Liverpool 2, Middlesbrough 0 (D,Post)

Apr 19 2007 by Ian Doyle at Anfield

WHEN Rafael Benitez warned his squad that Liverpool’s remaining Premiership fixtures could determine their futures, the Spaniard wasn’t referring to Steven Gerrard.

But the Anfield manager again had to rely on his skipper last night to move his team within three points of ensuring a top-four berth.

Gerrard netted twice in seven second-half minutes – the first a typical 25-yard piledriver, the second from the penalty spot – to see off an unambitious Middlesbrough and take his tally to 11 goals for the season.

His brace helped Liverpool reclaim the third place they’d lost to Arsenal 24 hours earlier, and victory over Wigan Athletic on Saturday would seal the early return to the Champions League that Benitez had sought ahead of next Wednesday’s semi-final first leg against Chelsea.

Before Gerrard’s intervention, last night’s game was in danger of going the same way as Saturday’s dismal goalless draw at Manchester City.

That forgettable Eastlands encounter had prompted Benitez to remind his fringe players that the Premiership run-in represented a final chance for them to convince they should be part of his future plans.

Such fixtures, said the Spaniard, would separate the wheat from the chaff, the ‘competitors’ of whom he is so fond, from those who he believes couldn’t be relied upon to last the full distance of a nine-month league marathon.

That’s no problem for Gerrard, who has started every Premiership game for Liverpool this season and, having began last night’s game as support striker to Peter Crouch, stepped back into his more accustomed central midfield role to immediately devastating effect.

In truth, Benitez’s comments were more a motivational tool aimed at rousing his players for what in effect are warm-up games for the Chelsea double-header that is dominating the thinking of everyone at Liverpool at present.

But while Jermaine Pennant flickered intermittently down the right flank and Javier Mascherano continued his impressive form, the home side rarely over-exerted themselves until Gerrard grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck.

The reality is you can’t really blame the players too much for that given the importance of their visit to Stamford Bridge next Wednesday.

With Boro having scored just twice in their last seven visits to Anfield – and none on their Premiership travels anywhere since January – a feast of goals wasn’t exactly anticipated last night. But anyone expecting an instant improvement on Saturday’s snoozeathon at City should really have known better as the teams played out a desperately dull first half.

Indeed, the pain experienced by the unfortunate Middlesbrough captain George Boateng when clobbered in the nether regions by a loose Pennant strike early on was similar to that felt by everybody watching the game until Gerrard once more roused the home team.

Again rotating his resources with Chelsea in mind, Benitez made three changes from the weekend, Bolo Zenden, Crouch and Momo Sissoko replacing Steve Finnan, Xabi Alonso and Dirk Kuyt. With Gerrard operating behind lone striker Crouch and Middlesbrough employing a similar tactic with Yakubu isolated in attack, the early action was concentrated in a congested midfield where neither side showed much creativity coming forward.

The only real shots of a truly dismal first quarter saw John Arne Riise seemingly intent on discovering whether he could boot the ball over the Anfield Road End, coming closer with a second effort that threatened the supporters in the top tier.