Thursday, October 09, 2008 Expect more from Liverpool By Steve Mcmahon Special Contributor
THERE are many different ways of winning a football game.
Last weekend, Liverpool showed us the hard way of doing it. And how!
They were two goals down at halftime and they managed to turn it round to win it. I wonder what Rafael Benitez said to the boys at halftime. Nothing pleasant I can guarantee.
During that game, Liverpool had lots of possession but ultimately it is what you do with the ball that matters and City did just that in the first half.
Somehow I did not, for one moment, think it was game over for Liverpool during the break.
Of course, it wasn’t an ideal position to go into halftime with a two-goal deficit. But it was not impossible. Not for Liverpool. It was always about who was going to get the next goal in the second half.
Liverpool did and the rest, as they say, is history. Fernando Torres showed us why he is so special with two goals in the game—the first one was Liverpool’s 1,000th goal in the Premier League.
Torres also became the top-scoring foreigner for the Reds, surpassing Patrick Berger—a Roy Evans signing in 1996.
As I mentioned in a column last season, the mark of a true striker is not just scoring goals at home but away from home as well. Torres is scoring away from Anfield and Liverpool looks like it is on fire whenever Torres gets on the score-sheet.
However, before everyone gets on the “Liverpool for the league title” bandwagon, I would like everyone to calm down.
Bad habit
Let’s wait for January before we cast our votes. Liverpool have had the habit of wilting away from the top after Christmas but as long as the team shows the same steel and determination they showed in the City win week-in and week-out, the Reds can go places.
On the downside, Martin Skrtel’s injury is a massive blow for the team.
For so long, the team has looked settled with the same players playing together and forging an understanding with one another. The two centre-halves—Skrtel and Jamie Carragher—have been forging a great understanding and this was central to the Reds’ good start to the season.
But I think Liverpool are well-stocked in the defense department. I imagine Daniel Agger will slot straight in at the expense of Sami Hyypia who, to be very honest, can’t run any more.
It is not just in defense that Liverpool’s depth in strength will be tested. Every position will need a more-than-capable back-up to withstand the long season ahead. You are only as strong as your weakest link.
And that, I think, is the true essence of a championship-winning side.
(Steve McMahon, former Liverpool midfielder and England International, is a resident football analyst on ESPN’s Football Focus and Football Forecast. Read his predictions on www.espnstar.com)
