Always nice to bask in the glory of handing out a drubbing. 
Liverpool blow Derby away
By Trevor Haylett, Sunday Telegraph
Liverpool (2) 6 Derby County (0) 0
They are at the top of the Premier League for the first time since August 2002 and the goals are flowing with a rapidity and style to evoke memories of their halcyon days. What is more, Liverpool have found a level of form that even Chelsea and Manchester United will struggle to match. A sublime quality blew Derby away and left supporters to rejoice in the team's best start to a season in nine years. And all this without Steven Gerrard.
There were two goals for Xabi Alonso, who got the party off and running direct from a free-kick, and two more for the new local hero Fernando Torres. Ryan Babel scored his first for the club in what was arguably the pick of the bunch, though Torres' eye for the main chance was again hugely impressive.
Make mine a double: Torres scores the first of his two goals
If there is disharmony behind the scenes with Rafael Benitez's assistant Pako Ayestaran seemingly about to sever his ties with both the club and his mentor, there is only sweetness and light on the pitch. His recruitment policy has not always followed logic, but it seems that Benitez has, at last, found a formula to bring Premier League success to Merseyside.
"There's a long way to go, but it's good that we have four strikers of quality and different strengths who all know what we want from them," he said.
They include Peter Crouch, who had helped secure a Champions League place with the early goal on Tuesday, but who is now Liverpool's Andrei Shevchenko. He could not even win a place in the 16 while Momo Sissoko and Andriy Voronin, scorers in the defeat of Sunderland, had to make do with a seat on the bench. At Anfield goals win games, but no longer guarantee the jersey.
Derby's strategy of containment demanded they seize any openings that they could chisel out. That amounted to only two, the first arriving as early as the seventh minute with Stephen Pearson opting to pass and thus wasting his good work.
Before that Daniel Agger had seen a deflected shot pushed away by Stephen Bywater. Derby had stood off and watched, an oversight they were to repeat as Alonso, Dirk Kuyt and Javier Mascherano all tried their luck. The pressure was intense from the start and would never relent.
Jermaine Pennant was proving a menace down the right and when he switched flanks he tempted Tyrone Mears into a foul although the punishment looked harsh - especially when Alonso's devilish free-kick sailed over all the heads and ended up in the bottom corner.
From then it became clear that the odds of 20/1 on an away win were hardly generous. Billy Davies said it was time his players woke up and realised where they were. He threw accusations of naivety, carelessness and a lack of respect their way, but said he always maintained that he could not properly prepare until this game was out of the way and the transfer window had shut.
So 1-0 up after 25 minutes and clearly comfortable, yet we had seen nothing to encourage the belief that this is a new and significantly improved Liverpool. That came in first-half added time, with a wonderful goal to send Anfield into raptures. An incisive pass from Agger was followed by Alvaro Arbeloa's check and measured pass. Babel might have taken instant aim but instead drew the challenge of two embarrassed defenders before slotting the ball home with considerable panache.
The interval interruption did not cost Liverpool anything in terms of fluency. The performance was approaching perfection, but it needed a Torres goal to completely satisfy their public. That came in the 56th minute after Mascherano had robbed an indulgent Robert Malcolm. The Spaniard veered left and then popped the ball into the far corner with a gentle brush of his left boot. Simple, but stunning all the same.
It was all too easy. It became 4-0 when Mascherano sent Babel away and while Yossi Benayoun was blocked it mattered not as Alonso swept the ball into the net.
Derby were a dishevelled unit, their resistance in shreds as they accepted the inevitability of a fourth successive defeat. Goals five and six were another sad indictment of how short they are in this elite company. They should have cut out the ball that Torres returned to Kuyt but allowed the Dutchman, such an example of industry and commitment, to unleash a fierce drive which Bywater palmed out. Voronin's eager instincts made him first to the loose ball.
Almost from the restart the Ukrainian put the ball back into the heart of the Derby defence. Andy Todd went to ferry the ball back to his goalkeeper but left it short. Torres has that unstabilising effect on his markers and took full advantage, rounding Bywater to complete the set.
Match summary
Moment of the match: Babel's wonderful goal to make it 2-0 at the end of a flowing move. Then again it could be Torres' first of the afternoon, a dagger thrust applied with a silky caress.
Match rating: 8/10
Liverpool 6 Derby County 0: Torres and Alonso lead Rams to the slaughter
Liverpool in irresistible form as they make their best start in a decade
By Ronald Atkin at Anfield
Published: 02 September 2007
Top of the Premier League and just ahead of Everton too. In football terms at least, the happy times are back on Merseyside. Even taking into accountthe poverty of Derby County, Liverpool were in glorious, free-wheeling, free-scoring form and from their joyous reaction, the Kop clearly senses that this might just, at last, be their season.
