Liverpool 0 Man United 0 (Prem) Sep 18 2005

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL 0 Man United 0

Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 18 Sep 2005 Star Man - Stephen Warnock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four games, one win, three draws, no goals conceded, only one scored (and that was a set piece). Is it a good start, a bad start or somewhere in between? And what about this game, was it a point gained or two points lost? I honestly don't know how to feel either of those questions. A lot will depend on how we do next week away at Birmingham

The positive has to be that we're very hard to beat and are keeping clean sheets. Against the mancs, we were generally very solid at the back, although their lack of ambition may have made things easier for us than they might have been. United came for a draw, and they got one. Then again, they did very little different to how they've approached other recent games at Anfield. The only difference this time was we didn't help them out by gifting them a goal or two.

The negative aspect has to be that from the first minute until the last, we never truly looked like scoring. We had a few efforts here and there, but the attacking play was for the most part disjointed, and it's clear that we have no idea whatsoever about how to utilise the talents of Peter Crouch. The big fella did everything that could have been asked of him, but the service he got was generally terrible.

There were far too many long, straight balls up the middle, and far too few quality early crosses. As you'd expect, Crouch probably won 90% of the headers he went for, but they weren't in dangerous areas, and no-one got close enough to him to make anything of the flicks and knock downs. Clearly work needs to be done on the training ground.

Rafa's team selection had not been too much of a surprise. The omission of Sissoko will have raised a few eyebrows, and I was a bit surprised to see Warnock in ahead of Traore. I'm one of Warnock's biggest fans, but if I'm honest I would have picked Djimi today as Ronaldo is one of the toughest opponents a left back can have, even if he is a squealing little girl.

As a 'footballer' Warnock is much superior to Djimi, but defensively against top class right wingers he's still largely unproven. At least he was until today. I thought Stephen was superb, and Ronaldo was never much of a threat. It was clear that Stephen was a little nervy early on, as one unnecessary header behind for a corner when he was under no pressure showed. His determined nature saw him overcome those nerves though, and one misplaced pass to Riise aside (which came after a great run which took him away from two challenges), he was flawless.

Today may be the day Warnock really came of age as a first team player. We knew he was good enough for run of the mill Premiership games and CL games against decent sides. What we hadn't seen was how he would do against a really top class right winger. We knew Traore could handle top players as he showed it several times last season, but there was still a question mark over Stephen. This was a big test, and he passed it with honours for me.

Defensively we were good all round. Carra was his commanding self, and Sami was excellent too. I thought he'd been below par against Betis in midweek, but aside from one or two instances he kept Van Horseface very quiet. Finnan however doesn't seem to quite be at last year's level yet. He isn't doing badly by any means, but he hasn't matched the sky high standards he set for himself last season.

Sissoko's absence was very noticeable in the opening half I thought. Xabi wasn't at his best, and we witnessed the very rare sight of a few passes going astray from him. Alongside him Gerrard was in decent enough form, but was a bit restricted in what he could do because he had to play deeper than usual with the mancs having three central midfielders.

With Stevie G having to play a more disciplined role, there was a lot of creative responsibility on Garcia's shoulders. Sadly he had one of those frustrating days where very little went right. He never hides and always wants the ball, but sometimes he can be so infuriating. Today was one of those days. He was dreadful at times, and his main contribution to the game was breaking Keane's foot! So not a totally wasted day then.

The brightest spark in the first half was Flo on the right. He was lively, and looked like he could make something happen. For all his promise though, he actually created very little, but he did show enough to suggest he's worth persevering with on the right for a little while though.

Chances were few and far between in the first half, and the best fell to Ruud Van Uglyshit, when he spun off Hyypia and lobbed the ball over the onrushing Reina. Anfield held its breath, but thankfully the ball didn't come down quick enough and landed on the top of the net.

At the other end Flo forced a routine stop from Van Der Sar with a shot from distance, and that was about it. The United keeper didn't have many saves to make in the first half, but he had to be alert several times to rush out and clear the danger when it looked like we had got in behind their back four. The most notable one was when Gerrard looked like he may be in, but the big keeper came out to clear.

Just before half time Alonso had a free kick from more or less the same spot he scored against Sunderland, but this time he was off target putting his shot well over the bar. So goalless at the break, and no-one could really say they had the edge. It was dire at times, as the two teams just cancelled eachother out. It needed something to change at half time to avoid the second half following a similar path, but neither side made any substitutions.

I'd have taken off either Riise or Garcia at half time and got Sissoko on. The Norwegian was poor once again, and I don't remember the last really good game he had. Zenden may not have set the world alight, but right now he's more effective than Riise is. If Kewell was fit and playing anywhere near his best, Riise wouldn't be anywhere near the team right now, as Traore and Warnock are both ahead of him at full back. It's lucky for him Gonzalez's move fell through, or he'd be even further down the pecking order. He needs to get his finger out sharpish.

