Liverpool vs Bolton recap

Liverpool came from behind twice to be 3-2 victors in what was a extremely ugly game, made all the more ugly by my inability to find a good English online stream for the game. Every time I got a working stream it was soon shut down by whoever polices the Internet (i blame it's creator, Al Gore).

Highlights after the jump!


Anyways Liverpool went down early to a set piece, which is very worrying. Benitez has long been criticized in the press for Zonal Marking system, yet i have never agreed or thought much of this criticism. Today the problem from the corner was the second ball back across the goal, and it was again the second ball that Bolton feasted upon to find their second early in the second half. Liverpool's defensive line did not challenge enough for the second ball and we were punished both times. Thankfully, our backline was rarely troubled other than from those instances and another free kick from Taylor, that Reina had to make a worldy save on. I am sure Rafa will drill into the players what he is trying to do defending set-pieces and he will work it out.

On the offensive side, our goals were impressive and we created a lot of chances in the first half, and if Torres was in any form whatsoever he would have finished one or two of them. Glen Johnson capped off the half for Liverpool with a very well taken goal. He has been a revelation at right back this season, and him chipping in with goals from the right back spot is worth much more than 18 mil. He is the answer for teams who park the bus, he gets down the right with aplomb and importantly opens up space for Gerrard Kuyt and Torres to work. He is so gifted that he draws two defenders to him every time he has the ball, helping the rest of the team. If you look at Torres' goal today, it was made possible by Johnson making a run down the right and drawing a defender away from the middle, enabling Kuyt to chest the ball down to a on-rushing Torres to control and put it in the back of the net. Johnson also was instrumental on the third goal, providing the cross for Torres to play a "lovely cushioned header for Gerrrrrardddddddddddddddddddddd". Gerrard you beauty what a finish.

Torres' second goal for me was very encouraging, he looked like the Torres we know and love. Once Kuyt created the chance beautifully for Torres, he still had a lot of work to do, but coolly took the ball and slotted in into the left hand corner, giving the keeper no chance. The third goal was always going to come after that, from who else then Stevie G. Brilliant strike from Gerrard, and after being man marked out of the first half, he improved greatly in the second half and was everywhere, helping create the Torres goal, and of course rescuing Liverpool from God knows what in the press.

Speaking of the press, headlines tomorrow will read "Lucky Liverpool see of Bolton" and go on to talk about how we didn't deserve to win and if Bolton wasn't reduced to ten men we would have never scored and won. But obviously, tomorrow the papers will also read, "United show class of champions to beat Arsenal". United won 2-1 at home off of a dubious penalty won and converted by Rooney, an extremely lucky save from Foster and the most ridiculous own goal i have ever seen by Diaby, in short, they were certainly saved by luck and didn't deserve any of that game. Of course, Liverpool had their share of luck to win, however, I don't think anybody would have bet against Liverpool winning the game at the half when it was 1-1. Liverpool were always good money for the score, and could have felt a bit slighted after going down 2-1. Thankfully, justice was restored and the Red's came out on top. Here's hoping this return to winning ways puts us in the right frame of mind going into the break, and we can come back out in two weeks against Burnsley and get a win.

Liverpool 3 - Bolton 2 Highlights

YNWA

Colin Britton

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Liverpool vs Bolton

This is Colin Britton here, resident Liverpool fan. Tomorrow the Red's will travel to the Reebok stadium to take on Bolton Wanderers. First off, the Red's obviously have not had the best of starts to the season, losing two of their first three, to Spurs and Villa, with a good victory at Stoke sandwiched between. For me, the Tottenham game was not a surprise, we hadn't been showing good form in the preseason and i figured we would start out a bit slow, especially away at White Hart Lane against some tough opposition. We played much better at Stoke our second game, resulting in a resounding win and confidence restored into our title challenge. Then came Villa at home, and fixture i assume we would win handily. Obviously that was not the case, early chances wasted by the Red's followed by two Villa goals before the break doomed the Red's to their second defeat in three games.

What all this means is that tomorrows game will be seen by the media and pundits as a must win. If Liverpool fail to take away three points then our season is surely over, we will be battling it out with Man City and Tottenham for fourth. Right? Of course this is wrong and those who will keep a level head will realize there are no do or die games before December at least, especially for a team of Liverpool's quality. Last year, United got 5 points from their first 4 games. That is correct, the champions got had five points at the stage we will be after the Bolton game. But last year there was nobody writing off their challenge at that point. My point is, have some faith, this year the teams are much more even, Spurs, Villa, City, and who knows maybe even Everton, will be taking points off the top four. Hell, even Burnsley beat United, but this has been lost with all the Rafa has lost the plot articles recently. So what I am saying is, even if Liverpool somehow lose tomorrow, it is still not the end of the world, the race will be much tighter this year and we will still be in with a shout come May.

As for tomorrow, i expect Rafa to stick with the much maligned Lucas in the center of the field, paired with Mascherano. In the back it will be the very impressive Glen Johnson out right, Carragher and Martin Skrtel center, and the equally impressive Emiliano Insua on the left. Kuyt, as ever, will be on the right wing, Yossi Benayoun will be out left, although it is troubling to see Albert Riera still on the bench, he had a very impressive summer and could be in for the start tomorrow, even though this might be the game where we will need Benayoun's creativity around the box, and Insua will provide the width down the left. This is opposed to the sort of game such as last weekend, where Insua could not get forward enough and we ended up lacking width in the final third, which is something Riera would have brought us. This game however, is crying out for Benayoun's creativity and skill. Up top we will have per usual Stevie Gerrard and Fernando Torres. this is a game where Gerrard and Torres need to get back to their best, a game which will be easily won if even one of them is on form, something that hasn't happened yet this year, not even in the Stoke game. Both have started the campaign somewhat slowly, even with Nando's two goal haul. If they can get back to form tomorrow morning then it will give us much more than the three points; it will give us back our belief that with a Gerrard and Torres machine firing on all cylinders we can win the title. Come on you RED's!!

Colin Britton


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