Live Thoughts: Cardiff vs Liverpool (Carling Cup)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts when Liverpool took on Cardiff in the Carling Cup final!

Hey there and welcome! Liverpool are in their first final in five years, it's been too long. I remember that final too well, when we lost 2-1 to AC Milan in the Champions League final. It was horrible. I really don't want to feel that feeling again, especially not today. We just simply have to win. If we lose, it'll be the first time in 21 years since a team outside of the top division won the League Cup. We just have to win. I'm thoroughly looking forward to this, but I just wish I was with my family in North Wales, who are all Liverpool supporters, rather than on my own in my house with my three year old daughter who doesn't understand football quite yet. But still, let's hope we can win and I'll be just as happy!

Here are the teams:

Cardiff: Heaton; McNaughton, Hudson, Turner, Taylor; Cowie, Gunnarsson, Whittingham, Gestede, Mason; Miller. Subs: Marshal, Kiss, Gerrard, Earnshaw, Conway, Naylor, Blake.

We were expecting Miller to play on his own up front but no matter, he's the main threat and he can score if given the chance. Peter Whittingham has been a great Championship player for years and can also be a threat. But this is a still a team we need to beat, no excuses.

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Enrique, Gerrard, Adam, Henderson, Downing, Suarez, Carroll. Subs: Maxi, Kuyt, Spearing, Carragher, Doni, Kelly, Bellamy.

The pundits on Match of the Day were surprised Bellamy didn't start but I'm not. We're not being overcautious, but this is a balanced side. It's 4-4-2 and there's some nice balance here. I like it. Having Bellamy and/or Kuyt would disrupt the balance in that team and I think it's important today to get on that pitch, maintain possession and go forward when we're in full control. This team allows that. Bellamy can come on later if we need an injection of pace in the squad. 

1' - JOHNSON! He hit the bar! So close! Gerrard on the rebound and it's over. What a shot by Glen Johnson! Both teams had a good attack then and we almost scored! 

3' - They just mentioned Johnson being an FA Cup winner when Portsmouth beat Cardiff here a few years ago. I live in Portsmouth and I can tell you, that was a special win for the south coast team. I'm not a Pompey fan but I was really happy for them. I want a taste of that tonight for my team! 

6' - We're piling the pressure on early, two corners didn't really get that close to their goal, but we're on top at the moment. We need to keep on this pressure early on, hopefully it'll lead to an early goal. 

9' - The pressure is off a little at the moment, but there's a long way to go. What matters is that we win, not how! 

12' - Another corner for Liverpool, Carroll is penalised for a push on a Cardiff player. 

15' - Carroll has an effort at goal and it's over the bar. 

17' - A nice bit of movement from Henderson, Johnson and Suarez and Suarez chips the ball to Carroll who has a troubling yet tame effort on target,


18' - GOAL! Joe Mason. We're behind. Martin Skrtel heads the ball back to a Cardiff player, the ball is played to Miller who passes to Mason, who clips the ball past Reina. Awful defending all-round.

21' - That was a poor bit of defending. Credit where it's due Cardiff passed the ball nice and slick for the goal, but our defence was asleep. I can't believe we're behind. 

21' - Agger doing one of his vintage runs down the the centre of the pitch and his shot is blocked by a defender.

22' - Possession is 65%/35% to Liverpool. Yet we're behind. We need to get back in this match, thankfully there's a lot of time to go. 

25' - We're all around their box at the moment, lovely work from Downing who backheels the ball to Jose Enrique into the box. We pile in their box but Cardiff deal with the pressure. 

28' - Downing loses his defender again and crosses low into the box again, it misses everyone, only Carroll was in the box that was in a Red shirt. It was a good ball from Downing, who's definitely winning the battle on the left flank at the moment.

31' - Handball claims in the Cardiff box but it was too quick in my eyes for it to be a penalty.

31' - ADAM! So close! A low drive from Adam and it's just wide. Good effort.

33' - We're still piling forward but with not much intensity. Cardiff are defending well. Hopefully we can equalise before the second half, it's important that we do in honesty. 

36' - They just showed John W. Henry and his wife Linda in the stands. Man Linda is so hot. Lucky man. 

38' - GERRARD! Over the bar! Downing plays well again on the left flank, twisting and turning his defender out and he whips the ball into the box, Suarez, Carroll and Henderson all miss it and it comes to Gerrard outside the box and he shoots high above the bar. Great chance. 

41' - Suarez has been a nuisance a few times in the box today, but he's not controlling well enough to make opportunities to score. Hopefully he can continue though, he's a pain to deal with for defenders. He takes a shot in the end but it's tame and saved by Heaton. 

43' - Free kick, Gerrard takes it and it's inch perfect for AGGER who heads it straight at Heaton. Gutted, that was a great opportunity to equalise then. 

44' - Gerrard gets the ball in the box but can't control it and shoots high. Three defenders were in Gerrard's way. 

45' - One minute of added time. 

45+1' - Half time.

Well what happened? They got a goal, we couldn't score. Not much else to say in that respect. We've had a few chances but nothing clear cut, we haven't been clinical enough in front of goal. It's been the story of the season but if there's one match, one game of football where we need to right that wrong it's TODAY. We need to score. It's as simple as that. We haven't been bad but we haven't been good enough. Cardiff are defending very well. This needs to chance. I really hope we can avoid embarrassment today. Come on Reds! Please! 

48 ' - Miller! Just wide. Cardiff make a nuisance of themselves in and around our box and Milelr takes a chance from outside the box and it's just wide. Not the start we wanted, Cardiff are in our faces at the moment. 

49 ' - Suarez makes a nuisance on himself and intercepts the ball in the box! He shoots across the face of goal and it squirms under Heaton, then Cardiff clear! Unlucky! 

51' - Henderson is the first for a yellow card for a clumsy challenge. He's had a poor game today.

54' - The game is opening up a little, but we're still not really taking the game by the scruff of the neck yet. 

57' - Liverpool Substitution: Craig Bellamy comes on for Jordan Henderson. Says it all really. Henderson has been poor. Bellamy cheered by both sets of supporters due to his strong connection there. 

59' - GOAL! Martin Skrtel! Our eight corner of the match and Suarez gets on the end of it, it hits the post and then Skrtel shoots low into the box! Great finish!

61' - Finally, an equaliser. Hopefully we can now work for a second goal. No mistakes can be afforded now. 

63' - Skrtel's fourth goal of the season. He's had a brilliant season, both defensively and attacking for a defender. He's been a rock for us. Excellent player. Thanks Rafa! 

64' - Mason has a decent effort at goal, but it's met well by Reina. 

66' - The winds are definitely changing at the moment, we're really going for blood at the moment. It's about time, but we need to make sure we're not left open at the back. 

69' - A few more corners for us but with no end product. We're still the better side though. 

71' - Gerrard knocks a forearm into the back of Gunnarsson's head. The ref didn't see it, poor from our captain. I don't think it was intentional but it was dangerous. 

73' - 89,041 is the official crowd total today. Great work from both sets of supporters!


73' - SKRTEL! Great save from Heaton. It was a snap shot at short distance for Skrtel, that Heaton saves low  to. Good effort again!

74' - 21 shots on goal for us, and only 4 on target. Story of our season in a way, lots of effort but no product. But now is not the time to be negative, we need to score again! 

77' - Mark Hudson has gone down with cramp and we kick the ball out. Boos from some of the Reds faithful. Poor reaction from our own, we should respect things like this, if the boot was on the other foot we wouldn't like it if Cardiff continued. 

77' - DOWNING! Great save from Heaton! Downing takes a low driven shot through the Cardiff defence and Heaton just sees it in time to make the save. Great effort from Downing, who's been my man of the match so far for me. Great effort from Downing today. 

79' - Free kick in a dangerous area for Cardiff, Peter Whittingham shoots and it hits our defence and out. 

82' - TURNER! Just wide! Don Cowie whips the ball and it curls round the Reds and Turner heads the ball just wide. That could have been an upset if that went in, thankfully it didn't.

86' - Liverpool Substitution: Daniel Agger leaves the pitch with an injury, and Jamie Carragher takes his place. 

87' - MILLER! Just above the bar! Cardiff free kick and once again our defence is asleep and Cardiff take advantage, Miller shoots hard and high and thankfully it was just over the bar. Come on Reds! Seriously! 

89' - Free kick for Cardiff and Jamie Carragher doesn't give them the ball! I think his message was because we weren't ready to defend the kick.

90' - Four minutes of added time.

90' - Suarez is on his own up front and is onside! Three Cardiff defenders catch up with him and he takes a shot that's well over the bar.

91' - Corner for Liverpool and it's passed to Johnson who sets Gerrard up for a belter outside the box and it's over the bar. Good idea, but its execution wasn't what it should have been. 

94' - Ten seconds remain and Gerrard delivers a long ball to Downing who puts his hands in his face because he failed to control the cross. Full time. 

Thirty minutes of added time to go now. The main thing is we got the equaliser. We still have one substitution left, Cardiff have all three. You have to give it to Cardiff, they've worked their asses off today to get to extra time. But we need to finish this match off. I really don't want it to go to penalties, despite being confident in a shootout situation. I want us to win on goals scored not penalties. Let's hope we can finish them off in these 30 minutes. Come on Liverpool!

90' - Cardiff Substitution: Filip Kiss comes on for Joe Mason.

90' - Bellamy takes a corner and SUAREZ heads it and Andrew Taylor clears it off the line! So close again! 

91' - Gerrard shoots from outside the box again and once again it's well over the bar. He's not been very clinical today our captain. I dare say he's not had the greatest of games in honesty, but we need him on that pitch that's for sure, in games like this.

94' - Free kick, Gerrard takes it and Suarez frees from his marker and volleys just wide. He was offside anyway, but great movement from the Uruguayan. 

97' - That's an odd statistic, Kuyt has the longest Liverpool career without winning a medal since Emlyn Hughes, in six years without a metal. It's true though, since he joined we haven't won any trophies. 

98' - Kiss gets a yellow card after his little tussle with Craig Bellamy.

99' - Cardiff Substitution: Mark Hudson comes off and Anthony Gerrard comes on, whose cousin is our captain Steven.

102' - Downing takes another corner and Carroll heads it backwards towards goal, a good effort. That's his last touch of the match.

102' - Liverpool Substitution: Andy Carroll comes off and Dirk Kuyt comes on. Carroll's had a mixed game, not as good as recent weeks. 

103' - BELLAMY! Just over the bar! A great one-two with Kuyt and he makes some space and curls a right footer just over the bar. Best effort from the Welshman so far. 

105' - One minute of added time. 

105' - JOHNSON! Just wide again. Lovely work from Adam who set up Johnson, his shot was nice and clean but just wide. 

105+1' - Half time.

Nothing much different to report, it's been pretty much all Liverpool with no end product. It feels destined for penalties, the way it feels at the moment. Hopefully that won't be the case, and we can score in the next fifteen minutes. 

Cardiff Substitution: Kevin McNaughton comes off in place for Darcy Blake. Cardiff and Liverpool have now made all their substitutions.

106' - Kuyt loses his defender and is free! He puts the ball square across the penalty box and it's just slightly behind Suarez, who tries to adjust but can't. Great effort from Kuyt, unfortuante of Suarez not to be positioned correctly!

107' - GOAL! KUYT! COME ON KUYT GET IN THERE! Kuyt shoots and a defender clears poorly back to him, and he shoots hard and low to the bottom corner!

110' - We need to be patient and careful now. We can't let this lead slip. 

113' - Haha, sorry, you've got to love OptaJoke on Twitter, check this tweet:


"55 - Dirk Kuyt's first attempt on goal was going 55 metres wide. Rebound."


Follow OptaJoke @OptaJoke, they're really funny.

115' - Cardiff are on top at the moment, trying their best to equalise. We're defending well enough at the moment, but they've just won a corner. 

117' - GOAL! Ben Turner. Three corners in succession for Cardiff, they almost score from the second corner and Kuyt clears it off the line, but that third corner was the same, we couldn't clear and they bumble it into the box. Penalties loom.

120' - One minute of added time. 

120+1' - Full time. Penalties.

Amazing match, Cardiff have been amazing. Penalties now. I can't believe this match. I'll cover the penalties on this site as well. I'm in bits at the moment. Horrible feeling, although as I said I'm comfortable with penalties, Reina is usually very good at penalties.

• Gerrard to take first. SAVED! Tom Heaton! Amazing save! Gerrard top corner and it was amazingly met by Heaton! Instant pressure for Liverpool! 
• Kenny Miller to take now. He hit the post and out! YES! 0-0 still! Stalemate still! 
• Charlie Adam now... WELL OVER THE BAR! WHAT THE HELL!? 
• Cowie now to take for Cardiff and it's in the goal! 1-0 to Cardiff on penalties. Not good. 
• Kuyt now for Liverpool, come on Kuyt! Kuyt scores! Thankfully! Now we need Reina to save.
• Rudy Gestede to take now for Cardiff... and it hits the post! 1-1 now after three attempts each! We're back in it! 
• Stewart Downing now and he scores! We take the lead in penalties! 
• Peter Whittingham now for Cardiff... he scores. 2-2 now with one penalty each remaining. 
• Glen Johnson now to take. Come on Johnson! He scores! Cardiff NEED to score now! 
• Anthony Gerrard now... and he misses! LIVERPOOL WIN THE CARLING CUP!

