Source: Liverpool_Echo
Liverpool FC 4, Portsmouth 1: Reds click into gear at last
Reds click into gear at last[LNB]WELL, then. Did you leave Anfield last night laughing after a performance that some described as 'champagne football' or crying about what might have been?[LNB]There is no team in the Premier League that can 'do' erratic like Liverpool and last night, as they flattened Portsmouth with a crisp brand of passing, movement and goals, their Mr Hyde side - the one that has destroyed this campaign - was nowhere to be seen.[LNB]It was, of course, long overdue. You only have to cast a glance at the table to see how the Reds have underachieved and had they offered up a display similar to the monstrosity at the DW Stadium last Monday night, we would now be firmly in the midst of a crisis.[LNB]Losing to Portsmouth - who have long since been condemned to spending the next few years of their existence in the Championship - would not have been tolerated but once Fernando Torres set the ball rolling, defeat was never an option.[LNB]For once, Anfield's gallery was able to sit back and relax, to enjoy watching men in Red shirts speed the ball in different directions to willing runners and groans of acceptance, rather than howls of despair, greeted misplaced passes.[LNB]Yet, strangely, it all seemed out of context. Was this really the club that had been stripped bare by the same Portsmouth team on December 19? Did this look anything like the ensemble that had managed just a handful of shots in last five away matches?[LNB]True, Portsmouth were desperate, showing why it is a question of 'when' they will be relegated, and it was difficult not to have anything other than sympathy for their supporters, who have endured enough misery in the past 12 months.[LNB]But what of Liverpool? Did you not find yourself asking 'what if?' as Alberto Aquilani deftly dragged a pass back to Steven Gerrard or when Liverpool's golden pair combined by pirouetting and dummying to twist Portsmouth's defence inside out?
