Lack of goals only worry

PREMIERSHIP: Liverpool 0 - Tottenham 0The grumbling will continue on the phone-ins, the dissatisfaction among those who were not present last night creeping inexorably into Saturday's eagerly awaited spat across Stanley Park, but Gerard Houllier can take heart from this. At some stage, promise will prompt reward.

The blank scoreline suggests this was all grind though the reality is far rosier. Liverpool and Tottenham may be spluttering in front of goal, but neither is hindered by a lack of panache. Here was all the vim and verve demanded by Houllier and the Kop; here too was enough to suggest the Londoners are progressing. All that was lacking was goals, though the suspicion remains that they, too, will come in time.

Fear might have demanded a cautious approach - a criticism levelled at Liverpool on a weekly basis these days. Instead, desire whipped up a rip-roaring contest.

The overhaul instigated by Houllier - a quartet of injured or off-colour players made way from those who had misfired at Aston Villa on Sunday - at last freed Harry Kewell to maraud from a central berth even if he showed fleeting glimpses of the verve and vision Liverpool have long craved. At least Vladimir Smicer and El Hadji Diouf were eager runners at the Australian's side.

When Michael Owen floated in a centre, Dean Richards leapt to deny Kewell from under the crossbar.

Glenn Hoddle's side were clearly perked up by Saturday's victory over Leeds and in the irrepressible Rohan Ricketts arguably had the game's brightest player. Played onside by Igor Biscan - too often befuddled on the rare occasions he is selected - the 20-year-old ex-Arsenal trainee forced Jerzy Dudek to turn aside with the re-bound marginally evading Bobby Zamora.

The former Brighton forward was ever eager to muscle his way among home defenders, his nod-down prompting Helder Postiga's acrobatic volley which Dudek tipped behind. The miss summed up the finishing, the profligacy a shoddy way to reward the slick rhythm to which both sides ticked, the reassuring figures of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Redknapp the metronomes dictating amidst the attacking frenzy.

At the former's release, Kewell seared forward - notably drifting to the left flank to which he is so loathe to be restricted - to force Keller to claim.

Ricketts, all pesky twists and turns to flummox Biscan, prompted panic whenever wriggling into space yet any threat of a breakthrough was strangled.

LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Finnan, Biscan, Hyypia, Carragher, Diouf, Gerrard, Kewell, Smicer (Murphy 72), Owen, Baros. Subs Not Used: Kirkland, Diao, Riise, Le Tallec. Booked: Diouf, Finnan.

TOTTENHAM: Keller, Gardner, Richards, King, Carr, Davies, Redknapp, Ricketts, Taricco, Zamora (Kanoute 66), Postiga (Anderton 86). Subs Not Used: Sullivan, Bunjevcevic, Marney. Booked: Redknapp, Richards, Carr, King, Gardner.

Referee: U Rennie (S Yorkshire).