Swansea City vs Liverpool Match Analysis - 16 September 2013
It was a case of “Yesterday’s Friends, Today’s Foes” as Brendan Rodgers took his table-topping Liverpool to the Liberty Stadium to take on Swansea City.
Rodgers of course, was the man who lead the Swans to the Premier League before making the move to Anfield. It is always emotional when facing a previous employer but on this occasion, the spotlight would be on a player who made the jump in the opposite direction – Jonjo Shelvey, deemed not good enough for the Reds by Brendan Rodgers, moved to Swansea this summer.
The young England international began the game with a chip on his shoulder.
Swansea’s number 8 advanced from midfield with a point to prove and attempted a shot from outside the box; the shot, blocked by Gerrard, fell kindly for Shelvey who continued to move into the Liverpool penalty area – this time his shot was once again blocked, this time by Skrtel. Shelvey was not to be denied though; he picked up the ball again and rifled a shot in to the net!
Redemption for the former Red?
Not quite!
A couple of minutes later, Shelvey revealed the side of his game responsible for Brendan Rodgers’ damning assessment. The Swansea midfielder, pressured by Henderson, passes the ball towards his keeper with hope but without even looking – the instinctive Sturridge intercepts the pass and shoots to score his 4th goal in 4 league games this season.
The match settled after the insane Shelvey-inspired start with Liverpool dominating possession. Rodgers handed debuts to deadline day signings Mamadou Sakho and Victor Moses who were positioned in center defense and left wing respectively.
With Moses positioned on the left, Coutinho returned to his favorite role as the Trequarista – the Brazilian exchanged positions with Jordan Henderson as the one who would drop deeper into center midfield to help build a Liverpool attack.
Liverpool’s fullbacks were asked to curb their forward movement as the Reds relied on a very patient possession-based approach. The injury to Glen Johnson and the introduction of Victor Moses on the left wing are possibly the main reasons why we rarely saw the LFC fullbacks overlap in advanced positions. Andre Wisdom does not possess the attacking verve of Johnson while Moses would potentially leave space for Swansea to take advantage of as he gets used to his role on the left thus forcing Enrique to be more responsible offensively.
Liverpool’s dominant possession play was complemented by aggressive pressing on the Swansea defenders and center midfielders up the pitch. The Reds choked out passing outlets as they closed down the Swans attacking options as well – Dyer, Michu and Bony were almost inexistent for long periods of the first half.
To counter-act Liverpool’s domination of the proceedings, Laudrup asked his team to push up while Routledge was ordered to move centrally from the left to aid the troubled midfield.
As the half progressed, Victor Moses got involved more in the attacking sense – first the Nigerian winger set up Sturridge for a chance after a right footed cross from the left. Minutes later, with Swansea gaining momentum, Moses intercepted another stray pass from Shelvey and pushed forward before cutting inside and scoring with a right-footed shot – Sturridge played a role in the debut goal for Liverpool’s new number 12 by occupying a couple of retreating Swansea defenders through his clever movement.
The Welsh side looked for an immediate reaction with Dyer breaking into the Liverpool penalty box from the right side – Dyer’s shot, saved by Mignolet, reached Bony with the goal gaping only for Skrtel to deny the Ivorian with a precise tackle.
Skrtel is showing the colossal form he displayed under Kenny Dalglish and is almost becoming an “untouchable” for the Liverpool defense.
The second half started with Laudrup looking to strengthen his midfield options by introducing Jonathan De Guzman for Nathan Dyer.
Laudrup’s attempts to win the midfield battle were boosted after Coutinho suffered a shoulder injury. Liverpool’s number 10 replaced by Iago Aspas.
Swansea’s attacking-minded tactics in the second half paid dividends on 64 minutes with “You-know-who” involved yet again! A brilliant move, started by Shelvey, resulted in Michu scoring his first goal of the Premier League campaign after Shelvey nodded down a Britton cross to perfection.
Almost immediately, Laudrup looked to smother any chance of a Liverpool recovery by taking-off Bony and bringing on Alejandro Pozuelo to further bolster their grip on the battle in midfield. With Michu now leading the line, you could notice an improved Swansea performance with the players reverting to a more familiar approach which they applied last season.
As it has become customary this season, Brendan’s Reds relied on a deep defensive line after the 60th minute with their defenders forced to play long balls from the back looking for the runs of Daniel Sturridge and Victor Moses.
The Swansea pressing remained relentless as the Liberty Stadium faithful sensed a winning goal – on several occasions, Liverpool’s wing outlets were outnumber 3-1. Despite the Swan’s dominance in the second half, they struggled to create goal-mouth chances as Liverpool dug deep and once again relied on the strength of character they are showing this season. The Reds, could have won the match with the last kick of the game after Aspas was left one-on-one with Vorm but the Spain forward took too much time before hitting the trigger.
The referee blew the full-time whistle with a fair 2-2 score line.
This was a very encouraging performance by Swansea after their disappointing start to the season. Michael Laudrup is still struggling with using Bony and Michu together as the Swans looked a better side with the Spaniard leading the attack on his own.
If there ever was a match to typify who Jonjo Shelvey is as a football player then this would be the ideal one – the young midfielder has the skills to turn the game around for his team; he also has a knack for concentration lapses that could be very costly for his side.
"I just want to say sorry to the fans for the two bad mistakes that gifted Liverpool a draw," said Shelvey, after the match.
As for Liverpool, the forced changes to their back four impacted their solidity at the back with Mignolet beaten for the first time this season. The injury to Glen Johnson is a damaging one for the Reds as Wisdom failed to provide the attacking outlet required with Liverpool under pressure – the England U21 captain conceded possession on several occasions.
Despite the two goals conceded, Sakho enjoyed an impressive debut showcasing his tackling abilities as well as his footballing skills. The French defender must adapt to Brendan’s defensive requirements quickly with the Reds boss stating:
"I thought he (Sakho) was excellent and assured. He stepped out maybe a wee bit too far for the second goal but that's something that, once he gets used to working with us, he'll improve on. Overall I thought he was strong, aggressive and passed it well”.
The biggest worry for Liverpool is their center midfield options – with Henderson now deployed on the right, Brendan Rodgers only has Joe Allen to come-off the bench to aid his center midfield options. With Allen injured against his old club, LFC could not bring-on a player to sway the midfield battle back in their favor.
Another concern is the Red’s failure to dominate football matches after the 65th minute this season. Swansea maintained a whopping 68% of possession in the second half and 59% overall.
The return to the Liberty Stadium provided Rodgers with the first serious questions asked of his side this season. LFC looked a class apart when maintaining possession in the first half but when put under pressure, Liverpool’s players could not show their strengths. Still, Liverpool’s Northern Irish manager would be pleased with his side’s mental strength once again this campaign – The Reds return to Anfield still undefeated and still top of the table.
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