Liverpool waiting for signs of revival

Group A/Liverpool - 0 Deportivo La Coruna: Life is an endless vigil for Liverpool. They wait for new investment and would settle for a windfall on the pitch. The break never arrived here, though, and, with openings squandered, they could not impose their will even against a moderate Deportivo la Coruna. Their prospects in Group A are still hard to discern.

Only nostalgia addicts still think of Anfield as a crucible of European football. The fans know better and if the old songs still ring out, there is also a tremor of worry in their minds. Liverpool went into this fixture as the only English side to have lost a match in this season's Champions League.

They had even entered the tournament as the Premiership club most likely to be knocked out in the group stage. It is that loss of status that ensured there was a managerial vacancy to be filled last summer, and the post is currently an uncomfortable privilege for Rafael Benitez.

The squad is thin and so, too, is the confidence of the players. The syndrome was apparent in the Milan Baros, the golden boot winner of Euro 2004 who looked more like the ditherer of Anfield in the 28th minute.

The build-up was acute as Djibril Cisse made a slippery turn and Dietmar Hamann's pass sprang the offside trap for the Czech. After rounding the goalkeeper Jose Molina, though, Baros still wanted to check his position and so Manuel Pablo made one of his several good challenges in this game.

That would not have mattered to a crowd who could also have been indifferent to word of Michael Owen's first goal for Real Madrid if others were not just as wasteful. Baros had scored at Fulham on Saturday but this was a far more inhibiting occasion for him and the rest of the attack.

Javier Irureta's team had come to Merseyside with their usual conservative tactics, yet it was easy to see they were the side who dreaded elimination from the Champions League. While Liverpool are a team of uneven quality, there were enough patches of cohesion and spots of luck to have put them in command.

The ball ran into Cisse's path after a run by Luis Garcia in the 19th minute, but the alert Manuel Pablo came up with a tackle before the Frenchman could produce a shot. Eleven minutes before the interval, the break of the ball again seemed to cosset Liverpool as Xabi Alonso's shot deflected to Garcia, only for his unsatisfactory finish to be tipped over the bar by Molina.

The goalkeeper had earlier parried a drive which Cisse hit on the turn from a Garcia cut-back. Preoccupied as Liverpool are with the intractable problem of rejoining the elite in the Premiership, they should have been able to vanquish a frail Deportivo early, as Monaco had done.

The little that last season's semi-finalists had to offer could have harmed a Liverpool team who had neglected to punish the weakness of the visitors. After quarter of an-hour, Alberto Luque's corner was met cleanly by the brow of Cesar and John-Arne Riise had to head off the line at the far post.

Anfield, nonetheless, remains a reservoir of faith where fans, well aware of a heritage frittered, still see encouragement as the starting point of resurgence. These are lucky players, those whose good intentions get cheered as if they were achievements.

Liverpool, in any case, were stepping more confidently towards the penalty area, their path smoothed by an injury that saw Deportivo's captain and World Cup winner Mauro Silva substituted. With Steven Gerrard's comeback still a month away, the Anfield side's domination of midfield should have been a fillip to Benitez.

The revivalist mood, however, had still not reached the strikers and it was the unambitious Deportivo who had the first good chance of the second half. After an hour Victor put an inswinging cross behind the defence and if the rushing Juan Valeron could have made solid contact, Liverpool would have been behind.

Harry Kewell was soon brought on, as Liverpool searched for gusto in an Australian who sometimes seems as much of an enigma to his own club as he is a problem to rivals. Something had to change, with Benitez's forwards waning to the extent that the manager even preferred to replace Cisse with the midfielder-cum-full-back Steve Finnan. Stamina was fading and creativity shrank as Liverpool reached that stage where they hoped they could get a break. They did not manage one.

Liverpool now face two of their last three matches away from home but Benitez said: "That was the best I have seen Liverpool play this season and if we maintain that level we can win games at home or away. It does not frighten me we must face two of our last three games away."

LIVERPOOL: Kirkland, Josemi, Hyypia, Carragher, Traore, Luis Garcia (Sinama Pongolle 84), Alonso, Hamann, Riise (Kewell 66), Baros, Cisse (Finnan 76). Subs Not Used: Dudek, Diao, Biscan, Warnock. Booked: Hamann, Baros.

D CORUNA: Molina, Manuel Pablo, Cesar, Andrade, Capdevila, Victor, Mauro Silva (Scaloni 58), Duscher, Luque, Valeron (Fran 86), Pandiani (Romero 82). Subs Not Used: Munua, Tristan, Munitis, Pablo Amo. Booked: Luque, Andrade, Duscher, Victor.

Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden).