Portsmouth 0-0 Liverpool

A disappointing lacklustre performance by a decent Liverpool side that should have won. Rafa was caught between international exertions to major players and the Champions League match on Tuesday against Porto. He fielded Alonso and Sissoko in midfield and gave Crouch his first start in the League alongside Andrei Voronin, with Torres on the bench, leaving the hard-working Kuyt out of the squad. This would prove to be a mistake.

Crouch proved to be ineffective quickly into the game as there was not enough service. To his credit, he combined well with Benayoun in the opening exchanges of the match. Long balls were played from defence to exploit Crouch's height advantage. he knocked them down to Benayoun, who on one occasion, unleashed a powerful shot to force David James to make a smart save at his near post. Liverpool had a few more shots after, which was encouraging. Against the run of play, however, it was Pompey who almost broke the deadlock. Arbeloa was judged to have tugged at Kanu's shirt just inside the box, which led to a penalty, which Kanu took. It was only a great dive to his right by Reina that Liverpool were let off the hook. As a result, the two teams went into the break all square.

It was an alright performance but needed improving if Liverpool were to score any goals. It would have been preferred if Rafa had brought on Torres and Gerrard at the interval, but he bade his time. Liverpool struggled to find any rhythm in midfield, although Sissoko made some good tackles. In fact, it was Pompey who had clear-cut chances to kill the game. John Utaka drilled a shot wide from 14 yards. Minutes after, Voronin looped a shot just over the bar. By the 62nd minute, Rafa had seen enough. He brought on Torres, then Gerrard and then Babel for Crouch, Pennant and Alonso respectively. Unfortunately, it was a case of too little, too late. Torres had a half-chance when Gerrard burst through and played him in, but the ball bounced up a little and his left-footed shot went high and wide. Near the end, Voronin was centimetres away from converting a Torres cross, but it was not to be. In the end, you could say that it was a fair result as Pompey had battled hard. Now, Liverpool look forward to Porto's visit at Anfield.

The text below in italics is originally posted by Sweet Silver Song from the RAWK forums.

"OK, being slightly less lazy, I worked out the relevant league games now;

We play;

24 Nov, 2007 Newcastle United Barclays Premier League A
28 Nov, 2007 FC Porto Champions League H
01 Dec, 2007 Bolton Wanderers Barclays Premier League H
08 Dec, 2007 Reading Barclays Premier League A
11 Dec, 2007 Marseille Champions League Group Phase A
15 Dec, 2007 Manchester United Barclays

Win at porto, who effectively are our closest rivals to win the group, then it's almost guaranteed we'd probably only need to draw with them when we play them again at home at the end of November. This would mean that he can afford to play a slightly weakend team in that game, and also the entire Carling Cup team for the Marseille game. Meaning his first choice team Will be fully rested and can play against Man U on the 15th Dec. This gives us the best possible chance of making up the two points we have lost today, and probably more.

It's a deliberate strategy by Rafa. Remember the individual teams agree the particular order of the fixtures before they are played in the group stages. Anyone notice a pattern from last few years? Rafa prefers to start with the most difficult tie he is likely to face in the group. Last season it was PSV away. Season before that it was Betis away. (Yes I know Chelsea was in our group as well, but Rafa is wily enough to know that as long as we finshed ahead of Betis, we were through).

Rafa knows what he's doing. "

QFT.