Kadioglu strikes but Albion beaten at Anfield

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Liverpool 2 Albion 1: Ferdi scores his first Premier League goal before Liverpool stage second-half fightback.

Bruce Talbot

2024-11-02T17:00+00:00

What a moment for Ferdi Kadioglu after he puts Albion ahead in front of The Kop. 📷 by James Boardman.

Albion produced one of their best performances of the season but it went unrewarded at Anfield.

Ferdi Kadioglu stunned the Kop when he fired Albion into a 14th-minute lead with his first Premier League goal and the only disappointment at the break was that Fabian Hurzeler’s men didn’t have more to show for their first-half dominance.

Kadioglu had another opportunity which he couldn’t keep on target and Georginio Rutter was brilliantly denied by Caoimhin Kelleher.

Ferdi Kadioglu fires Albion in front with his first Premier League goal. 📷 by James Boardman.

As expected, Liverpool roused themselves in the second half but Albion seemed to have ridden out the storm when Cody Gakpo made it three goals in four days against Albion and Mo Salah scored his tenth goal in 15 Premier League games against us, the strikes coming in the space of three minutes to take Liverpool top of the table.

Albion rallied in the closing stages but couldn’t find the goal that would have secured a deserved point.

They had set the tempo from the start. It was hard to believe, as they began to dominate midfield, that the central pair of Yasin Ayari and the recalled Jack Hinshelwood were 21 and 19 years-old respectively.

A roar of delight from Ferdi Kadioglu after his first Albion goal against Liverpool. 📷 by James Boardman.

Kadioglu’s big moment came on 14 minutes after Liverpool were torn open on the break down the left by Kaoru Mitoma. His ball across the face of the penalty area was helped on by Danny Welbeck, sensibly left by Georginio Rutter and the unmarked Kadioglu lashed in a right-foot shot which Caoimhin Kelleher got a hand to but couldn’t stop it going in off the post.

The goal infused Albion with confidence. Danny Welbeck’s shot was deflected over and on 26 minutes Liverpool were carved open again. Jan Paul van Hecke won possession on the edge of his own box, quickly picked out Ayari who bent a wonderful 40-yard pass into the path of Rutter, who’d got away from Virgil van Dijk. Kelleher came to the rescue, saving with his right foot but it was a big chance gone.

In the first half Liverpool’s only threat came from set pieces and Ibrahima Konate had a header and shot blocked, but Albion were soon menacing again. Another move started by van Hecke flowed through Ayari and Mitoma down the left. Kadioglu was in space again when the cross came over but this time he couldn’t keep his volley down.

Bart Verbruggen expertly denied Darwin Nunez. 📷 by James Boardman.

Two fouls by Alexis Mac Allister gave Welbeck free-kick opportunities on the edge of the box. He curled the first around the defensive wall but it brushed the side netting. The second was comfortably held by Kelleher but if Albion had gone in with a two or three-goal lead it wouldn’t have been an injustice.

A Liverpool response was to be expected and, as the home crowd found their voice, substitute Joe Gomez headed straight at Bart Verbruggen with a free header two minutes after the break. Verbruggen saved Alexis Mac Allister’s header down to his right although it was a moot point whether the former Albion player should still have been on the pitch, having been booked in the first half and committed a late challenge on Veltman early in the second that went unpunished.

Verbruggen saved superbly with his right hand when Mohammad Salah got through. The tide was turning, and Liverpool went ahead with two goals in three minutes. Gakpo equalised on 70 minutes when his cross from the left floated over everyone and ended up in the bottom corner. Then Liverpool broke through substitute Curtis Jones down the middle. His pass found Salah who cut inside and bent his into the top corner with Verbruggen helpless.

Pervis Estupinan was making his fourth Premier League start of the campaign. 📷 by James Boardman.

Could Albion respond? Referee Harrington waved away protests when van Dijk appeared to foul Brujan Gruda in the box late on and Rutter shot straight at Kelleher, but Liverpool saw the game out.

Albion: Verbruggen, Veltman (Gruda 75), van Hecke, Igor, Estupinan, Kadioglu (Moder 87), Hinshelwood (Ferguson 87), Ayari (Wieffer 75), Mitoma (Adingra 87), Welbeck, Rutter.