Liverpool v Norwich City | Scott Murray

• Mail scott.murray@guardian.co.uk in the electronic fashion • Follow the rest of the day’s goals as they go in • Press F5 for the latest, or switch on the auto-refresh 37 min: Suarez slashes a shot from a tight angle on the left straight across goal. Before a red shirt can poke home, Martin hacks clear. Liverpool have stepped it up a bit again, without looking as quite dangerous as they were during the opening 20 minutes. “There are stats for everything these days,” writes Gary Naylor, “so does anyone know if there is a midfielder in the PL who gives the opposition possession more often than Steven Gerrard?” 36 min: Another corner for Liverpool, Downing winning it down the right. He takes the set piece himself, Johnson winning a header but sending it high into the Kop. 34 min: Tierney is booked for clipping Downing’s ankles, a couple of yards outside the Norwich area on the right. The free kick’s in a very dangerous position. Adam tries to pass it into the left-hand corner, but only finds the wall. He bangs the rebound as hard as he can, but only into a thicket of yellow shirts again. Eventually the ball’s swung in from the right by Downing, but it floats over the bar. 31 min: Jose Enrique tries to find Bellamy down the left. Barnett slides the ball out for a corner. Bellamy’s dead ball is met by the head of Kuyt at the near post, but easily cleared. Liverpool haven’t started playing badly, but their sparkle has disappeared. 29 min: Liverpool are showing their first signs of frustration. First an over-eager Bellamy needlessly gets himself flagged offside when presented with a pass in acres down the left, then Kuyt goes ballistic at the linesman when narrowly caught ahead of play himself. 26 min: The passes aren’t quite sticking for Liverpool now. First Kuyt puts a stop to his own player’s gallop, rolling a dreadful pass behind a flying Bellamy down the left. Then Adam hits a ball far too strongly down the right for Johnson, who had room in which to scamper. The crowd haven’t got anxious yet, but Anfield has seen sweet starts turn sour on more than one occasion this season already. Norwich will be pleased with their efforts in the last ten minutes; they’re certainly seeing more of the ball. 24 min: Up the other end, Gerrard tries to free Suarez down the inside-right channel, but just as the striker looks to control and shoot from just inside the area, Barnett slides over to clear. 23 min: Bennett rides a couple of tackles in the centre, just outside the area, and slaps a shot goalwards. Norwich are right in this game now. 21 min: Norwich ping the ball around hither and yon. They must have put nearly 20 passes together then. They slowly edge up the pitch, Bennett finally swinging a cross into the Liverpool area from the right; with Pilkington making a nuisance of himself at the far post, the Carragher is forced to concede a corner on the left. Which Morison meets, eight yards out, level with the far post, arrowing the ball towards the top right. Reina is behind it all the way to claim. That was delightful play from Norwich, who appear to be settling now. 19 min: No chance at either end for nearly 40 seconds now. 18 min: Tierney swings a ball across the edge of the Liverpool area from deep on the left; Morison can’t direct the ball goalwards. 17 min: Level with the right-hand post, Suarez turns and drags a shot across the face of goal, the ball sailing just wide right. This is breathless. 16 min: Skrtl Bcknbrs upfield and finds Downing down the right. The winger cuts inside and tries to find Suarez on the far post, but the cross is too high. Suddenly Norwich hit a long ball upfield, and Hoolahan is clear down the inside-left channel! After all that Liverpool pressure, is this a sucker punch? No: Hoolahan gets his effort on target at the near post, but Reina parries clear with his chest. What an open game this is. 14 min: Adam bustles inside from the right and feeds Suarez, who tries to chip Ruddy from 25 yards. Now now. The keeper’s behind it all the way, and the ball floats over the bar in any case. 11 min: What a goal this would have been. Adam sprays a long ball down the left for Bellamy, who takes it in his stride at full pelt, reaches the byline, and cuts a low ball back into the centre for Suarez. The striker, level with the left-hand post, opens his body and hits a first-time sidefoot at high pace towards goal. Ruddy manages to get fingertips to it, though, and diverts the ball onto the right-hand post and out. Downing picks up the ball, but panics and snatches a dismal shot miles wide right. 10 min: Pilkington looks a real handful down the left. He’s this close to diddling Johnson with a clever back heel and turn, but the full back stands firm and wins a goal kick. 8 min: Johnson skitters down the inside-right channel, into the area, and sends a low cross into the middle towards Suarez. Martin slides in to intercept. Norwich are struggling to keep hold of the ball, and Liverpool are relentless in returning it down their end of the pitch. 