Source: Telegraph
Blackburn Rovers 0 Liverpool 0: match report
When Steven Gerrard finally decides to hang up his boots and looks back on his career, the occasion of his 500th game for Liverpool is unlikely to feature as a highlight. [LNB]A worthy milestone, of course, but he will struggle to recall the game among all the others. As a microcosm of the frustrations and forlorn hope he has endured in his decade and more at Anfield, though, it served perfectly. [LNB] Related ArticlesPremier League tablePremier League actionTelegraph player raterPremier League fixturesSport on televisionNeither side could muster a chance worthy of the name for the first 37 minutes. The hosts, enjoying more territory, occasionally considered threatening from set pieces, though it was largely a passing fancy. [LNB]Liverpool, blunt in the extreme with Dirk Kuyt employed as a lone striker, shaded possession, but until Lucas, on the counter attack, played in Gerrard, who saw his shot bounce wide off Blackburn's Christopher Samba, they had nothing to show for it. [LNB]Little wonder, then, that fans of both hues had long since lost interest, those that had not wandered or dropped off indulging instead in a tit-for-tat exchange of taunts. [LNB]Blackburn's boisterous home support invited those who had won the league to stand up, their visitors enquired as to the location of Ewood Park's European trophy room. [LNB]In those moments where he withdrew from trying to spark his languorous side into life, it may have occurred to Gerrard that such is his legacy, as it stands. He has conquered abroad, but remains frustrated at home. [LNB]On this evidence, he is no closer than he was 500 games ago to addressing that imbalance. Gerrard, like the rest of the Anfield faithful, would not swap Europe, the memories of Istanbul - Gerrard's apogee and apotheosis as a Liverpool player - for the world, but he will have been stung by the taunts from the home fans. [LNB]Liverpool have, of course, won the league, but Gerrard has not. He will not remedy that this season, no matter when Fernando Torres, never more conspicuous than his absence, comes back. [LNB]They lack pace when the Spaniard is not present, as he may be more often than had been hoped this season, and they lack alternatives. Their bench here consisted of Ngog and Nabil El Zhar, two rookies, the elusive Alberto Aquilani and three defenders. [LNB]Benitez has no plan B. The introduction of Ngog, for the indescribably abject Albert Riera, did at least inject a little bit of life into the Spaniard's side in a second half infinitely less torpid than its predecessor. [LNB]Gerrard, as always, did his best. Two shots, one straight at Paul Robinson, the other deflected just over, served notice of his intent. [LNB]Two efforts from Franco Di Santo - springing Liverpool's offside trap for the first, only to be robbed at the last by Javier Mascherano, then forcing a good save from Reina after Lucas's slip let Vince Grella run clear - acted as reminder that focus cannot wane at Ewood Park for a second. [LNB]But Liverpool were in the ascendancy, Benitez casting off their shackles, encouraging them forward despite both Grella and Benni McCarthy going close, both beating Reina but also beating the post. [LNB]Glen Johnson raced down the right, easing past Gael Givet and Ngog did well to make any meaningful contact with his cross as it reared up in front of him. His effort cracked the bar, Kuyt's follow up was bundled wide by Samba on the line. [LNB]It was not the young Frenchman's only opportunity. Moments later, Johnson yet again broke free, scooped a cross to the far post, where Gerrard contorted his body sufficiently to nod it back across goal, beyond Robinson. Ngog's stretch was not quite enough. Neither was Liverpool's. [LNB]
