Watford 0 Liverpool 3:
Crouch's cruel double flatters Benitez's band of deceivers
By Norman Fox at Vicarage Road
Published: 14 January 2007
Three walked-in goals brought a lighter step to Liverpool yesterday and surely stamped on Watford's faint hopes of Premiership survival. Not that Liverpool fully justified the praise of their recently much criticised manager, Rafael Benitez.
Benitez suggested: "We needed to show character and take our chances, which we did. As soon as we had scored we had space and used it well." Actually, even Steven Gerrard had a careless and largely unimpressive game, and he was not alone.
For Benitez this was a heaven-sent chance against the bottom club to claw back a scoop of credibility after he had suffered so much wrath by fielding an under-strength side against a youthful but sparkling Arsenal in the Carling Cup. The 6-3 defeat that came so soon after Arsenal had beaten a better recognised Liverpool (if there is such a thing) in the FA Cup, had brought a sort of apology from Benitez, who said the Premiership was the only priority.
Liverpool's problems even after those results are no more than worry lines compared with Watford's situation. Manager Aidy Boothroyd, who said yesterday's display lacked "the soul on which we rely", knows it cannot be long before the club accept a huge offer for the best of his squad. Ashley Young, the England Under-21 player for whom Watford have refused offers of over £7m, is one target, though yesterday he looked worth half of that. Boothroyd confirmed reports of an £8m bid, rumoured to be from Aston Villa, but West Ham might yet improve on that.
If Watford continue to be condemned for a long ball game, Benitez had been hearing similar voices of disapproval for his team pumping the ball up to Peter Crouch which they did again yesterday and it was ineffective because of the manager's decision to play with a three-man attack (more fiddling).
For most of the first half yesterday, Watford were pleased to keep the ball out of their own half while Liverpool, severely lacking in confidence and over-hitting pass after pass, defended uneasily. As for Watford's defence, initially Jay DeMerit stayed tight on Craig Bellamy while Malky Mackay controlled Crouch. That seemed to keep Watford competitive until the 33rd minute when Crouch ran through their penalty area but seemed to have been blocked by the Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster, who only deflected the ball out to Steve Finnan. A short cross was tapped in by Bellamy.
Six minutes later, and somewhat cruelly since Watford had created just as many chances, Liverpool extended their advantage. Bellamy's shot was solidly blocked by Foster but the ball rebounded to Crouch who had the easiest of open goals.
Liverpool were flattered. Apart from one typically audacious high-powered drive from Gerrard, they had not previously had a clear attempt on goal. Yet within five minutes of the second half beginning they were three ahead after another ridiculously simple tap-in by Crouch from Bellamy's pass across goal.
If Watford thought that yesterday would be a chance for Young to emphasise his potential value, they were disappointed. It had been 18 minutes before he touched the ball and it was 46 before he had a shot.
Watford adopted Liverpool's earlier talent for giving the ball away and but for a cracking 30-yard shot by Jordan Stewart that hit the crossbar they never looked like recovering.
Liverpool blind to the benefits of Wenger's vision
By Patrick Barclay, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 11:42pm GMT 13/01/2007
Your View: Football fans' forum
In pics: Premiership action
So Arsene Wenger says he is ''tempted" to keep faith with his youngsters and see if they are good enough to win the Carling Cup. Of course he is - and of course it gives him pleasure to say so. But the Arsenal manager, if he were actually to take that gamble, would be making the same mistake as Rafa Benitez did last Tuesday night. While resting players is all very well, risking humiliation is irresponsible. And Benitez must privately have feared his fringe players would be inadequate opponents for their Arsenal equivalents. Now he knows.
Wenger will surely approach a two-legged semi-final against Tottenham with plenty of respect: more than he showed Wigan last year. Then, he went north with his second string and, having lost 1-0, brought back Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Jose Antonio Reyes for the second leg. Arsenal still lost on an away goal. Wenger will take fewer chances this time - and he has a stronger squad from whom to pick. But he will not be getting over-excited about the 6-3 triumph over as poor a Liverpool side as can be remembered.
From a Liverpool point of view, the only good thing to come out of the match was confirmation that, below a top shelf featuring Steven Gerrard, the quality cupboard is bare. Whoever takes over the club's reins from David Moores - and those boys from Dubai appear to be hesitating - will have to put it right.
Too much blame was heaped on Jerzy Dudek last week, I felt, although the real eyebrow-raiser came from a critic who seemed to hold the former manager, Gerard Houllier, partly responsible in that, despite having been recruited from the French FA, he had failed to create a semblance of the renowned Clairefontaine academy on Merseyside. As if he had not tried! So dim was his view of Liverpool's youth development when he arrived at the club in 1998 that he soon whisked Gerrard away to join the first-team group at their Melwood training ground. Neither Houllier nor his assistant, Patrice Bergues, who had run a highly successful academy at Lens, proved able to impose their joint ideas on the club establishment, which consists largely of fans - notably the chairman, David Moores, and chief executive, Rick Parry - and former players.
