English Premier League – Full time report: Liverpool vs. Bolton Wanderers 2-1
The 1st half had proven to be collateral for Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson yet again, as a late goal from Davies assisted by Taylor had silenced the Kop yet again.
Liverpool, themselves, had lost far too many chances as Rodriguez, Lucas had failed in delivering the final product and Kuyt, and Torres continued to see their efforts go to waste.
So far it seemed like Liverpool were scared in unleashing their full offensive strength. The reason was the counter attacks by Bolton and with the likes of Davies and Elmander involved, it was a formidable threat.
Bolton, on the other hand, were handling their defence quite well so that Hodgson would have to deploy some strategic changes to break it.
Liverpool Line up: http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Torres-c13707 and David N’Gog
Substitutes: http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Martin-Kelly-c24395
Bolton Wanderers Line up: Jussi Jaaskelainen, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Kevin-Davies-c20716
Substitutes: Robbie Blake, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ádám-Bogdán-c3516
Liverpool kicked off after the break and slowly progressed up field, not to avail much; however, their slow and steady march bore fruit at last.
Johnson started the play from the right in the 49th minute as N’Gog received it. He cleverly passed it to Gerrard with his chest and the English maestro crossed the ball out perfectly to Torres. The 26-year-old powered
the ball directly into the net hence, scoring another goal for the Reds.
With a goal on board, Liverpool were alive again and their passing kept stunning the Bolton defence until it reached the box and got clearance. In the 55th minute, Torres got a chance to double the score after a long
ball on the right wing. He placed himself well on the right wing but his attempt went inches past the left post.
Bolton’s http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alonso-c5254 was playing too rough in the second half. Eventually he got booked as N’Gog played marvellously to Kuyt and the Dutchman ran while Alonso tackled him down wildly.
In the second half, both Kuyt and N’Gog seemed to have taken a role of assisting their star players and so far it was working like a charm.
Close to the half hour mark, Bolton had lost most of the possession and had lower number of attempts at the goal. This certainly showed that apart from Taylor in the midfield, rest of the players were being useless.
The Scouse were quite happy by the fact that the ball continued to remain in Bolton’s part of the field most of the time. This also meant that Liverpool had more chances of scoring their second in the night.
In the 65th minute, Johnson caught fire on the right as he stranded two defenders with his dribbling and planted a beautiful cross with Rodriguez missing it yet again.
Just a minute later, a drive from the right inspired by Torres gave Rodriguez another chance at scoring, but he flunked with a good save from Jaaskelainen. Gerrard followed the strike on rebound, but the shot was somehow blocked
as Reds cried for an appeal of handball.
In the 66th minute, Bolton found counter over the attack and Taylor nearly scored over Reina from long range. In the 67th minute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 were up for revenge. This time N’Gog became the avenger as he continued
to hammer shots into Bolton defence until Gerrard found the ball and sailed it over into the stands.
In the 69th minute Rodrigo was replaced by Klasnic, but he too was not of much good as Liverpool continued their assault.
70 minutes up and a midfield game was evolving and taking control of the match. Even this was being dominated by Liverpool and that too in the Bolton half.
In the 72nd minute, Gerrard’s substitution was proven invaluable, as the skipper crossed the ball to Torres who very nearly finished it on the volley.
Both teams in the 75th minute started to utilize their wings. Bolton, in this aspect, failed again miserably as Danish http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-Agger-c9884 and Aurelio warded off any threats in the area.
In the 76th minute Kuyt drove in while Torres, N’Gog and Gerrard ripped apart the defence. The last touch on Gerrard could have provided a winner, but the veteran was not able to control the ball impeccably.
In the 77th minute Bolton came up with a surprising counter attack and it was the Spanish goalkeeper Reina who came to the rescues making a one handed save on a powered shot by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mark-Davies-c24112.
In the 81st minute, Frenchman N’Gog came up with a low cross from the left wing, which went through the defence past an open goal. Kuyt was the only person in front of the goal, but since he was not anticipating it he
failed in connecting.
In the 82nd minute Cole came on for N’Gog and Petrov came on for Taylor. After the arrival of a fresh pair of legs, the game tempo raised and goal attempts were created by both clubs.
In the 85th minute, Bolton were high on the attack, but a Red wall always came in between to block the strikes. In the 87th minute, it seemed like the match was headed for a draw.
That all was about to change in the 88th minute, as Klasnic found an opening and struck the ball firmly into Liverpool goal, but the firm hands of Reina caught the blast. This was followed by a counter in which Torres
had two attempts at scoring, but the Spanish striker failed to deliver.
Gerrard’s two attempts were followed by that as the first was blocked and the second grazed the left side of the post. In the 89th minute, another close attempt flew by as Agger was brought down by Kyrgiakos. After that,
4 minutes were added into play.
In the 91st minute, Gerrard delivered a perfect ball in and Rodriguez at last managed to tap the ball with Cole finding the final touch to score the goal. In the last minute of play, Klasnic came up with another strike
but Reina was up to the challenge yet again.
The referee’s whistle blew after that ending the match with cheers of Kop fans. This should certainly relieve a lot of pressure off Hodgson and his men now.
Tags: