Daily Post report

Liverpool 1, Blackburn 0 (D,Post) By David Prior at Anfield

The last time a goalscorer engaged his manager in such a public show of affection at Anfield, one of them was gone within three months.

Time will tell. Cisse still has much to do in his own three months before the transfer window re-opens, but the striker's free-kick winner - his first goal as a Premiership starter this season - was the ideal way to respond to Benitez's call for fewer words and more deeds. More importantly, in firing home Xabi Alonso's short ball, Cisse rescued a maximum haul from an afternoon that had begun quietly and become steadily less noisy from there.

Perhaps it was a kind of delayed shock from the Chelsea result, or perhaps it was more a result of the recent lull enforced by the international break, but the subdued atmosphere on Saturday seemed to confirm that the supporters' main interest this season already lies firmly ensconced within the Champions League.

Or perhaps it's more straightforward: quite simply, Liverpool are currently offering little to rouse the fans. Admittedly, there were key individuals missing against Rovers, but considering they were fortuitously able to play two-thirds of the match with an extra man, it is somewhat of an indictment of Benitez's side that they required a late set-piece goal to finally kill off Mark Hughes' workmanlike outfit..

There was no blaming the formation this time. Benitez deployed Cisse in his favoured central position alongside Peter Crouch, but this game offered the least evidence so far to suggest this is a partnership with a future.

Aside from his goal, Cisse was largely disappointing. The Frenchman scarcely linked up at all with his loftier partner, while the few chances that did come his way were spurned wastefully, the most glaring example being his dragged effort wide when left with a gaping goalmouth by Luis Garcia's pass just after the hour.

Football law had seemingly dictated that Crouch would respond to his miserable week at the hands of England's moronic element by breaking his scoring duck and blowing a deafening raspberry to his detractors. No such luck. Indeed, never has the £7million appeared more like his stereotype. Lacking presence, aggression and, most worryingly, much time on the ball, his lack of goals can only be justified if his all-round game is considerably better than this. Let's just hope it was a bad end to a bad week; the warm reception he was given when substituted midway through the second half was more out of sympathy than praise.

There were some positives, though. Boudewijn Zenden enjoyed probably his best game in a Red shirt - admittedly not a over-competitive award - and lasted all 90 minutes for the first time in the league since the opening day of the season. Although the Dutchman's distribution is still occasionally suspect, his bustling style lifted his team-mates as they drifted towards a draw and he is clearly desperate to prove a point after an underwhelming start to his Anfield career. The midfielder was unlucky not to claim a first goal for the club.

Stephen Warnock continues to progress apace, with his consistency now encroaching on the Carragher/Gerrard league. Surely now, injuries allowing, it is time for Benitez to give the youngster his chance on the European stage; certainly, it is time to stop giving preference to the heart-in-mouth merchant himself, Djimi Traore.

There was also the return from injury of Fernando Morientes, emerging as a second-half replacement for Crouch, to provide some late hope for an improvement in front of goal over the coming weeks. Given the Spaniard then proceeded to waste perhaps the three best chances of the game, judgement will be suspended for another day.

Benitez had used the build-up to the game to again call for clubs to be compensated when players are injured on international duty, but it's difficult to believe his feelings on the matter would have been quite so as impassioned as they were had Steven Gerrard not been the player in question. While England um and ah over his inclusion at all, the skipper's exclusion from the Liverpool line-up is a surefire portent for a troublesome afternoon. His drive and urgency is irreplaceable, particularly when the opponents are as stubborn as Saturday's.

That said, Mohamed Sissoko did a convincing impersonation at times, galloping around the pitch with his captain's energy and proving as equally adept at snuffing out Rovers attacks as he was prompting Liverpool's limited forays forward.

Blackburn, arriving on the back of three victories and with that memorable win at Old Trafford still fuelling their confidence, were never going to represent anything but a difficult proposition. And so they instantly proved during the opening quarter, Robbie Savage once again proving himself an effective if highly dislikeable presence in midfield.

Liverpool had threatened sporadically, and then to a large extent only through Xabi Alonso set-pieces. Three times inside the first half-hour the Spaniard fed enticing balls that perhaps should have been handled better. The first, a corner after 10 minutes, provided the hardest chance but Cisse still had time and space to at least ensure his bicycle kick troubled Brad Friedel.

Three minutes later and this time it was Jamie Carragher whose timing was off, the defender's header bouncing harmlessly over after Alonso's free-kick. Crouch, meanwhile, finally saw some action when his head met another free-kick from the midfielder and almost set up a point-blank chance for Cisse.

Liverpool could be thankful, then, for the 33rd-minute intervention of referee Mark Halsey. Zenden's excellent throughball sent Cisse scampering through before the Frenchman was roughly floored by Zurab Khizanishvili. Confusion then set in. First Halsey awarded a penalty, but following two separate discussions with his assistant, cancelled the spot-kick, red-carded the Georgian and awarded Liverpool a free-kick on the edge of the area.

Hughes and his contingent were indignant in the Rovers dugout, and it was hard not to feel some sympathy with the Lancastrians as there was some doubt as to whether the defender had in fact been the 'last man' when he brought down Cisse. In any case, Cisse had seemed to be moving away from goal at the time of the tackle.

There were no such doubts from Benitez afterwards - "no excuses, it was a clear red card", the Spaniard maintained - and the game had suddenly taken on a whole new complexion.

But, aside from a couple of Cisse half-chance headers, the expected onslaught did not mate-rialise. With Hughes having responded to the dismissal by sacrificing Paul Dickov in favour of Andy Todd, it was clear the Welshman had set his stall out for a backs-to-the-wall grind.

It was a job which, in fairness, Rovers tackled with considerable grit and the kind of no-nonsense aggression that has become their hallmark, merited or not.

Ironically, it was the embodiment of the Rovers spirit, Savage, who eventually cost them the game. The frozen-out Wales midfielder - the target of 'Toshack' chants from the Kop - needlessly followed up an earlier altercation with Zenden and conceded a foul on the edge of the Rovers area. From Alonso's tapped free-kick, Cisse thumped a low shot past Friedel.

The Frenchman celebrated provocatively in front of the away following, but having left the field with his right leg in two pieces when last facing Blackburn a year ago, the striker was allowed his moment to gloat. His moment to justify that £14million, however, has well and truly arrived - that handshake, otherwise, will once again prove more like a kiss of death.

LIVERPOOL (4-4-2): Reina; Josemi (Garcia 60), Carragher, Traore, Warnock (Riise 74); Finnan, Alonso, Sissoko, Zenden; Crouch (Morientes 66), Cisse. Subs: Carson, Hamann.

BLACKBURN (4-4-2): Friedel; Neill, Khizanishvili, Nelsen, Gray; Bentley, Tugay (Mokoena 67), Savage, Pedersen (Emerton 67); Kuqi, Dickov (Todd 35). Subs: Enckelman, Reid. BOOKINGS: Bentley, Neill, Savage (all fouls). SENDING-OFF: Khizanishvili (professional foul).

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