Job Dunne


It's a rare occasion when ten minutes of a match end up making the bulk of your match report but that's exactly what has happened after Sunday's eventual win over QPR. An own goal from Richard Dunne after an hour of play appeared at one stage to be the only difference between the two sides however mayhem would ensue within the final moments of the game, denying a gutted Harry Redknapp his second win of the season.

Liverpool began the game with a slightly unexpected XI after Brendan Rodgers opted to rest a few players with one eye on the Real Madrid fixture in the week. QPR opted for a 4-4-2 which has been a problematic formation for Liverpool's back four of late and nothing changed in this game.

The first half for the Reds was very lacklustre, we were quiet in attack and struggling to maintain possession, it almost looked as though the game plan was to "hope QPR got tired" (hold back your Sterling jokes!).

Balotelli alone up front was again poorly supported in my opinion and was never going to have a successful impact on this game, whilst many will know I am his biggest fan I cannot back him up after some points yesterday. Namely his miss in front of an open goal, I slapped my leg so hard after that I think I've bruised it! I just desperately want him to do well and for me, the abuse he is getting on social media is too far. We all like and dislike people and yes his miss was diabolical but how does lambasting him help? In the situation we are in I think he needs our continued support on AND off the pitch. There, I've got the "Balotelli" section out the way.

Back to the timeline of the game... QPR were creating all the chances in the first half, Charlie Austin in particularl caused issues for the Liverpool defence. It's no secret that our back four of any grouping has been very poor this season and once again travelling Reds were forced to hide in shame as the might of rock bottom QPR ran through the back line as if it wasn't there. I criticise Mignolet now and again but if he wasn't between the sticks yesterday, things would have been a hell of a lot worse.

Somehow Liverpool managed to plod on into the second half without conceding a goal, unfortunately they didn't look like they were going to score either. Until Richard Dunne decided to up his own goal tall of course.

The defender turned the ball into his own net after a quickly taken Liverpool free kick. The Reds had been extremely lucky at this point and to be fair, in games such as this a stroke of luck is usually what changes things but after such a poor display from Liverpool there was no way QPR deserved to have gone behind in such a manner.

Shortly before the goal Liverpool had brought on Joe Allen and Philippe Coutinho in place of Emre Can and Adam Lallana. For me, this changed the game immediately. Allen offered more balance in midfield whilst Coutinho's attacking flair gave a now tired QPR something to think about.

As time ticked closer to the game being over, the Reds began to create some sparks. If only they'd have approached the game in this manner from the off?! At 86 minutes however our dodgy defence reared its ugly head. A ball into the box was met by Vargas who converted to put QPR back into the game.

At this stage, having watched the whole game unfold, I would of happily taken a draw. Out of nowhere though a speedy break from Liverpool saw Steven Gerrard set up Philippe Coutinho, his shot with the help of a deflection put Liverpool back into the lead with just stoppage time left to go.

This was ridiculous, I was up on the sofa, this felt on a par with Coutinho's City goal only back then we were bloody brilliant and now I was just so happy that after all that shite we'd probably nabbed three points...

Two minutes later though and Vargas had wiped those precious points away. A header to the bottom left of goal broke Liverpool's hearts as they picked themselves up off the floor to restart play again almost certain they'd blown it.

But no! There was still time left for another kiss from lady luck for Liverpool. Another own goal after another quick break from the Reds saw Caulker turn the ball into the back of his own net. What's more annoying is that if Caulker would have left it Balotelli probably would have netted and maybe redeemed himself for that shocking miss?? Haha.

It was a crazy end to a frankly unexplainable game. We in no way deserved to win that game, our defence was all over the place we had no real flair until the substitutions were made, QPR worked hard and blocked us out only to fall in the final minute. But, that's football and as a Liverpool fan for the time being, all you're arsed about is those three points.

Then you sit down and realise that Suarez is never coming back, Sturridge is made of glass, Balotelli seriously needs to find the back of the net soon, your defence is patched together with a mish-mash of frankly average players and things just aren't looking good.

The thing that annoys me about the defence is that I'm convinced it's that they are not working as a unit, as lone players they are pretty good defenders in my opinion, especially Skrtel. They need to be drilled to perfection and I also think we'd be far better off with Flanno back! I'm no expert either but Skrtel and Lovren don't communicate correctly and for me this is because neither wants to succumb to the other, they're both barking orders when for me there should be one man in charge in the back four, you'd never get this issue with Carra.

Anyway, that's done and dusted. The sooner we forget about that and just be thankful that we won the better.

I asked you for your thoughts on the game and here are a few of the tweets I received:

Next up for Liverpool is the small matter of Real Madrid at Anfield... Game on?!?!
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Early warning, Real Madrid preview will be quite late as I'm at my placement 8-4 then at my Molineux job from 6-8 so please bear with me, cheers!