Liverpool 5 Luton 0 - FA Cup 3rd Round Replay (Jan 15 2008)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL 5 Luton 0

Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Scorer(s) – Steven Gerrard (3), Ryan Babel, Sami Hyypia Half Time - 1-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Tuesday 15 January 2008 Star Man – Steven Gerrard

 

 

 

 

At last something positive to focus on. 500 games for Carra, a hat-trick for Gerrard and Luton Town showing up for a cup replay at Anfield. It doesn’t remove the air of depression surrounding the club, but at light it provided some temporary respite from all the talk of refinancing, takeovers and Jurgen Fucking Klinsmann. The crowd made a point of showing their support for the manager from start to finish, and for the first time there were also chants against the owners. It won’t be the last, unless DIC come riding in on a white horse and run the cowboys out of town.

With no game coming up at the weekend, I had a feeling we’d see a full strength side line up against Luton, and that, coupled with their well documented problems, prompted me to make a stop at the bookies and stick a couple of quid on a 10-0 win. As it turned out, I was right about the team selection but just a touch overly optimistic when it came to the score!

Had we been more clinical early on maybe I’d have gotten a run for my money? We started the game really well, with Gerrard and Babel very prominent. What surprised me was the amount of space we had to play. Luton were obviously wanting to get men behind the ball and make it difficult, but it didn’t really work out that way. Probably as they had so many players missing and a lot of square pegs in round holes.

Has Don Hutchison ever played centre half before? Certainly not at a high level, that’s for sure, but to be fair to him he did very well in the first half. Torres did nothing at all in this game, and Hutchison takes great credit for that in my opinion. I liked him when he was here, and it was good to see him back at Anfield. He did well in difficult circumstances.

I don’t know any of Luton’s players, but I know that ‘Hutch’ isn’t a centre back, and nor is the short arse who was alongside him, who I assume is a full back. The keeper was playing on one leg, and couldn’t take any goal kicks himself. When you consider we put six past Premiership side Derby, and eight past Champions League outfit Besiktas, I think my 10-0 was worth a punt.

But we needed a few early goals, and we didn’t get them. Babel hit the post with a brilliant curling shot, and both he and Torres shot over from the edge of the box when they could have done better. Like I say, there was plenty of space for us to play in, especially on the counter whenever they ventured forward.

Some of the quick one touch passing from the likes of Babel, Gerrard and Alonso was a joy to watch, but either the final ball or finish was always lacking, and as half time approached frustration began to creep in. Had we gone it at the break level we may have seen a different second half, but Babel’s excellent strike in stoppage time eased the tension that had started to build, and seemed to relax the players a bit.

The goal was well worked, and was another example of the space we seemed to have. Gerrard fed Torres, who advanced forward and released Babel down the right. He raced into the box and drilled a low shot into the corner. Babel had been on the left for most of the half, and was only on the right wing because Pennant had come across to the left to take a corner seconds before, and had stayed out there temporarily.

Jermaine was back on the right for the second half, and he was excellent. He combined well with Arbeloa, and produced some excellent deliveries from out wide. One of his poorer efforts actually led to the second goal shortly after the break. It wasn’t a bad ball, but it was a little deep perhaps. With Crouch on the back post though an overhit cross can still turn out well, and that’s what happened as the big man nodded it back into the path of Gerrard, who lunged to head it into the corner.

I’d noticed in the first half when Babel saw a cross cut out by the first defender that Crouch had gone over to him and spoke about something. My guess was that he’d told him where he would be and where he should cross the ball. Maybe he said the same to Pennant too, and the deep cross was a deliberate ploy? Gerrard seemed to anticipate it as well, and Crouch was aware of his skipper coming in to support, so I’d like to think it was a well worked goal.

The third goal was certainly a planned move. In recent weeks Hyypia has gone close a few times from corners that he’s attacked at the near post, and he’d almost scored one early in the second half when his flick went just past the far post. He made no mistake when he got another chance, and rose well to glance the ball in at the Kop end.

The fourth was a bit scrappy, as Torres turned in the box but saw his shot half blocked. Gerrard was following up, and coolly slid the ball into the corner. At this point, Lucas and Aurelio were both about to be introduced, and Gerrard had been in line to go off. Having scored a second goal though, Benitez had a change of heart and told Lucas to put his top back on. He called Gerrard over, and a brief conversation ensued. It was fairly obvious Rafa had told him he had five minutes to get his hat-trick, and it’s a mark of how good a player he is that five minutes later he banged in a screamer before leaving the field for a well earned rest.

Torres and Crouch had also left the field, and without those three any hope I had of collecting on that bet went out the window. In truth, when Gerrard went off the game died a bit. Kuyt had a couple of chances, but the way things are going for him at the moment he was never going to score. He's having a nightmare season.

It would have been nice to have really humiliated Luton, as I’ve still got a beef with them going way back to the plastic pitch, away fan ban and not showing up for games. Throw in the incident with Carra last week, booing Carra’s kid (who was mascot for this game) and the unintentionally ironic ‘we pay your benefits’ chants, and 5-0 just isn’t enough.

“We pay your benefits” Fuck off, you can’t even pay your own players’ wages, you’re relying on OUR GATE RECEIPTS to be able to do that. And now you’re turning to Nick Owen to save you, a man who spent most of his career in the shadow of Ann Diamond, Rusty Lee and the Green Goddess. Mind you, I’d probably take Nick Owen over the two idiots we’ve been saddled with.

Star man was easy. Gerrard was a class above everyone. Babel had some good moments but needs to do a bit more, Pennant played very well but yet again didn’t provide even the tiniest goal threat, and Arbeloa had a good game after a rare off day at the weekend.

It was fitting that Carragher’s 500th appearance saw the defence keep a clean sheet, and here’s to the next 500!


Team: Itandje; Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise; Pennant, Gerrard (Lucas), Alonso, Babel; Torres (Kuyt), Crouch (Aurelio):