Liverpool 0 Portsmouth 0 - Prem (Nov 29 2006)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL 0 Portsmouth 0

Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - We 29 Nov 2006 Star Man - Jamie Carragher

 

 

 

 

Where are Joey Barton and Silvain Distin when you need them? On Saturday the reds had struggled desperately to break down a stubborn Manchester City, until amix up between Barton and Distin allowed Kuyt and Gerrard to combin to snatch the win. Pompey weren’t as generous, and this proved to be a desperately frustrating night at Anfield.

The first half wasn’t bad, we looked fairly bright and had several goal attempts. The second half however, was arguably the worst we’ve played at home under Benitez. It was truly terrible.

Of course, we went into this game with some injury problems and Rafa had plenty to think about with his selection. The biggest question was who would partner Gerrard in the middle of midfield. Carragher seemed the most natural option, but as the teams lined up for kick off he was alongside Big Sami in the backline, with Agger lining up in midfield.

Within seconds of the game starting though they’d switched. The only explanation I can think of for this was it was intended to confuse Pompey, and maybe it did, as in the opening minute Carra popped up on the edge of the box and fired a shot just wide.

It was a promising opening, and Carragher slotted into midfield seamlessly. He rarely wasted a pass, and did some excellent work in recovering possession. With the safety net of knowing Carragher was behind him, Gerrard looked to break forward whenever possible, and made several excellent runs in behind the Pompey defence, but his team-mates were mostly unable to find him.

There were some chances created though. Garcia was popping up in the box regularly, and had three headed attempts at goal in the first half. Gerrard put a brilliantly struck volley just wide, and also saw a free-kick go just too high. We weren’t playing great, but it was an improvement on the City game from the weekend. I was feeling pretty good about the second half. We’d put some good moves together before the break, but just hadn’t managed to get the goal.

Attacking the Kop in the second half, I really fancied us to get two or three. Actually, that’s not strictly true. I expected Gerrard to get two or three as he was the only one who really looked like scoring.

Portsmouth had made it difficult for us by playing just the one up front and packing the midfield, but we’re used to that. Teams do it quite often at Anfield, and we usually find a way through. This time though, we couldn’t, and in truth never looked likely to in the second half.

Gerrard tried his best, but couldn’t do it all by himself. Other than him, there was no threat to David James’ goal at all. Kuyt and Crouch didn’t manage a goal attempt between them, and Fowler was terrible when he came on. Then there’s the widemen. They were absolutely dreadful, and it was a surprise they lasted as long as they did.

A case can usually be made for keeping Garcia on, simply because he’s always likely to pop with a goal or a piece of magic, no matter how badly he’s been playing. This time though I don’t think Rafa had any choice but to give Luis the hook. He gave the ball away almost every time he got it in the second half. He still kept demanding the ball, as he always does, and you can’t knock Garcia’s mental toughness. No matter how shit he plays, he still believes the next time he gets the ball he will do better. That’s one of his main assets for me, but when he’s playing this badly then taking him off is the only sensible course of action.

I was surprised to see Nabil El Zhar get the nod to replace him, as Danny Guthrie seemed a more logical choice. Guthrie has played twice in the league cup, and has looked comfortable. Also, he’s been in the reserves for three years and knows about English football. El Zhar has played about six games for the reserves, and is new to English football. It showed.

The poor lad waited ten minutes to get his first touch, as no-one seemed to want to give him the ball. Then when he did finally get a touch, he dwelt on the ball and was dispossessed. It happened to him a few times, and the whole thing looked to be a huge culture shock to him. That said, he was no worse than Garcia. Or Pennant.

Jermaine was ok in the first half (not great but not bad), but after the break he went to pieces. He’s getting a bit of a tough time from the crowd, but then he has to expect that because he’s not someone who you can easily warm to. He’s spoken of how he has nothing to prove, and that other than the lack of goals he’s happy with his form. Maybe if he said he knew he was playing crap and asked for a bit of patience people would cut him a bit more slack?

He comes across as being cocky, and lazy. Combine that with his poor form and awful decision making, and you have one of the least likeable players to have worn the shirt in recent years. Last week he left the field on a stretcher, only to be fit a few days later. The cynical would say he wanted to come off because he was struggling.

