Report by Peter Schulz at Anfield

Even though the West Bromwich Albion game came on the back of a couple of pitiful defeats, Benitez's preferred starting lineup was an interesting one.

Milan Baros was dropped to the bench as was Spanish new boy Xabi Alonso, making way for Djibril Cisse and the returning Harry Kewell. It was, however, the continued presence of Dietmar Hamann and the employment of the tricky Luis Garcia up front that must have raised the most eyebrows.

Both the German and the Spaniard were soon to justify their selection by producing very good performances.

West Brom are a traditional British football side, in a 4-4-2 with very few real flair players, even though Jonathan Greening tries hard sporting a dodgy haircut, while Kanu produced another one of those performances that make you wonder how he ever became a professional footballer.

We have often found ourselves in trouble against supposed lesser sides deploying defensive tactics at Anfield in recent seasons, but credit to West Brom for not just sitting back. We encountered no such problems on Saturday, as Gerrard's left foot strike into the bottom right hand corner, after brilliant link play by forced the visitors out of their shell.

Djibril Cisse started brightly showing a few good touches, but it was the influence of the little Spaniard that shone through in the opening exchanges. If early performances are anything to go by, it looks like Benitez has landed a real gem, and all the talk of new players arriving from abroad being given 2 year settling in periods must now stop.

Garcia was simply everywhere, involved in everything always looking for the ball and making runs in front of the Albion defence. So it came as no surprise that when Gerrard started off on one of those trademark marauding runs into the box, Garcia was there to provide a nice one-two lay off for his captain to pounce upon and give the reds the lead.

However many nerves it calmed, the goal seemed to spark off a period of passiveness in the Liverpool side and West Brom were let back into the game by the reds midfield conceding possession far too easily and defending too deeply.

It could so easily have been a deja vu from any home game of the last two seasons, when a penalty claim for handball by Gerrard was waved on by referee Steve Dunn. It wasn't, because Gary Megson's West Brom didn't have the quality, and gradually Liverpool, well marshalled by an agressive Dietmar Hamann, regained complete control over the afternoon's proceedings.

To the satisfaction of the crowd the German finally got his own back on Bernt Haas who ridiculously got Hamann sent off in acrimonious circumstances 3 seasons ago. Haas, then playing for Sunderland, rolled about on the floor and thereby earned Hamann a red card, prompting Houllier to bring off Robbie Fowler in what was in fact God's last appearance in a red shirt.

This time Hamann kicked him on the knee and the Swiss right winger/back had to receive treatment. No doubt, the German midfielder was pleased not to be receiving a card this time. To be fair, he couldn't have complained, had he been booked for that challenge.

Other chances fell to Hyypia from a corner, Cisse after a pass from Finnan and Garcia after some good wing play by Kewell on the left. Garcia's heading abilities left a lot to be desired when heading yards wide from the edge of the six yard box. He looked in complete disbelief as the ball hit the advertising boards to the left of the West Brom goal.

It was a slightly worrying sight though to see us not yet able to get entirely rid of the problem of sitting back defending a one goal lead against a poor away side at Anfield. Benitez certainly still has work to do with the players' minds, it seems.

By the time Steve Finnan brought down a glorious 50 yard pass from John Arne Riise and danced his way past a couple of defenders before his left foot finish in the same corner that Gerrard had found 25 minutes earlier, the game was again very one sided.

This was definitely one of Finnan's better performances in red and it was topped off nicely by an expertly taken first goal for the club. At this time, the game had more or less ended as a contest and the talk in the centenary lower where yours truly was situated was not of a comeback by the visitors but of how many goals we'd get in the second half. It was to be only one, but chances didn't seem hard to come by for the reds.

The second half was entertaining as Liverpool seemed intent on finishing off the visitors completely. An unfamiliar sight for the Anfield crowd, who could only applaud an animated Benitez for urging his team forward.

Milan Baros and Xabi Alonso replaced Harry Kewell and Steven Gerrard and both replacements looked lively. Baros with his typical runs with the ball at his feet and Alonso passing the ball around in Molby-esque fashion.

I really like the look of Alonso, who was looking to build on a solid debut a fortnight ago at Bolton. He rarely missed a pass after coming on and helped set up several chances for Djibril Cisse simply by hitting accurate short and long passes.

So far, Benitez certainly seems to have got it right, as the three Spaniards already seem settled in the side - remarkably after two games and not the two years that other players have seemed to be given.

Bitter remarks by El-Hadji Diouf made to the press this week have certainly done him no favours with Liverpool fans.

Wayward finishing from Garcia, operating on the left wing after Kewell's withdrawal, had kept him off the scoresheet on several occasions in both halves, but when he reached Gerrard's wonderful defence splitting pass on the left and darted into the box with the ball seemingly glued to his feet, he was quickly forgiven.

With no options in the box, he hit a fierce shot from a tight angle which Russell Hoult in the visitors's goal could only block. Amazingly, the brilliant Spaniard reached the rebound before three West Brom defenders who were all closer to the ball, and he finished with a low shot under Hoult before wheeling off to the Main Stand to celebrate with a big smile on his face.

Fellow Spaniard, Josemi was first on the spot to help celebrate, but every other outfielder quickly followed. It would seem that Garcia is already well liked by his team-mates. Garcia was replaced by Djimi Traore towards the end and was given a standing ovation for his efforts.

At this stage, West Brom had actually threatened Dudek's goal on a couple of occasions, but the Pole had pulled off a couple of good saves as well as the usual camera ones that he seems so intent onproducing.

This game will have done his confidence a world of good before Wednesday's visit of Monaco, and he will look to build on a solid performance.

In the end the reds had to settle for just the three goals as Cisse was unlucky on a couple of occasions. His best chance came when Baros had taken the ball from the halfway line and slid the ball through for the Frenchman to run onto, but Hoult saved well.

Cisse had started off brightly but then disappeared until the introduction of Baros. Whether it was their partnership finally starting to develop or other circumstances coming into play, Cisse finished the match strongly and could easily have had a first Anfield goal to celebrate. It wasn't to be this time.

It was a pleased Anfield crowd that filled the streets afterwards on their way home or into town to celebrate. They had just been witnesses to one of the early steps of the Rafalution. A really encouraging performance by the redmen, even though it came against a poor away side.

The star man was Luis Garcia, who was in a word, class. He gives Benitez different options up front as he's more versatile than both Cisse and Baros, and his link up play with Cisse and the midfield looks potentially very good. Bring on Monaco and the Mancs!

 

Team: Dudek; Josemi, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise; Finnan, Hamann, Gerrard (Alonso), Kewell (Baros); Garcia (Traore) Cisse:

 

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