Premier League - Liverpool held by Stoke again

Eurosport - Sun, 11 Jan 13:29:00 2009

Liverpool failed to beat Premier League new boys Stoke City for the second time this season as they drew 0-0 at the Britannia Stadium.

FOOTBALL 2008-09 Premier League Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard laments missing chance to score against Stoke City - 0

Tony Pulis's side repeated the feat they achieved at Anfield in September by stifling the league leaders into a goalless draw. On the only other occasion that Liverpool visited the Britannia Stadium - in a 2000 League Cup tie - they beat Stoke 8-0.

The result means Liverpool have a four-point advantage over Chelsea and are eight-points above Manchester United, who have three games in hand. Those two sides play each other at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Following his comments regarding Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson on Friday, Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez set himself up for extra scrutiny in this match. Despite having both Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane fit, the Spanish coach opted to play Dirk Kuyt as his lone frontman with captain Steven Gerrard just behind him.

Benitez watched the match from the directors' box, a few seats away from Argentina national team coach Diego Maradona who even in his long and illustrious career may never have seen a team play quite like the Potters.

Dutchman Kuyt was as energetic and industrious as ever, but he enjoyed limited opportunities in the first half, glancing a header wide of goal beofre seeing a strike from an acute angle smothered at the near post by goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.

Gerrard - on a run of five goals in his last five league games - was also unable to stamp his authority on the match.

Over two thirds of Stoke's goals this season have come from set pieces, with Rory Delap's long throws accounting for many of those. Once again, the midfielder's deliveries were causing Liverpool all sorts of problems, with the home side often winning the fight for second balls as defenders tried to clear their lines.

Delap was almost the beneficiary of one of his own throws on 11 minutes, when the half-cleared ball was hoisted back into the box for the Ireland international to fire a rasping shot that cannoned off the bar with Pepe Reina beaten. Three other Stoke players were in offside positions when the ball came back into the box but the flag stayed down, so it would have counted had the shot gone in.

The linesman did raise his flag on the half hour, when Delap's floated ball to the far post was headed in by defender Ryan Shawcross, who was past the last man when the ball was played.

Despite the introduction of Torres on the hour, chances were just as hard to come by for both sides until the closing stages.

Liverpool saw a throw-in of their own cause trouble in the Stoke penalty area, but a Lucas header and Torres's follow-up shot both failed to hit the target from close range.

Stoke striker Dave Kitson - still looking for his first goal since joining from Reading in the summer - pounced on a poor clearance from Reina but was forced wide by the Spanish keeper and could only fire into the side netting, before glancing a Delap throw-in on to the roof of the net.

Glenn Whelan - a late addition to the Stoke starting line-up after ex-Liverpool midfielder Salif Diao picked up an injury in the warm-up - curled a free-kick a fraction wide of Reina's upright.

But the best chances fell to Liverpool skipper Gerrard who saw a free-kick hit the top of the goal frame before steering a Torres flick-on past Sorensen but off the far post in the final minute of normal time.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

Comment 289 - 308 of 308

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  1. You are a Scouser,
    A dirty Scouser,
    You're only­ happy on giro day,
    Your mum's out theiving,
    Your­ dad's drug dealing,
    So please don't take my new­ car away...

    From daniel, on Mon 12 Jan 8:15PM

  2. Guess because they are top of the the League and­ earning an average 80 000 K per week, those @#$% think­ they already won the EPL this season... Why can't­ my team have the mentality of Manchester United about­ winning ? (And God knows I @#$% hate United bt I have­ to admit that they do never commit the thousands of­ mistakes that we do)... How many poor draws at home­ arewe gonne make again ? Are we going to lose this­ first place at the end ? By how many points ? 2, 4, 6 ?­ Guess that would correspond to 1, 2 or 3 wins instead­ of draws... Let's still hope we'll be champions­ (even with an average 75 points, does'nt matter the­ quality of this season's champion...) !

    A­ disgusted fan who's been dreaming of a strong­ Liverpool side since the Sooness, Evans, Houillier days­ !

    From Mervin A, on Mon 12 Jan 7:38AM

  3. Guess bec

    From Mervin A, on Mon 12 Jan 7:33AM

  4. Guess bec

    From Mervin A, on Mon 12 Jan 7:33AM

  5. I saw the game live and braved the cold and boy what a­ load of @#$%. Stoke arguably played the game in he air­ and flung the ball about. But for God sake Liverpol­ were just not there. Poor selection with players such­ as Benayoun stil on Xmas holiday it was nver going to­ be win

    From babafemi, on Sun 11 Jan 9:58PM

  6. F**king go on Stoke!!!

    All these Liverpudlian­ moaners...you have got no f**king chance of winning the­ Premiership.

