Swansea City helped but Liverpool will be delighted with what may well have been their best performance since the win over Tottenham in August. Adam Lallana was the star with two goals and it’s the first time they’ve scored four in a single match since March. The victory takes them up to eighth place, above Swansea on goals scored and five points off fourth-placed Southampton. That’s all from me. See you next year. Bye!
Full-time: Liverpool 4-1 Swansea City
A fine way for Liverpool to close out 2014.
90 min+1: There will be three minutes of the added stuff.
90 min: Coutinho is replaced by Fabio Borini, who still has time to pick up a couple of bookings.
89 min: Balotelli is denied his first league goal for Liverpool by Fabianski. He stabbed a low shot towards the bottom corner but Fabianski was able to dive to his right and push it away. Swansea just want the final whistle.
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88 min: Markovic tees up Henderson for a shot from 25 yards but New Steven fires well wide. Up the other end, Routeledge runs on to a pass from Ki and rattles a rising drive over from 20 yards.
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86 min: “Still time for Balo and Shelves to go coupon a coupon and make everyone happy,” says Ian Copestake.
84 min: Gomis hits the bar! From a standing start and surrounded by two Liverpool defenders, he somehow managed to dig the ball out from the edge area and his effort seemed to catch Mignolet by surprise, a bit like everyone else inside Anfield judging by the reaction of the crowd. Mignolet stood still and the ball pinged off the angle of post and bar. “Oooohhhh,” goes the crowd. Moments later, Gomis tries an acrobatic volley from closer range but the ball dribbles wide.
83 min: Brendan Rodgers decides to take Raheem Sterling out of the firing line and introduces a calming influence in the form of Mario Balotelli.
81 min: Sterling tries to speed round Fernandez on the right but the Swansea defender shields it out of play. Sterling responds by giving him a little shove into the Kop. Fernandez is not amused and Sterling gives him a tap on the face right in front of the linesman. He got away with it because, essentially, it was nothing but it was still a monumentally stupid thing to do in thecurrentclimate.
79 min: As tempting as it is to conclude that this Liverpool performance is down to the absence of Steven Gerrard, it’s worth pointing out that he was there when they played well against Arsenal the other day. I’m not saying that it’s not something to think about, but Gerrard can still have a part to play.
78 min: Coutinho tries to bend a deliberate curler into the far corner from the edge of the area. He can’t keep it low enough.
77 min: Adam Lallana, a very good player, won’t be getting a hat-trick tonight. He’s replaced by Lazar Markovic.
76 min: A corner to Swansea on the right. Sigurdsson sends it in and Williams heads it on. It ends with Rangel winning another corner. This one is cleared. Liverpool are closing in on two successive games without conceding a goal from a set-piece!
74 min: Sterling wants a goal now. He shoots towards the near post from the left and it’s a good effort, but Fabianski gathers.
70 min: Mind you, Shelvey probably wishes he’d seen red for that elbow on Can in the first half now. What a performance, again, from the Swansea man. He is a truly fascinating player.
THE OBLIGATORY JONJO SHELVEY CIRCUS ROUTINE AGAINST LIVERPOOL! Liverpool 4-1 Swansea City (Shelvey own goal, 69 min)
Shelvey can’t help himself against these opponents. Last season, he handed Liverpool two goals in the 2-2 draw at the Liberty Stadium with a couple of outstanding errors; tonight it’s a well-taken own-goal. Coutinho drifted the corner from the right to the near post and there was Shelvey, in some and perhaps all ways the man of the match, to unwittingly glance the ball off the top of his bonce and in off the far post! What a finish! Here, should Liverpool think about signing this guy up? He seems to have quite the connection with their players.
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68 min: Coutinho curls a free-kick into the area from the left. Chaos ensues but Liverpool can’t force it home. Not that the danger is over. Lallana, the best player on the pitch at the moment, glides into the area from the left and tries to place one into the far corner. Fabianski saves with his feet and Swansea then make a horrendous mess of trying to clear it, eventually presenting it on a silver platter to Skrtel. His volley is deflected over. Corner. And...
67 min: Swansea makes their final changem Ki Sung-Yeung replacing Leon Britton. “Bony went off?” says Ian Copestake. “The breaking of so great a thing should make a greater crack.”
64 min: Lallana is on fire. He slides a pass through to Sterling and he gets there before Fabianski, only for his heavy touch round the goalkeeper to take him too far wide and leave him unable to direct his shot into the open goal. Wide it goes.
62 min: Wilfried Bony is replaced by Bafetimbi Gomis.
GOAL! Liverpool 3-1 Swansea City (Lallana, 61 min)
Adam Lallana’s first goal was down to his persistence but this one is down to his wonderful dribbling ability and the dreamy imagination of Coutinho. Henderson fizzed a low pass to Coutinho, whose sumptuously dismissive backheel released Lallana and gave him a free run at the Swansea defence. He dropped a shoulder to beat one man, made his way to the left, breezed past another defender and then kept his cool by stroking a low shot past Fabianski and into the far corner with his left foot. Liverpool have their two-goal lead back!
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60 min: Lallana streaks away from the halfway line and towards the Swansea area, but he doesn’t catch his shot cleanly from 20 yards and it’s an easy save for Fabianski, who must be kicking himself for the error that led to Liverpool’s second goal.
59 min: It opens up for Liverpool again through the middle, Coutinho reversing a pass through to Sterling, who is in acres of space. Yet he’s too hesitant and instead of driving towards goal, he tries to take it round Fernandez, whose tackle is well-timed.
58 min: It’s end-to-end now, which is a nice surprise after the relative torpor of the first half. Though you fear for Liverpool if their defence comes under sustained pressure in the final half-hour or so. “Apologies if I am late to the party on this but Jazz Richards is far more likely to refer to a troope of adult film stars than a footballer,” honks Charles Scott.
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56 min: And breathe. “Martin Skrtel ripping the shorts off another man: This is one day I’m glad to be reading the MBM and not at home watching on the telly,” says Justin Kavanagh.
53 min: Liverpool also implode straight from the kick-off! The ball is given away by Sakho to Bony, who unleashes a fierce shot from the edge of the area which is pushed away by Mignolet. Routeledge tries to reach the rebound but it’s hacked behind for a corner! Suddenly it’s panic stations at the back for Liverpool. Yet this match has come alive. When the Swansea corner is cleared, Liverpool attack and Henderson’s glorious cross from the right reaches Sterling and he looks certain to score - but clips the ball against the far post!
GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Swansea City (Sigurdsson, 52 min)
Swansea are back in it immediately! No sooner had Liverpool stopped celebrating, Routeledge, driven on by the power of New Shorts, hung a cross to the far post from the left. Sakho’s header went back across goal and fell to Sigurdsson, who finished confidently from close range! Game on!
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GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Swansea City (Lallana, 51 min)
A goalkeeping calamity at Anfield but not from the usual suspect this time! Raheem Sterling forced the ball to be played back to Fabianski and he delayed whacking it away long enough for Lallana to race in front of him and block his attempted clearance back past him and into the empty net! Oh dear. I seem to remember him doing that at Arsenal.
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50 min: Routeledge runs back on with his new shorts and Sigurdsson swings the free-kick into the Liverpool area, where Bony heads towards goal. Mignolet dives to his right and saves, before...
49 min: Martin Skrtel is booked for a clumsy foul on Routeledge on the right and will miss the game agains Leicester on New Year’s Day. In fact, Skrtel managed to tear Routeledge’s shorts with that effort and the winger has to quickly request another pair on the touchline before the free-kick can be taken. That’s good banter, probably the funniest thing I’ve seen all year.
48 min: Manquillo scampers down the right and sees his cross deflected off Taylor and behind for a corner. Coutinho’s effort is dismal, though, straight to the first man.
47 min: Sterling wonks one over the bar from 25 yards. “What Millings (35 min) is failing to appreciate is that while his young son may be snapping the Lego pieces into place like a Lego generating automaton (which is what I was in my youth) as an adult the slow considered snap of each piece into place is one of the few joys that one can enjoy at one’s leisure,” says Phil Sawyer. “Well, it gets me through the day. And obviously his child beats me. With a baseball bat. When we meet up. I know my place in the Millings pecking order.”
46 min: Swansea, who have brought on Angel Rangel for Jazz Richards, get the second half underway with an absolutely textbook kick-off. “Shelvey is in danger of losing a few friends here at Anfield, though they seem inclined to forgive him most things becuse he got into Fergie’s coupon,” says Ian Copestake. “In fact he seems to be obsessed with other peoples’ coupons.”
