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.

Young Boys 3-5 Liverpool

Liverpool opened their Europa League campaign with a trip to Switzerland to face Young Boys of Bern. Manager Brendan Rodgers brought an extremely young squad with him to mainland Europe; leaving star players Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson among others resting back in Merseyside with one eye on the weekend game against rivals Manchester United.

The squad Rodgers brought with him proved to have enough to see off Young Boys despite an almighty scare. Juhani Ojala knocked Stewart Downing’s cross into his own net after just four minutes to give the Reds the lead. Raphael Nuzzolo equalized in the 38^th minute but Andre Wisdom headed Liverpool back in front two minutes later with his first goal for the club. The 2^nd half was where both offenses took charge, first with Ojala redeeming himself by equalizing and then Gonzalo Zarate gave his side the lead for the first time after 63 minutes. The introduction of Jonjo Shelvey in the 66^th minute proved to be the turning point as Sebastian Coates headed in the equalizer to make the score 3-3 a minute later, before Shelvey got the vital goal in the 76^th minute and added another for good measure with two minutes remaining as Liverpool ran out 5-3 winners.

It was a game that showcased the young talents at the disposal of Rodgers and is sure to have whetted the appetites of all Liverpool fans. The future is bright.

Liverpool 1-2 Manchester United

Next Liverpool took on arch-rivals Manchester United in their first home game since an independent commission cleared Liverpool fans of any blame surrounding the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 where 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives in a devastating stadium crush. It was bound to be an emotional game.

Liverpool started extremely positively and dominated a lackluster United side from the first whistle, but struggled to make the breakthrough. The complexity of the game changed entirely when Shelvey was shown a straight red card for lunging into a challenge with Jonny Evans, although replays showed that Evans went in equally if not even more dangerously than the Liverpool man, yet was shown no card.

The Reds continued to dominate despite only having 10 men on the field, and got their reward early in the second half when Gerrard, who lost his cousin in the Hillsborough disaster, volleyed his side in front. However, the lead lasted only five minutes as Rafael curled in a sumptuous equalizer for Man United. Liverpool continued to dominate throughout the second half, but were punished for a defensive mix-up between Daniel Agger and Johnson which allowed Antonio Valencia to bear down on goal, before throwing himself to ground under pressure from Johnson who had run forty yards in an attempt to make a recovery challenge. Robin van Persie dispatched the following penalty and inflicted a fully undeserved loss on a Liverpool side that is finally beginning to find their feet under Rodgers.