Liverpool 4 Arsenal 1:In the dressingroom Rafael Benitez had stuck up the scores of Liverpool's hidings at home to Arsenal this season. It was the visitors who failed to read the signs. Arsene Wenger's team were languorous and, unpardonably, the vengeful sharpness of the Anfield side took them by surprise.
Arsenal had won 3-1 and 6-3 on the visits in FA Cup and League Cup. Liverpool are still 10-8 behind on aggregate but this victory underlined how much the immediate future could hold for them. A Champions League quarter-final gets under way in the Netherlands tomorrow and Benitez's squad look better equipped to deal with PSV Eindhoven than Arsenal were.
Peter Crouch, despite landing his first hat-trick in club football, does not count on staying in the starting line-up. He was employed purely as a substitute in the matches with Barcelona and Benitez has no fear of demoting the forward should his strategy require it. "If I talk with him he will understand," the manager claimed.
Crouch can be troublingly sweet-natured for a person who is meant to inflict harm. He does not even bridle at reports that Liverpool are prepared to sell him. "I want to remain part of the manager's plans but he keeps his cards close to his chest," said the 26-year-old. "I am as happy as I have ever been and determined to prove I am worth my place. No one is safe at a big club like this."
Arsenal, however, were in deeper peril. While two of his goals were taken on the deck, Crouch's height aggravated the panic in central defence. This was Kolo Toure's worst display for the club and William Gallas was unobtrusive until he brushed home an irrelevant goal after his fellow centre back had helped on a corner-kick.
The team were eliminated, too, by aerial power in the Champions League, when PSV's Alex scored at a set-piece. Wenger has still to come up with the correct pairing for the core of the defence and it was disingenuous of him to portray Crouch as a special case. The Arsenal manager, nonetheless, was magnanimous about the 6ft 7in attacker. "He was superb," said Wenger. "Everything he did was intelligent. He has the size of a basketball player but the skill of a real football player. If you had put a real basketball player in, Kolo and Gallas would have had no problem."
Liverpool, with the judicious partnership of Xabi Alonso and the impressive Javier Mascherano at the heart of midfield, allowed themselves plenty of licence on the wings. With four minutes gone, a Jermaine Pennant backheel took out both Gael Clichy and Abou Diaby, releasing Alvaro Arbeloa for a low cross. Crouch, with a well-timed run, got in front of Toure to apply a right-footed finish.
Ten minutes from the interval Fabio Aurelio delivered a perfect ball from the left that beckoned Crouch. "When a cross like that comes in, your eyes light up; you can go and attack it," the scorer said of the service that preceded a firm header sent high beyond Jens Lehmann.
The hat-trick came in exquisite fashion after 81 minutes. Crouch dodged Toure by manoeuvring Pennant's cross on to his left foot with his right heel before shooting. He was a fountain of confidence and some rued the nose operation that ruled him out of England's last two fixtures. Even so, Andorra were beaten in any case and Steve McClaren would apparently not have started with him in Israel. It counts against him that he lacks the pace that is viewed as a necessity at the top level. All the same this rout at Anfield demonstrated his impact when others provide movement and speed.
Neither is Crouch a first-choice at Anfield. There have been 28 goals from him, including those in the Club World Cup, since he signed in the summer of 2005. The player protests that this unremarkable tally is a consequence of limited playing time rather than the cause of it.
"I am quite happy to have my scoring record scrutinised. It was good to get a full 90 minutes and show what I can do. When the second goal went in, it did cross my mind that I had been there before: two at Birmingham last season and another two at Watford in January, and subbed each time. I was a bit nervous it might happen again, especially with a couple of forwards on the bench."
Guardian Service
