And we’re off again!
Norwich haven’t won a single game from a losing position this season. They’re 45 minutes plus stoppages away from breaking that duck. Liverpool get the ball rolling for the second half. No changes. “I had to begrudgingly admit to myself that Michael Owen sometimes does make some very informed points on the game in hand,” begins Ben Bennett. And you know there’s a but coming. “But you just know that every time he does, he fists pumps and writes it down in ‘Michael’s Victories’. It’s also pretty ironic that he has invested his money in Drone technology considering the timbre of his voice.”
Half-time entertainment: In honour of the Liverpool bench.
HALF TIME: Norwich City 2-1 Liverpool
Liverpool went into the lead, looked decent for ten minutes or so, and should have gone two up. And yet Norwich are fully worth their half-time lead. They’ve been brilliant either side of that little burst from the away side. This promises to be a storming second half, because Norwich look confident, Liverpool desperately need to react, and there’s more goals in this!
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45 min: On the touchline, Jurgen Klopp looks ready to blow. He’s not ranting and raving, or dancing around. He’s looking straight ahead, breathing deeply, quietly stroking his chin. It’s a much more scary look. You’d pay good money to be a fly on the away dressing room wall at half time.
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43 min: Norwich thoroughly deserve their lead. But they nearly give it up foolishly, Brady playing a lazy backpass down the Liverpool right, Firmino only just denied by the outrushing Rudd, who blooters clear. Hearts in mouths for the Carrow Road faithful. Here’s Andy Gordon on That Shirt: “As deckchairs are only seen for a few weeks each year and collapse surprisingly easily, I’m thinking Daniel Sturridge.”
GOAL! Norwich City 2-1 Liverpool (Naismith 41)
Hoolahan’s diagonal ball from the right is taken down brilliantly by Brady, who earns a corner off Clyne as he breaks into the box. Liverpool finally deal with it, clearing easily. But much good it does them, because Norwich are quickly coming back at them down the right – and Naismith is sent clear into the area by a lovely reverse pass from Hoolahan. Naismith smacks a low shot across Mignolet and into the bottom left! He scored on his debut for Everton against Liverpool, and now he’s repeated the trick for Norwich! Question marks over the keeper there, as well as Henderson, who allowed Hoolahan to make the assist without pressure.
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39 min: Moreno slips and allows Hoolahan to make off down the right wing. Danger here for Liverpool, but Moreno springs up and tracks back brilliantly, sticking a boot in to reclaim possession just as the Norwich man looked to break into the area. “I have to agree with the po’ MBM hack about Michael Owen,” writes Nathan Fisher. “It has become received wisdom that he is the dullest pundit in punditry, but the only rationale ever offered to justify this view is that he has a boring voice. He is clearly not without intelligence, and I’d much rather him than, say, Alan Shearer or Phil Neville. Accusations that I sound like Micky O have nothing to do with my point of view. P.S. love the Norwich third kit too. Fancy a pint sometime?”
36 min: … Sakho heads clear, out to the Norwich left. Naismith chases after the ball, and is shoved in the back by Milner. That should be a penalty kick, but the referee again gives nothing. Both teams should have had a free shot from 12 yards, then, though Norwich’s claim was the more blatant of the two. Who’d Be A Referee Huh pt.II.
35 min: Can looks to one-two with Firmino on the edge of the Norwich area. But it’s all suddenly very ponderous, and Howson is allowed to burst off up the other end. After one-twoing with Mbokani down the left, he breaks into the area and his shot is deflected by Lucas. The ball loops over the bar from another corner. From which …
33 min: Norwich are pressing Liverpool back. Naismith irritates Toure as the defender attempts to usher a ball down the right out of play. Toure’s forced to hoick out of play for a throw. The ball’s flung into the area, and though Toure volleys clear, the sense of trepidation among the Liverpool defence is palpable.
31 min: Mbokani is down, winded again, Lucas having clattered into him this time. The physio is on. A chance for Liverpool to clear the collective noggin, because they have appeared stunned since the goal and the restart, unable to retain any sort of possession. The home side have their tails up.
GOAL! Norwich City 1-1 Liverpool (Mbokani 28)
And sure enough, here we go. The corner’s hit deep. It looks like going out, but Martin heads it back into the mixer. After a game of tennis, Liverpool only half clear. Brady, to the left of the D, heads back into the box. The ball falls to the feet of Mbokani, who has his back to goal – and backheels powerfully and brilliantly past Mignolet! That’s a wonderful finish, and needless to say some more utterly inept set-piece defending by Liverpool.
