On a day that Liverpool would need to dig in following successive defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea with an injury ravaged side they duly completed the task with goals from Daniel Agger and Luis Suarez on Saturday as they beat Hull City Tigers.
Liverpool’s imperious home form this season continued, as they made it 9 wins from 10 home games this season. Luis Suarez ended his lengthy goal drought (2 games) to score a sublime costless kick. Having scored a remarkable 33 goals in 33 games in 2013 for Liverpool he has began 2014 as he’d have hoped to. Suarez has now scored 20 goals in his previous 15 games – a premier league record. The statistics don’t end their either, Suarez has scored in his last 7 consecutive Anfield outings.
In truth Liverpool were not at their best today, not close. Steve Bruce’s side set up in a 5311 of sorts and looked to break when they could. Liverpool’s first 25 minutes were lethargic and one imagines it took a while for the hangovers to subside.
Suarez converted Liverpool’s first chance of the day heading into the Anfield Road end goal following a Coutinho costless kick – though Suarez was correctly judged to have been in an offside position. From that moment onwards Liverpool’s pressure continued and following a corner from Coutinho Daniel Agger headed home to make it 1-0 to the Reds.
Liverpool largely remained poor in position with little decisive runs being made which the home crowd has become accustom to over the past 12 months. Despite that, there were good chances missed by Henderson and Coutinho towards the end of the first half.
In the second half Liverpool woke up an looked a lot better, with Bruce’s men rarely troubling Mignolet – they didn’t have a single shot on target all game. Suarez’ curling costless kick sealed the win which coincidentally was Liverpool’s first 2-0 win under the management of Brendan Rodgers.
Liverpool now will look forward to Sunday as they take on Oldham in the FA Cup. A plethora of changes are expected as Liverpool's injury stricken side will look to recover.
