Crewe 0 Liverpool 1 - Friendly (Jul 22 2006)

[TLW]

Crewe 0 LIVERPOOL 1

Report by Dave Usher at Gresty Road

Scorer(s) - Craig Lindfield Half Time - 0-1 Venue - Gresty Road, Crewe Date - Sat 22 Jul 2006 Star Man (1st half) - Craig Lindfield Star Man (2nd half) - John Arne Riise

 

 

 

New boys Aurelio, Gonzalez, Paletta and Bellamy were the star attractions as the reds made the short journey to Crewe for their second pre-season game, but it was 17 year old youth team goal machine Craig Lindfield who settled a largely uneventful contest on a scorching day at Gresty Road.

Lindfield has recently been promoted to train full time with Gary Ablett's reserve squad at Melwood, and this was his first run out with the senior players. He started up front alongside Robbie Fowler, and the pair linked well throughout the first half.

Aurelio was handed his first start having missed last week's win at Wrexham with a slight knock, and he was used on the left of midfield with Djimi Traore behind him at full back. Hyypia was partnered in the middle of defence by Danny O'Donnell, who had impressed last week at Wrexham and did so again in this game.

Finnan and Anderson were the right sided duo, with Zenden and Salif in the midfield engine room. There are two ways you can look at Diao's presence in the side. One is to be depressed by the fact he's still here like a poo that won't flush. Seeing his name on the teamsheet can be a real downer, so I choose to look at it from another perspective and just enjoy the comedy value. Well if I didn't laugh, I'd probably cry. Maybe that's how Rafa sees it too.

Salif had some hapless moments early on, getting caught in possession and passing to nobody, but people don't even get mad anymore. His errors are usually greeted with laughter and sarcastic comments. It's cruel, but also only to be expected.

Crewe were getting the ball into our box quite a lot in the early stages, and on one occasion after they'd gone close Sami and Salif got into a bit of a heated discussion. "You tell him Sami lad" shouted some fella to my right. That made me laugh, because for all any of us know Salif may have been the one in the right. It doesn't matter though does it, I mean Sami could have put the ball in his own net under no pressure and blamed Salif and we'd all be like "that's it Sami, you tell him lad!"

Liverpool hadn't started the game well at all, and Crewe seemed well up for it. Anderson wasn't getting much joy on the right, and for all Zenden's busy running not much was being created in the middle of the park either. The left side was the best avenue of attack, as Aurelio was getting into good positions and looked quite dangerous.

Virtually every good move had Fowler at the heart of it however, as he was in fine form. His vision and passing ability created several openings for team-mates, and he's looking very sharp so far this pre-season.

Lindfield had the Anfield Legend to thank for his goal, and what a goal it was too. The youngster picked up a loose ball in midfield and laid it off to Zenden, and he and Fowler both set off towards goal. Zenden tried to play Fowler in, but the ball was a little bit behind him. Robbie saw his young strike partner making a run behind him, and just backheeled the ball perfectly into his path. Lindfield side footed it into the top corner with his left peg and immediately ran to Fowler to show his gratitude.

It may only have been a friendly, but that is a moment that Lindfield will never forget. Scoring on your debut as a 17 year old, and being set up by none other than Robbie Fowler? The stuff dreams are made of.

Regular readers of this site will know I'm a big fan of Craig's, he impressed me a lot last season as he's one of those players who will keep improving all the time because he's got such a great attitude. He's a terrific finisher, but he's also a real worker and a great team player. He reminds me a lot of Neil Mellor.

I was delighted to see him in the starting line up, and I was sure he'd score. I even said to my mate John just before kick off that Craig would get at least one. He could have had a hat-trick in fact, as he was a real handful for Crewe and went close two or three more times after his goal. His all round play and link up was good too, and although it is probably too early for him to be thinking about making the first team, I really hope Rafa keeps him involved in the friendlies as the more time he spends alongside people like Fowler the better it will be for him.

I thought he was marginally Liverpool's best player in the first half, but Danny O'Donnell ran him very close. He won everything in the air and on the floor, and was assured in everything he did. He's improving all the time, but the problem for him is the presence of Paletta and Agger in the squad. It's hard to see how he could come through, but he's done himself no harm in the last two games.

The goal settled Liverpool down and they began to dictate the flow of the game. Even Salif settled into a bit of a rythm, and won a few tackles and made some decent passes. Each one was greeted with a cheer, and there was even a few choruses of 'Salif, Salif Diao' (the Harry Kewell tune).

As expected, Benitez made sweeping changes at half time. Dudek, Zenden and O'Donnell all stayed on, but everyone else was replaced. Antwi and Riise filled the full back slots with Paletta slotting in next to O'Donnell. The midfield saw Potter and Gonzalez on the flanks with Big Momo coming into the centre with Bolo, and up front were Bellamy and Pongolle (who played together for Blackburn last season of course).

The second half was poor though, and there was very little of note that I can remember. Bellamy had a couple of decent runs and cut backs which came to nothing, whilst Gonzalez fizzed two shots over the bar. Gonzalez looked very rusty, and got little change out of former red Jon Otsemobor who gave an energetic display at right back.

Gonzalez is known for his pace, but no-one is going to outrun Otsemobor as he's like shit off a stick. He's so fast that the only reason that bullet caught him in the arse is because he was standing still at the time. If he'd been moving, forget it. Some of the reds in the stand at the side of the pitch taunted him by singing "He got a big bullet, in his bum" (to the tune of Jerzy's Big Pole song).

Gonzalez is a bit stockier than I thought he was. Maybe thats because he's been doing weights to build up his strength, or maybe I just thought he was skinnier than he actually is, I don't know. He didn't look that quick either, but it is still early in pre-season and he was up against Otsemobor.

I really like the look of Paletta, he looks hard as nails. The first ten minutes or so he was on the field, he seemed a bit uncomfortable but once he settled he was very impressive. You've got to love uncompromising Argie defenders with mullets who aren't called Pellegrino.

Momo produced his usual lung busting display, but the most impressive performer after the break for me was Riise. The Norwegian has a real fight on his hands if he's to get a game this season, and from the evidence of the opening two pre-season fixtures he's well up for the battle. There's been a real determination and power to his game, and I thought he was easily the best player on the field in this game.

Benitez eventually brought off the three remaining starters, and sent on Lee Peltier, Jack Hobbs and David Martin. Crewe began to excert some pressure as they looked for an equaliser, but they found Paletta to be an immovable barrier at the back and Liverpool held out for their second win, and second clean sheet of the pre-season campaign.

Considering the players who have been missing, and the amount of youngsters who have been involved, these are two decent results. There's been a lot of positives to take from the opening two games, and with all the big guns due back in time for the Swiss training camp next week there's a real competiton for places hotting up.

Roll on the Charity Shield!

Team: Dudek (Martin); Finnan (Antwi), O'Donnell (Hobbs), Hyypia (Paletta), Traore (Riise); Anderson (Potter), Diao (Sissoko), Zenden (Peltier), Aurelio (Gonzalez); Fowler (Pongolle), Lindfield (Bellamy):

For exclusive photos from this game, click here