Liverpool 4 Reading 3 - League Cup (Oct 25 2006)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL 4 Reading 3

Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Scorer(s) - Robbie Fowler, John Arne Riise, Gabriel Paletta, Peter Crouch Half Time - 0-1 Venue - Anfield Date - Wed 14 Oct 2006 Star Man - Jermaine Pennant

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robbie Fowler looked like a man with a point to prove, as he marked his return to the reds' starting line up with an excellent display capped by a typically exquisite finish to open the scoring in a hugely entertaining game in front of a packed house at Anfield. Robbie hadn't featured in a first team fixture since September 9th, but he has certainly given Rafa Benitez something to think about ahead of the weekend, when Villa come to Anfield.

A near capacity crowd (the only spare seats were in the visitors section) braved horrible weather conditions and were treated to a masterclass from the reds number nine, who was given the captain's armband for the night and showed that he still has the desire and the talent to make a valuable contribution to the cause.

Fair enough, the calibre of opposition has to be taken into account, but nevertheless Robbie looked fit, bright, inventive and clinical. You'd never have guessed it had been so long since he played for the first team, as there was little sign of any rustiness.

Robbie was the main attraction, but there were several other interesting inclusions in the side fielded by Rafa. Lee Peltier was handed his first team debut at right back, Paletta likewise at centre half, and Daniel Agger was back from injury.

Benitez resisted the temptation to throw in more inexperienced players, and in Reina, Warnock, Sissoko, Zenden, Pennant, Riise, Fowler and Crouch he had plenty of 'old heads' on the field. Looking at the two sides, we looked to be much the stronger and a defeat would have been unacceptable.

There was a lively atmosphere at the start of the game, not exactly a 'European night' kind of buzz, but much better than a weekend league game that's for sure. Fowler's presence lifted everyone, as I'm sure that like me, most people just see every game he plays for us as a bonus now, something to be cherished. For a long time it looked like we'd never see him in red again, so whenever the opportunity comes along to see him now, it's something special.

He started the game ok, but in truth the first forty minutes or so were pretty dire with not much happening at either end. We were ‘controlling the game’ as Rafa would say, but the front two weren’t getting much in the way of service. I felt sorry for Robbie especially, as this was his chance to prove a point and stake a claim for a regular place, but he was feeding off scraps. His game was sound, and he looked in good touch, but he needed his team-mates to help him out by providing some service.

One improvised piece of magic saw him hit the crossbar with an overhead kick, but he’d been flagged offside anyway. Nevertheless, that one incident showed that he’s still in good nick, as not many players would have had the quickness of thought, not to mention the fleetness of foot to have been able to do that.

When that happened I thought to myself that there’s nothing wrong with Fowler’s game at all, in fact he’s in the best shape he’s been in for a long time. If he was playing in a side that attacked in the way Roy Evans’ side used to when he Fowler in his pomp, he would still get 20 goals a season easily because he’s such a great finisher. Give him the chances, he’ll put them away.

If the chances aren't being created for him, that's when his limitations start to become more evident. It's easy to focus on what Fowler can't do than what he can. He can't run like Bellamy, offer the aerial threat of Crouch, and he isn't the all round package that Kut is, but he finishes better than anybody around. He just needs the opportunities to prove it, and for that he relies on team-mates.

Just as I was bemoaning the lack of service he was getting, Pennant slid a lovely ball through the defence for him to run onto and then nonchalantly lift the ball over the keeper with the outside of his trusty left boot. Vintage Fowler.

It was just what we needed, as the game was a bit dead at that point. It was a great lift coming up to half time, and it got even better when Fowler and Pennant combined again to tee up Riise. Although his initial shot was parried by the keeper the ball came back to him and he lashed it into the bottom corner.

That’s the benefit of playing Riise in midfield. He scores goals and if you give him a sight of the goalposts he’s as dangerous as anybody in the country. With Aurelio and Gonzalez not exactly setting the world alight, Riise looks to be the best bet for that left wing spot right now.

2-0 at half time flattered us to be fair, but we had been the better side and in Momo Sissoko we had the games most influential player. Momo looked more like himself in this game. Maybe it’s because he can now eat and drink in daylight hours again, I don’t know. He just seemed to be a lot stronger physically (last week he was getting knocked off the ball by Giggs for God's sake!), and also much more comfortable with the ball than he has been in recent weeks.

The second half was fantastic, really enjoyable stuff. It wasn’t good from a defensive point of view, but in terms of entertainment it was great. Fowler’s touch and vision really came to the fore, as did the trickery and running of Pennant. Those two were the main threat to Reading, whilst Riise began to see a lot of the ball on the left too.

