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 Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 7:37 pm Post subject: Liverpool 0 Portsmouth 0 |
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November 30, 2006
RAFA BENITEZ must have woken up this morning delighted the Anfield casualty list does not have another 11 names on it.
After all, it is not too often you spend an entire 90 minutes shooting yourself in the foot and not needing urgent medical attention.
As it is, the only surgery in demand around Liverpool right now is the injection needed to pump life back into a season which is turning into an ever-increasing nightmare.
Victory against Portsmouth, who last won here 55 years ago, and third place would have been theirs.
Instead it was another sorry tale of toil and trouble and — to be honest — very little else from Steven Gerrard and his men.
David James finally left his former employers with a clean sheet to his name, at the sixth time of asking.
And the fact that the Pompey keeper hardly had to make a save worthy of the name all night tells you everything.
His only real action was when he twice leapt to his feet to make decent stops to keep out Luis Garcia. If only he had been as smart on his toes going past that Exeter hairdresser’s!
Liverpool’s midfield injury woes have grown to such an extent that Jamie Carragher found himself pushed into the holding midfield role last night.
He went as close as anyone to breaking the deadlock as well, thumping a 20-yard drive a couple of feet past the post.
That was in the first minute. For the remaining 89, the Reds did not manage to get a whole lot closer, either.
Yes, skipper Gerrard once more did his best to drive his side forward, and went close on a couple of occasions with typical blockbusting drives.
And when his diving header rippled the net in stoppage time, half the Kop were on their feet at last — only problem was that it was on the wrong side of the target.
Manager Benitez said: “In these kinds of games I am always confident that we will score.
“We controlled the first half but got a bit nervous and made mistakes in the second. Maybe some players were a bit tired. We know we could have gone third. We tried but without success.”
In truth, Pompey were good value for their point.
Attacking-wise they may not have created a great deal but, marshalled by the rock-solid duo of Linvoy Primus and Sol Campbell at the back, they rarely looked like leaking anything.
Harry Redknapp said: “You’ve got to be pleased leaving here with a draw but, really, David James had nothing to do — it was a quiet night for him.
“The defence worked really hard and Sol hardly broke sweat, the way him and Linvoy were heading those balls away.”
Pompey could even afford the luxury of playing with 10 men for part of the desperate final minutes, as Campbell paced the touchline waiting for a replacement for his split boot.
Redknapp added: “I don’t know what happened, but I could just picture them scoring when he was off the pitch.”
The home side’s frustration was summed up by Jermaine Pennant’s yellow card, for a reckless lunge that saw referee Alan Wiley finally run out of patience.
By then the Kop already had. And when Pennant was eventually hauled off, it was to a chorus of cheers — not in appreciation but delight that he was being replaced.
So for Pompey the nosebleed-inducing heights of sitting among the top flight’s high-rollers goes on, though Redknapp is realistic enough to accept it will surely not last all season.
Liverpool now travel to Wigan on the back of another morale- sapping display.
Unfortunately for Benitez, it is rapidly becoming the story of the season.
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