Thursday August 2, 2012 Qualifying Round 3 Finished Tsentralny
-
Downing rescues Rodgers as Liverpool win
Stewart Downing got Brendan Rodgers's Liverpool career off to a winning start as they won 1-0 at FK Gomel in a Europa League qualifier. More
-
Live Commentary
Time:90'- FK Gomel
- Liverpool
- 21:56 The second leg takes place at Anfield in a week's time, with kick-off at 21:05 CET. You can follow all the action right here on eurosport.yahoo.co.uk. For now, thanks for logging on and goodnight.
- 21:53 So Brendan Rodgers' competitive debut as Liverpool manager results in a win... just. That Downing goal was easily the best thing to come out of the performance.
- 90+2' FULL-TIME: GOMEL 0-1 LIVERPOOL.
- 90+1' Borini latches onto a great through-ball. Bushma gets out well and ends up winning a goal kick after putting the Italian under pressure.
- 90' Two minutes of time to be added on.
90' GOMEL SUB: Alyaksey Timoschenko replaces Kozeka.- 88' Downing now down the Liverpool right. He wins a corner, which is taken short. Liverpool look content to play this one out. Borini doesn't. He clearly wants to mark his debut with a goal.
87' Deflected pass falls to Alumona... ALUMONA SHOOTS.... SKIMS THE OUTSIDE OF THE NEAR POST. That could have been the equaliser. Jones did look like he might have had that one covered though.- 86' Jones hesitates at a dangerous cross from Platonov... That would have been suicide in the Premier League. There's nobody attacking it though.
- 85' Lucas is brought down just inside his own box. He and Kirilchyk both went for the same ball and collided.
- 84' GOMEL SUB: Vadzim Demidovich replaces Levitsky.
- 83' Gomel nearly had a lucky break there. Carragher was on hand to block a deflected through-ball.
- 82' Spearing... GREAT BALL UP TO GERRARD... He tumbles to the floor under pressure from a Gomel defender. The referee waves play on. It Was Kirilcheck, but there was no real contact.
- 80' Liverpool corner. Gerrard to whip it in. Bushma flaps about at it... it wasn't pretty, but it got the ball clear. Borini was putting him under pressure there.
- 78' Sterling shows good composure on the ball. He beats the last defender and pushes forwards... GREAT NEAR POST CROSS.. but no support. It looked like he took his team-mates by surprise.
- 77' Lucas fouls Kozeka and Gomel have a free-kick.
- 74' Gomel cross is batted away at the near post by Kelly. Could this set up a Liverpool counter? No. They do keep posession though.
- 74' GOMEL SUB: Nikolay Lipatkin replaces Nowak.
- 73' That goal has totally changed Liverpool. They look a far stronger proposition since going ahead, and are now looking for killer balls all over the place.
- 72' Voronkov is dispossessed and BORINI MIGHT BE IN HERE... nope. It's a bit too much of a stretch for the Italian.
- 70' Sterling is brought down by Kirlchyk and that's a Liverpool free-kick.
- 68' It came out of nothing, and they've certainly not looked likely to find an opening, but Downing has given Liverpool a crucial away goal here. Only his third Liverpool goal, incidentally.
- 68' Stewart Downing picked up the ball on the right side, cut inside and hit the ball powerfully past Bushma with his left foot.
68' GOAL: GOMEL 0-1 LIVERPOOL- 66' Strange change. The logical subsitution would have been to bring off Spearing, so this may indicate a change of tactics from Brendan Rodgers.
- 65' LIVERPOOL SUB: Lucas replaces Henderson.
64' GOMEL HIT THE POST! It's a super hit from Kozeka. It rebounds off the inside of the post, Alumona slices the rebound... it falls to PLATONOV... MUST SCORE... NO! Terrible miss.- 62' Looks like Lucas is getting ready to come on.
- 61' No. Given away and Gomel counter-attack. Alumona (everything's going through him now) overhits his ball to Nowak on the right though. Jose Enrique gathers it up and Liverpool attempt to drive forwards again.
- 59' Better from Liverpool as Spearing, Gerrard and Henderson play keep-ball and start to make some ground. It's hardly Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta, but it all counts.
