Lacklustre Liverpool held by Villa

nikotina

Liverpool’s unimpressive recent performances finally caught up with Rafa Benitez’s side as The Reds were held to a goalless draw by Aston Villa, who had Gareth Barry safely ensconced in their midfield after a summer tug-of-war between the two clubs.
Benitez had steered his side to the Champions League group stage and to two wins out of two in the league prior to kick-off, but they had looked distinctly uninspiring in doing so and another performance lacking verve and quality, and with a solitary shot on target, allowed Villa to take a point on home turf, with Liverpool’s difficult afternoon compounded by an injury to Fernando Torres.
Barry, the central figure in one of the summer’s most tiresome transfer sagas, had been hoping to play in the retro grey of Liverpool on Sunday, but instead his immediate future remains in Villa’s claret and blue after his suitors’ failure to muster the £18 million needed to secure his signature.
Having been in the spotlight for much of the summer, Barry was probably happy with maintaining a low profile in midfield and despite all the pre-match talk of a feud between the two managers, there was no such antipathy evident on the pitch in what was a disappointingly meek encounter.
Dropping two points at an ambitious and upwardly-mobile club like Villa is hardly cause for concern, but in the context of what has been an unimpressive start to the season – whatever their results suggest – it will still provide plenty of food for thought for Benitez.
Without the driving force of the injured Steven Gerrard, and with Robbie Keane exiled to the left wing in a desperate bid to add some width, Liverpool were largely non-existent as an attacking force in the first half hour with the deadly Fernando Torres an isolated figure.
A frustrating afternoon for the Spaniard was then brought to an abrupt end on 27 minutes as a suspected hamstring injury, sustained when turning and chasing a pass from Javier Mascherano, forced his withdrawal.
Summer signing David Ngog was the surprise replacement, with Ryan Babel remaining sat on the bench, and the young Frenchman was asked to perform as the lone striker in what was his senior debut following a move from Paris Saint Germain.
The lacklustre nature of Liverpool’s performance and the loss of Torres gave the impression that a valuable win was Villa’s for the taking, but Martin O’Neill’s side also struggled for inspiration in a first half performance that boasted great energy but very little cutting edge.
The best chance of the first 45 minutes fell to John Carew but the big Norwegian was unable to beat Reina after Young collected an intelligent through-ball from Barry to unselfishly, and perhaps inadvisably, tee up the striker.
Liverpool briefly flickered into life before the break as Dirk Kuyt found the side netting with a fierce angled effort and Ngog, set up by a lovely reverse pass from Keane, fired narrowly over the bar, but in keeping with their season so far, it was not a half to write home about for the Merseysiders.
Their fortunes improved marginally after the break and Xabi Alonso had a shot blocked by Shorey, but former Red Brad Friedel was still untested and instead it was Villa who should have taken the lead on 62 minutes.
Dirk Kuyt fouled Ashley Young on the left wing and when the Villa star picked himself up and picked put Davies with a curling free-kick to the back post, the defender somehow mistimed his header and failed to find the target from close range.
Milner was introduced for his debut following a £10 million move from Newcastle and fellow midfielder Stiliyan Petrov punctuated the prevailing air of mediocrity with a vicious volley that flew wide of Reina’s post.
Robbie Keane should have gone closer still when latching onto a ball over the top from Javier Mascherano and going clear on goal but the Irishman looked ponderous in waiting for the ball to drop and the delay allowed Nigel Reo-Coker to sprint across and do enough to distract the striker.
With the game entering the final ten minutes Milner tested Reina with a snapshot and Martin Laursen almost directed a header inside Reina’s right-hand post. Jamie Carragher was then forced to clear off the line from team-mate Martin Skrtel’s misdirected header.
It was relatively exciting end to an underwhelming contest and Liverpool were unable to muster any last-minute heroics as The Reds dropped their first points of the season.