Watford - 0 Liverpool - 3:For the best part of half-an-hour Liverpool's football was desperately disorganised as the players sorted out their manager Rafael Benitez' latest tactical wheeze. This involved playing Peter Crouch, Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy together up front for the first time, with four in midfield and three at the back.
Eventually, the plan worked well enough, but until John Arne Riise came off the bench for the last 13 minutes the team looked lopsided, for, while the advancing Steve Finnan gave Liverpool regular width on the right, Fabio Aurelio seemed so uncertain of his role on the left.
Liverpool did very little until they went ahead after 34 minutes. With Bellamy tightly marked by Jay DeMerit they posed little threat, although from the start Crouch was losing Malky Mackay with some ease. It was Crouch who forced Ben Foster to block a ball which ran to Finnan who set up Bellamy for a tap-in. Six minutes later Kuyt's nod forward set up Bellamy for a shot which the goalkeeper parried for Crouch to head in from the rebound.
Steven Gerrard's pass and Bellamy's centre created a second goal for Crouch three minutes into the second half and the rest was tediously one-sided and predictable.
Meanwhile, Liverpool anticipate receiving a formal bid worth around £450 million from Dubai International Capital (DIC) by the end of this week as the state-owned private equity firm conclude their period of due diligence and attempt to complete their takeover at Anfield.
The club's chief executive, Rick Parry, indicated yesterday that DIC were "finalising all the legal work" ahead of lodging their bid. The chairman David Moores, who owns 51.6 per cent of the club, will retain an honorary position of some kind at the club but sell his stake, with DIC then obliged under company law to make an offer to shareholders to buy the business.
They will require a 90 per cent stake to take the business private.
"A huge amount of work has been going on from both parts," said Parry. "I imagine we'll have something concrete to say relatively soon on that. They are finalising all the legal work."
He added: "It is looking positive and yes, I am confident (it will go through). They will certainly help take us to the next level. Their whole business model, with the new stadium at the centre, is based on success and that you have to invest to stay at the top."
Parry, who admitted Benitez rejected an approach from Real Madrid in the summer, anticipates the club strengthening the first-team squad in this month's transfer window. A written request has been submitted to Fifa to resolve the uncertainty over whether West Ham's Javier Mascherano can join the club on loan, while negotiations continue with Blackburn to secure their Australian defender Lucas Neill.
Guardian Service
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