Bolton 3-1 Liverpool – Match Highlights (Premier League)

Liverpool turned in a quite shocking display as Bolton completely battered their visitors at the Reebok Stadium. The final score finished 3-1, courtesy of goals from Mark Davies, Nigel Reo-Coker and Gretar Rafn Steinsson, but that winning margin could have been far wider.

The Reds got off to a poor start at the Reebok, falling behind after just three minutes when their defence left a gaping hole for Davies to penetrate. After Martin Skrtel was pulled out of position, Glen Johnson inexplicably chose not to fill the hole, allowing Davies to stride right through the centre of the Reds’ defence to slide past Pepe Reina.

It could have got immediately worse for Liverpool when Jose Enrique lost the ball whilst running towards his own goal, allowing Chris Eagles to stab the ball right across the visitors’ goal-line. Kenny Dalglish’s side failed to heed the warning and Bolton cut them to shreds once again for their second. A one-touch passing move completely scythed through the Reds’ midfield, and Reo-Coker timed his unmarked run to perfection to poke past Reina.

Liverpool were awful, but they did at least halve the deficit before half-time when Craig Bellamy latched onto Andy Carroll’s flick-on to dink the ball over Adam Bogdan.

A Liverpool onslaught was expected in the second period, but instead it was Bolton who remained the far better side, restoring their lead five minutes after the interval. A simple Martin Petrov corner was headed back across goal, and slack marking allowed Steinsson to bury a superb volley.

Daniel Agger tried to make up for his part in Liverpool’s defensive shocker by cracking the bar from 25 yards, while the cumbersome Carroll took a complete air-shot after Stewart Downing’s cut-back to cement the Merseysiders’ misery.