Liverpool 2 Reading 1 - Prem (Mar 15 2008)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL 2 Reading 1

Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Scorer(s) – Javier Mascherano, Fernando Torres Half Time - 1-1 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 15 March 2008 Star Man – Javier Mascherano

 

 

 

 

Like a female shot putter from Eastern Europe, it wasn’t pretty and it was more than a little hairy. As those steroid enhanced shemales will tell you though, winning is all that matters, and at the end of the season when the points are tallied up no-one will remember the manner of this victory, just that it was a victory and a valuable three points. We weren’t that bad, but there was certainly a bit of legginess there after the San Siro exploits and when we didn’t kill the game off we ended up hanging on at the end as Reading threw everything at us.

It shouldn’t have been so nervy at the death, as we’d done more than enough to have wrapped the points up by then. We didn’t take our chances though, and as tiredness crept in Reading began to sense they cold get something. They had a couple of chances at the end, but we survived and cemented our grip on fourth spot.

There must have been a temptation for Benitez to make a few changes, as there are several players who have been involved in pretty much every game recently. Rafa likes to keep people fresh, and with some very tough games coming up this was probably the only chance he’d have to rest anyone. Thankfully, he resisted the temptation and fielded what is probably our strongest available eleven at the moment.

There were a couple of changes, Arbeloa came in for Big Sami whilst Alonso returned in place of Lucas – an unsung hero in midweek against Inter. Reading had beaten us at their place, and clearly fancied their chances again here. Steve Coppell probably felt they could catch us on the hop after our midweek excursions, and they made a positive start trying to attack us and get men forward.

They went in front after only a few minutes, in controversial circumstances. Hunt ran at Arbeloa down the left, and was stopped in his tracks by a fine sliding challenge that sent the ball behind for what should have been a Reading corner. It couldn’t have been any clearer, and I’m sure the referee was the only person in the stadium who thought it was a foul.

I yelled some obsenity at the official, and then turned the fella next to me and said “it doesn’t make much difference whether it’s a free kick or a corner as it’s from more or less the same place, but that’s not the point is it?” Except it did make a difference, a big one. The free-kick was taken about ten yards in from the touchline, and drilled across the edge of the box to the Czech lad who’s name escaped me. His finish was stunning, but it was never a free-kick, and to add insult to injury one of their players stopped Aurelio from coming out to close down the shot. It was poor officiating, and it would continue throughout the game. He was hopeless.

Given the form we’ve been in, I wasn’t unduly worried, and we responded pretty well. Torres was sent clear by Gerrard after the skipper brought the ball down on his chest and then produced a brilliant ball into the striker’s path. Torres got there before the keeper, but Hahneman had done very well to get out so quickly and he made the block.

He could do nothing about the equaliser though, no keeper in the world could have done. Mascherano collected the ball 30 yards out skipped around Hunt and made space for a shot. We’ve seen this happen a lot, and the shot usually ends up in the crowd. Not this time, it flew into the corner like a rocket and he was off celebrating. He didn’t seem to know what to do, he started with a Luis Garcia style thumb sucking, and ended up repeatedly yelling ‘Fuck off! Fuck off! Fuck off!’ It was brilliant! What a guy.

It was almost 2-1 straight after, when Babel danced his way into the box and hit a blistering drive that rbought a fine save out of the keeper again. Babel was causing problems on the left, although his insistence on constantly cutting in on his right foot was making him a little easy to read. If he can mix it up a bit more and work on his left foot, he could be virtually unstoppable.

He thought he’d scored shortly after, when he stooped to head in a great cross from Gerrard. The linesman’s flag cut short the celebrations, although at the time I thought it was dubious. TV replays showed he was just offside, although the full back who had closed Gerrard down was close to playing him on.

Alonso went close with a brilliant dipping left foot volley from 25 yards, but the ball dropped just the wrong side of the post. I couldn’t believe it hadn’t gone in, as from where I was sat it had goal written all over it. Xabi played well, and some of his passing in the first half was outstanding.

Kuyt sent an effort just over after being picked out by Arbeloa, but that was a rare good moment for the two in a first half in which they played like total strangers. Passes kept going astray, and I thought they were both very disappointing, especially Dirk. He’s been playing much better of late, but this wasn’t a good day for him.

Reading were getting more and more physical as the game wore on. In the previous two encounters, they’d kicked the shit out of Torres and the referee had let them. I could be mistaken, but I think this same referee was in charge of the League Cup tie when Torres was booted all over the place with no protection.

Bikey is a bit of a head the ball, as witnessed by his hilarious dismissal in the African Nations Cup for assaulting his own team’s physio, and the only surprise was it took him until just before half time to go through Torres. He should have been booked, but wasn’t.

Shortly after the restart, it was Rosenior’s turn to hack down the Liverpool hitman. He was rightly given a yellow a card. Torres would get his revenge almost instantly, as his clever movement created some seperation between him and Bikey and allowed him to rise unchallenged to head home Gerrard’s well flighted free-kick. It wasn’t an easy chance, but this is Torres so it was hardly a shock when the ball found the corner of the net.

At this stage we looked like we’d go on and finish the game off. More terrific play from Torres saw him find Babel, who skipped by Rosenior like he wasn’t there but blasted his left foot shot over the bar from close range. A shame, as it would have been a stunning goal.

Aurelio was next to threaten, his beautifully struck shot from 30 yards looked to be headed for the far corner of the net before Hahnemann made another fine save. Torres got to the rebound but couldn’t direct it goalwards.

Bikey was eventually booked for a collision with Gerrard as they both came together at full speed. The defender felt Gerrard had dived and got in his face to tell him so. Apparently you could see on the tv that Gerrard responded by telling him ‘It was a fucking foul, you’re fucking shit’. Haha I love that.

There was an anxious moment when Skrtel took a tumble over the advertising boards and into the Kop. Crouch was on the scene as he’d been warming up in that area, and he signalled to the bench that they’d need to make a change. There were medics there too, and it looked worrying. Then suddenly Skrtel was back on his feet, jumped over the boards and was back on the field. He’s a tough bastard, and he’s become very popular very quickly.

Reading forward Shane Long had gotten no change of Skrtel, and kept conceding free-kicks. In the end, he was subbed as Coppell wanted to get the more physical Dave Kitson on. Long threw his shirt away as he took his seat on the bench, much to the amusement of forty thousand Liverpool fans.

Kitson is much bigger than I realised, he’s a bit of a grock. Reading started to hit it long to him, but Carragher and Skrtel were coping easily enough. As the clock began to tick away, and there was only one goal in it, things started to get a bit tense. Most of our team looked very leg weary, with only Mascherano seemingly unaffected by tiredness. He was charging all over the place, and his stamina levels are truly amazing.

But some with his team-mates fading fast, Reading sensed an opportunity. With a minute to go, they were awarded a free-kick for a foul by Skrtel, but it was once again an error by the referee as Alonso had been taken out by Cisse before Skrtel’s offence. The ball was played in, and fell to Kitson. For a split second it looked as though he had a clear shot, but Gerrard flung himself in the way to make the block.

Kitson appealed for handball, and tv replays showed it did strike Gerrard’s hand. But his hands were not outstretched, and it was point blank range. How could he have avoided it? Never a penalty, but you can’t blame Kitson for asking. What pissed me off, was that although he was the only one to appeal when it happened, three other Reading players then joined him in surrounding the referee. They were on the other side of the box, how could they have seen shit?

That wasn’t the last of the scares though. Another set piece saw the keeper come forward, and Rafa quickly made sure he got Hyypia on there to give us a bit of extra height. When it was played in though, it was a Reading head that met the ball, and for a horrible moment it looked like Reina had gone down too early and would be beaten by the bounce. Thankfully he adjusted himself and gathered the ball. Immediately he was up on his feet looking to release Torres. He should have had a shot himself in my opinion. There was no-one back, and he strikes a ball so well he could easily have drop kicked it to the other goal.

Instead, he threw it towards Torres, but it was cut out by a Reading defender. It could have proved costly, but the loose ball was met by Alonso who leathered it first time towards the unguarded net. It was a brilliant strike, but it was a few yards wide. Nobody else on the field could have struck the ball that sweetly though, it was vintage Alonso.

Had it not been for the imperious display of Mascherano, Xabi would have been my star man. I thought he was excellent, as were the two centre backs. Gerrard and Torres were quiet by their recent standards, but El Nino still bagged his customary goal and now the pair will have a week’s rest ahead of the trip to Old Trafford next week.

A few months ago I was dreading that fixture, now I can’t fucking wait. If Gerrard and Torres are on their game, there’s no reason why we can’t go there and win. And if we did, the league table would make for interesting reading, especially with Arsenal squandering two points a week at the moment. At this stage though, it is just ‘IF’, and winning at Old Trafford is a tough ask.

The atmosphere was better as well, and hopefully it will continue to improve between now and the end of the season. There’s a buzz around the place now due to the Champions League, and also due to Torres. The Torres song is getting people going and the atmosphere is definitely better than it has been.

Stephen Hunt was taunted with ‘There’s only one scruffy bastard’ whereas a few months ago he’d have been ignored. He’s a snidy little fecker that Hunt, I’d describe him as an Everton player who just happens to play for someone else. Robbie Savage and Michael Brown would also fall into that category.

Speaking of the blues, this win put the pressure back on them and they promptly went and lost at Fulham. They will be looking at our fixture at Old Trafford next week as an opportunity for them to claw back the points they lost this weekend. It’s up to us to ensure that doesn’t happen. Win next week, and then win the derby, and we’ll have shaken Everton off for good.


Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio; Alonso, Mascherano; Kuyt (Benayoun), Gerrard, Babel (Riise); Torres: