Liverpool fun to watch again; Manchester rules; Blackburn don’t have to panic; give Ireland a chance and sympathy for Rodallega

Liverpool are fun to watch again

Liverpool started 2011 with an entirely different sort of victory over Bolton Wanderers from the one they enjoyed on Saturday. It came just after a 1-0 defeat at home to Wolves which represented the nadir in Roy Hodgson’s reign, was secured by a 90th-minute winner from Joe Cole and served only to paper over the very obvious cracks. The style of football was appalling, the fans were in a volcanic funk and Hodgson, about as popular on Merseyside as An Evening with Gary Neville at the Everyman, was gone by the following Saturday, replaced by Kenny Dalglish. If Hodgson had not been sacked, there was a possibility that Liverpool could have been relegated – unlikely but not unimaginable.

How different the outlook is now. Above all else Dalglish’s biggest achievement has been making Liverpool watchable again, perhaps for the first time since the days of Roy Evans. An afternoon watching a Gérard Houllier side was enough to make one search the TV guide to see if the test card was on even if his sides were generally successful. Rafael Benítez was not necessarily negative but his teams were controlled and could be defensive; they had spurts of attacking brilliance, particularly in March 2009 when they put 13 goals past Real Madrid, Manchester United and Aston Villa, but it was never sustained.

Dalglish is changing that, allowing Liverpool to play with a freedom and inventiveness which has not been their trademark of late. Last season Liverpool hinted at a side about to burst into life when they beat Fulham 5-2 and Bolton were similarly helpless on Saturday. It could have been more than 3-1. It would have been if Luis Suárez’s aim had not been off in front of goal. Not that his lack of accuracy mattered when he could produce such a marvellous assist with the outside of his right foot that led to Jordan Henderson scoring his first goal for the club with a curling shot.

Henderson has struggled to convince Liverpool’s fans of his worth but against Bolton he was an important part of a midfield that passed elegantly, moved well off the ball and had width in the shape of Stewart Downing. It has been unkindly suggested that Charlie Adam provides a different sort of width as well but he looked in fine fettle. And anyway, who needs to run when you have his vision? Although Liverpool are not about to mount a title challenge, they must be increasingly confident of a return to the Champions League. JS

La Liga does not look so uncompetitive now

Manchester 13-3 north London sounds like a Housemartins album and it looks like the dawn of a new era. Manchester is now the epicentre of English football for the first time since 1968, when Manchester City won the league and Manchester United gazumped them by winning the European Cup. Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur finished fourth and fifth last season; the former were in for four trophies at one stage, the latter got to the last eight of the Champions League. And both were humiliated in a manner few would have predicted.

Plenty in England have spent the last few years calling Barcelona and Real Madrid a rich man’s version of Celtic and Rangers, which does not look so clever now. United’s 8-2 win over Arsenal was something of a freak given the depleted nature of Arsène Wenger’s side and the state they have got themselves into, but City winning 5-1 at White Hart Lane is more portentous. Harry Redknapp is not making excuses when he says Spurs cannot compete with City. He is just telling the truth, although United are not so intimidated. Chelsea may find themselves in the unusual position of neutrals hoping they get their act together under André Villas-Boas, if only for a bit of variety at the top. JS

Blackburn don’t have to panic yet

Not too much sympathy should be afforded Blackburn for their two missed penalties in the 1-0 home defeat by Everton, Junior Hoilett and Mauro Formica the guilty parties. Failing to score from 12 yards is hardly ever unfortunate. John Terry hitting the post in Moscow in 2008 was not unlucky. No one else slipped. It was just poor technique. The same applies to Brazil in their Copa América quarter-final against Paraguay last month.

However, Blackburn do not have to panic yet, especially as the promoted sides have managed only one win between them. Although Rovers have picked up zero points from their first three games, winning the penalties in the first place at least means they must have been doing something right and they certainly had enough chances to beat Everton. That they failed was down to wastefulness and an exceptional display from Tim Howard, while they lost only because of a ludicrous decision by Lee Mason to award a penalty for a supposed foul by Christopher Samba in the last minute.

Steve Kean – who does, admittedly, seem out of his depth – should be more worried about losing a game to Everton in August. Not even all the fried chicken in the world could make up for that embarrassment. JS

Villa need to give Ireland a chance

After the outpouring of anger from Aston Villa fans following the appointment of Alex McLeish, the former Birmingham manager said he would do his best to bring the fans on side. “Let me prove myself and I will win you over … I am the man for this job,” he said. After seeing the type of football their city rivals played, fans were sceptical and Saturday’s turgid display in the Midlands derby against Wolves showed they have a point. It was the lowest Premier League attendance (30,776) for Wolves’ trip to Villa Park since December 2006 – read into that what you will but it does not bode well for McLeish.

Attractive football attracts the fans but Villa did not provide anything resembling that on Saturday. The majority of the passes from Villa’s central duo, Fabian Delph and Stiliyan Petrov, were centred around the middle of the pitch with neither player offering any sense of penetration. Most of Delph’s and Petrov’s passes that went awry were those aimed towards the goal. McLeish, of course, has a ready-made solution for this lack of creativity in Stephen Ireland.

In the 2008-09 season Ireland was named Manchester City’s player of the year and awarded a five-year contract on the back of his midfield exploits where he was the creative fulcrum for Mark Hughes’s side. But things have not gone so well for the Irishman since. When the millions rolled in at City, he rolled out to Villa. There he was criticised by Houllier last season – “Ireland needs to work harder … We know he is a good player but I don’t want to have a situation where you say ‘he is a good player, but … ‘” – before spending the second half of the season enduring a difficult loan period at Newcastle.

