They still look as unlikely to make a connection as somebody trying to use a mobile phone on top of Mount Everest, but this may not matter if Liverpool’s midfield continue to dominate games like this.
A fourth consecutive home victory was secured against a pallid Charlton through the complete superiority of Benitez’s men in this area and, fittingly, it was two midfielders who scored the goals.
After John Arne Riise put his side ahead, Luis Garcia made the points safe when he advanced into space and from 25 yards floated a gorgeous shot past Dean Kiely and inside the goalkeeper’s left post.
Benitez knows that on another day, the shortcomings of his forwards might prove costly and he admitted that during a goalless first half, in which the only common ground Cisse and Baros found was their mutual inability to score, he feared a similar outcome to last Tuesday’s Champions League game against Deportivo La Coruna, which ended 0-0.
“We need to score more goals when we make these chances,” Benitez said. “Today we had six, eight, 10 opportunities in the first half and normally when you miss that number you get punished at the other end. But Baros and Cisse can play together. It was not only a problem of the strikers because Riise missed two good chances.”
Liverpool, nonetheless, are up to fifth and have the best home record in the Premiership. In the sure distribution of Xabi Alonso, and Garcia’s ability to make things happen, you can see things coming together. Alan Curbishley, at one point, was ahead of Benitez on Liverpool’s shortlist when they came to replace Gerard Houllier, but this was no advertisement for the Charlton manager.
With his close-season buys Danny Murphy, Dennis Rommedahl and Francis Jeffers particularly ineffective, Curbishley’s side were miserable.
“I’m not going to hide behind anything. We didn’t do enough. We couldn’t keep the ball for more than two or three passes and our attitude away from home is going to have to change,” he said. “Last season we were very good away from home, but I am becoming worried and we are not doing as well away this season.”
How Riise needed his goal, his first in 18 months. When he first arrived at Anfield, he brimmed with brio, but for some time his confidence has been leaking away.
In the second minute, Jamie Carragher picked him out on the edge of the area and he took the ball inside Luke Young to open up a clear path to goal.
Once upon a time, the Norwegian would have shot, but here he hesitated before trying to check back on to his left foot by going back outside Young. It was a poor decision, allowing Young to recover.
Liverpool chances came like machine-gun fire. Garcia stretched Kiely with a volley and Sami Hyypia, unmarked, sent in a powerful downward header which Kiely did well to block. Alonso tapped a free kick to Cisse, whose deflected shot flicked off a post, and Baros misdirected a header while in space. Charlton simply could not get possession.
The ability of Alonso and Dietmar Hamann to press their opponents meant Charlton’s midfield could never settle on the ball and, given a rare opportunity to initiate an attack, Murphy, formerly of Liverpool, passed straight to Cisse. The Frenchman made for goal but when his blocked shot ran to Baros, the Czech lashed it into the stand. Still the Liverpool opportunities came.
Garcia crossed but Baros nodded straight at Kiely. Riise found Cisse, who sent a volley spiralling into the night sky. Benitez refused to panic and, when Liverpool emerged for the second half, the manager made only one minor adjustment. Cisse, who had been drifting out to the right wing anyway, was now pushed right out onto the flank and deployed almost as a winger. The move immediately bore fruit.
Taking the ball outside Hermann Hreidarsson, Cisse persuaded Andy D’Urso that he had won a corner. “Never,” fumed Curbishley. What followed made him even more annoyed.
From the corner, Alonso headed against Kevin Lisbie, but Charlton only half-cleared and Riise speared a volley from outside the area past Kiely. Curbishley descended to the dug-out, but this was Charlton’s only response.
The introduction of Francis Jeffers to the Charlton attack changed nothing, other than the blood pressure levels of the home crowd, who jeered the former Everton player’s every touch and bayed when he was booked for fouling Jamie Carragher.