Liverpool endured a frustrating 90 minutes as they rounded off their Europa League Group K campaign with a goalless draw against Utrecht on Wednesday night.
The Reds created the better openings but could not find the breakthrough to equal the club's record of nine successive home victories in Europe.
However, the result does ensure that Roy Hodgson's men conclude the group stage undefeated with 10 points from six games played and means they can now look forward to Friday's draw for the knockout stages.
Ahead of the match the boss opted to make 10 changes to the side that lost at Newcastle with stand-in skipper Martin Skrtel the only survivor.
It saw Nathan Eccleston make his first ever start for the club while there were also chances for the likes of Joe Cole, Danny Wilson and Milan Jovanovic to impress.
The changes in personnel did little to instigate a fast start to the proceedings though and the only effort of note in the early exchanges came on eight minutes when Jovanovic crashed a rasping 25 yard drive against the crossbar.
It was the highlight of a somewhat inauspicious opening half as the lack of competitive edge meant neither side passed the ball with any real urgency.
Fabio Aurelio curled a free-kick in a dangerous position against the visitors' wall while at the other end Wilson gave another glimpse of his outstanding promise when he denied Ricky van Wolfswinkel a shot on goal.
The Scot then headed Jonjo Shelvey's left-wing corner over the top before the Dutch outfit suffered a huge blow on the stroke of half-time when van Wolfswinkel was carried off injured on a stretcher. [Read more…]
Stay tune for more news and follow me on Twitter.
0 comments:
Post a Comment