    We,however, have every chance of­ staying up.

    So it's all good!

    From Jay, on Sun 11 Jan 7:22PM

  7. what a load of @#$%

    From ian, on Sun 11 Jan 7:11PM

  8. Pls American owners help us, we are dying of heart ­ attack, cause of rafa's fooolish decision

    From rovi m, on Sun 11 Jan 7:06PM

  9. I'll say it again Benitez will not win the­ Premiership for Liverpool,with his silly team­ selections.He should have kept his mouth shut about­ Ferguson however true his statement is,just win the­ Prem.that will do more to annoy old whiskey face.

    From ARTHUR R, on Sun 11 Jan 6:07PM

  10. I have never been a rotation policy fan, never have and­ never will... How on earth can Rafa leave almost £50m­ worth of talent on the bench, Torres and Keane for that­ matter? These two guys should be playing week in week­ out... Rafa, if you want to win the Premier League,­ field the best team, not rotate! An attacking 4-4-2­ seems to be the best formation for Liverpool... Rafa,­ sort it out for goodness sakes!

    From , on Sun 11 Jan 5:37PM

  11. i really hate the selection yestesday. dunno what rafa­ think? i think he need other operation. His brain also­ got stone. 4-5-1 formation cannot use in EPL ,english­ football or modern football. how he put all striker in­ bench and only put 1 striker in play with 30min to­ play? 4-4-2 is winning formation for the red. striker­ is torres n keane. (i can assume that the long they­ play the deadly they r can be) midfield is riera or­ babel, mascherano or alonso, gerrard n kuyt (the best­ even midfield liverpool have in century). Lucas n­ benayoun is backup for gerrard n kuyt. Defender anyone­ also can (is the best). hope the rafa think twice b4­ make stupid decision. long live liverpool.

    From terry, on Sun 11 Jan 5:05PM

  12. im not happy wid rafa's selection policy cos u add­ keane on da bench and two holdin midfielders players­ the whole game, is he scared of losing or sumthing

    From scott, on Sun 11 Jan 3:23PM

  13. Please, american owners, PLEASE, Im down on my knees,­ begging. SACK RAFA NOW! You got the support of ALL TRUE­ Liverpool-fans!

    From Bratu, on Sun 11 Jan 3:10PM

  14. BOTTLERS.......... THIEVING SCOUSE BOTTLERS!!!!!!

    From Rich222, on Sun 11 Jan 2:23PM

  15. All of the big 4 have very foolish managers besides­ Alex Ferguson. Look at Arsene, Scoloari & Rafa. 3­ blind mice!!! All those players are world class; Torres­ Gerrard Masch Carra but it's the gaffer who has to­ go

    From Sahladine L, on Sun 11 Jan 1:15PM

  16. liverpool r rubbish

    From hanzala_syed_619, on Sun 11 Jan 1:09PM
  17. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    this result proved that Liverpool cant stand the heavy­ pressure! ehehhehe..such an amateur.

    From a, on Sun 11 Jan 1:03PM

  18. I hv been a Liverpool fan for years. Last night, I hv­ seen the worst Liverpool team in my live. Perhaps Rafa­ needs to understand some simple mathematics. A win = 3­ pts, a draw = 1 pts. A win and a lose is better than 2­ draws.

    My dear Rafa, pls field your best team in­ future when meeting a weak team to secure a win and 3­ pts.

    From sllowmail, on Sun 11 Jan 12:59PM

  19. Im happy for Rafa to have secured a well needed draw­ for The Blues. At least he reduces the gap to only­ 4points and who knows it might reduced to 1 point by­ the end of today. Thank you Benitez for making it­ happen at the time it is highly needed.
    Blues for Life

    From Dynamic, on Sun 11 Jan 12:51PM

  20. Benitez's pet Lucas is the most rubbish player i­ have seen, even Djimi Traore was better. Lucas is just­ a clown.
    Why or why does benitez have to play him?
    Why­ or why does benitez have to play him?
    Why or why does­ benitez have to play him?
    Why or why does benitez have­ to play him?
    Why or why does benitez have to play­ him?
    He is not even a half a player a player Alonso is,­ Can someone honestly tell me, if Lucas is put up for­ sale, which club in the world will want him?
    Very­ disappointed Liverpool fan

    From Willii, on Sun 11 Jan 12:33PM
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