Stoke City 1-0 Liverpool

Stoke City: Begovic, Upson, Shawcross, Wilson, Huth, Whitehead, Delap, Etherington, Pennant, Crouch, Walters (Wilkinson, Jones, Palacios)

Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Agger, Enrique, Skrtel, Adam, Lucas, Downing, Henderson, Suarez, Kuyt (Carroll, Bellamy, Johnson)

Liverpool travelled to the Britannia Stadium for this Premier League clash. They have never won away to Stoke City and couldn’t do anything to better that statistic.

The teams were evenly matched at the start of the game but Liverpool started gathering momentum. The first and only goal of the game came through a penalty awarded to Stoke for a foul on Walters by Liverpool defender Carragher. In the 20^th minute, a simple ball was played to Walters and the marker, Carragher, was out of position. Carragher, who turned 33 this January, tried to rectify his mistake by taking possession back from Walters but ended up pulling him down. The penalty was taken by Walters who scored with a perfect shot with great power and accuracy towards the centre of the goal. Pepe Reina, who dived to the right, stood no chance. From this point onwards, Liverpool started pushing harder for a goal.

The second half saw Liverpool dominating more than 70% of the possession and getting numerous opportunities in front of goal. Jordan Henderson was involved in a one-on-one with the keeper which was saved brilliantly. The half saw some great crossing from Downing but the finishing was awful. Suarez missed a simple finish at the death and Liverpool lost their first game of the season leaving Stoke unbeaten.

Verdict: Liverpool didn’t deserve to win this one but did deserve a draw. It is evident that Liverpool are a long way from winning the league. They would have to convert loses into draws and draws into wins if they want a shot at Champions League football next season as they are competing against teams like Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal. As far as the players are concerned, Carragher needs to be dropped from the first team as he’s become old. Skrtel, Agger and new man, Coates look like better options. Johnson’s brief appearance in the game showed that he’s still not completely fit to play in his right back position. All in all, it’s a long and hard road ahead for Liverpool if they want to work their way to the top.