The Match #1 – vs. Real Betis
I’ll readily admit to it – I nearly fainted upon scanning the team sheet on Tuesday night. No Gerrard – no inspirational captain. No Finnan – in comes the ever-unpredictable Josemi. No Riise – how would Zenden perform wide left? No Cisse – big Peter Crouch up front on his own. Sinama Pongolle wide right. Was Benitez going to end up with egg on his face after the match with Real Betis, having clearly rested key players for the upcoming clash with Manchester United? Or would Benitez prove yet again that he is a tactical master, no matter which players he uses?
What Benitez managed to do without the whistle having even been blown on Tuesday night was send the Real Betis team into confusion. They obviously expected Djibril Cisse to start up front, and who can blame them after a formidable 9 goals in 9 games previously for club and country? Yet in comes the lanky Peter Crouch, a player who the Betis centre-backs appeared to know little about, to play up on his own. What’s more, Betis will almost definitely predicted our usual surge of attack to come right through the middle with Gerrard, Cisse, Garcia and Zenden all coming inside as we have no natural wingers. Instead, Gerrard misses out and the attack comes from a tricky Sinama Pongolle and a revitalised Bolo Zenden, playing practically on the touchlines. The middle, where most of Betis’ training defensively will have been focused in the days leading up to the match, consisted of two defensive rocks in Alonso and Sissoko, who barely got over the halfway line.
Hence the element of surprise hit Real Betis hard and they simply didn’t come to terms with the fact that they’d be playing a totally different tactical set-up to the one they had prepared for. First minute, a long ball is hit towards Crouch and Juanito, the Spaniards’ centre back and captain, who is habitually rock-solid at the back, panics. Does he attack it or leave it for Crouch, who surely, considering his size isn’t that good with the ball at his feet? The defender did neither and Pongolle pounced like a hungry tiger, lobbing an advancing ‘keeper with some aplomb. Terrific start.
Betis had never played in the Champions League before Tuesday and after conceding a second-minute goal, it truly showed. We dominated possession and then, Peter Crouch showed what he is all about. With the ball over on the left wing, the lone striker laced a pass into the striding path of Bolo Zenden, who centred an early cross for Luis Garcia to take advantage of. Garcia looked comfortable performing his favoured role all night, a vivid contrast to his performance which was to come on Sunday. Liverpool then simply took control of the match for the rest of the half and tactically outweighed the opposition, the team hardly troubled at the back and the midfield playing the ball around neatly.
When half time came, the crowd in Betis were fairly bored of seeing their team outclassed by experience far beyond them in all areas of the pitch, and the stadium was quiet apart from the Reds fans singing away in a far corner. Their coach drilled them undoubtedly harshly at the break and they emerged, the poor Juanito off for Xisco, with a new focus and new tactical outlook for the second half. It showed. Within minutes, they had us predictably under the cosh, with a succession of corners and chances heading our way before a superlative pass from the middle of their midfield caught Sami Hyypia napping. The ball timed and placed to perfection, our ageing centre-back’s outstretched leg proved simply too short to intercept it and Arzu slipped a simple finish through the legs of the oncoming Reina. 1-2. Great.
The entirety of the match from that point on had a ring to it of the Houllier days: defend, defend, defend and… hoof! Our tactics became ineffective as their virtual six-man midfield ran all over Alonso and Sissoko, with Xisco and Joaquin now representing big threats on either side of the pitch. Benitez brought in Gerrard, who did well in restoring some sense of control in the middle of the park, and Cisse made an appearance also. The Frenchman, however, appeared disheartened by being left on the bench and had a tough time leading the line on his own.
The defence remained tough though and Jamie Carragher covered his name in glory once more with a superb evening stopping everything he possibly could from causing danger at our end of the pitch. Reina made a couple of decent saves and, at the end of the day, Betis did not create anymore clear-cut, crystalline chances. Liverpool’s overall performance came out with flying colours, and praise was heaped upon the team and the tactics by the press and pundits alike the following day. Indeed, Rafa had gotten it right, and the eleven out there on the field showed experience and steely determination not to give away their lead for a good half and hour of the match; it really was a result to be proud of.
