This match was always going to be tight; before Wednesday, there had been
just one goal in 3 European ties between the teams – and that was the
semi-final Luis Garcia goal which Mourinho claimed to have been scored by
the linesman. Hamann and Sissoko were set to counter Lampard and co. and
did a fairly professional job of it all night, whilst Robben and Duff were
scuffed out of the game for large parts by two very effective full backs.
Drogba again held very little threat for Carragher, whilst Sami Hyypia had
his best game so far this season.
What amazed me about our performance against Chelsea was our discipline.
Benitez is drilling these players thoroughly in training, because his
ideas are truly showing now in the way the team plays and moves in sync –
not many teams can go to the Bridge, missing Xabi Alonso, and play a
counter-attacking game for just about all of the 90 minutes. Even
Mourinho, arrogant as ever, admitted that it was a remarkable feat: “Not
many teams can come here and do that,” he said afterwards. But other than
that, the Portuguese manager’s overall press ‘performance’ was as lowly
and spiteful as ever; he denied seeing the horrific Essien tackle on
Hamann, and had the downright nerve to suggest that Sissoko’s accidental
challenge on Gudjohnsen was intentional.
It angers me when Mourinho is called a ‘breath of fresh air’ for the
English game. Face facts, all this guy does is say interesting things,
which are interesting only because they are usually crass and rude. He’s
got a team on which over £250 million has been spent and still goes around
describing himself as some kind of ‘special manager’ – this is based on
the fact that he won the Champions League in charge of Porto two years ago
with arguably more luck than Liverpool needed to win it last year. Yet
when he talks of Liverpool’s victory, I’ve never heard him give us credit
without finishing the same sentence, ‘but they were lucky’ or ‘but they
didn’t beat us.’ Of course we did. How else did we get to the final, Jose?
He is simply bitter and seems to say more and more invasive things about
our club and our manager. The reason for this, I presume, is because we
are looking like a threat to Chelsea on current league form and also
because Mourinho simply cannot accept that his beloved Chelsea didn’t win
the Champions League last season. Benitez, a man of class who wouldn’t
dream of insulting another club or manager, didn’t even condemn directly
the Essien tackle: “Look at the video and decide for yourself. I’ve seen
the video and I’ve seen his leg and I know what I think but I won’t say.”
His style of play has comfortably led us to top spot in the group and
third in the table in recent weeks, and I can only see a positive result
to come against Middlesbrough on Saturday. It’s a wonderful feeling to
know that we are finally performing in the league, not conceding goals,
and scoring plenty, and at the same time winning our group in the
Champions League ahead of Chelsea. It does make that feeling even better
when you think that Manchester United are out of Europe altogether, and
Chelsea could be drawn against the indestructible Barcelona in the next
stage. Let us pray.
Tuesday night was full of what Benitez knows best: defence, defence, small
attack, defence, defence, mixed in with concentration and full commitment.
Djimi Traore is the only man to make any kind of defensive error all
night, but thankfully Liverpool did not pay for his absent-mindedness. The
team stuck together, with Crouch winning long balls in the air and causing
panic in the Chelsea defence, whilst Gerrard ran on to all of his
knock-downs with intent; the skipper’s early strike just past Cech’s post
showed that we had not just gone to London for a draw. Garcia, who was
overly wasteful with the ball all evening, did have some moments of
inspiration and made the run which gave Gerrard time and space midway
through the first half to feed in Riise with a clear shot on goal, on his
indomitable left foot. The best chance of the half went begging as Cech
got down in time to the venomous strike, but Liverpool were no push-overs
and showed immense improvement since the 4-1 disaster at Anfield earlier
this season.
The game contained very little else in terms of Liverpool openings, and
Chelsea only really threatened about twice for the rest of the game. When
the whistle went at the end of the match, the travelling fans screamed as
if their team had won 3-0; the way the contest had been so hotly fought
with several horror tackles and desire at full tilt had shown everyone
watching that this game meant a whole lot more than either Rafa or
Mourinho had let on beforehand. This one was about pride, safety and
success, and another clean sheet stacked up for Jose Reina, who stood on
hand for most of the match as a spectator behind the safest defence in the
land. Job done, group won, bring on the ‘Boro.
Player Ratings: Reina 7, Finnan 7, Hyypia 9, Carragher 9, Traore 6, Hamann
8, Sissoko 7, Garcia 5, Crouch 6, Gerrard 8, Riise 7.
Substitutes: Morientes 6, Sinama Pongolle 7, Kewell 7.
Crouch – the Progress Report
Finally, at long last, a goal for Peter Crouch! No, wait – TWO goals for
Peter Crouch all at once! And they were certainly remarkable goals at
that. So, how is the lanky £7 million man doing in a Reds shirt so far?
