VERDICT: Liverpool 2 Wanderers 0 (From The Bolton News)

VERDICT: Liverpool 2 Wanderers 0

8:00am Monday 1st February 2010

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YOU sense the hard work starts here for Owen Coyle.

The euphoria, controversy and emotion that greeted his arrival at the Reebok from Burnley last month has now died down, and with the signings of Jack Wilshere, Stu Holden and Vladimir Weiss on loan, the new boss has put a tentative attacking stamp on his squad.

And while victory over Burnley last week lifted more than just Wanderers’ league position, this defeat against Liverpool shows that it’s certainly not going to be all rainbows and butterflies from now until May.

Coyle, quite rightly, claims that his team’s fate will not be decided by what they do against Arsenal and Liverpool.

But he is also canny enough to know that despite defeats against loftier opposition in recent weeks, some shortcomings need to be addressed with vastly more important games on the horizon.

In Chung-Yong Lee in particular, there is great hope that Coyle’s attacking style will herald the results to see them comfortably clear of danger.

The South Korea international has moved from an unknown quantity to throw on from the bench to change games, to someone who the Whites are relying upon to win them.

But as we saw in the second half against Liverpool, when the young winger struggled to impose himself, particularly on the left side of midfield — there needs to be a plan B.

That might come in the shape of young midfielder Jack Wilshere, who must rank as one of January’s most impressive signings, albeit only on loan from Arsenal.

If the young Gunner, a natural left footer, can balance out what has become a slightly lop-sided Wanderers midfield, then Coyle might well have struck gold.

The word Anfield rarely conjures anything but a grimace from Wanderers fans, being that it has been half a century since the club last won a league game there. In fact, it has been seven years since Bolton last scored a goal within shouting distance of the Kop.

Yet after Tuesday night’s win against Burnley, there was a genuine sense of optimism that a result was on the cards against a side who seem to have lurched from one internal disaster to another since the turn of the season.

Indeed, that seemed to have seeped into the mood around the Reds fans, whose trepidation before Dirk Kuyt snatched the opening goal was palpable.

And it was in those uncertain moments that Wanderers wasted their best chance of claiming victory.

Tamir Cohen — watched by his father Avi from the stands — nearly continued his excellent scoring record against Liverpool as early as the third minute, when Matt Taylor’s deft flick fell his way in the penalty area.

Jamie Carragher did his best to get in front of the Israel international, putting him off balance with an arm across the shoulder, but referee Steve Bennett barely gave the midfielder’s appeal for a penalty a second glance. Consequent replays suggest that he probably should have done so.

Liverpool’s midfield saw plenty of the ball, yet their wastefulness continued to rile the home fans. No-one was more guilty than £20million midfielder Alberto Aquilani, who was hardly making the most of a rare start.

Wanderers were offering some encouragement, however, by showing a few nerves of their own. A poor back-pass by Zat Knight put Jussi Jaaskelainen in trouble, and a spot of ball-watching by Sam Ricketts nearly allowed David Ngog in on goal early on.

The first moment of genius came from a white shirt on 24 minutes, when Chung-Yong collected the ball 40 yards out and began a mazy run that took him past two defenders and round Pepe Reina, before his shot was blocked on the line by Sotirios Kyrgiakos.

It was nearly a goal for the scrapbook — but the scare woke Liverpool from their slumber.

Taylor had a claim for a free-kick on the edge of the Reds area, following another ropey challenge from Carragher, but after referee Bennett waved play on, the ball quickly found itself in the back of Jussi Jaaskelainen’s net.

Emiliano Insua crossed deep to the far post, and while Knight should probably have dealt with the ball, Aquilani nipped in to head back across for Kuyt to stab home through the legs of Gary Cahill on the line.

The goal settled nerves around the ground, yet Wanderers might easily have grabbed an equaliser before the break.

Taylor had a couple of half-chances at the far post, where he was profiting from some good work down the right by Gretar Steinsson and Chung-Yong.

And the Korean winger may have had a penalty when he was sent tumbling by Aquilani, only for referee Bennett to show him a yellow card for diving.

Although the Whites had been offered some encouragement that they could get back into the game, the reality is that in the second half, they simply didn’t manufacture enough to get the job done.

The energetic Mark Davies put in a lung-busting run to challenge Steven Gerrard — who had for the only time of the afternoon escaped the shackles of the equally excellent Fabrice Muamba — and Jussi Jaaskelainen made a couple of decent low saves, one of which should have been followed-up by the hapless Ngog from close range.

But despite all the defensive effort, it looked only a matter of time before something gave Liverpool’s way.

Unfortunately for Kevin Davies, who had been having a difficult afternoon at best, the finger of fate was pointing in his direction.

Wanderers didn’t clear a corner and the ball was driven back into the box by Insua, taking a wicked deflection off the skipper, and bouncing through the legs of Steinsson before resting in the bottom corner.

Davies’s young son Lucas was matchday mascot for the Whites— and you can only hope he was studying the programme at that precise moment.

Coyle threw on Vladimir Weiss, Ricardo Gardner and Johan Elmander in the hope of conjuring a comeback, to no avail.

And Liverpool should probably have scored a third, as substitutes Lucas and Maxi Rodriguez both spurned late opportunities.

The second half performance had been the first real damp squib of Coyle’s reign, and he now has a week to fully analyse where improvements must be made.

Anfield was never going to be a place to see whether all his newly-signed attacking components could work together, but their success on the pitch over the coming months is likely to have a great say in the club’s Premier League fate.

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