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When asked what it was like to face West Indian fast bowling at its most intense, the then Australia captain Ian Chappell replied that nobody liked it; the trick was not to show it. You could say the same about facing Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium. Manchester United, who have never dropped a point here do not show it. Arsenal do and tonight so did Liverpool.
Roy Hodgson's team were subjected to a cannonade they neither relished nor ever threatened to come to terms with and in truth they might have lost by more than two goals. Hodgson's revival of Liverpool, born in the cauldron of Napoli's San Paolo Stadium a month ago, stalled in an atmosphere no less frantic.
Rory Delap's long throw is Stoke's equivalent of Andy Roberts's throat ball or Joel Garner's yorker, and Liverpool seldom looked equipped to deal with it. Ten minutes into the second half, they failed to clear it and Matthew Etherington played the ball back into the area. Although Paul Konchesky blocked Ricardo Fuller's first close-range effort, the second nestled in the net. If it was not pretty then nor was much of this match, although in the final moments Kenwyne Jones finished off a rather more classical effort, set up by Jermaine Pennant, by firing his shot emphatically past José Reina. The matchday programme carried a feature on both goalscorers under the heading of Caribbean Dream.
Although Liverpool's resilience has increased on and off the pitch since the takeover by New England Sports Ventures, this was not a match they seemed to know how to turn and, as if to emphasise it, Lucas Leiva was dismissed in the closing seconds for a rash second yellow card, although Hodgson would point out that when the Britannia's blaring PA announced the man of the match, they named the Stoke keeper, Asmir Begovic.
Despite the fact Stoke began this game in the relegation zone, managers prepare for the Britannia Stadium as they would a match at Old Trafford or the Emirates. This was an evening for the rugged figures of Jamie Carragher, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Martin Skrtel, who it was clear from the opening exchanges would be tested to the absolute limit.
One of the early memorable images was of Robert Huth, with Skrtel's arm around his waist, being dragged down at a corner, which on another night may have resulted in a Stoke penalty. His manager, Tony Pulis, felt strongly enough about it to confront the referee Mark Halsey in the tunnel during the interval. Pulis has suggested that there should be a league table for referees and, given his anger, Halsey would now be occupying a position akin to West Ham's.
There were other slightly less contentious images: Reina lost in the mêlée as he came to meet the first of Delap's long throws; a fabulous drive from Dean Whitehead that hissed just over the frame of the Liverpool goal; and Dirk Kuyt receiving an accidental elbow from Danny Collins full in the face. More improbably was a tackle from Leiva that upended Etherington.
If, as Hodgson admitted in the wake of Wednesday's 1-1 draw at Wigan, Liverpool were feeling tired, this was no place to show fatigue. Even when Jones seemed to lose control of the ball in the area, he still managed to muscle his way past Konchesky to deliver a low cross that Etherington might have turned in but for a last-ditch tackle from Carragher.
There were times when Liverpool seemed to have little other than survival on their minds. Only once in the first half were Stoke seriously threatened by the visitors and this was from a long-range effort. But as they used to say on the Marks and Spencer adverts, this was no ordinary long-range effort. It was a Steven Gerrard effort and it curved and dipped, forcing Begovic, at full stretch, to push it away with the tips of his gloves.
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