Liverpool 3, Exeter 1: The Difference a Year and a Suarez Makes

By: Noel | August 24th, 2011

Liverpool 3 Luis Suarez 23′, Maxi Rodriguez 55′, Andy Carroll 58′
Exeter City 1 Daniel Nardiello 80′

A surprisingly strong line up from Kenny Dalglish saw Liverpool run out with a side that wouldn’t have looked entirely out of place in league competition, the likes of Meireles, Suarez, and Adam joining quality squad players like Maxi Rodriguez in attack while a handful of youngsters managed to make it into the starting eleven at the back. Though with Skrtel, Meireles, and Suarez all needing to work on their fitness, hopes of killing the game off in the first half, and no European competition to worry about, perhaps it wasn’t actually a huge surprise. Certainly Dalglish and the coaching staff would have wanted to avoid any chance of repeating the previous season’s unlikely defeat to Northampton in the League Cup, and on paper at least there was no way this Liverpool side could lose.

Early signs were that they indeed wouldn’t, with lively interplay between Meireles and Henderson in midfield setting up darting runs from Suarez and a series of corners for Charlie Adam to whip in. Still, when Martin Skrtel, making his return to action after a long injury lay-off, managed to miss a tap in at the back post and Exeter refused to look overawed by Liverpool’s possession game, it couldn’t help but lead to concerns for a club that has seemed to play as though expecting the worst for much of the past two seasons.

It wasn’t helped, either, that with Exeter growing slowly into the game Raul Meireles took a hard tumble just short of twenty minutes, dislocating his shoulder in the process. It was reported that it popped back in of its own accord, and the player clearly wanted to rejoin the action, but in the end Dalglish opted to take the safe route and substituted him for Andy Carroll.

Almost immediately the change resulted in Liverpool begining to attack down the wings, looking to put crosses in towards their big striker. And when less than three minutes after his introduction Jordan Henderson chipped the ball towards Carroll in the box, Liverpool finally got the breakthrough their play deserved but that had seemed increasingly elusive: Goalkeeper Krysiak got fingertips to the cross but could only push it out towards the edge of the penalty area, where an unmarked Suarez tracked its flight and volleyed into the bottom of the net to put the visiting favourites up one-nil.

Afterwards it was all Liverpool all the time, and with Skrtel and Carroll getting the chance to renew their bromance on the frequent corners that resulted from Liverpool’s rampant play, they probably should have been up by two or three goals at the half. Again, though, Exeter failed to crumble completely, and with Liverpool once more refusing to turn their dominating play into goals the match slowly evened out before the two teams headed to the dressing rooms.

In the second it would be much of the same, with Liverpool again controlling play but failing to appear as though they could quite put all the pieces together. But after Henderson was booked for seeking out contact in the eighteen-yard box, initiating a collision in search of a penalty, Suarez took matters into his own hands. A rampage down the right lead to two centering attempts, the first to Andy Carroll blocked back to Suarez but the second to a late arriving and unmarked Maxi slotted home.

Soon after, another darting run from Suarez would set up Andy Carroll for a left-footed hammer-blow from outside the area, a driven strike reminiscent of his goal against Manchester City late last season. Then it was time for the Uruguayan striker to rightly be taken off before the sixty minute mark, the game in hand and full fitness a few steps closer. Soon afterwards, too, much of the Liverpool squad remaining on the pitch seemed to decide the match was fully done and dusted, with the play taking on an increasingly lazy feel for the last thirty minutes or so.

With so many players mentally switching off, it was only a mater of time before Exeter would score a consolation goal, and a clumsy penalty conceded by Skrtel to mar an otherwise solid return to action for the defender would be what gave it to them in the end. It did appear as though, as with Henderson’s earlier yellow card, there wasn’t much contact—and what there was was sought out by the attacker. Still, it was a lazy piece of defending from Skrtel, and it was surrounded by some fairly sloppy play from the rest of the Liverpool side, all combining to give the match a rather unenjoyable feel in the end: A cluster of Suarez brilliance sandwiched by a less than convincing start on one side and a sloppy, disinterested finish on the other.

Still, in a cup competition all that matters is the result, and so Liverpool move on to the third round, their opponent to be determined when the draw takes place over the weekend. It may not have been the free-flowing brilliance some would have hoped for on seeing the team sheet and opponent, but sometimes the result is the only thing that truly matters. Anyone thinking otherwise need only cast back to Liverpool’s experience in the League Cup last year.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: League Cup, Match Recaps, Team News

« Matchday: Liverpool v. Exeter City | Home | Tea and Crumpets with the Bolton Offside »

JPR

Apparently, Liverpool wanted $10 mil, we settled for $6 mil. Aquilani wanted an immediate sale, he settled for a first year loan.
Suarez from the car park...

Just to rehash Noel's team talk to put a perspective on the team that was put out by KK.

- defenders 17, 18 and 19 yrs old, backed up by Reina and Skyrtel (no pre-season and it showed).
This is why Doni didn't play. KK wanted a rock behind the young defence.

- midfielders: 20 and 22, backed up by Adam and Raul, subbed by Maxi (season debut).

- main striker 22, backed up by Suarez (world class).

So what we got was a young team cleverly backed up by age and experience.

There's no point in doing another Northampton town.

By providing sufficient support to the youngsters you develop them as excellent squad players, in this case through a cup competition, that hopefully gives a run of 8 or 9 games up to January. Nothing to do with going for a trophy because its easier or low level, but for bringing young players on.

This is about developing players in REAL competitions, when I think sometimes we are are guilty of expecting to be world beating 1st team players from day 1 (especially after last season's youth performances in a time of need).

The 1st team for Saturdays is also developing. there's a lot of new players on the pitch and they have to gel. It'll take a dozen games or so before they start to get onto each other's wavelength.
Again, I think some of us (me often) expect them to be a title winning side from the moment they arrived and put their boots on because of the media hype or the price tag mixed up with fans' expectations (never modest at lfc).

Hendo is being developed to fight for the club at the top level for the next 10 years, same with Carroll, and the young defenders and Shelvey for longer still!

Just imagine when these players have been playing together for 5 years. Hendo and Carroll as the 'older' ones will be 25 and 27 and already had 5 years playing together!

Can you imagine the understanding they will have of each other's game as their older comrades start to slow down/move on/get injured. Imagine then this bedrock being created for new players to come into and integrate with both from the youth and from outside.

While we may summarily judge this signing or that signing, or this and that price tag we must never forget that Kenny is building a dynasty here and the foundations are being laid for the next decade, not just the season.

In a world of expectations based on instant gratification (not just a football disease) the strategy and intelligence at the club is exciting and refreshing. I for one am incredibly excited about the decade ahead for Liverpool football club, not just because Kenny Dalglish is the manager, but because of what he's building - and who better to do it?

The one thing I guarantee is that the liverpool that finishes the season will be markedly different to the one that has started the season. And that's just the beginning of it.
Russell

When you think about it, we did play a young, Carling Cup-type side. The only difference is that the young players are so good we don't even consider them young or liabilities (I'm mainly talking about Robinson and Flanno, but it sort of applies to Carroll and Henderson too).
Avinash Joshi

Stating the obvious but for the uninitiated http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news... YNWA.
Latortillablanca

"Well he doesn't give many bad performances does he?" - dalglish on suarez's performance

Can we just stop real quick and re-highlight-again how flippin bad-ass the gaffer is? honestly, almost every answer he gives is quotable, cool-headed and understated. I wasn't around for shanks and paisley and the birth of the 'liverpool way', but to see kenny be so calm and collected and assured is night and day from about 99% of the coaches out there, and i include mourinho, rafa, capello, blanc, etc in that 99%. The only coaches out that can even hold a candle to him are strawberry nose, hiddink, and maybe guardiola. that's honestly about it.

he's like the scottish john dillinger and shit, its great. Long live King Kenny, aka Dalglish 5000, aka The Loc Ness Iceberg, aka Mr. Lock Up Your Wives
PDubz18

Guardiola may have rivaled KK until he had to deal with Mourinho week in and week out. Now he's just a pissed off wreck.
JPR

