Liverpool secured a thoroughly deserved three points yesterday after beating Sam Allardyce's Blackburn Rovers 2-1 at Anfield.
All three goals came in five frantic second half minutes, as Jamie Carragher's seventh Premier League own goal removed the one-goal advantage gained after Sotiriois Kyrgiakos had headed his second goal in only three games.
Thankfully, Fernando Torres quickly restored our lead with a neat finish to claim his fifth goal in four matches against Blackburn. A tense finale ensued, however we managed to hold on to collect only our second victory of the season.
The atmosphere before kick off was electric as Gerry Marsden sung a stirring rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" to welcome representatives of NESV, who were sampling the famous Anfield match-day experience for the first time.
This pre-match optimism was immediately transferred to the pitch, as the home side dominated the opening exchanges, creating numerous goalscoring opportunities.
The Reds went close after eight minutes when Torres fed Maxi into space in the box. Joe Cole turned the Argentine’s cross goalwards however Robinson made a good save to deny him. The rebound fell to Meireles but he could only fire his effort wide of target when well placed.
After that, a great pass from Lucas picked out Carragher storming down the right hand side. Unfortunately, Carra's cross was headed wide by Torres, as the Spaniard's search for that elusive goal continued.
On 17 minutes Gerrard's corner from the right was powered towards goal by the head of Kyrgiakos, forcing Paul Robinson to pull off a fantastic one-handed stop. The following corner, this time from the left, was cleared to the edge of the box by Blackburn. The ball fell to Maxi, who blazed over the bar.
Liverpool had been the early pacesetters, pressing forward immediately and pressurising the visitors from the start. In fact, it was only the expertise of former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson that kept Rovers in the game.
Pepe Reina was finally called into action mid-way through the first half, however that was only to pluck a Blackburn corner out of the air before releasing Steven Gerrard forward on a swift counter-attack.
Encouragingly, the midfield stormed forward in support, with Lucas spreading the play out wide to Meireles after receiving the ball from Gerrard. The Portuguese then squared an intelligent pass back to the skipper, who's brilliant first time effort was thwarted magnificently by the on-form Robinson.
It was an excellent counter-attack from the home side, as the midfield surged forward speedily to join in the attack, something that has been missing from our play so far this season.
The onslaught continued as Torres' shot was blocked before Meireles thumped the ball goalwards from the edge of the box. His shot slammed into Salgado's head, leaving the former Real Madrid right back grounded and Liverpool with yet another corner kick.
The Greek flicked Gerrard's corner on at the near post to Lucas, who did well to head just over the bar from close range as the ball was slightly behind the Brazilian, making it difficult for him to convert.
In injury time Liverpool should have taken the lead, as Gerrard whipped a delicious ball into the corridor of uncertainty between the keeper and the defence. Astonishingly, Maxi failed to connect when a single touch would have led to Liverpool taking a one-goal lead into the interval.
The first half had felt like the Benitez era, where we regularly dominated games at home to lesser sides, creating many chances and yet failing to claim all three points. Whilst it was certainly a welcome change to the dull, defensive rubbish served up so far this season, the fans remained anxious.
We really needed a goal to remove anxiety from the crowd, allowing us to play more good football and increase our lead further.
Fortunately, Liverpool fans didn't have to wait much longer because, only three minutes after the restart, Kyrgiakos rose to power Gerrard's corner home via a deflection off Olsson.
Liverpool's barnstorming start to the second half continued, with the home side pouring forward and winning another corner on 50 minutes. Gerrard's quickly taken set piece found Maxi, whose header was well stopped by Robinson.
Kyrgiakos was then barged out of the way as he tried to reach the loose ball, before it eventually fell for Maxi once again. Robinson came out on top for the second time though as he blocked the winger's strike.
There were loud claims for a penalty for the push on Kyrgiakos, however those fell on deaf ears as Rovers rapidly counter-attacked through Diouf. Konchesky attempted to clear the much-maligned striker's effort off the line, but he only succeeded in cannoning the ball against Jamie Carragher.
The ball then depressingly found the back of the net after deflecting off the vice captain. Although Diouf had not actually scored the goal himself, his ferocious celebrations only added yet more anguish to the despondent and desperate Hodgson.
Liverpool had battered Blackburn for the vast majority of the match and only managed to score once. Rovers on the other hand equalised with their first attempt on goal.
The injustice seemed unfathomable.
To the relief of most inside Anfield, Liverpool instantly responded through Fernando Torres, as the Spaniard finally ended his goal drought. Joe Cole chipped a beautiful ball into the six-yard box and Torres was there to neatly tuck the ball inside the post.
From then on Liverpool laid siege on the Kop goal, with Kyrgiakos meeting another Gerrard corner with his head. This time though his effort bounced into the ground and then over the bar.
Joe Cole's shot was then blocked as Liverpool searched for a third to seal the victory.
For the last 20 nervous minutes the home side retreated, looking to hold onto their lead as opposed to extending it further. This led to Rovers pushing forward and becoming increasingly threatening, despite no sign of this forward thinking emerging throughout the proceeding 70 minutes.
On 72 minutes Benjani was inches away from reaching a dangerous cross, before Olsson blazed high over Reina's bar less than ten minutes later.
The final moments were closely fought, however the Reds held on to a vital victory with Rovers failing to fashion any serious openings as Reina remained relatively untroubled.
This was by far our best performance of the season.
Torres seemed interested and involved in the action, Gerrard was instrumental and frequently bombarded the Blackburn box with some excellent corner kicks and Kyrgiakos was a constant menace in the air.
Most significantly, the midfield were all more than happy to bomb forward and join in the attack. Lucas, Meireles, Maxi and Cole all demonstrated their attacking abilities while also contributing to our defensive effort.
Although confidence should be taken from what was a much-improved display we must not go overboard with our optimism.
We are still in the bottom three.
We have still only collected nine points from nine League games.
And we are still nowhere near the level we should be at.
A victory during a barren run will inevitably be well received, however we should always beat the likes of Blackburn at home, arguably by more than a single goal.
With Bolton and Chelsea on the horizon the Reds must perform to a similar standard over the next two weeks otherwise we will be pulled into a relegation dogfight.
And those are words I never imagined I would be writing a full nine weeks into Liverpool's Premier League campaign.
YNWA
No comments:
Post a Comment