Match Report. On a day when getting a result was all that mattered, Phil Thompson's men adopted exactly that attitude as they held on to a draw against in form Arsenal at Highbury.
For a large proportion of the game it looked likely that a toothless Reds outfit would leave London with a sixth league defeat of the season until John Arne Riise's 68th minute equaliser ended the Redsˇ poor run of Results. It was just reward for a fine battling display, which although seriously lacking in creativity or flair - or any other adjective which describes attractive football - saw an overdose of the fight and desire which was so sorely missing from the performance at Southampton.
Michael Owen returned in attack alongside Nicolas Anelka who was making a return of his own - to Highbury - and put in a decent display despite being starved off the service he once thrived on on his old stomping ground.
Ever aware of the need for stability and consolidation Thompson's team willingly spent much of the first half on the back foot, inviting Arsenal to break them down with the best chances falling to Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires.
In a near carbon copy of his goal in the F.A Cup final, the ever dangerous Swede broke through the reds defence AGAIN and attempted to round the keeper AGAIN but whereas three weeks ago Jerzy Dudek brought him down, this time he succeeded in beating the pole only to see his shot drift wide when it seemed easier to score.
Pires acted as main the Gunners main threat, giving Jamie Carragher a rough ride on the Arsenal left. It was a poor pass from the ineffective Danny Murphy which sold Carragher short as the ball rebounded off of the French winger but his volleyed shot was aimed right at Dudek.
Liverpool were non existent as an attacking threat in the first period and were barely able string five passes together, however to contain Arsenal was the plan and for the first 45 minutes, the plan had been completed.
Such an uninspiring first half performance suggested that it would not be long before Arsene Wenger's side opened the scoring and who else but Ljungberg. However not before Danny Murphy missed a golden chance to finish Liverpool's best move of the match as he headed over from six yards from Riise's inch perfect cross.
Almost immediately the reds were made to pay as a long ball forward went beyond the Liverpool defence, who had stepped out to leave Henry offside, who according to the view of the linesman was not interfering in play.
The ball fell to Bergkamp who produced a wonderful piece of skill to let in Pires (left untracked by Murphy), who in turn crossed for Ljungberg who slid the ball home from six yards on 62 minutes.
In fairness it was all that Arsenal had deserved and if the Reds have any chance whatsoever of retaining the F.A Cup they must find a way of containing Ljungberg or they can expect more of the same on Sunday week.
In recent weeks Thompson's team have been guilty of folding once falling behind, but today they showed great fight and courage and they were rewarded only six minutes later with the magnificent Riise's 5th goal for Liverpool.
Steven Gerrard gave further evidence of his return to form with a magnificent through ball with the outside of his right boot for the marauding Norwegian. The flame-haired Adonis seemed to have an age to set himself as Stuart Taylor strangely decided to stay on his line and Riise slid the ball home at the near post - redeeming himself after his own goal nightmare in midweek.
Arsenal responded by releasing Bergkamp and Wiltord but failed to cause any real problems. The non-flying Dutchman looked set to win the points for his team but his shot somehow ended up behind him.
Just like in May, once Liverpool got the equaliser one felt that they would go on and win the game, but it was not to be, the cutting edge of that glorious period seems as far away as their current chances of repeating such success.
All in all however the Reds should be satisfied with a point which gives them a platform to build a run which will see them return to the top. It is questionable whether they can do it without a couple of creative additions to the squad, but this point was a start.
Day Report.
I'd been looking forward to this day for a good while now, probably more than any game since Dortmund. I'd never been to Highbury before and was confident that we'd get the win.
The early start and the five hour coach journey dampened spirits a little, as did the religious nut with the megaphone shouting his propaganda as we were selling the mag outside the ground. So it was a relief to finally get into the ground at 3:50.
It was also a relief to hear that the team was the same as the one I picked. One of many disappointments however was the absolute Shithole that is Highbury and the Ghettoesque surrounding area. Just how do these cockneys have the nerve to come to Liverpool and sing about slums! As for the stadium, well Goodison Park and Filbert Street put the home of the '98 double winners to shame!
It kept the noise in pretty well though and the travelling Reds didn't disappoint with an array of quality songs. The fields of Anfield Road, Allez Allez Gerard Houllier, and the quality but tongue twisting: "1-0 down, 2-1 up, Michael Owen won the cup, When a first class Paddy pass gave the lad the ball, Poor old Arsenal won fuck all"
The fans were in fine voice today and the first half performance really didn't deserve such support. What a shocker! I've used the word uninspiring to describe our displays in recent weeks but this took it to a whole new level. Four passes in a row was a collectors item and Berger and Murphy had absolute "Lovejoy's", resulting in nothing being created for the strikers, but nothing's new there.
I had called it from the start that Ljungberg was going to fuck us (ignore the metaphor) unless we put some clamps on his ass. (Once again, ignore the metaphor) The warning came midway through the first half as he somehow missed an open goal, but amazingly we still didn't get wise to it.
The goal came, virtually fucking up our usual game plan of keeping a clean sheet, hoping to sneak one and then sitting on the lead. It was a good finish from 'Freddie the Fag' but when are we going to learn? PICK HIM UP AND STAY WITH HIM! (stop giggling at the back!)
Murphy should have played on the left where he could have done exactly that, just like he did so effectively with Lauren Robert, Rocisky and Veron, because he offered nothing in an attacking sense.
As Ljungberg and Pires celebrated the goal, Dave turned to me and said "We may as well get off now, 'cause this one's over" I wasn't going to argue with that, but we were surprised by the fight the players showed after conceding. This was something which had so obviously been missing against the Saints (and on countless other occasions when we'd fallen behind).
Riise's goal was superb! Stevie G produced pass of the season that led Andy Gray to comment "IF he meant that" Bitter Blue Twat. It was also nice to hear the Riise song for something other than him taking a throw-in in his own half, and boy did we let him know about it!
So a point was ours, something which I would have certainly settled for before the game and if the performance wasn't satisfying the way we came from behind was pretty impressive.
The journey home to sunny Liverpool gave us ample opportunity to reflect on what had taken place. The day was not the pillar of excitement that I had hoped for but the last time I can say that about watching Liverpool is far away on the sunset of last season's success.
TEAM: Jerzy Dudek; Jamie Carragher, Stephane Henchoz, Sami Hyypia, John Arne Riise; Danny Murphy (Emile Heskey), Steven Gerrard, Didi Hamann, Patrik Berger, Michael Owen, Nicolas Anelka (Gary McAllister):