We did it! What a match! Emotions were everywhere and I'm so proud that we've won. Great credit to Cardiff who worked as hard as they could to cause the upset. We put in a lot of effort today and it felt like it wasn't going to happen, especially when we missed our first two penalties. But we did it, and hopefully this can now be the catalyst for more trophies. Hopefully we can win the FA Cup later on this season. It's about time we won a trophy. Now we want more! Carling Cup winners. Amazing. Thanks for joining me today and if you're a Liverpool fan, enjoy your celebrations!

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Live Thoughts: Manchester City vs Liverpool (Carling Cup)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts when Liverpool took on Manchester City in the Carling Cup semi final.

Hey there and welcome to another Live Thoughts post. I haven't been writing much recently because I have a lot going on in my personal life. I have a lot planned but my time to get things done has decreased a lot. I also have Skyrim now and naturally I'm erm, addicted. Anyways this is a very important match and a win or a draw tonight will make the game very exciting when we take City back to Anfield.

If you're new to following Liverpool this is probably a great feeling for you. However if you're a long term Kopite, you'll know this feeling very well. It's a nice feeling. Dare I say it, a nostalgic feeling. This Carling Cup semi final, over two legs, is exactly the type of game Liverpool want to be part of week in, week out again. It's like the old Champions League classics we had from two years ago to seven years ago. Those were great times, and it's only now that it's not a regular thing at Anfield do we realise how much we miss it. That's why we need to make the most of this Carling Cup semi final. Not that I don't have faith in Liverpool, King Kenny or the owners, but who knows when we will be back in the Champions League. No one knows the answer and while we all hope it's next season, we can't bank on it. So let's make the most of this Carling Cup semi final folks, it'll be a great set of matches, providing we don't get our behinds handed to us anyway!

Here are the teams:

Manchester City: Hart, Richards, Savic, Lescott, Clichy, Barry, de Jong, A Johnson, Milner, Balotelli, Aguero. Subs: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Onuoha, Hargreaves, Nasri, Dzeko.

Aguero ripped our defence to pieces last week and we need to make sure that doesn't happen again. What Balotelli will turn up today is anyone's guess. Dzeko also was dangerous last week and surely will come on later on. This is such a strong attacking line up. We have our work cut out for us tonight and we need to make sure we don't have lapses in concentration like we did last time. It's time for us to show the reason why our defence was the strongest in the Premier League for the first half of the season.

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Kelly, Downing, Henderson, Gerrard, Spearing, Bellamy, Carroll. Subs: Doni, Enrique, Coates, Kuyt, Carragher, Adam, Shelvey. 

It's as strong a line up we can probably offer. Enrique on the bench is interesting, does he have a knock? I didn't hear anything. But Kelly comes on in the left back position in his place, otherwise it's a strong Liverpool line up. Gerrard back in the side is going to make a big difference, and hopefully he'll be THE difference today. We'll see.

1' - My bad, Johnson is playing on the left not Kelly. Both can play both positions well so I don't mind, as long as they're happy. 

3' - Great chance for Carroll! He loses Savic and is through on goal but his shot is saved to Joe Hart's feet!

4' - Balotelli makes a run down the right wing and Skrtel times his tackle very well. Excellent tackle. 

7' - We're actually quite well at the moment, City are taking their time to influence the game. I hope it doesn't backfire, but we're looking good. 

10' - Gerrard takes a nice shot from distance and it was close to going in! I think Hart would have got it anyway! 

10' - Another great save from Hart for Carroll! Another corner and Agger WINS US A PENALTY! 

12' - GOAL! Gerrard scores from the spot! Too easy. Joe Hart went in the right direction but Gerrard's shot was low and hard to his left. Perfect spot. Fourth goal of the season for Gerrard And we're a goal up away from home! 

15' - A decent City attack, Adam Johnson whips in a cross for Balotelli and Reina punches it away, but only in the direction of Aguero who's half volley is poor by his standards. 

18' - Carroll takes the ball to the left wing and lacks control to keep it, and Savic intercepts with ease. The City fans cheer sarcastically. At least Carroll is trying! 

21' - Spearing has gone down and Charlie Adam has been told to get ready to come on. Not good. 

22' - Liverpool Substitution: Jay Spearing walks off gingerly and Adam takes his place. No news on the injury Spearing has at the moment. 

23' - It looks like Spearing's hamstring. He walked off better than most people with that injury do. Hopefully it's only a few weeks rather than the usual six for this type of injury. 

26' - Gerrard is playing very deep, spraying the ball to the attacking third. He's been doing what Lucas has been doing all season. It'd be awesome when we have Lucas back and Gerrard can go forward more. But for a match of this magnitude, having Gerrard back is important. He can always go forward when we have dominant possession. 

28' - Adam and Balotelli collide and it's a free kick for City. Adam appears to be saying something to the Italian and he retaliates. Luckily James Milner is there to stop Balotelli from reacting for too long. I really hope Adam didn't say anything racist because I'm fed up of the controversy at the club.

31' - Possession is 50%/50% at the moment. We've definitely been the better side, although the game has calmed down recently. There hasn't been too many major chances in honesty. 

34' - I just realised, Balotelli is captain for City. Really? Okay. 

34' - Carroll! Just wide of the post. A very good effort, Kelly crosses from the right and Carroll connects very well, he's not that far into the box but it was a very good effort. I wasn't sure Hart would have got to it. 

37' - I'm getting the feeling City might end this half the stronger team. I feel them starting to look dangerous. 

38' - Manchester City: Substitution: Balotelli comes off with an ankle injury, and Samir Nasri takes his place.

40' - Downing and Henderson combine well to put City's defence under pressure, it came to nothing but it was good to get a nice few interceptions there. Psychological pressure in football is very important. 

42' - Nasri takes a shot and it deflects and a lovely save by Reina! Nasri does something that City have barely done in the past 42 minutes and that's actually take a shot at our goal.

44' - A lovely run by Micah Richards, he nudges Glen Johnson out of the way and goes down the left wing and a brilliant cross to Milner who scuffs the shot terribly! What an awful attempt that was by Milner! Great run by Richards though. 

45' - Three minutes of added time. 

45+2' - Adam Johnson wins a free kick right outside the box just before half time. Last kick of the match I'd say. 

45+3' - Johnson takes the free kick and it curled very nicely, but it was thankfully, ultimately, over the bar. Half time. 

This has been a good half for us so far. Defensively we've looked pretty solid and we got the penalty early on. But it's early days, we need to keep tight in the back and go forward when we can. Now that we have a goal advantage we have something to defend. We need to keep this very strong side at bay, and we have so far. 45 minutes of hard work for Liverpool, and hopefully, even harder work for City.

48' - One thing I've noticed today is that we're not giving them much space on the wings to cross the ball. Two of our goals last week were conceded from good delivery from corners and the wider areas. It's good. 

51' - No major danger at the moment but once again you are getting the feeling City might start to take the game to us soon. I certainly hope not of course, and that we start to hopefully put them under more pressure. It'd be a brilliant result if we score a second and don't concede.

