Liverpool Goal: Luis Suarez (88)
Hearts Goal: David Templeton (85)
The relief is that there was no lasting damage. The minimum - and I suppose it could be argued the maximum - that we were to gain out of tonight was progression to the group stages of the Europa League and we did that. Not for the first time however, we made it incredibly hard for ourselves.
Much like the Manchester City game, an eyebrow was raised at the starting line up. This was a much stronger team than I was expecting with the inclusion of Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard, as well as a few other players who might have got a rest ahead of the Arsenal game on Sunday. The message from Brendan Rodgers to Hearts was clear, we want to wrap this game up as quickly and unequivocally as possible. It was pleasing to see Adam Morgan get his first competitive start for the reds however and I was looking forward to seeing him in action.
The game itself started much in the way you would have expected. Both teams were lively and energetic and it made for a frenetic opening. After a few minutes we got on the ball a little better and began passing it around but Hearts pressed in numbers as we would advance into their half and we had to settle for keeping the ball at the back without overly threatening. One player who did receive more of his fair share was Stewart Downing who - at left back - looked far more lively than the majority of his games played as a winger. The shape of the side meant that there was always cover as he strode forward and when he did appeared to have a little more of an edge than we had been otherwise used to.
Though it had yet come to life from a quality standpoint, there was a real battle brewing in the middle of the park as Hearts did their best to disrupt our rhythm. When we actually had the ball there was a real sense of our quality and purpose - even if there were just flashes - but we appeared a little casual in our pressing without it. Our main attacking threat came from down the flanks as both Downing and Kelly got involved early on, but neither were able to work an opening to test MacDonald in the Hearts goal. Adam Morgan - eager to impress no doubt - was so starved of possession he came into midfield to try and retrieve the ball only to be lucky to escape a yellow card for a rash challenge. There was a definite cup tie feel to the game.
As time wore on, the possession count continued to rise in our favour. We passed the ball around fairly well, particularly Jonjo Shelvey who had two very good passes to the wide areas which led to half chances. Stylistically it looked similar to American football, the way we would keep the ball in our own half, then advance it and regroup and then try to move it even further up the pitch before probing for any openings on goal. Hearts to their credit were very well organised and had plenty of defenders in good positions that made it difficult to find any openings. In fact, the two attempts of the opening twenty minutes were both at the Liverpool goal but they were efforts barely worthy of the name. One had Reina scrambling a little but was always going wide and the other was tame and that took a slight deflection, rolling safely into his hands.
Territorially, we were beginning to operate for a concerted amount of time in a much deeper part of their half for the first time in the game. The problem was that our final ball was lacking in any real quality, with Gerrard shooting aimlessly at the Hearts back four and Kelly hitting a cross over everyone. It was at the other end where the next big moment in the game would come as Carragher very nearly gave away a penalty, in trying to get goal side of Paterson he clipped him. It was reminiscent of the spot kick given away by Daniel Agger at West Brom only this time the referee said no. That moment did however give Hearts a boost of confidence in that the could scare us defensively and for a short period had us on the back foot.
With everything coming from out wide and John McGlynn's side flooding the middle, very little had been seen of our midfield in possession of the ball. Gerrard for the first time decided against shooting on sight and very nearly opened the scoring as he danced inside two defenders and forced a good save out of MacDonald. It was to be the only direct chance we would have for a while. The football at this point, keeping the ball and your opponents at arms length is designed for two things. Firstly to tire them out so that in the second half they will be easier to get at when we make a few changes and secondly that if a side with sufficient quality can go up through the gears quickly it will catch them out. We did this to brilliant effect when Suarez played a great ball through to Martin Kelly. The ball eventually came back to the Uruguayan and he drove inside the penalty area and cut back for Adam Morgan to put home into an empty net. The referee did rule the goal out, judging Suarez to have taken the ball beyond the goal line but the move itself was spot on.
Approaching half time the tempo did rise somewhat. Though it appeared Hearts were a little content to wait until later on to go for anything and we didn't particularly mind that, it was end to end football without really being gung-ho. Half chances at either end led to a little tension and frustration on our part, in particular Luis Suarez whose sloppiness with the ball over the space of a couple of minutes spread to the whole team and gave them even more confidence. There was no immediate danger presented by them but it was clear that they were growing into the game. In response we went back to what we had been doing for the majority of the game in keeping the ball and again an opportunity wasn't far away. Gerrard released Kelly in an almost identical fashion to Shelvey and Downing earlier on in the half but it only it led to a corner which was eventually cleared. There was still time in the half for one great chance to open the scoring, Hearts had piled men forward for a free kick and our counter had them outnumbered. Gerrard played in Morgan but he then overran it when a cutback would have almost certainly produced a goal. Forty five gone at Anfield and even though we were going through as it stood, it wasn't quite as simple as everyone was hoping.
A subdued restart saw us neither side really do much of anything. Hearts were very hungry and snapping at the heels of the short passes we were playing but we had both the skill and composure to make sure they were never able to cut them out. Both teams fought hard both to get the ball and keep it and as a result the game became mired in constant skirmishes in and around the middle of the park. It was a bizzare stalemate in that it was obvious we were going to have to be patient but in doing so played right into their hands at letting the clock tick down while the game was goalless. Both of our fullbacks weren't as forward as they have been in previous games, whether that was to do with the inclusion of Downing or our midfield combination (it's much easier to be fluid out wide when you have a Johnson-Sterling combination for example, rather than Henderson and Shelvey who were constantly on the move) I'm not sure. Downing and Kelly did start to come more into the game but their final delivery was lacking.
The issue of Luis Suarez is a very peculiar one. On every evidence you can wish to cite of him at Liverpool he is not a clinical striker at all and yet pretty much everywhere else he has been. What he is very much is the epitome of luxury and talent, in that he's so dangerous that when something simple fails it becomes very frustrating. In the space of a couple of minutes alone he was guilty of overplaying on the edge of the box when a pass back or inside might have been easier and then when he got the ball back turned the defender brilliantly but was unable to make it count. He did then have the best chance of the game, having been put through one on one with MacDonald but not being able to registering a shot. In Suarez's defence, the goalkeeper and defender did force him wide but once he failed to take the shot the chance had already gone.
It had longer than many would have predicted but the temperature was rising inside the Hearts penalty area as we started to turn the screw and look to finish it. Suarez blazed another half chance wide, but this was one of those out of nothing opportunities that most strikers would lash out at. We exerted a great deal of confidence in our play, probably the most comfortable I've seen us for a long time and certainly indicative of a team with a much bigger lead than they actually had. This was a team that looked as if it were three goals to the good, let alone just the solitary one. Without pushing or inviting Hearts onto us, the counter was being used more frequently now and looking punishing every time but always just inches away from perfection. Sterling, Gerrard and Suarez all had half chances at best but the opportunities continued to come. It looked like a matter of time.
So much so was our overall domination of the midfield and the lack of threat that came from Hearts at that period in the game, it could be said that an element of slackness developed in our play. From being unlucky in being close to scoring, we were a little casual in assuming the goal would come perhaps. In an attempt to sew up the tie completely, Fabio Borini came on for the industrious Jordan Henderson giving us a potential front four now. To his credit Stewart Downing continued to make himself useful down the wing and get into good positions, albeit not being able to make any of them count. Even with fifteen minutes to go there was very little in the way of urgency from our opponents. There were moments of mild unrest as Hearts began to get onto the ball and have pot shots at Pepe Reina's goal but nothing that would cause any real alarm. They sat back in numbers and waited continuously for something to happen. Almost as if they knew what was coming.
A free kick on the edge of the penalty area led to a corner. It was nothing we couldn't deal with as neither set pieces was particularly threatening. When David Templeton picked the ball up on the edge of the box he was rushed to get any kind of a shot in. He did manage to get one on target, and then the unthinkable happened. Reina simply dropped the ball into his own net. It was so against the run of play there's an element of inevitability there, because that's how football works sometimes. With the game now headed into extra time, we were on the front foot immediately. Sterling drove at their defence and forced a free kick which we were unable to convert, still the crowd and team felt the need for urgency.
So much was the goal a surprise, it actually caught Hearts unaware. They didn't quite know what to do with the ball and went from frantically clearing it to trying to push on and deliver a knock out blow. When one such break was halted by a combination of Gerrard and Allen it was to prove to be fatal. Borini took the ball forward and played in Suarez just over the half way line. A desperate sliding challenge was missed and Luis was running at goal now. Direct and unrelenting, despite being played ever so slightly wide he continued onward into the penalty area and slid the ball through the gap left for him by MacDonald in the Hearts goal, levelling the game up at one a piece. The message on his shirt of support for Lucas Leiva was a nice touch, every much as invigorating as the goal itself. Anfield breathed a sigh of relief.The dream had been shattered and with barely five minutes left to play even though they were a goal away from knocking us out, it didn't ever look likely. We stood firm and were well positioned behind the ball, leaving it to Gerrard and Suarez on the counter who were themselves supported well by Borini and Sterling. Playing it simple and keeping hold of the ball rather than running into the trap of overcommitting as our opponents had done moments earlier. The clock was ran down in the right hand corner of the Kop as the referee blew a minute earlier than he had scheduled. Were were a little scared and shaken? Yes. Did we progress though to the next round? Yes.
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