You indeed did read it here first… 4-0! I’m a freakin’ Nostradamus! Funny how predictions like that can come true. Sure, I got the scorers all wrong, but the 4-0 victory was spot on and incredibly necessary for Liverpool to get the season going. It is probably safe to say now that the early season jitters are fading away and the Liverpool we know and love are back in action.
One of the stars of the second half of the 2008-2009 campaign was at the center of everything fantastic in the convincing 4-0 romp. Yossi Benayoun not only terrorized the Burnley defense as a central midfielder, but he absolutely scorched the back of the net. He scored four goals, but one was wrongly ruled out for offside, so it was “just” the hat-trick. His jinking runs, incredibly ability to find and create space, and his magical way of making those around him better made Benni the clear man of the match. It is without a shadow of a doubt that Graham Alexander will be having nightmares over the next few weeks about our little Israeli!
To say this match was an all-out onslaught would be a bit of an understatement. Yossi’s goal came after about 20 minutes, and from there on we dominated. Dirk Kuyt nodded in one right before halftime (thanks to a Benayoun sizzler that was parried into Kuyt’s path), and then Yossi added two more in the second. Our third goal, though, pretty much defined Liverpool as an attacking force and was clearly the pick of the bunch. Torres did well on the flank, much like Henry used to do at Arsenal, and found Gerrard sprinting down the middle. Gerrard’s control was exquisite, and pushed him into acres of space down the side of the 6 yard box. With two options, Gerrard picked the best one, sliding it over to Benayoun, who had an empty net to tap into from 6 yards out. It was vintage Liverpool, and the Rafalution at its best.
The goals, and the performance of Yossi, were quite nice, but to me the most important story was keeping a clean sheet. After some dreadful defensive performances over recent weeks, we needed to recapture that confidence that has been our trademark over the past 10 years. Burnley were consistently snuffed out of chances, whether from our defenders or from Reina, and even without Mascherano we were able to cope defensively. Having a healthy Martin Skrtel is obviously a key factor, but I think that a quality offense is the key to the best defense, and that’s exactly what happened over the weekend. With Benayoun and Kuyt looking particularly menacing, and Riera looking back to his best, we were flying up the sides and pulling Burnley is all sorts of directions. When that happens, they are left disorganized not only in the back, but also going forward. Not to mention exhausted!
You never know what you’ll get after an international break. Sometimes players come back low on confidence, low on energy, or even low on fitness. This was one of those rare breaks where our players seemed to be amped up and ready to go, sans Masch who not only had a rough go at it with Argentina, but was not fit to play. But Kuyt, Benayoun, Riera, Torres, Gerrard, Johnson, and Skrtel all played, and played tough matches where they were key figures, yet they were excellent on their return. Other international stars from other top clubs did not seem to have the same impact, other than Rooney, which goes to show that perhaps Rafa’s doing something right. ☺
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