But Ireland, when on form, has exactly the sort of qualities that the Villa midfield lack. He can carry the ball forward, split defences and create chances, qualities that neither Delph nor Petrov has or certainly shows on a regular basis.

After two goalless draws this season it is time for McLeish to put his confidence in Ireland and give him an extended run in the side. Otherwise he may just find that more boring draws follow and that fans keep voting with their feet. IMC

Oh you … beauty!

We’ve all been there. You’re waiting patiently for a pass. You haven’t seen much of the ball all afternoon. You’re in space. Your fellow striker has the ball. And he’s going for another shot. His 13th of the match. Like every shot he’s had, it will be heading into orbit. So you get ready to aim a load of vitriol the way of the greedy bugger, only to see the ball fly off his boot and into the top corner, the script going a little like this: “WHY WON’T YOU PA … OH WHAT A GOAL! YOU GENIUS!”

Which was the fate of Wigan Athletic’s Hugo Rodallega against QPR. Piqued by Franco Di Santo taking a cross off his toes, the Colombian flung his arms in the air as if he really did care and got ready to blast his team-mate, only to see Argentina’s answer to Emile Heskey turn and score. Hugo, you have our sympathies. And as we are in a generous mood, we will ignore the fact Di Santo’s effort took a massive deflection off Bruno Perone. JS

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The benefit of the morale-boosting win over Manchester United is likely to be in Europe rather than the Premier League

Frank Lampard allowed himself only one slight deviation from the script. The Chelsea management’s call for a sense of perspective lapsed momentarily and, with the adrenaline still pumping after a hugely satisfying victory over the league leaders, the midfielder simply could not resist. “If we keep winning all our games,” he said, “we’re going to be in with a right shout.” Then, as quickly as it had flared, the optimism was concealed again with reality flooding in.

Chelsea will never deny themselves all hope but, even in the wake of Tuesday’s encouraging second-half revival against Manchester United, the reigning champions must know deep down that succeeding in their game of catch-up this term will surely be beyond even them. The gap from the top of the table stands at 12 points, a chasm Carlo Ancelotti conceded was “too far” to bridge, leaving the optimists to cling to a game in hand – at home to the Carling Cup winners, Birmingham City – and the trip to Old Trafford in May. Win those matches and the deficit is whittled down to six. That, combined with United imploding uncharacteristically and Arsenal fading alarmingly, would make Chelsea contenders.

The champion in Lampard will pray for such a combination of miracles. John Terry will too, his trademark tub-thumping rhetoric having already been delivered in Copenhagen last week. But reality suggests that, when Chelsea seek to generate momentum over their run-in, it is in the hope that confidence and conviction rub off on their Champions League campaign and keep them among the domestic division’s top four. Ancelotti predicted on 14 January that 80 points would be enough to win the league – the lowest in a decade – but, with refreshing honesty, he has conceded that the title was effectively surrendered in his team’s protracted mid-season lull. Had United prevailed at Stamford Bridge Chelsea would have been as close to the bottom of the table as the top.

The legacy of that mediocrity means that, even if Chelsea win all 11 of their remaining fixtures, their points tally for the season would be their lowest since Claudio Ranieri’s last year in charge. Ancelotti’s compatriot mustered 79 in 2003-04. Any slip-up over the run-in would mean this year’s sum would be the worst yet of the Roman Abramovich era, and perhaps justification enough to continue the lavish rebuilding process started by the arrivals of Fernando Torres and David Luiz in January.

Besides, it can hardly be assumed that Chelsea will embark on a lengthy winning sequence. Their best run this term has been five league victories in succession and traditionally, although strong over the season’s closing weeks, they have not mustered more than 28 points from their final 11 fixtures since emerging as true title contenders under José Mourinho in 2004. There are contests to come against Manchester City and fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur as well as the trip to United, with awkward meetings too against five of the sides hovering in or around the relegation zone and with plenty for which to play.

Yet, even in that context, the team’s recovery on Tuesday was significant. Chelsea’s challenge to retain the Double may have faded but their pursuit of silverware remains very much intact. Copenhagen should be dismissed without too much fuss in the return at Stamford Bridge in a fortnight, the tricky first match in freezing Denmark having yielded a 2-0 success, to smooth passage into the Champions League quarter-finals.

It is in that competition where this team can conjure a glorious finale to their campaign, tapping into Ancelotti’s expertise, though their chances hinged upon rediscovering themselves. They did precisely that in overturning United’s half-time advantage.

“There was a little bit of the old Chelsea in there,” said Lampard. “You could see the power in the team. The commitment and the strength were there. There have been times this season where we’ve played top-drawer football better than anyone in Europe. Lately we haven’t been playing like that at all, but we can certainly get to those high levels again. We’d not been at our best, but we beat the best team in the league so far. We got tight and showed commitment: if you don’t put that extra effort in, things can be sloppy but, against United, it was the energy in our game which turned the corner for us.

“Of course, if we don’t get a result at Blackpool [on Monday] then the win over United means nothing. In terms of the league we’d need to keep clawing our way back, hope that other teams lose, and put a run of wins together. We haven’t been doing that this season, and that’s why we are where we are. But we’re back in the top four and need to get some momentum going now.” Maintaining that on all fronts may not be enough to retain the title, but it could yet give Chelsea the belief that the European Cup can be theirs at last.

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