As Brendan Rodgers sent out his fourth different defensive set up in five games, in which no less than eight defenders have appeared, Liverpool once again made mistakes at the back which allowed Zenit St. Petersburg to add two more goals without reply to the nine conceded in the previous four fixtures.
With seventy minutes of the game gone the game stood on a knife edge, with Luis Suarez likely to be the Liverpool man to raise the most eyebrows after an uncharacteristic performance which saw the Uruguayan striker squander several opportunities to give the visitors the lead over their Russian hosts.
But costly mistakes at the back for Rodgers side left them with an uphill struggle going into the second-leg at Anfield as a Jordan Henderson slip lead to Hulk firing home a world-class effort from distance before a tap in moments later from Semak, aided by incredibly lax defending by Glen Johnson, doubled the lead for the Russian side.
There was a return to the Liverpool first-team for Joe Allen, who Brendan Rodgers opted for in place of Lucas Leiva, after a period on the bench whilst Raheem Sterling was also handed a place in the Reds starting line-up in the absence of Daniel Sturridge, who was ineligible for the clash due to his European involvement with Chelsea before his £12 million transfer.
The opening moments offered chances at both ends of the pitch as Pepe Reina was forced to make a close range save from an effort from Kerzhakov before Glen Johnson played a well placed ball across field to Luis Suarez who picked up the ball on the left, cut inside, getting past his man, before firing a shot just wide of the far post.
Quarter of an hour into the game Liverpool were gifted a chance to put themselves into the lead away from home as Lombaerts gave the ball away to Luis Suarez, who looked undecided as to what to do as he went one-on-one with the goalkeeper, opting to round Malafeev but his strong touch allowed Lombaerts to make a recovering tackle to end the danger.
Another fantastic opportunity for Suarez came within the last ten minutes of the first period as a ball across the face of goal from Joe Allen wasn't dealt with by the Zenit back line, falling out left into the path of Raheem Sterling whose low ball back into the middle fell perfectly at the feet of the Uruguayan, who misfired a flashy effort wide of Malafeev's left-hand post.
Zenit largely dominated the first period, with Kerzhakov, Hulk and Axel Witsel controlling the play in the attacking third as Liverpool's midfield struggled to deal with the high line implemented by their hosts. Luis Suarez looked the most likely player to score in a Red shirt though it was the other end of the pitch where the visitors best player of the half was, with Reina having to make a number of tricky saves.
In the opening exchanges of the second-half Liverpool did better at stopping Zenit building up momentum, whilst Luis Suarez, on the hour mark, was once again offered an opportunity to score as Downing cut into the middle, with his tap forward moving perfectly into the path of Suarez who fired his first time effort wide of the keepers left-hand post from just outside of the box.
With 70 minutes played it was Zenit who broke the deadlock as Jordan Henderson was robbed of possession in the middle of the park which allowed Hulk, under pressure from Steven Gerrard, to make a run towards goal before firing a thunderous strike from distance in to Reina's top right-hand corner to give the Russian side the lead.
Moments later Zenit got their second, with a floated ball across the box from the right falling into the path of Semak, who was left completely unmarked by Glen Johnson down the opposite flank, who tapped in from close range to double the hosts lead and give them a comfortable cushion in a game which minutes early was on a knife edge.
The arrival of Lucas Leiva following the goal, in place of Sterling, was too little too late for a Reds team that needed more physical players to deal with the threat posed by Zenit St. Petersburg much early in the game, with the defeat leaving the Reds with everything to do in the return leg at Anfield.
With seventy minutes of the game gone the game stood on a knife edge, with Luis Suarez likely to be the Liverpool man to raise the most eyebrows after an uncharacteristic performance which saw the Uruguayan striker squander several opportunities to give the visitors the lead over their Russian hosts.
But costly mistakes at the back for Rodgers side left them with an uphill struggle going into the second-leg at Anfield as a Jordan Henderson slip lead to Hulk firing home a world-class effort from distance before a tap in moments later from Semak, aided by incredibly lax defending by Glen Johnson, doubled the lead for the Russian side.
There was a return to the Liverpool first-team for Joe Allen, who Brendan Rodgers opted for in place of Lucas Leiva, after a period on the bench whilst Raheem Sterling was also handed a place in the Reds starting line-up in the absence of Daniel Sturridge, who was ineligible for the clash due to his European involvement with Chelsea before his £12 million transfer.
The opening moments offered chances at both ends of the pitch as Pepe Reina was forced to make a close range save from an effort from Kerzhakov before Glen Johnson played a well placed ball across field to Luis Suarez who picked up the ball on the left, cut inside, getting past his man, before firing a shot just wide of the far post.
Quarter of an hour into the game Liverpool were gifted a chance to put themselves into the lead away from home as Lombaerts gave the ball away to Luis Suarez, who looked undecided as to what to do as he went one-on-one with the goalkeeper, opting to round Malafeev but his strong touch allowed Lombaerts to make a recovering tackle to end the danger.
Another fantastic opportunity for Suarez came within the last ten minutes of the first period as a ball across the face of goal from Joe Allen wasn't dealt with by the Zenit back line, falling out left into the path of Raheem Sterling whose low ball back into the middle fell perfectly at the feet of the Uruguayan, who misfired a flashy effort wide of Malafeev's left-hand post.
Zenit largely dominated the first period, with Kerzhakov, Hulk and Axel Witsel controlling the play in the attacking third as Liverpool's midfield struggled to deal with the high line implemented by their hosts. Luis Suarez looked the most likely player to score in a Red shirt though it was the other end of the pitch where the visitors best player of the half was, with Reina having to make a number of tricky saves.
In the opening exchanges of the second-half Liverpool did better at stopping Zenit building up momentum, whilst Luis Suarez, on the hour mark, was once again offered an opportunity to score as Downing cut into the middle, with his tap forward moving perfectly into the path of Suarez who fired his first time effort wide of the keepers left-hand post from just outside of the box.
With 70 minutes played it was Zenit who broke the deadlock as Jordan Henderson was robbed of possession in the middle of the park which allowed Hulk, under pressure from Steven Gerrard, to make a run towards goal before firing a thunderous strike from distance in to Reina's top right-hand corner to give the Russian side the lead.
Moments later Zenit got their second, with a floated ball across the box from the right falling into the path of Semak, who was left completely unmarked by Glen Johnson down the opposite flank, who tapped in from close range to double the hosts lead and give them a comfortable cushion in a game which minutes early was on a knife edge.
The arrival of Lucas Leiva following the goal, in place of Sterling, was too little too late for a Reds team that needed more physical players to deal with the threat posed by Zenit St. Petersburg much early in the game, with the defeat leaving the Reds with everything to do in the return leg at Anfield.
Liverpool News 24/7
0 comments:
Post a Comment