Liverpool 0 Charlton 0 - Prem (Mar 4 2006)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL 0 Charlton 0

Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 4 Mar 2006 Star Man - Steven Gerrard

 

 

 

 

 

God help the rest if we ever discover how to turn dominance into goals. Charlton were never in this game, it was total one way traffic. Liverpool’s ability to keep the ball and to completely snuff out any threat from the opposition is impressive, but the failure to find the back of the net regularly is threatening to undermine all of that.

The reds weren’t especially fluent against Charlton, but on another day the Londoners would have come away from Anfield with a three goal beating.

The lack of goals is frustrating, but I can’t say I’m overly concerned by it. We’re creating chances, and we do have good forwards (on paper at least). I honestly don’t think there’s too much wrong, and someone is going to get a severe hammering from us soon. Hopefully it will be Benfica.

In an attempt to solve the ‘goalscoring crisis’ Rafa opted to start with Cisse, Fowler and Crouch. With Kewell and Gerrard also in the side, it was a line up full of attacking intent. The game got underway with the Kop giving a rousing chorus of the Gary Mac chant, just to let the bald Messiah know we’re all thinking of him at this terrible time. I don’t know if he was watching, but if not I’d like to think someone will let him know about the gesture.

The reds started the game brightly, and the opening 20 minutes were very good. Chances were created, we were keeping the ball well and Charlton couldn’t get out of their own half. Thomas Myhre was the star of the show in the first half, making two very good saves to deny Cisse, and an even better one to prevent Herman Hreidarsson’s sliced clearance finding the top corner.

In addition to Myhre’s saves, Kewell struck a stinging drive just wide, and Fowler also went close from distance after a good run. Charlton failed to get anywhere near Pepe Reina, as Carra and Sami snuffed out the threat of the two Bent’s. As I said, the opening twenty minutes were excellent, but after that silly mistakes and general sloppiness seemed to creep in a little.

The likes of Kewell and Fowler began giving the ball away cheaply, and even Gerrard wasn’t immune from the odd misplaced pass. Despite the sloppiness that had crept in, the reds were still the only side going forward. Charlton are not known as a defensive side, and I’m not sure whether they set out to play that way or they were just forced onto the back foot by our dominance. Either way, they showed little sign of adventure in a one sided opening 45 minutes.

At half time I wasn’t worried that it was goalless, as it really did seem to be just a matter of time before we scored. In fact, Hyypia’s enforced withdrawl and Traore’s subsequent presence in the centre of defence concerned me much more than what was going on at the other end. Djimi had been a little bit ropey in the first half, and a couple of times he got away with trying smart arse tricks in dangerous areas. Perhaps I’m being harsh on him (as ultimately he did very little wrong in the second half), but he is making me nervous this season and I really hope Sami is ok for Benfica.

Cisse had been a bit hit and miss in the 1st half, but he looked a goal threat and he was working hard. I’m not his biggest fan by any means, but considering that he has been almost completely frozen out of late and he surely knows he isn’t in Rafa’s plans, I thought his attitude was top class.

The second half saw Cisse involved a lot, and whilst he can appear awkward sometimes when running at full backs, he was willing and his pace gave Charlton’s on loan manc left back Johnathon Spector all kinds of trouble. Djibril isn’t a winger, and he reportedly doesn’t enjoy playing there. He gave it a good go though against Charlton and I honestly can’t fault him.

What he lacked in skill he made up for with speed and determination. There were a few around me in the Main Stand giving him a bit of grief as frustration got the better of them, but what more did they want from him? On the day he was the most likely scorer and most likely creator.

Cisse has had some shocking games where his attitude has stank the place out. Yet here was playing out of position, really knuckling down to the task and playing completely unselfishly for the team. When he plays with this kind of attitude, he’ll get no complaints from me.

He stayed out wide, demanded the ball and when he got it the only thing on his mind was to run at Spector and get a cross in. He did it several times, and on the occasions he didn’t, he usually won us a corner. He also produced the ball of the match to Crouch which should have resulted in the winning goal, but Crouchy’s header was tame to say the least.

