Barclays Premier League – November 3rd 2007
Blackburn 0 Liverpool 0
Reaction:
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez: “I am disappointed. We deserved to win. We created very, very clear chances – and plenty of them. When the game became more open we had more control and went forward. We had more offensive players. We must think about the positives, we had a lot of possession and a lot of chances. In the second half, their goalkeeper was their best player.
“With the chances that we had I think could have won – clearly in the second half. It is important for me to see the team going forward with confidence and pressing and controlling the game. The team is progressing, we are creating enough chances to win every game and this is positive. We just need to take the chances. If you don’t play well and you don’t create chances it is a problem but if you create chances in every game for me that is the most important thing.”
“Blackburn were playing well and today they had some opportunities, but especially at the end were controlling more and we kept possession.”
On Gerrard: “He was playing well in the second half. The first half was difficult because it was narrow and you couldn’t find the space. In the second half he had more freedom and I felt he was playing well and he is playing better the last three games.”
On Kewell, making his first league appearance of the season: “He has quality and can beat players. We needed to do something different in the second half and Harry gave us that.”
Blackburn coach Mark Hughes: “It was a very good game. There were a number of chances for both teams. There were clear cut chances that on another day would have gone in. It was an evenly-matched game. But the last ten minutes were difficult for us. Liverpool had a number of chances and our keeper Brad Friedel did well for us when we were tired. We had a real busy week with two difficult games away from home and we put a huge effort into those games. I think those two games told somewhat but we stuck at it and Brad made some decent saves at the right time for us.
“I thought it was a very good Premier League game with a lot of real desire to affect the game by both sides. Overall, given the chances we had in the first half I think it was probably a fair result.”
Blackburn: 1 Friedel, 2 Ooijer, 4 Samba, 6 Nelsen, 3 Warnock, 7 Emerton, 11 Bentley, 19 Dunn (5 Kerimoglu, 56), 12 Pedersen, 9 Santa Cruz, 10 McCarthy (27 Derbyshire, 89)
Unused subs: 32 Brown, 13 Khizanishvili, 22 Treacy
Liverpool: 25 Reina, 3 Finnan, 23 Carragher, 4 Hyypia, 6 Riise, 11 Benayoun (15 Crouch, 72), 22 Sissoko, 20 Mascherano, 19 Babel (7 Kewell, 63), 8 Gerrard, 18 Kuyt
Unused subs: 40 Martin, 17 Arbeloa, 21 Lucas
Booking: Carragher 58
Stats:
Possession: 47% – 53%
Shots on target: 7 – 7
Shots off target: 8 – 4
Corners: 6 – 3
Fouls: 7 – 11
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Attendance: 30,033