Unbeaten in the League and Europe, Liverpool ran away with this one once Derby's strategy to stifle the midfield was picked apart. Even with Steven Gerrard absent injured Liverpool ran the show with ease, Dirk Kuyt dropping deep to adopt the Gerrard-feeding role for the jet-heeled Fernando Torres.
After the four goals against Toulouse it had been, the manager, Rafael Benitez smiled, "not a bad week". Even the absence of Gerrard and the impending departure of Benitez's long-time assistant, Paco Ayesteran, could not impinge on a day like this.
As for England's declared intention to call on Gerrard for Saturday's Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel, Benitez observed: "The England team doctor will be in contact [with Gerrard] and then they will decide whether or not he should play. We don't want to take any risk with him, and they must not take any risk."
Risk is the word more readily associated with Derby at the moment, a serious risk of prompt return to the Championship from whence they so recently came. To the raucous delight of their large following, Derby stayed afloat for 25 minutes until they were undone by the switchof wings between Jermaine Pennant and Ryan Babel.
Pennant on the left was far too much for the lumbering Tyrone Mears to handle, and two fouls in quick succession provoked a lecture from the referee, Alan Wiley. Worse for Derby, it led to the opening goal from the second free-kick, a 35-yarder from Xabi Alonso which sailed directly into the net, the Derby goalkeeper, Stephen Bywater, probably being distracted by Kuyt's late, narrow failure to make a connection with his head. A fusillade of Liverpool shots, mainly from distance, kept Bywater twitching but he was beaten in the very last seconds of the half by a beautifully constructed goal.
Daniel Agger began it with a fine pass inside Mears for Alvaro Arbeloa to run on to. He pulled back to Babel, who sent the inrushing Claude Davis and Andy Griffin the wrong way in unison with a shrug of the hips before taking a couple of strides and hammering home.
Derby appeared still in shock from that one, nearly conceding again in the opening minute of the second half and being saved only by Alonso scooping over from close in.
That the miss would not be vital was rapidly evident, since Derby were not learning from their misfortunes. Robert Malcolm was punished for dwelling overlong on the ball, losing possession to a sliding tackle from Javier Mascherano, who sent Torres through to knock in a left-footed cross-shot. The wretched Malcolm was replaced immediately. Off came Pennant on the hour to a standing ovation, to be replaced by Yossi Benayoun. Within a few minutes the Israeli was at the heart of the fourth goal.
Though his shot was blocked by a fine Andy Todd interception it was typical of Derby'sluck these days that the ball rebounded straight to Alonso, who shot low through a crowd in the penalty area. Cue anothersubstitution and another goal. On came Andriy Voronin for Babel, and in four minutes he was celebrating. Torres did excellently to regain possession out on the left and fed Kuyt for a shot which Bywater beat out, but only for the eager Voronin to bundle the ball back past him.
Now Derby were in complete disintegration, and straight from the restart Torres was allowed to canter through almost at leisure to diddle Bywater's attempt at a block and side-foot his second goal of an excellent day for him. Still the Derby fans somehow stayed buoyant. "Bring on United," they chorused. Actually, it's Arsenal in the next away game.
Benitez has Liverpool dreaming of a new tilt at the title
Jamie Jackson
Sunday September 2, 2007
The Observer
These are fast becoming the very best of recent times for Liverpool. Rafael Benitez has secured the FA Cup and Champions League during his first three seasons at Anfield. If that has kept the fans of England's most successful club happy, a first championship in 18 years would surely allow the man from Spain's much-mocked goatee to become de rigueur in Merseyside's red parts.
Although still very early for title predictions, Liverpool's support woke this morning to find their club heading the English rankings for the first time in five years. That was thanks to a slick, stylish and thoroughly convincing performance that had the old ground buzzing that this season, Rafa's men might just be the business.
Asked if the long drought is about to be broken, Benitez was quick to play the prospect down. 'For me I'm pleased today. Tomorrow it will be different. Some teams play and will win,' he said, referring to Chelsea and Manchester City who can leap-frog his team. 'And I know its a long way to go and important to keep the right mentality for the players.'