- 56' Gomel are trying to nail the killer ball, that old defence-splitting pass. Against a supposedly superior opponent, that will take some doing.
- 54' Liverpool have a free-kick on the left side. Gerrard takes it... ooh. Just wide. There was nobody attacking that at the far post. Where for art thou Andy Carroll?
51' Alumona is booked for a foul on Skrtel.- 50' Liverpool getting a bit of penetration here.. BORINI WITH A POWERFUL SHOT. but it's saved by Bushma.
- 48' Alumona isn't finished. he picks up where he left off with a nice effort on goal. Wide.
- 46' LIVERPOOL SUB: Martin Kelly replaces Johnson.
46' And we're underway in the second half.- 20:46 So a quite dreadful 45 minutes in terms of performance as far as Liverpool are concerned. The positive for them though, surely is that they're not behind, and surely they can't play any worse. Join us again for the second half at 21:00 CET.
- 45+1' HALF-TIME: Gomel 0-0 Liverpool.
- 45' One minute of time to be added on.
- 44' As we approach half-time, it's no exaggeration to say that Liverpool could easily be two goals down. They're not playing at all well. Henderson, in fact, goes into the book for a foul on Nowak.
- 43' Levitsky takes the corner, but Matveychik misses the target with his header.
- 41' Oh. TERRIBLE MIX-UP AT THE BACK. Nobody claims the ball and Platonov picks up the loose ball at the far post. He pulls the ball over low for ALUMONA... but he's beaten to the ball by Johnson. Bad mix-up, but a good recovery from Liverpool. It's another corner to the home side though.
- 38' Klimovich with a beautifully-weighted chipped cross into the area.. PLATONOV WITH THE HEADER.... He's missed.
- 37' Alumona with a great run into the box to latch onto a long ball. Skrtel puts him under good pressure though and the Slovak and Jones close out the striker. Corner.
- 36' Levitsky with the hanging ball into the box. But Jones easily claims it.
- 35' Another chance for Gomel... and it's the lively Alumona again. He joined Gomel from rival Belarussian side Shakhtar Soligorsk 10 days ago. He certainly looks a better prospect than Borini based on this evidence. Early days though. He has Nigerian descendancy, intererstingly.... and he's just been brought down by Johnson. Free-kick in a dangerous location on the left side.
- 33' Sterling concedes a free-kick on Klimovich.
- 32' Nowak brings down Gerrard on the halfway line, and that will be a Liverpool free-kick.
- 31' Liverpool counter-attack... Enrique feeds the ball forwards to Borini on the left wing.... Nice cross to the far post, but Sterling can't quite get to it. Goal kick to the home side.
- 30' Jones with another save from Alumona. Not such a difficult one. He had the angle covered at the near post. Alumona easily outmuscled Spearing for that ball though. Gomel have been much the better side at creating chances.
- 29' Another dangerous cross from Platonov... but Brad Jones is first out and claims the ball confidently as Liverpool look to build again from the back.
- 27' Gomel corner with Platonov... It misses everyone and drops to ALUMONA... He's missed from only six yards out. He blasted it towards goal when he should have placed it. Poor defending from Skrtel and Carragher. Another let-off.
- 25' Platonov nabs the ball off Johnson and crosses into the Liverpool box.... IHOR VORONKOV WITH THE HEADER TOWARDS GOAL.... Just past the far post. Easily the best chance of the game. Should have scored. A let-off for Liverpool.
- 24' So bad news for Liverpool and the lively Cole. Good news for Sterling though, who has a chance to impress.
- 23' SUBSTIUTION: Raheem Sterling replaces Cole.
- 20' Jordan Henderson plays in Gerrard... GREAT CHANCE FOR THE LIVERPOOL MIDFIELDER... but he clips his own heels and falls to the ground in the area. On closer inspection, he may just have had an accidental tagging from Kashevski. Good ball in from Henderson though, nice and high and evading the defensive line.
- 19' Alumona misses the target from just outside the area. It was a powerful shot from the Russian though. They'll have to keep an eye on him.
- 18' Cole is back on the field of play. But the occupants of the Liverpool bench will be keeping their eyes on him. Raheem Sterling is warming-up just in case.
- 15' As Cole leaves the pitch, Gerrard takes the free kick... JOHNSON GETS UP TO HEAD THE BALL... but it heads harmlessly wide. Liverpool looking dangerous from set-pieces tonight.
