Stuart Barnes, The Observer
Patrik Berger, dumped by Liverpool during the close season, exacted revenge on his old club yesterday. The Czech Republic international's first-half goal won this tense match for Portsmouth and left Liverpool wondering where their next Premiership victory is coming from. On the evidence of this dreadful performance, it could be a long wait. So commanding when they knocked Slovenia's Olimpija Ljubljana out of the UEFA Cup in midweek, Liverpool were bafflingly weak and disjointed on their return to Premier League action.
Colin Malam, Sunday Telegraph
Liverpool will not have found the irony of Patrik Berger's match-winning goalthe least bit amusing. Released from Anfield for nothing in the summer after a career which brought them 35 goals, the Czech international condemned Liverpool to their third successive Premiership defeat, the first occasion this has happened under Gérard Houllier, with the indignity of seeing their newly-promoted opponents go above them in the table. Steven Gerrard was at his classiest and Harry Kewell at his trickiest, but Liverpool again failed to impress as a League-winning prospect. They were often out-fought, and frequently out-thought, by a Pompey side anxious to end their own three-game losing streak. Houllier said: "We never seemed to have the same kind of liveliness about our play as they did."
Ronald Atkin, Independent on Sunday
Ominously for Liverpool this early in the season, there is a lack of conviction and heart to withstand the power play of a team such as Portsmouth, whose prime quality in this win was desire. It is 15 years since Liverpool came down to Fratton Park, but the building has barely changed and there was scant evidence yesterday that Liverpool had turned up in equal numbers. Simply by the size of their hearts rather than Liverpool’s supremacy of the arts, Pompey were worth their victory and, poetically, the scoring touch came from the former Liverpool man Patrik Berger.
Rob Hughes, Sunday Times