Early birthday present for Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool progress in the FA Cup

Brendan Rodgers turns 41 today and he will be pleased that his side managed to collect a win against The Cherries after a somewhat difficult start. Bournemouth got the better of Liverpool in the first half but eventually the experience shone through for Liverpool and the Reds got the job done.

The starting line up consisted of Daniel Sturridge, Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard and so it was clear this was a competition being taken very seriously by Rodgers who could have easily rested players with one eye on Tuesday night’s Merseyside derby.

Bournemouth began the game in a very confident fashion, home advantage obviously played to their strengths and for a long time the Liverpool defence looked as though they were trying to deal with a Premier League attack, not a forward set up from Bournemouth who are 16th in the Championship.

Initial efforts from Surman and Pugh for the home side missed the target but The Cherries were still putting Liverpool under a lot of pressure and in certain periods it looked as though Liverpool would have to chase the game. At 25 minutes though, the Reds were presented with a chance.

An assist from Luis Suarez set up Victor Moses who was placed to the left of goal, his right footed effort found its way past keeper Lee Camp and into the back of the net. The Reds perhaps didn’t deserve to be in the lead at this stage and so it was a relief for Brendan Rodgers’ side when they found the goal.

The goal however did not decrease Bournemouth’s efforts with forward Lewis Grabban having two chances in quick succession after the Liverpool goal. Despite the imbalance in attempts, Liverpool did manage to see it through to half time and they would need to reassess if they wanted to avoid a replay or worse!

The second half began with neither side making substitutions and Bournemouth would immediately be involved in a moment of controversy. A shirt pull from Martin Kelly in the box was blatant to the viewer at home, I’m not sure what the referee made of it but Bournemouth for me were unlucky not the receive the spot kick. As many have said at that stage in the game, the end result could have been very different but I still feel the presence of Suarez and Sturridge would have eventually paid off. It’s definitely gutting for Bournemouth fans though who had watched their side play so well and be denied the peno.

In the second half Steven Gerrard also received a booking, I wouldn’t usually note something like this unless it was serious but he wasn’t half going off on one! Very unusual for him, he’s usually pretty calm and to see him screaming his head off was both funny and disappointing.

Three minutes after the booking and Liverpool had netted their second of the game. The Reds were now beginning to take more control and a lovely assist from Luis Suarez who knew exactly where his team mate was allowed Daniel Sturridge through on goal. His right footed shot gave Liverpool a cushion and the Reds now looked likely to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Attempts from Surman and Grabban in the second half once again had Liverpool fans worrying but thankfully their accuracy wasn’t up to scratch.

Three substitutions close together later in the second half failed to make much of a difference for Bournemouth who had played very well but failed to score.

It may not have been in a very tidy fashion but Liverpool had made it through to the fifth round and thankfully managed to keep the Bournemouth attack out. It could have been an embarrassing scoreline for Liverpool who didn’t look like a Premier League team for a large portion of that game.

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

Next up for Liverpool is Everton on Tuesday night, I can’t wait for this one!