53' - Aguero gets through our defence for the first time in the match but Skrtel recovers and City earn a corner. 

54' - The game has really up a gear the past few minutes, both sides are going for it. The first half for the most part was quite a bland affair for the unbiased fan. 

55' - Kelly struggles a little and passes back to Reina but Aguero intercepts and is on his own! He takes on Reina on the right hand side of the penalty box but thankfully shoots over. That was very poor from Kelly, thankfully it was dealt with enough by Reina. 

58' - RICHARDS! Excellent save by Reina! Richards gets a clean header from the corner and Reina saves low to his body. Brilliant stop, a stop thoroughly redeeming from his mishap last week. 

59' - Liverpool Substitution: Jose Enrique comes on for Stewart Downing. A tactical decision obviously, it's welcome by me. 

62' - They show Vincent Kompany on screen, they've definitely missed him today. Kompany was absolutely amazing against us last week, it was welcome news that he was suspended as a biased Liverpool fan.

64' - A cross comes in from the right hand side and Johnson at short range chests it down for Reina. It was a bit nervy but ultimately a great defensive movement. 

65' - A City attack ends with Aguero taking on three Red defenders and turning them inside out, but the shot was tame and saved by Reina comfortably. 

65' - Manchester City Substitution: Adam Johnson, who's not had the best of games, comes off for Edin Dzeko. 

68' - I just want to say, we've defended absolutely brilliantly for the past 68 minutes. Very little has come past us and what has, Reina has dealt with or the shot was poor. It's been a fantastic display from the Pool so far. 22 minutes to go. 

71' - Manchester City Substitution: Nigel De Jong comes off and Aleksandar Kolarov comes on.  De Jong is another player who's been sub par today, in fact, I'd say most of the City players have been. It's good for us obviously.

72' - All the City subs have been used by the way. We have one left. 

75' - Well the game hasn't been the best to watch but as long as we win does it matter? The quality of matches go out the window when you win the big ones. 

77' - Ball possession for the second half is now 65%/35% in City's favour. You wouldn't think it based on the fact that they've barely threatened all match. 

79' - Liverpool Substitution: Craig Bellamy comes off for Jamie Carragher. Another defensive move that I'm in favour for. Bellamy has been surprisingly quiet today. Carroll has been more effective which is saying something. 

81' - City are trying to put some pressure on us but we're defending very well. A tame Milner shot is deflected and goes for a goal kick. 

84' - I just can't believe how crap City have been today. Sorry. I'm just being frank. I just hope they don't prove me wrong now of course. 

85' - Samir Nasri gets a yellow card for getting in Carra's face. Carra's usually the heated type of player but he kept his cool with considerable ease in that situation. 

88' - Liverpool fans start up "You'll Never Walk Alone". It must be the end of a Liverpool win surely? I hope so. 

90' - Three minutes of added time. 

90' - AGUERO! Just over the bar! A free kick from the left and Aguero connects perfectly, but it's just over the bar. Relief!

90+3' - Full time! 

Well it wasn't the best match you'll see all season and we won by 1 goal but WOO! We're hopefully one step closer to a cup final! An away win in the Carling Cup doesn't guarantee anything but it's definitely going to make the match easier at Anfield. I really want us to win this cup. Yes it's the Carling Cup. Yes it's not the Premier League. But we'll take any trophy and then move on from there I'd say. And a win against City at their stadium is a great result, especially as they beat us 3-0 last week.

My man of the match? Glen Johnson actually. He was defensively sound today, and while I haven't really mentioned him much he did a job at left back and crunched into a lot of tackles, disrupting the play considerably. Everyone goes on about his attacking ability from the back but today he proved he can defend well. All the defence was great today, Skrtel had a very good game too and Reina made some good saves. It was a professional performance.

City were awful. The leaders of the Premier League should have done much better today. They barely turned up. I think it was an off day, I'm sure they'll be more than ready when they come to Anfield. The game at Anfield will be difficult, but I'm sure the Kop will be rocking, because as I said, it's like a Champions League fixture of old. We'll be ready.

That's it from me today, have a good night!

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Live Thoughts: Liverpool vs Wolves (Premier League)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts as the match took place.

Hey there, here's another live thoughts section from me. After two away defeats, we struggled but successfully fought off a valiant Brighton in the Carling Cup. Let's hope that we can build on that win with our first home fixture in around a month, against Wolves. It was announced today that our next opponent in the Carling Cup is Stoke away, the same fixture we lost two weeks ago. Hopefully we can cover some ground and beat them at the Britannia next time. It's not an easy fixture though.

Enough about Stoke, here are the lineups for today:

Liverpool: Reina, Kelly, Carragher, Skrtel, Jose Enrique, Henderson, Lucas, Adam, Downing, Carroll, Suarez. Subs: Doni, Gerrard, Coates, Kuyt, Spearing, Flanagan, Bellamy.

Gerrard still not fit enough to start, but I'm sure he's going to play some part today. I'm disappointed not to see Kuyt play from the beginning after his goal against Brighton, and possibly the same for Bellamy. But it's a decent lineup. Best thing about it? Martin Kelly is back. We've missed him a lot, and I'm starting to think he has a realistic chance of taking over Glen Johnson as our main right back. There's still room for improvement though. Definitely better than Skrtel there though!

Wolves: Hennessey, Stearman, Johnson, Berra, Ward, Henry, Hunt, Edwards, O'Hara, Jarvis, Doyle. Subs: De Vries, Elokobi, Fletcher, Hammill, Milijas, Guedioura, Doherty.

Wolves beat us here last season, and they have improved a bit since. That being said we also have improved a lot since that fixture, and anything other than three points today is simply a disappointment. Their danger lies in Hunt and O'Hara, who are very dangerous when on form. Kevin Doyle is also an underrated striker in the Premier League.

2' - Wolves have had the better of the play so far. Not the best start for us.

4' - We counter attack with Suarez and Carroll but it leads to nothing. It's frustratingly the furthest we have gotten so far.

7' - You wouldn't think we're the home side at the moment based on how much pressure Wolves are putting on us. They're not dominating, but we are second best at the moment.

8' - Finally a decent burst of pressure. Adam had a shot saved and it goes for a cortner. Nothing comes of it, but we manage to put their defence under that little bit of pressure as we pass around their box.

10' - More pressure; another corner. Wayne Hennessy punches the ball nicely out of the box. Good keeping.

10' - GOAL! Liverpool 1-0! Charlie Adam takes a pot shot from around 20 yards that looks like it took a deflection! There's a possibility that Wolves should have had a free kick before, as Carroll put some pressure on Roger Johnson earlier.

11' - It's been put down as an own goal by the way. We are lucky to be winning this match. Wolves have been the better side and there is an argument to be made that the goal shouldn't have counted. My take was actually yes, it should have been a free kick for Wolves. But as a biased Reds fan... yay! We're winning!

