What makes strikers so capricious? It is a question that Rafael Benitez might enjoy pondering on another afternoon, but yesterday he was simply grateful that his Czech forward could be transformed. A decisive half-time team talk may have played its part in securing a victory in the Spaniard’s first match at Anfield as Liverpool manager. What is certain was Baros’s role in this comeback.
Three minutes into the second half, Manchester City failed to clear a mishit Josemi cross, Liverpool grabbed possession through Dietmar Hamann and the German found Steven Gerrard, who fed a lovely pass behind the advancing defence into Baros. Faced with David James the Czech checked to send the goalkeeper off-balance before serenely chipping the ball over the England No 1. The three points were ultimately secured by Gerrard, and Richard Dunne’s late sending-off for a second booking after bringing down Djibril Cisse completed Manchester City’s capitulation.
Kevin Keegan opted for flippancy, rather than frankness, when asked about City’s lack of competitiveness against hungrier and more energetic opposition. “I didn’t see a lot,” he said, blaming Benitez, who kept leaping to his feet in the technical area, for blocking his view. “When he learns a bit more English someone will have to tell him to sit down,” Keegan grumped. “The supporters will be happy,” said Benitez with the relief of one desperate not to get off on the wrong foot with the Kop.
As he attempts to shape a new Liverpool, however, Benitez has much to do. His keynote signing, Xabi Alonso, was in the stands, but the £10.7m Spaniard is a central midfielder and Gerrard and Hamann were excellent in that area yesterday. Liverpool’s problems lie further upfield. Despite great individual mom-ents, Baros and Cisse do not yet look a partnership and both were reluctant to engage in team play. Crisp passing movements begun by Gerrard or Hamann splintered in the final third. Unable to play their way into the box, Liverpool spent the first half — through Gerrard, Harry Kewell and Sami Hyypia — taking unrewarding shots from outside it.
Robbie Fowler, for once returning to Anfield in prime form, saw almost nothing of the ball. Yet as half-time was arriving, his side went ahead. Shaun Wright-Phillips nipped the ball away from Gerrard and hoisted it into the box. Jamie Carragher tried to let it skim off his head back to Jerzy Dudek but the Pole read his intentions too late and fumbled horribly for the ball to run clear. Nicolas Anelka was there to score into the far corner of the net.
City hold on to leads as if they are live electric cables and it took Liverpool just three minutes into the second half before Baros scored. Though Anelka went close in the 58th minute, the remainder was all about Liverpool’s pursuit of a winner. At first it seemed they would be frustrated. Cisse, on a counter-attack, burst between two defenders but took the ball too close to James, who smothered. Then Baros wasted a fine through -ball from Hamann by shooting straight at James, ignoring Cisse free to his right.
But Gerrard is implacable. Hamann scooped the ball forward and Baros, once again, remembered Euro 2004. He darted on to it, controlled deftly with his chest, and flashed in on James. It was all so quick that the goalkeeper let the ball spill and Gerrard thrashed it home. “He runs a lot which is great but sometimes it’s better to run less and run properly,” said Benitez who wants to improve his captain’s movement, but he was not referring to Gerrard’s goal.
