Solid defence is laying platform for progress
Sep 19 2005
By David Prior, Daily Post
RUSS ABBOTT was in the directors' box at Anfield yesterday, and given the poverty of entertainment on display against United there was a real danger of him being summoned from retirement.
Surely it's not betraying too much of a nostalgia for 1980s comedy to suggest that a quick reprise of the red-faced Scotsman, or even an appearance by a Roly Poly, would have held the crowd's attention with more success. And they're two of Abbott's characters, by the way, not Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney.
This encounter's first goalless draw for 14 years was a dull headache of a match, one that arrived with a high billing but departed without leaving a moment memorable enough to outlast the final blow of Rob Styles's whistle. To continue the analogy, it died on its feet.
In so doing, it pumped more ammunition into many scribes' already cocked pens. The charge presently doing the rounds, after all, is the one that accuses the Premier-ship of being boring; of encouraging tactics of such fun-syphoning negativity that stadiums around the country are emptying quicker than Freddie Flintoff's first pint.
And after a result that further diminishes Chelsea's silhouette on the horizon, the case for the prosecution is, for many, ever more convincing.
But is Rafael Benitez bothered? Not in the slightest. For him, the most significant statistic of the season so far is not Chelsea's 18 points or even his own side's one goal from four games.
It's the statistic confirming that after 360 minutes of Premiership action, Pepe Reina is yet to concede a goal - or even,, indeed, have a save to make of any consequence.
Compare that with last season - after facing United on virtually the same day last September, Liverpool could boast just one clean sheet from five games.
So there's progress. Not in the entertainment stakes, of course, but Benitez's grasp of English probably already includes that cliche about there being few points awarded for entertainment.
And it's a kind of progress that shouldn't be understated - United barely had a shot yesterday, with the few chances they did have deriving mostly from set-pieces.
Just as at White Hart Lane last week, the back four were immense.
Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia, at the centre, have a growing sense of inpenetrability about them. Without the former's saving first-half tackle, Ruud van Nistelrooy would have been clean through on goal.
Stephen Warnock overcame an early dose of nerves to help limit Cristiano Ronaldo to a skilful but largely impotent performance. Rooney, meanwhile, was jostled and harangued into his least influential game of the season.
Such increasingly firm foundations, Benitez hopes, will soon be glossed by more entertainment - or in other words, the goals.
Ah yes, goals. Four games in, and just a solitary Xabi Alonso goal in the league.
And while it's still far too early to panic - the blanks have come at two tricky away destinations and against United at home, after all - it's not too early to earmark some clear areas for concern. Alonso, for one. The sublime distributor of last season is, on present viewing, nothing of the sort. At least four times during the opening half he sprayed wildly wide of intended red shirts, with one pbutt for Luis Garcia flying high over the Spaniard's head and into the stands.
Post-interval he improved only marginally, and if Liverpool are to thread their attacking movement with more cohesiveness, Alonso must rediscover his radar.
Garcia, too, was again disappointingly flimsy. It's not the case that he seems to reserve his best form for European competition; more that his game and physique is patently illsuited to the kind of fierce domestic battle that yesterday's contest was always going to be.
And while Peter Crouch's early form has been encouraging, Liverpool must learn how to make the most of his unique threat - at times yesterday, he was cut adrift to such an extent that support often arrived too late to be of any use.
His height, too, must be complemented by a greater willingness from the player to dominate defenders - he's virtually unplayable when he does.
Five times, we've won it five times' was the chant that made yesterday a thoroughly satisfying experience for the majority at Anfield, for all the disappointment of the game itself.
But as Steven Gerrard reminded before the game, it's still the domestic fulfilment he seeks above all else. The closing of a gap between Liverpool and the top three, the size of which he patently regards with deep embarrbuttment.
On yesterday's evidence, and the form of this campaign so far, that gap will close this year. But for Liverpool to really begin to challenge the leading trio, they must discard some of the caution that is restricting their ambition.
Surely goals will then begin to flow - even if the 'against' column isn't quite so pristine - and Russ Abbott, for one, can stay firmly in retirement.