Spot on!!!! Guardiola may shoot someone before the end of the season.
mardia

Kenny is fantastic. It's such a relief to have a manager who won't make ridiculous statements in the press, who consistently acts with class and grace and doesn't try to stir up drama in the media. After the ridiculous antics of Mourinho in La Liga, it only makes me more grateful that Kenny's the one representing our club.
CheekyFellow

League one team or not - we played with:

Wilson - age 19
Flanagan - age 18
Robinson - age 17

I overlooked this fact. Credit to Spearing holding his ground as well.
alcatrazzledazzle

also, my in-game scotch - age 12
Baadier

Only a 12 year old mate, we've won it 5 times, you can do better;) then again it was the league cup
Andy

For me, Jordan Henderson looks a clever player. Charlie Adam looks decent when he's not trying to hoof it up to Carroll and Maxi is a great player to have in our squad. I'm becoming more and more disappointed with Carroll. Yes he scored a goal with a powerful shot, but it was left for him on a plate and he offered very little to the team otherwise.

I'm not just bashing for the sake of bashing. We clearly play better football without him.
Russell

People seem to forget that Henderson set-up or started two of the three plays that we scored on. Sure he had some bad touches, but he can work that out.

I also noticed that his dribbling was much better than it was against Sunderland.
Baadier

The match goals:

Suarez: http://www.theliverpoolview.co...
Maxi: http://www.theliverpoolview.co...
Carroll: http://www.theliverpoolview.co...
Dan Agger

So good to see Carroll score such a great goal. It obviously won't silence the doubters but it should get everybody off his back over the next 2.3 days as we proceed towards the Bolton game. I was also really impressed with Spearing. Obviously he'll never be able to replace Lucas but good to know there is a competent backup.

It was also interesting that Cole and Ngog couldn't even get a spot on the bench. Doesn't bode well for their Liverpool futures - but then again maybe I'm reading something into nothing cus I hope we sell them and buy another 35m striker.
Andy

Ok he scored a goal. But the ball was teed up for him. He's incapable of creating goals for himself. Loses the ball more often than not. He's slow. He's lazy. He's got no control. He has a good left foot. But it's just not enough.
Andy

And this was against a league two side...
Gryffin

you can say all of that. but the kid has only played 3 games so far this year, hes only 22, and the service has been AWFUL. Go look up his season with Newcastle last year, his head needs to be treated as a secondary weapon, not the primary. And its naysayers and negative nacy's like you are Insane and will be proven wrong in the long run.

Look at Rooney's poor run of form for the first 3 months of last year, only for him to come alive the last 6 months.
Andy

I want Andy Carroll to succeed. I really do. But he hasn't just played three games; he's had a full pre-season and half a season before that to show us what he's about. He was supposedly fully fit now and he's still been disappointing. You can't argue with that.

Luis Suarez and Dirk Kuyt have had the same "AWFUL" service you talk about and they seem to be doing just fine when they play up top.

The problem is not the service to Andy Carroll, Andy Carroll is the problem.

His primary weapon at Newcastle was never his skills on the floor, it was always his head.

I'm not saying he can't learn to play a different way, or that he can't learn new skills, but right now, he's not there yet. He's not on the same wave length as the others.

You can't compare him to Rooney, because Rooney had already proved himself to be one of the best strikers in the league, Andy Carroll has yet to prove anything.

Call me a naysayer and a negative Nancy all you want, but I think everybody else, bar Carroll, played very well, and I can see them all slotting into the team really well.

I think it's great that you are so loyal in defending him and I also don't want him to be a failure here. However, in the best interests of the team, at this moment in time and unless he drastically improves, he should not be starting for us because we are a much better team without him.
PDubz18

He has not had good service. The one good cross he got was the Jose Enrique cross that he almost scored, but Sczcesny pulled a great save out of his ass. It will get there though, you just need to be patient and not think impulsively about Carroll.
Red2death

I'd have to agree that Carroll is playing nowhere near his potential at present. Not to say he won't become fantastic given time, he's just not delivering yet.

And I feel a lot of the doubters are there because of his price tag. Just because he cost $35m, people expect him to make the same impact as Sergio Aguero and be 1.5x as good as Suarez. If he had cost $10m instead, perhaps his on-field displays would be more or less acceptable - on current form he looks like an $8-10m player.

I hope that changes, cos he has bags of potential. The guy's a tank. He has a good head and a good left foot. Just needs to get his act together. (and no, I wouldn't blame the service - good frontmen need to deliver even when the rest of the team isn't supporting them). Drogba in his prime as a lone striker would create a goal out of nothing all by himself. Torres would do it, so would Van Nistelrooy. What they all have in common, including Andy Carroll, is that they're tall and comfortable with the ball at head or feet - basically on their day they're unplayable. Carroll needs to get there. And if not, maybe he'll just be another good striker on the books, but not a legend.
Suarez from the car park...

It will get better. Yes its clumsy, a little forced and a lot of huff and puff right now. But it's the inevitable hard work needed by a team learning to gel.

Put yourself into those guys shoes. this is a radically different squad from before, they have to learn to play with each other, try things and get match fitness/sharpness.

Add to that the ages of all the youth on the pitch tonight - cleverly backed up by seniors (Suarez, Maxi/Adam, Skyrtel, reina) and there is a different perspective. The team is being built, it didn't arrive fully functioning (though not doing badly).

Also, don't judge everyone by Suarez' standards, he's world class, like Gerrard. That is the wrong way to look at it.

It will be a very different liverpool side finishing the season from the one starting the season - mark my words.
paul

You can't compare this to last year. This is a round earlier because we're not in Europe. We can still get dumped out at home with a careless performance and not playing Suarez.
Anton-a

hemm.. yes we can , 2 games last year was draw at home against arsenal and lost at City 0-3 .. this year looks better draw at home against sunderland and won at arsenal ..better year I guess ..:D and one more league cup win .. better year..

we will lose one day .. no worry it's normal .. dont expect LFC to win everytime .. it's not possible and eventually if LFC always wins , Premire League won't be attractive anymore
Prad

Eventually, if LFC always wins, I think the Premier League would be very attractive! Absolute dominance by the team you support makes superb TV viewing
AdamSonOfIstanbul

The comparisons between this year and last are glaringly obvious.

A) KK>Hodgson
B) FSG>Texas Pirates
C) LFC were in Turmoil after Rafa's Sacking
D) 1/2 a Suarez>1 Torres
E) Need I continue?

Of course we could lose to a lower league side any day of the week. Such is football.
PDubz18

You can compare this to last year. Winning away from home in a dominant performance against a low-level team is something we were not known for last season. The problem was not who was the better side, it's just that the players got complacent. We did not see that today.
Dirk Kuyt Industries

Thanks for the writeup Noel.

Some random player thoughts then.

Suarez: as the season wound down last year, had a tendency to be a tad bit selfish in the box, so very nice to see him create more opportunities for others than for himself in this game. The "one man team" argument will hardly die down after this, but again, when one player is so much better than everyone else on the pitch...

Carroll: had a ton of very sloppy touches in the second half, notably his miscollection of a neat pass from Maxi and the attempted backpass to Robinson that he sent into the stands. Ultimately though, as ill a fit as he seems for pass and move, I still think that's the point. He isn't supposed to fit like a Meireles or Aqua, but he's there, rather, to change the attack up when pass-and-move stagnates* (by shoving someone out of the way, winning it on his head, or blasting his left foot). Yes, it will be nice if the the poor control and hoofs are minimized. But anyone expecting Carroll to morph into even a decent pass and move player by midseason is going to be disappointed and more importantly, it's not necessary.

*and, imo, pass and move will, by default, stagnate at times against elite defenses. Even the great pass and move teams like Barca break down periodically; Messi and Xavi's vision just make it way less noticeable.

Maxi: very useful game. Good touches, good passing, good movement. He's basically Raul-lite for me.

Hendo: five or six dangerous crosses. Nothing exceptional in his midfield play, but the Sunderland game (thankfully) feels like an aberration at this point.

Adam: went for the individual effort over the team play time and time again. Suspect it was at least partially a function of the opponent and that we won't see a repeat against Bolton... fingers crossed.

Skrtel: yuck.

Wilson: so many punts. Fine defensively, but Coates can't get here soon enough.

Overall: for the second time in three games, the team looked done around the 70 minute mark. Conditioning or coasting to the finish? Again, Bolton will answer a lot of questions.
Baadier

Agree on the Carroll comments. I feel that Liverpool play a different game when Carroll is on the park by himself, as presented in the Arsenal game. Long balls aplenty, whereas with Suarez on the park you find Liverpool more willing to play more ball on the ground and more pass and move for the purists.
Suarez from the car park...

only thing i would add is some of Hendo's work was less than proficient. but it's just an indication of settling in and development. He's in a big pond now to borrow the analogy and he seems a bit over-whelmed at times resulting in poor touches and dodgy decisions.

The reliance on Suarez is down to not just his class, but that the team needs a dozen games or so and a bit of time to mature and settle down.

It's all hard work right now, a bit forced, a bit clumsy, but that's all necessary and will lead to a better end result given games and time.
I think lfc will end the season looking like a completely different side to the one that has started the season.

On a complete tangent, I've seen a report saying we're paying some of Aqua's wages while he's on loan to Milan. That really pee'd me off.
JPR

FREE loan, first year. We pay $1.5 mil wages 1st year. Sold for $6 mil over 3 years. Talk about really getting hosed on a deal. In for $20, out for $6. I guess our pointy heads did the best they could.
But, what REALLY pisses me off, is that the whole fan base at Milan is laughing their asses off about the deal and thrilled about the quality they got. Saying we got "Festered", referring to the negotiations conducted by one of their executives.
So, when Barca play Milan in CL group stage, for once I will be well behind Pep. Treat those shite's like the red headed stepchildren that we all now know them to be.
And, I really wish "his excellency" the best of luck in his upcoming criminal trial!! And hope the Milan fans aren't too embarrassed. Yea, not too embarrassed.
Suarez from the car park...

wasn't sure if the sale is compulsory after 25 appearances. Cant see him doing less than that tbh, esp with the champs league.

Hope so, otherwise they just won't buy him at the end of the season and get another loan deal or leave us in the same position.

bad taste and mouth etc, but I'm more hooked into wanting our squad to develop on the pitch, particularly the midfield. I really want them to stop hoofing the ball and learn to pass and play providing the front men with balls at their feet, esp Carroll.

Even Downing I hope will both pass and run, not just do the same thing every time he gets the ball. Henderson will take the season to settle, but I'm relaxed about that.
JPR

If I was asked today if I wanted Henderson and Carroll in the team for the next five years, given everything we've seen, I would select both of them.

Aquaman saga is over - end of story for all.

Excited to see team develop their game over the year. Talented team.

Hoofing can't continue. If it frustrates us fans watching on TV, can just imagine what it does to KK and most guys on the pitch.

Carroll has really good skills for a "big guy". Different set of skills from the smaller speedy guys. But will be effective for us. He'll get his goals. His powerful aerial skills are unique, he'll always provide an aerial threat. Can spank a ball, will get his share of non-head goals. Vision, touch, movement off ball, etc. etc. are all very good. We should give him some breathing room and let him develop within the team structure. Not evaluate his contribution before January or even May.
Red2death

"for the second time in three games, the team looked done around the 70 minute mark"

It's not all bad. But it does highlight the need for us to start strong, be less wasteful with chances, and have the game more or less wrapped up before we're done at 70'. In the course of a season, good teams can hit opponents strong, go in at the half 2-0 up, and if the team is dead beat after only 70 minutes so be it - the hard work is over anyway, let the opponents chase the ball and chase the game. Against weaker teams sometimes that'll be long enough for opponents to give up mentally too, then it's just coasting to the final whistle.
Nick

This season is a success if it is similar to City's from last year. A champions league finish and a piece of silverware (preferably more than one though). This has been a great start to achieving those two goals.
CheekyFellow

I'm secretly gunning for league