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27 min: On BT Sport, Howard Webb suggests that Bassong tug should indeed have been a penalty kick, but can see why both referee and linesman missed it. Who’d be a referee, huh? Meanwhile a free kick for Norwich out on the right, and a chance to load the box. Redmond swings it in. It’s easily cleared, but Martin recycles play on the left, and swings deep. With Bassong still in attack, Mignolet is forced to come off his line and flap it out for a corner. And you know what Liverpool are like at defending those.
25 min: Milner slides the free kick to the left. Moreno looks to slam one into the bottom-left corner, but it’s sliced well wide. There was a suggestion that Bassong’s tug on Firmino started inside the area, but it’d have been a brave referee who gave that one. It’d have been a very cheap penalty kick indeed.
24 min: Now Firmino busies himself on the right-hand edge of the Norwich D. He’s looking to work space to shoot, so Bassong tugs his shirt. A free kick in a very dangerous position.
23 min: Liverpool started so very slowly, but they’re well on top right now. Ibe and Firmino are taking turns to cause all sorts of havoc down the Liverpool left. Ibe jigs in from the flank and lays off to Henderson, whose long-distance attempt is blocked pretty much at source.
21 min: It should be 0-2. Norwich play a high line, and are caught out. Firmino flicks the ball down the inside-left channel for Milner, who breaks clear. But he’s not got the pace to burst free of Brady, coming back to hassle. Brady slides in before Milner gets his shot away. The resulting corner comes to nothing. What a chance.
20 min: A decent response to falling behind by Norwich, with Hoolahan and Redmond probing down both wings. Toure is on hand to head clear.
GOAL! Norwich City 0-1 Liverpool (Firmino 18)
Ibe, Moreno and Milner combine well down the left wing. Milner slides a pass down the channel to Firmino, who aims across Rudd and towards the far corner. The ball bobbles off the keeper’s boot, and in the slowest of slow motions, dribbles diagonally towards the right-hand post, hits the base, and rolls into the net.
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16 min: Liverpool go route one, a base blooter straight down the middle. And it nearly bears fruit. Bassong tries to usher the ball back to Rudd. The keeper doesn’t come. Firmino, hovering on Bassong’s shoulder, sticks a telescopic leg around the dozing defender, and tries to loop a cheeky shot over Rudd. He shanks it wide right. Bassong looks suitably sheepish at giving up the chance.
15 min: Henderson, deep on the right, looks to curl one down the flank towards Firmino, near the Norwich box. Not quite. But Liverpool are finally stringing a few things together. “Those shirts are not too bad,” writes Steve Wiles. “They remind me of a ‘classic’ Colchester United shirt from the 80s. I do miss singing ‘bring on the deckchairs, bring on the deckchairs’. Up the U’s!”
12 min: Ibe finds a bit of space down the left, turns on the burners, and skins Pinto. His cut-back looks dangerous, but ends up flying just behind Milner on the penalty spot. “Gotta take issue with that shirt,” begins Andy Turner. “Its the colour combo – they barely get away with it on the away ones, it’s got a harlequin look to it and its not good. I can’t imagine it fills defenders with horror when they are confronted with a clown running towards them. But enough Benteke jokes.”
11 min: Naismith and Redmond link well down the centre, a crisp-one two. The ball’s shuttled wide to Hoolahan, who enters the box and fizzes a low centre towards Naismith. But Toure is on hand to whack clear. Liverpool aren’t at the races at all.
9 min: A bit of space for Clyne down the right as Liverpool finally string a couple of passes together. His low centre nearly finds Milner … but doesn’t.
8 min: Liverpool haven’t turned up yet. Norwich are beginning to find their groove, though, and Redmond finds a little space to the right of the Liverpool area. His cross is only half-decent, and headed clear by Sakho.
7 min: Pinto goes a-jugglin’ down the right wing. He’s very unlucky not to break into the box; instead the ball squirts out of play for a goal kick. But that was a very positive burst by Norwich’s other debutant.
5 min: Naismith plants his studs on Lucas’s ankle. That’s late and clumsy. It should have been a yellow; if the referee was in the mood, it could have been a red. In fact, on second view, it’s a pretty poor challenge, coming down on Lucas’s ankle, his foot bent right over. The referee, perhaps factoring in debut nerves, and the fact Lucas has escaped injury, simply gives Naismith a talking to.
4 min: It’s a scrappy start, this. The ball bouncing around this way and that. Three passes in a row seems a pipe dream right now. Norwich enjoying slightly more of the possession, though, and a little territorial advantage too.
2 min: Mbokani and Can run into each other in the centre circle. A free kick for Norwich. Mbokani is slightly winded, and rolls around a bit. The free kick goes nowhere. A strange, slow-motion start to this game by both teams.
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And we’re off!
