Liverpool 2, West Brom 2: Deflection Saves Point For Mistake Prone Reds

Liverpool 2 Henderson 21' , Origi 96'
West Brom 2 Dawson 30' , Olsson 73'

There's light at the end of the tunnel, but the end of the tunnel might be farther away than we initially thought. The following could have fit in at any point in the last five years: Liverpool draw West Brom 2-2 at home in a largely frustrating match where old problems once again impeded forward progress.

The way to beat a Tony Pulis side is to score early and prevent his defense from sitting deep. After a spell of dominance in the early going, Liverpool accomplished just that, scoring a neat team goal in the 21st minute. Philippe Coutinho launched a diagonal ball into the box that Adam Lallana headed (!) onto the path of an onrushing Jordan Henderson, who made no mistake with his finish.

It was early, but West Brom should have been finished down 1-0. Liverpool looked dangerous despite Christian Benteke's inability to fit into the attack, and with West Brom tasked with chasing the game, it seemed likely that more goals to the good would be on the way.

But a mind-boggling error from Simon Mignolet in the 30th minute changed everything, as the goalkeeper spilled a corner and was duly punished by Craig Dawson. Just like that West Brom were level and able to sit back and play for a draw.

Matters almost deteriorated further mere seconds before half time when another West Brom dead ball ended up in the back of the net. Fortunately for the hosts, Jonas Olsson's effort was disallowed for a pretty clear offside call.

Most of the second half was nightmarish, and there's no use dwelling on it too much. West Brom defended as deep as possible -- often there were eight or more Baggies in their own box -- and after what seemed like their only forward break they won a corner, which of course turned into a go-ahead goal. It was Olsson doing the damage after a delicious ball from Chris Brunt.

Then Dejan Lovren -- in the middle of his fantastic "Lovrenaissance" -- had his leg destroyed by a studs-up Craig Gardner challenge and was stretchered off. Liverpool do not have the defensive depth to deal with another injury in the central defense, and hopefully Lovren's leg condition is not as dire as it initially seemed.

The Reds desperately pushed for an equalizer. Benteke put Lallana in on goal with a quality through ball, but Lallana's close range effort was denied. A barrage of errant long shots followed, and a defeat appeared imminent.

However, in the middle of the eight minutes of added time that stemmed from Lovren's injury, Divock Origi hit what might have been the lowest percentage shot of the entire match but benefited from a wicked deflection to score his first ever Premier League goal. Sometimes that's just how things go.

Spurred on by Klopp's wild gesticulations, Anfield was in full voice for the match's final couple of minutes as fans tried to will the team to victory. No winner came though, and Liverpool finished with a weird 2-2 draw against West Brom despite allowing just two shots on goal.

Before the match, Klopp said that he wanted his team to show it's true ability. That didn't happen, which is really disappointing, especially because this Liverpool team should be better than what they've showed over the past two weeks.