After a good start to the season for Liverpool it was off to Stoke for a very difficult away fixture. Liverpool last won away to Stoke in the League Cup in November of 2000, when they won 8-0. But Stoke have come a very long way from then. Stoke represent one of the toughest away fixtures in the season nowadays with their direct approach. Liverpool knew that they would have to battle hard and defend well to gain anything from this game. But Liverpool have more options now to combat any team with their business in the summer, and with their confidence high.
THE TEAM
Dalglish only made one change to the side that beat Bolton, with Martin Skrtel coming in for the recovering Martin Kelly. Skrtel’s height would be advantageous for defending Stoke’s long ball approach. Adam joined Lucas again in the centre of midfield after missing the Scotland game midweek. Suarez and Kuyt led the front line. Liverpool had a strong bench too, with new signings Coates and Bellamy keeping Carroll, Spearing, Maxi, Doni and the fit again Johnson company.
THE MATCH
Liverpool started the match well, taking the game to their hosts, and Suarez came close twice inside the first four minutes. Then Skrtel teed up Suarez on the edge of the box from a corner, but his effort was blocked. Liverpool were totally in control in the early stages, but then in the 21st minute Liverpool were stunned when Stoke took the lead via a penalty.
A through ball into the Liverpool penalty area saw Carragher and Walters come together as they challenged for the ball, resulting in the Stoke man hitting the turf. Referee Clattenburg pointed to the spot without hesitation. Walters himself, smashed the ball past Reina giving Stoke the lead totally against the run of play.
Moments later Kuyt’s cross was flapped by Begovic falling to Suarez but his half volley was superbly blocked by Shawcross. Liverpool kept up the pressure with Stoke getting numbers behind the ball. Skrtel blazed an effort over from the edge of the box, and then Suarez turned brilliantly in the box but his shot was easily saved by Begovic as the first half ran out.
Liverpool started the second half the way they ended the first, with Lucas having a shot deflected wide after a great move. Then on 61 minutes Enrique sent Henderson through on goal, but his first two efforts were saved by Begovic before his third was blocked by Shawcross, then Adam was thwarted by Wilson and then Begovic as Stoke’s goal lived a charmed life. Dalglish sent on the cavalry in the form of Bellamy and Carroll for Henderson and Kuyt. Bellamy looked lively instantly and linked up with Suarez who’s shot was deflected behind.
Then Liverpool took a short corner on the right which Downing cut into the box from but he shot wildly over. With time running out Liverpool felt aggrieved when Upson looked to have handled a cross which resulted in Suarez seeing a yellow card for protesting too strongly. Then in the last minute former Red Crouch went up with his goalkeeper Begovic and the ball fell to Suarez just inside the box but he shot agonisingly wide of the post. It really was amazing how Liverpool failed to score in this game and they will go home very frustrated to lose this match.
SUMMARY
I couldn’t believe Liverpool lost this match with the chances we had. I thought the way we restricted Stoke to only a few corners and corner kicks proves how well we played and how well Kenny’s tactics worked. I just felt it was one of those days where nothing went for us. OK Carragher was caught wrong side of Walter but that is one of the softest penalties you will see all year, if anything Walter fouled Carra initially before Carra put his arm across him, but Walter went down so easily. The referee is getting a lot of stick, and like I say he got the penalty wrong and I felt he could have gave the Liverpool players a bit more protection with some of the tackles the Stoke players were producing, but he must have left most of his cards at home. We had a few appeals for penalties but I thought they would have been soft too. Only criticism of our team was we passed the ball poorly at times with Adam in particular guilty. But overall we played well but lady luck wasn’t smiling, so we can take a lot of positives away from this match if not any points.
Man Of The Match – Lucas – I thought he was superb once again, passing superbly and breaking up so many
Stoke attacks, tremendous work rate.
written by Jamie McLaughlin website at www.anfieldnews.com
This continual moaning about the Stoke penalty is ridiculous. Carragher should be dropped, he is a goal start to the opposition these days away from home. The lack of goal power in the squad is horrendous. The 3-1 win at home to Bolton is seen in perspective now after United’s 5-0 win at Bolton. Suarez made a mess of the chance at the end but he is going to get increasinly teed off with having to be the chief goalscorer and the playmaker in the final third of the pitch. Dalglish’s failure to get some serious goalscoring strikers in before the window closed was a disaster. The squad is full up of players who admit that they don’t score many goals but will create chances for others, therein lies a big problem for the club. Fourth place is starting to look a forlorn hope already. The team needed to hit Stoke with an early goal yesterday but made the usual cardinal error of allowing Stoke off the hook. Kuyt,Bellamy and Carroll are quite simply not serious options as goalscoring strikers. How many more fullbacks are we going to lose to hamstring injuries, it is all caused by the fact that the team cannot push up too far because Carragher is so slow and therefore the likes of Kelly and Johnson have further distances to run up and down the pitch. In the Spurs game, Carragher should be dropped, he always screws up at White Hart Lane. In the game last year before he went off injured Spurs equalizer came down his side of the defence, he could not cut out the low cross and Skrtel could not avoid putting the ball past Reina. In the previous year Bassong outjumped him for Spurs second goal. In the year before that he scored an own goal. Carroll is an appalling waste of money and this signing will cost Dalglish his job. When one thinks that City paid only 3 million more for Aguero. Dalglish’s ridiculous moaning about referees bias is embarrassing. Liverpool have been awarded several dodgy penalties down through the years and never complained about them. Dalglish should remember Joe Fagan’s old motto that you never give the players an excuse to lose. He should also remember the saying that you make your own luck. We kept hearing about Charlie Adam’s freekick prowess but as yet has he scored one direct freekick?
Talk about going OTT. Only one defeat in a game we dominated and as for no goalscoring power Suarez, Carroll, Bellamy, and Stevie G to come back. Shut up you muppet. It’s people like you that puts pressure on managers. The king knows what he’s doing. Ding!
What are you talking about? Suarez,Carroll and Bellamy to come back? Suarez cannot be both the main goalscorer and playmaker in the final third. Carroll has been back since the start of preseason and he looks even worse then last season. Bellamy is over the hill and even in his prime never scored many goals. Gerrard is so injuryprone that he is not going to be a realistic option. If the king knew what he was doing, then LFC would not have lost 2 points at home to Sunderland and 3 points at Stoke.
Hey, have you seen the match, we Liverpool fans, want to see our team plays like that and that is the reason why we don’t have a problem
in losing a match at Stoke. You are not supposed to comment on a EOTK articles because it is meant for Liverpool fans alone, U better search for a man city or Chelsea blog. Because u cannot be a Liverpool fan, U sound a lot like a Arsenal fan who recently turned to into a Man. city fan.
If you are happy with losing that game, then you are a joke as a LFC fan. I have been a LFC fan since 1977, I remember when LFC used to win league titles and not be content with finishing 4th,5th,6th or 7th. My question to you is what year did you become a LFC fan?
You sound just like a chelsea supporter kenny. The only valid point you made in that entire rant was that carra should be dropped. Since your so high on aguero after 5 goals against less than class opposition maybe you should just go ahead and plant yourself on the city bandwagon you muppet. Go walk somewhere else my footy team will never walk alone!
Aguero has scored 6 goals. You talk about his goals against poor opposition, one of his goals came against Spurs who LFC are playing next Sunday. If LFC somehow won would you say that victory came against poor opposition? If LFC lose against what you call poor opposition what would you deduce from that defeat about where the club is going? You talk about the teams Aguero has scored against, but yet LFC failed to beat Wigan home or away last season. Do you call Sunderland formidable opposition? and if so how do you explain their crap start to the season? Were you a fan when LFC last won the title in 1990 and if not how are you qualified to judge how far behind the club is in relation to the likes of the top 4?
Wow, you sound like an arsenal or west ham fan or something kenny, gunna start booing the team off? For a start you couldnt have aguero for just 3 mill more as he gets paid 7 mill more a year, which over his 5 contract would cost 35 million more than carroll, which is obviosly quite a difference. Charlie adam might not have scored from a free kick but he has 2 direct assists from his set pieces (suarez against sunderland and skirtel against bolton). Seen as we’re 1 point off fourth and have looked much better than chelsea, arsenal or spurs i wouldnt really say fourth place is looking a forlorn hope. And you could put the bolton result into perspective by sayin city only won 3-2 the week before we played them, but it’s not really relevant anyway, chelsea drew 1-1 at craven cottage last season and we put 5 past them a few weeks later, does that mean we were the far better team last season? I despise negative fans who think they know better than professional managers.