If his side can consistently produce close to this level they certainly have a chance. Sure, Derby were poor, and the real tests are ahead. But what attracts about Liverpool's prospects are Benitez's choices. Especially up front. 'We have four strikers - Andriy Voronin, Peter Crouch, Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt who all know what we want and have different strengths.' All, apart from Crouch, featured and contributed. Asked which of the six goals was his favourite, he said: 'Maybe you will choose Ryan Babel's. But for me they were all important.' The wideman's strike on half time was probably the pick. Alvaro Arbeloa cut the ball back from the left and picked the Dutchman out. His feint placed two Derby defenders on their rears. The right foot finish was supreme.
After 20 minutes Benitez had decided that Jermaine Pennant and Babel should switch flanks. That became a masterstroke. Pennant drew the foul from Tyrone Mears down the left that led to Liverpool's opener.Xabi Alonso was 35 yards out and on the angle as he addressed the ball. In came a dipping free kick, Kuyt's attempt to head was unsuccessful, but it fooled Steven Bywater in the Derby goal.
Kuyt missed two good chances before Babel's goal, so while Benitez should have headed for the tea and tactics with more than the two-goal advantage, Derby had, as manager Billy Davies admitted, already succumbed to 'naivety. 'One-nil down at half-time would've given as a psychological lift. But Babel's goal mentally killed us.'
Davies had his team in a 4-5-1. Yet their extra man in midfield seemed a myth. Robert Malcolm was one of those asked by his manager to frustrate. But on 56 minutes his bald pate went crimson for the mistake that gave Torres a second Premier League goal. Javier Mascherano caught him slumbering and the Argentine played the striker in to slide the ball home with his left.
Benitez had mused over Pennant's absence from Steve McClaren's latest England squad during the week. By the hour the view had been vindicated. The winger's removal then for Yossi Benayoun was because of a job well done. Pennant left to a rousing ovation.
The mutual love-in widened on 69 minutes with the arrival of Liverpool's fourth. Babel this time created the trouble down the right. Alonso eventually collected, and measured it beyond Bywater. Two large portions of icing were then applied within seconds of each other.
On 76 minutes Torres fed Kuyt. His pace took him beyond the Derby defence. The shot was saved but substitute Voronin cleaned up. Torres' second came thanks to an Andy Todd howler. The central defender miscontrolled, Torres pounced, rounded Bywater, and scored
That was six goals without the injured Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard. Liverpool now have 11 in the league. And have conceded just one - 'the penalty that never was' against Chelsea. At the moment the pair are not being missed.
Liverpool blow Derby away
By Trevor Haylett, Sunday Telegraph
Liverpool (2) 6 Derby County (0) 0
They are at the top of the Premier League for the first time since August 2002 and the goals are flowing with a rapidity and style to evoke memories of their halcyon days. What is more, Liverpool have found a level of form that even Chelsea and Manchester United will struggle to match. A sublime quality blew Derby away and left supporters to rejoice in the team's best start to a season in nine years. And all this without Steven Gerrard.
There were two goals for Xabi Alonso, who got the party off and running direct from a free-kick, and two more for the new local hero Fernando Torres. Ryan Babel scored his first for the club in what was arguably the pick of the bunch, though Torres' eye for the main chance was again hugely impressive.
Make mine a double: Torres scores the first of his two goals
If there is disharmony behind the scenes with Rafael Benitez's assistant Pako Ayestaran seemingly about to sever his ties with both the club and his mentor, there is only sweetness and light on the pitch. His recruitment policy has not always followed logic, but it seems that Benitez has, at last, found a formula to bring Premier League success to Merseyside.
"There's a long way to go, but it's good that we have four strikers of quality and different strengths who all know what we want from them," he said.
They include Peter Crouch, who had helped secure a Champions League place with the early goal on Tuesday, but who is now Liverpool's Andrei Shevchenko. He could not even win a place in the 16 while Momo Sissoko and Andriy Voronin, scorers in the defeat of Sunderland, had to make do with a seat on the bench. At Anfield goals win games, but no longer guarantee the jersey.
Derby's strategy of containment demanded they seize any openings that they could chisel out. That amounted to only two, the first arriving as early as the seventh minute with Stephen Pearson opting to pass and thus wasting his good work.
Before that Daniel Agger had seen a deflected shot pushed away by Stephen Bywater. Derby had stood off and watched, an oversight they were to repeat as Alonso, Dirk Kuyt and Javier Mascherano all tried their luck. The pressure was intense from the start and would never relent.
Jermaine Pennant was proving a menace down the right and when he switched flanks he tempted Tyrone Mears into a foul although the punishment looked harsh - especially when Alonso's devilish free-kick sailed over all the heads and ended up in the bottom corner.
