West Bromich Albion came to Anfield full of confidence, who had won three times in seven days last week. Liverpool’s disappointing start saw them drop to the bottom half of the table. This game was a must win for Liverpool, to get back on track and to get that confidence back.
Balotelli got dropped for Lambert, making his 550th league appearance – a very impressive achievement. Mr Beetroot man could of had an early chance but wasn’t fast enough too get on Lallana’s clever ball forward.
Liverpool got an early chance, with a set piece taken by Gerrard which fell for Skrtel. Unfortunately the Slovakian couldn’t convert. You could see Liverpool playing with real purpose, it was promising. Liverpool earned a couple of free kicks and corners in the first ten minutes, but the Red men couldn’t convert none of them despite a couple of decent deliveries.
Lambert again had a good chance to score, with some lovely individual skill by Lallana but unfortunately couldn’t get to the ball. Moments later Liverpool created another chance after some superb footwork by Sterling. Dribbling through West Brom’s defence and eventually taking shot, which got deflected… Went to Lallana but unfortunately he couldn’t convert after some superb keeping by Foster.
A few minutes later, Lambert had another chance thanks to a superb ball by Martin Skrtel, the born and bred scouser controlled it brilliantly but couldn’t convert. West Brom started getting into the game minute by minute, getting a few chances through set pieces but luckily, Mignolet had it covered. I was impressed with the Belgian, seemed more confident when the Baggies had a corner. The past two games (Vs Basel and West Brom) has seen him step up, let’s hope he can continue this form into the next games.
Source: liverpoolfc.com
After the half an hour mark, we saw a contested drop ball, thought I was in primary school for a second. Liverpool were the better team after the 30 minute mark, creating a lot of chances but unfortunately we weren’t being clinical enough. West Brom’s best chance was Berahino’s excellent shot which saw Mignolet make a good save.
In the 44th minute, Lallana got hold off the ball and his footwork…. His footwork…. Pure Sex. After he played a lovely 1-2 flick with Henderson into the box, and then he shoots…. GOAL. What a finish. Lallana has already become one of my favourite players at Liverpool, our most in form player getting what he deserves.
The half time whistle is blown, Liverpool 1-0 up and have been the better side. It was a good reaction after the loss against Basel. Personally, I would have put Balotelli on for Lambert, where we would switch the formation to a 4-4-2 (Diamond) with Sterling up front with Balotelli.
A minute after the second half kicked off, Gerrard out in a sweet low ball to Henderson who unfortunately couldn’t fully tame the ball. One thing we needed to learn, we’ll score goals from the ground, not crossing it into Lambert a million times.
West Brom got themselves a penalty, after Lovren tackled the Baggies player outside the box…. Yes… Outside. However it was a stupid tackle by Lovren, can’t dive into a man like that. Stupid challenge. Berahino stepped up, scored.
Minutes later, Manquillo put a ball into the box, it was blocked and went to Raheem Sterling in the box and got fouled inside the box. Raheem fell but went straight back up, passed it to Henderson. And the Englishman slotted it into the net. As always, Henderson produced a passionate and boss celebration.
We saw Balotelli come on for Lambert at around the 60th minute mark, Rickie produced an ‘okay’ performance. His work rate was brilliant, but other than that he didn’t offer Liverpool much. Getting into the right positions sometimes, but he couldn’t finish any of his chances. It was the first time Balotelli was in action after a Rodgers criticised the Italian. Could he make a statement today?
Source: liverpoolfc.com
Unfortunately he couldn’t with a goal, however I did feel he put in a decent performance. Nearly getting an assist for Sterling. We also saw Gerrard in the central role behind the striker later on the game – where he excelled in that position. Could it be a possibility to see him as the 10 more times this season? This could also see Emre Can be given opportunities as a defensive midfielder when he returns from injury. Maybe this could be our plan B if things don’t work, move Gerrard higher up – changing it up a bit, making it harder for the opposition… It’s going to be an interesting season for the Reds.
Source: liverpoolfc.com
Lallana and Henderson were superb today, Adam’s mesmerizing footwork to Henderson’s cheeky 1-2 flick… Those two caused chaos. We saw Henderson get his third assist and his first league goal of the season, and not only that, but we saw that Henderson was captain material. Showing support to Coutinho when he came off and the same too Lallana after he scored. He was even telling Gerrard what to do at one point, future Liverpool captain? I hope so.
Max
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Like your work lad, apart from “couldn’t convert none of them” haha YNWA JFT96