Thursday, August 20, 2009
After a false start to their Premier League season, losing 2-1 away to Spurs last weekend, Liverpool looked to take a second crack at it tonight as they welcomed Stoke City to Anfield.
The Reds looked angry from the off, Lucas Leiva testing Thomas Sorensen with a long range drive soon after kick-off.
The hosts continued their early harassment of Sorensen until, after five minutes had passed, Fernando Torres struck to give the home side a 1-0 advantage.
Sublime work down the left flank from Steven Gerrard allowed the skipper to square the ball neatly into the path of 'El Nino', who had nothing left to do put slide the ball into the net.
Liverpool continued to dominate throughout the first half, the Potters rarely threatening if only through set pieces.
It is worth mentioning that, in the absence of Xabi Alonso, Lucas continued to do a stand-up job as he continues in his bid to fill the hefty boots of the recently departed Spaniard.
Terrific work from Glen Johnson and Dirk Kuyt down the right hand side continued to harangue the visitors as the first half soldiered on.
And, just as the anticipation of the half-time whistle was getting to boiling point, the link-up play between the right-sided dangermen came to fruition.
A decent strike from Kuyt was blocked in the 6-yard box, but, unfortunately for Stoke, the ball was perfectly teed up for Johnson to acrobatically bicycle-kick the Reds into a 2-0 lead.
The story remained the same after the break, Johnson persistantly roaming up and down the right flank and causing no end of problems for the visiting side.
Liverpool continued their domination into the second half, forcing Tony Pulis to rethink his strategy and send Liam Lawrence, Ricardo Fuller and Danny Pugh all into the fray in an attempt to shore things up for his poorly performing Stoke side.
Pulis' tactical reshuffiling proved to be an exercise in futility though, as a 77th minute goal from Dirk Kuyt put the icing on the cake for the home fans - and of course a due prize for the Dutchmans incredible efforts throughout.
Rafa Benitez then opted to make a few changes of his own, bringing off Gerrard, Kuyt and Torres for the talents of Ngog, Riera and Voronin.
Ngog had been on the pitch for all of five minutes when Johnson popped up for one final time, putting the ball on a plate for the French youngster to send home and bring the final scoreline to 4-0.
It was a fair scoreline to a game that was completely dominated from the outset by the hosts. Rafa Benitez will breathe a small sigh of relief as Liverpool get their well earned first three points of the season.
Stephen Crawford, Goal.com
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