Priceless skipper Steven Gerrard is simply unbelievable
HAVE you figured out how Gerrard scored that goal yet?
I've watched it a thousand times now and still can't believe how he managed to wrap his foot round the ball to arc it over the goalkeeper at a 120-degree angle to the way he was running.
I saw less agile manoeuvres on the gymnastics mat in Beijing. Just when you think he's done it all, he conjures up a moment like that. Pure magic.
Couple that with the nerve to take a penalty twice and put it in the same spot both times, and you've got another chapter in the Gerrard book of wondrous performances.
And how we needed him.
I suppose it was too much to expect that we could follow that high-octane, relentless performance against United with a similar display and brush Marseille aside as we had done last December.
The first-half was solid enough, and once again the side showed great resilience to going a goal down by recovering to win 2-1 for the third time this season.
Despite being caught out by intelligent forwards riding on the shoulders of the back four a la Michael Owen in his heyday, we carried enough of a threat going forward to suggest that, if this was going to be an open game trading goals, then an away win was well on the cards. With Gerrard keen to get forward to support Torres and Babel looking sharp, the Marseille defence looked anything but unbreachable.
In the second half, however, our old failing of giving the ball away far too easily reared its head again resulting in unnecessary pressure on the back-line.
By choice or circumstance Liverpool dropped into a counter-attacking game, forgetting that this does not mean belting aimless balls in the general direction of a lone striker with little or no support behind him, but rapid forward movement stretching the unaware opposition defence.
So back came the ball time and time again, with Jamie Carragher thankfully again superb in repelling the lively and tricky Marseille forwards.
He could have done with some help in front of him though, with the 'holding' midfielders apparently finding opposition forwards and the ball slippier than an eel wearing an otter's pelt.
If Mascherano had been the Duracell bunny on Saturday, on Tuesday night he bore a closer resemblance to Dillon, the laid-back rabbit from The Magic Roundabout; whereas Lucas seemed more intent on grabbing opposition shirts in dangerous areas - not what is meant by 'holding', mate.
As pressure mounted, the situation seemed tailor-made for the arrival of Alonso to slow things down and retain the ball for a while; instead we got Benayoun, not quite the same sort of player you might think.
And so the pressure continued, and in the end we were thankful for some misdirected headers and the reflexes of Reina to preserve our lead.
So all's well that ends well, and the bright start made by Riera to his Anfield career, and the apparent improvement in Babel, promises a greater attacking threat to support Torres, who I think will take a few games to get going again after his Euro 2008 exploits and his early season injury.
I'm sure Robbie Keane will start scoring soon, and the options in midfield are strengthening, even if the full-backs still give cause for concern.
But regardless of the evidence of the United game, the availability of Gerrard remains crucial to our campaign.
Any more goals like Tuesday's, and he'll be off to Manchester City for £200m - as if.
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