Football News: Liverpool v Sheffield United

Liverpool v Sheffield United

Once again Liverpool do what is needed to pull a win out of the bag after nearly throwing it away. It is becoming a habit making things difficult for themselves. The first half started off with the Blades attacking from kick off, but as soon as they failed to score and lost the ball, they were completely outmatched for the rest of the half. It was almost too easy. Liverpool were able to play it around at will and immediately recover it as Sheff Utd, according to the stats shown at half-time, completed just 38 passes. That was not just because they lack quality, but because they were being forced into mistakes, like the one that ended up in the back of their own net after hitting Nunez. The problem was that Liverpool were not making the most of the easy possession they had, seemingly content to hold a lead.

At half-time there was a change in tack from Sheff Utd, which almost succeeded. In fact for a long period of time it did manage to knock Liverpool off their game and they snatched a fluke equaliser via an own goal off a very unlucky Bradley. The defending did leave a bit to be desired, but the danger should have been seen off easily, even though the exploited the space left by Gomez inverting he had the chance to deal with it but was not physical enough and allowed the player to escape with the ball. For a while the game was a struggle, Liverpool completely dominated the ball but were unable to really make headway into dangerous areas.

The substitutions changed the game. Robertson’s driving runs down the flank were a particular danger and Elliott was putting dangerous balls into the box. The second pair of subs completed the process and made Liverpool even more dangerous going forward. It may have taken a worldie from Mac Allister to put the Reds back in front, but it was well deserved and the third was always coming. In fact, if anything the score flattered the Yorkshire club. The worrying thing is how little penetration the team had before the substitutions. They were not getting at the Blades like they should have, far too content with a simple stroll to a 1-0 victory, when they really should have shown a bit more drive to put the game out of sight against a team that were completely outmatched. But what matters is that they did enough when it mattered to win the game.

As for Sheffield United, they came out to have a go, but were just pegged in their own half for most of the first half and struggled just to get a…