Liverpool (2) Leicester City (2): Second Half Collapse as Foxes Grab a Point at Anfield
By the time the final whistle was blown at Anfield, it was hard to say whether Liverpool had thrown away two points in the draw with Leicester City, or if they got away with more than they deserved.
Riyad Mahrez could very well of scored a brace in the opening exchanges when his cheeky free-kick cannoned off the post and his effort from Jeff Schlupp’s cross flew inches wide, but it was the hosts who went into the break two goals to the good on the back of a pair of first half penalties — one controversial and one clear cut — which were duly converted by Steven Gerrard. The Reds never looked convincing though and a second half fightback from the Foxes saw the visitors draw level through Dave Nugent and Jeff Schlupp in a span of less than two minutes as Brendan Rodgers side once again fell embarrassingly apart at the back.
On the back of a utterly dominant victory against Swansea City only a few days ago, it was thoroughly expected that Liverpool would push on in the same vein against the side currently propping up the Premier League table, but that was far from the case as Leicester showed that they weren’t about to give up on their top-flight status.
It wasn’t exactly the kind of night and day performance that we saw the Reds put in against Burnley on Boxing Day when they were nothing short of lethargic in comparison to the high-tempo, well won draw with Arsenal, but it was an outing that has put a welcome halt on any talk of an about-face at Anfield. That being said, the visitors were undoubtedly as good — if only in spirit and determination at points — as we were bad.
There’s not much more to say about this really as it was a pretty vintage collapse from Liverpool, though there are a few talking points worth mentioning in lieu of your more traditional match reaction.
The withdrawal of Adam Lallana through injury hurt us quite a bit with Philippe Coutinho failing, through no fault of his own, to get more time on the ball.
Without another creative outlet in the final third on the other side of the pitch, it became pretty apparent where the ball’s attempted destination was when we were playing out from the back and the Foxes did well to keep the Brazilian caged throughout the second. His replacement in Fabio Borini unsurprisingly offered little in way of composure, though given his relative lack of match time that’s to be expected.
The continued exclusion of Mario Balotelli, left out in favour of his compatriot, will be another talking point to come out of this and I doubt I’ll be the only one questioning that decision with the striker, who continues to struggle, looking decent in his cameo against the Swans. While I’m not a huge fan of the controversial Italian, when he’s allowed to play with some company up-top, he looks to offer much more than Rickie Lambert by way of attacking threat — though that wasn’t our main problem today, was it? Of course, it was action at the other side of the pitch that did us in.
There aren’t too many supporters delusional enough not to concede that we were lucky to be carrying a lead, but we had one none the less and once again it was the defence that just couldn’t cut the mustard. Maybe the absence of Martin Skrtel, suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the win over Swansea, contributed to us being extra disorganized at the back? I can’t say for sure, and I won’t even try to venture a guess, but what I can say is that Leicester were massively unlucky not to bag more than their two goals.
Maybe one point isn’t all that bad after all.
–Steven