CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: KEVIN McCARRAon the fallout from Liverpool's deficiencies in front of goal
IF GOALS are the lifeblood of football it is anaemia that leaves Liverpool looking as if they are about to pass out. Following the 1-1 draw in Lyon, they will probably be carted away from the tournament. The misery of Lisandro Lopez’ last-minute equaliser does tend to distract attention from the punchlessness of Rafael Benitez’s side.
After six hours of football in Group E they have scored three goals. Only Atletico Madrid, Apoel Nicosia, Besiktas and Maccabi Haifa have been more sterile.
Liverpool were forthright at Stade Gerland and would have been praised lavishly if they had not conceded that goal. There is an immediate temptation to blame defenders for buckling. A little sympathy can be extended to Emiliano Insua for rushing towards Michel Bastos without getting close enough to stop the attacker from glancing the ball into the space he had just vacated.
Any 20-year-old left back could have made that misjudgement, but he should have enjoyed better cover from the experienced Sotirios Kyrgiakos, whose weakness left Lisandro to score.
Benitez is hobbled by injuries to influential players, but he is also in an intermediate period. While he wants a more adventurous line-up, and should be congratulated on that, that flowering is still to come and, in the meantime, the old resilience has been diminished.
Liverpool have had a single clean sheet in their past nine games. Crucially, the attackers can find it hard to compensate for those deficiencies.
Ryan Babel’s 30-yarder against Lyon was rousing, but it was not all that consoling in a wider perspective. Liverpool have needed to hit the net more often in their Champions League games. Where Andriy Voronin is concerned, pessimism is so entrenched fans would have been surprised if he had finished authoritatively when he went clear against Lyon. He stayed true to his Liverpool reputation by bashing his shot against goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
The result is a dependence on Fernando Torres that now reeks of desperation. Prior to the match, Benitez verged on the reassuring when he said of the attacker, “He is playing sometimes with pain but it’s less pain every time.” Following the match, the observations about the effects of Torres’ hernia were more disturbing: “He was inconsistent with his running, in that he had to keep stopping and then starting again.”
Many will suspect Torres should not have been on the pitch, and Liverpool’s concerns over his fitness deepened last night when the striker flew to Spain for a second opinion on the hernia injury. Torres took the decision to visit a trusted specialist in Valencia having earlier in the day visited a private clinic on Merseyside for a scan on his groin, although that appointment was arranged before the game against Lyon and has been a post-match routine since he developed the problem.
There is a disquiet over Benitez’ previous dealings in strikers. Fernando Morientes, Peter Crouch, Craig Bellamy and Robbie Keane come to mind among those who were bought but never assimilated. Babel, regarded as a forward when he arrived, has faltered.
An exercise in retraining was called for in the case of Dirk Kuyt, who became a model of diligence on the flanks. Benitez deserves some sympathy in his plight that has, in part, been brought on by injuries to Steven Gerrard and others. It may be too late in the Champions League, where they will be eliminated if Fiorentina win their next game, at home to Lyon.
Against the likely backdrop of lost Champions League revenue, there will be a demand that Benitez demonstrate he is still producing a brighter and better Liverpool. Most of all, Torres may have to be convinced that life at Anfield will consist of more than bearing the crushing burdens now being placed on his aching frame.
- Guardian Service
