Captain Fantastic Saves Managers Arse.
A Telegraph Article
Liverpool 3 Napoli 1: match report
Read a full match report of the Europa League game between Liverpool at Napoli at Anfield on Thursday Nov 4 2010.
Henry Winter
By Henry Winter
Published: 11:28PM GMT 04 Nov 2010
Hat-trick man and rescue-man, Steven Gerrard remains the man for all Liverpool seasons, the man whom the Kop turn to when they walk through a storm. New owners and a new manager can come into Anfield but the main man remains a tall athletic local with an unquenchable desire for victory.
One major debt remains at Anfield: one club’s debt to one player.
Liverpool would have lost without Gerrard.
Simple as that.
At the break, they were trailing to Ezequiel Lavezzi, being given the runaround by the clever counterattackers from Serie A. At the interval, Napoli fans raised a banner declaring "Anfield Road – Nothing Scary’’. It soon was.
Attacking the end containing the visiting support, Gerrard was unstoppable when he replaced Milan Jovanovic. He was given able support in Jay Spearing, who crunched into tackles, and David Ngog, who continued to run tirelessly and somehow survived a shocking challenge from Salvatore Aronica, a foul so filthy it deserves retrospective action from Uefa.
Gerrard was also assisted by Nathan Eccleston, making it seven Englishmen on the pitch at the final whistle. The Brazilian Lucas, too, played his part late on.
In truth, Gerrard has probably been better for England than Liverpool this season. But in his team’s hour of need, he delivered. Requiring only 13 minutes, the fourth hat-trick of his Liverpool career brought another landmark.
Gerrard’s third goal, a wonderful dink over the despairing Napoli keeper Morgan De Sanctis, was his 38th in Europe, took him alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy, and within four goals of Thierry Henry, as the player to have scored most European goals for one English club.
In becoming only the second Liverpool sub to score a hat-trick (along with Steve Staunton against Wigan in the League Cup in 1989), Gerrard was also indebted to an old team-mate, Andrea Dossena, the Napoli wing-back seemingly spooked on his return to Anfield. Poor Dossena was involved in every one of Gerrard’s goals.
Initially kept in reserve to keep him fresh for Chelsea on Sunday, Gerrard’s arrival immediately made Roy Hodgson’s side look a more cohesive force.
Raul Meireles took the departing Jovanovic’s place on the left, allowing Gerrard to slot into the hole behind Ngog. Jonjo Shelvey seemed lifted by Gerrard’s company, the youngster drilling in a cross that Ngog connected well with but aimed too close to De Sanctis.
As the ball fell loose, Gerrard was swiftest to react but his sights were not properly set.
Not yet.
Liverpool continued to create chances and Shelvey should have shown more composure when meeting Ngog’s cross just before the hour-mark. Hodgson twisted again, bringing on Eccleston for Christian Poulsen as the Kop chanted "attack, attack, attack’’.
The departure of the uninspiring Poulsen was greeted with delight by swathes of the Liverpool support.
Meireles was enduring one of his weaker displays but he almost equalised following good work by Gerrard and then Ngog. The ball fell invitingly enough for Meireles but he shot wide. The game began to become stretched and increasingly combative. Spearing thundered into a couple of magnificent tackles. Liverpool were not going down quietly.
With 20 minutes remaining, Gerrard was presented with a free-kick just outside the D. Anfield stood hopefully. He hit the ball firmly, imparting enough bend to negotiate the wall but insufficient to carry it the right side of the post.
No matter.
Liverpool’s regular saviour rode to the rescue again.
It had to be Gerrard.
It had to be this embodiment of Liverpool passion.
When Shelvey drove into the box, Dossena nipped in to slide the ball towards De Sanctis. Dossena rarely did much right at Anfield during his career here, so an element of haplessness was perhaps inevitable. Dossena had not spotted Gerrard, who poked the ball past De Sanctis.
Gerrard’s celebration took him along the front of the Napoli fans, who showered him with abuse. He responded by holding a finger to his lips in a hushing signal. Gerrard soon silenced them, the midfielder refusing to settle for a point. When Johnson was brought down by a clumsy challenge from Aronica, Gerrard drilled in the penalty.
There was more, magnificently so. Spearing, short of height but with a good spring, won a De Sanctis goal-kick, heading the ball back into Napoli’s half. Dossena again dithered, encouraging Lucas to nip in and nick the ball to Gerrard. The England international drove through, lifting the ball over the diving keeper with all the sangfroid expertise of Ian Rush.
As much as there was to celebrate in Gerrard’s remarkable contribution, Liverpool’s defending was exposed in the first half, particularly when Edinson Cavani headed through for Lavezzi to race through and score.
Liverpool’s new owner, John W Henry, shifted uneasily in his seat while the new director of football strategy Damien Comolli sank back in his chair.
Until Gerrard came on, the squad limitations were laid bare for all to see.
As were the strictures of the stadium. Ill-will had also seeped into this contest, an unwanted relic of unpleasant events in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius a fortnight ago. There were problems with segregation while the Kop made its contemptuous view of the Italians abundantly clear.
One banner read "Napoli Merda’’.
Another was waved vigorously at the final whistle. "Ciao Napoli’’.
Team details
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Konchesky, Poulsen, Spearing, Shelvey, Meireles, Jovanovic, Ngog.
Subs: Hansen, Gerrard, Lucas, Wilson, Kelly, Skrtel, Eccleston.
Napoli: De Sanctis, Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Aronica, Maggio, Pazienza, Gargano, Dossena, Hamsik, Lavezzi, Cavani.
Subs: Gianello, Grava, Dumitru, Santacroce, Zuniga, Yebda, Sosa.
Referee: Fredy Fautrel (France)
I loik dem articles by dat Henry fella.
