By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 09 March 2006

A home match against Charlton Athletic should not cause too many problems for a Liverpool side that are well up in the top of the table and still competing in two cup competitions. Last year’s encounter saw a 2-0 result, with a stunning strike from Luis Garcia that was one of the highlight goals of the season. It would be reasonable to expect a good result, even though we know that the upcoming Champions League match is on the minds of many of the players. It could have been that distraction, or it could have been the continuing talk of Rafa’s possible departure to Real Madrid or Inter Milan that put the side in a demoralised state. For a summary of the match, see last week’s reports and simply replace Manchester City with Charlton Athletic, and skip the part about scoring. Otherwise it looks depressingly familiar – lots of chances, lots of possession, greater territorial advantage, but no goals. What more is there to say about that match? Was it just one of those days when nothing goes right? If the reason for the sub-par performance was the understandable distraction of the Champions League match to come, then it may have been worthwhile. After all, would you really care about only picking up a single point from a match we should have won if it meant that we conserved our energy for the bigger task ahead?

The build up to the second leg of the round of sixteen started well before the day of the Charlton match. One big advantage for us was the absence of any travel in the last couple of weeks. We were at home to Man City the previous Sunday with only a few players called up for the international friendlies. Of those, Gerrard, Crouch, and Carragher were at Anfield for England vs Uruguay. They played half a game at most, which is a relief as we would be needing them for the Champions League match in a week’s time, if not for the Saturday Premiership match at home to Charlton. Fortunately there were no injuries out of these friendlies, which is sometimes something that can add to an already difficult situation.

The first leg at the Stadio da Luz was less than brilliant (pun intended) as we laid back with the intention of letting Benfica come at us, and waiting patiently for the opportunity to counter-attack. They didn’t seem too interested in coming at us and so it became a midfield battle that must have been difficult for any neutrals to watch. A 0-0 result would have been fine from our point of view. The outcome of the match and the turning point for the round came down to a late Benfica set-piece, where a moment’s loss of concentration allowed the eagles to go into the second leg with a 1-0 lead. Big deal we said (at least I did) we can overcome that deficit with no problems. We’ve overcome bigger challenges in the past and surely we’ll do it again. We don’t say “This is Anfield” for no reason – we say it to remind visiting clubs that this is our fortress and not just our home, so don’t come out here expecting any warm hospitality. We’re here to win and we intend to do just that, no matter what.

Those were big words that didn’t seem to be so large in the minds of Charlton Athletic on Saturday. They showed why we are not challenging for the top of the League yet. Of course, certain Portugese individuals would have been watching very closely as well – seeing our weak points and figuring out how to neutralise our strong points. Those are in scoring and defending respectively; it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure that out. It must have given Benfica a lot of confidence to see that we had only scored one goal in each of our last three at home, with losses in away matches and being somewhat lucky to come through against the weaker opposition in the first two match-ups in the FA Cup. Our only bragging point so far this year has been the 1-0 win over Man Ure to put them out of the cup, and put us into the quarter final against Birmingham. Even that, though, was another example of our inability to kill off the opposition. If we could have had a second goal in all of those matches it would have avoided the last few minutes of nail-biting before the final whistle. All of those worries were compounded following the scoreless draw at home to Charlton. How afraid will anybody be after seeing that?

So we come to the second leg match itself. I wasn’t the only one to predict another special European night at Anfield, with a 2-0 result. It wasn’t only that we needed two goals to win; it was knowing how many times we had come back in the past. Only last year we needed to win by two goals against Olympiakos to go through to the next round. That was never going to be easy but we were sure we could do it. Benfica knew what we needed, and would obviously have a plan to stop us. Was it going to be a case of the irresistible force against the immovable object, or would it be another tight midfield battle? There was no surprise when the Reds came out flying from the start. Unfortunately it was going the way of all of our other recent matches with lots of chances, but no goals as a result. As time went by, we cut through the Benfica back line on several occasions, only to squander each opportunity with a weak shot, a wayward header, or in more than one case a shot straight at the ‘keeper. We hit the side of the goal, we hit the woodwork, we did everything but put the ball in the net. Then perhaps the killer blow came on a Benfica counter-attack. Simao took the ball on the left of the area, had time to tee up a shot from more than 20yds, and curled it past Reina into the top right corner. It’s easy to see why Rafa was determined to sign this player, and equally easy to see why Benfica are determined to keep him (or at least take a very large sum of money from the highest bidder).

So what? We’re 1-0 down on the night, 2-0 down on aggregate; all we need is a three goal performance in the second half and we’re through. We did that against Olympiakos when we had to, and who could forget the three goals in six minutes against Milan? But let’s look at those two a little more carefully: against Olympiakos the goal scorers were Pongolle, Mellor, and Gerrard, while against Milan it was Gerrard, Smicer and Alonso (penalty). That’s six goals from five players, with only Gerrard and Alonso still here. When we realise that Alonso is not known for his scoring, and that both of them are midfield players, then we start to see the problem. We just don’t have the strikers to do the job. We didn’t have it last year and we don’t have it this year. That’s the problem in a nutshell. I’m sure the club are well aware of the problems and what needs to be done. Maybe, if we had signed Simao it might have been different. Maybe if Owen had come back we could have seen more goals. Maybe, but then maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. The lads played hard enough, they wanted it as badly as any of us. The work rate was there to the end; even if it was only to get a consolation goal before the final whistle. Inevitably, the pressure to score resulted in another Benfica counter-attack, and with our lads pushed forward we were even shorter at the back, resulting in a somewhat undeserved second goal.

I don’t see the result as a failure. It was never going to be easy this time around; no club has kept the trophy for two consecutive years since AC Milan in 1989 and 1990, which was in the days prior to the Champions League format. We did everything we could on the night but just couldn’t get the final ball that would result in the goals that we needed. The lads worked hard and played their hearts out, but it was just one of those nights when the ball didn’t bounce for us. The crowd showed their appreciation at the end; we’re not the kind that can be accused of only singing when we’re winning.

Congratulations to Benfica, I wish them well in the next round. By the time you read this you will probably know the draw for the quarter finals. We won’t be there of course, which puts us in some good company along with past winners such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, and PSV Eindhoven; all of us eliminated from the round of sixteen. All of those clubs will be back next year, with new players and in some cases new managers. We’re already on the way with some new players coming in and I’m sure we’ll see some significant signings before the start of next season.

Of course I’m disappointed, depressed, deflated… (use your own thesaurus if you want more) but not ready to write off the season yet. In some ways it’s a relief to be out at this stage. We’ve played fifty competitive matches already with many more still to come, with trips to Monaco for the UEFA Super Cup and to Japan for the Club World Cup as European Champions. We won’t have to worry about any of that next season, which will give us an advantage domestically. That’s all well and good for next season. This season we still have the Premier League to consider; a top two finish would be a massive achievement for this season. It would also give us that automatic qualification spot, cutting down the number of matches to be played early in the season, so soon after the World Cup. We also have the FA Cup to consider. A good run there could do a lot to lift the spirits after the disappointment, especially if we can lift the cup itself in May.

It would have been nice to go to the quarter finals, especially with the financial bonus that would have brought us. But still, in the longer term, the future is bright enough for us to keep our heads up high. We still have a lot to look forward to as Rafa and his crew continue to build the team. We’ve had several successes so far in less than two whole seasons and I’m confident of more successes to come. As for the odd disappointment along the way, remember (as I always say) that it’s only a game.

Has anyone with Fox Sports World Canada seen any of these Nike ads with Eric Cantona on them? There's one where he says that cheaters must be forced out of the game.

That's right, Eric stinking Cantona, talking about how awful cheaters are. Amazing, isn't it?. Maybe Nike'll get Ronaldo to talk about how important fitness is next, or Beckham to talk about tackling.

Speaking of FSWC, the channel's really letting me down lately. There's hardly any live games on anymore, and their daily report show has some annoying biases from a Chel$ki and Man Ure supporting pair of anchors who do what they can to sneak their favouritism in. There's an analyst (Bobby McMahon) who knows his stuff and seems fair, and another one or two of the anchors are alright, but the other two do my head in. The channel started off a lot better and I hope it gets things going again with some better programming.

P Gill

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