Unfortunately, Liverpool were once again unable to break down a massed defence - a perennial problem for about as long as I've followed them. Despite dominating possession and having almost all the chances, they couldn't score a goal or even put Pompey under real sustained pressure.
Of course, the lack of midfielders didn't help. As predicted, it was a defender - Carragher in fact - who stepped into the defensive role, alongside Gerrard. The BBC report concentrates more on Pompey's own injury crisis, but it's too bad Pennant wasn't capable of exploiting their patched-up leftback. I'd have liked to have seen Paul Anderson given a chance from the bench.
As it happened, two youngsters - Guthrie and El Zhar - did get to make what I think were their Premiership debuts (not entirely surprising, given they were respectively pulled out of and substituted in last night's reserve match). Unfortunately, when I say youngsters they're older than the likes of 'established' stars like Rooney and Ronaldo, so hardly the greatest prospects. Still, at least it seems we're still searching for young talent, despite the fact we no longer hear so much about last year's Youth Cup-winning team. Neither our reserves nor youth teams seem to be doing so well this year either...
Anyway, with our own shortages, then one can't be entirely disappointed with a point from a game we dominated. But we do now need a first win away against Wigan on Saturday...
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