A poor display from the back four, who have been the bedrock of the side so far this season, cost us dearly as mistakes in defence could be cited as reasons for conceding all three goals. Mark Davies strolled through the middle of our defence to bag the opener, before Eagles was allowed far too much time to play in Reo-Coker, who duly dispatched the ball beyond Reina unchallenged from close range. Bellamy pulled a goal back before the break, however quickly after the restart Steinsson swept home Bolton's third to quash any hopes of a Red recovery.
Daniel Agger, Craig Bellamy, Andy Carroll and Maxi Rodriguez all returned to the starting line-up as Liverpool looked to extend their winning streak at the Reebok Stadium to five straight games. Unfortunately, the visitors started slowly, conceded early and consequently never appeared likely to take anything from a game they were expected to comfortably collect all three points from.
Only three minutes in former Reds striker David Ngog flicked the ball into the path of Mark Davies, who dribbled right through the centre of our disorganised defence and stabbed a low effort into the bottom corner of the net.
Moments later Jose Enrique, a renowned and reliable left back, lost possession to Chris Eagles in the left back position. The Spaniard desperately tried to recover however the former Manchester United youth team player muscled past him and flashed a threatening shot across the face of goal. It marked the end of a worrying start for the away side and, in particular, their defence.You know your defence is off form when Jose Enrique is struggling.
Liverpool were almost offered a route back into the contest after 27 minutes when Charlie Adam's free kick into the box struck Carroll and bounced against the hand of Zat Knight. Frustratingly, referee Kevin Friend refused to point to the spot, despite TV replays showing that Knight moved his hand towards the ball, indicating that it was an intentional offence and a penalty should have been awarded.
To add insult to injury, Nigel Reo-Coker doubled Bolton's lead on the half hour mark. Inadequate midfield cover gave Eagles plenty of space to pick out the 27-year old, who ghosted past the Reds' defence and into space, where he finished past Reina from close range. It was another example of the hosts taking advantage of some woeful defending from the Merseysiders, who were outclassed throughout the first period.
Nevertheless, Craig Bellamy, as he has so often this campaign, gave the away side a glimmer of hope heading into the interval, latching onto Carroll's flick on, beating the Bolton defence for pace and then delicately slotting past the out-rushing Bogdan and into the net to reduce the arrears. There was still time for Bogdan to stop Gerrard's left footed drive but Bolton ended appropriately in the ascendancy, Martin Petrov's strike bringing out the best in Reina after David Ngog went down easily under a challenge from Adam.
The second half began as disastrously as the first. Five minutes after the restart Steinsson restored the home side's two-goal cushion, reacting quickest to sweep a low volley into the corner of the net after former Middlesbrough centre back David Wheater had headed Petrov's deep corner back across goal.
Liverpool's attempt to mount a comeback was pitifully poor. Kuyt and Downing replaced Maxi and Adam respectively on 65 minutes but they added very little to our attack and we never really looked like getting back into the game at any point. Carroll was virtually anonymous as he continued to struggle to recapture the form he displayed for Newcastle that led Kenny Dalglish to splurge a whopping £35 million on him. Twenty minutes from time Daniel Agger struck one of his trademark drives from distance goalwards, watching his shot clip the top of the cross bar and fly behind for a goal kick. The effort was typically impressive from the Danish centre back, however it failed to inspire a resurgence from the Reds and the game petered out to a disappointing conclusion. In the closing stages Eagles went close with a shot that deflected inches wide of the woodwork, but by that point the game was over as a contest.
With massive cup matches against Manchester City and Manchester United coming up soon, there is no doubt that some, if not most, of the players had at least one eye on next week's fixtures. It has never been the Liverpool Way to do that though and the most important match is always the next one. The Reds neglected that principle and paid the price.
We can only hope that this performance was so bad that it sparks a reaction on Wednesday evening and Saturday lunch time that sees us advance past City to the Carling Cup final and into the 5th round of the FA Cup at the expense of their local rivals.
YNWA
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