Liverpool 1 Man City 0 - Prem (Nov 25 2006)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL 1 Man City 0

Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Scorer(s) - Steven Gerrard Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 25 Nov 2006 Star Man - Steven Gerrard

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn’t pretty, but it’s another three points and another clean sheet. Steven Gerrard proved to be the match winner for the second time in four days, but this performance from the reds was nowhere near as accomplished as the win over PSV the other night. City were a tough nut to crack, and it looked as though we wouldn’t find a way through until a defensive error allowed Gerrard a sniff of a chance which he buried emphatically for his first Premiership goal of the season.

With Alonso and Gonzalez ruled out, and Pennant deemed fit enough only for a place on the bench, Rafa’s midfield options were limited, and he opted to start with a 3-4-1-2 formation. It’s something I’ve been advocating for a few weeks, although I was thinking more along the lines of trying it away from home as opposed to at Anfield. In fairness, it didn’t really work, but I still think it could be effective away from home.

I say it didn’t work, but I guess it depends which way you look at it. Defensively it was a success, but going forward we were a bit disjointed. That may have been down to the formation, or maybe it was just down to some players not being on form. It’s difficult to say, but it was probably a combination of both.

The front two didn’t play well, and the wingbacks didn’t do enough going forward. Perhaps the key to making this formation effective was Luis Garcia, but he was very much hit and miss and was eventually substituted. I didn’t think he played badly, but he did give the ball away a few times and the crowd were getting really frustrated with him.

He was a bit sloppy at times, but he also looked our most likely source of a goal. He came closest to scoring in the first half when he showed great skill to pluck a fantastic Hyypia pass out of the air, but he then squandered a great opportunity when he dragged his shot wide of the near post. Crouch was unmarked in the centre, and maybe Luis should have squared it. I don’t think he was wrong to go himself, but having chosen to do that he really needed to score.

That was our best moment of a fairly insipid first half. Gerrard went close with a rasping low drive from 25 yards, and Crouch prodded a shot over the bar after Kuyt’s persistence had created half an opening for him. Other than that, Nicky Weaver had a comfortable time of it.

Not that Pepe was particularly busy either. City defended well, and competed in midfield but up front they offered very little. A shot dragged wide by Corradi was their only worthwhile attack of the first half. The Italian was a lone frontman, with Vassell and Trabelsi out wide and Micah Richards used in a midfield three alongside Reyna and Barton. It was a line up that had containment in mind, and it was successful.

City defended really well, and we struggled to create anything for most of the game. Distin and Dunne handled the aerial stuff very well against Crouch, and I thought Barton was outstanding in midfield. He was arguably the best player on the pitch.

It would have been nice to see Didi get a game, but he had to make do with a place on the bench. He got a fantastic ovation when he warmed up at the Kop end, and the goal apart, that was probably the loudest the crowd were all afternoon.

The second half was similar to the first, with Garcia looking the most likely to produce something out of the ordinary. He created space for himself in the box a couple of times, but couldn’t get his efforts on target. The problem was, in between the good bits, there were several bad bits, and the crowd were beginning to get on his back a bit.

It also co-incided with City’s best spell of the game. Vassell got in behind the defence but Agger recovered well to block him off. The loose ball fell to Corradi on the edge of the box and his shot went inches wide of the far post. Pepe had it covered I think, but it gave City a lift.

Then Barton ran at the defence and escaped from a cluster of would be tacklers before stumbling over in the box. I haven’t seen the replay, but my initial thought was he had been caught. It would have been a bit of a soft pen because of the way he went down, but Barton had a right to feel a bit aggrieved. City were starting to come into the game, and we were struggling.

The crowd were edgy, and did nothing to try and lift the players. The atmosphere has been bad all season, but this was one of the worst yet. It really was terrible. The players won this one without any help at all from the crowd. There was no 12th man in this game, that’s for sure. Every stray pass was greeted with huge groans, with Garcia and Zenden especially coming in for stick.

Despite Luis’ troubles, when Pennant prepared to come on I thought Sami would be the man to make way so we could go back to 4-4-2. I was surprised and disappointed that Garcia got the hook. I think I may have been in a bit of a minority there though!

We did go 4-4-2 with that change, but it meant Carra going to left back and Riise pushing forward onto the left wing. Pennant made a promising start, and did some good things in the time he was on the field. He’d also ditched the fancy coloured boots and the white tape around his ankles, which was good to see. He looked a bit more like a Liverpool player.

Fowler was then brought on for the disappointing Crouch, and not long after we went in front. Barton played the ball back to Distin, but he was caught on his heels and the hard working Kuyt was on him straight away. He got a toe on the ball to divert into Gerrard’s path, and he strode forward past Distin’s desperate lunge before blasting the ball into the bottom corner. It was a rare moment of quality in a pretty dour game.

City sent on Samaras up front, and he tested Reina with a shot from distance that the keeper had to alertly turn round the post. It was a clever effort from the Greek, as he shaped to cross before going for the near post. Pepe dealt with it well, just like he did everything else he had to do.

Reyna had a shot from 20 yards that was easily dealt with by Pepe, but that was the closest City came to an equaliser. Bellamy came on for Kuyt in the final minutes, and was greeted by chants of ‘Going down’ and ‘What’s it like to hit a girl’. Stupid, and untrue. It should have been ‘What’s it like to allegedly choke a girl’. Get your facts right, stupid mancs.

The City fans put us to shame to be fair, even taunting Gerrard with the chant ‘You’re just a shit Joey Barton’. I remember when we used to be the ones coming up with the witty, original chants. Nowadays all we get is the ‘we won it fivetimes’ song, and very little else. What did we used to sing before Istanbul?

But anyway, we held out for the win, and if we can beat Pompey this week the table will be looking a whole lot healthier.

Star man was difficult, but I’ll give it to Gerrard because he was the matchwinner.


Team: Reina; Carragher, Hyypia, Agger; Finnan, Gerrard, Zenden, Riise; Garcia (Pennant); Kuyt (Bellamy), Crouch (Fowler):