It wasn't pretty, and for a while it looked like we were going to endure another afternoon of frustration, but thankfully it all worked out okay in the end. We'd gone over ten hours without scoring a Premiership goal, and it looked like Bradford were going to keep us out again. Despite Vladimir Smicer being in inspirational form, and Nick Barmby also looking quite bright on his Premiership debut for the reds, there was no cutting edge. Owen may as well not have even been on the field, such was his lack of impact, and Heskey was having a difficult time. That said, the lack of patience shown by some sections of the crowd was alarming to say the least. Defensively, apart from one dodgy moment when Hopkin was allowed a one-on-one with Sander, we were as comfortable as you can ever be.
Bradford came to defend, and did it well to be fair to them, but this is something which we will need to overcome if we are to improve on last season's fourth place. It's well documented that when teams defend deep and get men behind the ball we have problems, and unless we get an early goal you can pretty much guarantee a long hard afternoon is in store, and so it proved today.
The signings of Barmby and McAllister, combined with the rebirth of Smicer had given us hope that the lack of creativity that plagued us last season would be a thing of the past, and to a certain extent it proved to be the case, but we still had only a single goal to show for all our domination. The first half was pretty poor, as the players appeared to be a bit tentative and failed to take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Things improved after the break, and it was only some fine keeping by Matt Clarke in the Bradford goal that kept us at bay. Thankfully, Emile popped up with a scorcher to give us the three points, but realistically, we should not be relying on a single goal to beat teams as poor as Bradford. It worries me greatly that we haven't given anyone a real hiding in over twelve months. I can't help feeling that's because our tactics are too negative, especially at home.
Houllier's philosophy is that when you get a lead, the most important thing is to maintain it, but I'd like to see us become a bit more positive. Trying to Đhold what we haveŽ is a risky game to play, and it can backfire badly. Surely teams like Bradford should be leaving Anfield with their arses well and truly tanned, and we should be going for the jugular right from the first whistle. That would also eradicate another major problem we have - the crowd's impatience. The longer the game stays at 0-0, the more restless many fans become, and that transmits itself through to the players.
When we take the lead, we should be looking to go and build on it, rather than simply Đhold what we haveŽ. I believe a lot of this defensive mentality stems from Houllier's first game in charge, when we lost against Leeds despite being one up. GH felt that we lost because we went gung-ho looking for a second goal, and he has a point, but I would argue that we've also dropped points from not killing teams off when we had the chance. Even average teams like Sunderland, Spurs, West Ham and the blueshite have had quite a few resounding home wins over the past year, so why haven't we? Because we are more concerned with Đholding what we haveŽ rather than going for more goals that's why.
Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but for a team with as many good players as us to struggle so badly, so often, against the dregs of the Premiership certainly raises some serious questions about tactics. Still, we picked up the three points and it's too early in the season to be critical, but it will be interesting to see if this pattern continues, or if we will finally start to hand out some beatings.
TEAM: Sander Westerveld; Markus Babbel, Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz, Djimi Traore; Nick Barmby, Dietmar Hamann, Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer; Emile Heskey, Michael Owen: Subs: Patrik Berger, Gary McAllister, Jamie Carragher
