2. Stoke are tough to crack
Stoke made a game of this, and troubled Liverpool all game with their direct approach. Some of the delivery from set-pieces was outstanding, and the Liverpool defense was constantly under pressure for the entire 90 minutes. Despite going 2 goals down in the first half, Stoke fought back to get level going into half-time. Even in the second half, they kept up the pressure despite going two goals down once again, and pulled one back, and could have gone level had Peter Crouch’s header gone in instead of hitting the post.
The atmosphere at the Britannia is intimidating for visitors and the partisan crown was on the back of the Liverpool players all evening. Had it not been for some outstanding finishing from Liverpool forwards and some unlucky moments- the penalty awarded seemed to be a harsh decision and the Crouch header was inches away from being the equalizer- Stoke could easily have earned themselves a point.