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Liverpool
Red Diary - part 7
Joel Rookwood
Last Saturday saw Liverpool in a more bread and butter fixture at home to newly promoted West Bromwich Albion, following the glamorous midweek encounter in Valencia. The collection of fat, balding, heavily tattooed West Brom fans decked out in blue and white scattered around Liverpool before the game were the antithesis of the longhaired Spanish equivalent found around the Mestalla stadium last Tuesday, and they were equally dissimilar in terms of playing styles adopted by their respective teams.
West Brom seemed incapable of stringing three passes together, and in truth look like a side destined for relegation, a fact their fans obviously realise as they take every opportunity to fill their allocation at Premiership grounds. Their bouncing masses were witness to the first breakthrough, when Keeper Russell Hoult brought down Michael Owen in the box in possibly the least subtle foul the Anfield Road stand has ever witnessed. "Hoult would have been sent off in a rugby league match for a tackle like that," admitted the ever-honest WBA boss Gary Megson after the game. The keeper was subsequently granted an early bath, and lifelong Liverpool fan and former Tranmere Rovers keeper Joe Murphy was faced with the unenviable task of facing Owen from twelve yards in the resultant spot kick. He needn't have worried as true to form, Owen produced a woeful effort, easily saved by the rookie keeper, marking his sixth miss from the last twelve spot kicks. Owen's world class, but please don't let him take penalties.
However despite the penalty miss, with West Brom faced with an hour's football with only ten men, it was always likely that they would fail to sustain the pace of the game. And so it proved ten minutes after half time, when Milan Baros struck his third goal in two Premiership games, with a well-placed header from a pinpoint cross courtesy of the much-improved Steven Gerrard. From that moment on Liverpool were in full command.
With Liverpool dominating proceedings, the plight of the goal shy Midlanders
wasn't aided by Referee David Elleray, who failed to award them a penalty
kick after a clumsy Sami Hyypia challenge. Megson claimed afterwards "It's
been about forty-five years since a penalty has been given against Liverpool
at the Kop end." I think he has a point. His West Brom side however, were
destined to leave without any. Owen may have missed a penalty, but Houllier
is right to be pleased with his contribution throughout, which culminated
in the excellent control of an injury time Danny Murphy cross, which the
number ten subsequently laid off for Riise who made no mistake from fifteen
yards to render the victory more comprehensive. At last
As
five o'clock drew near on Wednesday evening, we made our way to Liverpool's
more touristy bars, in search of the Basel fans who had travelled from
Switzerland. Predictably Matthew Street proved a good place to start,
as a small crowd of enormous German speaking men were gathered in Flanagan's
apple on the world famous street. We encouraged them to perform one of
their songs, and once they could translate our request they duly obliged.
For the next half hour a singing competition transpired between the Swiss
and the Scouse. Each would listen to their opponents' entries, applaud
and then attempt to come up with something better. It kept us amused until
we left for Anfield, where the Albert pub was quieter than I have ever
seen it.
The atmosphere on the Kop was only marginally better, as we watched our Liverpool side perform admirably against the Swiss champions without Hamman and Henchoz, two vital cogs of the Liverpool machine. Milan Baros opened the scoring on thirty-three minutes latching on to a through ball from Emile Heskey, after which we took the remainder of the first half by the scruff of the neck. Basel were disciplined, but we looked menacing.
Despite our commanding first half performance, however, just before the break we were dealt a sucker punch when Christian Gross' side drew level through Rossi, following an uncharacteristic mistake from Jamie Carragher. It seemed a travesty of justice that we went in at the interval without the lead after dominating the first half. We were denied on numerous occasions by a combination of the woodwork, a well-drilled defence and heroic goalkeeping from Zuberbuhler. The Swiss side were far more impressive in the second half, as we seemed to run out of ideas. In truth though the game should have been won by half time.
The media claimed afterwards that we face an uphill struggle if we are to ensure qualification for the second stage, a notion to which I certainly don't subscribe. Valencia are a good side and will undoubtedly top the group, but neither Basel or Spartak Moscow are good enough to finish ahead of the Mighty Reds. Liverpool's 100th European encounter failed to produce the desired result, but I'm confident that come November 13th we will have booked our place in the last sixteen of Europe's premier competition.
Travel arrangements for last Saturday's trip to Manchester City weren't aided by a one-day rail strike, so England's National Express coach service had to do the honours and transport us down the M62 to Manchester. The city that recently hosted the Commonwealth games is not a place renowned for welcoming Liverpool folk. To those of you unfamiliar with local politics in England, Mancunians and Liverpudlians are not the best of friends. There have been televised debates, books written, and documentaries, all attempting to explain the rivalry. So as a football fan from one city, you know when you travel to the other, you have to have your wits about you.
For this game however the City fans were as welcoming as we could have expected in the ageing pubs surrounding the ground prior to kick off. With the Blue half of Manchester due to take up residence in the brand new Manchester stadium as of next season, this served as our last opportunity to visit the famous, though slightly dilapidated, Maine Road ground. It was to prove a memorable occasion.
Former Liverpool player Nicolas Anelka was desperate to prove a point in this game, after Gerard Houllier turned down the opportunity to sign the player on a permanent contract in the summer. Fortunately the Liverpool defence denied him the chance of making any real impact on the match, with the game instead belonging to one man.
Michael Owen hasn't enjoyed the greatest scoring form so far this season, but to echo my reaction to his previous performances this season, his general contribution has been more than adequate. Owen's first goal was handed to him on a plate by Man City's generous back four, 'defending' in the mould of every Keegan side - i.e. pathetically. A mix up in the six-yard box left Owen with a gilt-edged chance, which he couldn't fail to convert. One of the reasons Owen hasn't scored of late is because the kind of chances he's been presented with have granted the England striker an embarrassing length of time to hit the target.
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To get off the mark he needed a goal poacher's chance, an opportunity where he had no time to think - just react. His first goal on Saturday involved just that, as he reacted instinctively to the chance presented to him. His relief was almost palpable, and from that instant he looked a confident man destined to add to his tally. As Liverpool sat back, inviting City to attack, huge holes began to appear in their shaky defence, and just after the hour mark, Owen bagged his second after a sublime through ball from Steven Gerard. The two England internationals combined in similar fashion for Owen's third, which saw Liverpool break from their own dead ball line to score in the space of six seconds. Liverpool have been creative but not clinical of late, so this result was certainly pleasing. And despite the fact we still haven't really got going yet, we're only two points off the pace in the league, and look destined to challenge Arsenal right to the wire.
As Liverpool left Maine Road for the last time, City's fans were keen to give us a proper Mancunian send off. The infamous Kippax area of the ground, not for the first time, was the venue of rioting fans. It's never pretty leaving Manchester grounds, but when you've humiliated their team, ensuing trouble is simply guaranteed. After witnessing the battle for an hour or so, the police eventually decided to defuse the situation, adopting some fairly brutal tactics, before escorting us to the train station. We got out alive, and save a few cuts and bruises no Liverpool fans seem to have sustained any injuries. Goodbye Maine Road, you won't be missed.
The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by Soccerphile Ltd.
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