Tag Archives: Champions League

Liverpool Lost?

Posted on by
Reply

Originally published on LFCOnline.com website.

Liverpool continue to miss opportunities to lessen the burden of struggle and slide deeper into a hole that now can only be described as a troubling trend.

A poor defense, poor attack, poor performance leaves Liverpool 0-1 losers to FC Basel in Switzerland.

A victory at Saint Jakob-Park would have offered Liverpool some serious breathing room in their Champions League group, while building confidence, and relieve mounting pressure on the side. Yet, the Reds continued to flounder, lacking creativity, threat, and pace, relying far too much on Sterling and playing far too predictably.

Within the first minute of the match, Liverpool surrendered the first of eight corner kicks, rendering  flashbacks of past weeks. However, a quick and steady clearance helped fuel a counter attack sequence that began with Mario Balotelli pulling a long forward pass down and finding Javier Manquillo racing down the right flank, getting behind the defense, and firing a low, hard cross to Raheem Sterling. Only after Sterling slotted home his own rebound off left post was it clear that he was offside.

The match came to a standstill a few minutes later as Behrang Safari injured himself and had to be substituted. The stoppage did Liverpool no favors, blunting any thought the Reds might mount an early, sustained blitz. Derlis Gonzalez replaced Safari, and Basel switched to three at the back, with Gonzalez operating in the midfield. Basel would come to dominate the midfield

In the 13th minute, Simon Mignolet made a poor decision to pass weakly,  straight up the middle to a centrally located Gerrard, who was immediately pressured and lost the ball, which ended up at the feet of Streller who slid wide of the central defense for a half chance that was smothered for a corner. The combination of bad decision making and weak execution would be a theme for the evening.

For much of the first half, Basel laid tracks down the right side continually turning Jose Enrique inside out before faltering in the final third. The frequency and ease with which Basel was able to work the ball down that flank highlighted just how exposed Liverpool’s defense has looked of late.

Apart from a corner in the 43rd minute that Dejan Lovren nodded down to the turf, where it bounced soft and high to Basel keeper Tomáš Vaclík, Liverpool’s attack was lackluster and repeatedly offside.

After the break, it was much the same until the 51st minute. Basel’s Ahmed Hamoudi found acres of space on left, angled into the penalty area, and drove a hard strike to the near post, forcing a strong Mignolet save.

A minute later, Liverpool surrendered an easy goal from another disastrous defending display on a set piece. Martin Skrtel failed to clear a Basel corner, somehow getting the back of his head on it and sending it down and on goal. Mignolet awkwardly swiped it right into the path of Basel’s captain, Marco Streller, who pounced and roofed the ball into the net.

Not until the 61st minute did Liverpool really look like equalizing. Balotelli blistered a swerving free kick that handcuffed Vaclick and rebounded to Lazar Markovic whose shot deflected out fro a corner.

At the 70 minute mark Adam Lallana replaced Phillippe Coutinho. Five minutes later, Liverpool created another half chance, hesitations and all, when Balotelli found Lallana breaking inside, who slotted the ball to a free Sterling in the penalty area. Sterling , however, was smothered before he could even release a shot on goal. It was arguably the Redmens’ best chance of the night and it was snuffed before it provided any real test.

Away from home in the Champions League, Liverpool were punished for another poor performance. Basel was prepared and positive enough to make Liverpool pay. From that point, defending Liverpool’s impotent attack remained far too easy and the Swiss champions leapfrogged the visitors in the Group B table.

Heading back to England for league play, Liverpool looks lost, lacking identity, intensity, and inventiveness. While the return of injured players will likely help, it remains to be seen if they will provide the kinds of solutions needed for this sputtering side. The away win at Spurs looks more and more like an anomaly, as this squad is clearly nothing close to last year’s team.

Reds Salvage a Win in Return to Europe

Posted on by
Reply

Originally published on LFCOnline.com website.

After a five year absence, Merseyside finally hosted a long-awaited European night in the Champions League.

Anfield was clearly buzzing with anticipation as the Reds hosted little-known Bulgarian champions Ludogorets. Yet the crowd would have to wait for a flurry of action in the final minutes to see Liverpool salvage a 2-1 victory.

The match started some pace and urgency for the first few minutes before fouls started to slow things slightly. It only took six minutes before the first yellow card of the match when Aleksandar Aleksandrov tripped Raheem Sterling on the left touchline ending a potential break.

With the early energy and anxiety yet to burn off, Liverpool pressed hungrily to regain possession whenever they lost the ball and looked to get forward quickly in the early going. However, classy touches were in short supply until things would settle.

