What a beautiful win, just a week after the Reds mounted a massive second half comeback to defeat Fullham 4-2. The team’s place in the standings will have to wait for games tomorrow and Monday to be sorted but, despite lots of moaning and groaning and complaining over changes in the side, Liverpool has taken five more points this season than they did last year after the same number of games.
We utterly domominated the Addicks though looking at a 0-0 halftime score line that would not be clear. The Reds had more than a half dozen beautiful chances to score but couldn’t finish any. Ex-Liverpudlian Danny Murphy chested a Sammi Hyypia header off the line for one stop and Dean Kiely made a couple of acrobatic saves but mainly Milan Baros, Djibril Cisse and John Arne Riise just couldn’t get the ball on frame. Defensively the half, heck the whole game, was a gem and Charlton really never came close to scoring or troubling Chris Kirkland.
The second half opened much as the first, no substitutions and all forward for Liverpool. After winning a corner seven minutes in, the ball got cleared back but only as far as Riise on the left side just top of the box and he buried it in the left side of the net going away with no chance for Kiely. Lots of optimistic, aggressive play for the boys; Harry Kewell and Florent Sinema-Pongolle even made nice showings after coming on for Riise and Baros, respectively. Sanz Luis Garcia put the game away in the 74th minute with a 30-ish yard blast that took a wicked curve to end up in the top right netting.
One can only take great heart if the Reds’ style of play the last game and a half shows that Rafa Benitez has finally got the squad playing the way he intends. The next few weeks may be key to the year as matches in the Carling Cup, Champions League and Premiership all crowd together and endurance will be at a premium. Three thumbs up for today!
Questions for the future: We currently have three major injuries, or perhaps two major and two mid-level is a better assessment, and so who will get the bulk of playing time when Steven Gerrard, Josemi, Vlad Smicer and Nunez all heal up? Then there’s Kirkland versus Jerzy Dudek; as Kirkland is now injury-free and getting his first length run of starts since winning the starter’s jersey a couple of seasons back, is he Benitez’s preference for the remainder of the year?
BillSaysThis 