Friday 27 August 2010

Liverpool's Turkish Delight

Liverpool safely negotiated a path into the Europa League group stages thanks to a 3-1 aggregate success over Turkish side Trabzonspor. A 1-0 win from the first leg gave us a slight advantage travelling to Turkey, however it was always going to be difficult against a good side in a hostile stadium.

Liverpool fell behind early on, but fought back to score two late goals on the night, securing a place in the group stages and our first victory against a Turkish side in Turkey.

Roy Hodgson's task was doubly difficult as he was forced to leave star players such as Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Milan Jovanovic, Daniel Agger and Maxi Rodriguez at home. Aurelio started on the left hand side of the midfield, and Hodgson started eight defensive minded players in a clear statement of intent.

The match got off to the worst possible start; with the Reds falling behind after only three minutes had been played as Gutierrez cancelled out our first leg lead. Dirk Kuyt fatally lost possession deep in his own half before Colman's miscued shot was stabbed home by Teofilo Gutierrez from close range.

It was a terrible start to a crucial match, which left Liverpool on the back foot for most of the first half as Trabzonspor dominated possession and looked threatening going forward.

With 13 minutes gone Burak eased past two challenges before dropping to the ground on the edge of the area. Thankfully, the referee wasn't fooled by his clear dive. The home side continued to control the match, and went close again soon after. Yattara's low shot was well blocked by Jamie Carragher. From the resultant corner Reina was called into action to stop a rasping shot from distance.

It was all Trabzonspor at this stage, and the Turks really should have doubled their lead half way through the first period when the unmarked Yattara contrived to head wide from only six yards out. It was a massive let off for Liverpool, who started to settle into the match after this point.

Kuyt's speculative drive was blocked before Aurelio fizzed a shot wide of target minutes before the half hour mark. After that, Glen Johnson scampered into the area and coolly fired Ngog's pass into the far corner. However, the linesman's flag denied the Reds.

On the stroke of half time Lucas' tamely hit shot from 35 yards out failed to test Kivrak, so Liverpool went into the break a goal behind and needing to spark into life and grab a goal. Whilst the first half performance was far from encouraging, Hodgson knew that a single Liverpool goal would change the whole complexion of the tie.

Trabzonspor started the second half the better, however the first real opportunity went the visitors way. Joe Coe delivered an inch perfect cross for David Ngog, however the French striker somehow managed to head wide from less than six yards out.

It was a shocking miss from Ngog, however he almost made up for it four minutes later as he went close again. Ngog turned brilliantly before sidestepping a defender and placing a shot just off target. It was a nice piece of skill to create space for himself, and a continuation of the impressive form displayed earlier on in the Europa League.

Liverpool were now asking all the questions, and, after 62 minutes had been played, Ngog had another chance to equalise as a great pass from the Brazilian Fabio Aurelio provided him with an opening. Unfortunately he dwelled on the ball for too long and the opportunity was gone.

The home side had failed to fully test Reina in the second half, and that trend continued with 12 minutes left to play as Alanzinho blazed high and wide after a fine run from the energetic Burak.

With time running out, and extra time looming large, an own goal from Remzi Giray Kacar put Liverpool firmly in the driving seat. A marauding run down the right from Glen Johnson ended with the defender putting through his own net under pressure from Cole and Ngog.

Liverpool could now relax, as their opponents required an unlikely two goals in the remaining eight minutes to knock us out of Europe. Thankfully that didn't happen, and Kuyt, who later confirmed that he sees his future at Anfield, even scored a later winner.

His late strike helped manager Roy Hodgson to become the only Liverpool manager since the great Bill Shankly to win his first four European matches.

Kivrak did well to keep out a strike from Pacheco, who was influential after replacing Aurelio later on, however the ball fell to the feet of Dirk Kuyt, and the Dutchman made no mistake from close range.

Overall, this is a fantastic result for Liverpool. Whilst the Europa League certainly isn't our priority this season, Europe has always been an important part of any Liverpool campaign and it would have been incredibly disappointing to drop out of the competition at such an early stage.

It was a very tough match, however Hodgson's team, composed of mainly squad players, proved their worth to the club with a hard-working display that eventually got the job done.

YNWA

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