Well, considering the amount of ‘distaste’ shown by Liverpool fans in the
summer about his signature, Pete has certainly gone about the task of
winning over Red hearts pretty quickly. Crouch has shown us why Rafa
believed in him to the extent that he threw the chequebook at Southampton;
he’s good in the air, he’s good on the floor, he’s a good passer, he’s got
a fantastic touch, he’s got a hell of a lot of skill and, most of all, he
looks like a star already.
Many people said that this boy could only be a squad player in years to
come, and that Parry was making a mistake in allowing £7 million leave in
the club when Michael Owen and Dirk Kujt were waiting patiently in the
wings to be snapped up and brought to Anfield instead. But Crouch’s
shining example and attitude has given the Kop but a taste of what he may
achieve in the coming years. Still not the finished article, Benitez is
working with him every day and will continue to do so diligently – just
imagine the improvement we shall see over the next couple of years from
the youngster.
He has never once hidden, even when luck seemed to be positively working
against him 24 hours a day, every time he came within a mile of goal. Yet
even so, Peter’s contribution to the team in keeping the ball, using
little flicks here and there and linking up superbly with Morientes and
Gerrard to create numerous opportunities is why I believe he should be one
of the first names on the teamsheet. And, just like I wrote in the summer,
on this website, that Crouch would be a success at Liverpool, I give you
another prediction: this boy is going to become an Anfield legend for
several years to come. And I can’t wait to see him bang in a few more
goals in the meantime, because Lord knows, Crouchy deserves it.
The Match #2 – vs. Middlesbrough (h)
With Benitez’s manger of the month gong in tact, the Reds faced another
challenge at Anfield on Saturday: Middlesbrough, a team we failed to
defeat last season, home or away. It was yet another opportunity for
Liverpool fans to see just how much Rafael Benitez’s team has truly
improved in the past few months.
The early afternoon game started fairly well, with the Reds coming out of
the blocks at lightening pace and Steven Gerrard unleashing three shots
within the first 5 minutes. Only the last of the three caused the
opposition ‘keeper any trouble though and Schwarzer still had a
comfortable save in truth. It was clear from that moment on that
Middlesbrough would not be bringing with them any real intent to attack
our goal, and they certainly didn’t exert any concerted pressure on the
European Champions once in the entire match. Morientes had a decent header tipped over by the Australian a few moments later but Liverpool failed to carry on with the onslaught and things slowed down largely for the next
twenty minutes.
Alonso looked slightly off the pace having been left out in midweek and
Sissoko struggled to come to terms with the pace of the game; both,
however, managed to control the match passably and make the midfield
tussle very difficult for the opposition until their form improved in the
second half. Towards the end of the first half there was a good effort
from the Reds to go in a goal up at the break, with Gerrard putting a
header on a plate for Momo Sissoko, who then headed the ball directly into
the arms of a grateful Schwarzer. Seconds later Peter Crouch was denied
his third Liverpool goal by a last-ditch tackle and we were pretty much
consigned to going in level at half time.
However, at the very beginning of the second period Liverpool looked out
of shape again and Middlesbrough carved out their first real opportunity.
Viduka had the goal gaping and sent Jose Reina the wrong way – the
Spaniard managed to use his legs to keep the ball out and Liverpool were
off the hook. A Morrison shot which came later in the second half was
saved in similar fashion by Reina, who looked solid and dependable once
more in keeping his record-equalling tenth clean sheet in a row. Another
one in Japan will write him into the record books at this still relatively
early stage in his Anfield career.
Crouch had a quiet game up front for once and his knockdowns were not
being won in midfield or by Fernando Morientes. Middlesbrough looked
fairly comfortable as the quality of ball coming from the wings was not
superb and the two big men up front have no threatening pace; many were
calling for Cisse to be brought on by Rafa knew better and put on little
Luis Garcia. After an awful match in midweek, the little fella’ had some
pent up frustration and immediately made the entire team play
substantially better football. And it wasn’t soon before he put in
Morientes, who took a touch or two before easily slotting past the ‘keeper
into the corner and breaking the deadlock at last.
From there on in the visitors looked beaten and minutes later, reported
Liverpool target Queudrue sent a header in the wrong direction for
Fernando Morientes to latch onto. He took a split second to decide to lob
the ball over the despairing goalkeeper and executed the move with sublime
quality, showing some of the class that we all know the Spain
international possesses. Morientes’ confidence was up after that and
Liverpool really opened the match up, with Kewell looking dangerous coming
inside from the left hand side. Just to compound the opposition’s misery,
Riggott was sent packing five minutes from time and Liverpool comfortably
saw out the remainder of a highly professional and efficient victory.
Player Ratings: Reina 8, Finnan 7, Hyypia 9, Carragher 8, Riise 7, Alonso
8, Sissoko 8, Morientes 9, Crouch 6, Gerrard 8, Kewell 7.
Substitutes: Cisse 6, Josemi 6, Garcia 8.