Luton Town 1 Liverpool 1: Blackwell's battlers earn Luton a lifeline
By Sam Wallace Published: 07 January 2008
with source from http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/news/article3315103.ece
Luton Town in administration; Liverpool seized by desperation. Fabio Capello came to watch English football's most successful club yesterday but the England manager will have left admiring the tenacity of a League One side facing financial oblivion and playing as if their livelihoods depended upon it.
At blighted Luton, where the players were last paid in full in October and the future is in doubt, livelihoods may well depend on the revenue from a lucrative replay at Anfield on 15 January. If one game came to embody the spirit of the FA Cup third round, then it was this one: Kevin Blackwell has paid his players' mortgages out of his own pocket of late and yesterday was a repayment in kind for the Luton manager.
Even when Peter Crouch's goal with less than 20 minutes left appeared to have won the game, Luton came back led by the game's outstanding player, the striker Drew Talbot whose cross was turned in by John Arne Riise. Today at 5pm is the deadline for potential buyers to save Luton and, while there are already believed to be three interested parties, this performance was the reaction of a club that refuses to die.
While Luton's financial administrators decided what to do with an estimated £500,000 share of the Anfield gate, Benitez will simply be relieved that he does not have to explain to American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jnr why their club are out the FA Cup.
The Liverpool manager was uncharacteristically snappy for a man so mellow while Blackwell, who should be in the pits of despair, could reflect joyfully on an extraordinary afternoon at the ramshackle Kenilworth Road. In fact the Luton manager admitted that while the replay will help his club's financial ills he was disappointed not to have won – and you could see his point.
Blackwell's priority is that Luton's future is resolved today so that his players can be paid and this impressive side, who have lost just once in the last 13 games, can be kept together. "I think it's a club worth saving, people just have to get off their backsides and do it," he said. "My players showed terrific heart and fitness and I'm very proud of them. I hope that Mr Capello understands that a high level of football goes much, much deeper in this country. Look at the technical ability of our lads on a pitch that cut up. My team played in a way that made Liverpool look poor."
Blackwell has already fended off one £175,000 bid from Nottingham Forest for his midfielder David Edwards – a player he rates at £500,000 – and he knows there will be no mercy from the rest of the football fraternity. If there was one set of players who definitely earned their wages yesterday however, it was the Luton team although there are no guarantees they will actually be paid them.
With no Steven Gerrard or Fernando Torres, Benitez's best performers were Jamie Carragher and Crouch with the odd cameo from Ryan Babel. Liverpool only really began to carve out some proper chances in the second half, Riise's low drive clipped off Chris Perry but goalkeeper Dean Brill was still astute enough to make a one-handed save.
For Luton the undoubted star of the show was Talbot a 21-year-old signed from Sheffield Wednesday for £250,000 one year ago. Talbot's moment came on 54 minutes, a sweet chip on to his head from Darren Currie and the goal invitingly open with the striker just six yards out. His finish – straight over the bar - was much more recognisably League One than the rest of his performance. Currie was equally culpable when he was put clean through in the first five minutes of the game and hit his shot straight at Liverpool's goalkeeper Charles Itandje.
Crouch gave Liverpool the lead after the organisation of Luton's defence broke for a second. Chris Coyne allowed himself to be dispossessed on the halfway line and Yossi Benayoun and Andrei Voronin, on as a substitute, broke on goal. It was the Ukrainian who hit the shot, saved by Brill but none of the home side had noticed Crouch, up with the attack, who poked in the loose ball.
Five minutes later came the equaliser. Talbot twisted free on the left and struck a cross that Riise, under pressure from Edwards, turned in via his leg and his arm. This unloved old stadium was rocking with the scent of a Cup shock and Luton thoroughly deserved to win this game. As their manager admitted, it is the harsh reality of modern football and its unforgiving finances that they are much better off with a trip to Anfield.
Goals: Crouch (73) 1-0; Riise og (76) 1-1.
Luton Town (4-4-2): Brill; Keane, Coyne, Perry, Goodall; Bell, Spring, Edwards, Currie; Andrew, Talbot. Substitutes not used: Hutchinson, Jackson, Robinson, O'Leary, Furlong.
Liverpool (4-4-2): Itandje; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise; Benayoun (El Zhar, 86), Alonso (Mascherano, 73), Leiva, Babel (Voronin, 70); Kuyt, Crouch. Substitutes not used: Martin (gk), Hobbs.
Referee: H Webb (Yorkshire).
Booked: Liverpool Riise, Hyypia.
Man of the match: Talbot.
Attendance: 10,226.
Monday, January 7, 2008
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7 comments:
Yeah sure - when Liverpool sends out a so-called 2nd rate team and gets a draw, the knives are brought out
Its the FA Cup and Bolton, Everton and Blackburn were eliminated after sending their 2nd string teams - how come there is so much less publicity about dis respecting the traditions of the FA Cup? And the managers of these teams are all British. No?
The players who played yesterday should ask themselves if they are really motivated to wear the red shirt and the Liverbird on their chest. It was apparent that even if you had Arrigo Saachi as coach of Liverpool with yesterday's players, they would not have played differently.
Where are the fire in the belly of yesterday's players? Where is the motivation? Don't change the topic and blame it on RAFA's selection - the quality is still there.