Against Portsmouth I also think he wanted to come off. His actions seemed to me to be that of someone desperate for the manager to get him off the field. Having lost the ball a few times and incurred the wrath of the crowd, so he lost his rag and clattered a Pompey player. The ref told him to cool it, but a couple of minutes later he did it again. This time he was booked. All the time, he kept glancing towards the bench to see what was happening.

He was then sent over to the left wing to try his luck there, but he fared little better. He was fouled, and leapt to his feet and ran at the offender and prepared to square up to him. It just screamed out ‘get me off before I get sent off’. He was putting Benitez in a situation where he would have to take him off. Shortly after that, he was claiming he’d been hit in the face by David Thompson. It was embarrassing, and when his number eventually went up it was met by an ironic cheer.

It’s never nice hearing a player treated like that, but it’s hard to make a case for why Pennant deserves better. If he showed some bottle and heart, people would be more forgiving. If he showed some humility and came out and said he was playing terribly and asked for some patience, he’d be more likely to get it. If he continues to look like he’s not arsed, then he’s going to get some terrible stick, rightly or wrongly.

His replacement did more in ten minutes than Pennant has done in his last ten hours. There’s an intelligence to Danny Guthrie’s game that is completely lacking in Pennant’s. Guthrie is what I’d call a genuine ‘Liverpool player’. He passes and moves, he doesn’t over elaborate and more often than not he takes the right option.

Just like against Reading in the League Cup, he came on and instantly picked up the pace of the game. He didn’t waste a pass, he was bright and inventive, and he made a difference. The closest we came to a goal came when he fed Kuyt, and from his cross Gerrard sent a diving header inches wide. Had Guthrie came on sooner, who knows.

It was incredibly frustrating to watch, but Pompey made it very tough for us to build up a head of steam. Their time wasting was as bad as I’ve ever seen. They were doing it from the first whistle, but took it to new levels in the closing stages.

The fourth official signalled five minutes, and I’m sure they wasted at least three and a half minutes of that. First, Parmarot took an age to take a throw in. He was booked, and the time from the throw being awarded, and being taken must have been at least a minute.

When it was eventually taken, seconds later Campbell went down. The game stopped, the physio came on, only for Campbell to belatedly say he didn’t need the physio, he actually needed a new boot. The ref told him to leave the field, and he took an age to walk across the field. Another minute gone, if not more.

So Pompey prepare to make a sub, with Campbell going off and O’Brien coming on. The fourth official takes the time to get the board ready, and then suddenly Campbell reappears with a new boot. He comes back on, the fourth official then has to cancel the substitution and another minute has been wasted. Finally, O’Brien comes on for somebody else, and another thirty seconds are gone.

All the while these things were going on, Carra and Dirk were in Wiley’s ear pointing out to him how he needed to add this time on. He kept telling them he had it under control, yet he didn’t add any of it on. We played around five minutes, and of that five minutes the ball was actually in play for no more than two. We probably wouldn’t have scored anyway, but it was still a farce.

That being said, had we shown more urgency in the previous ninety, the stoppage time would have been irrelevant. It’s our fault we didn’t win, but the ref still needs his arse kicking for how he allowed them to waste so much time.

The final whistle was greeted with some boos, but I assumed most of that was for the referee and for Campbell and Portsmouth. Maybe I’m being too kind, the boos could have been for the team, I don’t know.

We could have gone third had we won this game, but as has happened so often in the last ten years we failed to capitalise on the failings of those around us. You can set your watch by it, and it’s fucking annoying.

This was a wretched performance, but it has to be put in perspective. Our home record in the last season and a half is fantastic. The law of averages says a game like this will happen now and again. If we break our away duck this weekend then it will repair some of the damage, but if we can’t then this result will look even worse.

Looking for positives isn’t easy, but there are some I suppose. We had another clean sheet, that’s seven in our last eight games. Agger and Sami were very good, albeit against a lone striker who had no support whatsoever. Carragher played very well in midfield, and Gerrard tried hard to make things happen. Along with Guthrie, they were the only ones to emerge with credit (Reina and Finnan were ok to be fair).

I’m giving Carra the star man, as he didn’t put a foot wrong in the middle of the park and did everything that could be asked of him. If Alonso isn’t ready to return at the weekend, Carra has shown he can do a good job in there, and the middle of midfield is the least of our worries.


Team: Reina; Finnan, Hyypia, Agger, Riise; Pennant (Guthrie), Gerrard, Carragher, Garcia (El Zhar); Kuyt, Crouch (Fowler):