Half-time: Liverpool 1-0 Swansea City
And that’s that for the first half. Liverpool have edged it and lead thanks to Alberto Moreno’s goal, while Swansea can count themselves fortunate that Jonjo Shelvey did not see red for an elbow on Emre Can.
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45 min: Liverpool then stream up the other end and Coutinho lets fly from 20 yards, forcing Fabianski to parry behind for a corner. Liverpool fail to score from it.
44 min: Bony is fouled on the right. Free-kick to Swansea. Problems for Liverpool, if recent history is anything to go by. Sigurdsson curls it to the far post and, sure enough, Fernandez gets away from his man and heads it back across goal. It’s only half-cleared and luckily for Liverpool, Dyer shanks his volley and Mignolet catches it. Liverpool relax.
43 min: Suddenly it’s possible to detect an edginess in the home crowd as Swansea send a couple of high crosses into the Liverpool area. One from Taylor is just too high for Bony, another is eventually cleared, but this is a good spell from Swansea.
40 min: Shelvey zigzags past a couple of challenges and into the Liverpool area but he’s halted by a strong intervention from Can, before the ball is blasted into him by Henderson and out for a goal-kick. The Kop chuckles, but Can isn’t so happy, because he’s gesticulating furiously at the referee, claiming that Shelvey threw an elbow at him. The replays confirm that Shelvey did indeed direct his elbow into Can’s face, for no apparent reason. It looked intentional and he’s very lucky that the referee, who was nearby, missed it. On the very day that Garry Monk was telling Shelvey to be more disciplined, as well! Top work, Jonjo. He can expect an FA charge.
37 min: That was, of course, Moreno’s second goal for Liverpool, not his first. I’ve amended it. Now let’s never speak of this again. I know where you live.
36 min: This is wonderful from Coutinho. He should do it more often. He twists and turns and twists and turns and twists and turns and twists and turns once more for good luck to leave Jazz Richards’s head spinning on the left and then aims a low shot towards Fabianski’s near post from a tight angle. The goalkeeper saves well at the expense of a corner, from which nothing occurs.
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35 min: Sigurdsson tries a fancy trick in the middle of Liverpool’s half. He’s quickly set upon. “Please let the eight minute’s Phil Sawyer know that my son, 7, (that’s his age, not his name) finished his “Lego Movie: Benny’s spaceship” set (940 pieces; suggested age range: 9-14) in about a day,” says Mac Millings. “By my calculation, that means Sawyer - a certain age - has to get his Lego Imperial Star Destroyer set (1,366 pieces; suggested age range: also 9-14) done in just under a day and a half in order to keep up with a small child. Game on, Philip.”
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Swansea (Moreno, 33 min)
This is an excellent goal and one that Liverpool, who have shown marginally more endeavour than Swansea, probably deserve. Alberto Moreno started it with an incisive dash down the left flank and a pass inside to Lallana, who injected some quality into the attack with an astute pass inside Taylor and through to Henderson. He fired a first-time cross into the six-yard box and there, of all people, was Moreno to bundle it past Fabianski with his left foot. That’s his first Liverpool goal at Anfield and his second goal for the club overall!
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32 min: Bony shoots from 30 yards. He finds the back row of the Kop.
31 min: Bony finally collects the ball and sparks a good Swansea attack by turning and spraying a pass out to the left for Taylor, who has space to run into. He hoicks a high cross to the near post and Dyer manages to beat Moreno to the header, but it’s a tame effort and no trouble at all for Mignolet.
30 min: This match needs Mario Balotelli.
27 min: It would help Swansea if they could get the ball to either Sigurdsson or Bony. So far, both have been kept quiet by Liverpool.
26 min: Has Anfield ever sounded this lacklustre? Every so often, there’s a ripple of applause but there are long periods of total silence. It’s quite unsettling.
24 min: Coutinho hooks a brilliant pass over his head and through to Sterling, who looks set to beaver his way through to goal, only for Williams and Fernandez to squeeze him out at the crucial moment. That was almost a carbon copy of Sterling’s goal against Burnley on Boxing Day.
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22 min: Now Coutinho dribbles inside from the left and swerves an indecisive thing that was neither cross nor shot wide.
