West Brom 3-0 Liverpool
Having sacked Kenny Dalglish at the end of last season and brought in Brendon Rodgers expectations were high at Liverpool for this season, though as we all know things are never the way they should be for Liverpool where stunningly upset today in their league opener by West Brom.
Liverpool started well with the controversial Luis Suarez having a number of chances including an excellent headed chance to put Liverpool in the lead, though couldn't finish any of them. Instead of Suarez it was returning Zoltán Gera that opened the scoring with an excellent strike in the 43rd minute that may well be an early contender for goal of the season. The Hungarian let loose with a thunderbolt from outside the penalty area that gave Reina no chance.
In the second half West Brom had a fantastic chance to double their lead as Daniel Agger fouled Shane Long in the penalty area. Whilst Agger was given a straight red Long couldn't convert the penalty. It didn't take long however for West Brom to be given a second penalty after Martin Škrtel lost track of both the ball and Long. This time Peter Odemwinge stepped up to the spot and he didn't make the same mistake as his team smashing the ball into the bottom corner. The match was finally sealed around 15 minutes from time as Romelu Lukaku headed in a 3rd for West Brom.
Brendon Rodgers was expected to have a midas touch though signings Joe Allen and Fabio Borini both looked completely out of place on the pitch with the pair looking like 2 very expensive accessories. The combined £26 million spent on the two men is looking like a seriously bad move for Rodgers who will almost certainly get the fans on his back if he cannot turn things around quickly.
For West Brom's new manager Steve Clarke this must have been a dream start. Not only did he manage to defeat the team that got rid of him last year but he managed to make a real statement about his team, who will likely be expected to match last season's 10th place finish. The return of Gera (who had been out for 8 months) is a major positive for the Baggies and Lukaku is an excellent loan signing who will seriously give West Brom a threat up front. Don't be surprised if West Brom manage a number of upsets this year.
Showing posts with label West Brom v Liverpool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label West Brom v Liverpool. Show all posts
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Premier League Week 1-Results (Saturday)
So the Premier League has finally kicked off and we've completed the first day of games with a number of surprises. For the sake of ordering the results I've listed them in order of goals scored below.
Fulham 5-0 Norwich City (Duff-26, Petric-41, 54, Kacanilik-66, Sidwell-87 Pen)
Queens Park Rangers 0-5 Swansea City (Michu-8,53, Dyer-63,71, Sinclair-81)
West Brom 3-0 Liverpool (Gera-43, Odemwinge-64 Pen, Lukaku-77), Agger Sent off 58
Newcastle United 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Ba-55, Ben Arfa-80: Defoe 76)
Reading 1-1 Stoke (Kitghly-34 : Fondre-89) Whitehead sent off 89
West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa (Nolan-40)
Arsenal 0-0 SunderlandAs you can see we've been treated to some real surprises (West Brom beating Liverpool being the stand out upset) as well as a huge number of goals (19 in total) and just a solitary 0-0 draw.
Below are the figures for the stat freaks, these will be done every weekend and hopefully add something for some fans:
Highest Scoring Games-5 Goals (Fulham v Norwich 5-0, QPR v Swansea 0-5)
Lowest Scoring Games-0 Goals (Arsenal v Sunderland, 0-0)
Top Scorer-2 Goals (Petric, Michu, Dyer)
Penalties-4:
Scored-3-(Odemwinge v Liverpool, Sidwell v Norwich, Ben Arfa v Tottenham Hotspur)
Missed-1-(Long v Liverpool)
Red Cards-2 (Agger, Whitehead)
Total Goals-19 (in 7 games so far)
Fulham 5-0 Norwich City (Duff-26, Petric-41, 54, Kacanilik-66, Sidwell-87 Pen)
Queens Park Rangers 0-5 Swansea City (Michu-8,53, Dyer-63,71, Sinclair-81)
West Brom 3-0 Liverpool (Gera-43, Odemwinge-64 Pen, Lukaku-77), Agger Sent off 58
Newcastle United 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Ba-55, Ben Arfa-80: Defoe 76)
Reading 1-1 Stoke (Kitghly-34 : Fondre-89) Whitehead sent off 89
West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa (Nolan-40)
Arsenal 0-0 SunderlandAs you can see we've been treated to some real surprises (West Brom beating Liverpool being the stand out upset) as well as a huge number of goals (19 in total) and just a solitary 0-0 draw.
