Anfield has a history of epic European nights; incredible come backs against the odds, sterling defences of leads gained on foreign grounds and unbelievable, glorious victories.
And the names that have fallen; Barcelona put to the sword by Gary McAllister, Real Madrid taken apart in a 4-0 victory, the hapless Andrea Dossena scoring the fourth goal for the second time in three days (the previous occasion had been the winner against Manchester United. At Old Trafford. Its only four years ago. It seems like a lifetime) and possibly the greatest night of all - Luis Garcia's 'ghost goal' against Chelsea. The greatest atmosphere I have ever encountered in a football stadium (to my eternal regret, my first European night was the Borussia semi in 1978; I missed the glory of St Etienne)
Yes, Anfield has a history of legendary European nights. Which is just as well as we now need another on Thursday.
Last Thursday, when first half defensive frailty gave way to solidity, when the recently maligned Pepe Reina appeared to have kept hope alive with a string of fine saves, when Liverpool seemed on the edge of a typical successful European away performance we were once again undone by small details.
Seemingly willing to sit back and aim to hit Zenit on the break with Luis Suarez as a lone striker we spent the first half with our midfield failing to protect the central defensive pairing of Skrtel (returning to oppose his previous club) and Carragher. Defending was of the last gasp variety and Zenit seemed able to cut through us at any opportunity. A fully fit Lucas would have been more convincing in the holding midfield role than Joe Allen was; bite was missing from our midfield yet again.
Early chances fell to both teams with Suarez clipping the ball just wide of the post after a typical piece of slaloming in the area. Gerrard continued to find Suarez throughout the evening but nothing seemed to stick for the Uruguayan. The failure to punish the keeper after a piece of suicidal defending in the fifteenth minute was typical of the chances not taken on the night.
As the game progressed a welcome stalemate seemed to beckon. And then the small details came into play.
Jordan Henderson was caught wanted an extra touch of the ball near the centre circle; a through ball to Hulk saw a thunderous shot hit the top corner of the net. It would be ingracious to criticise Henderson after a fine recent period. Coutinho's emergence against Swansea gives extra options in this position but our number 14 still showed energy and dynamism in his substitute role yesterday.
A 1-0 loss would not have been a catastrophic result to take back to L4. Within 3 minutes we had changed that position.
The second goal resulted from exactly the same hopeful pass into the area that our defence has been failing to deal with all season; for the second game running we had fallen to self inflicted errors in the last quarter of the game.
Two games in succession is not a crisis but it does highlight a worryingly fragile mentality in the team. There is something lacking in our ability to concentrate for 90 minutes. Something in the ability of our team structure to defend, to see out a match.
That Rodgers claimed after the match that it had been a near perfect European away performance has been widely ridiculed but his point stands; other than the two careless mistakes it would have been exactly that. How many times over the decades have we visited an inhospitable arena and been grateful to return with a goalless draw?
Concentration would give us that. Yesterday's 5-0 display shows what we are able to achieve in attacking; I am actually beginning to warm to Rodgers' rather obvious claim that when we stop making mistakes we will become a force to reckon with.
So, on Thursday, we summon the spirit of the Olympiakos comeback. We will miss the cup tied Sturridge and Coutinho but we should always remember that it wasn't Gerrard alone that pulled us through that game; two of our heroes that night were Neil Mellor and Florent Sinama Pongolle. Heroes come from odd places at times; let's make some new ones on Thursday.
Check out Ian's blog Mumbling Into The Void and follow his mumblings on Twitter here.
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