Liverpool 4 Arsenal 1: Awesome Crouch reaches new high
Arsenal rearguard fall apart in the lengthening shadow of Liverpool's three-goal striker
By Guy Hodgson at Anfield
Published: 01 April 2007
Here is something you did not expect to read this morning. Arsenal, the side whose promise makes you wish for the future, were dominated by a Liverpool player at Anfield yesterday. And the identity of this unstoppable force was not Steven Gerrard, but Peter Crouch.
The 6ft 7in striker, who is greeted by chants of "Freak" from opposition fans at almost every ground, proved to be just that in one sense: he frightened the Gunners back four to near- impotence. The beautiful game espoused by the Arsenal youngsters going forward was dismantled by Crouch, by being big, difficult and, yes, deadly.
He scored his first hat-trick (right foot, header, left foot) at club level, could have had at least two more goals and reduced Kolo Touré and William Gallas to such rubble that the visiting support were thinking wistfully of Philippe Senderos, a centre-half with a reputation as a mistake about to happen. Crouch dented a few reputations yesterday and pushed his side above Arsenal into third in the Premiership.
With Daniel Agger scoring as well, the result, on paper, was a comprehensive revenge for Anfield's January of despair, when Arsenal put Liverpool out of the FA and League Cups. In fact, the visitors scored through Gallas and Emmanuel Adebayor hit the post twice, but with a paper-thin defence they would have needed six goals to feel safe.
"Defensively we were horrendous today," Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, admitted as he digested his team's worst defeat since their 6-1 rout by Manchester United six years ago. "We have to realise that if we carry on like that for the rest of the season it won't work. We have to pick ourselves up. Maybe subconsciously we think, 'Let's just make sure we finish in the top four', but football doesn't work like that. You have to prepare like every game is a cup final. Crouch made the big difference, we couldn't handle him. He is an intelligent player and we gave him too much space. We were not compact enough as a team and we gave him the room to move between our lines. The first three crosses of the game he was on his own."
As Wenger intimated, Ars-enal's vulnerability was obvious almost from the first kick. Gerrard was pushed forward to act as a second striker, but it was his partner who was rampaging round the box. Within four minutes Jermaine Pennant flummoxed Abou Diaby and Gaël Clichy with a back-heel, Alvaro Arbeloa crossed to the near post and Crouch stretched his telescopic legs to score.
Crouch almost got a second with a free-kick 18 minutes later, his overhead shot nearly surprising Jens Lehmann, and it was a measure of the problems he was causing that Touré was reduced to making clumsy aerial challenges. After 35 minutes he pushed his luck too far, Xabi Alonso took a quick free-kick, Fabio Aurelio crossed immaculately and Crouch rose above Diaby to crash a header into the top corner.
Arsenal had a dreadful first half, compounded by Lehmann needlessly getting booked for dissent as the players left the pitch at the interval, so it was a hint of better things to come when Adebayor turned and shot against the post after 54 minutes. A revival? A false dawn, more like, because the visitors' marking system collapsed again seven minutes later and Agger had a free run to glance a header from Aurelio's free-kick.
Again Adebayor was denied by the post when Jose Reina tipped his shot against the upright, and it was no more than Arsenal deserved when they got a goal back after 73 minutes. Cesc Fabregas's corner was headed on by Touré and Gallas bundled in from a range of a foot.
An Arsenal revival was not beyond question, but Crouch crushed that with his third of the day and 15th of the season. Pennant passed from the right, Dirk Kuyt dummied and Crouch turned Touré for the umpteenth time before flicking the ball past Lehmann. "We wanted to win because we are fighting for third place," Rafael Benitez, the Liver-pool manager, said, "but after losing twice at Anfield to Arsenal we wanted to give our supporters something special. The whole team were very good."
Had Crouch guaranteed a place against PSV Eindhoven in Tuesday's Champions' League quarter-final first leg? "You know me, I like to rotate the team 99 times if I can," Benitez replied, his tongue in his cheek. "If he is fit he is an option, but it will be a different type of game."
Crouch enjoys net profit
Liverpool 4 Arsenal 1
Jonathan Northcroft at Anfield
A survey by Forbes magazine has just named Manchester United, by a comfortable margin, to be the world’s most valuable football club, but George Gillett and Tom Hicks must believe they pulled off an extraordinary deal to purchase Liverpool for “only” £470m.
This was the second game attended by the US tycoons since they became overlords at Anfield. In the first, Liverpool swept Barcelona out of the Champions League. Here, with no regard to going easy on the young, Arsenal were bulldozed into the ground. The sunshine was bright and the Kop could afford to be discerning, only granting their players the normal level of noisy backing once Liverpool’s third goal went in. Oh, and Peter Crouch played like Marco van Basten. George and Tom: it won’t always be like this.
Whether the “race for third place” has truly the importance to give this result wide significance is debatable, but any match between big clubs is always resonant and one manager was left beaming, the other brooding, by the outcome.
Rafael Benitez almost played stand-up comedian in his press conference and could smile because, having been thrashed here in both cup competitions by Arsenal, he felt his team owed their supporters “something special” and had managed to deliver. Arsene Wenger stewed about what he perceived as a lack of focus from his players, in particular the defenders whose performance he classed as “horrendous.”
It was Arsenal’s worst defeat since Manchester United beat them 6-1 in 2001 and he warned that unless his men get their heads back together, the top four place they appear to be taking for granted could evaporate. PSV Eindhoven might have eliminated Arsenal from Europe but Wenger said Liverpool were “highly favourites” to prevail against the Dutch team in their Champions League quarter-final, the first leg of which is played in Holland on Tuesday night. It was an attempt at humour regarding Crouch but this was one of those days when this lampooned lampost of a footballer turned the joke back on everybody.
He scored, after three minutes, with his right foot, with his head after 34 minutes and with his left-foot nine minutes from time: a “classic” hat-trick comprising three classy finishes.
William Gallas and Kolo Toure have seldom played together because of injuries and they will make a formidable partnership for Arsenal one day, but this was not that day. Gallas looked rusty. Toure paid for the petulance that sometimes creeps into his game, caught out of position while protesting the award of a free kick which, taken sharply by Xabi Alonso, led to Crouch’s second goal. It was an example of the intelligence that Alonso brought to proceedings.
His accomplice in the centre of midfield, Javier Mascherano, was even better, patrolling the area like an airport sniffer dog. Cesc Fabregas and Denilson were hounded as if their pockets were stocked with contraband. Benitez was not getting his English wrong when he used the word “fantastic” to describe the performances of Alonso and Mascherano and, for once, princely young Fabregas was given a lesson by his elders in midfield play.
Arsenal played some nice football on their customary breaks but had no control of the game because of what was happening in central areas, where Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger also played like thoroughbreds.
Only Emmanuel Adebayor escaped the mediocrity which was besetting his side. The Togolese striker struck the inside of the same post twice, once with a superb low shot after turning Carragher, on the second occasion from a header that Jose Reina got a touch to with a prodigious stretch.
It was Gallas, though, who got Arsenal’s goal, chesting over the line after Toure headed on Fabregas’s corner and Freddie Ljungberg touched the ball past Reina. That made it 3-1 with 18 minutes of the match remaining, and a brief period of sloppiness from Liverpool suggested that Arsenal could even get back into the game, but then Crouch completed his well-earned hat-trick.
Mascherano showed he has skill as well as scrapping qualities by keeping a move going by executing a chip to Jermaine Pennant that came with a high degree of technical difficulty. Pennant crossed and Crouch showed lovely control and awareness to tame the ball, allow Toure to commit himself, and chip over Lehmann.
Crouch’s opening goal, coming so early, set the tone for Liverpool’s dominance. The impressive Alvaro Arbeloa played a one-two with Pennant, who found his colleague with a gorgeous backheel, and Arbeloa’s low, early cross was speared past Lehmann by Crouch, sliding in with Toure and extending a telescopic leg.
Goal number two was the kind that if Crouch could score more of he would be unstoppable. Toure fouled the striker 30 yards out and stood arguing with Steve Bennett while Alonso took a quick free kick to Aurelio, who crossed early. Crouch was arriving and Toure’s absence gave him a clear run at the ball. Rising above Gallas and Abou Diaby, he thundered a header inside Lehmann’s near post.
Arsenal were beaten by another cross when Liverpool moved 3-0 ahead on the hour mark, Agger stealing into space to glance home Aurelio’s free kick. There could have been more goals for Benitez’s men: Crouch went close with an angled shot from the edge of the box after holding off, then turning Toure, and Lehmann made a late stop from Aurelio to avoid the ignominy of 5-1.
Steven Gerrard also shot weakly when teed up by Mark Gonzalez and Liverpool’s victory was the more remarkable for the fact that Captain Fantastic, deservedly substituted, for once was Captain Prosaic.
A justifiably delighted Benitez said: “We have a very important Champions League game against PSV Eindhoven coming up and I have a good selection problem after what Peter Crouch has done.
“But the tactics today were chosen specifically to play against Arsenal. They may well be very different in Eindhoven, we will have to wait and see.”
Wenger said: “Defensively our performance was horrendous. The difference was Crouch.”
Star man: Peter Crouch (Liverpool)
Player ratings: Liverpool: Reina 7, Arbeloa 8, Agger 7, Carragher 7, Aurelio 7, Alonso 8, Mascherano 8 (Riise 82min), Pennant 6, Gerrard 5 (Kuyt 56min, 5), Gonzalez 5 (Zenden 69min), Crouch 8
Arsenal: Lehamnn 6, Eboue 6 (Hoyte 82min), Toure 5, Gallas 6, Clichy 6, Hleb 5, Denilson 6, Fabregas 5, Diaby 6 (Rosicky 65min), Adebayor 7, Baptista 4 (Ljungberg 65min)
Anfield revenge as Crouch fires hat-trick
By Colin Malam at Anfield, Sunday Telegraph
Liverpool (2) 4 Arsenal (0) 1
Revenge was sweet indeed for Liverpool yesterday. Hammered by Arsenal in their three previous encounters this season, the Merseysiders subjected the Gunners to the sort of humiliation they have suffered themselves at the feet of the London club.
Rafael Benitez, Liverpool's manager, must have been a very satisfied man. Having fielded a reshuffled team designed principally with Tuesday's first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against PSV Eindhoven in mind, he saw them settle a few scores with Arsenal and climb above the visitors into the Premiership's third place.
For that, Benitez and Liverpool were largely indebted to Peter Crouch. Making his first start since breaking his nose against Sheffield United a month ago and having an operation to set it last week, the gangling striker terrorised Arsenal with a display of all the attacking arts that was rewarded with a dazzling hat-trick.
Benitez must have been particularly pleased that his team put one of his club's main rivals to the sword on the day Tom Hicks and George Gillett attended an Anfield game for the first time as the club's official new owners. No doubt this result will make the American billionaires more eager than ever to help the Spaniard challenge Manchester United and Chelsea for the top spot in English football when the three of them meet to discuss future plans today.
"It was a good game," said a smiling, good-humoured Benitez in a masterpiece of understatement. "We wanted to win because we are fighting for third position, but also because we have lost two games here [to Arsenal] and wanted to give our supporters something special." Perversely, however, he refused to single out Crouch, who played in tandem up front with England's midweek saviour Steven Gerrard, for particular praise.
Instead, he preferred to draw attention to the "magnificent" midfield pairing of Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano and to talk about the "perfect" work-rate of the whole team. Nor did he respond positively to the suggestion that Crouch had guaranteed himself a place in Eindhoven on Tuesday. Maybe the game against PSV will be different," he said non-committally.
Sent back to London to think again about their away form, the Arsenal board must be wondering if an injection of American money might have a galvanising effect on their own club. But the rumours about another wealthy American, Stan Kroenke, taking over at the Emirates were the last thing on the mind of manager Arsene Wenger, furious about his club's heaviest defeat since they lost 6-1 to Manchester United six years ago.
"Defensively, as a team, we had a horrendous performance," he said. "It was a bad result and And we have to realise that if we go on like that for the rest of the season, it will not work." In other words, with a difficult programme ahead, Arsenal cannot afford to ease up if they want to be sure of finishing in the top four.
Fielding many of the youngsters who humiliated Liverpool here 6-3 in the Carling Cup at the start of the year, Arsenal found themselves a goal down after only four minutes. It came, too, from a move the visitors would have been proud to call their own. An exchange of back-heeled passes between Spanish full-back Alvaro Arbeloa and former Arsenal starlet Jermaine Pennant enabled Arbeloa to offer Crouch a low centre which he turned in smartly at the near post.
The revitalised striker also tested Jens Lehmann with a bicycle kick and also shot wide of the far post before rising imperiously to head his second goal from a Fabio Aurelio cross 10 minutes before the interval. Daniel Agger punctuated Crouch's scoring sequence with a glancing header from a free kick by the increasingly impressive Aurelio before the striker completed the hat-trick with his piece de resistance.
Pulling down Pennant's cross with his right foot and neatly side-stepping Kolo Toure, Crouch finished clinically with his left. It was the kind of breathtaking expertise that made one wonder why there is such a fuss about England's lack of potent strikers.
This was his 16th goal in 24 starts for Liverpool this season and how his country could have done with him in Israel and Andorra in this kind of form. "Crouch made a big difference," admitted Wenger. "We couldn't handle him. He got three goals from three crosses and each time he was on his own. He made the difference with his runs. He's an intelligent player and we gave him too much room."
Shortly before Crouch completed his hat-trick nine minutes from the end, William Gallas had gained some consolation for Arsenal by bundling the ball in after Toure's header glanced across the face of goal following a Tomas Rosicky corner. But it was far too little to prevent Liverpool and their fans rejoicing over a result that did much to ease the pain of their double defeat by Arsenal in the Carling Cup and FA Cup in January.
PSV await on Tuesday and it was the Dutch side, of course, who ended Arsenal's interest in the Champions League this season. But Wenger has no doubt the same fate will not befall Liverpool. Asked how he rated their chances, he said: "Liverpool must be favourites - big favourites."
Man of the match: Peter Crouch. The big man not only scored the perfect hat-trick - right foot, left foot and header, but tormented Arsenal with his ball control.
Moment of the match: When Crouch pulled down Jermaine Pennant's cross with his right foot, side-stepped Kolo Toure and completed his hat-trick with his left.
Rating: 8/10
Crouch proves talents are not to be sniffed at
Paul Wilson at Anfield
Sunday April 1, 2007
The Observer
Peter Crouch has returned from his rhinoplasty operation with a new nose for goal. Apologies for the quality of that pun, but you have to make an effort on April Fool's Day. It is better than the alternative - that Crouch put Kolo Toure and Jens Lehmann's noses out of joint, which he did.
Making his first start since having his face rearranged against Sheffield United at the end of February, Crouch collected his first hat-trick in club football with aplomb. His first two goals in particular showed the striker's timing and finishing power he has often been accused of lacking and, although he looks unconvincingly gangling in general play, his scoring statistics stack up impressively. In addition to hat-tricks for England and Liverpool in the past 12 months, Crouch has 16 goals in 24 club starts this season, to go with his none-too-shabby record of 11 in 17 for England.
