Blackburn Rovers shine as lacklustre Liverpool forced into FA Cup replay

Liverpool may have dominated every statistic except the score. The stalemate was rendered all the more improbable by Brendan Rodgers’s ultra-attacking selection.

Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge makes his disappointment known in the quarter-final against Blackburn Rovers. Peter Powell / EPA

Liverpool have been the Premier League’s form side of 2015, but rarely the FA Cup’s.

A schizophrenic side enter the semi-final draw, but while they are swaggering their way into the division’s top four, they are staggering towards the knockout competition’s last four.

Their season has been transformed in the last three months, but two teams have stopped them from scoring at Anfield during their golden run: Bolton and now Blackburn, both Championship opponents and both in the FA Cup.

Rovers fully merited the draw that gives them a replay at Ewood Park and a chance to claim a third top-flight scalp.

Like Bolton before them, Blackburn showed the tactical nous some of their supposed superiors lacked.

“We carried out the game plan to a tee,” said manager Gary Bowyer, whose blueprint was based around denying Liverpool space in the final third.

A mid-table second-tier team produced a performance of great intelligence, determination and discipline, succeeding where others have failed by preventing Philippe Coutinho from being incisive or Adam Lallana from being influential.

For once, Liverpool lacked inspiration or invention. They may have dominated every statistic except the score. The stalemate was rendered all the more improbable by Brendan Rodgers’s ultra-attacking selection.

Nominally, at least, Raheem Sterling and Lazar Markovic were wing-backs and Liverpool were overloaded with progressive players, but did not have the right balance in their team even before Mario Balotelli was ­introduced.

The striker who started, Daniel Sturridge, drew a firm-handed block from Simon Eastwood with a well-struck effort but it was a rare alarm.

“We just lacked that bit of sharpness physically,” Rodgers said. He also said that they merited a spot kick when Matt Kilgallon challenged Lallana.

“I thought that was a clear penalty,” he said.

But Liverpool’s perpetual possession yielded few clear-cut chances and the one player to put the ball in the Blackburn net was centre-back Kolo Toure. He was offside, just as he was when he later hit the post.

The Ivorian became involved when Martin Skrtel was stretchered off after he landed on his head when challenging for a header with Blackburn striker Rudy Gestede.

An eight-minute wait to get the injured Skrtel off the pitch indicated the scale of the concern for the Slovakian.

“He fell heavily so there was a feeling he could have been knocked out or concussed,” Rodgers said. “But he is fine. He was up walking and talking after the game. He will go to hospital but as a precaution.”

Gestede was blameless then, faultless thereafter. “He was immense,” Bowyer said.

Angular and awkward, Gestede posed problems with his aerial ability.

The target man was the focal point, bringing others into play. Craig Conway accelerated into space Sterling left behind him and the Scottish winger perhaps should have scored when he was found unmarked by Tom Cairney.

Conway’s threat was not confined to open play. From his corner, Alex Baptiste produced a thumping header that a flying Simon Mignolet did well to tip over the bar. “Aerially we were very dominant and had a couple of opportunities.” Bowyer said.

“Full credit to the players; they were magnificent. Every one of them put a shift in and they and restored a bit more pride.” After a troubled couple of years at Ewood Park, that is welcome.

Liverpool have contrived to make their way this far with away wins in each of the three previous rounds, requiring a replay at Bolton, and Rodgers was not unduly worried to face another game.

“I am not overly disappointed,” he said. More than what can be said about his team’s performance.

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