Liverpool 2-1 Bolton Wanderers - Captain Fantastic to the rescue!

Well well, who would've thought eh? Liverpool won the game thanks to goals from Fernando Torres and Joe Cole with Kevin Davies scoring for Bolton.

First the teams.
Liverpool - Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Aurelio, Kuyt, Lucas, Meireles, Maxi, Torres, Ngog. Subs: Jones, Gerrard, Cole, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Poulsen, Kelly.

Bolton - Jaaskelainen, Ricketts, Cahill, Knight, Alonso, Moreno, Mark Davies, Muamba, Taylor, Elmander, Kevin Davies. Subs: Bogdan, Petrov, Klasnic, Blake.

Yes, Uncle Woy finally decided to start with Agger and Aurelio at central defense and left back respectively. Paul Konchesky was "rested" after his distinctly average performances in the past few games. Steven Gerrard was on the bench because he was apparently tired after the game against Wolves.
The first half performance from the Reds was dire. Meireles was brought off for Gerrard in the 21st min with a injury which was the only thing Liverpool did that seemed worth noting. Oh, and Maxi Rodriguez headed the ball onto the Bolton corssbar which was Liverpool's only meaningful effort on goal in the first half. It was a very dull affair and I almost fell asleep when Bolton rudely woke me up by scoring. Aurelio gave away a freekick in the 43rd min which was taken by Matt Taylor and was headed in by Kevin Davies. It was so easy that he almost walked into the area and casually headed the ball into the net. Lucas had a great chance to equalize later on but put the ball inches wide. The first half ended with Bolton holding the lead.

The second half began with Liverpool looking much livelier, with an intent to score. Sure enough it was the Gerrard-Torres combo, with Gerrard providing a great pass and Torres finishing it on the volley past Jaaskelainen. From this point on it was Captain Fantastic driving the match. Well if this's the way Gerrard plays when he's tired, then can we please make him run a marathon before every match? He was everywhere demanding the ball and tying to make things work. Bolton rarely looked threatening from then on. Liverpool created much better chances and the defenders of the away side had to defend very well to keep the scoreline unchanged. Bolton had a couple of shots at the goal which were comfortably saved by Reina. Joe Cole came on for David Ngog, who had played pretty well upto that point. Finally at the 92nd min with 2 minutes of stoppage time remaining, Gerrard swung in a great ball into the Bolton far post which came off a Bolton defender, caught Maxi Rodriguez's toe poke on the way and was bundled into the goal by Joe Cole. Liverpool held on for the remaining time and the final score read Liverpool 2 - 1 Bolton Wanderers.

So, while I'm happy with the win, the manner with which we got the win was truly sad to see. It has been the story of Liverpool's season at Anfield so far. Sloppy first half, slightly better second half and hope the team nicks a goal or two. Roy Hodgson is so ridiculously out of his depth it's painful to see. And he doesn't help himself with his mindboggling interviews. It'd be best for all parties if he just left, but since he has said he wouldn't be resigning under any circumstances, I guess he'll just have to be kicked out with a fat paycheck. According to the latest rumours, the owners have already begun to actively search for a new long term appointment for the Manager's position. We'll just have to wait and see how this pans out.

In other news - Manchester United won 2 - 1 against West Brom (arrgh!!) . If they win the title this time, my brain will explode. Seriously, there's something screwed up with the universe nowadays. Maybe those guys at CERN experimenting with the LHC are messing things up. Hmmmm ...

Also, Arsenal have won 3-0 against Birmingham City. Goals from Van Persie, Nasri and an own goal from Roger Johnson gave the Gunners the win.

Next up for Liverpool is an away match against Blackburn Rovers. Here's hoping for another famous draw there. :P