Below are the figures for the stat freaks, these will be done every weekend and hopefully add something for some fans:
Highest Scoring Games-5 Goals (Fulham v Norwich 5-0, QPR v Swansea 0-5)
Lowest Scoring Games-0 Goals (Arsenal v Sunderland, 0-0)
Top Scorer-2 Goals (Petric, Michu, Dyer)
Penalties-4:
Scored-3-(Odemwinge v Liverpool, Sidwell v Norwich, Ben Arfa v Tottenham Hotspur)
Missed-1-(Long v Liverpool)
Red Cards-2 (Agger, Whitehead)
Total Goals-19 (in 7 games so far)
Premier League Week 1-Predictions (Saturday)
Saturday 18th August
Arsenal V Sunderland (15:00)-Arsenal, playing for the first time since the transfer of Robin Van Persie to Manchester United may be expected to win here with relative ease, especially considering the transfer of players like Podolski however I can't help but think we may see a bit a shock here. I'll be betting on the draw here.
1-1
Fulham V Norwich (15:00)-Despite Fulham playing at home I'm going to favour the away win here. The signings of Snodgrass and Turner will really bulk up the Norwich line up. Whilst Fulham have added the very good Hugo Rodellaga I expect he will take several weeks to get into the full swing of things.
1-2
QPR V Swansea (15:00)-Swansea have lost not only their manager but also their talisman in Joe Allen, they have however managed to acquire an extremely talented player in Michu. Sadly for Swansea however I can't see them getting anything from this one. The QPR squad has been strengthened massively since the end of last season and with this in mind I'll be backing QPR.
2-0
Reading V Stoke (15:00)-Going into this bout it could, genuinely a very close match, however with Pogrebnyak now amongst the Reading squad it's almost impossible to bet against Reading. Stoke are never an easy team to beat though they are a flawed tea.
2-1
West Brom V Liverpool (15:00)-Liverpool have arguably the most frustrating team for any fans in recent years as their team repeatedly fall short of expectation. With Bredan Rodgers in charge I know some people are massively excited, sadly however Rodgers seems to have done the same thing Kenny Dalglish did, he's over paid for players. Thankfully for Liverpool here West Brom haven't really improved their squad over Summer and I think Liverpool's players will get up for Rodger's first Premier League game in charge.
0-2
West Ham V Aston Villa (15:00)-West Ham's return to the Premier League seems to have been met by a lot of people predicting them to go down. Whilst they have improved their squad with Modibo Maïga and the re-signing of James Collins they may not have improved quite enough. Villa, a team I'd have predicted to struggle have added some brilliant players and I whilst they may not click straight away they will be a very good team when they start to click.
1-1
Newcastle V Tottenham (17:30)-The late kick off sees last years 4th placed team playing the 5th placed team in what promising to be a very interesting match up. Going into this match up you have to have a lot of questions-how will Spurs do with Harry and how will they do with Villas-Boas? How does Anita fit into Newcastle? This is by far the stand out match of the day and I expect it to live up to expectation
2-3
Arsenal V Sunderland (15:00)-Arsenal, playing for the first time since the transfer of Robin Van Persie to Manchester United may be expected to win here with relative ease, especially considering the transfer of players like Podolski however I can't help but think we may see a bit a shock here. I'll be betting on the draw here.
1-1
Fulham V Norwich (15:00)-Despite Fulham playing at home I'm going to favour the away win here. The signings of Snodgrass and Turner will really bulk up the Norwich line up. Whilst Fulham have added the very good Hugo Rodellaga I expect he will take several weeks to get into the full swing of things.
1-2
QPR V Swansea (15:00)-Swansea have lost not only their manager but also their talisman in Joe Allen, they have however managed to acquire an extremely talented player in Michu. Sadly for Swansea however I can't see them getting anything from this one. The QPR squad has been strengthened massively since the end of last season and with this in mind I'll be backing QPR.
2-0
Reading V Stoke (15:00)-Going into this bout it could, genuinely a very close match, however with Pogrebnyak now amongst the Reading squad it's almost impossible to bet against Reading. Stoke are never an easy team to beat though they are a flawed tea.
2-1
West Brom V Liverpool (15:00)-Liverpool have arguably the most frustrating team for any fans in recent years as their team repeatedly fall short of expectation. With Bredan Rodgers in charge I know some people are massively excited, sadly however Rodgers seems to have done the same thing Kenny Dalglish did, he's over paid for players. Thankfully for Liverpool here West Brom haven't really improved their squad over Summer and I think Liverpool's players will get up for Rodger's first Premier League game in charge.
0-2
West Ham V Aston Villa (15:00)-West Ham's return to the Premier League seems to have been met by a lot of people predicting them to go down. Whilst they have improved their squad with Modibo Maïga and the re-signing of James Collins they may not have improved quite enough. Villa, a team I'd have predicted to struggle have added some brilliant players and I whilst they may not click straight away they will be a very good team when they start to click.
1-1
Newcastle V Tottenham (17:30)-The late kick off sees last years 4th placed team playing the 5th placed team in what promising to be a very interesting match up. Going into this match up you have to have a lot of questions-how will Spurs do with Harry and how will they do with Villas-Boas? How does Anita fit into Newcastle? This is by far the stand out match of the day and I expect it to live up to expectation
2-3
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