13' - Adam! Close. We're on top now. That bit of luck has put the confidence in the Reds.

16' - They just showed the Carroll replay. It was a foul. But these things happen. These decisions go for and against teams all the time.

19' - That was excellent from Suarez then. Pepe Reina kicks the ball probably 100 yards up fron to Suarez, who drags the ball to the right of the penalty area, before backheeling, taking his defender away and tries to pass the ball. Wolves clear but it was a piece of magic by Suarez then, and Reina, once again, proving why he's one of the best kickers of all the keepers in the world.

22' - Suarez! Another close effort! Carroll and Suarez combine nicely, with
Carroll passing from the left but it's just a bit too long.

25' - Carroll clears the ball in our own box this time as Matt Jarvis puts in a cross. He's been great so far today Carroll, a justified selection from Kenny Dalglish.

27' - Dangerous free kick territory for Wolves. Around 20 yards out, slightly to the left. It hits our wall and nothing comes of it.

30' - Downing has a nice run down the left wing and crosses it to Suarez who scuffs it wide. Shame.

32' - Carl Henry gets a yellow card. Martin Skrtel makes a run down the centre of the pitch and Henry tugs him down. It's not really worthy of a yellow but the protests didn't help.

33' - Lucas is now yellow carded. There's a flurry of cards now, the players are a little agitated. Lucas has done a few challenges today mind.

34' - A very dangerous free kick for Wolves. It was on the outside of the penalty area, on the right. It goes over the wall and Lucas blocks it. Wolves should have done better with that.

36' - The possession apparently is 67%/33% to Liverpool in these past five minutes. It doesn't feel as we were as dominant now as we were 15 minutes ago.

37' - GOAL! Luis Suarez finally gets his goal! He completely times his run to perfection, taking the ENTIRE Wolves defence out. Enrique was the passer. Suarez is 1 to 1 with the keeper he takes his time, one of the Wolves players get to him, he takes him on and slams it into the centre of the net, keeper no chance! What a player!

39' - Suarez is on fire at the moment, he takes on a few players and passes to Carroll, but the ball completely missed it. No one is on his level on the pitch at the moment, not even Carroll knows what he's about to do!

42' - Yellow card for Stephen Hunt, he takes out Charlie Adam really late. A justified decision from the referee.

45' - Two minutes of added time.

45' - SUAREZ! Great save by Hennessy. There was some good movement from Downing and he gets the ball to Suarez, who with little space around passes the ball round the keeper but with a desperate hand, Hennessy saves well.

45+1' - Andy Carroll takes a wild shot that goes no where as there were too many Wolves players around him. He's had a good half though, no critisicm from me.

45+2 - Half time.

My thoughts on the first half are that we are on top of this game now. It took the second goal really for that to become official. Our first 10 minutes were pretty dire. The first goal was lucky, Carroll got away with a foul on Johnson, and Adam's shot was deflected into the net by the same player. As the match got on we grew in confidence, and that in turn made Suarez more and more dangerous. His second goal was fantastic, his timing to avoid the offside flag was perfect. He's easily the best player on that pitch today. I hope this performance continues to excel in the second half.

45' - Changes at half time for Wolves: Matt Doherty and Steven Fletcher for Richard Stearman and David Edwards.

48' - GOAL! Steven Fletcher! That's what you call making an impact... a cross from the left, but Reina doesn't deal with it. Hunt lays it for Fletcher who slams it into the net. Wolves are back in this.

49' - SUAREZ! He should have a brace now! Good play from Carroll who puts Hennessy under pressure and the ball gets to Suarez who's shot is saved nicely by the keeper.

52' - CARROLL! Oh dear it hit the post! Unlucky!

54' - It's been a very exciting start to the second half from the unbiased audience, although we shouldn't have made the mistake to let Wolves back in this.

55' - Doyle! Reina collects the ball! Doyle has some space in the box and takes a shot that hits a Red, and Reina collects it.

56' - Carroll slides at a Wolves player rashly, and he's given a yellow card. Very rash.

57' - The ball drifts to the Liverpool defence on the left, and for some reason Reina's out towards the corner flag. Thankfully he clears it, a bit odd though.

61' - O'Hara takes his chance from distance and it floats over the goal.

64' - Jarvis wins a corner for Wolves. Kelly was dealing with him okay in the first half but tale is starting to change.

65' - Nothing comes of the corner. Wolves are playing much better now, they're the better team at this moment of time. It's probably time to start thinking of subs now I say. Gerrard could come on and try to steady ship.

66' - Kelly looks like he's getting a yellow card. He mistimes his tackle quite badly, although unintentionally. It's proof that Jarvis is winning the battle at the moment if Kelly feels to resort to do sliding tackles.

67' - O'Hara takes the free kick from near the left corner flag. He lifts the ball off the ground and kicking it right into the middle of the box. Absolute mayhem in the box, we didn't deal with it and it's a corner for Wolves.

68' - Nothing comes of it but they're still on top. A cross is in the box and Berra tustles with Reinafor it and Berra wins, but heads it wide.

69' - LUCAS! Just wide. Carroll sets Lucas up for a shot a good 20 yards out and he places the ball, just wide of the Wolves left goal post. Nice effort although I'm sure a blasted shot would have been more effective.

70' - Liverpool Sub: Dirk Kuyt comes on for Jordan Henderson. Good move I say, not to say Henderson has had a bad game, I just think Kuyt's presence is needed.

71' - Downing passes it to Suarez just outside the box and Suarez takes on his defender and beats him! He shoots wide though. Bad shot at the end unfortunately.

73' - We're making the game a bit more even now, a bit of a surge in the last three minutes is going our way.

75' - A lot of the ball is going to Downing who keeps trying to whip crosses from the left with mixed results. He has found Suarez a couple of times though.

78' - Gerrard is going to come on soon.

81' - Liverpool Sub: Gerrard comes on for Luis Suarez, two games in a row. Suarez was excellent in the second half.

82' - Wolves Sub: Adlene Guedioura replaces Stephen Hunt. That's all three Wolves subs used now.

83' - Replays of Suarez going off and he kicks a bottle in frustration. I love and hate his frustration. He needs to show respect to the other players in the team who are also wanting to play. But at least he cares, at least he's passionate. As I said I like and hate it.

86' - GERRARD! Just over. Vintage Gerrard gets the ball just outside the box, he heads it down and a sharp volley is just over the bar. I missed those shots! Welcome back Gerrard!

88' - Nice counter attacking football from Gerrard and Kuyt as they pass and switch places from the centre and left sides of the pitch. It ends with Gerrard on the left of the penalty box but the Wolves defender intercepts. It was nice movement from those two great Reds. Gerrard is looking lively today.

90' - Three minutes of added time.

90+3' - Carroll gets the ball in the box and dances around two defenders but just can't shoot, the defender takes the ball off him in the end and the whistle blows.

