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Desperation Only Increases

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Originally published on LFCOnline.com website.

The Reds started another league fixture flat and slow, spluttering to a frustrating 0-0 draw against Hull City at Anfield.

Brendan Rodgers altered the side in an attempt to successfully navigate the third of seven matches in 21 days. After the masterclass in precision and professionalism Liverpool received at the feet of Real Madrid midweek, the home crowd was hoping to see their side recover against the Tigers. Yet, this match always looked like two mid-table teams slogging away in an anaemic attacking display.

Hull City controlled things from the opening whistle for nearly the first 10 minutes. It forced Liverpool onto the back foot and unable to get on the ball or a foothold.

After Liverpool won a corner in the 10th minute and Dejan Lovren’s header was cleared off the line by Ahmed Elmohamady, the Reds started to warm into the contest. Moments later, Sterling worked a nice turn to find Balotelli on a diagonal run right of goal, where the striker lashed a laser shot on-target, forcing a save. It was well-worked and well-struck but a tight angle.

In the wake of that chance, supporters began chanting and urging the players’ performance. For a time, Liverpool’s defensive press surged with greater urgency. As they saw more of the ball, the pace of play started to increase on the attack as well. Yet, there were far too few opportunities of quality for the rest of the half.

Despite improving play, Liverpool continue to look like a side with too many players unclear of exactly what they are supposed to be doing. Lack of certainty about individual responsibilities, indecisive runs, lack of awareness where teammates are likely to be continued to amplify the collective anxiety and hesitation. Add to that touches that lack in required sharpness, everything seemed a struggle. With far too much frequency, balls were played just sightly off the mark, too soft, too high, or too late. It all contributed to costly delays, allowing Hull to close down and pressure the ball with even greater strength and effectiveness in dulling Liverpool’s attack.

Emre Can struggled to make an impact, after returning bravely from an ugly early ankle turn. Javier Manquillo was routinely caught high up the pitch. Both Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana were accordingly muted and Balotelli continued to go missing for stretches and push far too much when he was involved.

The malaise and lack of clear cut chances continued to leave Liverpool looking increasingly desperate. So much so that every time a player fell over too easily in the area it seemed to nullify any potentially proper penalty call. Twice in the first half Neil Swarbrick looked the other way, once early and once late.

In the eighth minute, Sterling was barged over from behind in the right corner of the penalty area and the assistant referee pulled him up for his subsequent reaching out and grabbing the ball with his hand on the fall.

In the 36th minute, Lallana broke free scrappily in the left side of the area and was brought down with a late challenge, after barely flicking a cross over the goal mouth.

As the first half closed, Hull regained control. Jake Livermoore had a shot from a snap pass by Hatem Ben Arfa, who had slipped and benefitted from Liverpool’s defense switching off with three minutes left to play.

Liverpool’s return to the way they began the game found them late and chasing, as Hull looked lively with a sequence of clever layoffs that finally found Tom Huddlestone slashing a shot that was deflected for a corner. Ultimately, it was unthreatening and generally symptomatic of Liverpool’s play.

The second half began with no changes for either side and a similar listlessness. As the match advanced, Hull settled into the away side spoiler role, repeatedly challenging with late tackles, many due to Liverpool’s own poor passes. However, the toll sapped and compounded the lack of fluidity for the home side.

Neither goalkeeper was truly challenged for two thirds of the match. Then, in the 61st minute, Philippe Coutinho and Rickie Lambert entered the match for Joe Allen and Adam Lallana. The changes enlivened Liverpool, with Coutinho making an almost immediate impact with his quick one-touch passes and clever runs.

In the 64th minute, Gerrard sent a corner kick to the near post that Can flicked to the far side, where Balotelli was crashing to the net but missed the header entirely. In fact, Balotelli’s frustrations nearly boiled over multiple times in the second half, as the frustration felt by both him and fans intensified. Playing as a single striker has not aided his floundering form and the addition of Lambert up front turned the match in Liverpool’s favour.

Pressure began building, as the Reds probed, and finally pinged passes around the pitch. Lambert showed some composure, holding up the ball and laying it off with greater strength and touch. Hull struggled to regain possession and the Anfield faithful once again rose in songs of support, desperately urging the Reds forward for a deadlock-breaking score.

In the dying minutes, Liverpool tried to oblige, but it was never meant to be. In the 88th minute another potential penalty was waived off, when Balotelli was pushed from behind in the box. While it would have been a soft penalty, it illustrated how many decisions the referee did not make, but even more just how desperate Liverpool as a team have become to score goals.

In the final action, Gerrard nearly found his way through a blockade of defenders in the box, Coutinho miraculously hung onto the ball atop the area, firing a shot, but both efforts resulted in mere corners kicks.

The two combined again to free the Brazilian on the left, racing into the box. He passed to Balotelli, who in an near repeat of the QPR ending, tried to flick in a winner, but Eldin Jakupovic was equal to it.

Frustration and questions continue to mount with little relief and few answers. No goals were conceded but neither were any scored. Ultimately, Liverpool struggled against a mediocre team in mediocre fashion. Rodgers continues to tinker but cannot seem to find a side that clicks. In most matches this campaign at least one player has been clearly off their game. This match saw multiple muted performances. Despite Rodgers’ suggestion that they deserved three points the desperation only increases.

A Half Step Is A Gulf Too Wide

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Originally published on LFCOnline.com website.

The supporters were buzzing around Anfield in full voice for a beloved European night, chanting and urging them home.

Yet, despite the opening 20 minutes of a high tempo and aggressive pressure Liverpool were undone by the tournament’s defending champions Real Madrid.

The opening 20 minutes of the match were more than encouraging for the Reds. A frenzied pace and persistent pressure characterized Liverpool from the opening whistle. Within the first minute Jordan Henderson put a marker tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo, suggesting what kind of night might be in store. However the Merseysiders could not find a finish to capitalize on the hungry start.

Real Madrid patiently waited for their chance to gain some possession, despite Liverpool preventing them from finding any kind of rhythm. After the initial phase waned, the Reds found passing out of their half more difficult. The pace of the game slowed slightly, allowing Madrid half a step more when on the ball.

That half step would prove enough. For in the 23rd minute, Ronaldo drifted inside and started a sequence of play that included passing to James Rodriguez, before driving hard right through the middle of Liverpool’s defense. Rodriguez then chipped a sublime ball, beating five players, including splitting the center halves, back through to Ronaldo. From there, Ronaldo picked it on the bounce and spun a class finish to the far post, beyond an outstretched Simon Mignolet. It might have seemed against the run of play, but that was all it would take.

Madrid grew stronger with the goal. The visitors started to take control, possessing and probing the Reds defense, pinning them back in their defensive third. Liverpool tryed to maintain their shape, but were unable to maintain the high press against the pinpoint passing of the Madristas.

In the 30th minute, Karim Benzema doubled the away advantage, beating Glen Johnson in the air from a deep diagonal Toni Kroos cross. Essentially unchallenged, the Frenchmen climbed high and delicately looped a header up and over Mignolet, descending into the far back corner of the net. It was another class finish from the Spanish giants.

With a second goal, Real Madrid settled into cruise control, swarming defensively initially and fouling any hint of penetration from the Reds. Kroos’ yellow card for knocking Raheem Sterling off the ball before posing any genuine threat in the 35th minute illustrated Madrid’s level of tactical nous and confidence. Liverpool were too easily defused.

Liverpool were nearly exposed again, playing a high defensive line and allowing Ronaldo a chance to get in behind. Instead, Johnson surrendered a corner. Liverpool’s inability to defend set pieces was cruelly exposed again. Benzema pounced on a loose ball in the box from a corner kick in the 41st minute for his brace. Conceding another corner, this one was the result of three Madrid touches in the box before it found the back of the net. At 3-0 down the match was essentially finished.

