Vital Report: Stoke City 1-0 Livepool

Liverpool`s positive start to the season has hit its first stumbling block following an unfortunate defeat at Stoke City`s Britannia Stadium.

In a match where the away side had eleven attempts on target compared to the hosts one, Kenny Dalglish`s side will no doubt feel very aggrieved by the result. A feeling that will only be emphasised by the nature of Stoke`s goal from a debatable penalty decision.

Liverpool named the same team that had played the majority of the impressive victory over Bolton in their previous game, with Martin Skrtel continuing in an unaccustomed right-back role. Stoke on the other hand gave a debut to former Reds forward Peter Crouch following his deadline day move from Tottenham Hotspur.

In a largely uneventful first half, the main talking point would also prove to be the only goal of the game when Jonathan Walters firstly won, and then converted a 21st minute penalty. The decision from referee Mark Clattenburg adjudged that Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher had pulled the Irish forward to the ground as the two tussled for a hopeful, bouncing through ball. The Scouse centre back certainly appeared to have his arm around Walters but how much contact there was is debatable and the Stoke player certainly made the most of the situation. Despite Liverpool’s protestations the penalty was awarded and duly riffled into the top of the net.

For all their dominance of possession Liverpool struggled to carve out any real clear-cut openings during the first 45 minutes. Despite a credible 13th minute handball shout against Rory Delap, their best chance came after 35 minutes but unfortunately it fell to advancing defender Skrtel. The Slovak uncharacteristically ventured into the opponents box and got on the end of a low Louis Suarez cross only to send the ball well over the bar.

The Merseysiders upped the intensity in the second half as they attempted to overturn the deficit against a resolute and well-organised home side. The increase in effort and tempo had Stoke on the back foot for large periods and Liverpool began to create openings.

The best chance of an equaliser fell to the otherwise anonymous Jordan Henderson who somehow conspired to miss two consecutive chances despite being one on one with keeper Asmir Begovic. His first effort at goal was straight at the Bosnian shot stopper but the ball ricocheted straight back to his feet. The second effort was then well blocked by a scrambling Ryan Shawcross before Charlie Adam failed to convert another effort from the resulting melee.

As time slipped by Dalglish made a succession of positive substitutions as the visitors attempted to gain something from the game. Craig Bellamy was thrown on for his second debut along with £35m man Andy Carroll but neither could make the difference that the Liverpool performance perhaps deserved.

Suarez looked the most likely throughout and it was indeed he who nearly saved the game during the dying moments. Firstly an attempted cut back struck the arm of Matthew Upson but the resulting handball shout was turned down. Despite being booked for his complaints, Suarez then missed an awkward close range chance as Begovic fisted a cross straight at him deep into injury time. Ultimately Stoke City would hold onto an undeserved three points.

Verdict
Unbelievably disappointed. For so long, under both Benitez and Hodgson, we`ve become accustomed to failure away from home but today was more an issue of luck than judgement. There were three penalty shouts, all equally debatable, but fundamentally Stoke got their one and we somehow got neither of ours. In the past we have been outplayed and out battled on our travels but today we dominated proceedings. We totally controlled possession and Reina had absolutely nothing to do except retrieve Waters` well taken penalty from the net. All the chances that were created were courtesy of us but unfortunately we couldn`t convert any of them. As a side note I think there is an issue for the FA and/or Premier League to look into regarding the playing conditions. Stoke changed the dimensions of their pitch from previous games by several metres in both width and length and also the grass looked unusually long from the usual pristine conditions players are familiar with. There is no doubt that changing these factors helped the home side and negated our advantages of pace and passing ability. I`m not suggesting Stoke have broken any laws because they haven`t and I know I`ve left myself open for accusations of sour grapes but surely it is unsporting at the very least? Not all clubs can do this due to stadium layout etc and therefore arguably it’s not a level playing field. Changing factors outside of personnel and tactics isn`t the norm in football and a club should perhaps submit their layout ahead of the season and stick to it so everyone knows what to expect. This aside, I`m sure we will bounce back however. There is too much quality and belief at the club these days for us not too.

Liverpool line-up: Reina, Enrique, Skrtel (Johnson 81), Carragher, Agger, Downing, Henderson (Bellamy 67), Lucas, Adam, Kuyt (Carroll 67), Suarez.

Unused subs: Doni, Maxi, Spearing, Coates.