Brilliant performance away at Arsenal; deserved draw away at champions Manchester City. The challenge for a Champions League spot was on. Glen Johnson made his 100th league appearance and Lucas was making his 200th appearance for the Reds. West Brom, in some seriously poor form under first year manager Steve Clarke, appeared ripe for the taking. The momentum, the results and the form were behind Liverpool.
A reality check was issued. A dominant performance by Liverpool ended up in a 2-0 defeat.
A quiet, subdued atmosphere at Anfield was met with an equally disappointing start. Liverpool suffered from some sloppy possession play and an inability to establish a presence in the visiting teams half. Liverpool thought they had a breakthrough with a Jonjo Shelvey tap-in only for him to then be ruled offside. After that, it was all Liverpool. Possession was dominated, no chances were taken. It was a performance by Liverpool reminiscent of the days before Daniel Sturridge arrived. The closest Liverpool came to scoring all half was a miss kick by West Brom defender Steven Reid, almost ending up in an own goal. Daniel Agger also saw a free header glanced harmlessly over Ben Fosters net.
Liverpool without Daniel Sturridge were reliant once again on Luis Suarez. On his day, our Uruguayan magician is capable of producing world-class brilliance – goals from the halfway line, majestic nutmegs and killer final passes. The best he could come up with tonight was a rabona cross amounting to nothing but a wasted chance. It was a boring, uninspired first half performance met with much the same in the second half. Liverpool dominated possession, only to create meaningless, fruitless chances. Jordan Henderson, arguably Liverpool’s best player was replaced by Raheem Sterling and Jonjo Shelvey was replaced by the ineffective Fabio Borini. Constant Liverpool pressure was met with some fine saves by man of the match goalkeeper Ben Foster with efforts from Steven Gerrard and Borini dealt with easily. Liverpool’s performance was summed up in the space of 6 minutes. Luis Suarez was fortunately awarded a penalty by referee Jon Moss but Steven Gerrard’s strike was saved once again by Ben Foster. West Brom then had their first effort in the game stopped by Reina only for the resulting corner to end up in a goal via the head of Gareth McAuley. There was a sense in the atmosphere at Anfield that it was coming. It was something that seemingly has happened to often this season. A dominant Liverpool performance met with a disappointing, undeserved loss. Romelu Lukaku added insult to injury in added time, easily beating Reina on the counter attack to seal a 2-0 win for the Baggies.
There have been positive signs for Liverpool in recent weeks; results have been good but this was a harsh reality check. Not even the debut of Brazilian wonderkid Phillipe Coutinho could brighten the atmosphere in Anfield nor inspire a Liverpool victory. We have been making the right strides under Brendan Rodgers but by no means are we Champions League contenders yet, let alone title challengers. Progress is being made but results will take time. We are on the right road under Brendan Rodgers, this was just another speed bump along the way.
Liverpool
Pepe Reina: 5/10
Glen Johnson: 4/10
Jamie Carragher: 6/10
Daniel Agger: 4/10
Jose Enrique: 5/10
Jordan Henderson: 6/10
Steven Gerrard: 6/10
Stewart Downing: 7/10
Jonjo Shelvey: 4/10
Luis Suarez: 6/10
Subs
Raheem Sterling: 5/10
Fabio Borini: 5/10
Phillipe Coutinho: 5/10
West Brom
Ben Foster (MOTM): 8/10
Jonas Olsson: 7/10
Liam Ridgewell: 5/10
Gareth McAuley: 6/10
Steven Reid: 4/10
Claudio Jacob: 5/10
James Morrison: 5/10
Chris Brunt: 5/10
Graham Dorrans: 4/10
Youssouf Mulumbu: 6/10
Shane Long: 4/10
Subs
Romelu Lukaku: 7/10
Marc-Antione Fortune: 4/10
