Gerrard completes Reds comeback against Spurs

Sports - Football - Premier League - Liverpool 3:2 Tottenham

A late winner from the spot by skipper Steven Gerrard kept Liverpool's hopes of Champions League qualification alive as they beat Tottenham 3-2 in a topsy-turvy Premier League affair at Anfield.

The Reds took the lead halfway through the first half thanks to a nicely worked goal with Phillippe Coutinho producing a skillful set-up from the left wing before combining with Jose Enrique who slipped a lovely pass through for Luis Suarez to stab in the opener neatly inside keeper Hugo Lloris' near post with the outside of his boot.

Spurs hit back with a Jan Vertonghen header just before the break and the Belgian then fired the visitors ahead eight minutes into the second half striking the bouncing ball clearly past replacement keeper Brad Jones from 15 yards out.

At that point the visitors looked in total control, but Kyle Walker's horrendous back pass left Lloris stranded, only able to to kick the ball into Stewart Downing's path who coolly converted the chance presented to him on a silver plate firing the ball into the back of the net through Vertonghen's legs on the line to make it all square at 2-2.

And the turnaround was comeplete when Jermain Defoe's clumsy back pass found Suarez who was brought down in the box by Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Gerrard converted the resulting penalty sending Lloris the wrong way to bag three goals and points for Brendan Rodgers' men.

Suarez has now scored nine goals in the Premier League 2013, two more than any other player, whilst Jamie Carragher made his 500th league appearance for Liverpool. And the Reds have won three games in a row (in all competitions) for the first time this season. Rodgers can only hope his side can pick up a nice, longer winning run from this, improving their chances of European football next season!

Liverpool Goals: 1.: 20:41min Luis Suarez (7), 2.: 65:31min Stewart Downing (19), 3.: 81:47min Steven Gerrard (8) penalty.

Tottenham Goals: 1. & 2.: 44:52min & 52:39min Jan Vertonghen (5).

Liverpool: 1 Jones; 3 Jose Enrique, 5 Agger, 23 Carragher (booked 83.), 2 Johnson; 10 Coutinho (24 Allen - 59.), 8 Gerrard, 21 Lucas, 19 Downing; 7 Suarez, 15 Sturridge (14 Henderson - 88.). 4-4-2
Subs not used: 42 Gulacsi, 37 Skrtel, 33 Shelvey, 31 Sterling, 47 Wisdom.

Tottenham: 25 Lloris; 32 Assou-Ekotto (46 Carroll - 90.), 5 Vertonghen (booked 57.), 20 Dawson, 28 Walker; 22 Sigurdsson, 8 Parker, 29 Livermore (23 Holtby - 84.), 19 Dembele; 18 Defoe, 11 Bale. 4-4-2 
Subs not used: 24 Friedel, 6 Huddlestone, 16 Naughton, 33 Caulker, 41 Coutlhirst.

Sky Stats: Liverpool-Tottenham 
Attempts: 12-16 
On target: 4-7
Offsides: 6-0
Corners: 1-4
Free kicks: 9-9
Possession: 46.5%-53.5% 
Tackles/Success: 27-33/77.8%-72.7%
Passes/Success: 397-452/75.1%-79,6%
Crosses/Success: 10-19/20%-15.8%

Referee: Michael Oliver
Man of the match: Luis Suarez

Reds win eight-goal thriller in Switzerland

Sports - Football - Europa League - Young Boys 5:3 Liverpool

Jonjo Shelvey scored twice as a young Liverpool side beat Young Boys 5-3 in their opening Europa League group match in Switzerland. In a topsy-turvy, roller-coster-ride encounter, Brendan Rodgers saw his side twice ahead in the first half, before coming from behind to start Group A on a winning note.

 

Rodgers left most of the big names back on Merseyside, and saw his side take the lead in comical fashion when Stewart Downing's cross from the right found Christoph Spycher's head to deflect in off his own team mate Juhani Ojala.

But Liverpool's lead did not last long thanks to their own defensive frailties. Jose Enrique took the ball past an oncoming Brad Jones handing it to Raphael Nuzzolo instead of clearing it, the Young Boy curling it home gratefully to make it 1-1. 

Spycher and Ojala got in each other's way again when Andre Wisdom headed a Red corner into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal, a textbook conversion to make it 1-2 at half time. Ojala got his second goal of the night when he headed in Raul Bobadilla's cross like in slower motion to make it 2-2 on 52.

 

The home side then took the lead when Bobadilla beat Jamie Carragher to pass the ball to Gonzalo Zarate who tipped the ball over Jones and in, a sweet finish to a nice counter attack after a Liverpool corner. The defensive nightmare continued when Sebastian Coates headed in a corner to equalise for the visitors and super-sub Shelvey netted twice in the last 15 minutes, both similar and neat finishes set up by Fabio Borini and Jordan Henderson.

This game was a load of fun to watch, had plenty of action to talk about, very entertaining!  From defensive fiascos, farces and chaos to crucial, important and decisive substitutions and neat finishes, this match had anything and everything in it. 

Rodgers will come away from this with a smile but plenty of headache with it too! The Irishman can be glad with the win and his gamble to play the youngsters and leave out the main men did not backfire on him!

Young Boys Goals: 37:38min Raphael Nuzzolo (29), 52:03min Juhani Ojala, 62:28min Gonzalo Zarate (19).

Liverpool Goals: 3:17min Juhani Ojala (3) OG, 39:52min Andre Wisdom (47), 66:23min Sebastian Coates (16), 75:36 & 87:03min Jonjo Shelvey (33).

