At this stage of the game, no one cares how you do it as long as it gets done. It was ugly at times, but a win earlier tonight saw Liverpool not only keep pace with fourth placed Manchester United, but record their fifth win in as many outings to make sure their momentum remained steady ahead of this weekend’s showdown.
To be fair though, Reds boss Brendan Rodgers will be hoping that the outcome and not the performance will be repeated come Sunday with Swansea City looking the more likely to take the points — and just about everything else — for large swathes of the match. Jordan Henderson’s deflected winner, his third in as many Premier League games, may have kept their pony in the top four race, but their lack of composure in the first half had the Anfield outfit looking fit for the glue factory rather than the winners circle.
With a relentless run of fixtures stretching back to the middle of December now over, Liverpool enjoyed a rare week off following their routine win over Burnley FC last weekend, but it was quite apparent within the first five minutes that the visitors looked more rusty than rested as the Jacks asserted their authority in the opening exchanges.
The kind of intense, high pressing game we’re used to seeing from Liverpool served Swans boss Gary Monk well throughout the first half as Bafetimbi Gomis and Gylfi Sigurdsson forced Simon Mignolet into a pair of stunning saves. The Belgian shot-stopper has more than re-asserted his place as the Reds number one choice between the sticks after being dropped from the starting eleven before Christmas, and when he got down low to deny the Frenchman’s shot from the edge of the box, the former Sunderland man looked to be back to his very best — that is, until he bettered that save by palming away Sigurdsson’s rising shot as the half wore on and his defense looked worse for the wear.
Restricted to a few speculative, long-range efforts, the Reds went into the break needing a complete turn around and they looked to have done an about-face when the second half kicked off. Former Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, who was everywhere at all times during the first half, was now being well shepherded by heir to the Reds captaincy Jordan Henderson with a little help from Joe Allen and the hosts lost much of their impetus going forward. By the time Steven Gerrard, starting from the bench, was introduced just past the hour mark, Rodgers side were already starting to turn the screw ever tighter and it would be the heir apparent that’d provide the twist that sealed the three points up nice and tight.
Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge combined to create the first real danger for Swans ‘keeper Lukasz Fabianski just before the hour when the Pole had to be sharp to deny Philippe Coutinho’s shot at the near post, but the former Arsenal man would be powerless to deny Henderson his third goal on the bounce when the midfielder chased down a ball over the top. The stand-in skipper looked to have come up second best as Jacks defender Jordi Amat looked to have cleared the ball away just in the nick of time, but it’d deflect off the shins of the 24-year old and loop over the head of Fabianski to break the deadlock.
Any goal is one worth celebrating and as Henderson wheeled off with a smile on his face, he looked to have taken Swansea’s belief with him. Coutinho had a well struck effort from distance come within inches of doubling the Reds advantage while Sturridge saw his injury time shot ping off the post from even slimmer margins as Rodgers watched his side close out proceedings on top — exactly where they’ll hope to end up on Sunday.
It was far from our prettiest win, but no one is about to complain about that. We spent years watching mediocre Man United teams eek out titles on the back of the belief that above all else they deserve to win and that’s exactly the kind of culture the boss is nurturing at Anfield. We might have had a hiccup or five in the first half, but overcoming it, fighting back and securing full points is sometimes more satisfying than having things go exactly to plan.
Barging towards the end of March, securing 10 wins in your last 13 matches is exactly the kind of form you want to be in with May in sight — and your fiercest rivals knocking on your door at the weekend. With the pressure mounting on United, we’re more than ready to answer it…
–Steven
