Date: 12 September 2010 Opposition: Birmingham City
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12 September12 Date: 12 September 2010 Times Guardian Mail 2010 Opposition: Birmingham City Telegraph Independent Mirror Competition: League Echo Honeymoon now over for Hodgson Barclays Premier League: Lifeless Liverpool in search of Birmingham City 0 Liverpool 0 Referee: M Halsey. Attendance: 27,333 OLIVER KAY inspiration Football Correspondent For the happy couple who got engaged on the pitch at A featureless display by Liverpool will still have been etched deep in the minds of half-time, only to be greeted with mocking chants of "You don't know what you're supporters as they headed back to Merseyside. They had no right to expect doing," there is at least the big day to come. For Roy Hodgson and Liverpool, victory at St Andrew's, where they have not won in the Premier League since however, the immediate joy of marital bliss and ensuing honeymoon period were 2004, but the tepid nature of the team continued to offend those hot-blooded only ever going to be short-lived. A draw away to a redoubtable Birmingham City fans. The outcome would have been worse had it not been for the superlative side is by no means a poor result - it was as much as Arsenal, Chelsea and goalkeeping of Jose Reina. Manchester United managed last season - but if this goes down as a point gained Birmingham City were admirable and, if this fixture was the only evidence for Liverpool, already seven points off the top of the Barclays Premier League, it submitted, most people would conclude that Alex McLeish is the manager with reflects a lowering of expectations at a time when a change of ownership has the happier future before him. Roy Hodgson, his opposite number, will have become the club's overwhelming priority. understood completely the stress to come when he accepted the Anfield post Expectations were a recurring theme at St Andrew's yesterday. Hodgson said during the summer. afterwards that his "weren't that high" for this game, not least because his Reina is one of the few connections to the excellence of years gone by and preparations had been interrupted by the international break, and called for Liverpool depend on such men to sustain them. To Hodgson's misfortune in patience as Fernando Torres looks to rediscover his form, but the manager was Fernando Torres he has a remarkable striker who has been shorn of true impact quick to dispel the idea that he had ruled out a title challenge, saying: "I'm not since a knee injury in the spring. For all the manager's know-how, there is no prepared to make a mistake by saying this club can or can't win the league." other way to address that topic except through trust and patience. It is, as Hodgson put it, "faintly amusing" that a team can be ruled in or out of the It was Birmingham's centre-forward, Cameron Jerome, who was in the thick of title race when the season is barely a month old, but Liverpool's first four the action. While he contributed vigorously it is still symptomatic of clubs outside matches have strengthened the belief that they lack the f lair, imagination, spirit the elite who seek or already hold Champions League places that the extra and belief to make more than a moderate improvement on their wretched final dimension in technique or imagination is lacking. Even so Birmingham had faith season under Rafael Benitez. If Liverpool had the best player on the pitch and did not waver when Liverpool came closer to hitting a rhythm in the second yesterday, it was Pepe Reina, the goalkeeper, who, having endured a difficult start half. to the campaign, made two wonderful saves in the first half to keep out headers McLeish's line-up was full of a purpose that daunted Hodgson's men for a time. from Cameron Jerome and Craig Gardner. Jamie Carragher was another who Torres, trying to revert to his old self, must have cursed the obdurate work of the acquitted himself well, but otherwise the outstanding players on view wore the centre-backs Roger Johnson and Scott Dann. It could, of course, be a help that blue shirts of Birmingham: Roger Johnson, Scott Dann, Barry Ferguson, James Birmingham do not have the weight of grand history to carry on their backs as McFadden and Jerome. Johnson and Dann were so dominant and so assured in they travel through this Premier League programme. the centre of the home defence that Steven Gerrard and Torres barely saw a These are heady times for them. It is natural, given the costs, that the most chink of daylight all afternoon. refined technique is not present. Even so, their methods came close to downing As Alex McLeish, the Birmingham manager, said: "They never let those two guys Liverpool. Birmingham may not glitter but Reina had to tip over a header from [Gerrard