Liverpool vs Stoke was an odd fixture. The Reds made several changes to the lineup, mostly to rest players and thus prioritizing the Europa League tie against Dortmund coming up next Thursday. Despite the youth the Liverpool side opened quite well.
Alberto Moreno scored with a sizzling left footed shot in the 8th minute that knuckled and ended up in the bottom corner. However, Liverpool messed up a few chances as well. Moreno had another opportunity in the box after a fantastic run in behind the defense but was offside. Then Firmino slid the ball across the box too far behind Daniel Sturridge around the 16th minute.
As well as Liverpool played overall, you could tell the youngsters still have a lot of seasoning to gain. Both Stewart and Ojo basically stood like statues after turnovers instead of tracking the ball down.
Liverpool's set piece woes also continued with Bojan finding himself basically alone in the box to head home a free kick. Simon Mignolet stood no chance as Kolo Toure just watched the Stoke man run by him for the header.
Then Stoke almost took the lead in the 28th minute as Peter Crouch scored from a header off the far post, but fortunately for the Liverpool back line it was called offside. Moments later Sturridge had a clean look at the goal from the middle of the park and almost scored. The ball just fizzed wide.
Despite some of the poor play toward the middle of the half, the kids made up for it. Ojo set up the go ahead goal in the 33rd minute. He knocked it to the left of the defender on the wing and ran to the right. He picked up the ball just shy of the endline and fed it far post to Sturridge who wouldn't miss from there.
An equalizer almost came in the 39th minute, again from a free kick but this time shaved the face of goal and went wide. Liverpool held onto that 2-1 lead into the half. It was a mixed bag first half, but as long as the score is on your side you can deal with it.
It wouldn't take much in the second half for things to favor Liverpool either. The Reds took a short corner and then James Milner served it into the box. The Stoke defending looked like what fans have come to expect from the Reds and just watched the ball sail right over the top onto the head of Divock Origi for a 3-1 lead in the 49th minute.
In spite of the momentum of going up by two, Liverpool continued to give fouls in bad areas. Mignolet had to come up with a huge save in the 54th minute. The ball was served into the box and American international Geoff Cameron got quite the flick on it, but the Belgian keeper managed to leap backward and swat it over the bar.
Origi should have had two goals at the very least. After a cheeky backheel from Sturridge into theh path of Moreno, the left back served one in for Origi who headed it wide when it actually may have been simpler to get it on target.
Origi would not settle for the one goal though. After some great movement on the left to get around the defender, Origi curled one in just inside the post. It was likely a cross intended for Sturridge, who missed, but I'm sure Origi will claim it as a shot all the way.
Liverpool had a few chances toward the end of the game, but things had essentially settled down and the Reds were just toying with their opponent. It was an important win because there were seven new players in this side than the one that got the draw in Germany.
Additionally it was an important game because the side played so well as a team. Any time you can get everyone on the same page and playing their individual positions very well, it's a good day.
Liverpool now jump ahead of Stoke in the table as they have 48 points and 47 for Stoke. It keeps the Reds' faint hopes of a top four finish alive but at this point that seems extremely unlikely.
Liverpool still have some very winnable league matches just within the month of April and this was a good start for a strong push toward the end. We all know that Europa League is now the focus, but as fans getting the best result in each game is also important and Liverpool have been doing a decent job of just that lately.
Random Thoughts:
- I have no clue what to think of the center backs. Each one has good traits and each one makes you nervous as hell on every play as well. The sad thing is it has become a position, like goalkeeper, where they get all the blame and little praise. There just aren't many central defenders in the world that you can pick out as being a great player the way you can attacking players, so it is difficult to suggest someone the Reds should look into.
- Scoring is a momentum kind of thing and if Origi can keep his momentum going then it's going to benefit the Reds very well. He could easily have had three or four, but two is nothing to be sneezed at.
- I'm not an overly negative person, but Sturridge makes anyone that way. I honestly thought he would miss another two or three weeks when he went down with that knee to the thigh.
- Mignolet had one of his confident games. The guy always seems to be able to stop shots, but on this day he was confident in kicking the ball and coming out on air challenges. If he could just figure a way to do that all the time, this transfer talk would go away. It might be too late in his career to expect that dog to learn his tricks though.
Walk On
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