SAMBA MAGIC LIFTS RODGERS
Coutinho hits stunning late strike to ease the pain of 6-1 thrashing
Liverpool were no doubt thinking of settling. philippe Coutinho was not. That is what makes him special, the last true star in the firmament at Anfield.
luis Suarez, raheem Sterling and Steven Gerrard have all gone. Coutinho remains and yesterday he demonstrated the enduring worth of a true match-winner. The game was heading for a stale draw, opportunities limited, Stoke giving as good as they got for most of it, when Coutinho elevated the action to another level.
For all of Brendan rodgers’ attempts to reinvent this team, the Brazilian remains its stand- out player for now. John Terry listed him among an exclusive trio of individuals who caused Chelsea’s defence real trouble last season, and if liverpool are to move forward as the owners demand in this campaign it will be Coutinho that is charged with inspiring that progression.
Make no mistake, this was a huge result for liverpool. They have got a cruel opening run of fixtures and this opening game was little short of treacherous, considering how the previous season had ended. Stoke 6 liverpool 1, in case you had forgotten. So to rerun that match as the season’s curtain-raiser must have been a premier league computer programmer’s idea of a joke. Not that rodgers will have seen the funny side.
Yet while it may take some time to live down Gerrard’s final game — ‘Scousebusters’ read the commemorative scarves on sale outside the ground — this was most definitely an excellent start. The danger in defeat was obvious. lose here again, and the pressure would be on from the beginning.
rodgers, being a glass-half-full kind of manager, did not see it like that. The way he viewed it, this was the opportunity for liverpool to put the past behind them. And in the 86th minute, through Coutinho, they did.
He received the ball from teenage left back Joe Gomez, turned and shrugged off the attention of Glenn Whelan. From there, he only had one intention. His burst of pace took him into clean air, and he let rip with a shot from 25 yards.
it was his trademark approach to goal, cutting inside from the left, and his trademark finish, a curled shot into the top corner — but it is a routine that never gets old. it looked a goal from the moment it left his boot, and goalkeeper Jack Butland was powerless. There was no way back for Stoke from there.
A fair result? Just about. liverpool probably did a bit more lateate in the second half and before thathat not enough happened to makee a call for either team. Stoke hadd the best, arguably the only, chance of the first half, and liverpool did not muster one of note until the 68th minute, but both teams have a lot of new players and look as if they need time to bed in.
Stoke’s ibrahim Afellay, latee of Barcelona, looked the best of the new boys, certainly earlyy on, when he determined to showw his new club his range of tricks, earning instant popularity with the locals.
Those who use Stoke City as a short-hand term to epitomise typically direct and physical english football will have to find another trope. The revolution Mark Hughes has been working towards since taking over from Tony pulis at the end of the 2012-2013 season has finally arrived and players such as Afellay are at the heart of it.
Yes, he got booked after five minutes, but there the similarity to Stoke’s combative past ends. Stoke’s football was as ambitious as liverpool’s and while they can still put it about, so can Swansea, and so can liverpool for that matter, and nobody makes a cliche out of them.
indeed, the worst foul of the game saw Dejan lovren jab an elbow into the face of Mame Diouf, having first
checkchecked his position. it wasnwasn’t one of those challenges where the act of jumping lifts an arm, either. lovren barely left the ground. Anthony Taylor, the referee, issued a yellow card, but it could easily have been red.
And while Afellay’s boot may have been high on Nathaniel Clyne in the fifth minute, from there his feet were a blur. Stepovers, backheels, exquisite feints and dummies, often delivered at full pace. Clearly, the Dutchman had received no dire briefings about dumbing down for the premier league. He went out and played his normal game, and fitted in just fine — well, until getting cleaned out in mid-air by James Milner shortly before half-time.
He faded a bit from there, but still completed 90 per cent of his passes in liverpool’s half and 88 per cent overall. By comparison, liverpool’s Adam lallana was substituted with a 71 per cent pass completion rate. equally, liverpool’s newbies seemed to find life a little harder than their counterparts. Great pressure comes with that shirt. in the first half, Clyne collected the ball in the centre circle and, with Stoke players closing him down, turned and hit it the length of the field back towards his own goalkeeper.
He would have been bolder at Southampton, no doubt — but responsibility does that to a man. No doubt Clyne was aware of liverpool’s first priority, to avoid another thumping. perhaps that explains the more obvious caution in their play early on.
The best chance of the first half fell to Stoke. Marco van Ginkel beat Gomez and cut the ball back from deep, a deflection causing it to be acrobatically cleared off the line by Martin Skrtel. it fell to Afellay, whose shot was blocked by Clyne’s hand, Taylor ignoring the penalty claims and waving play on. Now it was Glen Johnson’s turn. He brought the ball under control, but shot over against his former club.
it took until the 63rd minute for the home side to threaten again, a Charlie Adam free-kick that Diouf just couldn’t get a touch on, Simon Mignolet turning it around late, a save that was more impressive than it looked.
The close shave spurred liverpool into action and in the 68th minute a Milner corner was headed goalwards by Skrtel, kept out by Butland. Soon after, Milner set up another chance for Jordan Henderson, who squandered it with an inaccurate volley across goal.
Bournemouth are next at Anfield in seven days, which would have been a very tense night had liverpool lost here. instead, rodgers will feel confident of visiting Arsenal on August 24 with a 100 per cent record — and a monkey off his back. Short-term, at least.