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And Benitez? It was significant that, when he lamented the club's apparent inability to get the sort of bright young things in which Arsenal specialise, he talked of buying them, as if he did not believe they could be grown in his time. Things might or might not have been different if Houllier's advice on modernising this aspect of the club had been taken seven or eight years ago; Wenger and Liam Brady at Arsenal have, after all, left just about every rival standing in that period. But sooner or later, if Liverpool are to rebuild convincingly, they are going to have to stop using bricks without straw.
PS:
For all the understandable disappointment among Scotland supporters at the departure of Walter Smith, things could be worse. It is not as if the country suffers from a dearth of plausible replacements. Indeed, the suggestions emphasise that, while Scotland may not produce as many players as in days gone by, the supply of decent coaches is as healthy as ever. A personal preference would be for one of the least experienced.
Not only does Gary McAllister know and love the game; memories of his playing career are fresh enough to constitute a symbol of what the Scottish footballer should aspire to. Lean, fit, technically consummate and desperate to win, he had the lot (as did John Collins, now in charge of Hibs). But McAllister might need an old head to consult. His erstwhile Scotland boss Craig Brown could return to the fold, while Archie Knox is still a key figure in the national coaching set-up. Then there is Alex Miller, a key aide to Rafa Benitez at Liverpool. Meanwhile the reputation of Billy Davies, who, having begun at Motherwell, worked with and eventually succeeded Brown at Preston, continues to soar at Derby. Possibilities abound. If only the Scotland team were as spoiled for choice.
Benitez slams critics as Liverpool bounce back
By Colin Malam at Vicarage Road, Sunday Telegraph
Watford (0) 0 Liverpool (2) 3
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez hit back yesterday at the critics who have blamed him and his team selection following the 6-3 drubbing by Arsenal's second team in the Carling Cup last week. Having seen Liverpool overwhelm struggling Watford in the Premiership, Benitez claimed his critics did not know what they were talking about.
Rafael Benitez
Plenty to shout about: Rafael Benitez lashed out at his critics
"Sometimes," he said, "if you know the people or the person that is criticising what you are doing and they don't understand, don't analyse, you can't do anything but keep doing what you are doing. I said before and after the defeat [by Arsenal] that we have confidence. We are winning a lot of games in a row."
Liverpool did not have to exert themselves unduly to record their seventh win in eight League games. On a difficult, bumpy pitch and in a tricky, blustery wind, they had little to beat in a Watford team surprisingly lacking the enthusiasm and vigour they have managed to retain in most matches despite being anchored to the foot of the table.
"I think that probably Chelsea away, Sheffield United at home and today are the most angered I've been," said Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd. "If we don't have world-class players, we do have heart, passion and soul. They might not be enough, but we didn't get there today, and I'm disappointed."
After Craig Bellamy, the game's outstanding player, and Peter Crouch, who scored twice, had made it 3-0 by the early minutes of the second half, it was as though Liverpool lost the appetite for slaughter. Playing in an unusual 3-4-3 formation designed to exploit the talents of all three principal strikers, Bellamy, Crouch and Dirk Kuyt, they spurned more than one chance to increase Watford's suffering.
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The first half was so poor that a goal seemed about as likely as bankruptcy for David Beckham. Before Liverpool surprised us by taking the lead in the 34th minute, there had been little entertainment.
Crouch tested Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster with a header while, at the other end, Hameur Bouazza was only inches wide with a low shot. But that was about it until Bellamy played in Crouch and Foster saved at his feet. The ball ran loose to Steve Finnan, whose low centre was so measured Bellamy had only to tap it over the line. The gravity of a chance missed by Tommy Smith, who centred the ball instead of shooting when he found himself clear on the right, was underlined five minutes before the interval.
In a slick move begun unpromisingly by Jose Reina's long clearance, Kuyt headed Bellamy through, Foster could only parry his shot and Crouch supplied the finishing touch.
Watford had also threatened to score just before Crouch made it 3-0 three minutes after the interval. But no sooner had Reina beaten out a 25-yarder from Ashley Young than Liverpool ripped the home side open again with a move that flowed so sweetly between Steven Gerrard, Fabio Aurelio and Bellamy that Crouch was left with another tap in.
Gerrard and Bellamy both wasted opportunities to increase Liverpool's lead either side of a dull game's most dramatic moment. Taking aim from about 30 yards, left back Jordan Stewart rattled the Liverpool crossbar with a shot.
Stewart certainly emerged from his club's tame performance with more credit than Young, who is said to be a transfer target for West Ham and other Premiership clubs. Boothroyd revealed afterwards that he had received a bid of £8million for the player. This is an increase of £1m on the bid, thought to have come from West Ham, that Watford turned down last week.
Match summary
Man of the Match: Craig Bellamy. Watford’s ponderous defence had no answer to the Welsh striker's pace and movement. He scored one and helped make the other two of Liverpool’s goals.
Moment of the Match: When Jordan Stewart, Watford’s left back, rattled the Liverpool crossbar from 30 yards with Jose Reina well beaten.
Rating: 6/10
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