Middlesbrough 0 - 0 Liverpool
by Anthony Jones for Talklfc.com
With last season still firmly in the mind, the new one was upon, with the World Cup next summer meaning a short off season. Liverpool travelled to the Riverside to open their league campaign hoping to get off to a good start. Middlesbrough have never been the most welcoming of hosts for Liverpool, though the travelling fans were confident following last seasons Champions League success.
Benitez handed a Premiership debut to Momo Sissoko in the centre of midfield ahead of Didi Hamann in a three man central midfield. There he was joined by Gerrard and Alonso with Garcia on the right and Zenden also making his first Liverpool appearance in the Premiership on the left. Djibril Cisse was expected to start by some but was instead left on the bench as Morientes led the line. At the back, Reina made his completed the trio of debutants whilst Warnock was selected ahead of Riise on the left. The usual trio of Finnan, Carragher and Hyypia completed the back four. Boro were able to welcome back Mendieta and awarded a first start to Yakubu following his summer move from the South Coast.
Given Liverpool's formation and Boro's usual cagey approach the first half was played out with too much real drama. There was a moment of excellent link up between Gerrard and Garcia which enabled the ball to be worked out to the left of goal. Bolo Zenden was the recipient but his strike lacked the venon to force anything other than a regulation save from Schwarzer. It was Liverpool who also created the best chance of the half with a move started in Spain. After Garcia's cross had been blocked the ball arrived at the feet of Alonso. The passing of the player was surprisingly unsure during the afternoon, but on this occassion the ball was perfectly flighted towards the area where Morientes waited. Having shown some good awareness in the half, Morientes lept to meet the ball and calmly headed the ball down into the danger area. There was still work to be done. Looking second in the race, Steven Gerrard who had been lurking on the edge of the box drove forward towards the ball and won the race only to blast the ball just over the cross bar.
With that went Liverpool's best chance of the half. Boro rarely looked a threat for all the moaning of Jimmy Floyd Hasslebaink though there was a moment of alarm when Reina failed to convincingly deal with a corner with the ball eventually being put well over the cross bar by a Boro player. For all of their control in midfield, it was an inadequate half in an attacking sense from the away side with neither wide player showing any great threat - with Zenden greeted with a chorus of boos after his every touch.
Whatever Benitez said at half time appeared to work as Liverpool created three openings in as many minutes after the opening whistle of the second half. First it was Garcia who cleverly worked an opening after cutting in from the right but pulled his left foot wide of the near post whilst Gerrard also hit a volley wide and saw another effort claimed by Schwarzer.
The game was clearly opening up, with Liverpool pushing further forward whilst Boro were keen to try and use the pace they had in attack on the break. Gerrard and Sissoko both his shots from range which were again dragged wide of the target whilst Mark Viduka headed at Reina from a rare opening for the home side. It looked merely a matter of time until the opening goal would come and it seemed midway through the half that the chance was about to arrive. Boro were attacking when Reina punched the ball clear, the distance of the keepers punching was an impressive spectacle during the game. The ball fell to Zenden who quickly identified the opportunity to counter quickly as he drilled the ball to Baros who had recently entered the frey. The Czech striker played a through ball inside Ehiogu to Gerrard which belied the view that he was incapable of such things. Gerrard, in trade mark style looked set to rampage into the box when Ehiogu slid in, missing the ball and bringing down the Liverpool captain just yards from the area. There was no choice but for Ehiogu to see Red with Liverpool denied a goal scoring opportunity. As so often happens, the resulting free kick was scant consolation for the attacking team as the shot from Cisse who had also been introduced by Benitez was blocked by a defender. The ball however broke loose to Carragher who lofted the ball back into the area where Gerrard beat Schwarzer to the ball only to see his header land on top of the goal.
Cisse was starting now to cause menace down the right as Quedrue struggled with his pace and trickery. With the extra man Liverpool set camp in the Boro half as they looked to push home their advantage. The home side however seemed perfectly comfortable with the mindset required, in truth it was not far removed from how they'd played the match up to this point with defence first in their minds. Gerrard saw another header saved as he headed down another lofted pass into the area - Schwarzer diving to his right to make a smart save.
As if to prove it was neither Liverpool's nor Gerrard's evening the final chance of the game fell to the captain. Cisse for all his menace had failed to create a real opening. However in a classic bit of wing play, Cisse moved the ball past Quedrue and swung the ball over to the far post but only after reaching the by line. As if by fate it was Gerrard bursting in from the other side of the box and once more he provided the downward header that such situations demand. Sadly the ball bounced and travelled just wide of the post. With Boro happy to run down time, Liverpool were forced to settle for a draw.
Whilst the performance was not as fluent as Liverpool fans will have hoped for, especially with Alonso's radar a little off target it was however a well controlled effort. This was definitely a far more resiliant away showing from Liverpool compared to the tame efforts of last season with Sissoko clearly adding a new dimension to Liverpool's midfield play. The youngster may have some areas of his game to work on, but he proved a handful with his powerful running in both directions - alongside Gerrard, few teams should be able to out work the Liverpool midfield this season, whilst Alonso will have better days than this. The benefit of this trio is that the back four were rarely tested and on the occassions they were it was in situations in which they were happy to deal with. The main concern was the lack of width, with Zenden playing surprisingly narrow. The need for a right winger to rival Garcia's style of drifting play was clear for all to see. There was more positives than negatives and Liverpool now need to look to take advantage of the opportunities they create.
