By Roy Collins at Eastlands (Filed: 27/11/2005)
Manchester City (0) 0 Liverpool (0) 1
The "I Saw Peter Crouch score" T-shirts have been packed away for another week and it is now touch and go whether any Liverpool youngster will find one under his Christmas tree. Still, they could yet make a welcome change from Easter eggs, though, on this evidence, the wording may by then have been changed to "I Saw Peter Crouch Shoot".
The lanky striker, without a goal in 17 appearances for Liverpool, does not even hold the record for the most number of shots without scoring and never came close to one here. But football fans being illogical and fervent believers in sod's law and the law of averages, even City supporters were queuing at the bookies to back him to score the first goal.
So it was to the sound of thousands of betting slips being rendered into confetti that John Arne Riise drove in a left-footed piledriver in the 61st minute, ironically his first goal of the season. After exchanging passes with his captain, Steven Gerrard, it was a trademark effort from the anvil-footed Riise, if rarely seen these days.
It was just a change to see someone other than Gerrard kissing the badge in celebration since he does seem to have been hogging the goals this season, with 10 so far. Second is Djibril Cisse, by far the most prolific striker at the club with nine. Yet the Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, whose selection policy also defies logic at times, decided that he was the one to be sacrificed when he tried to liven things up six minutes into the second half. And who did he bring on to add life and excitement to the match? Why, that well-known workaholic Harry Kewell.
With Liverpool and City both boasting defensive records only slightly inferior to Chelsea's, one goal always looked likely to prove enough, even if it was difficult to imagine one for most of this dreadfully dull affair.
Benitez, a man who values clean sheets above anything else, will not care.
This was Liverpool's fourth successive Premier League win without conceding a goal and finally sees them climbing the table towards Champions League qualification. He said: "We worked really well in the first half and played really well in the second." He also said he was "delighted with the situation" with Crouch. Oh dear.
As the table takes on a more familiar look, with Arsenal and Manchester United beginning to settle in behind Chelsea and Wigan slipping, City, after a bright start to the season that encouraged their supporters into thinking that they would be knocking on the Champions League door, are also sliding towards mid-table mediocrity.
Their manager Stuart Pearce has turned them into a disciplined, determined and clean-passing side but they lack bite up front, Darius Vassell not making the most of two first-half opportunities. Perhaps they need Crouch - or on second thoughts, perhaps not. Even Benitez took pity on him at the end, replacing him with Fernando Morientes nine minutes from time, which saw another set of betting slips ripped up by those who backed Crouch to get the last goal.
Both sets of fans disgraced themselves by showing no inclination to observe a minute's silence for George Best, referee Alan Wiley sensibly abandoning it after about 20 seconds. You were never going to get Liverpool or City fans to stay silent for a Manchester United legend so shame on the Premier League, too, for refusing City's proposal to hold a minute's applause, led by Best's great friend and former City player Mike Summerbee, who came to pay tribute to his old flat mate.
City manager Pearce later admitted: "Liverpool are a big, powerful side who had just a little bit too much know-how for us." He also provided most of the first-half entertainment, scurrying round his technical area and acting as ball boy, though he managed to keep his promise not to stray on the pitch, as he did twice during last week's game against Blackburn. Pity, really, since he would have been certain to liven up proceedings.
So, too, would Summerbee and Best have done, often spending the hours before Manchester derbies arranging a choreographed clash in the opening minutes in order to get the crowd going. Until Riise's effort, most of the 47,000 fans were losing the will to live and after it, they might as well all have gone home.
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Some of the comments made in this report are not only unfair in my opinion, but also completely inaccurate. Yet another reporter has jumped on the lets slate Crouch band wagon, even though his performances of late have been quite good. He states that out defensive record is slightly inferior to Chelsea's when last time i looked it was better. Finally he criticises Rafa's decision to take off Cisse and bring on Kewell, when some might argue that he added the impetus that ultimately helped get us the win. All in all a
poor article from supposedly one of the premier papers. When is someone gonna write a complimentary report and realise that we're in the mix this season with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and ManU and stop treating us as an inferior side.
