 |
| I was in Liverpool today for my birthday and made a visit to the Hillsborough memorial, a child's Newcastle T-Shirt on the gates was very touching to see... Image: My Camera |
Brad Jones was in goal once again as Pepe Reina missed out through injury and the three S's, Suso, Sterling and Suarez were there to provide Liverpool with some attacking nous.
The first half started positively for Liverpool, there was a lot of control and possession was maintained with ease. Sterling was causing problems for Newcastle whilst Suso and Suarez had a few attempts at goal early on.
Unfortunately for Liverpool, they seem to be stuck in a rut at the moment and despite what looks like a good performance we just can't take our chances. With no goals to show for their efforts Brendan's boys were looking happy to go into half time at 0-0 and perhaps discuss their options to even further apply the pressure on Newcastle but Yohan Cabaye had other ideas.
The French player took a lovely strike catching Liverpool and more importantly Brad Jones off guard and sent his side into the lead.
Suarez in the first half for Liverpool was very active but once again, with so much reliance on the forward if he isn't finding the back of the net as well as working his socks off then we're in trouble.
Just after the hour mark Liverpool made a substitution bringing on Jonjo Shelvey for Suso. Immediately after this, the Reds had found an equaliser and what a goal it was!
Luis Suarez, the man, the enigma showed what true skill he holds after controlling the ball whilst on a pacey run into the box, with his shoulder. He took the ball down perfectly and then with a slight dink to make sure Krul was out of the way he slipped home a simply sublime goal in front of the Kop.
It was sheer class. People may dislike Suarez and in a way I can sometimes see why but I'll never understand why people fail to discuss his brilliance, he's a pleasure to watch in the Premier League and I just can't get enough!
The goal now put Liverpool in with a chance of finding another one and taking all three points at home but Newcastle certainly weren't going to roll over and allow that to happen. Another sub for Liverpool after 70 minutes saw Downing replace Sahin and the Reds now had just over 15 minutes to find a winner.
Just after 80 minutes the task ahead was made a bit easier when Coloccini was sent off after a dangerous challenge on Luis Suarez. In all honesty, it's probably a debatable red card but Suarez didn't even have the ball and although contact was minimal the intent certainly looked there to me.
The gap left by Coloccini provided Liverpool with a bit of hope as the clock ticked down but the home side just couldn't find themselves the goal they needed even after a late free kick was nearly turned in.
The thing to focus on for me today was the way that our goal was scored and no, surprisingly I'm not talking about the skill of Suarez. It was route one, the passing and possession is lovely and if you can make it work then fair enough but you need to be big enough to realise that at some stages within a game you are going to need a plan B. For me, Andy Carroll was that plan B, we've had all the ball for most of the game in several fixtures this season but when the goal is missing teams see their chance to attack and once they take a lead we're out of ideas.
Carroll wasn't the most prolific, we know this but he was the trick up our sleeve. We need a goal, sod it, chuck Carroll on and get it on his noggin.
I don't mean to moan but it's just not working well enough at the moment, granted this is all a working progress but we can't keep relying on Suarez and I'm sick to death of people talking about possession stats as a positive when we've drawn or lost a game. I've said it before and I'll say it again, possession means piss all if you aren't scoring goals at the same time.
Next up for Liverpool is Anzhi on Thursday night.