A couple of minutes later, Joe Allen nearly found the far post from a quick Mario Balotelli cross, but Ilker Casillas flashed a glove and could have reached it, but did not need to as it was always hooking wide.

Then, in stoppage time, Philippe Coutinho nearly got on the scoresheet, rattling a shot off the far post from distance in the final seconds of the half. In many ways, the moment illustrated the night – a half chance from distance that could not be finished.

The second half was far less eventful, apart from Mario Balotelli getting substituted at the break in favour of Adam Lallana. The attacking tempo and quick passes returned in Balotelli’s absence. Apart from a few more half chances, the Reds may have been able to get on the ball but could never pose much genuine threat. Madrid dropped into game management mode.

Ronaldo nearly had a brace in the 64th minute, when he pulled down Benzema’s cross and was in one-on-one with Mignolet. However, the keeper got a foot on the shot deflecting out of play.

As the game wound down, the Anfield crowd rallied their voices again in an attempt to raise the home side, which was wracked defensively and in serious need of confidence. Granted the overcoming the Galaticos was always going to be a big ask, but the Reds are reeling presently and desperately in need of solutions that seem just out of reach.

There were some positives but not enough of them to counterbalance the sheer quality of the ten-time European Cup winners. Coutinho looks closer to his former self. Sterling clearly remains the Reds best player on the pitch. Meanwhile, Lallana will make more of an impact as the season continues. Even newcomers, Emre Can and Lazar Markovic showed that their futures are bright. Still, it does not seem enough, nor does the potential look to be realised as quickly as needed.

Balotelli being pulled at the half, after another display plagued by poor decisions and ineffectiveness, only highlights the precarious lack of positive moves available. Brendan Rodgers will need to secure another league win against Hull City this Saturday in the hope of salvaging belief.

Patience, already in short supply, will only become more strained if Liverpool cannot find a way to grind out results against mid to low table teams. The danger of falling too far off the pace is real in this current crucial run of fixtures. Thoughts of how early it still is in the season can simply no longer apply.

Liverpool Steal One at Loftus Road

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For the first fixture in arguably the most critical run of matches for Liverpool this calendar year, the Reds steal a desperate and undeserved 3-2 victory away against bottom-dwellers Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road.

The Reds began in remarkably lackluster fashion, looking very much like a side struggling to find their form and showing the wear of playing with increasing desperation. In truth, Liverpool needed all the luck they could gather to win with all the frenzied action happening from the 90th minute and stoppage time with three goals inside four minutes.

To their credit, Queens Park Rangers established themselves early. In the third minute, the Hoops created the first chance of the game when Bobby Zamora held off Dejan Lovren at the top of the penalty area, chesting a ball to an onrushing Charlie Austin who overhit the shot high into the stands. Then seconds later, Rangers sent a long diagonal free kick that Zamora headed into the area from the right side.

While neither chance prevailed, QPR’s tactics were clear. They would control possession for most of the first half, targeting Jose Enrique on Liverpool’s defensive left side, threatening with ariel service, and controlling the match. In combination with Liverpool’s poor play, these were early themes that would characterize the entire match. Looking up from the bottom of the table inspired far more fight in the home side.

Rangers would create three genuinely strong chances to the Reds one near opportunity in the first half.

Nine minutes in Charlie Austin benefitted from poor Reds defensive passing, as the ball ricocheting around the final third, fell to him freely breaking behind and into the box where Simon Mignolet stood strong, stopping the initial shot but giving a rebound, which a falling Austin could not finish.

In the 28th minute Leroy Fer ripped a clearcut chance off the crossbar, overhitting a cutback cross from Zamora who had broke into the area again on the right with pace and strength.

Six minutes later, poor defensive passing helped Fer hit the crossbar again, this time from a header, which touched off a mad scramble in front of the Reds net. With Mignolet caught off the line, Austin and Sandro collided on the line and Glen Johnson was able to steward the ball out of danger.