This was Pennant’s best performance for a long time. He’s done my head in for most of this season, mainly due to poor decision making and an occasionally lazy approach. In this game though he was dangerous every time he had the ball. There’s no shortage of talent with Pennant, but the problem in his career has been getting him show it week in week out. He hasn’t made the greatest of starts at Liverpool, but hopefully he’ll use this display to kick start his career. I want to see Pennant beating his full back and getting crosses in, not cutting inside, trying to take on three players and losing it cheaply.

Having created the opening two goals, Pennant then made the third for Paletta, who headed in a left wing corner in front of the Kop. I was watching Paletta’s movement prior to the corner coming in, and both he and Agger were really charging around all over the place to lose their markers. It was something I can’t remember seeing too much of from our players before, so maybe it’s something we’ve been working on in training. Given how shit our corners usually are it would be nice to think we’ve done something about it. It was great movement from the big lad, and a good header too. It reminded me of Carra’s debut goal against Villa all those years ago.

With a three goal cushion, Rafa made a couple of changes. Momo was replaced by Danny Guthrie, and Peltier made way for James Smith. It was unfortunate for the two youngsters that their arrival co-incided with a Reading revival. They pulled a goal back from a set piece after Paletta had chopped down someone by the touchline. He was booked for the challenge, and when the ball was sent over to the back post, Biker rose highest to head past Reina.

Guthrie settled into the game very quickly and he was very impressive. He used the ball intelligently, worked hard and was always available for a pass. I've been watching Danny for several years now, since he was a 15 year old at the Academy, and the last couple of years he's really started to up his game. He was excellent last season for the reserves, and has been in decent form this year too. It was nice to see him given a chance to play in the first team, as he's the kind of player who will shine when he's surrounded by better players. He's an intelligent footballer who can play in a number of positions, and hopefully he'll be given another chance in the next round. I think he did enough in the time he was on to earn it.

With Reading on the comeback trail, I couldn't help thinking back to the Galatasaray game, when we almost blew a 3-0 lead. This time though it looked like my fears were unfounded, as Crouch played a one-two with Fowler and danced around the keeper to make it 4-1. I was screaming at Crouchy to square it to Robbie, as he would have had the easiest goal of a goal laden career. I still think Crouch should have laid it off, but you can't knock the big man for the stylish way he finished it.

That looked to be all she wrote, but Reading made some attacking substitutions and started piling men forward. The similarities with Galatasaray were again evident, as Reading kept pumping the ball into our box, and we kept failing to deal with it. Lita pulled another one back with a good finish following some shoddy attempts to clear the ball, and then Long headed in unmarked on the back post to really set the cat amongst the pigeons.

That goal was the worst of the three as far as I'm concerned, because had Long not headed it in there were two other Reading players waiting to do so, and no Liverpool defender in sight.

The final minutes were so much more nerve wracking than they should have been, largely thanks to Reina. Ok, some of the defending in front of him didn’t help, but he was flapping at crosses and punching when he should have been catching. On one occasion he could have made a routing catch, but instead punched it onto the back of one of his defenders and it could have gone anywhere.

If you’re a defender, the most re-assuring thing in the world must be when your keeper comes out and claims a cross. When he punches it away you know it’s coming straight back at you, but if he catches it, it relieves all the pressure and allows the defence to get themselves set again. I appreciate that sometimes it’s not possible to catch a cross and that a punch is the more appropriate action, but I long for the days when keepers would come running out and pluck the ball out of the air. Sadly, they are coached to punch these days, at least our keepers are anyway.

Pepe is not having a good spell, and he’s fortunate that Dudek is suspended right now or he’d probably be out of the side.

Despite one almighty goalmouth scramble, we held on for the win which even Reading supporters would surely agree we deserved. We could have made it more comfortable by grabbing a fifth goal, and came close through Fowler and Kuyt, who hit the bar with a dipping half volley, but Liverpool never do things the easy way and we were left hanging on.

I don't think there's too much point dwelling on the defensive uncertainty we showed at the end, or worrying about conceding three goals. At the end of the day, it was a makeshift backline which had never played together before. It contained two debutants, both of whom played well, and Warnock (who has played maybe 50 games or so?) was the most experienced defender.

So I'm not too worried about that, and don't think you can read much into it. The keeper's form is a concern, but looking at the positives I thought Peltier was steady, it's great to have Agger back, Momo looked more like his old self and the form of Fowler and Pennant was very encouraging. Throw in an encouraging debut cameo from Guthrie and yet another goal from Crouch, and there was a lot to smile about for a change.

Pennant was the star man for me, just ahead of Fowler. Hopefully we'll see more of the same from Jermaine in the weeks ahead, because the type of player he can be could make a big difference to us. Just like Fowler can. There should always be a place in the 16 for a finisher like Robbie, and hopefully he'll be given another chance to shine this weekend when one of his favourite opponents come to town.


Team: Reina; Peltier (Smith), Paletta, Agger, Warnock; Pennant, Sissoko (Guthrie), Zenden, Riise (Kuyt); Fowler, Crouch: