Premier League - Bolton dismiss awful Liverpool

Sat, 21 Jan 19:26:00 2012

Bolton Wanderers climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone with a 3-1 win against an abject Liverpool side at the Reebok Stadium.

Bolton 3 Liverpool 1

Goals from Mark Davies and Nigel Reo-Coker gave Wanderers a commanding first-half lead before Craig Bellamy reduced the deficit on 37 minutes.

Gretar Steinsson restored the two-goal cushion five minutes after half-time, and thereafter Bolton coasted to only their second home win of the season.

Liverpool's play lacked imagination and - unforgivably - spirit, while Owen Coyle's side rediscovered some of the slick passing that won them many friends last season.

Speaking of friends, the visitors will point fingers at referee Kevin Friend, who turned down a first-half penalty appeal for handball against Zat Knight, then allowed Bolton's third goal after Martin Petrov's corner swung out of play.

But the referee's failings should not blind Kenny Dalglish to those of his own side.

Even with Steven Gerrard restored to a starting role, Liverpool created little through the middle while Craig Bellamy was the only attacking player to emerge with any credit.

Defensively it was little better, starting with the opening goal on three minutes.

David N'Gog slipped the ball into Davies, who was allowed to run by Daniel Agger and Glen Johnson.

Still no challenge came, and the midfielder beat Reina with a low left-foot shot that went in off the right-hand post.

There was another video nasty from the Liverpool defence moments later when Chris Eagles caught Jose Enrique dawdling in possession - he played the ball across the face of goal but there was nobody on hand to finish.

Liverpool eventually got a foothold on the game, but struggled to carve out clear chances against opponents with the division's worst defensive record.

A vociferous penalty appeal was denied when the ball hit Zat Knight's hand - referee Kevin Friend deemed the contact accidental - and within seconds Bolton were two up.

Nigel Reo-Coker and Fabrice Muamba both made unchecked runs from midfield, and when Eagles played the ball in from the right, Reo-Coker was on hand to squeeze the ball past Pepe Reina.

However, Bolton plumbed depths of defensive ineptitude to hand Liverpool a route back into the game on 37 minutes.

Knight and David Wheater appeared to have the situation under control when Andy Carroll flicked the ball on.

But as they dawdled, Bellamy sprinted through and beat Adam Bogdan with a deft finish.

Petrov tested Reina with a powerful free-kick in first-half stoppage time, and was a key figure on 50 minutes when Bolton went 3-1 ahead.

The Bulgarian's left-foot corner from the left side went out of play before curling back in - David Wheater headed back across goal and Steinsson half-volleyed smartly in, but the goal should not have stood.

The expected Liverpool onslaught never came. A Daniel Agger shot clipped the top of the bar and Andy Carroll made a complete mess of a first-time shot, but the second half was comfortable for Bogdan.

A year after re-taking the reins, Liverpool's progress under Dalglish has stalled. Worrying times at Anfield.

Alex Chick - Twitter @alexchick81 / Eurosport

Comment 405 - 424 of 424

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  1. The headline doesn't speak the whole truth. Awful­ Liverpool were beaten by superb Bolton, is closer to­ it.

    From Bolton Ballshifters, on Wed 25 Jan 1:08

  2. Bolton are going down down down, all the way to the­ championship, hahahooheehehehe­ hahahahaaheeehehheheehhehe, losers!

    From boo83, on Mon 23 Jan 20:45

  3. oh, well done.
    have you been waitin all that time to­ say that?.........."baited yet again"­ "have you been felching"
    there's no end­ to your lightnin quick wit, is there?
    i'll consider­ myself 'fuc.ked off'.

    From ROGO, on Mon 23 Jan 18:26

  4. Here fishy fishy!! Hook line and sinker!! PMSL!!

    From Return of The One And Only Delusional Dipper, on Mon 23 Jan 16:25

  5. Oh Nein Nein it's Rogy Balboa PMSL!! Deary me­ you're a stalker as well I see ya dirty ol'­ felching muppet!! Here fishy fishy .. baited yet­ again!!

    From Return of The One And Only Delusional Dipper, on Mon 23 Jan 16:19

  6. DELUSIONAL DIPPERS
    oh dear, have you missed me?
    you­ could've come back after after i ripped you about­ not havin a 'klu'
    even when i do come on you­ cant get out again quick enough, you just give it ten­ minutes of nonsense to save face an you're­ away.
    then you come back as plonkmorton or some other­ clown.
    different name, same aul b.ollocks.
    you need to­ save your breath for blowin-up your bird, mate.

    From ROGO, on Mon 23 Jan 0:22

  7. finaly a proper ref he did pretty well insted of giving­ the big teams the disisons i see it every week at the­ reebok maybe if we carry on like the way we did against­ liverpool we could play arsenal and get a result it may­ save us from relegation.Anyway where did king kenny­ come from cause they r seventh they have lost louis­ Swarez they lost 3-1 to us and realy the way we played­ it could have been alot more tan 3-1.Weird.
    come on u­ whites

    From Marcus, on Mon 23 Jan 0:18

  8. well done u whites your amazing

    From Marcus, on Sun 22 Jan 23:51

  9. I'm going to jack off to the highlights at­ midnight, YUM!

    From AfterDinnerIDidASh1t, on Sun 22 Jan 23:32

  10. I love the hatred between our clubs, lets bring it on­ next Saturday at your evil dump scumfield

    From middlengland, on Sun 22 Jan 21:47

  11. Has anyone else noticed how Tezzer and the other scouse­ history boys conveniently forget to mention how the­ European Cup rules were bent to allow a team not good­ enough to qualify to play in the competition? No names­ mentioned of course, but I seem to remember they were­ from Klanfield.

    From Jose Goran Martinez, on Sun 22 Jan 21:37

  12. Q) What's another term for the Kop faithful?

    A) A­ Klan gathering!!

    PMSL!!

    From Return of The One And Only Delusional Dipper, on Sun 22 Jan 21:22

  13. Q) What's the definition of overrated?

    A)­ LFC!

    PMSL!!

    From Return of The One And Only Delusional Dipper, on Sun 22 Jan 21:20

  14. Oh dear Tezzer - I wonder what's REALLY bothering­ you. You sound an angry, neurotic young man - perhaps­ therapy would help.
    Of course you could just be a­ p.r.i.c.k.

    From Steve, on Sun 22 Jan 21:15

  15. Technically the Dippers are hoping Swansea still up in­ the EPL ... that way they can still say they are­ playing in 'European' matches!! PMSL!!

    From Return of The One And Only Delusional Dipper, on Sun 22 Jan 21:15

  16. Q) What's another definition of eternal­ optimism?

    A) Donkey Ladyboy Andy coming good!

    PMSL!!

    From Return of The One And Only Delusional Dipper, on Sun 22 Jan 21:12

  17. Q) What's the definition of eternal optimism??

    A)­ Liverpool being mentioned in the same breadth as the­ other 'top' clubs!!

    PMSL!!

    From Return of The One And Only Delusional Dipper, on Sun 22 Jan 21:11

  18. You know something is desperately wrong when LFC fans­ of 40+ years start commenting on the forums. Sad­ reality is that LFC cannot rely on 'history and­ tradition' anymore. Reality is that you've been­ a mid table team for last couple of years and that­ trend aint gonna stop.

    I'd normally would stick it­ in further with a PMSL, but I do have a heart after all­ ......

    Oh wait ... I don't!

    PMSL PMSL PMSL PMSL­ PMSL PMSL PMSL!!!

    From Return of The One And Only Delusional Dipper, on Sun 22 Jan 21:09

  19. liverpool did not play well today .. we all know that­ ... dalglish's tactics and his transfer­ buying's really need to be questioned ..... ..­ LFC paid 35 mill. for carroll ... manu was ready to pay­ 35 mill. for sneijder and mancity are ready to pay 30­ to 30mill for van persie .. so according to kenny's­ thinking ... carroll is in the same league as van­ persie and sneijder .... .... nyways ... Dalglish's­ tactics = dalglish's theory is that­ downing(originally a left winger) plays on the right so­ that he cuts the ball and takes a shot from the left­ foot .... now tell me kenny .. how can a person put the­ right cross in from the weaker foot and then you expect­ wingers to be successful and give correct passes(this­ is the reason downing ain't a success till now)­ ....glen johnson is way down the wings most of the time­ .... dont count only on gerrard all the time to do­ some magic kenny ....he is a great player but he needs­ quality support like alonso in midfield not sum1 like­ adam or henderson and please kenny improve the quality­ of build up ... whenever we have possession we play the­ long ball and lose it .. why dont u try sumthn like­ redknapp or benitez .... change is a neccesary kenny ..­ those old 80s tactics ... every manager knows how to­ counter them coz they are 20 YEARS OLD ... you have a­ goodwill as a player kenny but management is entirely­ different ... forget about this game .. what about the­ home draws all the time kenny ... its not the players­ fault every time ....

    From aashish, on Sun 22 Jan 21:01

  20. I can go one better than an earlier post having watched­ my first LFC match at Anfield in 1946 [and in the­ directors stand courtesy of Mr W R Williams vice­ chairman at that time] against Bury [yes Bury] 1-1­ awful game in the final season of the wartime­ "First Div ision North" league. On to the­ subject of last night - unbelievably bad. Last season­ [after KD had taken over] there was a real promise but­ apart from apart from the odd game this season -­ nothing. Too many poor players who should be cleared­ out asap. Having watched some reserv e and junior games­ on LFC TV the thought is why not try some of the­ youngsters? Don't like the flack directed at KD but­ he's the boss and maybe he is not the right­ man.
    Very sad.
    Louth fan

    From KEVIN, on Sun 22 Jan 20:38
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