14' Cole is down and clutching his right leg. He's had a decent pre-season. It would be terrible if the injury curse strikes him down now. Not quite sure how he ended up on the ground, but Liverpool have a free-kick.- 12' Jose Enrique gets forward on the left. Good cross... but its deflected by Syarahey Matveychick and goes out for a corner, which comes to nothing.
- 10' Downing breaks down the right for Liverpool. He has Borini arriving in the box... but the right-footed cross is a poor one and is easily cut out by the left-back Klimovich.
- 8' Gomel are quickly switching from a 4-3-3 formation into a 4-5-1 as soon as they lose the ball, and that's leaving their Russian striker Aleksandr Alumonia short on support on the counter-attack.
- 7' Gomel break as Spearing gives the ball away. Arthur Levitski with a decent shot... Good block from Martin Skrtel.
- 4' Joe Cole is already looking like a key man under Brendan Rodgers' new regime. He's not given the ball away, and a fair bit of the play seems to be coming thorugh him. Gomel's Pavel Kirilchyk is doing a good job of keeping him under pressure though.
- 2' Oooh. Gomel waste no time in getting into Liverpool. A horrible-looking tackle by Dzmitri Kimovich on Stewart Downing. I've seen players red-carded for that. He gets away with a booking.
1' We're underway here in Gomel.- 19:59 Just a minute or so away from kick-off...
- 19:55 So the big news is that Fabio Borini, Liverpool's big-money summer signing from Roma, starts on his own up front with Joe Cole - impressive in pre-season - supporting him. Steven Gerrard is fit to start alongside Jay Spearing in a defensive midfield position and Brad Jones gets the nod ahead of Peter Gulacsi in goal.
- 19:50 LIVERPOOL TEAM: Jones; Johnson; Enrique; Carragher; Skrtel; Gerrard; Cole; Henderson; Downing; Spearing; Borini. SUBS: Gulacsi; Kelly; Robinson; Lucas; Adam; Shelvey; Sterling.
- 19:45 GOMEL TEAM: Bushma; Matveychik; Klimovich; Voronkov; Kirilchik; Kashevski; Kozeka; Levitzki; Nowak; Platonov; Alumonia. SUBS: Sakovich; Palomeque; Yevseyenko; Timoshenko; Lipatkin; Demidovich; Sheryakov.
- 19:40 Gomel, in case you'd never heard of them, were founder members of the Belarus Premier League in 1992. Since then they won the league title in 2003 and the domestic cup in 2011 - which was what qualified them for, erm, a qualifying spot in this competition.
- 19:35 So Brendan Rodgers has his first competitive game as Liverpool manager and will be hoping for something a bit better than his side managed in their pre-season tour of North America.
- 19:30 Good evening and welcome to Belarus for LIVE coverage tonight's Europa League third qualifying round first leg match between FK Gomel and Liverpool, right here on eurosport.yahoo.co.uk.
-
Summary
- 87' Deflected pass falls to Alumona... ALUMONA SHOOTS.... SKIMS THE OUTSIDE OF THE NEAR POST. That could have been the equaliser. Jones did look like he might have had that one covered though.
- 68' GOAL: GOMEL 0-1 LIVERPOOL
- 64' GOMEL HIT THE POST! It's a super hit from Kozeka. It rebounds off the inside of the post, Alumona slices the rebound... it falls to PLATONOV... MUST SCORE... NO! Terrible miss.
- 50' Liverpool getting a bit of penetration here.. BORINI WITH A POWERFUL SHOT. but it's saved by Bushma.
- 38' Klimovich with a beautifully-weighted chipped cross into the area.. PLATONOV WITH THE HEADER.... He's missed.
- 27' Gomel corner with Platonov... It misses everyone and drops to ALUMONA... He's missed from only six yards out. He blasted it towards goal when he should have placed it. Poor defending from Skrtel and Carragher. Another let-off.
- 25' Platonov nabs the ball off Johnson and crosses into the Liverpool box.... IHOR VORONKOV WITH THE HEADER TOWARDS GOAL.... Just past the far post. Easily the best chance of the game. Should have scored. A let-off for Liverpool.
Team Line-up & Ratings
FK Gomel
Manager: Oleg Kuberev
LiverpoolManager: Brendan Rodgers
-
Line-up
Live Team Line-Up
Starting line-up
- V. Bushma
- S. Matveychik
- P. Kirylchyk
- N. Kashevski
- D. Klimovich
- S. Koseka
- I. Voronkov
- A. Levitski
- T. Nowak
- D. Platonov
- A. Alumona
Subs
Starting line-up
- B. Jones
- G. Johnson
- M. Škrtel
- J. Carragher
- José Enrique
- J. Spearing
- J. Henderson
- S. Downing
- S. Gerrard
- J. Cole
- F. Borini
Subs
- M. Kelly
45′ - J. Shelvey
- C. Adam
- Lucas Leiva 65′
- P. Gulacsi
- J. Robinson
- R. Sterling 23′
- B. Jones
-
Rate Players
Liverpool fc to me has lost its touch for 2 or 3 seasons but now it's regaining the momentum which they control the match
I think we are forgetting this is FK Gomel and not Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund or Napoli... Wake up Liverpool fans, this was a mediocre performance and you were very lucky to have scraped that away goal. Is it really that long ago since that magic night in Istanbul?
Who played better? Liverpool for thumbs up or Gomel for comment.
Well done Red Men.A win is a win. Y.N.W.A. JFT 96
With a new manager at the helm, I don't blame him for trying to get to know his players and it will take time for the players to adapt to his playing style but they will gradually improve, let us take it one game at a time eh? However, a win is a win and it was great to see Carra get his 700th game under his belt., congrats to a legend! Great goal from Downing and yes Fabio Borini looks a good buy. Bring on Gomel again at Anfield, come on Redmen!!!!! :)
Thats Liverpools first team I dont know who would replace who if theres better players available but it looks a strong team maybe dirty balls Adam and Reina instead of Jones and Spearing, anyway 1-0 win is still a win hardly emphatic but still a win and there first under Rodgers.
why are you moaning about the selection? Yes it was a competitive match but it was not our first team. I'll take the win and the decent goal. After all performances are nothing without goals.
Just listen to all the negative comments. You are pathetic. Go and watch Murray play tennis.
I heard a #$%$ joke,Agger is leaving and Carra will replace him, #$%$ this #$%$ ,Skrtel and Agger are the best,if Agger leaves,,this team will be #$%$ ,Carra your time has come man,retire !!!!!!! #$%$ this .
Liverpool didnt look good tonight...i know they are still trying to gel...but i didnt get any hope of seeing the passing style play...square passes in our own half is not gonna help if we cant get a lead..
i know cara's got experience but i'd rather see agger replace him during the epl season.
yes liverpool won 1v0 will done rodgers
On this showing it would be catastrophic to let Andy Carrol go on some poxy loan deal...the boy is muscular aggressive attacks the ball in the box and thats how your team gets.......GOALS !!! Spearing shouldnt be anywher near the squad let alone a starter cant Rogers see that much ???
one away goal in europe and no goals against is always a good result . well done boys good start so keep going. all the best for new season.
thought downing must have been practicing keeping the ball down and on target, but 5 minutes later same old same old shot high over the bar why oh why are professional footballers so poor. Come on Womans team GB best football i've seen in a long time by a british team.
Same old #$%$ as last season a midfield that not even fit for championship spearing is worst of the worst an this rogers wants to play pass an move only way to do that if your midfield can pass or i can see our season done by xmas an he wants 2 to 3 years is he jokeing or wat has he seen any if our games from last season to see wat a joke our midfielders r an all yous r doing is takeing all his #$%$ in if he dose it i personally write a sorry page but b onest with the #$%$ we have theres no way we can play the way he talks rogers this aint playstation this is LFC our heart an soule
i believe Gomel are mid season so they should be more organised and fitter at this stage,and whats this rescue bit,reporters have a habit of using this statement,Downing is paid to score goals which he did and defenders defended wheres the problem Gomel didnt score
MOTHER OF GOD..... DOWNING SCORED!
Yeah, great futbol from the reds, hope we can build from here. In this game smtms you need to have luck to scale thru. Good 4 the players, club and most especially for BR. Gudlok!!! YNWA.