Had Zenden been on the bench I'm sure Riise would have got the hook. As it was, Flo was the first one off. He started to tire badly midway through the 2nd half, and it was clear he had to come off. Sissoko finally got on, meaning Garcia switching to the right and Gerrard pushing further forward.

Gerrard got a bit more involved offensively in the second half (even before the substitution which allowed him more freedom), whilst still dilligently doing all his defensive duties. He made several outstanding challenges in this game, the best being a wonderful sliding tackle to dispossess Rooney when he was in full flow. Gerrard produced the best goal attempt of the game when his stinging 25 yard drive was well saved by Van Der Sar, and the skipper also headed over after meeting Riise's cross.

Gerrard was involved in every decent attacking move we put together, and twice created openings for Garcia. The first was when he beat Ferdinand out wide and crossed from the left, but Garcia's header drifted just wide. Then, Gerrard's through ball sent the Spaniard clear in the inside left channel, but his shot from a tightish angle went across the face of goal and wide.

Crouch had an effort saved too, after he did well to chest the ball down on the edge of the area but couldn't get enough power into the shot. He began to tire, and it was no surprise to see Cisse come on for him. The aerial approach hadn't worked, so it made sense to see if pace would make a difference. It didn't, Cisse was awful.

I really want to see Cisse make the grade here, as he's been through a lot with the injury and the club trying to sell him. He's one of those players who you look at and think he should be fantastic, but then he just isn't. Against Betis he was dreadful when he came on, and it was the same today. He's just so raw at times. You'd expect it of a kid just starting out, but he's a full international with plenty of caps.

There was one occasion when he had the ball on a breakaway, and he was faced by Rooney. Now most decent strikers would have fancied their chances of beating Rooney, who isn't known for his defending. Cisse though just looked like he had no idea how to get past him. Rooney backed off, knowing Cisse would try and go on the outside and use his pace. So Rooney made sure that option wasn't there, yet Cisse tried it anyway and was easily dispossessed. Little things like that are so frustrating with Djibril.

Most frustrating of all was when he appealed for a non-existant penalty, and when he wasn't given it he just stood there complaining and never bothered chasing the ball. He could easily have retrieved the ball if he's tried, but he never. It's probably due to things like that why Rafa just doesn't fancy him. I thought we'd seen the back of things like that, but he had a little tantrum in Seville the other night and followed it up with this. He needs to cut that shit out.

The game just seemed destined to be goalless all the way through. I couldn't see them scoring, but never got the feeling we would either. For them, Keane was excellent once more. He didn't do anything spectacular, but his positional play and reading of the game saw him break up so many of our attacks on the edge of their box. He got away with a few fouls which may have earned him a card, and it was no surprise when he did see yellow for a snidy little trip on Finnan. Nevertheless, he was United's best player again for me, and when his body eventually gives out on him they'll have a hell of a job replacing him. Oh, sorry I forgot, they've already got his replacement in Alan Smith

Warnock seemed out on his feet in the last ten or fiteen minutes, either because he picked up a knock or once again he'd ran out of steam. He does seem to cramp up late in games, and that is a bit of a worry. I'm not sure if that's what happened today, or if he picked up an injury. But he was struggling, and for the first time in the game Ronaldo managed to get away from him and it need good cover from Hyypia to prevent any danger. Traore was brough on immediately.

Neither team did enough to win, but you suspect United will be more pleased with the point. Away from home it's a good result for them. It's not a bad result for us either, but it's nothing to write home about either. If we win at Birmingham next week, then overall you'd have to say we've had a good start to the season. If were to lose, or even draw, then it wouldn't be so good.

There are a lot of positives so far this campaign, but there are just as many negatives. On the one hand, if we can start scoring goals we'll be in business. On the other, if we continue firing blanks we're putting a hell of a lot of pressure on the defence to keep clean sheets. It wouldn't take much to turn these draws into wins, or defeats. It's a fine line between success and failure.

Peter Crouch could cause havoc this season, but he's going to have to be given a lot better service than he's had so far. Early crosses are the key, and we have to get more men around him for when he wins the knock downs. The lack of a recognised goalscorer will be major problem unless others can start to chip in. Draws away at Spurs and Boro and at home to the mancs aren't too damaging, providing we pick up maximum points against the shite, starting next week at Birmingham.


Team: Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Warnock (Traore); Sinama-Pongolle (Sissoko), Gerrard, Alonso, Riise; Garcia, Crouch (Cisse):