be watching Rickie Lambert ploughing a lone furrow up front before being replaced by Mario Balotelli. So much has happened in the last 12 months, it’s mental really when you think about it all. A year ago we didn’t dare dream we’d be involved in the title shake up but look what happened. I daren’t dream that now either, and I certainly can’t see a repeat of last year. At least this win helps in terms of looking forward instead of back though, and that's important for morale. We’ve been brutal so far, but look at the table, it’s not actually THAT bad all things considered.
This wasn’t a vintage performance but it was never going to be. You don’t flick a switch and suddenly go from crap to brilliant overnight. There's a process you have to go through; you win however you can, slowly build your confidence and steadily go from there. This game was always going to be tight but I thought we played well overall and there were more positives than negatives.
Not that there weren't negatives; Lambert's struggles continued and you can point to Lovren’s performance and say that’s cause for alarm and I’m not going to disagree - he was ropey as hell - but it feels like I’ve spent most of the season talking about our flaws and focussing on negatives so not this time. I’m just going to be positive.
So I’ll start with Adam fucking Lallana baby. He’s boss, I love him. He’s probably my favourite player now that ‘you know who’ has left. I even loved him last year when he didn’t even play for us, he’s just great to watch, the silky skilled bastard. “Wonderful technician” Brendan calls him. That doesn’t even begin to cover it though, he’s probably the most technically gifted, well balanced, graceful player in the league not named David Silva or Eden Hazard. He just glides about the field with his little twists and turns and changes of direction, and he’s great with either foot. Just a proper fucking footballer.
In a relatively low key first half it was Lallana who provided the most hope with his great feet and clever link up play with the likes of Coutinho and Sterling. It felt like he was involved in everything we did. Not that we did much mind, it was all a bit laboured. We started brightly enough but when we didn’t score early it turned into a bit of a slog. Lambert had the best chance when he controlled a perfect pass over the top by Skrtel but shot straight at Foster. The keeper was miles off his line and it was crying out for the chip, but players who are low on confidence tend to not try that sort of thing. He’d have buried that chance last year I’m sure.
He was starting instead of Mario, which was probably the right decision providing it was just a case of resting Balotelli and not dropping him to send some kind of message. Rodgers has been giving some mixed signals about Mario this week so who knows what he was thinking. It felt like he was throwing him under the bus to me, picking on the easy target if you like, but giving Lambert a start made sense as we really need to try and get him going. Sadly it didn’t work. He needs a goal badly, and the sooner the better.
The crowd were starting to get a bit edgy the longer the first half went, so the timing of Lallana’s opening goal couldn’t have been better. What a goal it was too, it had class written all over it. It was a goal so fine it wouldn't have been out of place in last season's fixture between the sides.
It’s funny because around ten minutes earlier I found myself thinking back to a goal he scored for Southampton last season when he just slalomed his way into the left side of the box past four players before finishing. I don’t even know why I was thinking about that, but it felt pretty weird when he then produced something eerily similar. The only difference with this one was he played a one-two with a team-mate (lovely flick by the imperious Hendo) on the way through.
He’s so good in those situations though that I’d be encouraging him to go at people any time he’s around the box. Defenders hate players who can do that to them, so I’d be telling him to do it three or four times a game. I guess the key is getting him in positions when he can do it. Having a player capable of moments of magic like that should certainly help when we’re faced with packed defences, and hopefully there’s more where this came from. Sterling had done something similar earlier on when he dribbled into the box past about four players, but his shot was blocked by a defender who knew nothing about it.
The goal settled us down and I felt we were in complete control in the second half until we gave away that stupid penalty. First, Manquillo’s slack pass put us on the back foot, but we had enough men back to deal with it and it shouldn’t have been a problem. Lovren had no need to dive in on Berahino but he’s been doing that all season for whatever reason. Maybe he’s trying too hard to prove he’s this dominant defensive badass he was billed as when we signed him, but he just needs to calm the fuck down and stop being so reckless.
That said, it was clearly outside the box and even I could see that from the other end of the ground. My seat is level with the Kop penalty area, so if I can see it’s outside how come neither the ref nor linesman could? Poor, poor decision that. Berahino was never going to miss the pen, we saw against ‘Boro that Mignolet’s penalty save on his debut against Stoke was sadly not a sign of things to come; he’s actually a bit shit when facing pens isn’t he?
That goal sucked the air out of Anfield. It was just massively deflating and the danger was that we’d start feeling sorry for ourselves and maybe even go on and lose. Thankfully that never happened, the players responded well and it wasn’t long before we were back in front. Sterling initially wanted a penalty after he was bundled over in the box (for what it’s worth, I didn’t think it was a pen) but he immediately got up and then cut the ball back to Henderson whose precise side foot finish found the bottom corner.
There’s no finer sight in football than a Hendo goal celebration and this one didn’t disappoint. It might be the best knee slide I’ve ever seen, it went on forever and left two big track marks on the pitch. Bravo son. Along with Lallana he was the best player on the pitch by a mile, those two were top drawer.
Rodgers then made a double change, bringing on Balotelli and Johnson for Lambert and Manquillo, and then sent on Lucas for Coutinho to shore things up and see the game out. Interestingly Lucas didn’t partner Gerrard, it was Hendo who sat in with him and the skipper went further forward. To good effect it should be said. He linked well with Balotelli especially (who I thought was very good) and maybe that’s something we’ll see more of moving forward.
The third goal wouldn’t come despite us creating several presentable openings (if not clear cut chances), and that ensured a nervous finale. With so many late goals conceded of late there were always going to be nerves but we saw this one out pretty well in the end and rarely looked as though we would concede, although that was perhaps as much down to West Brom’s lack of firepower as anything.
As I said though, getting the win was all that mattered, and that’s going to be the case for a while longer until we find our legs again. Lallana is making a big difference to us and Moreno has also added something to the team. I like him a lot but he is definitely over-eager at times. Charging around closing people down is generally a good thing, but you have to know when to stop and seeing him completing a sixty yard charge by closing down the keeper when we're protecting a 2-1 lead had me shaking my head a little. You're the fucking left back, you don't need to be doing that! Top marks for enthusiasm, but let's try and channel it a little more wisely in future!
The other new boys have been a bit hit and miss (and that's being kind) but should hopefully get better, especially when more established players return and take some of the pressure of them.
Looking ahead we should have Sturridge and Allen back by the time we play again, and both will have (hopefully) had a couple of weeks of training to get ready for an immediate recall. With QPR and Hull coming up next (Madrid is sandwiched in between but honestly I could not care less about that right now, I’m all about the league) there’s a great opportunity for us to pick up six points and then see where we are after that. If we can add points and slowly but surely improve the performances then the sense of panic some of us have been feeling will hopefully begin to dissipate.
All long journeys begin with a small step, and hopefully this win gets us back on the road to where we need to be.
Team: Mignolet; Manquillo (Johnson), Skrtel, Lovren, Moreno; Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho (Lucas); Lallana, Lambert (Balotelli), Sterling:
Recommended Comments