Liverpool vs Birmingham City Highlights
Liverpool vs Birmingham City Highlights
The Liverpool vs Birmingham City match report is blogged by Premiershiplatest.
Liverpool have drawn 2-2 with Birmingham City in their Premier League match at Anfield on Monday evening, with the result smashing any last title hopes for Liverpool in the process.
Liverpool commanded the match throughout, but some lazy defending, plus a wonder strike from Cameron Jerome, helped in giving the visitors the lead at the break, with Liverpool unable to capitalise on their possession.
David N’Gog scored the opener for Liverpool, but some dreadful defending from the home-side allowed Birmingham City to draw level soon after, with Christain Benitez heading home to score his first ever goal for Birmingham City.
Cameron Jerome gave Birmingham City the lead in the second minute of injury-time in the first-half, with a stunning long-range strike that gave Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina no chance.
Substitute Steven Gerrard equalised from the penalty-spot in the second-half and, despite a host of chances to win the match, the scores remained 2-2, with Liverpool now knowing that their title hopes are all but over.
Liverpool were without vice-captain Jamie Carragher and Phillip Degen through suspension, while striker Fernando Torres failed to recover from injury and missed out.
Further bad news for Liverpool boss Benitez is that Reds skipper Steven Gerrard had to start the match against Birmingham City on the bench.
New signing Alberto Aquilani was also named in the substitutes, along with Gerrard and Ryan Babel.
Teemu Tainio replaced City midfielder Barry Ferguson who was suspended for the match after receiving two yellow-cards in last Sunday’s 0-0 draw against Manchester City, while James McFadden, Cameron Jerome and Christian Benitez all started in attack for Birmingham City.
Liverpool started the first-half in command and had some early attempts at goal to test Birmingham City keeper Joe Hart.
Yossi Benayoun forced an early save, while skipper on the night Dirk Kuyt also caused problems early-on.
Liverpool took the lead in the 13th minute, despite some excellent goalkeeping from Joe Hart.
Glen Johnson played a dangerous ball into the area, with David N’Gog having the first attempt on goal, which was parried away well, but into the path of Dirk Kuyt, whose shot from 6-yards was brilliantly blocked by the England goalkeeper.
But the ball fell to winger Albert Riera, who played a superb ball across goal to N’Gog, who smashed home the opening goal from 6-yards into the roof of the net to make it 1-0 to Liverpool.
Teemu Tainio was forced off the pitch early-on after suffering a recurrence of his knee injury, with Lee Crasley replacing the Finnish midfielder.
N’Gog, who replaced Torres in attack for Liverpool, was playing extremely well, and almost doubled the score-line from close-range in the 24th minute, but failed to latch onto a great cross from Glen Johnson, who was in full control of the right-wing.
Completely against the run-of-play, Birmingham City scored an equaliser through a header from Christian Benitez, scoring his first ever goal in English football.
Lee Bowyer was the provider, heading a James McFadden free-kick into the penalty area through the disorganised Liverpool backline for the unmarked Benitez to head past Pepe Reina from 4-yards to make it 1-1.
Liverpool had a host of opportunities to take the lead within the next few minutes and, despite a goalmouth scramble that saw Javier Mascherano, Lucas Leiva and Martin Skrtel all miss chances, the scores somehow remained level at the half-hour mark.
The home-side continued to press, but some excellent last gasp defending from Birmingham City kept the scores level.
Albert Riera was forced off the pitch in the final minute of the first-half, with the Spaniard suffering a recurrence of his recent hamstring injury, with Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard replacing him, much to the joy of the watching Liverpool fans.
But Birmingham scored a second goal in the second minute of injury-time, with Cameron Jerome scoring a contender for goal of the month, if not season in the process.
The City striker managed to latch on to a lofted ball midway in the Liverpool half, beating Mascherano and unleashing a wonderful volley from 30-yards to give Alex McLeish’s side the lead at the break.
Despite Liverpoool having commanded the possession and chances in the first-half, the scoreline was 2-1 at the break, with a superb goal from Jerome giving the visitors the lead at halftime.
Luverpool still commanded possession in the early stages of the second-half, but some dreadful finishing, plus the fact that Steven Gerrard was still way-off full fitness, Liverpool struggled to make headway.
Javier Mascherano had his 22-yard shot superbly charged down by Roger Johnson before Steven Gerrard had a wonderful chance to equalise in the 63rd minute.
Glen Johnson crossed the ball perfectly into the path of Gerrard, but his header from 4-yards hit the City goalpost.
The home-side continued to press, with Glen Johnson doing superbly on the right-wing and with countless attempts from Liverpool, but the Birmingham City defence did brilliantly to deny the hosts.
James McFadden was replaced by former Liverpool player Gregory Vignal in the 68th minute as City tried to sure-up their defence against the persistent Liverpool attacks.
Lee Carsley was adjudged to have brought down David N’Gog in the 70th minute to give Liverpool a penalty, with replay’s showing that N’Gog did actually dive, but despite the protests from Birmingham players, the spot-kick was awarded, with both players getting a booking for their arguments.
Steven Gerrard stepped-up to slam home the penalty, taking Joe Hart the wrong way and bringing the scores level at 2-2.
Dirk Kuyt had yet another chance on goal saved by Joe Hart soon after, with Liverpool wondering what they had to do to win the match.
Yossi Benayoun suffered a hamstring injury with fifteen minutes remaining, with the Israeli playmaker limping off the pitch clutching his left leg. Benayoun was replaced by Dutch winger Ryan Babel for the remainder of the match.
David N’Gog failed to latch on to a wonderful Steven Gerrard cross, before both Kuyt and Gerrard had shots come close.
Alberto Aquilani replaced Lucas Leiva with less than ten minutes remaining, much to the joy of the Anfield faithful, with the Italian looking almost back to form in his cameo role.
But Liverpool couldn’t find a way through the City defence and the match finished 2-2, with Birmingham City moving up to 15th in the EPL with the draw, while Liverpool will be wondering how they failed to win the match after having commanded throughout, with over 13 shots on target in the match and plenty of chances to win by a huge margin.
Liverpool v Birmingham City Full Teamsheets:
Liverpool Team: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Riera (Gerrard, 45+1), Skrtel, Insua, Benayoun (Babel, 77), Kuyt, Mascherano, Lucas (Aquilani, 82), N’Gog.
Liverpool Substitutes Not Used: Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Spearing, Darby.
Birmingham City Team: Hart, Carr. R. Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Bowyer, Tainio (Carsley, 15), McFadden (Gregory Vignal, 67), Benitez (McSheffrey,88), Jerome.
Birmingham City Substitutes Not Used: Taylor, Espinoza, Queudrue, Phillips.
