Liverpool weathered the storm on a ghastly Monday evening in Wales, eventually coming out 1-0 winners after somehow keeping Swansea out despite a lacklustre first half performance. The winning goal was a rare slice of fortune: a clearance deflected off the shin of Jordan Henderson, and the ball looped over Fabianski and in. While not exactly a glorious victory, the win (amazingly, given our start to the season) leaves Liverpool just four points off second.
It was immediately apparent that we weren’t going to be treated to a vintage Liverpool performance. Swansea were playing a very effective pressing game, and this was prompting multiple errors from Liverpool players. We were sloppy in possession and Daniel Sturridge looked extremely isolated when we did get forward – it was one of the worst first half performances Liverpool have put in this season, and certainly the worst in 2015. It was Swansea creating all the chances, and had they not been so wasteful then they could have been two or three up at half time. Ki in particular wasted a good chance, heading tamely to Skrtel when presented with a golden opportunity just outside the six yard box. Mignolet must also take some credit – as he has done so regularly since his upturn in form, he bailed out our defence with a couple of exceptional stops.
Other than Mignolet, the only performance of note in the first half was Allen. He was the only outfield player who looked up for it, and made a couple of key tackles as well as multiple positive passes. Lallana was abysmal at wing back and only marginally more effective when moved to the centre, Can’s performance was summed up when he got totally destroyed by the skill of the prodigiously talented Neil Taylor and Sterling was largely ineffectual. Coutinho also struggled to influence the game, but that was largely thanks to the failure of his team-mates to create some space for him with their movement.
Source: liverpoolfc.com
Still, somewhat predictably, the hosts weren’t able to keep up such a high press for the full 90 minutes. Around the 55 minute mark the Swans started to ease off a little but, and Liverpool were consequently allowed to play the more expansive, exciting football we’ve grown accustomed to in recent weeks. Sterling really came into the game, getting forward a lot from the wing back position he had taken from Lallana and demonstrating some nice skill at times. His final ball was lacking, with a couple of pull-backs only picking out a Swansea defender, but he did at least get us on to the front foot with a lot of positive running. Allen continued to dominate, playing some wonderful passes and maintaining a staggering work rate. Sturridge still didn’t look quite at the races, but in fairness it was his lovely piece of improvisation that led to the only goal of the match. He dummied a ball that had been intended forwards for him, allowing it to run through to Henderson. The stand-in captain (at least until Gerrard replaced Moreno a couple of minutes prior to the goal) then struck lucky, watching on as Amat’s attempted clearance struck his shin and looped over the keeper.
Liverpool then had enough about them to see out the remaining minutes fairly comfortably. Indeed, they almost added a second: a quick counter attack led to the ball reaching Sturridge in the box, whose cheeky curling shot smacked the post. Fortunately it didn’t matter – the whistle went moments later, and Liverpool got the three points that moved them into within just four points of second place. After the abysmal start to the season, this is frankly mind-blowing. We could finish in the same position as last season. Let that sink in. Of course, there’s still a lot of work to do, but the fact we can even discuss the possibility shows what a turnaround there’s been at the club. We’ve closed the gap on City from a staggering seventeen points at the turn of the year to a meagre four now. Perhaps more importantly than this, we’re also only two points off United in fourth. We play them on Sunday in the knowledge that a win would move us into the Champions League positions. Hopefully we can put in a better performance than the one we saw last night, but ultimately all that matters is that we get the same end result: a win. If we can maintain our excellent form (five wins from our last five!), there’s no reason at all why a Champions League place, and possibly even as high as second, can’t be achieved. As well as being the key to Europe, a top four finish would be a solid foundation upon which to push on from for next season – hopefully next time out the squad will be able to fulfil their capabilities and launch another title challenge.
James Martin
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