The Soccer Blog: Match Report: Stoke City 2

Sunday, 14 November 2010

Match Report: Stoke City 2 - 0 Liverpool FC

Match Report: Stoke City 2 – 0 Liverpool FC - - The Offside - Stoke City Premier League football blog

« Match Preview: Stoke City vs Liverpool FC 13/11/10 17:30 | Home | Match Report: Stoke City 2 – 0 Liverpool FCBy: joehigginson | November 14th, 2010
Teams:

Stoke: Begovic, Huth, Shawcross, Coliins, Wilkinson, Pennant, Whitehead, Delap, Etherington, Jones, Fuller

Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Skrtel, Konchesky, Meireles, Lucas, Gerrard, Maxi, Torres, Kuyt

While you’d have to travel a little further up the M6 to have witnessed the biggest walkover of the night, David Haye pushed Stokes comprehensive 2-0 defeat of Liverpool into a close second. It was by no means a classic but the result sees the Potters register back to back wins and climb into the top half, leapfrogging the men from Anfield in the process.

Before we go any further, it seems completely nonsensical that some reporters are hailing the victory as a monumental achievement. Yes this was Stokes first win over Liverpool in 26 years, but can I please remind those scrambling through the history books we couldn’t have played the Reds more than seven times (to my knowledge) in the intervening period. In that respect it was surely a greater achievement to keep earning the right to play Liverpool again. Lets keep some perspective!

Back to the game then. Although the atmosphere in the stadium would suggest otherwise, the first half was a largely morose affair (to put it kindly) with no individual ready to stamp their authority on the game. Both teams threw possession away too easily, constantly resorting to ineffective long balls snuffed out easily by the opposition. The majority of the early chances fell to the hosts. Kenwyne Jones was guilty of the miss of the game when, unmarked from a corner, he directed his header the wrong side of the post. You can argue he misjudged the flight of the ball and over-reached but by his high standards you at least expect him to put it on target. Dean Whitehead was a prominent figure in the first half, forcing Pepe Reina into an excellent save down to his right after a low drive from just outside the area. Minutes later, he shot a more speculative effort high and wide, this time with Reina beaten. Stoke had two strong penalty appeals turned down in the first half. The first incident saw Maxi Rodriguez fell Ricardo Fuller as both looked to meet Rory Delap’s throw. A penalty? Maybe, but both players were focused on the ball and Fuller did hit the deck easily. The second was stonewall, with Martin Skrtel obstructing Rob Huth in the manner of a distressed child clinging onto a parent.

The game finally sparked to life in the second half, Stoke making the breakthrough on 56 minutes with a real goal of the season effort. A goalmouth scramble in the Liverpool box was finally settled with Ricardo Fuller bundling the ball home past an already committed Reina. To say it wasn’t pretty is like saying Hitler was a disagreeable individual, but hey they all count! Stoke continued to pose the greater threat but it was Liverpool who created the only other clear cut opportunity in normal time, Maxi Rodriguez failing to convert and shooting straight at Asmir Begovic (about as good as it got for the Reds). Just as the match began to fizzle out, Jones put the game beyond any doubt in injury time as Liverpool committed men forward in desperation. Steven Gerrard’s long ball was easily intercepted by Andy Wilkinson (who cut an impressive figure following his surprise inclusion). Jermaine Pennant collected his pass and fed Jones through, who coolly slotted home. The visitors misery was compounded before the final whistle with the dismissal of Lucas Leiva, collecting a needless second booking after catching Matty Etherington’s shin.

Ric Fuller celebrates his opening goal last night

I mentioned in the preview to this match Liverpool’s tendency to go over-defensive when away from home. Their second half performance at Wigan in midweek bore striking similarities to yesterdays display and once again it cost them dear. I’m afraid to say they looked very poor for long periods when compared to their recent victories. While Rodriguez and Dirk Kuyt showed the odd flourish, Fernando Torres was feeding off scraps for the majority of the game and Gerrard was denied any real opportunity to get into the game. The clincher though, is that their usual style of play was replaced (for reasons I can’t fathom) by the direct, long ball approach favoured and perfected by Stoke. With this is mind, was there really going to be any other result?

Fernando Torres cut a lonely figure

Conclusions:

An excellent and deserved victory undoubtedly. But after last night’s jubilant celebrations, I sat down this morning and can’t help but think our performance was lacking in some departments. After our recent displays in which we’ve really mixed up our style of play with some great passing sequences, I actually felt yesterday’s performance was something of a regression at times. I was the under the impression we were beginning to phase out Delap as age looks to be catching up with him. Yesterday however we seemed over-reliant on his throw-ins as our most potent form of attack. Etherington and Pennant looked a sidelined at times and unable to perform to their usual high standards. Some can argue the result says all you need to know but I feel Liverpool would have given us a much tougher time had they not tried to duplicate our own style of play.

That criticism aside, what I will say for Stoke is the way they conducted themselves after the first goal was fantastic. Since their return to the top flight, Stoke have always looked uncomfortable when defending the lead. Looking at Birmingham in midweek, nerves again got the better of our lads at 2-0 up and sitting back, they practically welcomed the Blues into our half. Yesterday was a vast improvement. No question it was always going to be a nervy finale, but the boys always looked sharp and confident even when Liverpool inevitably piled forward. It was a coolness under pressure we don’t often see from Stoke, and the reward for that poise was the welcome second goal as the Reds panicked for an equaliser.

Man of the Match – Difficult decision. Given our woeful defensive record recently though, yesterday’s clean sheet didn’t go unnoticed so I’m inclined to say Andy Wilkinson or Ryan Shawcross in terms of individual defensive performance.

Category: Stoke Team News

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Sunday, 14 November 2010

Match Report: Stoke City 2 - 0 Liverpool FC

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