Several of those international goals came against teams of the stature of Andorra and Jamaica, but any centre-forward would be proud of hitting three against Arsenal, especially as Crouch scored with his left foot, right foot and head and beat the highly rated Toure hands down each time. 'It's a special moment for me, but the team deserves the credit,' Crouch said. 'Sometimes playing up front you can be isolated and feel out of touch, but I got great service today. My team-mates got around me."
Perhaps even more valuable to Crouch than the match ball was glowing praise from Arsene Wenger, even though the striker had just helped to inflict Arsenal's heaviest defeat for six years. 'Crouch made a big difference, we couldn't handle him,' said the Arsenal manager. 'He was superb - technically intelligent and hard to play against. He has skill as well as size and we gave him too much room.'
With a touch of self-confessed mischievousness, Rafael Benitez selected Steven Gerrard as Crouch's support striker after he had played so well in the middle for England last week, although the Liverpool captain was tired and off the pace and barely lasted an hour before being withdrawn to rest for the first leg of the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday.
Craig Bellamy was missing for the same reason, but it took Crouch less than four minutes to establish he could manage on his own. Neat interplay between Alvaro Arbeloa and Jermaine Pennant on the right resulted in a back-heel pass from the latter to free the former for a low cross and Crouch was across Toure in an instant to get the near-post touch.
Crouch struck again just as Arsenal were pulling themselves back into the game. The visiting team could have been level after half an hour had Julio Baptista threatened Jose Reina's goal rather than the corner flag when Emmanuel Adebayor set him up for a shot from the edge of the area, but Wenger rather understated the matter in saying his players were not sharp and he watched them pay the penalty.
After Toure clattered Crouch to give away a free-kick 10 minutes before half time, Arsenal stood and watched as Xabi Alonso played a quick pass to Fabio Aurelio on the left and the Brazilian's deep cross was met by the sort of purposeful and accurate header that few thought was in Crouch's armoury. Jens Lehmann was booked for protesting that the free kick had been taken too quickly. Replays confirmed there was nothing wrong with it and suggested the goalkeeper's positioning might have been more at fault, as well as weak challenges from Toure and Abou Diaby.
The second half opened with Gerrard presenting Lehmann with an easy save, then watching as the ball was transferred all the way down the pitch for the unlucky Adebayor to strike a post. Even after Daniel Agger had extended Liverpool's lead with a glancing header from Aurelio's free-kick, Adebayor was still trying, bringing a fine save from Reina with a header that the goalkeeper touched on to a post.
Arsenal gained some reward when William Gallas nudged the ball over the line after Toure had headed goalwards from a corner, although their supporters in the Anfield Road end tempted fate by chanting: 'We're going to win 6-3.' That scoreline from the Carling Cup quarter-final defeat by Arsenal had been mentioned by Benitez in the dressing room with the suggestion that it might payback time and Crouch was keen to oblige. When Pennant's cross eluded Dirk Kuyt to reach Crouch nine minutes from the end, he controlled the ball and turned past Toure with a swagger before smashing that ball beyond Lehmann. 'It's a team game, but sometimes a striker needs to be selfish,' Crouch said.
Benitez joked: 'He might play in the next game. As you know, I like to rotate my team 99 times, if possible.'
How Arsenal, now below Liverpool in fourth place but with a game in hand, could do with an injection of enthusiasm. 'We have to pick ourselves up,' Wenger said, just before indicating he fancied Liverpool to progress beyond PSV. 'Liverpool were much more determined. We can't just carry on and expect to finish in a good position; football doesn't work like that. To win you have to be at your best. We have some tough games to play and we need full commitment.'
Man of the match Peter Crouch
Jermaine Pennant looked lively throughout and Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano were quietly effective in midfield, but there is no need to look past the hat-trick man. Crouch's goals won the game and all three were exceptionally well taken. Who says there are no goalscoring centre-forwards in England?
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