Liverpool 2-2 Aston Villa By James Carroll - 21/01/2008 23:42
Source taken from Rival.net
Liverpool squandered the chance to move back into the top four as the Reds were held to a 2-2 draw by Aston Villa at Anfield.
Peter Crouch scored an 88th minute volley to rescue a point for the home side, who had been left shell shocked by Villa's two goals in three minutes midway through the second half.
Yossi Benayoun had given Liverpool a first half lead as the home fans protested against the club's American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks.
However, the Reds made to pay for missed chances as substitute Marlon Harewood hooked home an equaliser from close range for the home side.
Villa then took the lead in the 72nd minute when Olof Mellberg's shot took a wicked deflection off Fabio Aurelio and beat Pepe Reina.
Crouch came off the bench to save Liverpool's blushes but the Reds will know that this was an opportunity missed in the race for a top four finish.
Benitez opted to pair Fernando Torres with Dirk Kuyt in attack, in front of a midfield consisting of Benayoun, Steven Gerrard, Javier Mascherano and Harry Kewell.
Alvaro Arbeloa, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia and Fabio Aurelio made up the back four with Reina between the sticks.
The players were greeted by banners and chants aimed at Gillett and Hicks, while fans also publically backed a proposed bid for the club from Dubai International Capital.
Benayoun struck an early chance over the crossbar while, at the other end, Aurelio was lucky when the Brazilian was robbed of possession by Craig Gardner but his low cross evaded Gabriel Agbonlahor.
The Reds took the lead in the 19th minute. Kuyt did well to turn on Gerrard's pass and slip a pass into the path of Benayoun's run, behind the Villa defence.
The Israeli's initial effort was blocked by goalkeeper Stuart Taylor but he reacted quickly to tuck away the rebound.
Kuyt was involved in Liverpool's next chance on 31 minutes when he set-up Aurelio but the full-backs shot was just wide.
Liverpool made a bright start to the second period as they looked for a second. Kuyt should have done better when a quick break resulted in Gerrard playing the Dutchman into space inside the box but his first touch was too heavy and it narrowed the angle resulting in his effort going over the crossbar.
Minutes later, Torres clipped a shot onto the roof of the net having been blocked by Taylor earlier.
The Villa 'keeper was forced to stop a low-drive from Kewell as the Reds piled on the pressure.
However, the visitors pulled level against the run of play on 69 minutes when Harewood acrobatically hooked Martin Laursen's header back across goal into the net from close range.
Martin O'Neill's team then stunned Anfield by taking the lead just three minutes later.
Ashley Young's cross found Mellberg, who as forward for a set-piece. His cross struck Aurelio and left Reina with no chance.
Benitez's response was to bring on Ryan Babel for Kewell, having already been forced to blood new signing Martin Skrtel for the injured Arbeloa in the build up to Villa's equaliser. Crouch soon followed for Benayoun.
The England international striker salvaged a point for Liverpool, with stoppage time looming, when he smashed the ball past Taylor from ten yards after Laursen had failed to deal with a set peice.
The result means that Liverpool have drawn their last four league matches and leave them trailing behind the league leaders by 14 points.
Afterwards Benitez was left to rue missed opportunities.
"We were controlling the game and creating all of the chances, but we needed to score the second goal to kill the game off," said the Liverpool manager.
"If we'd have scored the second goal I'm sure we'd have scored more because we were playing well.
"I told the players after the game that if you cant kill off the game you will give the other team hope and that was what happened. They we were waiting for a free kick and they scored from two set pieces.
"We had the chances to win, but we didn't take them and in the end you have to be happy because we could have lost."
Final Score: Liverpool 2-2 Aston Villa
Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa (Skrtel), Carragher, Hyypia, Aurelio, Benayoun (Crouch), Mascherano, Gerrard, Kewell (Babel), Kuyt, Torres. Subs Not Used: Itandje, Alonso.
Aston Villa: Taylor, Mellberg, Laursen, Davies, Bouma, Gardner (Harewood), Petrov, Reo-Coker, Young, Carew (Knight), Agbonlahor. Subs Not Used: Sorensen, Cahill, Osbourne.
Att: 42,590
Match Highlights:
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
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