Well the job's half done then. It wasn't pretty, but frankly who cares? If we can manage just one goal in Germany next week, Leverkusen will need to score three times, and there's not many teams capable of putting three past Sami & co. Leverkusen were better than I thought they'd be, although how much of that was down to our lack of punch up front I'm not sure. Michael needs a couple of games to get back into the swing of things, but despite all the scaremongering and negative publicity surrounding his "loss of form" there's no need for concern. Michael always takes a few games to get back into his stride after injury, and providing he has no further setbacks he'll be flying come the last few weeks of the season.
And even a half fit Michael was still good enough to create the only goal of the game for Big Sami, and his mere presence was enough to keep the Bayer defence on their toes. Alongside him, Emile worked hard as he always does, but his overall impact on the game was disappointing I thought.
The amount of times Emile had the ball in advanced positions with the opportunity to run at his marker, only to stop and turnback towards his own goal had me tearing my hair out. I'm fed up of stating how highly I rate Emile, but he just doesn't do enough at times.
He has the beating of most defenders for pace, and he can certainly outmuscle anyone, so why doesn't he run at teams more often? When he does he's practically unstoppable, yet we hardly ever see it. It's clearly a lack of self confidence, and if he ever starts to truly believe in himself he'll be one hell of a player.
But if the attack were firing blanks, at least we know we can rely on our back four and goalkeeper to keep things tight, and apart one from glorious chance which was wasted by Ballack, there were very few alarms despite the glut of possession they had. They knocked the ball about well, and were extremley organised. In many ways they're a lot like ourselves, and we found it very hard to play against them. Hopefully next week they'll have to be a lot more adventurous and they'll leave a few gaps at the back.
The first half was far from memorable, and as I write this report the night after the game, I'm struggling to think of anything of note other than the goal. A succession of long balls had been dealt with comfortably by the German defence, and man for man they're probably the biggest side we've faced in some time. It was frustrating therefore, that we persisted with the long ball, when it clearly wasn't working.
That said, Leverkusen were making it difficult for us to play, and they had a lot of men behind the ball at all times. Stevie G was out of sorts, and didn't look fit in the first half, but his performance improved dramtically after the break and he looked more like his usual self. The fact that he started on the right was possibly due to the presence of the skilful Ze Roberto on Leverkusen's left, although Murphy's good run of form of late in the centre may have also played a part. Whatever the reason, Stevie didn't look too comfortable stuck out wide.
A goal just didn't look likely, and it was something of a surprise when it arrived just before half time. Riise's corner eluded everybody and fell to Owen who had pulled away on the back post, and the youngster showed tremendous poise to bring the ball down before delivering a perfect ball across the face of the goal to the waitiing Hyypia who gleefully tucked it away.
Given how little there was between the two sides, this goal could prove to be one of the most important Sami will ever score. It came at the perfect time too, and despite having not played well at all the reds went into the break in front.
The second half was a better spectacle, as Leverkusen came out a bit more, and the reds became more of a threat on the break. Stevie G came more into the game, and Danny Murphy was impressive again (until the final ten minutes when he blotted his copybook somewhat by dallying on the ball more than once) as the game opened up a bit more.
John Arne Riise was to become the focal point of a flurry of attacks, almost scoring twice and producing some sublime pieces of skill. First was an acrobatic overhead kick from a corner, which was comfortably dealt with by the Leverkusen keeper, who made a meal of it to be fair. Then came some wonderful link up play down the left with Smicer, which although didn't lead to anything, lifted the crowd and seemed to spark more attacks. Minutes later he was sent racing clear on goal by a fine through ball (from Murphy I think, but I could be wrong) but could only fire straight at the keeper.
And that was more or less all she wrote as far as Liverpool attacks went. After that it was all Leverkusen, as they stroked the ball about well and looked to exploit the skill of Ze Roberto on the left at every available opportunity. Litmanen replaced Owen and showed all the class and silky skills that we have come to expect from him, and Berger came on for Smicer, who'd ran himself to a standstill for the teams cause.
It's a heartening sight when you see Vladi chasing and harrying and throwing himself into tackles, but the one thing you can guarantee from this side is that they'll work for eachother and dig in even when they're not playing that well. They're a group of players we can be proud of, and for that we have Gerard to thank.
The Champions League is the one he really wants to win, and he will do. Whether or not it will be this season or not remains to be seen, but we're still on course, and if we can score in Germany that will surely be enough.
Team: Jerzy Dudek; Jamie Carragher, Stephane Henchoz, Sami Hyypia, John Arne Riise; Danny Murphy, Didi Hamann, Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer (Patrik Berger); Emile Heskey, Michael Owen (Jari Litmanen):
