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Liverpool‘s first victory at Anfield, since thumping Chelsea back in May, may probably have been one of their least impressive performances in the entirety of this season. Liverpool beat Reading 1-0 on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Merseyside, with Raheem Sterling scoring his first ever Premier League goal after being set-up by Luis Suarez. It was a long time coming for Sterling, as he has been classy and efficient ever since booting the abysmal Stewart Downing out of the team, and also had several chances to open his account in the build up to the goal. It wasn’t an usual dominant Liverpool performance as we’ve come to expect for so long, but there are several reasons for that.
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What exactly were the main talking points from Rodgers’ first victory in the EPL at Anfield?
Luis Suarez needs protection and help
A few weeks earlier, BR claimed that the controversial Uruguayan is often targeted by referees and decision go against him due to his well-documented altercations in the past. The Reading game was an excellent example of this situation, as Suarez seemed to have been legitimately brought down by Kaspar Gorkss. As Suarez hobbled off the pitch, Liverpool supporters were worried and heaved a huge sigh of relief when Suarez entered the pitch for the second-half. Just imagine if Suarez had been injured!
Despite all the good passing work from the midfield, despite all the flair of Johnson and Sterling, Suarez is still the cutting edge of Liverpool. He had an excellent game, creating a galore of chances for his team-mates, only for them to fumble at the final hurdle. He had several chances too, but was denied on occasion by Alex McCarthy and few of them were off the mark.
Sterling – Johnson axis
The majority of the plaudits will go the excellent pairing of Sterling and Johnson on the left-hand side of the pitch. Johnson, the undoubted Man of The Match, is fostering a telepathic partnership with the 17-year old and was a constant nuisance to Reading, rampaging down the flanks with authority and opening up the visitor’s defence with authority. Unleashing a few shots of his own, Johnson was unlucky to be denied by McCarthy and definitely deserved a goal for his contributions.
Sterling got off the mark in the EPL, breaking through after an exquisite ball from Suarez. Another thorn in the Reading defence, he ran rings around the Reading defence before cooling off eventually. Sterling has been Liverpool’s breakout star and arguably the EPL’s best youngster, and can only improve. He’s been lacking in the finishing department, and did well to get that monkey off his back. As seen on several occasions, he still has much work to do in that area, as he took far too much time on the ball in several situations inside the box, undermining the work of the likes of Suarez and Johnson. But that will improve as his body continues to get accustomed to the rigours of Premier League play, as he possesses an impressive goal-to-game ratio for the youth team and could become the scoring midfielder Liverpool desperately need.
Continued profligacy
It just wouldn’t feel right to discuss Liverpool’s games, without bringing up an issue of much controversy that must be factoring in a lot of sleepless nights for Rodgers. Until the goal, you just had that feeling. That feeling. Of ‘same old, same old’.
The Liverpool faithful were looking an wearily as the likes of Sahin, Sterling and Suarez missed a butt-load of chances. The same inevitable feeling rang around the stadium and TV sets of all watching, the feeling that Liverpool would screw the pooch at the final hurdle everytime they entered the box. Twenty-seven shots tell a familiar story, with only seven on target, while nine were blocked before reaching McCarthy.
The commentator said, ‘Liverpool have had enough chances to win seven games’! While I’m not sure if he exactly said seven, it was something along those lines!
Like I mentioned previously, Suarez needs help from the midfield and cannot shoulder the goalscoring burden on his own. This time around, Sahin and Sterling stepped up to the task rather admirably, and personally I would like to see Gerrard penetrate more, despite being planted in a deeper role. Suso too took a few shots, but was denied by McCarthy, who had an excellent game between the sticks.
International burnout was evident
The main reason why Liverpool’s performance dipped after half-time was due to several players having played twice for their countries over the last two weeks, and Luis Suarez had to struggle in the high altitude of Bolivia’s La Paz, an infamous stadium, located some 3600 m above sea level. With a goal scored, Liverpool dialled it down, allowing Reading a share of the possession, which had been previously so very hard to come by.
The international break has generated much controversy in this regard, and was pretty much expected. At least Liverpool didn’t lose the plot and hand the game back on a silver platter to Reading.
Overall, several positives can be picked up from the match. Liverpool are a pretty exciting team, and scoring seems to be their only real problem. They also kept their second clean sheet in a row, with Brad Jones filling in admirably for Pepe Reina and doing a solid job. He dealt tremendously in several situations, and proved that Liverpool do have a reliable back-up.
