Leicester vs. Liverpool: Winners and Losers from Premier League Game
It’s now back-to-back wins for Liverpool, who climbed up to eighth place in the Premier League table with a hard-fought 3-1 victory at struggling Leicester City despite falling a goal behind.
On a night when a couple of the Reds’ most talked about players came to the fore, the luckless Simon Mignolet saw Leonardo Ulloa’s shot hit the post and then rebound in off him to give the Foxes the lead, only for the advantage to quickly be cancelled out by Adam Lallana’s smart finish.
Inevitably, the match soon became about the returning Steven Gerrard though, and the Reds skipper fired his side back in front after Wes Morgan had failed to clear Raheem Sterling’s cross. Morgan was then sent off for hauling down Rickie Lambert, and Jordan Henderson later wrapped things up after smart work from Sterling.
Here are some heroes and villains from the night.
Winner: Steven Gerrard
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Let off the leash, Steven Gerrard can banish the dark thoughts of the last few months and just be himself.
For the first time since Chelsea’s infamous visit at the back end of last season, he looked to actually be enjoying his football here. It isn’t something that Brendan Rodgers will be able to indulge in every match, but in a game which really could have gone either way he saw his captain stand up and be counted to drive his team forward in the early moments of the second half.
The reason Gerrard could do that was the presence of Lucas Leiva stationed behind him doing the dirty work, and that made such a difference to the midfield dynamic.
Gerrard, so often the midfield dynamo, still has his uses when he’s just encouraged to be himself.
Loser: Wes Morgan
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Where one captain soared, another one struggled.
Wes Morgan—the scorer of an own goal in the weekend loss at Queens Park Rangers and the man who presented Gerrard with a chance to score here just nine minutes before he was sent off—seems to be the personification of Leicester City at the moment.
There is so much effort and will to do right, but there is also a constant aiming of shotgun towards foot.
Like Morgan’s red card for pulling back Rickie Lambert, a relegation struggle looks inevitable.
Winner: Adam Lallana
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The technique behind Adam Lallana’s equaliser was enough to admire in itself, but the most important thing about the goal was surely the timing.
Just four minutes after Liverpool had fallen behind they really could have let a malaise develop, but Lallana’s timely intervention banished any ill-feeling.
It was part of an impressive display from the summer signing, who must be frustrated that his opportunities to start matches seem to just come and go.
Loser: Nigel Pearson
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We’re entering a month in which Premier League chairmen get notoriously itchy trigger fingers, and with the spectre of Tony Pulis hovering behind a whole host of managers’ heads, Leicester’s position at the bottom of the table must be haunting Nigel Pearson.
Crucially and worryingly, they actually played pretty well here. They hassled and hurried Liverpool in the opening moments, and when they took the lead you could argue that it was deserved.
It’s now seven defeats in nine since they beat Manchester United 5-3 in September, though, and although Pearson deserves a chance to turn that around he might find he doesn’t get one.
Winner: Matty James
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The biggest bright spot for the hosts, though, was the performance of midfielder Matty James, the former Manchester United youngster who at times appeared to be on a one-man mission to get one over on the Red Devils’ rivals.
Composed on the ball and apparently determined to score a goal from distance, James often pinned the visitors back with his intelligent play and was often seen demanding the ball from his team-mates.
If all of those team-mates could just follow suit then there will be hope in the relegation scrap.
Loser: Simon Mignolet
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First things first: There really isn’t much that Simon Mignolet could have done about the own goal that has been attributed to him and will have spawned thousands of mocking tweets.
However, the Belgian got away with his alarmingly slack pass straight to Esteban Cambiasso in the first half, and again looked to be a nervy presence behind a Liverpool back line which doesn’t exactly need an invitation to be apprehensive.
This appears to be far greater than a problem of mere poor form, and the Reds have to be thinking about doing something about it in January.
