COMMENT: No point in spoiling Havant’s day with Anfield post-mortem

Jan 28 2008 by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post

THEY started as no-hopers. Frightened rabbits caught in the glare of a media spotlight putting their club under the type of scrutiny they have never experienced before.

So the last thing they needed was a visit from Havant & Waterlooville.

Talk about a no-win situation for Liverpool. An 8-0 scoreline wouldn’t even have been enough to give them their biggest win of the season.

Thanks to the Blue Square South side’s incredible endeavour – carrying out their manager’s pre-match instructions to take it all in and seize the day to the letter – there was never a chance of that happening.

But therein lay Liverpool’s problem. Resounding victory and the reaction is ‘so what?’ An unconvincing and often embarrassing 5-2 win and the reaction is still ‘so what?’

All Liverpool were ever going to take from the game was a safe passage into round five and little else. They emerge with barely little more credit than they would if they’d mercilessly hammered 20 past the non-leaguers.

They were always destined to play second fiddle and their first-half ineptitude meant they achieved it emphatically. The red shirts the visiting part-timers collected as souvenirs probably hung themselves when they got back to the dressing room.

But on this occasion there’s no point in over-analysing the failures and getting carried away with criticism.

That didn’t stop Alan Green trying to invite another bout of Benitez-bashing on to his dreary radio phone-in, a show that stopped being entertaining the second Danny Baker was sacked from it.

But most supporters were perfectly happy for this to be Havant & Waterlooville’s day and events, no matter how surreal they often turned out to be, were never going to be any barometer to where Liverpool currently are.

It was a day for all supporters holding up their scarves as one and applauding each other’s contribution to a rousing rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. At this stage, chants of ‘we want six’ were conspicuous by their absence.

As were banners deriding American ownership. Emotions did run high but they were reserved for the 6,000-strong away end and perfectly illustrated by the shot of a young fan crying when Richard Pacquette headed his heroes into an early lead.

So you could stay up until the start of the men’s Australian Open tennis final banging on about how many times Liverpool’s players, without Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard to rely on, have struggled to break defences down.

About how, with the exception of Yossi Benayoun, they’re still not convincing their manager they are worthy of being trusted with the responsibility that their two top scorers are all too often lumbered with.

About how humiliating it was to have to wait until the 55th minute to take the lead against a side so low down the pyramid they’re in the regionalised branches of it. And in mid-table.

All valid points they would be too. But what good would it do?

‘They gave Liverpool a real scare’ was the gist of the post-match hype. But in reality, at no point did Liverpool’s casual body language seriously suggest they were in any danger, despite Martin Skrtel’s nervy debut hardly inspiring confidence.

What would have been the point in trying to match Havant tackle for tackle, blow for blow? Save the ruthlessness for West Ham on Wednesday night, because Liverpool need a performance there a damn sight more than they did on Saturday.

If they go behind at Upton Park you can expect far more urgency and determination to put things right than the minnows from Hampshire were met with. If it doesn’t materialise, then that’s the time to hit Benitez with the tough questions. Because at Upton Park they badly need three points, something they have failed to achieve since Boxing Day in the Premier League as those two five-goal FA Cup successes remain the only victories of 2008.

Hence, there’s a fight on for fourth place that Liverpool should never have allowed to happen but that’s the real battle the troops have to be primed for at the moment.

Havant & Waterlooville were magnificent and inspirational, to the point where the Liverpool off-field saga could learn a lot from how they have shrugged off the turmoil of 10 years ago when the clubs merged to form this franchise.

All done without the inconvenience of a Stateside takeover, too.

But this was a day for them to dwell on, which they deservedly will do for many years to come. For Liverpool? It’s already forgotten.