(Short) Match Report: LIVERPOOL v Swansea

That was the story of Liverpool’s season in a microcosm.  I don’t think a 90 minutes could’ve summed up Liverpool’s current style in such a ridiculously succinct way.

Whilst devastating and awesome in attack, Liverpool were equally inept and chaotic at the back with Dan Agger again partnering Martin Skrtel at the centre of defence and Glen Johnson back in in place of Aly Cissokho.

In hindsight, Cissokho and Toure may have been the better options, as whilst he looked useful going forward Johnson was his usual non-existent self in defence while Agger looked sluggish and off the pace throughout.

Many will point the finger at Skrtel for conceding the penalty in the second half, with barely 3 minutes played but the Slovak has only had the same back four along-side him about 2-3 times this season and while that is what I feel is Liverpool’s biggest issue defensively, that is an issue for another day.

Today, once again, the Reds showed they’ve developed another attribute in recent months: the ability to rise up and kill off games and boy was that an attribute that was desperately needed today.

Having taken the lead within minutes through Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool looked genuinely up for this game, and when the lead was doubled by Jordan Henderson on 20 minutes it looked like being another of those games when the home side would be out of sight by half-time.

Garry Monk’s side had other ideas however and while they’d barely had a sight of goal in the first 20 minutes, Swansea started putting their possession to good use and, following an extended period of passing, Jonjo Shelvey was fed the ball on the edge of the box to put a sublime ball off the wood-work into Simon Mignolet’s goal.

Nobody could have begrudged Swansea a goal after having more possession but when Wilfried Bony made it 2:2 within minutes of Shelvey’s goal hearts were in mouths as those defensive frailties were again brought to the surface in brutal fashion.

For 5 minutes Liverpool’s players looked all at sea before a short period of possession led to Luis Suarez chipping a beautifully placed ball onto Daniel Sturridge’s waiting head to restore Liverpool’s lead.

Almost the entire stadium breathed a sigh of relief.  Which didn’t last long.

At that moment, in the 48^th minute, pundits up and down the land must’ve punched the air as the moment they’d been praying for all season occurred: Martin Skrtel’s penalty area friskiness was finally punished and their opinions were, at last, vindicated.

Liverpool have been notoriously slow and lethargic in second halves this season and the start of this second period was no different as Swansea took advantage to regain parity and level the score at 3:3, following Martin Skrtel’s WWF-style challenge in front of his own goal-mouth.

As the half wore on Liverpool grew more and more into the game, wrestling control from a tiring Swansea side and it seemed that, provided the Reds could keep things stable at the back, the 4^th was only a matter of patience.

And so it came, to the delight – and relief – of Liverpool fans everywhere, when Luis Suarez’s magic in the area led to a loose ball being gobbled up by Jordan Henderson, arriving late into the Swansea area and putting Liverpool back ahead.

The next 20 minutes were near-torture as every foray forward by Swansea was greeted with the kind of trepidation that only comes with knowing how often Liverpool have given away soft goals this season.  The introduction of former Swansea midfielder Joe Allen however, made all the difference, as he put in an impressive cameo to ensure the centre of Liverpool’s midfield was much tougher and more rigid.

Thankfully, Liverpool held on and the players celebrated after the game in subdued fashion, knowing equally how much they’d gotten themselves out of jail, and how important that winning goal could turn out to be.

Many will look at Liverpool’s defence as a reason why only 4^th place should be the target this season.  But given that the Reds are now the league’s top-scorers, even out-scoring ‘free-scoring Man City’, there is a sense about this Liverpool side that no matter how many goals the opposition score against us, we’ll always have the capacity to score one more and that could lead to a very interesting final 11 games of this Premier League season.