Another great run from Cisse saw him skin Spector once more and ping a perfect ball across the face of goal, but substitute Morientes didn’t anticipate it and was caught on his heels. Cisse’s frustration almost got the better of him on that occasion, as he was clearly unhappy with Morientes. To be fair, he had a right to be unhappy.

I don’t like to see Cisse’s arm gesturing and complaining when passes don’t arrive exactly where he wants them, but this was a bit different. It wasn’t selfish gesticulating because things didn’t go his way. He was frustrated because he wanted to win the game. It wasn't about him getting personal glory, he just wanted us to score.

The booking he received for slamming the ball into the ground after (correctly) being given offside was just plain stupid though.

Despite Cisse’s efforts, and the promptings of Gerrard, the goal just wouldn’t come. Alonso was introduced to add more creativity, and he did that, immediately picking up the pace of the game and driving the side forward. It wasn’t enough to produce a goal, but then we have the linesman to blame for that.

In stoppage time Xabi drilled in a shot which was going well wide, but Fowler controlled it and fired a shot past Myhre before setting off on a joyous celebration. The linesman was on the Main Stand side so I saw the flag go up and never even bothered getting out of my seat. Sadly for Robbie, he didn’t see the flag and seemed to celebrate for an age before finally realising what had happened. That’s twice it’s happened to him now, but at least the first time he had the consolation of knowing that it was the correct decision. This time he has every right to feel pissed off.

I guess it just wasn’t meant to be, and maybe when Robbie finally does break his duck it will be a really crucial strike. A last minute winner against Benfica perhaps? Stranger things have happened, although hopefully we won’t leave it that late before finishing them off.

Our 'goals for' tally this season makes for pretty shocking reading, but it doesn’t reflect the performances we are seeing. Defensively there is no better side out there right now, but we aren’t a ‘defensive’ side. The lack of goals is not because of a lack of adventure, or stifling tactics. We create bags of chances, but we just aren’t putting them away. Surely that will change soon?

Every other area of the side is functioning well, and Jan Kromkamp’s display suggests we can now even afford the luxury of occasionally resting the magnificent Steve Finnan. The Dutchman had a really good game against Charlton. From what I’ve seen of him so far (mostly in reserve games) he looks more comfortable attacking then defending, but he had no problems dealing with Darren Ambrose and made some excellent challenges on the winger.

Going forward he was very good, and already he’s shown that in somehow managing to acquire him in a straight swap for Josemi, Rafa has pulled off as good a deal as any manager ever has in the history of football. Big Jan MkII looks like a good man to have in the squad, and he was possibly our best player against Charlton. I’m not giving him the star man myself, although I did think long and hard about it.

It was a choice between Kromkamp, Carra and Gerrard, but I’m going to give it to Gerrard, who even though not at his absolute best still showed more quality than anyone else on the field.

Fowler got ninety minutes under his belt, and it’s encouraging that he was still sharp enough at the end to convert that chance. Some of his play had become a bit sloppy as the game wore on, which is surely a sign of tiredness. You get moans and groans from the fans when he gives the ball away, but even in his pomp Robbie was prone to doing that so I don’t think we can read too much into that. I’m pleased with what I’ve seen from Fowler so far, and he will only get better. He needs games, and once he gets his first goal they’ll start to flow. Wednesday would be the ideal time to do it.

Overall, it’s two points dropped but it’s not that big a deal in the overall scheme of things. We can’t catch Chelsea and we’ve got a decent sized cushion between ourselves and fourth place, so basically we’re in a straight fight with the mancs for second. They’ll drop points between now and the end of the season, so this result isn’t the end of the world. Put it this way, if we had to draw a blank, I’d rather have done it in this game than on Wednesday.


Team: Reina; Kromkamp, Carragher, Hyypia (Riise), Traore; Cisse, Gerrard, Hamann (Alonso), Kewell; Crouch (Morientes), Fowler: