Swansea secure Anfield stalemate

Liverpool 0-0 Swansea

Premier league    5^th November 2011    KO: 15:00   Ground: Anfield    Att: 45,013

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Enrique, Agger, Skrtel, Henderson (Kuyt, 46), Downing, Lucas, Adam, Suarez, Carroll (Bellamy, 74).

Swansea: Vorm, Williams, Taylor, Monk, Rangel, Britton, Dyer, Routledge (Sinclair, 74), Allen, Gower (Agustien, 90), Graham.

Poor Liverpool held at home once again

Liverpool failed to win at Anfield for the third successive game after they were kept at bay by an inspired Michel Vorm. It is exactly this kind of result which Liverpool need to avoid if they are to stand any chance of regaining their champion’s league status in the face of stiff competition from the likes of Spurs and Arsenal. On the other hand Swansea will be delighted with the point, although they could well have nicked all three after a spirited second half performance.

The game began with Swansea playing their customary passing game, although good pressure from Liverpool meant this was largely restricted to their own half. Liverpool were playing with the high tempo that they have regularly displayed at the start of games this season, with Adam, Downing and Suarez looking particularly threatening down the left hand side.

Indeed it was the home side that fashioned the first clear cut chance of the game after seven minutes, Adam and Downing combined brilliantly but Andy Caroll could only smash the England winger’s cross against the bar from close range when he should have found the back of the net.

Swansea almost punished the miss when Wayne Routledge, having one of his rare better games found the in form Graham with a pin-point cross but his touch was week and Reina somehow managed to save from point blank range. These two opportunities provided the main highlights in an otherwise drab first period.

The game came to life in the second period as the game stared to open up, and it was Swansea that were applying the majority of pressure as they began to assume control of possession in midfield taking advantage of some sloppy passing from Liverpool. The usually reliable Reina then made a couple of uncharacteristic errors, after first almost getting caught in possession by Graham inside the six yard box he then spilled Dyer’s shot in to the path of Graham before making amends with a superb block.

As so often at Anfield this season Liverpool left it until the last ten minutes before applying any real pressure on Swansea’s goal, which resulted in a flurry of chances inside the last few minutes of the game bringing the best out of Vorm, who first tipped wide a Suarez strike before somehow managing to turn over Glen Johnson’s last minute volley and secure a point for the away side.

Tasty second half performace from Mainz serves up first win in nine

1.   FSV Mainz 05 3- 1 VfB Stuttgart

Bundesliga         4^th November 2011          KO: 19:30             Ground: Coface Arena   Att: 34,000

1. FSV Mainz 05: Christian Wetklo, Ulreich, Kirchhoff, Bungert, Polanski, Caligiuri, Pospech, Ivanschitz (Choupo-Moting, 73), Soto, Baumgartlinger, Ujah, Müller (Yunus 82, Fathi, 87)      .

VfB Stuttgart: Ulreich, Maza, Tasci, Molinaro (Traore, 66), Boulahrouz, Kuzmanovic, Kvist, Cacau, Hajnal (Gentner 82), Okazaki (Hemlein, 64), Harnik.

Tasty second half performance sees Mainz end winless run.

Three goals in the space of ten minutes give Mainz first win in nine matches as both sides have a man sent off in a thrilling second period, in which Mainz were controversially awarded a penalty.

The first half was comparatively even with Mainz starting the brighter before Stuttgart began to play with the confidence of a team that had tasted defeat only once in the past seven games. It was Mainz though who came closest to breaking the deadlock, Andreas Ivanshitz burst into the box, but his goal bound effort was cleared by Khalid Boulahrouz.

The second half was a far more entertaining affair; Cacau put the visitors ahead when he raced into the area to meet the impressive Martin Harnik’s low cross to beat Christian Wetklo from six yards.

The lead only lasted four minutes before Anthony Ujah out jumped Maza to nod in Elkin Soto’s cross. The game then changed completely in the space of nine minutes, first Mainz were awarded a very soft penalty when Maza was adjudged to trip Nicolai, who himself did not even appeal.

Ivanshitz duly dispatched the resulting spot kick before capping an excellent individual performance by heading down a cross into the path of Ujah who took advantage of a mix up between defender and keeper to slot into an empty net.

There was still time for nerves to set in for home supporters when Polanski was shown a harsh red card for a tackle on Hemlein that only warranted a yellow as Stuttgart pressed to get back into the game. Hemlein himself then miss kicked from only three yards out as the ten men defended admirably to keep Stuttgart at bay.

Several Stuttgart players then proceeded to lose their heads after the final whistle surrounding the referee, in protest of the crucial penalty decision awarded to Mainz. The result of which was a needless red card for Maza to add to the frustration of the away team who missed the chance to move up to second in the table.