The Reds lost to West Brom for the first time at Anfield in about forty five years but really should've won. The whole report could be just copied from many a game this season. We had chances - we hit the woodwork and then we paid for missing so many chances. If Only!
The Reds went with two up front, leaving Steven Gerrard out of the squad altogether as Roy Hodgson returned to Anfield for the first time since getting sacked.
The Reds defended the Kop in the first half and started well enough, for me making Albion look quite average. Just ten minutes in a fast break from the Reds saw Suarez set up Kuyt on the inside right of the box but he dragged a shot past Foster but also past the far post.
The Reds continued to probe and Albion continued to put men behind the ball and defend. It wasn't a backs to the wall job but it was defend and then try and move up to help the striker when they got the ball forward with Agger and Skrtel not having the easiest of days necessarily.
We continued to press but Foster was never really called in to anything to spectacular as the time went on as too many shots went high or wide of the target.
Had we managed to take even just one of these efforts then I think we could have probably gone on and won the game with ease.
As the clock ticked on it just got more and more frustrating to watch. Prior to the game it was the usual conversation of - at some point we'll batter a team for five or six and yes this could easily have been that game but once again we just didn't hit the net. It'd surely not that difficult to do!
The second half continued pretty much the same as the first although we did inject a bit more pace at the start of the second which stretched the opposition around a bit more.
Jordan Henderson hit the bar early on in the half as he nearly finished off a fine passing move. The ball smashed out off the underside of the bar and was cleared. Later on Dirk Kuyt smashed a shot in, which deflected off a defender and hit the far post.
The Reds made their first change when Craig Bellamy replaced Dirk Kuyt on sixty seven minutes and shortly afterwards Stewart Downing replaced Maxi. The changes didn't really affect the play to be honest though.
On seventy five minutes with the Reds still pushing on in search of a goal they were made to pay for it. Glen Johnson tracked back to win a ball down the wing but his ball across to Enrique was poor and intercepted. It was moved on quickly to Odemwingie who reached the area and then completely baffled Reina with a shot that flew in.
It was at this point it really dawned on me that this was going to be another of those if only games and we weren't going to miracle something out of the game and the final fifteen minutes did nothing to change my mind.
The stats do speak for themselves in two ways. The bit just below this shows thirty shots which were on, off or blocked from goal and that says an awful lot about how much we were the better side. Territory was ours possession was but crucially and groundhog day hits again re-look at the first line of the report and you'll see no goals for and one against and that's costly in one game - across a season it's even worse!
MotM : Luis Suarez - worked so hard all game again for very little reward.
