Lacklustre Liverpool leave it late
Roy Hodgson’s men left it late to beat Bolton Wanderers as Maxi Rodriguez wriggled through to score with just four minutes to play following some fine vision from Fernando Torres and his cool finish past Jussi Jaaskelainen proved to be the difference.
It was harsh on Bolton who had more than matched Liverpool in a game that started brightly but then immediately began to decline and never looked back.
When the much maligned due of Maxi and Sotirios Kyrgiakos are your two best players, it is fair to suggest that Liverpool have had more fluent and more creative days.
But, after losing to the likes of Blackpool at Anfield so far this season, Hodgson and company will take victories in any way shape of form that they arrive.
If Maxi had cartwheeled the ball in off his backside then Liverpool would have been equally as thrilled.
A side that is used to sitting at the top of the Premier League is currently wedged firmly in the middle so therefore Liverpool will jump into whatever lifeboat floats past them.
“I don’t think anyone deserved to win to be honest,” Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said.
“I don’t think there was too many chances. It’s always a difficult game here at Bolton.
“Kevin Davies had a header late on, and that could have been it for them, and our chance has gone in.
“It was a really tight game but that’s the Premier League for you.
“It’s just nice to be out of the bottom three,” he added.
“We’ve been in there a while so it’s been difficult to look at the table. In the weeks to come we have to get further up the table.”
Torres had Liverpool’s best early opportunity as he charged through on goal but could not poke the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen in the Bolton goal.
However, the World Cup winner is starting to look more like his old self and looked free of the knee and hamstring injuries that have hampered the last 18 months and Hodgson is confident he is slowly inching his way back to his best.
After the Rovers win Liverpool clearly had more confidence going into the match, despite starting the game six places lower than the home side and inside the bottom three.
That confidence manifested itself in a vastly superior possession rate and for most of the early stages Bolton barely saw the ball as Liverpool’s midfield dominated proceedings but without creating many real opportunities.
The closest Bolton got to scoring came when Stuart Holden struck a wonderful volley from outside the box but although he caught his left-footed effort sweetly, Pepe Reina was equal to the task to prevent the American from breaking the deadlock.
After 25 minutes, Bolton felt they deserved a penalty when Chung-Yong Lee seemed to be fouled in the box by Jamie Carragher but Martin Atkinson waved away their frantic claims.
But by then, the quality had begun to nosedive as the early tempo and brightness was lost.
Fabrice Muamba’s long-range effort briefly threatened Liverpool’s goal but drifted wide while Gerrard also failed to hit the target after great build up work from Cole and Maxi gave him a good shooting opportunity from outside the box.
Kyrgiakos then ended the first half with the best chance as he thumped a header goalward following Gerrard’s bright free-kick but Jaaskelainen managed to palm the ball clear of danger.
After the break, the game again picked up in pace and Kyrgiakos went closest with an intelligent header at the near post from a corner but still the deadlock would not be broken.
Rodriguez’s brilliant overhead kick looked to be looping in with 20 minutes to go but it eventually dipped over the top of Jaaskelainen’s bar while Johan Elmander’s left-foot effort also just drifted wide.
As the game progressed it became increasingly clear that a single goal would probably be enough and to both side’s credit they pulled out all the stops looking for it.
But the spark of quality needed to settle the encounter was sorely missing as Kevin Davies somehow failed to convert a header from four yards out with just 15 minutes to go.
Yet that was before Maxi managed to latch onto Torres’s intelligent through ball and his late strike proved to be enough.
It should also be enough to stop the whispers about Hodgson’s future, calm Liverpool’s fans and convince them they can prosper, one day, under their manager.
And most importantly it should also prove to the Anfield dressing room that while there may well be a huge mountain to climb, at least the squad have now got off the ground.
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