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MOTD: Norwich City 4-5 Liverpool

By on January 23, 2016

The twists and turns of Jurgen Klopp’s tenure at Liverpool have tied their title hopes in knots. A recent 3-3 draw with Arsenal and 2-2 tie with Exeter City being excellent examples of their defensive woes casting long shadows onto their offensive prowess.

Yet no fixture has been more unbelievably back-and-forth than the Reds’ 5-4 win over Norwich City today. Liverpool won three different games and lost two in the space of just ninety minutes, but to the credit of Klopp’s men, the twists didn’t dispirit them, but rather roused their spirits for an incredible winner at the death off the boot of Adam Lallana.

After Roberto Firmino had bagged an early lead, Norwich scored three unanswered goals to make it 3-1 going into the last half hour. Although Liverpool clawed back a 4-3 lead, Sebastien Bassong scored in the ninety-first minute equalizer to bring it all square again. Still, there was time for Lallana to grab a winner deep into four of the five minutes of stoppage time and deal a severe blow to Norwich’s relegation battle.

Off came Lallana’s top and Klopp’s glasses in the ensuing pandemonium. Just twenty-three days into the new year, this will undoubtedly a leading contender for the most exciting Premier League matches of 2016.

Yet on the other side of Liverpool’s euphoria, the result doesn’t bode well for Norwich. They were often in shambles at the back, with so many individual mistakes made that it perhaps takes a lot of the weight off of the shoulders of Russell Martin, whose poor, blind backpass gave Liverpool the chance to draw the match level at four apiece. “When you concede five goals you deserve to lose the game,” Norwich boss Alex Neil concluded, although this result will sting more than most. The Canaries have conceded a league-high twenty-one goals in the last half hour of games so far this season and felt similar disappointment at Old Trafford in recent weeks.

How quickly a two-goal lead escaped their grasp in the second half after a superb opening forty-five minutes. James Milner slipped Firmino in down the left early on and the Brazilian’s low, scuffed effort across the goal bobbled into the back of the net, but Liverpool never appeared to have a firm grasp on the game.

Mbokani Bezua’s scrappy, back-heeled goal in the midst of a chaotic box following a half-cleared corner set Norwich roaring back to life and Steven Naismith, on his Norwich debut, completed the comeback in the fortieth minute, tucking a low finish into the bottom-left corner of the net after finding a pocket of space to the right of goal.

On the other side of the half, he earned a penalty that could equally have been awarded for two consecutive rash challenges from Alberto Moreno and Wes Hoolahan buried the resulting spot-kick down the middle.

Just when Norwich appeared to have nicked the points, however, the game’s momentum turned on a dime again as Jordan Henderson volleyed home Nathaniel Clyne’s low cross from the center of the box in the fifty-fourth minute. Firmino pulled the visitors level with a lovely dinked finish from Lallana’s through ball and Milner pounced on Martin’s poor backpass with fifteen minutes to go.

Bassong arrowed home a volley to make it 4-4 at the death, but Liverpool rebounded again and Lallana’s goal saw them snatch the three points in the most dramatic of fashions.

Homepage photo credit: Nick, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.