Today marked the opening game
of Liverpool's pre-season campaign with a fixture against MLS outfit Toronto
FC. After a drab first half of few chances, Liverpool boss Brendan
Rodgers made 11 changes to his line-up at half time and the pace picked up in
the second half.
Toronto took the lead in the 58th minute through
Quincy Amarikwa after substitute keeper Peter Gulacsi could only parry Sergio Camargo’s
effort. It took only 11 minutes for Liverpool to hit back, with Adam Morgan
tapping into an empty net after great work from fellow youngster Raheem
Sterling. Both sides had openings and half-chances before the final whistle,
but ultimately the spoils were shared.
The possession-based philosophy Brendan Rodgers is famed for
was clear to be seen immediately after kick-off. Liverpool continuously kept
the ball for long spells in the first half, with most of the possession being
held in the defensive and midfield thirds of the field. Liverpool struggled to
get the ball forward with pace and therefore the Toronto defense was well
organized to deal with any threat Liverpool posed when they did break forward.
In the first half Liverpool were relatively comfortable
defensively. Goalkeeper Brad Jones had little to do, aside from diving to his
left to stop Ryan Johnson from opening the scoring after 7 minutes. Andre
Wisdom was strong at right back, but did not venture forward as much as Rodgers
maybe would have liked. He did make one strong run towards the end of the half
and whipped in a dangerous cross which was cleared.
Fellow reserve defender
Stephen Sama was dominant aerially, but was also caught out of position a
number of times in the first half and had to be bailed out by center-back
partner Jamie Carragher, whose reading of the game was impeccable as always.
Jose Enrique filled the left back slot, and his occasional sloppiness was
forgiven due to his fantastic link-up play with Dani Pacheco down the left
wing.
Rodgers, as expected, employed a midfield trio throughout
the game. The starting berth was given to Jay Spearing, Charlie Adam and
Alberto Aquilani. Spearing did a good job of collecting the ball from the
center-backs to kick-start attacks with some excellent forward passing and long
balls out to the wings. Adam sprayed some lovely long balls around too, but his
set-piece delivery was awful – something Liverpool fans are getting used to
seeing. Aquilani looked slightly disinterested in the first quarter of an hour,
but as the game wore on he got more and more involved and showed his pass and
move qualities.
Jordan Ibe and Dani Pacheco occupied the right and left
wings respectively, with Nathan Eccleston playing through the middle. Ibe
showed he was willing to take players on and was cheated out of a couple of
free kicks. He was a bit short of ideas at times, but that can be expected from
a 16-year old. Pacheco was the most promising of the three forwards without a
doubt. He beat his man a few times and looked the most likely to create
something. He linked up well with Enrique and also showed his defensive
work-rate by protecting his full-back. Eccleston worked hard as the lone
striker, but did not get a chance to run off the back of the defense which is
what he is best at. He struggled to get into the game until he started dropping
deep.
After whole-sale changes at half time, the tempo of the game
picked up in the second half. The well-balanced midfield trio of Spearing, Adam
and Aquilani were replaced by three attacking midfielders in Jonjo Shelvey,
Suso and Krisztian Adorjan. Also, the first half full-backs of Wisdom and
Enrique were replaced by the far more attack minded Jon Flanagan and Jack
Robinson. This led to a far more dynamic attack from Liverpool’s perspective,
but also a susceptibility to counter-attacks.
58 minutes in, Liverpool were punished for pushing too many
men forward when Camargo broke free in midfield and fired at goal from twenty
yards. Gulacsi made a good save but the rebound fell perfectly for Amarikwa who
had done well to stay onside before slotting in. Despite the goal, center-backs
Martin Skrtel and Danny Wilson easily dealt with most of what Toronto threw at
them.
Liverpool did not have to wait long for the equalizer
though, with Academy hot-shot Adam Morgan finishing Raheem Sterling’s
cross-shot in the 69th minute. Sterling received a pass from Joe
Cole and produced some fantastic work to skip away from one challenge and hold
off a second, before his left-footed shot trickled towards goal and may have
been cleared off the line by a covering defender, but Morgan showed his
strikers instincts by putting the ball into the bottom corner from all of one
yard to make certain. Morgan’s passionate celebration is something all
Liverpool fans will have enjoyed seeing.
The midfield controlled the second half relatively well
considering they lacked a real anchorman. Shelvey was easily the pick of the
bunch, adding some crunching challenges onto his repertoire of excellent
passing and driving runs. Suso showed his intricate footwork on a number of occasions,
with the most notable one being when he turned away from three Toronto challenges
before curling a shot into the arms of the keeper.
Adorjan struggled to keep up
with his fellow midfielders and did not get a chance to show his excellent
technical ability. He also looked very slight and surly needs to hit the gym a
bit more before he can think about breaking into the first team.
Lucas entered the fold in the 74th minute in place of Adorjan – an entrance
which will have delighted every Liverpool fan watching around the world. He got
on the ball a few times and his passing looked good, while also making some
decent challenges. It will take time for him to get back to his best, and the
more he gets on the field the better he will become.
The front three of Cole, Morgan and Sterling did well as a
unit, with all three involved in the goal. Cole looked sharper than his
previous stint in a Liverpool shirt, and he showed good pace to escape the
clutches of his marker a number of times, but lacked any real penetration into
the area. Morgan made runs all night long and tirelessly closed down the
center-backs and goalkeeper; the mark of a man clearly intent to make his mark.
Sterling was doubled up on the moment he entered the field, and struggled to
make space for himself. However, when he did, he put the goal on a silver
platter for Morgan.
The game finished 1-1 with Liverpool having had 70% of the possession.
Much has been made of Rodgers and his tiki-taka style of play, and it has
clearly already impacted the team. Liverpool was absolutely dominant
possession-wise in both halves, and rarely hoofed the ball clear. It will take time
to perfect his system, but Rodgers will certainly be pleased with many aspects
of his first game in charge.
First Half Line-up: Jones; Wisdom, Sama, Carragher, Enrique; Spearing, Aquilani, Adam; Ibe, Eccleston, Pacheco.
Second Half Line-up: Gulacsi; Flanagan, Skrtel, Wilson, Robinson; Adorjan (Lucas 74'), Shelvey, Suso; Cole, Morgan, Sterling.
No comments:
Post a Comment