Full time analysis is that once again, we did enough. We were the better team after the first goal, until the first half finished. Luck was definitely on our side as we were quite bad for the first 10 minutes. A freak deflection got our game going, and going into half time 2-0 was enough for the win today. A great tactical decision from Mick McCarthy to go 4-4-2 (they started 4-5-1) and to put Fletcher on got them their goal. It also made them much more dangerous than in the first half. Gerrard's inclusion in the last 10 minutes made the game much easier to phase out, and we get 3 more points which brings us to 4th place, but with one game more played than those teams around us. Until next time, take care.

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Live Thoughts: Tottenham vs Liverpool (Premier League)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts of the match.

Welcome back to another live thoughts blog from myself. We take on Tottenham Hotspur today, our second away fixture in a row, and we're hoping that we can make up for the defeat against Stoke last week. As I said last week, I believe we played very well against Stoke but they were world class in defence. I'm hoping for a similar performance, but with the goals today. The Spurs are not as good in defence as Stoke on the whole anyway, so fingers crossed we can get under their skin and get our goal(s).

Here are the teams:

Tottenham: Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto, Kranjcar, Parker, Modric, Bale, Adebayor, Defoe. Subs: Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Van der Vaart, Giovani, Bassong, Corluka, Livermore.

It's not going to be an easy time to dissect but we definitely can do it. Adebayor and Defoe are both clinical on their day and they've both scored recently. Their weakness is their defence, if we can cause a bit of mayhem there we can score. We have to be careful though because they are very strong in attack. Thankfully they're not in form at the moment, but let's not give them the incentive to start a surge today.

Liverpool: Reina, Skrtel, Enrique, Agger, Carragher, Lucas, Downing, Adam, Henderson, Suarez, Carroll. Subs: Doni, Maxi, Coates, Kuyt, Spearing, Bellamy, Robinson.

The diagram below is unlikely as I reckon that Carragher will stay in the centre and Skrtel will move to the right but we'll see. So one change, Carroll in and Kuyt out. Interesting. It's got to be a tactical decision, surely. Carroll, as much as I'm not as worried as some about his form, still hasn't been as effective as Kuyt so far this season. But his height and presence around their box has to be a factor. With Downing and Adam whipping balls from both the flanks and the centre of midfield, and the link-up from Suarez, Carroll can be, on his day, deadly. Let's hope today is that day.

2' - Adebayor! Close. Straight from the off Tottenham take control.

4' - They've really started well Spurs. It's not good at the moment for Liverpool. 

5' - Spurs have won four out of the last six games against us. Concerning statistics. 

6' - GOAL! Luca Modric! An absolute belter. Some brilliant passing, from Gareth Bale who whips in a cross from the left to the outside of the box to Defoe, who sets up Modric perfectly who slams the ball from a good 20 yards into the top right corner. One of the best goals of the season so far.

7' - They've just been all over us so far Spurs. Deservedly in the lead. Oozing class at the moment. 

9' - Agger is down at the moment. Hopefully he's okay. We'll see soon enough. 

10' - Agger has come back on thankfully. 

11' - Charlie Adam is given a yellow card, a tackle on Luca Modric. He did vent his frustrations out on the ref, which probably cemented the card. 

13' - Awful. Just awful. Spurs should have scored. Skrtel is lost, Bale takes the vall off him with ease and they just dominate our defence, with Defoe and Modric taking shots. Thanksfully we clear it. 

17' - GOAL! NO! Offside! The flag was raised for Suarez' goal. Carroll prods the ball into the penalty box and it ends up with Suarez who clips it round Friedel, but Suarez was offside at the time. Gutted.

21' - Adebayor... over the bar. Some good movement from Tottenham ends in Adebayor taking his chances from the outside of the box but he couldn't keep his shot down. 

22' - Free kick from Adam finds Skrtel towards the right post but he was offside. 

23' - Yellow card for Adebayor for a tackle on Carroll. He's done a few fouls in the match and the build of all the fouls earned him the card. 

25' - Agger can't continue, he's not right. He's going to get subbed.

26' - Liverpool Sub: Sebastian Coates comes on for his debut, replacing Daniel Agger. 

27' - RED CARD - Charlie Adam gets a second yellow. He sticks his leg out at Scott Parker. It didn't look intentional as he was concentrating on the ball in the air, but it was dangerous. It's hard to say if its the right decision as it was unintentional. Free kick for Spurs.

29' - After the delay the kick is taken and it hits our wall. This is looking extremely bleak for us, a goal down, a man down and Agger off injured. Lets hope Coates is ready. 

32' - Not much to report at the moment, Spurs have lost possession a bit recently, especially in comparison to earlier in the match. 

33' - Free kick in a VERY dangerous position. Enrique takes Defoe down a few yards from the penalty area, in the centre of the pitch.

34' - Bale takes it but it goes nowhere. 

35' - Another yellow card for us. Skrtel this time. Bale storms down the left flank and Skrtel can't keep up with him, so he blocks his path. Not good at all. 

37' - For probably the fifth time so far, we have the ball, can't penetrate forward and end up passing the ball back all the way to Reina. It's the story of the match so far for us, we are just the second best team on the pitch on all fronts. 

39' - ANOTHER yellow for Liverpool. Adebayor vs Coates. Coates tackles Adebayor from behind and could have potentially got a red for that. It wasn't dangerous, but a tackle from behind isn't often tolerated nowadays. 

40' - I say it wasn't dangerous but Adebayor has had to take a time out. Another free kick in a dangerous area, it goes for a corner. 

41' - Another corner. Kaboul misfires but it gets to Defoe, who takes a swing that we clear back for a corner.

42' - Kaboul again! And it's wide. 

43' - We get a bit of possession and Suarez gets it on the right and whips the ball to long for Carroll and it goes for a goal kick. 

45' - Four minutes of added time is announced. 

45+1' - A lovely pass from Modric to Kyle Walker cuts out three defenders and Walker dances into our box from the right and earns a corner. A beautiful bit of football from Modric. 

45+3' - Coates hoofs the ball forward to clear it and it goes for a goal kick for Tottenham. He's definitely not ready for the first team. He's looked incredibly nervous and inexperienced. I'm surprised as I thought he would be.

45'+4' - A yellow card for Suarez and he's not calming down! He's still having a go! Thankfully it's gone for half time.

My assessment? We've been pretty damn awful. All over the pitch we've been dominated. We haven't had luck, that's fair, but we deserve to be losing based on this performance. We've been awful. Has the referee waved his cards a bit too much? Probably. But it's no justification at all, we've been bad. The good news? We're only 1-0 down. The bad news is that we need to improve dramatically in the second half, and we're down a player with Adam off, and Coates really doesn't look ready. Let's hope we can get something out of this match. I'm usually the optimist, but it doesn't look good, even from me.

