Game Recap of Fixtures with Anzhi, Everton and Swansea

Liverpool 1-0 Anzhi Makhachkala

After finally getting that illusive first home league win of the season against Reading, Liverpool welcomed Russian super-spenders Anzhi Makhachkala to Anfield in the Europa League. Brendan Rodgers recognized the strength of the Dagestan outfit and fielded a strong line-up of his own including the likes of Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez.

The Reds were on the front foot for most of the first half but struggled to make a breakthrough. Jonjo Shelvey missed an excellent opportunity to give Liverpool the lead but could only scoop his shot over the bar from 18 yards with only the keeper to beat after great work from Suarez. Liverpool were also denied a host of penalty appeals, the most forceful being when Glen Johnson was tripped from behind just as he was about to pull the trigger from six yards out.

Recent Games Round-up Part 3

Liverpool 2-3 Udinese

After finally securing their first league win of the season with the 5-2 thrashing of Norwich, Liverpool’s attentions shifted to the Europa League and the visit of Italian side Udinese.

Jonjo Shelvey was making his first appearance since his sending off against Manchester United, and it took him 23 minutes to make his mark as he headed in a floated cross from the much-maligned Stewart Downing – who was also making a rare start. The lead stayed with Liverpool until half time with Udinese posing little attacking threat and little evidence that they would be able to get back into the game.

Recent Games Round-up Part 2

West Brom 1-2 Liverpool

Liverpool travelled back to the Hawthorns in an attempt to gain revenge for their season-opening 3-0 drubbing against West Brom with a tie against the same opponent in the Capital One Cup. Brendan Rodgers used the cup competition to throw youngsters and new signings into the deep end yet again, with Sebastian Coates, Andre Wisdom, Jack Robinson, Dani Pacheco and Samed Yesil all awarded a starting spot, as well as opportunities for new signings Nuri Sahin and Oussama Assaidi.

The game started in the worst possible fashion for the Reds as Gabriel Tamas capitalized after reserve goalkeeper Brad Jones had dropped a lofted free kick, with replays showing that the Australian keeper was in fact struck in the face by West Brom defender Jonas Olsson just as he went up for the catch. 

It took only 14 minutes for Liverpool to reply though, with Sahin firing in a speculative shot from thirty yards only for Ben Foster to make a complete hash out of the save and could only watch the ball bounce into the back of the net for the Turkish internationals first goal for the club after his loan move from Real Madrid.

Recent Games Round-up Part 1

It has been a while since I last had a match report write-up, so I am going to quickly cover all the games I have missed since the draw with Sunderland.

It will be split into three parts with the first covering the games against Young Boys and Manchester United, part 2 will cover the Capital One Cup game against West Brom and the trip to Carrow Road to face Norwich. Part 3 will cover the next Europa League fixture against Udinese, and the two back-to-back home league games against Stoke and Reading.