What did I miss? III

Yes, another catch-up article!

Apologies for the wait but this time my Internet decided to play up and I was without access to the World Wide Web from Christmas day onwards. I guess it gave me time to enjoy a relaxing Christmas and visit relatives. I hope you also enjoyed the festivities and have a smashing new year.

Anyway, the traditional annual Boxing Day fixture- surely one of the best dates in the footballing calendar- saw Steve Kean's struggling Blackburn side visit Anfield on the back of a 2-1 derby defeat at home to Bolton, their eleventh of the season. The Reds were therefore expectedly to comfortably collect all three points with a minimal amount of fuss, however yet again Liverpool dominated the contest at Anfield but failed to secure the win, instead having to settle for their sixth home draw of the season, which is the highest number of home draws in the League.

Kenny Dalglish paired Suarez and Carroll up front while skipper Steven Gerrard returned to the Reds' bench. Following a low-key start, Suarez had two attempts in quick succession. First, he drilled into the side netting from an acute angle. Then, the number seven's nimble footwork created a goalscoring opportunity that he curled wide left footed.

The best opportunity of the half arrived on the half hour mark when Enrique's dangerous centre from the left fell invitingly for Carroll; whose instinctive prod goalwards from close range was excellently tipped around the post by the on-form stand-in stopper Mark Bunn. The unlucky Carroll then had the ball in the back of the net but was denied by the linesman's offside flag. The away side were rescued by the offside flag for a second time soon after as Bunn brought down Maxi in the box but no penalty was given because the Argentine was deemed offside, despite TV replays suggesting he was at least in line with the defence when he met Downing's clever reverse pass.

To make things worse, on the stroke of half time Blackburn netted with their first attempt at goal. Morten Gamst Pedersen's right wing corner was inadvertently diverted into his own net by Charlie Adam, leaving Dalglish's side 1-0 down and Anfield shocked into silence, which was only punctured by the small corner of celebrating visiting fans.

It was frustratingly typical of our home games this season. Liverpool dominated proceedings, controlled possession and created numerous chances yet failed to score the all-important first goal and ended up heading in at the interval inexplicably in deficit.

Thankfully, the Reds immediately responded and levelly quickly after the restart. When Blackburn failed to clear a Liverpool corner on 53 minutes, Skrtel capitalised by lofting the ball to the back post, where the unmarked Maxi nodded home from close range. It was Maxi's fourth goal in nine appearances this campaign, which is a fantastic scoring rate considering his position as a winger and the fact that he has spent the majority of his time occupying the bench. Surely he must deserve an extended run in the side.

In the ascendancy, Liverpool continued to search and probe the Blackburn defence for a winning goal. It wasn't until a certain Steven Gerrard was introduced with 20 minutes remaining, though, that the hosts really began to batter their opponents and seriously threaten to steal all three points. His first touch was a fantastic free kick, which Maxi headed just over the bar. Suarez then nodded Johnson's in swinger just off target and Carroll shaved the base of the post when he directed Enrique's cross goalwards.

Despite coming under pressure late on, Rovers had one excellent opportunity to shock the footballing world and claim a stunning victory 10 minutes from time. David Dunn danced into the box and appeared destined to score but fortunately he ran into ex-Everton forward Yakubu and lost his footing at the vital moment, eventually shooting inches wide and spurning a glorious opportunity to claim the headlines.

That draw, coupled with a goalless stalemate at Wigan, left Liverpool with a mere two points from matches they were expected to collect six from, thus raising the pressure on the Reds to beat Newcastle last night and end a stifling pattern of drawing matches they should win in front of their own fans.

Jose Enrique, Andy Carroll and Craig Bellamy all started against their former employers while Henderson and Downing, who used to play for Newcastle's rivals Sunderland and Middlesbrough respectively, began on the wings. Once again, the Reds controlled the opening stages and threatened their opponents' goal. Agger strode into the Newcastle half in trademark fashion and flashed a shot across the face of goal, Adam struck over from 25 yards and Krul denied both Carroll and Downing, all inside the first 20 minutes. Typically, though, Liverpool's encouraging play was not rewarded with a goal and, in fact, the Barcodes broke the deadlock mid-way through the half when Daniel Agger diverted Taylor's cross over his own goal line under pressure from Demba Ba.

Fortunately, Liverpool levelled almost instantly, as Bellamy drilled into the bottom corner from 12 yards out to net the equaliser and his fourth goal in four matches versus the side he used to play for. Bellamy was involved again soon after as Skrtel, similarly to his goal at Villa, flashed a header across the face of goal from the Welshman's corner.

As against Blackburn, the second half- and the match- swung on the introduction of Steven Gerrard, who replaced Charlie Adam on the hour mark. He almost immediately crafted a glorious chance as he picked out Carroll unmarked in the box with an incredible pass. Lamentably, Carroll's first touch was simply shockingly bad and the chance was squandered. Nevertheless, Bellamy bagged his second of the night with a 30-yard free kick that sailed through a crowded box of bodies and into the net. Skrtel was then required to make a brilliant goal line clearance to keep the Reds' lead intact, before Carroll nearly compensated for his earlier error by rattling the bar with a towering header from Gerrard's cross.

Frustratingly, it just wasn't going to be the Geordie striker's night. However, the evening clearly belonged to Steven Gerrard, who capped a superb second half display with a world-class finish to put the outcome of the contest beyond doubt. Unbelievably, Stevie found the net with a left footed finish from a ridiculously tight angle after latching onto Henderson's clever pass.

Liverpool played out the final ten minutes in complete control and saw out the victory, moving into fifth place, level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea, who have a game in hand.

Examining these two matches, a number of similarities have emerged. On both occasions Kenny Dalglish was facing sides he had previously managed. Both matches saw Blackburn and the Barcodes take the lead against the run of play thanks to an unfortunate own goal after Liverpool had dominated possession and peppered their opponents' goal. Thankfully, the Reds equalised soon after in both games and Steven Gerrard came off the bench to claim the man of the match award with two outstanding cameo displays.

Fortunately, there was one crucial difference. Against Newcastle, unlike versus Blackburn, Liverpool took their chances. On Boxing Day, Liverpool found the net once from 27 shots. Yesterday, although only firing a total of 16 shots, the Reds scored three, which is a rare feat considering the last time we found the net more than twice in a game was at the end of August.

Liverpool will now look to carry the confidence generated from this win into their clash away at League leaders Manchester City on Tuesday. More importantly, they must improve their home form next year and have more scenarios similar to the entertaining Newcastle match and fewer like the disappointing Rovers game.

YNWA