Liverpool 0, Portsmouth 0:If ever there was an occasion of such cursed frustration and infuriated inadequacy to sum up Liverpool's Premiership season to date then this was it. Portsmouth, a side without a win in these parts for 55 years, nullified the hosts last night to register the point they had craved and, ultimately, deserved. While the visiting fans danced in delight, the hosts departed with boos ringing in their ears.
This was a missed opportunity. Liverpool would have hoisted themselves from the mishmash of mid-table into the dizzy heights of third had they won here. Instead, it is Portsmouth who bask from that vantage point, their busy industry and desire to suffocate hugely effective with their centre halves Sol Campbell and Linvoy Primus, together with the excellent David James, a barrier of defiance all night.
For the hosts, there was only misery. Jermaine Pennant departed a broken man, head bowed as the Kop cheered his substitution with the youth-team graduate Danny Guthrie taking his place.
A lack of quality within this squad is being exposed too regularly at present with Steven Gerrard's diving header on to Dirk Kuyt's late cross, the ball crashing into the side-netting, effectively as close as they came.
There had been an urgency to Liverpool, even with such a makeshift side, from the start that was born of the recognition this was an opportunity to thrust themselves up among the Champions League qualification places.
They ripped into Portsmouth's banks of blue, generating a flurry of chances that had forced the visitors into retreat by the break, and at the heart of it all strode Jamie Carragher. Injuries to Boudewijn Zenden, Mohamed Sissoko and Xabi Alonso had forced the centre half into a defensive brief in midfield, a role in which he began his club career and has filled at times for his country, and he revelled in it here.
There had been a fizzed shot after 65 seconds to set the tone but, with Portsmouth reluctant to stray too far from defence, Carragher was able to dictate virtually unchallenged.
Gerrard buzzed at his side, the pair combining to liberate Steve Finnan seven minutes from the break with the full back's cross headed just wide by Luis Garcia.
Yet, even by then, the early optimism was dissipating with the contest taking on a familiar guise. So often this season Liverpool have been confronted at Anfield by opponents intent merely upon damage limitation and, while Rafael Benitez' side know what to expect these days, the suspicion lingers they still lack creative spark.
They had resorted to hopeful heaved long balls by half-time in an attempt to by-pass the midfield clutter, James wary only of the shots pummelled from distance by Sami Hyypia, Peter Crouch and Gerrard.
Benitez might have been ruing the absence of Craig Bellamy who, earlier in the day, had been cleared of assaulting two women in a Cardiff nightclub even if the Wales international's appearance in court prevented him from featuring here. His pace might have unsettled resolute opponents.
The Welshman might at least have stretched the visitors' ranks but, in his absence, the visitors were resolute and the home frustration steadily continued to well. Carragher was cautioned for a tug at Pedro Mendes, a member of an admirable Portsmouth quintet who harried, hassled and swamped the centre albeit only offering Benjani Mwaruwari token support up front. Matt Taylor's desperate free-kick, squirted woefully wide, may have been the nearest they had come to prising an advantage, but what satisfaction there was to be had was enjoyed by Harry Redknapp.
Twice James, on his sixth return to these parts since leaving Liverpool, blocked well from Garcia in the muddle after a whipped Gerrard cross with Benitez flinging on Robbie Fowler's guile as composure drained away.
Pennant's toils on the right were painful to behold, the midfielder increasingly anguished by Mendes' attentions and cautioned for a foul on Taylor even if his real complaint remained with his own inability to deliver with any consistency. The young Moroccan debutant Nabil el Zhar had taken up his position on the right before the end, Pennant dismissed to the left flank, with Liverpool floundering.
LIVERPOOL:Reina, Finnan, Hyypia, Agger, Riise, Pennant (Guthrie 84), Gerrard, Carragher, Luis Garcia (El Zhar 72), Crouch (Fowler 61), Kuyt. Subs not used: Dudek, Paletta. Booked: Pennant.
PORTSMOUTH:James, Pamarot, Primus, Campbell, Taylor, Thompson, Pedro Mendes (Fernandes 69), O'Neil, Hughes, Kranjcar (O'Brien 90), Mwaruwari (Kanu 82). Subs not used: Ashdown, Koroman. Booked: Hughes, Thompson, Pamarot.
Referee:A Wiley (Staffordshire).