Ten minutes into the match Alberto Moreno streaked down the left flank, penetrating into the box before launching a cross well high and beyond the goal. It was indicative of most early crosses overhit with the surge of Champions League circumstances. Still, Moreno began well, routinely overlapping Sterling, to lash crosses into the penalty area.

Fifteen minutes in Liverpool had a half chance as Adam Lallana found Mario Balotelli centrally in the penalty area with his back to the goal. Unfortunately, his first touch left him wanting and the set-up was squandered.

Ludogorets would prove that there are few easy fixtures in the Champions League and gave the Reds an early scare as Junior Caicara worked a nice give-and-go and drove deep into midfield before sending a curling whipped ball in behind the Liverpool defensive line, just missing an onrushing striker Roman Bezak. It was the kind of splitting pass, straight through the central defense, that would nearly haunt the Reds. The visitors began growing in some confidence after that gaining some time in their attacking third briefly midway throughout he opening half.

In the twenty-first minute, Sterling lead a flurry of Red attempts with Balotelli breaking free at the top of the penalty area for a shot that deflected to Lallana who drove into the right side of the box, firing a shot that was saved before bouncing out to an offside Sterling. It was the first spark of Liverpool getting bodies crashing forward.

A few minutes later, Dejan Lovren nearly gave away what would have been a soft penalty, but Ludogorets by now had found some positive energy to carry them forward with al little more intent. Having not capitulated to the early Liverpool press, and helped by a spell of poor passing from the Reds, the away side showed resolve and refused to be intimidated but he occasion or the ground.

Despite surrendering a handful of corners, the Reds defense looked strong defensively. Simon Mignolet, in particularly was taking command of the area and securing the ball with poise.

Perhaps the best attack of the half came in the thirty-seventh minute when Sterling released Phillipe Coutinho on the left side. Racing forward Coutinho found Henderson cutting into the box. Although Henderson could not find a shot, he found Lallana who pulled a quick shot that deflected back to him for a second effort only for it to be smothered by the defender, spinning out for a corner.

With the opening of the second half, Liverpool looked to move the ball with more purpose and intent,  but still lacked the quality of the final touch to spring any clear cut chances, much like their weekend stumble against Aston Villa.

As second half settled, Ludogorets looked more and more at sitting deep, blunting attacks with tactical but not reckless fouls, and then counter with pace down the flanks. They continued to get at least eight men behind the ball and proved difficult to break down.

Despite a sustained push by Liverpool, in the 64th minute a quick Ludogorets throw nearly caught Liverpool, as Bezjak surged forward only to find the post after putting the ball passed a stretched Mignolet.

A couple of minutes later, Fabio Borini entered the match for Lallana and Lucas for Coutniho. The team shape would adjust as Borini would push higher to pair with Balotelli and Sterling slid centrally in the hole behind the strikers.

The match began to turn with less than ten minutes to go, beginning with Moreno streaking in for a match-winning challenge in the Reds box, then working his way to the other end of the pitch to cross an excellent ball into Balotelli who knocked it down and finished with a classy outside-of-the-foot flick  at the Kop end for his first goal as a Red.

Balotelli did give a ball away that started a Ludo burst forward until Lucas fouled to give a central free kick about 30 yards from goal.

Ludogorets swapped Svetoslav Dyakov for midfielder Fábio Espinho in the 82nd minute and Younes Hamza for Bezjak in the 86th.

In between the subsitutions, Balotelli pushed into the box from the left and unleashed a blistering shot that forced newly signed keeper, Milan Borjan, to parry, with Sterling unable to find the rebound.

In what seemed like the closing minute of the match, Caicara dispossesd Sterling just outside visitor’s the penalty area and found Hamza, who spuns and delivered a splitting through ball between Lovren and Mamadou Sakho. Ludogorets’ striker Dani Abalo slipped behind Lovren and had an easy time finishing as Mignolet madly raced out and into no-man’s-land, exposing an open goal.

Less than a minute later, Javier Manquillo’s pressed the Ludogorets’ keeper Borjan, along the right  edge of the box, into a desperate and poor challenge, winning a penalty. Gerrard ensured the win, slotting a penalty into the lower right corner.

Despite surrendering an away goal to the Bulgarians, Liverpool earned a victory in what could only be described as a scrappy and challenging match. The Reds still look like a side trying to find their way back to the swashbuckling form they exhibited last season, with fits and starts, but struggling to find the familiarity and fluidity needed to reduce touches and anticipate movements of teammates.

They certainly had moments of pinging the ball back and forth in the midfield, probing for depth and using the width, but they again struggled to find ways behind a disciplined, low, and retreating defensive block. It is a problem for which they will need to find a solution sooner rather then later to continue winning with consistency over a crowded cluster of fixtures.