Liverpool v Bolton Wanderers | Scott Murray

• Email your thoughts to scott.murray@guardian.co.uk • Press F5 to refresh this page or use our auto-refresher • Click here for all the latest scores from across Europe • And click here for live league tables and stats 31 min: Skrtel’s first act is to toe-poke the ball out for a corner, with Klasnic threatening down the left. From the corner, Davies meets with his head, but blazes Petrov’s ball over. Anfield has gone slightly quiet, a suggestion that Liverpool have lost a wee bit of momentum. 30 min: Kelly is replaced by Skrtel, who goes straight to right back. 28 min: Kelly is off the pitch getting treatment on his left leg. He’s going to have to go off. 26 min: Muamba is replaced by Mark Davies. Not sure whether that’s an injury or tactical. 24 min: From the centre spot, Henderson pings a first-time pass down the inside-right channel to release Suarez. He’s clear, and chips the ball over the advancing Jaaskelainen from 30 yards, but gets a wee bit too much on his shot and the bar twangs the very top of the crossbar and out for a goal kick. Close, but in the final analysis a bad miss. “Can we have the Liverpool of August 2010 back please?” begs Everton’s Gary Naylor. “Surely, in these recessionary, riotous and, well, rubbish times, they added some much needed levity to the nation.” 23 min: Henderson curls a low ball through the six-yard box from the right. Kuyt is inches from making contact, but can’t convert. Liverpool are playing superbly here, but then they did this against Sunderland too, and look what happened there. 21 min: A long ball down the middle by Adam so nearly finds Suarez, cutting into the box from the wing, clear in the centre. Jaaskelainen is off his line quickly to deny the excellent Uruguayan. 20 min: A raking ball down the left by Suarez releases Downing, who crosses into the centre for Kuyt. The striker shapes to shoot from the edge of the area, but the ball’s robbed off his toe before he can connect. This is a wonderfully open game. 18 min: Nearly a picture-book response from Bolton. Muamba finds Eagles down the right. Eagles swings one across to Petrov, level with the far post, ten yards out. Petrov creams a superlative volley goalwards, which Reina does marvellously well to parry. Excellent play. 15 min: GOAL!!! Liverpool 1-0 Bolton Wanderers. So nearly a picture-book goal. From the left wing, Suarez curls one with the outside of his boot into the area for Downing, who hits it first time for the right of goal. Jaaskelainen parries brilliantly. But no matter! The ball finds its way to Henderson in the right-hand side of the area. He drops a shoulder, moves the ball to the left, and curls a fantastic effort into the top left. The £16m man has found it difficult to win over the fans so far; that should help a wee bit. 13 min: Bolton are struggling to put anything together, though they’re looking strong enough at the back so far. Kuyt nearly releases Suarez down the inside right, but a combination of Robinson and Cahill clears the danger. 11 min: Liverpool still enjoying the majority of possession, but mainly in their own half at the moment. A couple of times they try to spring forward with long balls down the channel, but nothing sticks. 8 min: Petrov wins a corner after twisting and turning Kelly down the left. From it, Liverpool break upfield, Suarez releasing Downing down the inside-right channel. He should tear clear and get a shot on goal, but takes a heavy touch and must settle for a corner. Agger gets a head to Adam’s kick from the right, but can’t direct it goalwards. Bolton hack out for another corner, which is wasted. This is a bright opening. 5 min: Liverpool have started very strongly. Suarez wins the ball down the left from Steinsson while sat on his arse, springing up and nearly breaking free down the wing. Then Adam overhits a pass down the left for Downing, who reaches the ball nevertheless to win a corner. The set piece comes to nothing, but this is a decent opening period for the hosts. 4 min: Suarez tears down the inside-right channel and is clumsily brought to ground by Reo-Coker. The free kick is 25 yards out, just to the right of the D. Adam takes it, and I have no idea what he was trying to do; the ball clanks straight into the wall. Aiming to get the ball up and over and into the bottom-right corner, perhaps? 2 min: Liverpool happy to pass it around the back for a minute or so, giving all their defenders a touch. It’s just like the 1980s. Sort of. And we’re off! Liverpool set the ball rolling, and they’re kicking towards the Anfield Road end. The ball’s pumped down the right, where Henderson nearly finds Suarez one on one with Knight, but the big defender manages to clear. The teams take to the pitch. Liverpool in their all-red strip, Bolton in their white shirts and navy shorts. It won’t be long now. “I’m sorry to say it but I think Liverpool-Carroll=bad news for Bolton,” opines Rob Cobourne. “Saying that, has Dalglish forgot about Maxi’s hat-tricks at the end of last season? Surely Henderson could make way for one match: 4-1 to Liverpool.” Kick off: 5.30pm. Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire) Bolton Wanderers unchanged from the side who lost to Manchester City: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Robinson, Eagles, Reo-Coker, Muamba, Petrov, Kevin Davies, Klasnic. Subs: Bogdan, Sanli, Mark Davies, Blake, Pratley, Wheater, Riley. Liverpool drop the generally misfiring Andy Carroll to the bench: Reina, Kelly, Carragher, Agger, Jose Enrique, Adam, Lucas, Kuyt, Henderson, Downing, Suarez. Subs: Doni, Carroll, Maxi, Spearing, Shelvey, Skrtel, Robinson. In fact, Bolton haven’t taken a single point off the Reds since September 2006, when Sam Allardyce single-handedly when Gary Speed and Ivan Campo gave them a 2-0 win at the Reebok. Moreover, they haven’t won a league game at Anfield since 1954. Though there is that FA Cup win on Liverpool’s patch in 1993, at least. Even so, with that sort of track record, a Bolton win today would be a coupon buster. Do people still do coupons? Perhaps the only highlight of former Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson’s painful reign last season came when his side did the double over Bolton Wanderers. But even those slim pickings, secured on New Year’s Day with a late Joe Cole goal at Anfield, not long before Roy was told to do one, can be put into context: it was Liverpool’s fourth double in a row over the Trotters. Ho hum. Oh Roy! Premier League 2011-12 Liverpool Bolton Wanderers Premier League Scott Murray guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 27, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.