45' - Tottenham Sub: - Kranjcar comes off for Van der Vaart. 

45'-  Defoe! Just past the post. That was great football from Spurs from Adebayor to Defoe in the end. It doesn't look like things are going to change soon.

48' - Thankfully things have calmed down a bit, we just need a bit of luck, it's something we haven't had so far.

50' - Suarez chips the ball to Carroll in the box and Carroll appeals about a tug in the box. It doesn't look like it was anything worth claiming a penalty for. But we're playing a little better, emphasis on the word little. 

53' - Bale takes a shot and its wide. We are playing a little better though as I said. 

55' - Free kick for Tottenham around the right wing area. Enrique brought down Walker. Nothing comes of it thankfully. The commentators are talking about maybe Bellamy coming on, I do agree with that. I think he could be a nuisance for Spurs.

58' - Adebayor wasted a fabulous chance. Skrtel loses the ball in a dangerous place and Defoe and Adebayor have plenty of time to score but Adebayor thankfully for us wastes it. Skrtel has had an awful game today, he's not a right back. Carragher needs to swallow his pride and play there I say. It's frustrating that we're wasting Skrtel out of position, and Bale has wiped the floor with him today.

60' - Free kick for Liverpool in a dangerous area! Finally. We have to make the most of this. 

61' - Suarez takes it and it was poor. He tries to chip the wall and it's just well over. 

62' - RED CARD - Skrtel is off. This is just pathetic. Two of our players are now off. Skrtel is late tackling Bale and brings him down. I think it was rash but not deserving of a yellow. It's the story of his game though.

64' - Downing takes a shot from way out and it's comfortably saved by Friedel. 

65' - GOAL - Defoe. Our defence was ripped apart and Defoe turns out Enrique and slots the ball into the bottom right corner. Simple for them. You could easily see the influence of losing two players there as we just had no one back. 

67' - GOAL - Adebayor. They just take a few shots at us and Reina does his best but there's just not enough players back to deal with the deflections, Adebayor just slots it home after the third shot. 

69' - Liverpool Subs - Luis Suarez and Stewart Downing are off for Craig Bellamy and Jay Spearing. We're probably saving their legs as we're not going to get back into this really are we?

70' - Hand ball from Scott Parker on the left wing. Free kick to us. 

71' - Bellamy takes it and it goes nowhere. 

72' - Tottenham are just playing with us now. They're passing the ball around and the fans are cheering each pass. Always a great feeling when it's your team doing it but when it's the opposition it really grinds on you.

74' - Free kick to us in our box as Reina gets fouled.

77' - It's just time wasting all round now, the game is pretty much over. 

80' - The positives as the commentators are saying is that we were much lower in the table at this point last year, and that there's still a long way to go. Very true. 

82' - Spurs are piling our box with their players, thankfully we defend well enough.

82' - Tottenham Subs: Jermain Defoe and Ledley King are off for Geovanni dos Santos and Sebastian Bassong. Both teams have used all their subs now.

85' - We break through slowly and Lucas and Spearing exchange a few nice passes in the centre of the pitch. Eventually Spearing takes a wild shot at goal but it was nice to see us just juggling the ball a little bit at this stage of the game. 

88' - Gareth Bale just takes a shot from around 30 yards out and its way over the bar. 

89' - Shots on target - Spurs 14, Liverpool 2. Says it all really. 

90' - Van der Vaart... good save by Reina. He tries to chip Reina but he saves it well. 

90' - Three minutes of added time. 

90+1' - Carragher tackles nicely against Adebayor and it's gone for a corner. 

90+2' - GOAL! Adebayor. It's just simple really, he is given the ball in the box by Bale and he rockets it into the top of the net. There's nothing we could have done about that with 9 men.

90+3' - Full time.

The full time analysis is that this was an awful game by us. Yes, decisions went against us that were debatable, yes we lost Agger early on and had Coates who is most certainly not ready yet to take his place, and yes, we did have two red cards and were down to 9 men for a good half hour. But that doesn't justify anything. We were bad. Really bad. But the good news is that we have a Carling Cup tie and two home games to look forward to. We need to win these three games. We had two difficult away games and we performed badly today. But the worst is over... for the time being. Unless we continue to screw up anyway! But let's not go down that road, let's be optimistic, this is hopefully a blip, and let's show our class against Brighton on Wednesday, before taking on Wolves on the weekend. That's it from me today, have a good day.

Live Thoughts: Stoke vs Liverpool (Premier League)

After two weeks of internationals we're back with Liverpool on this site. I've done a lot of live thoughts recently, for both Liverpool and England. It's a lot of fun actually, I enjoy doing it. And it gives me more to talk about football wise on this site, because the other three topics I also talk about (music, games and wrestling) have far more content on here. So we all win (I hope!)

So yeah, we'll be hoping for three more points against Stoke today, to keep the pressure on both the Manchester clubs for as long as possible. Let's hope we can match our previous performances before the international break, as there's always the risk we won't.

So will the two new boys start today, Craig Bellamy and Sebastian Coates? We'll have to see. Gerrard won't be involved unfortunately, but next weeks looks optimistic.

Here are the teams:

Stoke: Begovic, Huth, Shawcross, Upson, Wilson, Pennant, Whitehead, Delap, Etherington, Walters, Crouch. Subs: Sorensen, Wilkinson, Shotton, Whelan, Palacios, Jones, Jerome.


Stoke are stronger now than they ever been in their latest run in the Premier League, and at home they'll be difficult. But if we continue our form from two weeks ago we should be able to get three points.


Liverpool: Reina, Skrtel, Agger, Carragher, Enrique, Henderson, Downing, Lucas, Adam, Suarez, Kuyt. Subs: Doni, Johnson, Coates, Maxi, Spearing, Carroll, Bellamy.

Hmm... interesting line up in the back with Enrique rumoured to be on the right and Skrtel on the left. We'll see after kick off what happens. Still Carroll is on the bench, but our attacking force was great in our last match with Kuyt, Suarez and Downing so long may it continue.

3' - Suarez with a decent effort with a header from a Charlie Adam cross.

6' - We're causing some problems early on which is great, it's what we want to do away from home more often.

8' - Foul on Peter Crouch by Martin Skrtel, who is playing at right back from what I can tell.

9' - Carragher is bleeding. He's taken off but comes back on shortly. 

12' - The game has slowed down slightly due to the injury on Carra.

13' - Etherington takes a shot that Reina comfortably saves.

16' - Liverpool corner. It's our second so far. We cause a bit of menace in the box that ends with Kuyt taking a shot that goes for a throw in. Good play. 

19' - Penalty! Stoke have a penalty! It was Jamie Carragher. He tugs 
Jon Walters down in the penalty box. He does it all the time frustratingly. Right decision.

20' - GOAL! Jon Walters takes the penalty comfortably down the middle of the box. We're one behind.

