On the surface it doesn't look good being held to a draw by the team that's bottom of the table does it? Any team with ambitions of Champions League ambitions should not be dropping points to the sides at the bottom of the table, yet we do it constantly.
Wolves, Portsmouth, Man City, Everton and now Leeds have all managed to take points of the reds this season, which goes a long way to explaining why we're almost thirty points behind leaders Arsenal. We should be beating teams like Leeds, but there are times when I think you just have to give some credit to the opposition, and this is one of those times.
Leeds were full value for their point, and if they play like this for the rest of the season they'll definitely retain their Premiership status. Whilst the reds could have won had they been a bit more clinical, they could also quite easily have lost, and no-one can begrudge Leeds their point. In Alan Smith they had the game's most impressive performer by a mile, and if he and Viduka stay fit they'll give anyone problems.
They were certainly too good for Sami and Steph, who struggled from first minute to last to keep the Leeds attack quiet. Even after Smith was forced off, Leeds could have won it at the death but for a goal-line clearance from Finnan.
Defeat would have been incredibly harsh on the reds, who played some good stuff going forward and showed a much more positive approach than we've seen of late. For the neutral, this must have been one hell of a game. Even I really enjoyed it, which is something of a rarity this season (and last). It was hugely entertaining and I'd take this kind of game over most of the dross we've seen this campaign any day.
The atmosphere in the away end wasn't bad either. Predictably, after the positive publicity of Thursday night's public show of support (sympathy?) for GH, there was a chorus of "Allez Allez" prior to kick off.
Having seen the teamsheet before kick off, and noticed the presence of you know who back on the subs bench, I had a wry chuckle at this backing of Le Boss. No doubt those singing his name now would be cursing him later when the number eight comes lumbering onto the field later, and so it would prove.
Quite why anyone was surprised later on when the superb Baros was brought off to accommodate the club record signing I'm not sure. When he's available, Houllier always finds a way to get him on the field at some point. If he's on the bench, he'll get on. You can set your watch by it.
Other than the introduction of H*skey, Houllier got it right against Leeds. He picked the right team, they went out with an attacking intent which has so often been lacking, and at times we played some excellent football. True, many players were below par, but there is nothing Houllier can do about that.
Take the centre of defence for example. It's not oversimplifying things to say that Liverpool didn't win this game because our central defenders were comprehensively outplayed by Leeds' front two. It's true that we also wasted some glorious goalscoring opportunities, but we scored twice and had Sami and Steph won their personal battles, we'd have the three points.
It was clear from the opening exchanges that this game was not going to be a low scoring dull affair. We needed to win, and they needed to win even more than we did. Buoyed by their draw at Old Trafford the previous week, the home side looked anything but a bottom of the table outfit.
Yet it all started so well for the reds. Kewell, who's every touch was predictably booed by the fans who once adored him, put his new employers in front with a goal of sublime quality, and the Aussie also managed to retain the high moral ground with his low key celebrations.
Gerrard and Kewell were slicing the Leeds defence open regularly, and the strong running Baros was a constant danger. The reds were in control, and looked set for a comfortable victory. But as we've seen so often this season, the initiative was lost, and so was the lead.
This time though, the ascendency was not surrendered due to negativetactics, it was wrestled away by the determination of the opposition. Led by the irrepressable Smith, the Yorkshiremen shrugged off the early setback of conceding a goal to the last player on the pitch they'd want to see on the scoresheet, and hit back with two quickfire goals to get their noses in front.
Both goals should have been avoided from a Liverpool point of view. The equaliser was particularly bad. Smith was allowed to win a header unchallenged, and then Pennant nipped in behind Carragher before squaring to Bakke who prodded the ball past the helpless Kirkland.
The centre halves need to look at themselves for not cleaning out the initial header, whilst Carragher and Kewell between them lost Pennant. The on loan Arsenal winger looked very lively early on, and gave Carragher a couple of uncomfortable moments in the opening few minutes before the reds most reliable defender got to grips with him and snuffed out the threat.
Unfortunately Henchoz and Hyypia couldn't follow Carragher's lead and were never at ease throughout the contest. It was Henchoz who erred for the second goal, misdirecting his header straight to Smith, and then failing to get back in time to stop Viduka latching onto his strike partner's first time return pass.
Kirkland too should have done better, as he was slow coming off his line which allowed the portly Aussie to get to the ball with enough time to comfortably lob the ball over the giant Liverpool keeper.
Given all what has happened to the reds this season, few would have been surprised to see Leeds hold on for the victory, or even extend their lead. But Houllier's side didn't panic, and continued to play some good attacking stuff.
Baros levelled the scores with a goal of sublime quality, beating two men on the edge of the box before arrowing a shot into the far corner of Paul Robinson's net. Minutes later he crashed a header against the bar after a great ball from Gerrard, but the half ended all square.
The second half wasn't as explosive as the first, but there was no shortage of goalmouth incident. For the reds, Owen saw a header brilliantly saved by Robinson after being teed up by Kewell, and then shot tamely at the keeper with his left foot when Baros was perfectly placed for a cut back. I was sat on the front row right in the middle of the goal, and the Czech strriker's disgust was plain to see.
Michael just isn't firing at the moment. It's been suggested by many that he's not bothered and has already made his mind up to leave. I don't believe that for a second, I just think he's very low on confidence. He's been through spells like this before, and he always comes through them.
His partnership with Baros looks very promising, at least it does on the rare occasions they actually pass to eachother. Much work is needed on the training ground, but if both players can start working together instead of just using the others' clever running merely as a decoy before going it alone, then it could be as good as anything out there.
The Leeds front two on the other hand worked extremely well with eachother, but Smith's selfless play means he could form an effective partnership with anyone. Like him or loathe him, and lets face it, for most non Leeds fans its the latter, you have to give credit for his display against the reds.
Smith isn't that big, he's not that quiick and to look at him you wouldn't believe he'd be able to physically dominate the likes of Hyypia. Yet he did. He won headers, he held the ball up and he played a part in both goals. He also came within a lick of paint of winning the game when his flying header came back off the underside of the bar.
Compare Smith with our number eight, who does have all the physical tools, yet never produces a performance as effective as that which Smith turned in against the reds.
The big difference between the two can be summed up in one word - heart. Smith, for all his nigglyness and past disciplinary problems, is as committed a footballer as you'll find, and if Leeds are forced to cash in on him then we should be at the front of the queue trying to acquire his services. The expected arrival of Djibril Cisse makes that unlikely, but if Smith was available for £4m or so, I'd take him.
The Leeds talisman had been on the treatment table all week, and was a major doubt for the game, but he insisted on playing through the pain. H*skey returned to the bench after crying off from the Sofia game with a 'bad back'.
He replaced Baros to a chorus of boos from the away end, and immediately took up a position in midfield. Whether he was ordered to do that, or if it just comes natural these days I don't know.
Mind you, to be fair the midfield was a man light all afternoon, as Murphy had another of his off days. Danny started on the right, but just couldn't get into the game. In the second half, he switched with Gerrard and moved to the centre, presumably so we'd finally have some kind of attacking threat down the right. He improved slightly, but the Danny Murphy of last season has still to show his face this year.
Steve Finnan also continues to frustrate. Earlier in the season I described him as quietly effective. After closer examination I'm just think that he's distinctly average. He's not especially bad at anything, but he's not that good either.
He's neat and tidy in possession, but he's not the best defender (although I'm not saying he's bad defender by any means) and his crossing is poor. He's not the attacking full back we were led to believe he was, and for all the criticism of Carragher and his limitations going forward, he's offering far more in an attacking sense than Finnan is.
Thankfully Kewell was back to something like his best, clearly boosted by his terriffic goal against Sofia the other night. Hopefully he can maintain this form from now until the end of the season.
Newcastle's draw with Portsmouth means that not too much damage was done by this result, but if that fourth spot is to be achieved then no more points can afford to be dropped against relegation strugglers. With games to come against Wolves and Leicester, it's imperative that the reds can cut out the defensive lapses and become more clinical at the other end.
Team: Chris Kirkland; Steve Finnan, Stephane Henchoz, Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher; Danny Murphy, Steven Gerrard, Didi Hamann, Harry Kewell; Michael Owen, Milan Baros (E*ile H*skey):