21 min: Swansea mount a coherent attack for the first time in a while. Routeledge pops up on the left, cuts inside and curls a cross out for a goal-kick. “Evening Jacob. Alex Cochrane really knows how to kill a party,” says Simon McMahon. “If I never see United play St. Johnstone again it’ll be too soon. Although I agree that the demise of Rangers has been a liberating experience for every other team in Scotland (apart from Celtic, that is). For me, back to back United victories over Dundee in September, the second in the League Cup thanks to a scarcely deserved last minute winner, were particularly memorable. As was Shaun Maloney’s winner for Scotland against the Republic.”
19 min: Swansea pass the ball around for a bit but they’re not going anywhere. They have been disappointing thus far. “There’s a reason that the atmosphere is flat tonight Jacob—Liverpool’s sponsors over the years have gone from paint-makers to beer brewers to bankers!” rasps Justin Kavanagh. “Gone is the colour, gone is the buzz, now it’s like paying the mortgage.”
17 min: “Sorry not to take up your year-end theme, but (assuming the current negotiations come off) would there not be some karma if Palace stay up and a Pardewless Newcastle get relegated?” says Ric Arthur. “They are currently 10 points clear--not something beyond their self-destructive capabilities, one might think. Or, could it be that some of the animus towards Pardew was due to his being a southerner? Discuss.”
I can’t see Newcastle going down, there’s too much rubbish below them, and they have some good players. But I would like to see Tim Sherwood take the job.
16 min: Liverpool are getting into their groove, passing the ball purposefully and slickly, their movement a bit too much for Swansea to handle at the moment. Coutinho pops up on the edge of the area, in a similar position to where he scored against Arsenal, but he rolls his shot straight at Fabianski.
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13 min: Liverpool should lead. Why don’t they lead? Continue reading to find out! Moreno located space on the left and drilled a firm cross into the area and it was met at pace by Sterling, arriving late, PRESUMABLY BECAUSE HE HAD JUST FINISHED A NAP (that was one of the great jokes of 2014), and sidefooting it goalwards. It had pace and power but it was just too close to Fabianski and he was able to push it out instinctively. The danger wasn’t over, though. Henderson’s persistence saw the ball drop to Lallana and he took a touch before slamming over from close range with his left foot. He should have scored.
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12 min: Lallana diddles into the Swansea area, a mischievous glint in his eye, but his inviting cross from the left, just waiting to be gobbled up fizzes to safety from a Swansea perspective.
11 min: Shelvey pings a pass over the top of the Liverpool defence, seeking out the run of Routeledge, but it runs through to Super Simon Mignolet, indefinitely in goal for Liverpool for the indefinite future.
9 min: “It could be quite a tactical game,” says Alan Smith on Sky, which is code for not much is going on but IT’S JUST A LITTLE TACTICAL, IT’S JUST A LITTLE TACTICAL, IT’S STILL GOOD, IT’S STILL GOOD, don’t change the channel.
8 min: Fabianski shanks a clearance straight out of play for a Liverpool throw. Up the other end, Mignolet frowns and wonders if his opposite number is mocking him via the medium of mimicry. “I have decided to tackle tonight’s game through the medium of ignoring it completely and concentrating instead on building my Lego Imperial Star Destroyer in the hope Liverpool surprise me and get a win,” says Phil Sawyer. “I shall be relying completely on the MBM. Help me, Jacob Wan Steinberg. You’re my only hope.”
You’re screwed.
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6 min: Another dodgy moment from Fernandez almost leads to the opener for Liverpool. Coutinho flung the corner to the far post from the left and Fernandez didn’t get off the floor at all, which allowed Skrtel to clamber all over him and nut a powerful header goalwards - but straight at Fabianski. Unlucky.
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5 min: It’s been a scrappy start in midfield but here’s an encouraging moment, Sterling escaping down the left and isolating Fernandez. He beats him easily but has to settle for a corner. Up trot the big men from the back.
4 min: The atmosphere is like one you’d hear at a training match. It’s so quiet, you can hear Brendan Rodgers thinking about philosophy.
2 min: Anfield is rather flat. Come on, lads, it’s the last match of 2014!!!!!! Come onnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!
And we’re off, Liverpool getting the ball rolling and attacking from right to left in the first half! Martin Skrtel is still wearing the bandage from that head injury he suffered against Arsenal last week. Danny Ward on the bench for Liverpool. “Is he a real ‘keeper like Fabianski, or a Make a Wish Foundation winner Brad Jones?” says Gary Byrne. Pinch him and find out.
