Maxi mauls Birmingham

A hat-trick from Maxi Rodriguez helped Liverpool to a comfortable 5-0 victory over Birmingham.

Dirk Kuyt and Joe Cole were also on target for Kenny Dalglish's side as they kept their top-five dreams alive.

The Reds took just seven minutes to open the scoring at Anfield, against a Birmingham side that are now precariously perched just four points above the drop zone.

Ben Foster could only spill an ambitious effort from Jay Spearing and Maxi followed up to force the ball under the body of the Blues keeper.

Kuyt doubled Liverpool's lead on 23 minutes, bouncing back to his feet following a scramble inside the Birmingham box to turn the ball home.

Foster, who collided with team-mate Stephen Carr as he attempted to block out the danger, was forced off with a knee injury five minutes before the interval.

With the points all but wrapped up inside the opening 45 minutes, Liverpool took their foot off the gas in the second half.

They were, however, still able to add three more goals to their tally.

Maxi's second of the game arrived on 66 minutes, with Luis Suarez beating the offside trap to stand up the perfect cross for him to volley home.

The Argentine winger then claimed the match ball on 73 minutes, pouncing on a rebound to his own shot to drill past a helpless Colin Doyle.

A comprehensive success was rounded off four minutes from time when substitute Cole saw a low shot slip through the hands of Doyle at his near post.

Adaptability was the name of the game as the Reds adopted a midfield diamond formation to get the best out of Raul Meireles' attacking intent.

Crucial to making it work, however, were the superb Lucas Leiva at its base and Rodriguez and Spearing.

Maxi is becoming something of a lucky charm for the side he joined in January 2010 as although his goals are few and far between - just seven in 49 matches - they have all coincided with victories.

He is more suited to the midfield set-up which Dalglish went with at the start but it also brought the best out of Spearing, who had a hand in the opening goal - although not as much as Foster in the seventh minute.

Kuyt's lay-off saw the 22-year-old midfielder fire in a swerving shot which the Birmingham goalkeeper spilled into the path of Maxi who made no mistake from close range for his first goal since 3rd December.

Birmingham briefly responded, without really threatening, before they were caught by a classic Liverpool counter-attack in the 23rd minute.

Jose Reina intentionally picked out Meireles just over the halfway line and he flicked on into the path of Suarez who did well to hold off the challenge of Martin Jiranek.

Foster may have been at fault for the first but he saved well from the Uruguay international and again from Kuyt's follow-up but he could do nothing to prevent the Holland international getting up to slot home the rebound.

The England goalkeeper injured himself in the process and was replaced 10 minutes later by Doyle, who watched one Kuyt header sail across goal and wide of the far post before gratefully clasping Suarez's shot to his chest just before the end of the half.

Almost unnoticed in all the pass-and-move mayhem Liverpool were creating was the performance of the Reds' teenage full-backs, 18-year-old John Flanagan on the right and Jack Robinson, a year younger.

The latter certainly did not look like a youngster making his first start after two substitute appearances 11 months apart when, in the opening minutes, he coolly dispossessed the far more experienced Alexander Hleb as Birmingham threatened an early attack having swept through the inside-left channel.

Having moved into a comfortable 2-0 lead Dalglish almost immediately reverted to a more orthodox 4-4-2 formation to ensure Blues were afforded no way back.

Alex McLeish's side provided more of a challenge in the second half but were always chasing the game and their cause became a lost one in the 66th minute when Maxi scored his second.

Suarez was played onside by Carr, trailing slightly behind his defensive colleagues, and the forward raced onto Martin Skrtel's pass and crossed to the far post where Maxi side-footed home.

Maxi saved his best goal for last, collecting Suarez's 73rd-minute pass and shooting low at Doyle who half-saved his effort only for Meireles to force the ball back into the danger area for Maxi to convert.

There have not been many instances since his arrival when Suarez has been outshone and as if to remind people of his talents the Uruguay international produced an audacious behind-the-leg shot which would have really rubbed salt in Birmingham's wounds.

That honour was left to Cole who, within seconds of replacing Meireles, cut in from the right to hit a deflected shot past Doyle for the fifth.

While this result was a barometer of the confidence at Anfield it will have done little for spirits within the Birmingham camp, with the club still looking over their shoulders four points above the relegation zone.

Source: Sky Sports

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