Harewood, Gillett and Hicks are the Villans at Anfield
The tension at Anfield must have been palpable as the Reds stepped on to the pitch to face off against a resilient Aston Villa on Monday night.
The Liverpool faithful made their feelings toward the team’s current American owner duo perfectly clear. Every other cheer from the Kop end was directed at Hicks and Gillett and finished with the loud demand, “Get Out of Our Club”! Speculation has surrounded Hicks in particular this week, as it was reported that the determinedly interested Dubai International Capital (DIC) made a bid for Hicks’ shares of the club.
While the fans faith must be shaken by the team’s thus far lackluster Premier League campaign, they stood behind their boss, Rafa Benitez, who must be seen as the protagonist in their struggle against the club’s ownership. Benitez, never ceasing to mystify his club’s fans and the rest of the soccer world, opted to start Harry Kewell over the in-form Ryan Babel. Kewell, who has played reasonably well since returning from his long-term injury spell, has not contributed the same kind of firepower that Babel has. The young Dutchman has tallied seven goals and 2 assists in his 29 matches with the club, 16 as a substitute, the most sub appearances for any Red this season.
Noticeably absent from the Aston Villa side throughout the match was their skipper Gareth Barry. The top Villan has been pivotal in the team’s efforts to rise up the Premier League table. He has guided the Midlands side with his precision passing and playmaking, as well as demonstrating strength and maturity in pressure situations (e.g. several big spot kicks). He was sidelined with a bruised pelvis which he sustained during training. Craig Gardener filled the vacancy.
The visiting Aston Villa fans were bemoaning the absence of their captain as Liverpool largely controlled the first half. Villa continually coughed up the ball in the midfield, never allowing the potent strike force of Agbonlahor and Young to catch their stride. The young Englishmen have added pace to Villa’s wings, supporting John Carew’s usual power in the middle. Failing to utilize his size, Carew played like a mouse.
Liverpool outworked Aston Villa for the ball. This was most noticeably seen in the matchup between John Carew and Sami Hyypia. Both are larger footballers, but when push came to shove, Hyypia was cleverer about his positioning and balance and outmaneuvered the Norwegian forward.
The Reds controlled the pace of the game, but settled for squirrelly long-range efforts in the opening 15 minutes. Soon after, they started to look more fluid, linking strings of sharp and cute passes that led into the box. One such effort finally finished successfully as Yossi Benayoun was fed in the box and battled three Villa defenders, ushering the ball passed Stuart Taylor and a few more diving defenders.
Benayoun has been a surprisingly solid piece of transfer business for Rafa Benitez’s squad. Acquired over the summer from West Ham, the Israeli midfielder had only produced 8 goals in 63 appearances for the Hammers. He had more productive seasons earlier in his career with home country sides Hapoel Be’er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa. I watched a few of his performances for last years dismal West Ham team, but they were certainly nothing that I thought deserved the attention of a Big Four club. So needless to say, I was surprised when Liverpool forked over between ₤4-5 million pounds for him. Not so surprisingly, Rafa has proved to be wiser than I, as Benayoun has chipped in 7 goals in less than 30 appearances.
The half finished with a glimmer of offense from Villa as Carew flicked on a long ball forward to an attacking Agbonlahor, only to have it swiped away by Carragher. The two sides emerged from the half unchanged.
Liverpool put together some decent spells of offense that saw Torres and Kuyt piecing together passes that opened up some more shots on goal. Meanwhile, Villa took off Barry replacement Craig Gardener in favor of Villa’s ex-Hammer addition Marlon Harewood.
Harewood got involved immediately with a run up the left. He provided a spark to a Villa side that was losing its steam. Harewood slid a cross past Arbeloa and another Liverpool defender that found John Carew in the box. Carew was able to gather and turn, but his shot lacked the power to truly test Reina, who gathered it easily.
Only minutes later, Villa received a free kick for a foul on Stiliyan Petrov. The free kick found Martin Laursen, the league’s top scoring centre-back with 6 goals, who headed across the box to find Harewood who coolly while under pressure found the back of the net with a semi-overhead kick to draw Aston Villa level.
Benitez took the opportunity to take off a struggling Arbeloa and hand a Premier League debut to his newest signing, 23-year old Slovakian defender Martin Skrtel, recently acquired from Russian Premier League Champions Zenit St. Petersburg.
Only two and half minutes had passed since Harewood’s finish when Liverpool found themselves again defending a Villa free kick. This time Arbeloa found himself too bunched in the center of the box, leaving Mellberg alone on the right of goal. Mellberg misfired a shot that appeared to be heading left of goal. Reina had stepped out to attempt to handle it, but before it could get to him it managed to deflect off of Arbeloa’s hands into the net.