The Match #2 – vs. Manchester United
When United come to town each year, so too does the circus proclaiming the ensuing match to be the most eagerly anticipated of the year, between England’s two main rivals. Whilst I agree with those statements, I found Sunday’s game impregnably dull and numbing, to the point that I’d say the teams looked genuinely scared to attack each other’s goal. It was almost as if the managers had told their players not to advance beyond halfway for most of the 90 minutes; the ball remained in the midfield being tossed around with no real purpose for a good three quarters of the match.
Two 4-5-1 formations did indeed, beforehand, give fans the idea that they would see a tight match. However, everybody stated correctly that normally between these two teams, something happens along the way that involves a bit of drama and tension and anger. Did that moment arrive on Sunday? I’d say not. What I saw were 22 players out there to make sure they didn’t concede, and even though Liverpool retained yet another clean sheet in the league, I’d rather they had gone for the game and won it 4-3 than seen a 0-0 draw, with about 2 shots on target all day.
OK, sure, you need to keep a steady defence, and I commented on how useful the back five were looking last week. I’m a massive fan of a team who defends first, attacks second; Valencia did it to win the league under our boss - twice. However, if you are to play rivals like Manchester United, then you need some kind of craft in order to bring about that attack. Two strikers, I’d say, are a bare minimum at home in these situations, especially when playing a target man. And whilst Crouch did an amicable job of wrecking Rio Ferdinand’s day, not much came of his knockdowns when he had no instinctive partner alongside him and a Luis Garcia behind him who looked irritatingly haywire.
Benitez knew, though, that he did not want a defeat. He’d already lost twice in two games to United and is still building strong foundations upon which an attacking base can then be constructed. Who he brings in come January may well decide just what kind of attacking base Benitez can mount for the seasons to come; until all of the manager’s desired signings have come in, I urge fans to reserve full judgement on our prowess going forward. Sunday showed, for me, that our players are still trying to get used to Benitez’s system, but also, having not lost to a team who we lost to last season home and away, that there is some improvement in the way we play. Although this improvement is largely in defence, I wouldn’t bet against the boss getting it right offensively soon. Just remember what Rafa Benitez has done for us already, and you should find that faith in him too.
Liverpool began quite brightly in the first few minutes and pressed early, but the United goal wasn’t tested effectively until the second half. The only moment of real interest in that first 45 minutes was when a ball was slipped through a gap in our defence to the prolific hitman Ruud van Nistolrooy. Reina rushing rapidly to his feet, the Dutchman instinctively attempted to chip the ‘keeper; thankfully for the Kop, his effort hit the wrong part of the net and bobbled over to leave the entire stadium breathing a sigh of relief. Replays showed that if he had hit it with power instead of lobbing Reina, then the much detested striker amongst Reds fans would have probably scored. Thank God, that for once, his instincts were wrong.
As Liverpool attempted to find some sort of rhythm, Garcia’s constant failure to find a team mate annoyed me and the crowd immensely. The little Spaniard just doesn’t look right in heavy midfield matches and brought little of use to the team on Sunday; I was actually hoping to see Cisse brought on at the half way mark, or a few minutes afterwards at the very latest. But Garcia remained on the field of play and wasted possession in his familiarly clueless way whilst Steven Gerrard jockeyed the team on to attempt to win the match – we were, after all, playing at home, remember? The captain surged into the opposition half and stung van der Sar’s fingers with a long-range effort before nodding a header just over into the Kop end. Pongolle tried a few tricks, out on the right wing again, and Riise did his best to provide a cross or two for Crouch, but it just wasn’t happening for us up front. When Cisse was introduced eventually, it was a clear indication of Benitez’s intent to see who he was taking off to make way for the Frenchman.
Crouch off, Cisse on. Keeping with one striker. Nothing really happened for the rest of the game, and that’s the honest truth. United didn’t threaten, we didn’t threaten. Cisse looked grumpy and ineffective on his own up front, whilst the rest of the team seemed quite happy to take a point out of what had been a tough, tight and draining affair. Not draining because of the amount of goal mouth action, but draining because of the lack of it. Liverpool vs. Manchester United this year was not fun or entertaining, even slightly, and has been according maligned in the press all week long.
