Liverpool Res 0 Forest Res 0 (Sep 1 2004)

[dave u]

LIVERPOOL RES 0 Forest Res 0

Report by Dave Usher at the Racecourse Ground

Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0-0 Venue - The Racecourse Ground Date - Wed 1 Sep 2004 Star Man - David Raven

 

 

 

 

 

Three games, no wins, no goals. It's not been the best of starts for the reds' second string this season. The 1-0 defeats to Man City and Middlesboro were disappointing, but even though Hughie McAuley's side picked up their first point of the new campaign against Forest, this was perhaps the worst performance so far, especially given that the visitors had to play the last half hour with only ten men after their keeper was sent off.

In the previous two outings, the reds had struggled due to the lack of an out and out striker. Tonight though saw the return to action of reserve team goal king Neil Mellor a six week layoff, but not even his presence could lift the team from their early season slumber.

Richie Partridge also returned to action after nine months on the sidelines with a serious knee injury, whilst Djimi Traore, Stephen Warnock and Igor Biscan also started against a youthful Forest side with no senior players on view.

The visitors should have taken the lead in the first minute, when an error by the otherwise flawless Zak Whitbread allowed Forest striker Sam Litchfield a sight of goal from only a few yards out, but the youngster put it wide.

After that the reds took control, and in the early part of the game looked dangerous. Partridge was spritely on his return, and linked up very well with the rampaging Otsemobor, who was flying forward at every opportunity early on. You won't find a quicker duo anywhere, and Forest were struggling to deal with them,

'Semmy' had already got himself into several good positions before he almost opened the scoring on the ten minute mark. Having ventured forward, he found the ball fell at his feet on the edge of the box, but his powerful left footed drive just cleared the bar.

Seconds later, a poor clearance by visiting keeper Ian Deakin was seized upon by Biscan, but his low shot from 18 yards rolled inches wide of the post.

After this early flurry, the reds found it hard to create any chances of note. Smyth was proving to be a handful for his marker, and several times he escaped down the left and put crosses in, but no-one was able to get on the end of them.

Luzi needed to make a routine stop from a volley by Litchfield before he was fortunate to see the ball drift wide when he was beaten to a cross by Forest skipper James Perch.

The best opportunity of the half came when Liverpool were awarded an indirect free kick near the penalty spot when Deakin inexplicably dived on a backpass under pressure from Mellor, but the striker failed to capitalise on the opportunity, blasting the set piece over the bar.

Despite enjoying plenty of the ball, Liverpool struggled to turn their possession into chances. Mellor and Smyth seemed to get in each others way when trying to get on the end of a superb right wing cross from Otsemobor, and there were a few shots from distance which didn't trouble Deakin, but that was it.

Biscan had done reasonably well in the first half, but really should be showing a lot more than this if he's to challenge for a place in the first team. The watching Rafa Benitez can't have been impressed with this, and in the second half he was very poor.

Traore had played centre back in the first half, and had been relatively untroubled. After the break he switched to left back, presumably so Benitez could have more of a look at him after Djimi missed most of pre-season.

The Frenchman was willing, and showed a good attitude and willingness to get forward, but one wonderful cross aside, he made little headway. He did however manage one of his now trademark nutmegs in his own half too, which raised a chuckle or two.

Forest were reduced to ten men just before the hour, when Deakin handled outside his area to deny Mellor. A red card was inevitable, although it was more a case of the keeper losing his bearings than a deliberate act of foul play.

Forest withdrew a striker to send on substitute keeper Paddy Gamble, and the reds suddenly began to show more urgency, obviously smelling blood after Deakin's dismissal.

Smyth had the reds best opportunities, but was unable to work the new keeper. First he shot wide after being set up by Mellor, then he headed over from Traore's superb centre, before finally shooting wide from distance once more after a good run.

Mellor had a 'goal' ruled out for offside, although to be fair the keeper made no attempt to stop it having heard the whistle, but the reds never really looked like making any breakthrough on a very disappointing night.

In fact, Forest had a couple of opportunities of their own late on. Perch volleyed just over from 25 yards following a corner, and Hughes hit the side netting after Otsemobor had gifted him possession.

All in all it was a very poor display, with few positives to take from it. It's good to see Partridge back, and he did very well taking into account how long he's been out for.

Mellor will be better off for having got this ninety minutes behind him, although he looked very rusty, especially in the first half. He improved after the break and his link up play was much better.

Selecting a star man was difficult as it was such a poor team performance. Warnock worked hard and was decent, Smyth put a lot of effort in and looked the most likely to break the deadlock, whilst Otsemobor had some good moments as well as some poor ones.

The reds best performers were in defence, where Whitbread was excellent in the centre, and David Raven never put a foot wrong throughout, whether it was at left back in the first half, or in the centre after the break.

I went for Raven in the end, who whilst not overworked, did everything he had to do with the minimum of fuss and was quietly effective.



Team: Patrice Luzi; Jon Otsemobor, David Raven, Zak Whitbread, Djimi Traore; Richie Partridge (Ryan Wilkie), Igor Biscan, David Mannix, Stephen Warnock; Neil Mellor, Mark Smyth:



Agree or Disagree? Email me at dave@liverpoolway.co.uk