Well we can stop that talk about how Liverpool had a chance to finish in the top four in the Premier League. Today’s 2-0 defeat at home ended all hope of that, and probably ended any hope of even qualifying for the Europa League.
This was a game that Liverpool dominated, but as they have done in the past they could score. Liverpool had 23 shorts, 14 of them on target and no goals. Brendan Rodgers is facing the same problem that Kenny Dalglish faced. Liverpool create tons of chances, but without a true goalscorer, they cannot put teams away.
The closest Liverpool came to scoring was a Steven Gerrard penalty that was well saved by Albion goalkeeper Ben Foster who was sensational on the night.
But for all Liverpool’s possession (57% to 43% advantage) they could not get the goal they deserved, and West Brom hit them with a classic sucker punch nine minutes from time when Daniel Agger lost Gareth McAuley to head in Chris Brunt’s corner.
Steve Clark’s side were not finished as they rubbed more salt into Liverpool’s wounds when Romelu Lukaku took Brunt’s pass, left Agger for dead before finishing nicely past Reina. Surely Lukaku will be Chelsea’s starting center-forward next season?
But while this was a massively disappointing defeat for Liverpool, that cannot take away from the fantastic job Steve Clark has done at West Brom this season. After the game kenny Dalglish’s former assistant said:
“For a change something went right and it was good to come here and play well. It’s a terrific win for us. Since the turn of the year things haven’t gone our way.
“Some of the performances have been decent, but to come here to play a Liverpool team playing as well as they have all season and to get that kind of result and with that level of performance – I’m delighted. They put so much effort into every game they play and to get that reward is really great for them.
“The players realised at 0-0, and with Ben saving the penalty, that we could go on and win the game. It gave us a bit of positive momentum again. We have always been one result from kickstarting our season and hopefully that came tonight, and hopefully we can kick on and chase the teams above us.”