But this ‘boring football’ spin is all paper talk, and broadly exaggerated. Liverpool were cautious, United were cautious, because they were both desperate not to lose when Chelsea are winning 3 points every single week, without even conceding a goal. Yes, it is a bit dull at the moment, but I know my football: something always happens just when it needs to, and spices up the game at a time when its popularity is dropping. I don’t know what it is that needs to happen – I can think of a few things, obviously, but what I do know is that something will happen. It always does. And when it does, the press will all forget about the recent moaning and speculative rubbish that is being printed now; if I was anybody important, I’d tell the papers that they are becoming the boring ones, not Premiership footballers.
The Match #3 – vs. Birmingham City
The gameplan was clear at St. Andrew’s from the very beginning: strangle the home team, keep the ball, keep a clean sheet, and then go for it in the second half. Rafa Benitez is fast becoming a fan of this system of play – the showings at Middlesbrough and to some degree Tottenham working on the same defensive principle. The first half went exactly to plan.
The midfield three, now including Hamann as Sissoko has a muscle strain, set about exposing the inexperience of the Birmingham lads in the centre of the park with pass after pass, and occasional balls up to lone front-man Peter Crouch. The usual criticism of ‘this is boring, they should go for it’ was aimed at Liverpool during the first half by commentators, pundits and then newspapers on Sunday, but those people should take stock of what happened to Liverpool on the road last season. At Birmingham, for example, the team went for it and let in 2 goals which killed the game. Morientes was up front alone and was isolated, hardly getting a touch; Benitez knew this season that our away form had to be better. It is. Middlesbrough, last season, 2-0 loss. Pitiful performance. This season, dominated the match, somehow ended 0-0. Tottenham was the same result, but they’ve improved no end since we played them away under Santini. The Birmingham match is the same. We are definitely becoming more consistent.
Within the first 45 minutes we had very few chances, but Steven Gerrard still managed to flow through the midfield and strike a swerving left-footed shot into the Birmingham post, the ball coming painfully close to landing at a Liverpool player’s feet. But it was the second half which had the incident.
Again, our midfield strangled and suffocated Birmingham of the ball. When Luis Garcia strode on after about 20 minutes of a second half controlled by Liverpool, Benitez was signalling that it was time to go for it and get that goal. The team took just a few minutes before Gerrard and Crouch combined to play in Garcia, the substitute, on the edge of the box with no marker. The Spaniard took it first time with a great finish and celebrated, releasing a few demons which may have remained from his showing against Manchester United the week before. That’s how it should have stayed, 1-0, maybe 2-0 to us at the end.
However, our defence, particularly Steven Warnock and Jose Reina, who had looked so solid before yesterday, had other ideas. Reina flapped at a corner before the ball returned from the other side to be flicked past the Spanish ‘keeper by Warnock. Own goal. The first goal conceded of the campaign was from our own player. Moments later, having had no sniff of a chance for the entire match, Birmingham took a free kick and Reina dropped the ensuing effort. Pandiani was on hand to tap in the scraps and Liverpool had suddenly, having had the match firmly held in a tight fist, dropped it. Cisse then came on and Liverpool heaped on pressure, before getting a crucial corner at the right end. Whipped in, Carragher stormed into the box and thundered a header onto the bar, believing the effort to have gone over the line and Liverpool to be on level terms again.
The referee had other ideas. He had astutely seen a handball on the goal line by a Birmingham debutante, who had indeed used a fist to flick the ball out of the danger zone. Penalty, red card. Cisse stood up and scored the spot kick with a calm and style which we would all hope to see more of during the season. Chances continued until Liverpool fans were tearing their hair out, yet the best opportunity came to Peter Crouch in the dying embers of the game. Cisse, playing wide right once more, dispatched a brilliant cross to the front man, who must have seen visions of glory and taken his eye off the ball before it reached him. Five yards out, unmarked, the effort went over, and that was when we knew we’d be taking home a ridiculous point as opposed to three once more.
Benitez won’t mind too much, however. He is moulding his team into a side which can go away from home and take a match into its control for the entire 90 minutes. Only a foolish defensive error or missed sitters can destroy that plan entirely and yesterday, both happened, whereas at Middlesbrough only one happened. Liverpool could not win a match away from home last season, but this season already we look as if with a little more concentration and experience using the 4-5-1 system, then the Reds could become a force at opposition grounds. These things take time people; time is more than a few weeks into a season. Benitez knows what he’s doing.