A drab contest at Villa Park led to the points being shared as both teams looked to avoid a second successive defeat. Then to add insult to injury after a lacklustre performance, Gerard Houllier described it as a good result.
My first visit to Villa Park was in 1986-7 in a game that saw John Aldridge make his Liverpool debut. Considering we have been there for semi finals too, it is probably the away ground I have visited more than any other. Yet I have still not found a pub near the ground that doesn't charge an extortionate amount to get in.
This time we settled for a social club that charged just a pound and was divided up into a home and away section. Chaos ensued when the bar housing our fans ran out of glasses and all staff went in search of some, none of them having the initiative to stay and serve bottles.
It's amazing how people respond in these situations. Most just stayed at the bar jostling for position for when they began serving again but I just walked round to where the Villa fans were and got two pints there.
Once in the ground the signs for the game were quite promising as the midfield had a settled and attacking look about it. Steven Gerrard returned from suspension to replace Igor Biscan and, much to everyone's relief, Bruno Cheyrou was injured meaning a place in the side for El Hadji Diouf. But Houllier couldn't keep things simple, preferring to play the right footed Senegal star on the left with left footed Harry Kewell on the right.
Liverpool began brightly with John Arne Riise being the first to test the Villa keeper with an effort from 35 yards that was easily gathered. Then on nine minutes a glorious opportunity was wasted.
After some good work Diouf's low shot was only pushed out by Sorensen and Kewell hit the rebound wide with the goal gaping. Although the Australian was twelve yards out Sorensen was on the floor and had he got the shot on target, a goal would have been the only outcome.
This incident woke up the Villa fans, who could still only sing the unoriginal classics of 'sign on' and 'sit down Pinnochio'. Unfortunately the response from our end was little better. The Reds support had been quite subdued considering it was the first away game but the only response was 'who the fucking hell are you'.
I've always felt this song to be pointless and with each passing season, we have less and less right to be arrogant enough to sing it.
This was to be by far the best chance of the first half. Danny Murphy's dangerous dipping shot brought about a good save from Sorensen but generally for what pressure we had, we failed to convert it into meaningful chances. Heskey was even less ineffective than normal and, as is customary, went down like a ton of bricks after a fairly innocuous looking challenge from Johnsen in the 18th minute.
Villa were creating chances too, with the most dangerous one coming when Angel found himself through on goal after a slip by Jamie Carragher. Luckily the Colombian's lack of confidence led to him hesitating and the danger was cleared by Diouf of all people.
Carragher did recover from this howler to make some useful defending contributions, but I can't help thinking his time is up at right back when Steve Finnan is fully fit. However, he always finds a role somewhere and with Riise struggling, he may well get in at left back.
After half an hour either Houllier switched Kewell and Diouf to their natural sides of the pitch, or the two players took the decisive action themselves. But the nearest we came to scoring was when Mjellberg and Sorensen had a mix up and the ball rolled agonisingly wide for a corner.
After 38 minutes Kewell had disappointing shot over the bar and from the resultant goal kick Villa broke quickly and Hendrie had an effort cleared off the line by Riise.
Liverpool began the second half with Kewell and Diouf back to their starting positions. I don't know what was said at half time, but the team seemed to collectively lose interest because for long periods we were sluggish and slow to get to the ball. Even Michael Owen got in the act, losing control when he could have had a clear run at goal.
There was precious little direction coming from the bench as Houllier just sat there with his arms folded and Thompson stood there clapping and whistling. It's embarrassing and I challenge anyone to show me a tape of Houllier on the touchline giving out instructions when we are chasing the game. He doesn't, as he has no idea what to say, but when we are
winning it is a different story as he stands proudly in the technical area conducting the play.
As we struggled to get going, Villa were raining shots on our goal. Dudek was forced to save from Vassell (twice), Angel and Delaney. Angel also struck the bar with a great free kick from 30 yards and all this happened in the first 15 minutes. Heskey was taken off to be replaced by Baros, but it did little to change us as the midfield sat so deep the forwards were never getting a sniff of the ball.
Kewell, it has to be said, was disappointing and Murphy was so often caught in possession. Villa continued to come at us and Barry shot just wide and Hendrie forced another save from Dudek. We didn't have a meaningful effort till the 77th minute when a half volley from Baros was saved by Sorensen.
Remembering they were allowed to shoot spurred the players into a final push for a win, perhaps in the knowledge that Villa seemed to be running out of steam. A succession of corners were forced, the most productive of which saw Sorensen make a great save from Riise. But we couldn't find a way through and Houllier's apparent satisfaction with a point was emphasised when he brought on Biscan for Murphy.
The final whistle was greeted with virtual indifference from Reds fans, many of whom seem resigned to what will seem like a prison sentence for the next nine months.
After the game though, Houllier was typically upbeat. He thought we showed a lot of character and that a draw was a reasonable result. Considering we have won 4 out of our last 5 visits to Villa Park I'd call it a great disappointment and expect us to be whipping teams like Villa out of sight if we had title ambitions.
He also talked of the team needing time to settle, which is another farcical excuse. Pre season was the time for that and I don't see Chelsea needing time to settle, despite changing half their team. The more Houllier convinces us it'll all be ok, the more I see Tony Blair telling us Weapons of Mass Destruction will be found one day.
It's ridiculously early to be calling for a managers head but no matter what the Spurs result, defeat at Everton on Saturday will bring the pressure on him to boiling point.