A warm handshake between two smiling managers, and then Norwich get the ball rolling. Early pressure down the left, Hooahan making a proper nuisance of himself, neither Toure nor Clyne looking particularly comfortable as they try to clear. But the ball’s eventually sent back into Norwich’s half. Rudd gets his first feel of the ball, launches long, and that allows his opposite number Mignolet to get his gloves on it too.
The teams are out! A cracking atmosphere as always at Carrow Road. A crisp, cold afternoon. It’s a pleasant aesthetic experience as well, because both teams play in their first-choice colours: Norwich in their yellow and green, Liverpool in red. Hands to be shaken, coins tossed, songs sung. We’ll be off in a minute or two!
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A very determined looking Alex Neil speaks! “We didn’t get the chance to strengthen the squad as much as we’d have liked last summer, but we’ve done some good work in January so far. We’re really excited to see Pinto and Naismith. Tetty called in this morning, and he’s been unwell overnight, which is disappointing, but it gives someone else a chance.” He’s reminded that Norwich haven’t beaten Liverpool in 22 years. A wry smile plays across his face. “Thanks very much for letting me know that! I wasn’t aware of it. Records are there to be broken, eh?”
Some refreshingly honest punditry on BT Sport this morning. Will Norwich stay up? Michael Owen: “No.” Will Liverpool make the Champions League places? Chris Sutton: “No.” Not a beat skipped. Marvellous. I don’t get the across-the-board hate for Owen the pundit. He’s more willing than most to offer an opinion that deviates from the same old, same old. I wonder if a lot of it is in the delivery? Would he be tolerated if he’d been blessed with the mellifluous timbre of Leonard Cohen? I dunno. Mind you, as I said downpage, I quite like the Norwich third kit, so my opinion doesn’t count for much. Po’ out-of-step MBM hack!
Pre-match chat mit Jurgen Klopp und BT Sport. “Generally we could use a few results! Against Man U and Arsenal, from the performance side, it was OK, we are in good shape, so we should transform it into results. Keep the good things, change the bad things, that’s the challenge for today.” He’s asked whether he should have been starting with Benteke, given that Norwich are the team most vulnerable to crosses in the entire division. “Yes, well, that’s good, he can play them when they are tired! I have made this decision. Do with it what you want.” A cheeky smile.
Ivo Pinto and Steven Naismith make their debuts for Norwich today. Ryan Bennett and Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe step down. Alex Tettey also makes way from the side that started at Bournemouth, with Graham Dorrans coming into the starting XI.
Liverpool only name two players who started the FA Cup win over Exeter: Simon Mignolet and Jordan Ibe. The second string exit stage left, pretty much as expected. But once again Christian Benteke doesn’t get a Premier League start. His performance on Wednesday night was one of the strangest you’ll see: two excellent contributions in the build-ups for two goals, but a confidence-free shambles when presented with the sort of simple chances a £32m striker should be putting away. So Klopp’s decision to bench him is pretty much as expected, too.
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The teams
Norwich City: Rudd, Ivo Pinto, Martin, Bassong, Brady, Howson, Hoolahan, Dorrans, Redmond, Naismith, Mbokani.
Subs: Ruddy, Jerome, Jarvis, Klose, Mulumbu, Olsson, Odjidja-Ofoe.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Toure, Sakho, Moreno, Can, Lucas, Henderson, Milner, Firmino, Ibe.
Subs: Benteke, Caulker, Lallana, Allen, Flanagan, Ward, Teixeira.
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire).
Afternoon!
0-3, 0-5, 2-3. Liverpool have enjoyed their recent visits to Carrow Road. Or, to put it another way, a certain Uruguayan superstar did. Of those eleven goals, Luis Suarez scored seven. No Luis, no party?
Norwich will fancy their chances of bucking the recent trend in this fixture. They’ve lost their last three games, it’s true, shipping three goals each time. But two of those defeats were away from home, and they’ve won their last two league games in Norfolk. A fine win at Old Trafford is recent in the memory, too, and the Canaries might be boosted by a debut for their new big-name signing Steven Naismith.
The home side will also take succour from Liverpool’s failure to yet win a league fixture in 2016. Jurgen Klopp’s side are coming off the back of a disheartening home defeat to Manchester United, in which they sported lovely fur coats but were found to be severely lacking in the undergarment department. Yet there’s a sense that it wouldn’t take too much for things to click into place, which in fairness it’s done a couple of times on the road in spectacular style. But they can’t be trading on those Chelsea and Manchester City performances for ever.
Norwich will be hopeful of continuing their good home form in the league, and keep their heads above the relegation waterline. Liverpool meanwhile want a positive result that’ll keep their faint Champions League hopes alive, and give them confidence ahead of the midweek League Cup semi against Stoke. It should be an intriguing end-to-end battle. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.45pm BST.
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Norwich City v Liverpool: Premier League – live!
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