The View From the Armchair
The reds got their UEFA Cup campaign off to a less than convincing start with a disappointing draw against Slovenian part timers Olimpija, needing a Michael Owen header 11 minutes from time to prevent them slipping to an embarrassing defeat.
Owen became the clubs all time leading goalscorer in European competition, beating Ian Rush's record of 20 goals. Owen could now go on to set a record that no-one will ever get near providing he signs a new deal and stays at Anfield for the next few years.
It's on nights like these when you realise just how far away the UEFA Cup is from the Champions League. Not only were we playing a team we'd never heard of, we were on channel five, the home of the pre-season friendly and Mickey Mouse European game.
John Barnes is their new frontman, and much as I love Digger I just don't think he's cut out for it. He's no Gary Lineker put it that way. As a pundit, Barnesy is ace, but I'm not sure he's up to doing the presenter bit.
Besides, he's wasted doing that. With him as the presenter, Pat fucking Nevin is left as the 'expert'!! May I humbly suggest to Channel Five that they get some stiff in the Richard Keys mould to present the show, and let Barnesy get back to sharing his wisdom with us as a pundit. Then they can ditch Nevin, and Houghton for that matter. As for Jonathan Pearce, I'm not his biggest fan but at least he's not Barry Davies, John Motson or Martin Tyler. Or even worse, Clive "That famous night in Barcelona" Tyldesley.
But anyway, back to the game. With Diouf suspended, Houllier took the opportunity to hand Anthony Le Tallec his full debut. Steven Gerrard was rested to give Danny Murphy a game, whilst Steve Finnan was also left out to give Salif Diao a rare start.
The pitch wasn't great, but you come to expect that when you face the minnows of Europe. Olimpija had only just eased past Shelbourne in the previous round, and should have posed no threat to the reds. But with tickets to sell for the return leg only the extremely naïve would have been expecting a big Liverpool win.
This scoreline ensures that there's still everything to play for in the return at Anfield, meaning that the game will most likely be played to a near capacity crowd. Mission accomplished then? Maybe I'm being too cynical, but a team of this standard should not be drawing with Liverpool.
It all began brightly enough for the reds, with Smicer very prominent and Le Tallec looking to get involved at every opportunity. The young French star should have given his side the lead on 14 minutes when he collected Smicer's pass and set himself for a shot, only to blast it high over the bar.
Houllier's plan to rest Gerrard went up in smoke a minute later, as Murphy was forced to leave the field with a dead leg, with Stevie coming on as his replacement. It's not been the best start to the season for Danny, although thankfully this injury isn't serious and he should be in contention for Sunday's game at the Valley.
Owen had a goal chalked off for offside, after he'd followed up a rebound when the keeper could only parry Diao's shot, and the keeper did well to deny Biscan and the lively Smicer.
The second half saw the reds come out really looking as though they meant business. Kewell's curling free-kick was wonderfully saved by Mavric, and the keeper then denied Gerrard with another brilliant stop. Liverpool were totally dominant at this point, yet found themselves a goal down on 65 minutes when a shot crashed back off Dudek's post, and fell nicely into the path of Zlogar, who sidefooted into the empty net.
Suddenly the reds were facing huge embarrassment, but as he has so often done in the past, Michael Owen came to the rescue, heading home Riise's left wing cross.
It wasn't a great performance by the reds, but it's only half time and with the second leg to come at Anfield, it would take a very brave man to bet against Liverpool going through.
I went for Smicer as the star man, because basically there was no-one else who stood out. Vladi was the main threat from start to finish, and is revelling in the central role which he has excelled in at international level for so long.
Stevie G did well when he came on, as did Finnan who made an immediate impact when he replaced Diao. It was nice to see John Welsh get on as well, even if it was only for about five minutes. If we can get a couple of early goals in the second leg, maybe we'll see more of Welsh in the second leg, as well as Pongolle perhaps.
Liverpool: Jerzy Dudek; Salif Diao (Steve Finnan), Igor Biscan, Sami Hyypia, John Arne Riise; Danny Murphy (Stevie Gerrard), Anthony Le Tallec (John Welsh), Vladimir Smicer, Harry Kewell; Emile Heskey, Michael Owen:
