If ever there was a game to demonstrate exactly why we aren't title contenders then this was it. Once again, we were faced with a team that got men behind the ball and blocked up the middle of the field, and once again we couldn't find a way through. We can point to the missed chances from Michael Owen, but the fact is that overall we didn't create anywhere near enough chances, and Boro were well worth a point. The performance of Boksic was fantastic, particularly in the first half when he and Karembeu gave us all kinds of problems. The dreadlocked Frenchman was roaming all over the place, and no-one was picking him up at all, but thankfully the end product wasn't there.
Boksic though was tremendous, and Sami and Stephane had to be on top of their games to keep him out, although he did escape them both once before flighting a wonderful chip over Westerveld's head, but thankfully it fell just wide. It earned him a warm round of applause from the crowd though, something which I doubt would have happened elsewhere.
But back to us, and the worrying thing is that we've had this problem now for at least two years, but we do not look any closer to solving it. There's no width to our game at all, which means that teams simply defend in numbers and block up the middle of the park to stop us getting through. All of our attacks seem to come through the middle, and it's pretty easy to stop us really.
Owen should have scored that first chance, and his effort was absolutely woeful, but the second and third chances he had were'nt a s straighforward, and credit should be given to the keeper on those two. I was convinced that the next chance he got he'd put away, but as soon as Fowler came on, Owen barely got a touch.
The ovation Fowler got just for warming up really pissed me off I have to say. Why is this man so idolised by so many? Yes, a few years ago he was absolutely fantastic, but when was the last time we saw that? Injuries have played a big part I admit, but his lifestyle hasn't helped either, and some of his actions have been nothing short of disgraceful, yet the guy can do no wrong. Why?
Compare this with Owen, a young man who's career is similar in many ways to Robbie's. He too was phenomenal at a young age, and was a revelation in his first two full seasons before injury's slowed him down. Michael though, is the consumate professional and behaves as a professional footballer should do. Yet when he was warming up a few minutes after Fowler, there was barely even a ripple of applause. I understand that Fowler's future has been under speculation and the fans want to show Robbie what they think about him, but if I were Owen I'd be well pissed off with how the crowd responded to him.
Owen can score a hat-trick, and is lucky if there's even a half hearted attempt at "MOSAG", yet Fowler can fall on his arse and have everyone chanting his name. If Fowler misses chances (Chelsea in the Worthless Cup for example) the crowd will keep chanting his name until he scores. When Owen misses chances...well let's just say people aren't as charitable.
Speaking of charitable, I had some kind words to say about Didi Hamann after Villa last week, but today he was back to his old self. Houllier and Phil Thompson need their arses kicking for allowing Hamann near any of our set-pieces, and how can he be preferred to Gary Mac for a game such as this when the emphasis was on creativity?
I was chatting to Chris Smith after the game, and Chris thought Hamann had a decent game, which amazed me as Chris has even less time for Hamann than I do! Maybe I'm being harsh on Didi, but I thought he stank the place out today. I don't think there can be much doubt as to who our best player was though, Stevie G was once again on a different level to everyone else, but I also thought Vladi did well, second half especially.
I thought Smicer did everything he could to drive us forward, running at the Boro defence and constantly looking for possession, and I posted that on the forum on my site after the game. Chris Murphy - the little scamp - isn't a fan of Vlad's (and that's putting it mildly) and accused me of kidding myself. It's a game of opinions I suppose, but it's amazing how we can all see the same game in a totally different light.
One thing that we can all agree on though, is that until we manage to find a way to beat a packed defence, then we will continue to be also rans, desperately trying to hang onto the coat-tails of the mancs. They beat teams like Boro by three or four goals to nil usually, and that is without ever getting out of second gear most of the time.
Why is this? Well a big part of it because of the width they have in the side. So many of their goals come from crosses, and because of that danger they also have room to play through the middle as well. We on the other hand, are too one dimensional, and until we add width to our game, shit teams such as Boro will continue to come away from Anfield with a point or better.
TEAM: Sander Westerveld; Markus Babbel, Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz, Jamie Carragher; Nick Barmby (Robbie Fowler), Dietmar Hamann, Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer; Jari Litmanen (Danny Murphy), Emile Heskey (Michael Owen):
