West Brom 1-1 Liverpool
With a minute remaining and Liverpool hoping for something to save their afternoon, Kolo Toure, under no pressure, passed the ball straight into touch. It had been that kind of afternoon for the Liverpool defender.
When Toure had contributed an equally inept piece of football 25 minutes earlier, the consequences were not just embarrassing but grave.
Receiving what, admittedly, was a rather ill-judged pass from his goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, Toure saw two West Bromwich Albion players closing in and decided to play the ball straight across the edge of his own penalty area towards right back Jon Flanagan.
Unfortunately for Liverpool and their veteran defender, Albion substitute Victor Anichebe was close enough to intercept. By the time Toure recognised the scale of his error, a flash of the centre forward’s right foot had sent the ball fizzing past Mignolet into the bottom corner of the net.
It was an equaliser that gave West Brom a point they desperately needed, given the results that had bolstered some of their rivals at the bottom end of the Barclays Premier League the day before.
On balance, Pepe Mel’s team deserved it, too.
For Liverpool, though, this setback may yet prove pivotal in their chase for the fourth-place finish that would go so far to reinstate them as a team of real standing.
With Manchester United having lost the previous day and Everton despatched so emphatically at Anfield last Tuesday, Brendan Rodgers and his players arrived in the Black Country knowing victory would leave them in a stronger position than they would ever have imagined when the season began.
Ultimately, they proved themselves inadequate — on this occasion at least. Having scored midway through a first half they dominated, Liverpool should have put distance between themselves and their opponents.
Half-chances came and went, however, and Toure’s aberration ensured that Rodgers’ afternoon ended in frustration. Liverpool were on the front foot again by the end but prior to that the game was evenly balanced for 20 minutes.
Liverpool’s squad lacks a little depth and that was evident here.
There were no game-changers among the substitutes and they may begin to feel that more deeply between now and May.
In the first half it was rather different. Liverpool were not at their best but were comfortably superior. Captain Steven Gerrad was their best player, closely followed by the Brazilian Philippe Coutinho. Nobody was surprised, though, that it was Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge who combined to score the opening goal.
An astute pass from Coutinho to Raheem Sterling was the catalyst in the 25th minute but when the ball broke to Suarez on the right, it was the Uruguayan’s cute cross towards the far post that allowed Sturridge to score from a yard.
West Brom hands immediately shot up for offside and, at first glance, it looked marginal. Replays showed just how clever Suarez’s ball had been and how well Sturridge had timed his dart to the back post.
Liverpool created more chances. Sterling’s bright run and shot resulted in a corner that Toure almost bundled in while Aly Cissokho’s run down the left just before half-time would have resulted in a goal for Suarez had the cross been rather better delivered.
As it was, West Brom reached half-time still in touch and, as many expected, returned to play with more energy.
Rodgers later pointed out that a second Liverpool goal would have secured the game and only a good save from the impressive Ben Foster denied Suarez.
That came in the 60th minute but it should be pointed out that West Brom had already started to impose themselves by then.
Seconds earlier, Mignolet had saved wonderfully from a Gareth McAuley header and just before the equaliser the Liverpool keeper had dealt well with a low free-kick from Chris Brunt.
That free-kick, incidentally, had been given away needlessly by Toure. It was, on reflection, the start of his own personal descent into disarray.
Rodgers’ subsequent defence of the player — and indeed his own policy of encouraging his defenders to play the ball on the floor — was admirable. Whether this day comes back to haunt Liverpool remains to be seen.
‘My own philosophy is that yesterday has no consequence,’ said Rodgers.
That, as we know, is not always true.
—Daily Mail