7 min: A long ball down the inside-left channel by Gerrard finds Suarez, who turns again on the edge of the area. Once more Barnett is all at sea, but this time he recovers well before Suarez can break clear, and gets a clearing challenge in. Liverpool have started very strongly here – but then they’ve a habit of doing this, only to fall away as the game progresses. 5 min: A throw-in for Liverpool down the left. Suarez takes up possession with his back to goal, on the corner of the box. He whips round through 180 degrees in an instant, a split-second turn, flummoxing Barnett. He’s clear on goal, albeit at an angle down the inside-left channel, but shoots wide left. A world-class turn, a dunce-class miss. Liverpool could easily be two goals up already. 2 min: The returning Glen Johnson has already seen plenty of the ball down the right. His incessant probing finds Suarez, who wins a corner. Adam sends a flat ball towards the near post, Skrtel glancing a header off the bar. Norwich clear, but only out for a corner on the other side. Suarez tries to meet the set piece, coming in from the left, but Norwich clear again. A strong start by the home side. A massive mosaic displayed on the Kop: Justice for the 96. Then the cards flip down in time for kick off. Liverpool get the ball rolling, and they’ll be kicking towards the Kop in this first half, never their preference. The teams are out! Liverpool are wearing their trademark all-red outfit, Norwich their equally distinguishing yellow shirts and green shorts. It’s a crisp, dry evening at Anfield. “Am delighted to see Bellamy start up front today (first time in the league this year, I believe),” writes David Horn. “I can’t think of two forwards more likely to annoy opponents, referees, managers, grannies, or anybody, anywhere at any time over the last 20 years, than these two. If there has been a more obnoxious strike partnership since the Premiership began, I’d like to hear of it.” OLD-SCHOOL SONGBOOK PT 2. On the Ball, City (1902): Kick off, throw in, have a little scrimmage / Keep it low, a splendid rush, bravo, win or die / On the ball, City, never mind the danger / Steady on, now’s your chance / Hurrah! We’ve scored a goal! OLD-SCHOOL SONGBOOK PT 1. Hurrah for the Reds (1907): Hurrah for the boys to play the game / Hurrah for the Reds! / Hurrah for the boys there’s none can tame / Hurrah for the Reds! / There’s Hewitt and Mac to lead the attack / With Hardy to hold the fort, boys / There’s Goddard and Cox, and Raisbeck the fox / And more of the good old sort, boys / Hurrah Hurrah Hurrah Hurrah / Hurrah for the Reds! Referee: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire) Norwich City name an unchanged side: Ruddy, Naughton, Barnett, Russell Martin, Tierney, Bennett, Fox, Johnson, Pilkington, Hoolahan, Morison. Subs: Rudd, Crofts, Holt, Jackson, Surman, Wilbraham, De Laet. Liverpool replace Martin Kelly with the returning Glen Johnson: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Jose Enrique, Kuyt, Gerrard, Adam, Downing, Suarez, Bellamy. Subs: Doni, Agger, Carroll, Maxi, Henderson, Spearing, Flanagan. Kick off: 5.30pm. More pertinent, of course, is the recent form. Liverpool are unbeaten since that shellacking at Spurs a month ago, and looked promising in patches against Manchester United last time round. Norwich meanwhile have been properly impressive: a run of three wins in four, plus a defeat at Old Trafford which, had the ball bounced another way, could easily have been a victory. United, being the champions, are a fair enough litmus test: both teams will fancy their chances here. “We’ll give it a go,” says Norwich boss Paul Lambert. His opposite number Kenny Dalglish will doubtless have a similar mindset, so hopefully we’ll have a decent game on our hands here. Entertainment, please! All of that, of course, has little bearing on reality today. I don’t know why I mentioned it. City’s recent record at Anfield isn’t otherwise much to write home about. A 3-0 loss in 2004. A 4-0 defeat in 1995. A 4-1 tonking in 1992. Losses of 3-0 and 2-1 in 1991. A 3-1 FA Cup defeat in 1990. And then you’re into the Eighties, which featured whippings of 6-2, 5-0 and 4-0, a couple of goalless draws – and a 1-0 win for the Canaries in December 1988, a season which saw Liverpool lose the league on goal difference. Slim pickings, then, but when Norwich win, Liverpool certainly feel the reverberations. Norwich City haven’t won at Anfield since Jeremy Goss scored the last goal in front of the Kop at the tail end of the 1993/94 season. It was a well-deserved 1-0 victory for the Canaries: Steve Nicol hooked the ball against his own bar on 15 minutes, Jeremy Goss hammered home the only goal of the game at the Kop end on 35, Efan Ekoku missed a one-on-one with David James just before half time, and Bryan Gunn became the last keeper to shut Liverpool out in front of their famous old terrace, Rob Jones putting the ball past him only to see his shot cleared off the line. “You’re supposed to let us win,” was the Kop’s dry response, as a Liverpool team featuring Ian Rush, John Barnes, Ronnie Whelan, Robbie Fowler and, er, Julian Dicks flailed around helplessly. Premier League Liverpool Norwich City Scott Murray guardian.co.uk

Posted by on October 22, 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.