Only in the dying minutes of the first half did Liverpool nearly snatch one, when Mario Balotelli threaded a ball to Steven Gerrard, who plowed forward into center of the area, finding a half yard to shoot, and bending one just outside the far right post. It was by far the best chance of the half for the Reds.

The second half began all square and scoreless, much as the first, with Liverpool chock full of errant touches and unlucky bounces, while QPR looked to press every advantage for an opener.

Two minutes into the half, Liveprool again failed to clear defensively and Sandro drove a wicked, low drive across the face of the goal from the right, forcing Mignolet into a strong, stretched save.

It took nearly two thirds of the game before Liverpool looked like they were even in the match. They began to string together some brighter sequences of play, before QPR’s Sandro had to be treated a subsequently substituted by Armand Traore.

In the 61st minute, Baloteli missed an absolute sitter from fortunate run of play. Raheem Sterling penetrated, looking for Balotelli, when Adam Lallana became recipient of a deflection and shot. The rebound landed right in front of Balotelli five yards from the frame where he missed very, very badly, in Torres-like fashion. It was one of many signs that the Italian is feeling the pressure and not perceiving it as much a privilege. He looked more jaded in the match than any he has played in red.

In an attempt to try and take control of the game, Brendan Rodgers sent Philippe Coutinho and Joe Allen on for Lallana and Emre Can respectively. Both were immediately lively, with Coutinho threading passes that threatened to give the Reds and attacking advantage. Sterling too seemed to respond, finding another gear and some graft to begin opening up QPR’s defense.

Sterling’s pace and intelligence would be rewarded after he was fouled just outside the box on the right and quickly restarted play to Johnson. Benefitting from a QPR side that was completely switched off, Johnson drilled a low and hard cross into the box which a slowly recovering Richard Dunn deflected in for an own goal.

The goal seemed to breathe even more life into the Reds, who started to find a bit more pace and punch in their attack.

Then in the 85th minute Traore would preview what was to come, pouncing on a ball floating in the Reds’ defensive third from a series of weak headers, he found Mignolet equal to the task for another strong save.

No less than two minutes later, in what seemed a near repeated sequence of poor clearance headers, QPR’s substitute  Eduardo Vargas had a ball fall to him inside the six-yard box that couldn’t be missed, as he smashed home the equalizer.

Yet the Reds countered with a mad break, started by Sterling, who found a surging Gerrard, in turn, who slipped the ball to Coutinho on the left of the area. Coutinho darted centrally, beating two and got a favorable deflection on his shot that spun into the side of the net.

It looked like the winner.

However, moments into stoppage time Liverpool conceded another corner, which served only to highlight just how poor their defense had been in the air and on set plays. None other than Vargas beat every Red to the near post to flick a header home and equalize again.

Within seconds of the restart, Liverpool nearly found another winner from a desperate rush forward, but Balotelli could not find the net with his near post flick.

Then in the 94th minute, Liverpool mounted another break. This time Coutinho released Sterling, streaking behind the defense and looking to cross to Balotelli, but Steven Caulker reached out in-stride and knocked in an own goal in the dying seconds. Liverpool received another most fortunate gift.

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. Still, Lady Luck is a fickle female and while she seemed to reward the visiting side, certainly Mario Balotelli has only received scorn. This was a match the Reds should have lost, potentially triggering the entire campaign coming off the rails, but, they escaped with three points and moved five rungs up the table.

Just how fortunate they were cannot be dismissed as they prepare to face European giants and defending Champions League winners Real Madrid midweek.

No shortage of questions can be posed to Brendan Rodgers, but to be fifth in the Premier League after playing as poorly as they have for so long, with all the contributing factors, has to be taken as some measure of encouragement.

Nevertheless, answers cannot come soon enough. Nearly every player was looking to give Balotelli his first goal, almost to devastating effect. The sooner he and Lambert break ducks and Sturridge returns cannot come soon enough for a team scrambling to stave off a crisis.

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