Things are most definitely on the up. It may not have been vintage, but any time we pick up three points at home to Leicester it's cause for celebration. The Foxes have so often proved to be the reds bogey side, but a goal in each half by Michael Owen and Emile Heskey gave Houllier's side their first home win of the season, although a late strike by Marcus Bent ensured it was a nervous finale.

Houllier started with the expected line up, with Emile Heskey and John Arne Riise replacing long term injury victims Milan Baros and Jamie Carragher. Danny Murphy returned to the subs bench after missing the game at Ewood Park last week.

Much has been made of the reds recent new found attacking prowess, and following the exceptional displays at Goodison and Ewood, many will have been expecting to see Leicester dispatched in an avalanche of goals.

Perhaps predictably, it never worked out like that, but given Leicester's track record at Anfield, any victory is a good one. Liverpool played a lot of good stuff without hitting the heights they did last week at Blackburn, but they were full value for the win and it should have been more convincing.

This game was similar in a lot of ways to the one with Spurs a few weeks ago. A lot of good exciting approach play, but all too often it came to nothing and broke down at the edge of the opposing penalty area.

It all started promisingly enough, with Kewell, Smicer and Diouf all prominent early on and Owen looking sharp. Kewell stung Walker's palms with a volley after a corner wasn't properly cleared, and then went close with a clever glancing header.

Diouf was tormenting his marker, but struggled to produce an end product. If he wasn't trying to walk the ball in he was guilty of some wayward shooting. He's great to watch though and is providing us with the sort of individual flair and unpredictability which we all hoped he would when he joined after his excellent showing in the World Cup in 2002.

Owen thought he'd given the reds the lead on 18 minutes when Smicer's cross fell kindly for him in the area. Walker dived to his right, but Michael totally scuffed his shot which looked to have left the keeper completely helpless. Fortunately for the ex Spurs man, he managed to snake out a boot and deflect the ball back up into his arms.

Half of the stadium thought it was a goal, myself included, and it was only upon seeing the TV replays later that night that I saw exactly what had happened. It was actually a pretty bad miss by Michael, but it's nice to see him getting chances so regularly now.

Two minutes later and Owen was involved in the move which would eventually see him convert a penalty after a foul on Smicer. Owen picked up the ball from deep and ran at the Leicester defence. He eluded two challenges before he was crudely brought down by the third just outside the box.

Ref Mark Halsey saw that Vladi had picked up possession however, so played the advantage. A second later and Vladi was hacked down by either Taggart or Thatcher and Halsey was pointing to the spot.

Jamie Carragher revealed in the latest issue of TLW (cheap shameless plug there!) that he's told Michael to go back to his old way of taking pens, which is to go to the keepers left. He succeeded at Blackburn last week using that method, and it paid off again here as Ian Walker went the wrong way and Michael rolled it into his favourite corner.

The lead was no more than the reds deserved, but rather than kick on fron that and take Leicester to the cleaners, they seemed to go into their shells somewhat. It's been one of the most frustrating aspects of watching Liverpool under Houllier, and it shows no signs of going away.

Whether it's down to management instructions, or just the players taking their foot off the gas I have no idea, but it would be nice to see a home performance where the side actually attacked for ninety minutes. With the current adventurous midfield line up, that shouldn't be too much to ask really.

Following the opening goal, Ian Walker was barely tested, despite Liverpool dominating possession and playing some excellent football up until they reached the final third. Leicester didn't exactly pose much of a threat, although Dickov and Bent did have a couple of half decent openings which they failed to make the most of.

The reds took a while to get going in the second half, but had a great chance to double the lead twenty minutes in when Kewell showed great pace to burst clear down the left wing, and then fizzed across a fantastic cross which was simply begging a team-mate to get on the end of. Unfortunately Owen and Heskey had both made similar runs and neither could get there.

Minutes later came the best chance of the half, when Gerrard capitalised on hesitancy in the visitors rearguard and charged through onto a loose ball. He beat Walker to the ball, but didn't connect properly and hit the ball into the ground, then watched in frustration as it bounced agonisingly over the bar. It looked like Walker got a touch, but Halsey gave a goal-kick.

With 17 minutes to go, Walker made a smart save from Owen's stinging shot, and then reacted quickly to block Kewell's follow up effort as the reds looked to kill the game off. Finally the pressure was beginning to build as the reds built up a head of steam attacking the Kop end, and with 15 minutes to go the second goal arrived.

Kewell dinked a ball over the back line which Owen latched onto. Michael then fed Diouf, who powered into the box from the right before sending in a delicious cross which Heskey met at full stretch with the studs of his left boot to direct the ball into the far corner.

Smicer was subbed for Murphy, and then Le Tallec replaced Diouf as Houllier looked to introduce fresh legs to the midfield. Le Tallec almost scored with his first touch, an excellent header which sailed narrowly wide, and hopefully we'll see more of the young Frenchman soon. He got five minutes today, but surely he'll feature more prominently in the UEFA Cup this week.

Bent replied with a consolation goal in the final minute, when Riise failed to track his run and he blasted emphatically past Dudek, but the reds held on to pick up a valuable three points.

I went for Gerrard as star man, as I thought he was excellent from start to finish, whereas some other players blew hot and cold. Diouf had another impressive game, and I really like Steve Finnan, who just does his job with the minimum of fuss. He isn't eye catching, but he's steady and very under-rated. A bit like Dennis Irwin used to be for the mancs.

So that's three wins in a row now, and the side up to sixth in the table. I still don't see us competing with the mancs, Chelsea or the Arse, but given Newcastle's horrendous start, we should be fancying our chances of claiming that fourth spot.

Whether or not that is good enough for this club is another debate, but I'll be happy enough if we continue with the attacking formation and playing good football. The last few weeks have been encouraging, let's hope it lasts.

 

Team: Jerzy Dudek; Steve Finnan, Sami Hyypia, Igor Biscan, John Arne Riise; El Hadji Diouf (Anthony Le Tallec), Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer (Danny Murphy), Harry Kewell; Emile Heskey, Michael Owen:

 

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