BOURNEMOUTH started the game like there had never been a bigger league game for them. They were right to do so. Because there hadn’t. For 20 minutes they were all over The Reds, runners everywhere, one more man, one more ball. But it was 0-0 and they never quite made their huff and puff look like blowing Liverpool’s house down in any material way.
Spiritually though it was a bit of a blow. We’d turned up to see The Reds take flight but instead it was Bournemouth’s early football which was zipless, slick and determined to leave with no regrets.
But Liverpool played themselves into a game they could consider themselves fortunate to be level in. However, during the interval the feeling persisted that Liverpool should have got themselves out of sight. Bournemouth had been unable to live with them from the opener until the break but the lead hadn’t been extended. Liverpool looked an attacker light, Philippe Coutinho pushed high and asked to hang up there even out of possession.
There was general surprise in sunny Kaz Gardens when the team news broke that Liverpool were unchanged — Adam Lallana considered fortunate to keep his place with Jordon Ibe also thought vulnerable. The thought process was that Liverpool would look to get more proper attackers on the pitch. The expectation was that Roberto Firmino would start.
Sadly not.
RATINGS: Liverpool v Bournemouth
Instead Liverpool shook up the shape around Christian Benteke with Coutinho spending time right and Lallana more central with Ibe endlessly left. James Milner going where he was needed. First half everyone flitted around but Ibe was endlessly left. Henderson tended to hold making it that bastard of a shape 4-4-1. The shape where it feels like neither of the 1s gets quite enough support. Neither one thing nor the other.
Second half Bournemouth upped it, Emre Can came on for the captain and Liverpool lost the semblance of control they’d had. Correlation isn’t causation but Liverpool do appear to have a with and without Jordan Henderson vibe already. That said Milner gritted his teeth and must have given as much as 93 percent. More than he perhaps should have to against Bournemouth but the men from the South Coast had a loyal, loud support with dreadful songs and they had everything to give for it had never been bigger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ka9P5CkkOA
The nature of the game changed. No second goal meant things got nervy. Liverpool stayed reasonably solid and made a change that made clear the aim of the enterprise was the clean sheet with Alberto Moreno coming on. Firmino got told exactly what to do by Milner, Nathaniel Clyne didn’t need telling a thing.
But Benteke.
Benteke, goalscorer and number nine, occupying defenders, pushing them back, pushing them sideways. Pushing them. This was serious number nineing, the sort of thing we saw only sporadically from Sturridge last season, the sort of thing that had gone missing in these parts. He chased causes that had looked lost and made them found and yet it looked like his 7/10 performance. If he makes 15 home league starts I think he gets fifteen home league goals.
Let them be opening goals.
Opening goals are everything. Liverpool were twitchy but never nervy. Liverpool were concerned never panicked. Liverpool were leading never pegged back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8S_5E1sCJc
They saw it out. Bournemouth’s big day and three flurries. They saw it out, their captain going off injured. They saw it out, 90 minutes of intense football without giving a clear chance away.
Opening goals let you see things out. Lots of things can happen in a football match but most of them happen in 30-second bursts. Liverpool look better than they have in 12 months in 30-second bursts.
Two from 38. If Liverpool ever lose again they may well play better than that 90 minutes in doing so. It’s going to get both harder and easier.
Two from 38. When The Reds…. You know the rest.
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
A goal that was offside but counted for us and a goal for them disallowed that should have stood. Just to say that when we don’t get the breaks later in the season we can look back on the couple we had here.
Can always count on our soft fans to look for the negative slant.
Soft fans? More like soft players and soft manager. Get a grip.
Ellie: I only wrote two lines and you misinterpreted both of them. You wrote one line consisting of 13 words and managed to be entirely negative. Well done.
By way of putting a tin hat on it – the Premier League no less happen to agree with me on the offside shout.
http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2015-16/aug/210815-guidance-on-new-interpretation-of-offside-rule.html
Maximum points. Benteke seems to have everything you want to his game which is really brilliant because be arsed with footy ever again if he turned out to be another dud.
We were very lucky with the big decisions and to be playing that opposition on the night. We play that same side at Arsenal in that shape we’ll take yet another pasting there but whatever. Cross that bridge when we come to it.
Just a few thoughts:
It was a strange 90 odd minutes. They followed the text book of pressing us high up the pitch and putting pressure on our back two, who in turn put pressure on the supporting players around them. The positive from this was that Mignolet had an out ball in Benteke and we weren’t as penned in as we would have been previously. The negative aspect of this is that it meant that they dictated the tempo and decided where they wanted to win the ball. At times we were struggling to hold onto it as the swarmed into our attacking third and the middle of the pitch. Benteke was doing a fantastic job of holding up the ball but was struggling to find anyone around him – as they were too deep or too wide. On the width issue, I feel that Ibe needs a game or two out of the firing line, where he gets to come on as a sub under less pressure. He looks hesitant in his decision making. It isn’t helped by Gomez (who I think looked sound defensively) not offering much on the overlap or making inverted runs inside. He’s getting double teamed and he’s freezing in possession. Like the gents on TAW have said, he needs to take a Dirkish approach and take a chance on a late run to the back stick. It will happen for him eventually though.
Looking at our personnel (and our absence of actual wingers) surely a change to the diamond is worth a crack? I’m not sure that Joe Gomez is ready for that level of attacking scrutiny (yet) but I think that Moreno showed enough today and Clyne has been a revelation so far. I think that BR is trying to keep it tight in the opening games, take pressure off of himself and the team while building fitness. The diamond may produce more attractive football but there is nothing wrong with grinding out results.
Lastly, I agree with what Neil said on the Pink in that the further I got away from the game the more I felt that we weren’t as bad as I felt we were at the time. Strip away the emotion of the moment and think about the absolute core factors in a football match (goals obviously, but also chances and not allowing any) and we didn’t do that badly. There were some great chances for Coutinho, Milner and Benteke during the match. Apart from a well hit half chance by Ritchie I can’t think of much end product from the Cherries. I think they played well but flattered to deceive in the final third.
Anyway onwards and upwards you Redmen!
Two from 38. That’s 5.26% of the season’s Premier League games put to bed with 0 goals conceded. 6 points out of a possible 114 in 38 games — again 5.3% in the bag. It’s one challenge at a time, one game at a time.
I wish James Milner’s determined PASSION was a communicable air-borne disease that would sweep over the fan base. If only the fans had the depth of his focused belief — instead of choosing to go into every game with trepidation and doubt. Believing in something is the first step toward materialising it and bringing it to success. Anyone who’s ever tried to start and run a business knows this.
We were shtie, but I’ll take the win. 6 pionts and all that.
Big test for Brendan. We look better defensively but worse going forward. The task is to create a balanced, fully functional team, it’s one he’s failed to mater thus far.
Coutinho needs two ahead of him, Lallana, though he improved in the second half, is just taking up space. The moment he was dispossessed as the crowd roared ‘man on’ summed up his Liverpool career thus far.
Like, by far the best review I have read so far. Spot on.
I meant – Luke, by far the best review…
It’s a funny old game as someone once said. There were enough pluses to feel good about: Clyne is an upgrade on the latter day Johnson, Gomez is a terrific prospect, Benteke is not the dud some of us feared, Milner leads by example, the bench has some depth and of course 3 more points. However the worries remain. Both performances lacked any real fluency and slow, ponderous play was apparent for prolonged periods. For me it’s clear that for all its endeavour the midfield isn’t working, particularly in providing chances and getting enough bodies in the box. It needs a fulcrum to prompt attacks and shield the defence – Lucas anybody?
Anyway happy that we are unbeaten and that Rodgers is not getting battered, a manager under great pressure is not good for anybody. Arsenal will be a barometer of where we are and where we are going – looking forward to it.
We need Sturridge back as much as ever. Without Sterling we lack pace (Clyne apart) and penetration. Ibe is quick but doesn’t yet know how to use it to get in behind as Sterling would….simply uses his pace to beat a man he doesn’t always need to beat. Beneteke isn’t rapid, nor Coutinho, and Lallana is positively one paced. Hendo and Milner together look like Lampard and Gerrard for England but 10 yards further back and with less talent. I was so excited about last night, a home game, vs Bournemouth, an opportunity to show more than we did vs Stoke, until last night, and now I think we are a bit of an enigma wrapped inside a riddle inside a conundrum. Neither genuinely solid at the back nor truly dynamic at the front. Not quick, not slow. Good in possession, not incisive in our passing. Distinctly average. Needing a spark. Needing a Sturridge?
Have to agree with the comments regarding Lallana. I think he’s a good squad player – ideal for the cups, and as a late sub in case things need shaking up – but it’s probably time for him to be replaced in the starting eleven.
I said it before, but from what we’ve seen so far I’d love the manager to be bold and go for this starting lineup (especially against Arsenal next week):
Mignolet
Clyne – Skrtel – Lovren – Gomez
Can
Milner – Henderson
Coutinho
Firmino – Benteke
Well put Rob. I agree and think that is exactly where we are currently.
That said I don’t think there is much point in trying to draw too many conclusions at this stage, 2 games in.
A few thoughts…
– lovern is my biggest defensive worry
– why is everyone crying out for Can playing DM when we have Lucas sitting their unused.
– I really hope we don’t sell Lucas and Sakho. I was really excited by the fact we had a big and decent squad, with my expectation that 8 or 9 are regulars on the “A” team, 2 or 3 move between the A and “B” team regularly, and 8 or 9 play the vast majority of their seasons football in strong UEFA/Leafue cup campaigns. Alienating/selling Sagko and Lucas would hugely dampen my hope for this happening
– amazed Rogers hasn’t given Ings a shot on a flank as one of front 3
– I am happy to give Rogers full backing until Christmas but I sure as hell hope FSG have Klopp ready to go.
“I really hope we don’t sell Lucas and Sakho.”
Couldn’t agree more with that. Would be so short sighted to get shut. The difference between us looking like we’ve got a decent squad and one that looks a bit thin in certain areas if people lose form. Both Sakho and Lucas will want first team footy but it’d be naive of Rodgers to not try and blag them into staying.
Enough is enough. I am sick and tired of people like Ellie (in particular, stop being such a know-all and so disrespectful) telling me who has watched LFC for 50 years that I am not seeing what I am seeing. This is the same turgid rubbish we were watching through our ‘record breaking’ run last year. FANS pointed out all was not well but it was ignored and Villa Palace & MU happened. No plan/system, no covering midfielder, no support for Benteke (why buy him if you have no idea how to make best use of him, sorry forgot, not his signing?), poor defence that even Lovren (not x-French capt) can get in, (very) dodgy keeper, ALL right footers (just look at the problems we had last night with free kicks), I could go on and on.
We are in a permanent state of transition which is not good. I love some of our younger players and signings (Rossiter for Henderson and Origi for Hallana). We need honesty as well as good discussion, stop ignoring debate.