From then it became clear that the odds of 20/1 on an away win were hardly generous. Billy Davies said it was time his players woke up and realised where they were. He threw accusations of naivety, carelessness and a lack of respect their way, but said he always maintained that he could not properly prepare until this game was out of the way and the transfer window had shut.
So 1-0 up after 25 minutes and clearly comfortable, yet we had seen nothing to encourage the belief that this is a new and significantly improved Liverpool. That came in first-half added time, with a wonderful goal to send Anfield into raptures. An incisive pass from Agger was followed by Alvaro Arbeloa's check and measured pass. Babel might have taken instant aim but instead drew the challenge of two embarrassed defenders before slotting the ball home with considerable panache.
The interval interruption did not cost Liverpool anything in terms of fluency. The performance was approaching perfection, but it needed a Torres goal to completely satisfy their public. That came in the 56th minute after Mascherano had robbed an indulgent Robert Malcolm. The Spaniard veered left and then popped the ball into the far corner with a gentle brush of his left boot. Simple, but stunning all the same.
It was all too easy. It became 4-0 when Mascherano sent Babel away and while Yossi Benayoun was blocked it mattered not as Alonso swept the ball into the net.
Derby were a dishevelled unit, their resistance in shreds as they accepted the inevitability of a fourth successive defeat. Goals five and six were another sad indictment of how short they are in this elite company. They should have cut out the ball that Torres returned to Kuyt but allowed the Dutchman, such an example of industry and commitment, to unleash a fierce drive which Bywater palmed out. Voronin's eager instincts made him first to the loose ball.
Almost from the restart the Ukrainian put the ball back into the heart of the Derby defence. Andy Todd went to ferry the ball back to his goalkeeper but left it short. Torres has that unstabilising effect on his markers and took full advantage, rounding Bywater to complete the set.
Match summary
Moment of the match: Babel's wonderful goal to make it 2-0 at the end of a flowing move. Then again it could be Torres' first of the afternoon, a dagger thrust applied with a silky caress.
Match rating: 8/10
Liverpool 6 Derby County 0: Torres and Alonso lead Rams to the slaughter
Liverpool in irresistible form as they make their best start in a decade
By Ronald Atkin at Anfield
Published: 02 September 2007
Top of the Premier League and just ahead of Everton too. In football terms at least, the happy times are back on Merseyside. Even taking into accountthe poverty of Derby County, Liverpool were in glorious, free-wheeling, free-scoring form and from their joyous reaction, the Kop clearly senses that this might just, at last, be their season.
Unbeaten in the League and Europe, Liverpool ran away with this one once Derby's strategy to stifle the midfield was picked apart. Even with Steven Gerrard absent injured Liverpool ran the show with ease, Dirk Kuyt dropping deep to adopt the Gerrard-feeding role for the jet-heeled Fernando Torres.
After the four goals against Toulouse it had been, the manager, Rafael Benitez smiled, "not a bad week". Even the absence of Gerrard and the impending departure of Benitez's long-time assistant, Paco Ayesteran, could not impinge on a day like this.
As for England's declared intention to call on Gerrard for Saturday's Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel, Benitez observed: "The England team doctor will be in contact [with Gerrard] and then they will decide whether or not he should play. We don't want to take any risk with him, and they must not take any risk."
Risk is the word more readily associated with Derby at the moment, a serious risk of prompt return to the Championship from whence they so recently came. To the raucous delight of their large following, Derby stayed afloat for 25 minutes until they were undone by the switchof wings between Jermaine Pennant and Ryan Babel.
Pennant on the left was far too much for the lumbering Tyrone Mears to handle, and two fouls in quick succession provoked a lecture from the referee, Alan Wiley. Worse for Derby, it led to the opening goal from the second free-kick, a 35-yarder from Xabi Alonso which sailed directly into the net, the Derby goalkeeper, Stephen Bywater, probably being distracted by Kuyt's late, narrow failure to make a connection with his head. A fusillade of Liverpool shots, mainly from distance, kept Bywater twitching but he was beaten in the very last seconds of the half by a beautifully constructed goal.
Daniel Agger began it with a fine pass inside Mears for Alvaro Arbeloa to run on to. He pulled back to Babel, who sent the inrushing Claude Davis and Andy Griffin the wrong way in unison with a shrug of the hips before taking a couple of strides and hammering home.
Derby appeared still in shock from that one, nearly conceding again in the opening minute of the second half and being saved only by Alonso scooping over from close in.
