According to BT Sports, the last time Stoke won at Anfield, the hit tv show of the day was Dixon of Dock Green. Well, it would have been criminal if Stoke had nicked even a draw today (don't even go there with Kop/Cop) as Liverpool won their first game of the season at home for a long long time. Perhaps when Owen scored 2 against West Ham I think, 12 years ago!
A show I had to Google and a game from my pre-teens! Opening day does little to fill me with confidence
Anyway, thoughts as we once again take our places round the round table and muse on the start of yet another red dawn. False hopes or genuine optimism?
First of all, I've missed these. Secondly, credit where due. Asmir Begovic was the difference between a repeat of the 4-0 of '09 and Stoke hanging in this game right up until the 92nd minute. Not only was he commanding in the box and saving amazingly those 10 shots he did. He saved them "right". I can't remember a single shot he saved ending up with a Liverpool player, in a position to shoot again. Similarly when Coutinho made it through, he forced the angle so when Coutinho's shot got past his grips it was way wide (if you look at the replay, he had the far corner covered). And since I can't differentiate between our players, my man of the match goes to him.
As for the question. Personally, I think genuine optimism. Last year was good intentions and "well I can see what we're trying, even if we don't pull it off". Now it was quite obvious that we would, but more importantly did. There were a few good, genuine "make your own luck" moments:
- Mignolet flapping at the ball and it falling for Huth. Instantly I got spine chilling flashbacks of Gera's goal last season. But then it hit the crossbar and the "ohh for fuck's sake, not again!" became "wait, what?! FUCK YEAH!"
- Kolo Toure hitting the crossbar and instead of collective facepalming and swearing, all of a sudden there was another chance - albeit one which Sturridge fluffed.
- Walters' wondershot which we've become far too used to ending up in the back of the net. The standing ovation gave Mignolet a much needed boost that carried him for the rest of the half.
- The "Plenantly
TM" as Alan Shearer calls it. It really should've been Charlie Adam. With a point to prove, their most threatening shot (can we call it that - my personal hypothesis is that he was aiming for Pennant!) and he'd had the cross that earned the pen. But up stepped Walters; shooting as he'd done in 5/6 penalties (the only one not to go there went over the bar). Mignolet had done his homework and was there to save it as well as throwing his hip at Kenwyne Jones' follow up attempt.
For me Lapso Apso, our new attack dog, looked fab, keen, enthusiastic, already showing the start of a good relationship with Sturridge and some lovely turns and moves. He still looks like a 12 yr old with a knife, but I liked him. We were fluid going forward but once more, as ever, there are questions:
Do we know what to do in the box? For the first time, Stoke, still being a physical team (they towered over us) couldn't keep us out of the penalty box and that pleased me. Its been a long long time since we unlocked parked bus defences and we have perhaps started to do that.
But have we changed that much? It looked like a lot of games from last season, plenty of possession, chances and good football but failing to finalise. If all that happens is that we now start to win 1-0 instead of drawing 0-0 I don't care.
Iago Aspas I thought had a great debut. His movement was superb, his first touch past players will continue to puzzle defenders for a long time. They've just covered an entire pre-season of Coutinho videos only to be faced with that! His run, dribbling and pass for Henderson's via Begovic shot to the inside of the post would've been a real highlight of the game had it gone in. Similarly was his movement when Henderson took the wrong decision to come inside towards Begovic was very promising. And again when Enrique got into the box, he was there abouts. He does look a bit like-minded to Sturridge (a positive sign, no?) in the sense both tend to make the run or drop off at the same time. But if that's the worst to be said about a player's debut, it's all good.
Coutinho looked a bit rattled and got virtually nothing from the ref. It will do him good in the long run, to keep his head when the less football savy try to drag him down to their level. Despite all that he still managed to be our most threatening player. He's so insightful, the way he set up Sturridge, Henderson and Aspas - on his "off" day.
Our new boys all had very good games I thought. And that's important too, considering whom they were effectively replacing. But for me the key difference was a very slight one. Looking at the goal how it was set up. It was, funnily enough, apart from hitting the back of the net, one of the worse chances we created today. But there were two key differences from this game and West Brom last season. First was Sturridge being there to take it and delivering. The "match winner" cliché. But more importantly where the ball came from. Toure and Agger were near the center of the pitch. Not in our own box, with Carra and not halfway there, constantly looking over their shoulder, with Skrtel. Agger was there and it was a simple game of the ball moving faster than the player. Agger to Sturridge to Lucas to Aspas to Sturridge, one touch and catch the GK off guard. I think that will be the key to changing those home draws into home wins. Getting the team 10 yards further up the pitch will be absolutely crucial.
Filet Mignon in goal. Does he fillet or leave a gap where Pepe was? Started nervously but boy what a confidence booster that penalty save was, and perhaps more so, the follow up save off his hip. Looked slightly unsure when the ball came into the box, but shot stopping was excellent.
The meat puns. They hurt.
Mignolet if for nothing else will have hell of a momentum behind him now. That Huth shot would've been unfortunate. But a last minute penalty save + that Walters shot and he'll have grown another 2-3 inches and gotten an extra spring in his jump next game. He looked a bit awkward with the ball at his feet. But that can be trained (we did with Carragher!) and he kept a clean sheet. That's all there is to it and needs to be.
Hughes cannily I noticed, played two players pressing all the time on us at the back. Every manager knows we're going to try and play it out from defence, and we nearly got caught with two Stoke players chasing every ball, but luck/skill was on our side today.
They were definitely hoping to catch Mignolet and Toure, both of them new and less likely to be in the groove. Think he was also trying to get away from the Trench warfare stigma of Pulis' "legacy" (if I can defoul that word by using it in that context). I was however delighted to see things bounce our way, when again they tend to go in off the bar/post.
So deja vu? Or definite progress?
Definite progress for me. For a side that hasn't spent any money, is without it's supposedly best player there were obvious improvements from not further back than the QPR game of last season.