and Torres] out of their sight and restricted Liverpool to very few Jerome in the 22nd minute when he got between Martin Skrtel and the debutant chances." The performance of Torres was a talking point. At half-time Jamie Paul Konchesky to connect with a Lee Bowyer cross. Redknapp, the former Liverpool captain, described the forward's first-half display Eight minutes before half-time Steven Carr's delivery found Craig Gardner but as "terrible" and "diabolical" from the Sky television studio, saying that the club's that header, too, was kept out by Reina. The outcome of the game appeared to supporters "won't suffer a lack of effort". It seemed like a wild accusation; it will depend solely on the outcome of Birmingham's struggle to achieve precision in take time for Torres to rediscover his predatory sharpness and, by extension, his the goalmouth. Their own goalkeeper, Ben Foster, might have gone unnoticed confidence, while he appeared to make enough runs off the ball, the majority of until he saved routinely from a Steven Gerrard 20-yarder. them in vain, to preclude him from charges of laziness. That attempt by the captain illustrated Hodgson's dilemma. The manager needs Hodgson defended Torres and said, correctly, that Birmingham's defenders Gerrard near the fringes of the penalty area but by having him in so advanced a deserved credit for reducing his player to a single ambitious effort that was well post he depletes a midfield whose core here of Lucas and the recently arrived saved by Ben Foster late in the game. Denmark international Christian Poulsen was no more than workmanlike. While "I don't share that opinion," the Liverpool manager said when informed of the Liverpool did enjoy more possession at the start of the second half they were still criticism from Redknapp. "We know Fernando lacks match-training, but he is at Birmingham's mercy. working hard for the team. In the 57th minute Dann met a Sebastian Larsson free-kick but connected with "You should give Dann and Johnson credit. I'm not at all concerned about such force that his header bounced steeply over the crossbar. Liverpool did show Fernando Torres." more intent thereafter and Hodgson's desire to reshape his line-up was clear The biggest problem - and it is a familiar one - was a lack of finesse in midfield, when the substitute Raul Meireles made his debut. But a greater transformation where Christian Poulsen and Lucas Leiva toiled with little success and found is essential. themselves outplayed in the first half by Ferguson and Gardner. Joe Cole's imminent return from suspension should be of help and the nuances of Birmingham also produced the better quality in wide areas, with McFadden his style will increase the range of the build-up. Liverpool are far from the top of picking out Jerome for a downward header that was repelled superbly by Reina, the table, though, and do not appear to have the means to rise all that high. diving low to his right. Essentially everything that the club does sparks yet more discussion about the The process was repeated ten minutes later when the goalkeeper made a debts, the ownership and the bank's intentions over Anfield affairs. similarly spectacular save from a header by Gardner, this time from Stephen Liverpool, unlike Birmingham, will never be allowed to go about their work Carr's cross. quietly. McLeish, of course, may not necessarily feel blessed to be in his post. It was not until the final half-hour that Liverpool began to attack in numbers. The Apart from some awkwardness over the sealing of a new contract, the Scot has to introduction of Raul Meireles in place of Lucas gave them more dynamism, with consider how much higher he can hoist the club. It will be tough to pull off more Gerrard dropping back into central midfield alongside Poulsen, but even then coups such as the signing of Barry Ferguson, who shaped this match from there was a lack of incision in their forward play. midfield. Hodgson will hope that the return of Joe Cole from suspension gives his team the Still McLeish could be content. James McFadden's form picked up and there was a extra dimension they need, but there is a danger that, as with England during the more technical approach than might have been anticipated. World Cup, the midfield player's creative powers have grown to mythical It was not creativity so much as precise finishing that eluded Birmingham. The proportions in his absence. line-up is well-integrated, though, and the record on this ground - where all of last The integration of Meireles and Cole should help Liverpool, but the same should season's top four were held to draws - must now be making rivals wince when the be said of a Birmingham side who have yet to draw fully on the qualities of Martin fixture at St Andrew's rolls around.