The Liverpool fans are singing their famous anthem, Gonna Paint That Wagon. What a tune.
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And here come the teams! Liverpool are in red, Swansea are in white, so let’s hope that doesn’t cause the hosts to have flashbacks to playing Real Madrid. “Has to be St Johnstone winning the cup for the first time in their 130 year history,” says Alex Cochrane. “Who said losing Rangers would make the league boring?’
“Do we not get a potted history of Swansea for the preamble, or is it just Liverpool?” says Giles Harding.
They had a manager, they sacked a manager, they appointed a manager, they stayed up, they have won some matches, they have drawn some matches, they have lost some matches, they will finish in the top half.
“With Can playing aswell as the Spanish right- and left-back pair, Liverpool potentially have five players to pass the ball to in defence before opting to send it back to Mignolet and see if he can work out how to reach the midfield,” says Ian Copestake.
Bear with me, lads. Bear with me. There in a minute. Just working out what to do with the ball. Shall I kick it? Look at it? Lick it? Guys? Help?
Let’s riff. We’re riffing. What were your favourite football moments this year? I’ll start with friendly text message banter.
You’ll notice that there’s no Jefferson Montero in the Swansea line-up. He’s out for a month with a hamstring injury.
The teams!
Liverpool bring back Simon Mignolet and - how very dare they - rest Steven Gerrard: Mignolet; Can, Skrtel, Sakho; Manquillo, Henderson, Lucas, Moreno; Coutinho, Sterling, Lallana. Subs: Toure, Gerrard, Lambert, Borini, Balotelli, Markovic, Ward.
Swansea start former Liverpool favourite Jonjo Shelvey: Fabianski; Richards, Fernandez, Williams, Taylor; Britton, Shelvey; Dyer, Sigurdsson, Routledge; Bony. Subs: Ki, Emnes, Carroll, Gomis, Rangel, Tremmel, Bartley.
Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands)
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Well, what a rollercoaster of a year it’s been for Liverpool Football Club. It started with Daniel Agger Luis Suarez firing them to a 2-0 victory over Hull City at Anfield on 1 January 2014 and it ends with them hoping that they can summon the inspiration to beat Swansea City without the genius of New Year’s Day hero Daniel Agger Luis Suarez, a tall order indeed for Brendan Rodgers’s sixth-form class.
And a lot has happened since then. There have been plenty of ups but, with increasing regularity in the past few months, a few too many downs. There was a smack in the chops for Everton in January, the destruction of Arsenal in Feburary, an embarrassment of Manchester United in March, goals, goals and more goals from the SAS, the streets outside Anfield lined with shrieking supporters as the Liverpool coach rolled into view before kick-off and the title started to become more than just a pipe dream, that tumultuous win over Manchester City, that speech about going again from Steven Gerrard ... and then ...
And then. A slip. An Iago Aspas corner. Jose Mourinho running down the touchline and towards the Chelsea supporters. Tears in the away end at Selhurst Park. Disappointment on the final day of the season. Suarez introducing his gnashers to Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup and then jetting off to Barcelona. Loic Remy failing a medical. A splurge on some new players. A gamble on Mario Balotelli, followed by the hope of his debut in the win at Tottenham in August. An injury to Daniel Sturridge. Defeats. Defeats. Defeats. Dodgy defending at set-pieces. A weakened team in the Bernabeu. A setback for Sturridge. Another drab day at Selhurst Park. Trouble with Simon Mignolet. A strikerless formation in a sort-of-encouraging defeat at United, followed by victory at Bournemouth, 10-man defiance against Arsenal, a scrappy Boxing Day win at Burnley and a few signs that maybe, just maybe, signs that they might be up to something again. Liverpool still have to sort that defence out, of course, but at least they are starting to click in attack again. Victory tonight against Rodgers’s former club and Liverpool will only be five points behind fourth-placed Southampton.
That defence, though. Even its new three-man configuration, it’s still not great; really, it just means that there are more accident-prone centre-halves around and tonight Liverpool have to find a way of stopping Wilfried Bony and Gylfi Sigurdsson. It’s not going to be easy. Swansea come into this match on the back of two successive wins and they’re three points above Liverpool; victory would move them level on points with West Ham and Tottenham and it would be the perfect way for Garry Monk to end what has been an excellent first year in management. Wouldn’t he just love to get one over his old boss?
Kick-off: 8pm.