22' - They're showing the replay over and over again and
there's a possible claim that Walters put pressure on Carragher first, but the fact that Carra tugged him down is unjustified. I'm an unbiased Liverpool fan and I'm not going to say Stoke didn't deserve the penalty. They did. It was against the run of play though.

24' - Suarez! Lovely block by Ryan Shawcross. That was a real chance. Made from Henderson on the right flank and crosses it to Suarez on the left of the penalty box.

25' - Possession is 50%/50% at the moment. It feels it too, both sides have made decent chances.

26' - Yeah it's Enrique on the left and Skrtel on the right. I'm still not sure about Skrtel being on the side of the defence, I'd rather Carra persevere and just do it for a few games.

29' - Stoke starting to take control now. There was some lovely movement outside our box by Walters, Pennant and Crouch. They didn't break through however. 

32' - Nothing really to report at the moment. Things have calmed down again.

33' - The crowd are preparing for a Rory Delap throw in a dangerous area. Nothing comes of it. 

34' - Skrtel! Over the bar. Lovely movement from Kuyt and Suarez who have combined nicely a few times today, but Skrtel hits it over the bar and falls over. He looks okay though.

36' - Matthew Ethertington is down. It was the Skrtel shot. He tackled Skrtel while he was shooting and they must have clipped somehow. He's been arguably their best player today so far. 

38' - Charlie Adam whips a lovely cross to Jose Enrique who apparently hand balls for a foul. He protests and gets a talking to. The Stoke fans boo as he doesn't get yellow carded. 

40' - We're trying to score before half time now and Suarez is trying really hard to break the defence.

43' - Shawcross! Just over. Walters earns a corner for Stoke and Shawcross almost scores.

45' - Two minutes of added time.

45+2' - Full time. We're still in this game but Stoke have held their own quite well today and are 1-0 up. They're not going to make it easy for us to equalise, never mind win. We need to be more inventive in the second half, not that we haven't looked good, but their strength have matched our ability that's all. Fingers crossed for a better performance second half.

46' - Difficult start to the second half so far. We have the ball but we can barely get into their half of the pitch. Not good. 

49' - Same as above really at the moment, apart from we're slowly getting more in their half. There's a lot of throw ins at the moment. No progress.

50' - Corner for Stoke. We finally started to break through their defence then they get the ball and storm through for a counter attack. 

51' - Nothing comes of it and we attempt a counter attack but the ball from Adam to Suarez was just too long and it goes for a throw in.

52' - A bit better by Liverpool now. We're moving the ball a lot better. 

55' - The possession is still predominantly in our favour but we're just finding it difficult to penetrate past Stoke. Very little has happened. 

57' - That was good then. Adam cuts the ball to the left wing where Enrique storms down. He whips in a cross to Suarez but he can't control it and it's a goal kick. 

59' - Foul by Henderson. That was a little nasty, although it didn't look intentional. Free kick to Stoke from around 45 yards, slightly to the left. 

61' - HENDERSON AND ADAM! FIVE shots between them! Henderson counter attacked the free kick and was free to storm down the pitch, he tries to score past Begovic, and again, and again. It goes to Adam who tries twice himself. Absolutely incredible defending by Begovic, by the third or fourth shots the defenders block the shots. Amazing.

62' - The game has just been ripped open now, we're not letting those misses phase us, we're bombing forward with purpose now.

63' - Henderson in space... he skies it. Literally. The Stoke defender started to close him down and it put him off.

64' - Stoke Sub: Robert Huth is off for Wilkinson.

65' - Adam from long range... not sure if that was a cross or a shot as Suarez was there. Begovic saves comfortably anyway. 

67' - Double Liverpool Sub: Andy Carroll and Craig Bellamy come on for Dirk Kuyt and Jordan Henderson. Bellamy on his second debut for the club. 

68' - Stoke Sub: Kenwyne Jones comes on for Matthew Etherington.

68' - Crouch! Blocked by Carragher and Reina saves. I don't think he's scored against us since he left, which is good obviously. 

69' - Downing! Saved by Begovic. A cross from the left and Downing from the right with a clean header. 

70' - Stoke Sub: Rory Delap for Wilson Palacios. That's all three Stoke subs used now. 

71' - Bellamy seems to be playing on the left wing and Downing has gone to the right. 

74' - Downing and Suarez combine in the middle of the pitch into the box but there's just too many bodies for Suarez to get a shot.

75' - We're definitely on top at the moment, but with no goal to show for it. 

75' - Corner. We're dancing around the Stoke players but we just can't score! Kudos to Stoke though, they have defended for 75 minutes perfectly so far.

76' - The corner has been delayed as Jon Walters has gone down with cramp. 

77' - Now the corner needs be retaken due to interference in the box. The second corner leads to nothing. 

78' - Suarez looking slightly tired now but he runs on and takes a relatively wild shot that goes only just wide. It was a decent effort in the end. 

80' - The match has stopped again as Wilkinson has a bleeding nose.

80' - Liverpool Sub: Martin Skrtel comes off and Glen Johnson comes on. It's nice to see Johnson come back from injury. 

83' - Corner. Downing whips a cross from the right for Suarez but Shawcross heads it for a corner.

83' - Downing! Over the bar. His shot was from the corner of the right hand side of the box.

86' - So much pressure on Stoke's defence, they keep kicking it for a throw in. Not long left. 

87' - Bellamy! Side netting. Downing crosses deep again and Bellamy heads it cleanly into the side netting. 

88' - The match got a bit hot for a moment with a few players from both sides arguing. 

90' - Corner. Suarez and Downing combine very well again and earn us a corner. Adam's corner misses everyone. 

90+1' - There was an appeal for handball by Suarez. When he hit the shot in the box before the corner it appears to hit Matthew Upson's hand. I think deflection more than anything though. FIVE minutes of stoppage time.

90+2' - The ball goes to Begovic and Lucas runs into him with minimum contact as he's trying to slow down. Begovic goes down like a sack of spuds. Pathetic. 

90+3' - Suarez! What a miss. Begovic clears the ball badly with his fist and Suarez hits the ball wide of the post. 

90+5' - Full time.

My thoughts? For ninety five minutes Stoke defended world class today. They were absolutely solid in the back throughout the match. We did everything we could to score today. Could we have done better? Well not scoring suggests so. But Liverpool played with some swagger today, not as much as a couple of weeks ago, but it was still a decent attacking performance, particularly the second half. But it was Stoke today. They were excellent. That five shots at goal in 15 seconds was the story of the game for me. They just were absolutely boss. They will be hard to beat this season, especially at home. Unfortunately we have lost our first match of the season now. And it's a reality check for those Liverpool fans who think we can go all the way to win the league. I don't think we're good enough. But let's try to concentrate on making sure we can pick ourselves up from this defeat, we did play quite well. Fingers crossed it can be a small blip and we can continue to play well, and get some results. That's all from me. Take care.