Match Reports
Liverpool 2-0 Middlesbrough Liverpool cruised to victory at Anfield this afternoon against a side who had not conceded a goal against Liverpool for over 2 years. The Reds got the game underway and looked in control virtually from the first whistle, but for much of the early stages of the first half, Middlesbrough dealt with things without too much difficulty. After 16 minutes though, Middlesbrough lost their keeper through injury. Gary McAllister and Mark Crossley both went for a Michael Owen cross, and having gathered the ball, Crossley crashed into McAllister and after a lengthly time on the pitch by the 'Boro physio, Crossley was stretchered off and replaced by Marlon Beresford. And it wasnt too long before the substitute keeper was picking the ball out of the back of his net. A superb drive by Owen from 25 yards flew across the keeper and into the net at the Kop end to give Liverpool a 27th minute lead. It was his 99th senior goal for the Reds, and his 16th club goal of the season. Liverpool kept up the pressure, while defending brilliantly when ever Middlesbrough pushed forward and just when Liverpool looked to be heading for only a one goal lead for their efforts, Patrick Berger popped up with another goal from outside the box, this time struck to the keeper's right side, but Beresford was just as helpless to stop it as he had been with Owen's opener. Middlesbrough made another change at half time, and five minutes into the half, they finally had themsleves a shot on goal. Franck Queudrue it was who hit a swerving drive from outside the box, and it missed the goal by inches. It was no doubt the closest that either side had come to scoring with the exception of the two goals, but Middlesbrough had still yet to force a save from Dudek. That all changed before too long though, and the Polish keeper stood up well to a close range shot by Boksic, putting the ball out for a corner. A spell of four consecutive corners was the only other time which Liverpool had to withstand any significant pressure by the away team, but each corner was dealt with without any fuss. Jari Litmanen played his first full game since the opening day of the Premiership season, and without being at the top of his game, he still managed to play a few good passes through the 'Boro defence for others to run on to, with a couple of highly debatable offside decisions perhaps preventing yet further goal opportunities. Heskey made a late appearance for Owen, who will be looking for his 100th Liverpool goal if he is selected on Wednesday. But the star of the show was Danny Murphy. Named player of the month for November, but on the evidence of today's performance, he just keeps getting better. He ran the midfield in Stevie G's absence, and also took over in defence to launch a number of counter attacking moves. The old footballing saying that 'he must have covered every blade of grass' was certainly not be over the top if used to describe Murphy's overall game. More of the same will be very nice indeed on Wednesday night as Liverpool further improve their position at the top in the race for the title. In today's other games, Man United lost to West Ham to leave them 11 points adrift of Liverpool, a gap which could increase to 14 points when Liverpool have played their game in hand next week. Arsenal and Leeds both play tomorrow at home to Aston Villa and away to Blackburn respectively.
|