"Everyone is building new stadiums these days. The more unique you make your ground the less unique it is." Logic, in football, is not always easily found. Liverpool, after three bad defeats in succession, were supposed to find it difficult against a team on the back of six straight away wins.
Instead it was three points at a saunter. Fernando Torres, an effortless destroyer, was removed after scoring twice, ostensibly to take an ovation from The Kop but perhaps also because Rafa Benitez was full of the goodwill spirit and wished to spare Portsmouth worse punishment.
Liverpool gained an early 2-0 lead on the back of Torres's penetrative running and when Benjani Mwaruwari pulled a goal back 10 minutes into the second half, El Nino quickly quashed any thoughts of a turnaround. His first goal came when Javier Mascherano, who would have been man-of-the-match in almost any other game, fed a ball forward and the speed of Benitez's substitute, Ryan Babel, had Hermann Hreidarsson lunging in desperation to cut the pass out. He knocked it straight to Torres who, with David James stranded, sidefooted home. It was a nice finish but his next one was even better.
Jamie Carragher lobbed forward for Steven Gerrard to nod the ball back to the edge of the area, from where Torres volleyed past James with his left foot. Nearing the season's halfway point, Torres, with 14 goals, is on course to be the first Liverpool striker to score 30 goals in a campaign since Robbie Fowler 13 seasons ago.
Pompey defender Sol Campbell has been complaining about the abuse fans direct at players. He took some terrible stick at Anfield, but not by anyone in the stands. Torres was his tormentor. Competing against laser-quick strikers charged with callow enthusiasm is a young man's game and Campbell is at the age where receiving socks among the Christmas presents stops feeling anti-climactic and is appreciated for its practicality. For a thirtysomething, facing Torres was as welcome as finding something bright and skintight beneath the wrapping paper. Torres stretched Portsmouth down the channels between their centre-backs and their full-backs but no matter which side he scampered down, he seemed able to isolate Campbell rather than the much pacier Sylvain Distin.
Liverpool had already made a strong beginning, with Harry Kewell skimming a shot close, when Torres caused major trouble for the first time, flashing forward to square to Dirk Kuyt, who looked certain to beat David James before Glen Johnson dived across with a saving tackle.
Johnson injured himself by colliding with James and went off to receive treatment, and Torres offered further evidence of his perceptiveness by targeting the area Johnson would have been defending. He was ready, there, to receive a clever pass from Kewell and drive into Portsmouth's box, twinkling past poor Campbell and drawing in Distin, who made a tackle. The ball ran to Kewell, who picked out Benayoun to angle a lovely volley beyond James using the outside of his right boot for 1-0.
As much as Torres deserved credit in the build-up, so did Kewell and the player who won the ball to make the move possible, Mascherano. Benitez is desperate to tie the 'Little Chief' down on a full-time deal but the £17m required to do so is unlikely to be made available to him in this transfer window.
Anxiety about this situation was one of the main causes of the tantrum that brought Benitez to the brink of being dismissed by Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and the manager might wish to send Liverpool's American owners a tape of Mascherano's performance. On form the Argentinian is the closest the Premier League has seen to Claude Makelele in his prime. Another spark of anticipation and piece of ball-winning from the Argentinian and Liverpool were on their way to scoring again. Sulley Muntari, knowing Benitez is interested in signing him, had talked openly about his hopes of impressing at Anfield, but it was his pass that Mascherano cut out on the halfway line and the ball cannoned straight to Kuyt, who fed Torres and El Nino was off again.
Yet another break by Torres gave Gerrard the chance to shoot, but Liverpool's captain drove the ball the wrong side of the far post from 18 yards. Benayoun tricked his way forward and went close. Only in the last 10 minutes of the first half, when Liverpool slacked off, did their visitors begin to be forceful. Pedro Mendes and Papa Bouba Dioup had reasonable shots but Jose Reina remained untroubled.
Portsmouth's record had not lied, however. Their squad is full of belief and blessed with reserves of ability. Harry Redknapp seized on the change in momentum to make attacking changes at half-time, bringing on Kanu for John Utaka and instructing his players to attack more down the flanks. A near miss by Dioup just after the interval was a warning to Liverpool that went unheeded.
Then, in the 56th minute, Kanu picked up possession on the left and crossed expertly to Benjani, who beat Reina with precision. Portsmouth did not do enough to wobble Liverpool at 2-1, however, and once Torres scored home control was restored.
Star man: Fernando Torres (Liverpool)