Young Boys: 1 Wolfil; 23 Sutter, 22 Veskovac (bkd 80.), 3 Ojala, 16 Raimondi (bkd 17.); 13 Zverotic (20 Frey - 81.), 17 Spycher, 19 Zarate (2 Gonzalez - 65.), 8 Farnerud, 29 Nuzzolo (14 Schneuwly - 69.); 9 Bobadilla (bkd 85.). 4-5-1

Subs not used: 27 Benito, 7 Vitkieviez, 10 Constanzo, 33 Lecjaks.

Liverpool: 1 Jones; 47 Wisdom, 23 Carragher, 16 Coates, 3 Jose Enrique; 14 Henderson, 4 Sahin, 30 Suso, 11 Assaidi (33 Shelvey - 67.), 19 Downing (31 Sterling -77.); 12 Pacheco (29 Borini - 62., bkd 82.). 4-5-1

Subs not used: 42 Gulacsi, 22 Wilson, 36 Yesil, 49 Robinson.

1st & 2nd half stats: Young Boys-Liverpool

Attempts: 4-3 & 7-8
On target: 1-1 & 4-4
Offsides: 1-2 & 0-1
Corners: 1-4 & 3-2
Free kicks: 7-5 & 3-8
1st half Possession: 38.9%-61.1%
FT Possession: 44%-56%
1st half Passing Success: 83%-91%
FT Passing Success: 83%-88.9%

Referee: Michail Koukoulakis (Greece)
Man of the Match: Jonjo Shelvey

Four-star Liverpool thrash Chelsea

Sports - Football - Premier League - Liverpool 4:1 Chelsea

Liverpool gained a hint of revenge for their FA Cup final defeat by thrashing a much-changes Chelsea side 4-1 and giving John Terry a night to forget at Anfield.

Liverpool's cup final loss was King Kenny's first defeat as Liverpool manager against Chelsea in 14 matches (W10, D3, L1) and he made four changes from that disappointing performance with Andy Carroll starting and Steven Gerrard and Jose Enrique not even on the bench. Only John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic and Ramires survived from Wembley for Chelsea - all three of them ineligible for the Champions League final.

The home side started an action-packed first half strong, ripping into the visitor's back line from the start. Terry's nightmare started with Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan forward danced, tapped and tipped his way through and forward from the right, nutmegging Terry on the way, his cut back eventually coming off Michael Essien into the back of the blue midfielder's own net in the 19th minute.

Six minutes later, England international Terry slipped, allowing Jordan Henderson to break clear and score comfortably with a calm finish into the bottom corner beyond Ross Turnbull. And soon/only seconds after that, Terry failed yet again, this time to clear Jonjo Shelvey's corner, to see the ball headed back into the six-yard box by Carroll and eventually headed into the back of the net by Daniel Agger to make it 3-0.

Fernando Torres' first return to Anfield since his £50m-move to Chelsea saw the Spaniard's every touch jeered and scorned. But the striker created a stunning touch and strike from an acute angle on the right, to see the powerful shot come off the underside of the crossbar. Earlier in the game, before Liverpool's onslaught, Ivanovic had seen his free header come off the post with the score at 0-0.

Stewart Downing equaled the woodwork scoreline for Liverpool seeing his dip shot, nice volley come off the bar bar on 42 and his spot-kick drill against the base of the post on the stroke of half time after Ivanovic had elbowed Carroll in the chest. This was the fifth time the Reds have missed from the spot in the Premier League this season with only 1/6 ending in the back of the net.

Chelsea soon pulled one back after the restart, Ramires getting his body in the way to divert Florent Malouda's free-kick and curl it past Pepe Reina at the near post five minutes into the second half. But with half an hour to go, Shelvey took advantage of Turnbull's hashed clearance giveaway and drilled a fine shot from long range into the back of the net to make it 4-1 and erase any hope Chelsea had of a comeback.

With this the defeat, the Blues have only taken 7/27 points out of the last nine away games (W1/D4/L4) and with Bayern Munich next on the card for the Champions League final in the Allianz Arena in Munich, Roberto Di Matteo can only hope the suspensions will end up for the better, against all odds, as Chelsea will certainly not miss Terry after this awful display!

In the last meeting before this clash at Anfield, Torres scored two to make it 2-0 to Liverpool under Roy Hodgson. A lot has changed since, but Di Matteo can only hope Torres can do a little bit of the same to Bayern in Munich after failing to impress against his former side.

Meanwhile, Liverpool ended their home run on a high after only five wins previously at Anfield saw them in their poorest form since 1949. The question for Kenny Dalglish is, does this display and result provide signs of a promising future for the Reds, with signings like Carroll finally clicking and showing form, and youngsters like Shelvey shining high-class? Or does this win just tint the glasses rosey and paper over the cracks? Only time will tell...

Liverpool: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger (goal 28, bkd 71); Downing (Sterling 84), Henderson (goal 25, bkd 65), Shelvey (goal 61), Maxi (Kuyt 84); Suarez, Carroll. (4-4-2)
Subs not used: Doni, Coates, Spearing, Kelly, Bellamy.

Chelsea: Turnbull; Ferreira (bkd 45), Ivanovic (bkd 47), Terry (bkd 22), Bertrand; Essien (OG 19, bkd 44), Romeu, Malouda; Ramires (goal 50), Torres, Sturridge (Lukaku 68). 
Subs not used: Hilario, Cole, Lampard, Mata, Kalou, Hutchinson.

Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)
Man of the match: Andy Carroll