Liverpool 2 Bolton 1
- K.Davies 43
Torres 49
Cole 90+2
Liverpool get a win, barely. Whilst deserving the win in terms of chances made, failure to convert those chances and poor defending required Liverpool needing a goal all the way into added time. This was far from a victory to be proud of and the win, whilst welcome, is not a change in direction.
Hodgson corrected some of his mistakes from his last selection. He stuck with a 4-4-2 and rested Gerrard, he returned Kuyt back to his normal right position, put Maxi on the left, and gave both Agger and Aurelio starts. Meireles was moved to centre midfield and N’Gog was switched with Torres upfront as follows:
—————– Reina —————
Johnson – Skrtel – Agger – Aurelio
——– Lucas ——— Meireles ——
Kuyt —————————- Maxi
——— N’Gog —— Torres ——-
Subs: Gerrard for Meireles (21), Cole for Ngog (82), Kyrgiakos for Agger (89)
Liverpool got off to a reasonably lively start in this match when Torres was at the centre of a move where Liverpool threatened, his deflected shot fell to Maxi and his volley across goal was cleared. But Liverpool failed to build on that. Liverpool got a bit of a fillip though when Meireles was forced off on 21 minutes, allowing Gerrard an introduction earlier than was planned.
Liverpool looked better as a result but it was Bolton who created a few chances with a free kick and a header wide. Gerrard’s quality did shine through though and Liverpool came close when Kuyt’s cross was headed by Maxi onto the bar with the keeper beaten.
Even though Liverpool looked the better outfit, the gifted Bolton a goal just before half-time. A simple Bolton cross from the right drifted the whole way across our box gifting a free unchallenged header to Kevin Davies in the 6 yard box. Reina should have done a lot better, that should have been his ball. Again his weakness on crosses is a cause for a goal. Johnson should have done better as well, no doubt about that, but Reina was for me the main culprit at fault.
And almost immediately after that Liverpool’s season was summarized when Lucas missed a goal from all of 4 yards out with the ball tickling just wide! Although we were not to rue this missed golden opportunity, its endemic of why we are where we are.
Liverpool were back on level terms though soon after the start of the 2nd half when a good move between N’Gog, Johnson and Gerrard, who then found Torres with a nice float over ball for Torres to get his shooting boots on and side volley it into the net. We really need a lot more goals like these. Nice move and nice goal.
This gave us a pep in our steps and another good link up between Gerrard and Torres resulted in Torres just missing at the far post. Gerrard then got in on the action with an effort of his own. Liverpool were deserving of more at this stage.
Liverpool stayed to their task and continued to threaten, once again Gerrard linking up with Torres who’s volley went wide. Bolton didn’t provide much threat at all. But time was running out. Was this going to be another 2 points dropped?
Cole had been put on for N’Gog to add some variety to the attack. In added time, a deep cross from Gerrard was knocked towards the goal by Maxi and was goal bound only for an offside Cole to tap it in when it was nearly over the line. But for once luck was on our side as the linesman didn’t see much kicking action from Cole and allowed it to stand from weak protestations from Bolton. We got some fortune, but with seconds to go to the final whistle, this 2-1 lead was the least we had deserved from this match. Bolton gave one more effort but Reina saved well, and thus it ended 2-1 and a very welcome and deserved 3 points. The tally at the end of the match read Liverpool’s 16 attempts to Bolton’s 9.
Note that the attendance at this match was only 35,000, so clearly fans are instead ‘voting’ with their feet rather than repeatedly voicing their concerns about Hodgson, which is falling on deaf ears. Indeed protests which see fans staying away, as unpalatable as that may be, can be the most effective.
Liverpool are now on 25 points from 19 games, compared with Tottenham who are in 4th on 36 points having played 1 game more. If we win our game in hand, we will be 8 points behind Spurs. Now, the realistic target has to be a European qualification berth and a top-6 finish. Although 4th is still doable, we are coughing and spluttering and I feel we are not showing enough consistency in matches to look like we can put in a strong run of performances.
For Hodgson, I feel he is a manager which will surely exit in the near future and won’t be given a 5 year tenure at Liverpool. For me, he has just not made the right decisions, and based on well-known facts at Liverpool FC. He has not spent wisely in the transfer market and although brought in as a manager to ‘steady the sinking ship’, he hasn’t been able to prevent further demise. Perhaps the owners will give him at least this one season, as they must be looking at Liverpool FC as a long-term project, given their propensity to at least in other sports bring in young potentials. They are unlikely to invest a huge amount in the club in the January window, or spend Man City-like or Chelsea of ‘old’.
I am sure they have set a minimum league position finish for Hodgson as a target, which if he doesn’t achieve he will have to go, whether that is 8th or 6th, we wont know. If I was them, I would aim for 6th, but even having said that, I have seen enough of Hodgson’s decisions so far, which IF they don’t change in nature, would see me preferring him to go, sooner rather than later.
And January would be okay, but there may not be that many other good managers around. Kenny Dalglish may not suited for the job, despite what many Liverpool fans may think. Would Martin O’Neill be suitable? There are certainly worse candidates than him!
Redspider