Arbeloa’s defense had been unsteady the entire game. He looked entirely unsure of himself when he was on the ball, having been stripped of it on a couple of occasion, one instance left Gardner dangerously alone in an advanced position. His own goal had left Liverpool facing an embarrassing defeat at home in front of an already disgruntled crowd.
Benitez immediately began warming up his attacking options, Babel and Crouch. As I mentioned earlier, Babel should have started in place of Kewell, which is eventually the move that Benitez made first. Babel was involved from the word “Go”. Liverpool was back on the attack but was still lacking a finishing touch.
Liverpool’s goalscorer Benayoun was replaced in the 80th by Crouch. The 6’7” striker who, for a footballer of his ability, has been unusually accepting of his role at Liverpool provided the prowess in box that Liverpool had been lacking. It seems like every time I watch Peter play, he scores. Being 6’5” myself, I enjoy seeing the tall and lanky guy score. He may look like a baby giraffe out there, but the guy knows how to find the net. He cleaned up a scramble in the box in the 89th minute saving the Reds from what likely would have been a hefty home crowd booing as they left the pitch.
Liverpool averted disaster on home soil, but find themselves outside of the Champions League place that as a Big Four club they have come to accept as a given. With questions about their ownership looming overhead, one has to wonder if or when it’s really going to start raining on Liverpool’s season. Captain Stevie G has admitted that the team is being affected.
Gillett and Hicks are going to have to figure out how they can contribute to salvaging this season, whether that means stepping back and letting Rafa have more hold of the reins or stepping in and getting down to business on the front lines themselves. Something needs to be done or else make room for Dubai.
The situation at Liverpool needs to be sorted out quickly if they are to maintain a challenge for the European place that should be theirs. Gerrard has said that the off field problems have been affecting the players. That is bound to happen, and unless the owners sort the situation out quickly, the team will continue to under perform.
I’m not a Liverpool fan & i don’t profess to know anything about the club’s situation or the backroom politics. But as an outsider looking in i was shocked about Gerrard’s assertion that the tension between the owners & Rafa is getting to the players as well.
Two things came to my mind. Number one was the thought that maybe the players have realised/felt that their push for the Premiership title is at a dead end at this stage & they’re setting up these incidents to take the heat. That’s my cynical side talking.
The second thought was that if all this stuff is really that serious that the players can’t help but brood over it then isn’t that poor man management by Rafa? I mean teams like Chelsea & Arsenal have been through turbulent times most of last year about ownership battles & uncertainty over the manager’s job security & they’ve come through it with resilience & continuing good form. Again, as an outsider looking in, i put that down to their respective managers telling the team to get on with business & not worry about the relative shitstorm whirling around them.
On the other hand i don’t see Rafa making any reassuring comments that the players have quoted from to help them get through this so called ‘ordeal’.
What does everyone else think?
Spiral,
I think you definitely have a valid point, especially considering the way Chelsea have ploughed on through adversity.
I read Robbie Fowler’s autobiography late last year mind you and there were lots of interesting insights into the way the club was run and the traditions of it. To be honest, it details more his relationship with Houllier and Thompson at Liverpool than anything but little instances, like the club bringing in Houllier with Roy Evans as a joint manager, do affect players. Not saying this is the same thing, but it does give a little example of how boardroom actions can affect players sometimes.
How much of it is down to Rafa and how much of it is down to the Americans god only knows. I don’t think they can be blamed too much, the only thing that Liverpool needed to build on from 2006-7 was to sign a world-class forward and a creative midfielder probably (Torres, Benayoun) and they did so. Even around October time I tipped them for the league, so I think Rafa can hardly turn round too much and say he doesn’t have the talent.
To have the board, manager and players all singing from the same hymn sheet would more likely help but its not an ideal world, as you mentioned with Chelsea and Arsenal, and I don’t think this situation can be solely responsible for Liverpool’s plight at the minute.
I wholly agree with Spiral Architect. I’ve grown tired of players blaming their performances on the board, owners, and outside corporate drama. Chelsea are the best example, as S.A. pointed out, of a team that exemplifies what to do when owners rebel and fans start looking for a scape goat: play on, as best as possible.
The situ with Liverpool is less than ideal but that doesn’t excuse or give excuse to the players. To begin to participate in this just fuels the fire and doesn’t help the players win games in any way.
For Anthony. Sorry mate but I have to take the following quote:
“the only thing that Liverpool needed to build on from 2006-7 was to sign a world-class forward and a creative midfielder probably (Torres, Benayoun) and they did so. Even around October time I tipped them for the league,”
Now that, in a nutshell, is the problem at Liverpool and a huge burden for Rafa to carry. I don’t for a minute doubt the sincerity of the statement but if you objectively looked the the ManU, Chelsea and Arsenal first teams/squads and concluded that was all Liverpool needed to bridge the gap then (no offence) but there’s no hope for your judgement. The one consolation is that you are not alone out there.
In terms of all round quality and strength in depth Liverpool are way off the pace of the top 3 and League position, which doesn’t lie, constantly reflects this. It will take time and investment AND sensible buying to bridge this.
As long as Liverpool fans keep setting unrealistic expectations then they will continue to be gutted when results fall short of belief.
Having watched Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool for 3 months you were still prepared to tip Liverpool for the title in October!
Says it all really.
lmao!! i cannot stop laughing @ liverpoop!
oh yeah american owners oh yes wer gna finally have some cash oh yess we rich now woot woot
oh yeah wer best team in da world oh yeah nd we signed da best striker in da world record fee oh yeahhh wer all getting orgasms and then everything just falls apart and we are all now asking for them to leave!!!!
Im realli happy as a man united fan to see the so called crisis at liverpool haha dw u always have next season like u had for the past 18 years =P
all united fans thought glazer wud stuff us up but it didnt happen but no1 thought liverpool wud get stuffd up and they did!! im just happi we got an owner like glazer who doesnt interfere wif sir alex at all and lets him do wa eva he wants.
BD Condell,
I completely disagree with you on that one.
I don’t believe that Liverpool lost a game until November, did they?
Jose Reina’s kept God knows how many clean sheets in the Premiership since he moved to Anfield. It is, therefore, not a bad judgement in my opinion to say that once they spent money on the players I mentioned. They most likely would have beaten Chelsea, if not for a farcical penalty decision, won at Villa etc.
If Rafa is asking all the while for options up front, then goes and signs Torres for £21m + Garcia the other way and brings in Babel from Ajax for somewhere in the region of £12.5m, why on God’s Earth is it a huge burden to expect Rafa to win the league?
I based my feelings largely on the fact they usually finish quite strongly and had a good start this time around, put those two together and you’d most likely be there or thereabouts.
Liverpool are a victim of their own success – Liverpool as a name, as a club do not in any way deserve success more so than any other. Each club in the Premier League has the same right to victory – you have to earn it. For 3 years Arsenal were not even close to the leading pack in the league, but not once did we turn on Wenger, not once during the takeover talk regarding some Russian Billionaire was there an adverse effect on the team. I can’t help but think that Benistez started this trouble. I have nothing but admiration for his achievements whilst at Liverpool and clubs prior but I do also feel he started the ball rolling with his infamous press rant a few months ago. He has since been undermined with the Jurgen Klinsmann talk by Gillet and Hicks but with the money he had to spend in the summer – £26M on Torres anyone? – can you really see an excuse for him? Any sort of financial disputes need to be kept private, as now we can see signs of disruption on the pitch as Stevie Gerrard has recently admitted. Nobody can dispute the fantastic history Liverpool have, nor the loyalty and passion of their fans, but now its time to put it behind them and press on in the boardroom and on the pitch – otherwise it could well be another 18 years….
Anthony,
I don’t think you should base your judgement on the fact that they hadn’t lost a match. For me its about how well they are playing and how many points they have. In the league Liverpool have still only lost 2 games but countless draws and average performances have left them out of the race.
Liverpool finished 21 points off the leaders last season and there was a clear gap in quality. Utd actually spent more than Liverpool in the summer and brought in greater quality.
Compare Liverpool’s 1st team or squad with that of Utd and Chelsea and there’s a huge difference in class. Utd and Chelsea have quality in every position and outstanding cover also.
Liverpool have Carragher/Agger, Gerrard/Mascherano/Alonso and Torres. This gives them a good ’spine’ to the team. Centre of the back, central midfield and striker. However, other than this they lack quality. Aurelio, Arbeola, Hyppia, Finnan, all very average defenders. Kewell, probably finished at the top level because of injury. Babbel, will be class but taking a long time to settle. On the right neither Pennant nor Benayoun are of the required quality and in Kuyt, Voronin and Crouch its a case of toss a coin as to who plays with Torres. One is as mediocre as the other.
For my money only Gerrard and Torres would definitely get into the Man U or Chelsea team. Ask yourself honestly how many Utd and Chelsea players would walk straight into the Liverpool team?
It tells in the end, every season, but I don’t believe many Liverpool fans are objective enough in evaluating their team and disappointment invariably follows year after year.