Goals from Raheem Sterling, Steven Gerrard and Alberto Moreno inspired Liverpool to a hugely impressive victory over Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
Tottenham 0-3 Liverpool
Premier League / White Hart Lane / Sunday, 31st August 2014
Goals: Sterling (7), Gerrard pen (49), Moreno (59)
Brendan Rodgers made three changes to the side that lost 3-1 to Manchester City on Monday evening, with star signing Mario Balotelli coming in for Philippe Coutinho to make his debut. Glen Johnson and Martin Skrtel both missed out through injury, with Javier Manquillo and Mamadou Sakho coming in, respectively.
Balotelli almost had the dream start to his Reds career, but his header after two minutes was saved by Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal. The Italian should probably have buried it.
Five minutes later, however, Liverpool took the lead. Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson linked up down the right superbly, and the latter’s low cross was met at the back post by Raheem Sterling. It was the 19-year-old’s second goal of the season.
Emmanuel Adebayor missed a glorious opportunity to equalise soon after, lofting the ball onto the roof of the net when clean through on goal, while Sturridge fired wide after showing typically quick feet outside the box.
Balotelli had two further efforts on goal and Sturridge tested Lloris, in what was a breathless opening half an hour to proceedings. Both sides looked threat, but the visitors looked the far more fluent team.
Just before the break Nacer Chadli had a wonderful opportunity to level the scores, but he thundered his effort straight at Simon Mignolet.
Rodgers’ men took a 1-0 lead into the break.
Two minutes into the second-half Liverpool were awarded a penalty, following Eric Dier’s tug on Joe Allen. Steven Gerrard expertly dispatched the spot-kick to make it 2-0. It was the perfect start following the interval.
On the hour mark, Alberto Moreno scored a wonderful third goal for the Reds.
The 22-year-old dispossessed Andros Townsend on the halfway line, ran at pace with the ball before firing a terric effort past Lloris into the corner of the net. It was reminiscent of John Arne Riise’s goal against Everton back in 2001, and was his first for the club.
Sturridge, Lovren and Sterling all had opportunities to add a fourth, as Liverpool showed the watching world that they are still very much a force without Luis Suarez.
The last 20 minutes or so went by without too much happening, and the Reds eased to their first away win of the season. They now have six points from their three Premier League games so far.
Man of the Match: Jordan Henderson
Tactical Overview
Rodgers switched from a 4-3-3 formation to the 4-4-2 diamond that brought so much success last season, in order to accommodate both Balotelli and Sturridge. The Italian looked a little rusty at times, but showed great promise alongside the Englishman.
Sterling played at the tip of the midfield four and was once again excellent, with Henderson and Allen offering legs either side of Gerrard.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Manquillo, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno, Gerrard, Allen (Can 60), Henderson, Sterling (Enrique 85), Balotelli (Markovic 60), Sturridge.
Subs not used: Jones, Toure, Coutinho, Lambert,
Tottenham starting XI: Lloris; Dier, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Rose; Bentaleb, Capoue; Chadli, Eriksen, Lamela; Adebayor.
Comments Notice: By using the comments feature on This Is Anfield, you are agreeing to our comments policy.
petikan dari Liverpool FC, This is Anfield, Teamtalk
About the Author
0 comments: