Liverpool 4, Sheffield Utd 0 (D,Post)

Feb 26 2007 by Ian Doyle at Anfield

A WEEK dominated by the brandishing of a golf club conveniently ended in a ‘four’ for Liverpool on Saturday. But with Craig Bellamy absent, it was left to one of the oldest swingers in town to demonstrate his stroke has lost none of its deadeye accuracy.

The last time Sheffield United visited Anfield for a Premiership encounter almost 13 years ago, a certain fresh-faced Robbie Fowler led the line alongside veteran Ian Rush.

At the weekend, it was the turn of Toxteth’s finest to assume the mantle of the elder statesman in Liverpool’s attack and ensure a memorable few days for Rafael Benitez’s side ended on a suitable upbeat note.

The ravages of injury and the onset of Father Time may restrict him to a bit-part player these days, but Fowler’s dispatching of two penalties inside five first-half minutes showed ‘God’ has certainly lost none of his predatory powers.

That’s seven goals in as many starts for Fowler this campaign, a ratio no-one else in Liverpool’s squad comes even close to matching.

And remarkably, the 31-year-old is now only two goals adrift of Bellamy and three behind Dirk Kuyt in the scoring lists. Not bad for a player who on Saturday completed 90 minutes for only the fourth time this season.

Of course, with Benitez already planning for the future with the impending arrival of Ukrainian forward Andriy Voronin from Bayer Leverkusen, the likelihood is Fowler will be looking for pastures new once his contract expires in the summer.

How Liverpool would benefit from a Fowler in his pomp. If there is one major criticism of Benitez’s side, it is that they lack the firepower up front of their main Premiership rivals.

Sure, in Kuyt, Bellamy and 13-goal Peter Crouch, there is a variation of attributes and qualities that have troubled the very best defences.

But the nagging suspicion is that Liverpool will not offer a sustained championship challenge until they unearth a genuine 20-goals-a-season striker. None of Benitez’s forwards have yet reached double figures in the league this season; Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United each have two players already beyond that mark.

It mattered little on Saturday as a much-changed Liverpool swept aside the surprisingly weak resistance offered by their Yorkshire visitors, who collapsed the moment Steven Gerrard invited Robert Kozluk to wrestle him to the deck and provide the home side’s first penalty on 20 minutes.