That the miss would not be vital was rapidly evident, since Derby were not learning from their misfortunes. Robert Malcolm was punished for dwelling overlong on the ball, losing possession to a sliding tackle from Javier Mascherano, who sent Torres through to knock in a left-footed cross-shot. The wretched Malcolm was replaced immediately. Off came Pennant on the hour to a standing ovation, to be replaced by Yossi Benayoun. Within a few minutes the Israeli was at the heart of the fourth goal.
Though his shot was blocked by a fine Andy Todd interception it was typical of Derby'sluck these days that the ball rebounded straight to Alonso, who shot low through a crowd in the penalty area. Cue anothersubstitution and another goal. On came Andriy Voronin for Babel, and in four minutes he was celebrating. Torres did excellently to regain possession out on the left and fed Kuyt for a shot which Bywater beat out, but only for the eager Voronin to bundle the ball back past him.
Now Derby were in complete disintegration, and straight from the restart Torres was allowed to canter through almost at leisure to diddle Bywater's attempt at a block and side-foot his second goal of an excellent day for him. Still the Derby fans somehow stayed buoyant. "Bring on United," they chorused. Actually, it's Arsenal in the next away game.
Benitez has Liverpool dreaming of a new tilt at the title
Jamie Jackson
Sunday September 2, 2007
The Observer
These are fast becoming the very best of recent times for Liverpool. Rafael Benitez has secured the FA Cup and Champions League during his first three seasons at Anfield. If that has kept the fans of England's most successful club happy, a first championship in 18 years would surely allow the man from Spain's much-mocked goatee to become de rigueur in Merseyside's red parts.
Although still very early for title predictions, Liverpool's support woke this morning to find their club heading the English rankings for the first time in five years. That was thanks to a slick, stylish and thoroughly convincing performance that had the old ground buzzing that this season, Rafa's men might just be the business.
Asked if the long drought is about to be broken, Benitez was quick to play the prospect down. 'For me I'm pleased today. Tomorrow it will be different. Some teams play and will win,' he said, referring to Chelsea and Manchester City who can leap-frog his team. 'And I know its a long way to go and important to keep the right mentality for the players.'
If his side can consistently produce close to this level they certainly have a chance. Sure, Derby were poor, and the real tests are ahead. But what attracts about Liverpool's prospects are Benitez's choices. Especially up front. 'We have four strikers - Andriy Voronin, Peter Crouch, Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt who all know what we want and have different strengths.' All, apart from Crouch, featured and contributed. Asked which of the six goals was his favourite, he said: 'Maybe you will choose Ryan Babel's. But for me they were all important.' The wideman's strike on half time was probably the pick. Alvaro Arbeloa cut the ball back from the left and picked the Dutchman out. His feint placed two Derby defenders on their rears. The right foot finish was supreme.
After 20 minutes Benitez had decided that Jermaine Pennant and Babel should switch flanks. That became a masterstroke. Pennant drew the foul from Tyrone Mears down the left that led to Liverpool's opener.Xabi Alonso was 35 yards out and on the angle as he addressed the ball. In came a dipping free kick, Kuyt's attempt to head was unsuccessful, but it fooled Steven Bywater in the Derby goal.
Kuyt missed two good chances before Babel's goal, so while Benitez should have headed for the tea and tactics with more than the two-goal advantage, Derby had, as manager Billy Davies admitted, already succumbed to 'naivety. 'One-nil down at half-time would've given as a psychological lift. But Babel's goal mentally killed us.'
Davies had his team in a 4-5-1. Yet their extra man in midfield seemed a myth. Robert Malcolm was one of those asked by his manager to frustrate. But on 56 minutes his bald pate went crimson for the mistake that gave Torres a second Premier League goal. Javier Mascherano caught him slumbering and the Argentine played the striker in to slide the ball home with his left.
Benitez had mused over Pennant's absence from Steve McClaren's latest England squad during the week. By the hour the view had been vindicated. The winger's removal then for Yossi Benayoun was because of a job well done. Pennant left to a rousing ovation.
The mutual love-in widened on 69 minutes with the arrival of Liverpool's fourth. Babel this time created the trouble down the right. Alonso eventually collected, and measured it beyond Bywater. Two large portions of icing were then applied within seconds of each other.
On 76 minutes Torres fed Kuyt. His pace took him beyond the Derby defence. The shot was saved but substitute Voronin cleaned up. Torres' second came thanks to an Andy Todd howler. The central defender miscontrolled, Torres pounced, rounded Bywater, and scored
That was six goals without the injured Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard. Liverpool now have 11 in the league. And have conceded just one - 'the penalty that never was' against Chelsea. At the moment the pair are not being missed.
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