Report by Steve Horton at The Hawthorns | |
Liverpool gave the fans some Christmas cheer with only a second away win of the season at The Hawthorns to maintain the push for a European place.
Albion may have been hapless, but the Reds display was stylish enough to fire a warning shot to those above us in the table.
Albion have lost their last four home games and have yet to win under Bryan Robson, so it was natural, given our record for fuck ups, to approach this with trepidation.
When the team news came through that there would be no Kewell, Mellor, Alonso or Garcia there was every reason to fear the worst. At the time it wasn't known that Kewell and Mellor were unfit, so it was believed Rafael Bentiez was taking a huge gamble.
Travelling Reds had to contend with M6 delays, sub zero temperatures and the fact that the top four teams in the Premiership had all won.
We soon warmed up though with a rousing rendition of Ra-Ra-Rafa Benitez, which has finally usurped the awful Rafa-Rafael chant (outside Anfield anyway). This was sung at least three times each half, for 1-2 minutes at a time.
We took the game straight to the home side, with Steven Gerrard twice shooting over in the first ten minutes. However the first gilt edged chance fell to the home side on twelve minutes after an uncharacteristic mistake by Jamie Carragher.
It left Geoff Horsfield was clean through but luckily for us he hesitated and Sami Hyypia timed his tackle perfectly. Most other strikers wouldn't have let us off so lightly.
We almost punished Albion from the clearance but Milan Baros was denied by a last ditch tackle by Darren Purse after bursting into the area.
Just two minutes later we were in the lead when Antonio Nunez passed to Gerrard, who sent a looping ball into the box which John Arne Riise connected with perfectly to volley pass Russell Hoult.
Albion tried to come back in but their response was quite poor, only Koumas coming close and even then his header was weak and easily saved by Jerzy Dudek.
Six minutes before the break we had the chance to extend the lead when Nunez's header was handled on the line by Cosmin Contra. It was a clear cut penalty and replays showed he thought he was playing volleyball.
It was only on the way home that I realised Contra was sent off though. The referee appeared to show the red card discretely, perhaps being aware he'd already upset the boinging Baggies by giving the penalty.
Baros stepped up to take the kick but his effort was weak and saved by Hoult and both he and Florent Sinama Pongolle failed to convert the rebound.
Abion picked up briefly at the start of the second half but two goals in three minutes before the hour was up wrapped things up for us. First Risse crossed in and Pongolle was left unmarked to side foot a bouncing volley into the net.
Then Gerrard left Hoult motionless with a low free kick from 25 yards. At this point many of the home fans left, no doubt fearing a repeat of the 6-0 mauling we dished out two seasons ago in the same fixture.
It really was a stroll in the park after that. There were long exhibitions of passing football and on occasions the away support started jokingly booing our players for not letting Albion near the ball.
Albion were so bad that even Nunez had a good game and hopefully having such an easy ride in this fixture will give him confidence for the future.
Benitez had the luxury of taking both Gerrard and Baros off soon after our third goal but still we maintained our shape and dominated.
There never seemed any doubt we'd add to our tally, especially with Riise getting forward so much due to him being deployed in left midfield. Twice he went close before driving in a fourth on 82 minutes after a cross from Nunez.
The rout was completed in the 88th minute when Luis Garcia bundled the ball in from close range and went on a bizarre thumb sucking celebration.
All in all it was a great morale boosting victory, but we must keep our feet on the ground as Albion were really poor and it's hard to see how they can avoid relegation, especially with Robson in charge.
However at such a busy time of year to kill the game off within the hour will save a lot of players a lot of energy for the more difficult games ahead. Roll on Chelsea on New Years Day.
Team: Dudek; Finnan (Warnock), Carragher, Hyypia, Traore; Nunez, Hamann, Gerrard (Alonso), Riise: Sinama-Pongolle, Baros (Garcia):
Agree or disagree? Email me at steve@liverpoolway.co.uk
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