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Stoke City 3-1 Liverpool
Good evening, here are the teams for tonight’s game.
Stoke: Begovic, Cameron, Shawcross, Huth, Wilkinson, Kightly, Nzonzi, Whelan, Etherington, Walters, Jones. Subs: Sorensen, Adam, Whitehead, Upson, Crouch, Shotton, Jerome.
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Jose Enrique, Gerrard, Lucas, Downing, Shelvey, Suso, Suarez. Subs: Jones, Cole, Henderson, Coates, Carragher, Allen, Sterling.
Jonathan Walters has apparently now played in more than 70 consecutive Premier League games, according to Sky.
We’re underway…
PENALTY FOR LIVERPOOL!
GOAL FOR LIVERPOOL!
GOAL FOR STOKE CITY!
Phew! What a start!
Stoke 1-1 Liverpool: First of all, Gerrard calmly slots home a penalty after Suarez is pulled down in the box by Shawcross (2 mins).
Shortly thereafter, a slip from Skrtel allows Walters to latch onto a long ball and blast it into the net unchallenged (4 mins).
GOAL FOR STOKE!
Stoke 2-1 Liverpool: Kenwyne Jones heads in Glenn Whelan’s corner, with Johnson narrowly failing to clear it on the line (12 mins).
And some people predicted this would be 0-0…
The game finally appears to have settled down a bit, following that frantic opening.
Though as I type, Reina tips over Etherington’s powerful shot.
Liverpool will surely be kicking themselves for giving up their lead all too easily.
Good play by Downing, who beats his marker and picks out Gerrard with the cross.
The England midfielder sidefoots it narrowly the wrong side of the post.
Liverpool are really up against it now, and it’s showing, with Pulis’ men comfortably curbing their attacking threat.
Including today, the Potters have conceded four goals at home this season.
Stoke may be nowhere near as skillful as Barcelona, but the incredible effort they put in in pressing the opposition is somewhat reminiscent of the Spanish side’s similar philosophy in this regard.
They’ve forced Liverpool into a mistake on more than one occasion, owing to this strategy.
Moreover, Jon Walters is doing his Ireland chances no harm with his role in this team, and with his overall performance in general today.
Steven Gerrard hits a shot from distance well over, in a manner that illustrates Liverpool’s frustration right now.
They’ve had a lot of possession of late though, and Stoke are unlikely to be able to maintain their current intensity for the 90 minutes.
Here’s a look at all the goals so far…
YouTube credit: SuperSportHD1·
YouTube credit: TvSportAndOther
YouTube credit: altassports
Etherington has wasted a good chance to put his side 3-1 up, hammering it at the goalkeeper from close range.
HALF-TIME: STOKE CITY 2-1 LIVERPOOL
Liverpool have their work cut out for themselves at half-time.
They will not be happy at how they let Stoke back into the game so easily, with a few costly defensive errors, having gone ahead early on.
Since going behind, the visitors have enjoyed their fair share of possession, though they haven’t really done enough with the ball when they’ve had it.
Stoke look solid at the back, though they are at risk of burning themselves out given how much chasing they’ve been doing so far.
The second half has begun…
GOAL FOR STOKE!
Stoke 3-1 Liverpool: A typical Stoke long throw falls to Walters, who takes just one touch before volleying it home from the edge of the area in accomplished fashion (48 mins).
Liverpool now need to score as many goals as Stoke had conceded at home all season before this game (3) in order to win.
Liverpool don’t look like breaking their opponents down right now. They’ve been both lax defensively and lacking a spark in attack.
In a bid to change that, Liverpool have replaced Lucas with Henderson.
Another Liverpool play goes awry, as Begovic comfortably collects Gerrard’s free-kick.
There’s been no real Liverpool reaction to Stoke’s third goal.
Liverpool win a free-kick on the edge of the box.
Meanwhile, Tony Pulis is fuming at Stoke not being awarded a throw-in in the build-up.
Whitehead replaces Kightly for Stoke.
The midfielder almost makes an impact straight away, narrowly failing to get on the end of Etherington’s cross and clattering into Reina in the process.
Liverpool look somewhat deflated and resigned to defeat at this stage.
If anything, Stoke are the more likely side to get the next goal.
The enthusiasm with which Walters continues to close down the Liverpool defenders at this stage is incredible.
It’s been a Man of the Match performance in every aspect of the game from the Ireland striker today.
10 minutes remaining.
It’d be interesting to see a stat indicating how many times Stoke have blocked Liverpool shots today, and in the Premier League in general.
I’d be willing to guess it’s more than most teams.
This game is petering out, unsurprisingly.
It’s been another masterful defensive display from Stoke, with Liverpool barely getting a sniff of a chance in the second half.
They’ve even managed to keep one of the best strikers in the world – Luis Suarez – relatively quiet.
Four minutes of added time before Liverpool are put out of their misery.
Jon Walters has been named Man of the Match, unsurprisingly.
FULL-TIME: STOKE 3-1 LIVERPOOL
That’s all from me.
Thanks for reading and commenting, and enjoy the rest of the Christmas break.
