Smash and Grab

Liverpool 0 - 2 West Bromwich Albion
Monday 11th February 2013

You've got to hand it to West Brom - that was a classic example of the old smash and grab.

Liverpool players' reaction to West Brom's opener

At Anfield on Monday night they were faced with a continuous probing attack from a spirited, in-form Liverpool side, and defended their goal solidly through an inspired performance by Ben Foster. They offered precious little going forward in the first half but were canny enough to make the Reds pay on the rare occasions when they managed a shot on goal.

In fact, McAuley's goal in the 81st minute was only their second shot on target, and when Lukaku capped his cameo appearance with the second goal (89), the entire Kop were left to collectively wonder just what the hell had happened. Liverpool dominated the statistics for shots (16-4), corners (13-5) and possession (58%-42%), but failed to turn their superiority into goals, and were made to pay by their opponents.

It could have been so different.