Liverpool Need Pace and Flair Up Front

When George Graham was manager of the Gunners, the chant “1-0 to the Arsenal” rang out at grounds all over the country in recognition of a succession of narrow victories. Now it seems all you have to do is substitute ‘Liverpool’ for ‘Arsenal’.

The truth is that Raffa Benitez has built a formidable Liverpool side which is extremely difficult to beat but apparently incapable of winning by a convincing margin.

Saturday’s game against Manchester City at Anfield is the perfect example. Liverpool dominated and Peter Crouch’s superb performance would not have been flattered by a four goal tally, but in the end all they had to show for their superiority was Kewell’s well taken far post finish in the 40th minute from Gerrard’s brilliant through ball.

Why? Well, to begin with Crouch was unfortunate as a combination of the woodwork and David James’ goalkeeping denied him, but it has to be acknowledged that Liverpool are an extremely well organised and industrious side with two major weaknesses – they lack explosive pace up front (neither Crouch nor Morientes could charitably be described as quick) and whilst they have power (through Riise, Kewell and Gerrard for instance) they rarely show any evidence of flair.