Its the players not the manager who should take the blame yesterday. After all, we had the an experienced back four that had played together for sometime - Finnan, Carra, Hyypia, Riise. No?
Quality midfielders in Benayoun, Alonso and Leiva and to a certain extent Babel. No?
What about our international strikers - Crouch and Kuyt who are national strikers for their country? No?
The team selected yesterday should have enough quality to despatch Luton Town but the play was horrendous due to the lack of Fire in the Belly and hence poor team performance.
There is a media propoganda to get rid of RAFA .... and its no lie!
Not for the 1st time this season I am going to ask this question.
"Where is the passion lads?"
Do they even know what it means to play for a club of Liverpool's stature? This is disgraceful. Mr. Shankly is flipping over in anger at this moment.
We have been a team that traditionally fights against difficulties. We strive on pressure. We won the freaking League in 80/81 even though we are down at 12 place by New Years. Why are we capable of doing that? Because we have the heart. The heart to fight diversity, the heart to hold our heads up high when we are down, the heart to put in more than what is called for, the heart to fight every losing cause in hope for salvation, the heart to show and inspire people around the world that in spite of whatever that happens, as long as there is a will and an undying heart, nothing is impossible. This was instilled in all matters associated to LFC long ago, and for it to be undone by this bunch of uninterested arrogant pricks is just disheartening to watch.
I am more disappointed than anything. Somebody, anybody, save us!
I am so disgusted i've got nothing to say. Just thankful that my tv is still in one piece and my arse is not in the slammers for my outburst while watching the match in the middle of the night.
The facts, as it’s so often said, don’t lie.
Fifth place, 12 points behind the leaders, and struggling through the two major cup competitions. Should we have any complaint about the future of Rafa Benitez?
Well, of course we should. Woeful showings against Wigan and Luton ¬– to name but two – have exposed the lack of depth and quality in the side, particularly when Gerrard and Torres are absent from the squad.
Even so, a hearty debate with a fan of The Inventors Of Football (Copyright: Sky Sports 2007) – also known as Arsenal – led me to an interesting point.
It has been, after all, three and a half years since Rafa took control of the Anfield dressing room – three and a half years that have yielded one Champions League trophy, an FA Cup, a European Super Cup and an FA Charity Shield. Not to mention further losing final appearances in the Champions League, Worthington Cup and World Club Championship.
And yet, despite the evident success, I found myself defending Benitez’s record against the evidently far superior Arsene Wenger – a man who, since Rafa’s arrival in 2004, has delivered one FA Cup, a Champions League defeat, a silver medal in the Worthy Cup, and, er, nothing else.
You see, while we may all be raving about Arsenal’s performances this year, we’re talking about a club who have achieved comparatively nothing since Benitez arrived.
Yes, they sit atop the table, and yes, they play some pretty football every now and again, but since when did a successful manager like Rafa have to deal with more crap than the underachieving Wenger? Are we moaning purely about money? Maybe: Rafa’s spent a few quid after all, but let’s not forget that Arsenal’s wonderful young squad didn’t exactly come free.
So what do you think? Why isn’t Rafa being given the time that Wenger has, especially considering their comparative success? Can we learn anything from the idea of giving Rafa time to build his young squad, in a way that Arsene has?
Time is a luxury that he does not have. One more year to go till his tenure hits the big 5, and we're no nearer as challengers to the title. If my memory serves me right, there was a 5 yrs plan to change us into the genuine title contenders. The clock is ticking.
What ticks me off is the constant Jekyll & Hyde syndrome from the team. Is it too much to ask for some consistency and some proper pass and move football? Enough with the gutless and spineless performance, no more excuses.
Well then .... its the industry that is the problem isn't it? There will no longer be another manager who will be allowed to stay longer if within a few years, the manager is sacked due to reasons which are beyond his control such as "I want a crouch but they bought me a tablelamp".
Its an epidemic that has swept across the football across the globe. Take a look closer to home, in Asian countries - same thing is happening isn't it? There has been at least 6-7 EPL managers who have already been sacked this season alone and its almost half way to the season! I'm sure the Manager's League Association in the UK would have the statistics to back this up too!!
This is a problem with the shareholders but how come it does not spread across to the financial world? Maybe it does in some countries but not so when it comes to less developed countries!
This is the flip side of too much money going into the sport to the extent that increasing (in some cases, maintaining) shareholder value is a paramount requisite for the short term. Shareholders are no longer focused on the success of the club in the medium to long term success of the club anymore.
Look at grassroot development of the English players - how many have made it to the top flight? Only a handful!
Folks like G & H should never have been allowed to take over OUR club. Typical American gungho cowboy talk - all marketing but substance = nil. From Hero to Zero me says! Unless RAFA stays another 2 years to be given the opportunity to finish what he started.
As always, I am focused on supporting my manager ......, RAFA YNWA!!!!
Well said lads. I have to agree to most of the points presented here.
Let me play devil's advocate here:
Why are the players not motivated? Why no passion?
Why no fire in the belly?
Is it because Rafa does not know how to motivate? That when the rough times come, the players are left to pick themselves up? Could this be?
I hate to see Rafa go for sure. I support the idea of at least giving the gaffer 5 years at the helm to bring back the league title. Heck even SAF won nothing till his 8th season!!
However, here is no doubt that I feel very disheartened everytime I see the team play like shite.
In Rafa We Trust. YNWA.
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