Do you include in your list of professional managers Souness,Evans,Houllier and Benitez? I seem to remember all of them being shown the door by LFC. You mention the Fulham game, Danny Murphy admitted after that game that Fulham had nothing to play for in that game and therefore were not putting in a full 100% effort. You talk about Aguero getting 7 million more a year, but yet a certain injured captain is getting paid 7.8 million a year and has contributed nothing since last November in return. It is time Gerrard’s contract was terminated. That wage should be used in January to help bring in another quality striker like Suarez.
yes i do include those four managers, and you’re right that they were shown the door by LFC. I do not think they were the best managers ever but i would never act as if i could manage a team better than them. I can’t see how you’re point about gerrard has any relevance to what i was saying about the cost of aguero, and whats to say gerrards last operation hasn’t sorted his groin problems? if it has fixed his groin i think it would be very affective playing him up top with suarez in the same way he played with torres in 08/09 when gerrard had the best season of his career. ive seen that you questioned whether dalglish knows what he’s doing in one of you’re replies to someone else, which is just ridiculous seen as how much better we have been since he took over. The main point i was trying to make anyway was about you’re negative attitude after a game that was clearly a case of “just one of those days”. Why don’t you try getting behind the team instead of moaning about the club you claim to support.
You are one incredibly naive person. You should realize that the majority of the players do not give a damn whether the team wins or loses. Even in his prime Gerrard was never a big goalscorer in the Premier League and the level of movement required to link with Suarez will be too much for a player like Gerrard who is past his prime. Gerrard has still not done the commonsense thing and announced his retirement from international football, he still wants to have his cake and eat it. Gerrard and Carroll’s wages equal 210 grand a week, Aguero’s weekly wage is 200 grand. This rubbish about getting behind the team as the Stoke game was ‘just one of those days’ is ridiculous. Stoke are a poor team but yet it was clear that Dalglish and the team went to Stoke more in hope then expectation of getting a good result. Considering how rubbish the club was in Benitez’s last season and Hodgson’s half season, Dalglish did not have much a standard to compare his tenure with.
Hey, have you seen the match, we Liverpool fans, want to see our team plays like that and that is the reason why we don’t have a problem
in losing a match at Stoke. You are not supposed to comment on a EOTK articles because it is meant for Liverpool fans alone, U better search for a man city or Chelsea blog. Because u cannot be a Liverpool fan, U sound a lot like a Arsenal fan who recently turned to into a Man. city fan.
I don’t think it would require too much movement, with suarez finding and creating space and gerrard picking holes in defences, just like he did with torres like i said. Naive or just not a moaning pessimist? Im not blaming the referees for the loss, my “one of those days” was because i just think on a another day with that dominance, we wouldve put 4 or 5 past them.
And the brittania is one of the hardest away games in the league, we looked far better than chelsea did the other week when they drew there. I also think that the majority of the players who weren’t bothered have been shipped out now, suarez especially will win at any cost, i don’t even think he’d let his toddler win a game of hide an seek with him he’s that competative. I don’t see why you’re so against getting behind the team, weve seen first hand in the last 2 years that moaning only makes things worse.
I love Liverpool but it has to be said that these kind of matches rarely happen to the likes of scumchester but regularly happen to us… This just shows that some more perspective and patience is required. We are still lacking consistency and potency but I strongly believe we will get there.
You are deluding yourself. There is not enough goalpower in this squad and that is Dalglish’s fault. It is clear that he signed Carroll in January without any clear idea as to how to blend him with Suarez.
Id like to mention a few things about the loss to Stoke. Firstly, the grass was a bit long therefore slowing the game down and we could not play our pass n move game with a high tempo.Coupled with their physical presence we could only attack by going out wide and hope for a good cross. Then they had tall defenders so that really was a no hoper. Very cunning indeed. Secondly, Shawcross, yes i did make fun of him when rumours flew that Roy wanted to sign him, but he’s a really really damn good defender, he blocked everything and didnt put a foot wrong.
Dear mr. Kenny
Absolutely loved your writing. Will take a print of this and make sure that when the team starts scoring again, wins some matches on
A trot.. Carroll scores a few… Then I will courier this print to you… So that you can EAT YOUR WORDS..LITERALLY!!!
If Carroll was going to score goals it would have happened by now. He has neither the ability or the desire to make it at Liverpool. The fact that he still has that ridiculous ponytail and is clearly overweight shows that instead of working during the summer to get fit for this season he decided to drink himself silly with the likes of Wayne Rooney.
Haha if that’s what’s going on then it clearly hasn’t effected Rooney too much
Haha if that’s what’s going on then it clearly hasn’t effected the Roo too much
Wierd, said comment failed, was testing if you had a manc filter ;D
But rooney has 8 goals its all about desire
Not one word about 17 Mil Henderson. He hasn’t looked comfortable on the ball once this year. He needs a taste of the bench so he knows he’s not always an automatic starter…..Stevie for hendo
i thought he looked comfortable on the ball all game against bolton. Not saying he’s brilliant but he’s only 19 and has shown little bits of what he will hopefully be able to do consistantly in a year or 2.