Reading 2, Liverpool 4 - post-match analysis

Sep 26 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

FERNANDO TORRES had remained silent as the debate raged over his recent bench duty. The Spaniard finally delivered his response in emphatic style last night.

A smiling Torres left the Madejski Stadium clutching the match ball after netting a memorable first hat-trick in English football to help Liverpool to Carling Cup victory at Reading.

The striker was controversially left on the bench as Rafael Benitez’s side spluttered to successive goalless Premier League draws against Portsmouth and Birmingham City.

But surprisingly restored to the first XI last night, Torres produced a virtuoso performance to take his tally to six goals in as many starts following his club record signing from Atletico Madrid.

It wasn’t just with his hat-trick that Torres impressed. Up against the heavyweight Reading central defensive duo of Andre Bikey and the evergreen Michael Duberry, the Liverpool striker received a crash course in the arts of agricultural English-style defending.

As early as the second minute, Torres required lengthy treatment after being dumped to the floor by Bikey. But, subsequently offered only flimsy protection by lamentable referee Martin Atkinson, the uncomplaining Liverpool forward would continually dust himself down and await the next crunching challenge.

Certainly, if Benitez harboured any fears Torres may not have acclimatised to the hurly-burly of English football, they were surely banished last night.

The devastating exhibition of pace and finishing that saw off the threat of a spirited Reading team will have supporters again wondering why Torres spent most of the last two Premier League games shuffling his feet on the substitutes’ bench.

But despite Torres’s treble, the best goal of the night belonged to Yossi Benayoun, the Israeli’s brilliant 23rd-minute opener the spark for an eventful evening that echoed the meeting between the teams at the corresponding stage of last season’s competition.

Liverpool won 4-3 on that occasion and last night’s encounter was similarly action-packed, although a demanding Benitez will have been unimpressed by the manner in which his team conceded goals to Bobby Convey and John Halls.

However, any criticism must be tempered by the fact both teams fielded much-changed line-ups in a tournament that ranks a distant last in their priorities.

It gave an opportunity for a number of Liverpool ’s fringe players, with results mixed. Benayoun, revelling in a rare first-team chance, was lively throughout and Sebastian Leto rewarded for flashes of promise with an assist for Torres’s first goal.

Fabio Aurelio will have benefited from making a first start since rupturing his Achilles in Eindhoven back in March, but fellow Brazilian Lucas Leiva struggled with the pace of the game on his full debut in central midfield.

Jamie Carragher and Alvaro Arbeloa were the only two to survive the weekend draw with Birmingham, paired together at centre-back as Benitez examined his defensive options in light of Daniel Agger’s long-term absence.

Despite regularly employed at the heart of the defence for previous club Deportivo La Coruna, it was Arbeloa’s first outing in the position since moving to Liverpool in January. His impressive performance suggests it won’t be the last.

Charles Itandje, on his debut in goal following his transfer window arrival from Lens as deputy for Pepe Reina, elected to punch what should have been a routine catch early on, and it set the tone for a jittery evening for the Frenchman and an under-par first half by the visitors.

Itandje, though, was in the right place midway through the half when Reading fashioned the first real chance of the tie, an unmarked Leroy Lita wastefully heading Halls’ right-wing cross straight at the Liverpool keeper.

The visitors instantly made Lita pay for such profligacy by forging ahead in spectacular fashion.

Benayoun was first ahead of James Harper to a loose ball in midfield, then burst forward, dinked between Bikey’s legs and thrashed a shot beyond Reading goalkeeper Adam Federici from 18 yards.

Torres went close with a low drive after cleverly finding space on the edge of the area, but Reading equalised in contentious circumstances on 28 minutes.

Momo Sissoko’s headed clearance from Nicky Shorey’s corner fell invitingly for the loitering Convey to strike a fine volley past Itandje into the bottom corner. However, Liverpool were convinced Lita had restricted the keeper’s view from an offside position; television replays appeared to back their case.

It was the first goal Liverpool had conceded this season that wasn’t a penalty.

Itandje did well to beat out another volley from Convey in stoppage time as the home side finished the half the stronger.

But Liverpool were improved after the interval. Torres played Leto into a good position soon after the restart, but the winger was caught in two minds whether to shoot or cross and ended up doing neither.

The Argentine made amends in the 50th minute, dispossessing Emerse Fae before a slide-rule pass played in Torres, the striker holding off the attentions of Duberry to side-foot past Federici.

A subdued Crouch – who with Torres formed Liverpool’s sixth different strike partnership of the season – was then let down by a lack of pace when put clear, and referee Atkinson then waved away strong claims for a penalty after Bikey clearly bundled Torres to the ground inside the area.

Liverpool’s frustration intensified on 64 minutes when Itandje went for a walk when attempting to deal with another Shorey corner and Halls found a gap in a packed penalty area to slot home.

Parity lasted only seven minutes. John Arne Riise, having just arrived as a substitute, burst down the left, danced past Fae and cut the ball back for Torres to finish brilliantly first time into the top corner.

Itandje palmed over an acrobatic Lita overhead kick and Federici blocked at close range from Benayoun, but Torres capped a memorable evening by exploiting the space behind the Reading defence to race clear on to substitute Steven Gerrard’s pass and slot home his third in the closing moments.

Benitez said afterwards that even this hat-trick doesn’t guarantee Torres a start at Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

But surely the Anfield manager isn’t foolish enough to make the same mistake for a third successive time.

Reading goals: Convey 28, Halls 64

Liverpool goals: Benayoun 23, Torres 50, 72, 86

READING (4-4-2): Federici, Halls (Kitson 80), Duberry, Bikey, Shorey, De la Cruz, Harper, Convey (Hunt 80), Fae, Long (Henry 79), Lita. Subs: Hahnemann, Cisse. BOOKINGS: Bikey, Duberry, Fae.

LIVERPOOL (4-4-2): Itandje, Finnan, Carragher, Lucas (Hobbs 89), Aurelio (Riise 69), Arbeloa, Benayoun, Sissoko, Leto, Crouch (Gerrard 77), Torres. Subs: Martin, Putterill. BOOKING: Lucas.

REFEREE: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).

ATT: 23,563.

NEXT MATCH: Wigan Athletic v Liverpool, Barclays Premier League, Saturday 3pm.