Soccer English League Cup, semi-finals, first legLiverpool 1 Watford 0 Much may have changed at Liverpool in the last six months, though their ability to thrive in this competition remains unswerving.
Sloppy and fortunate to still be afloat for much of this contest against Championship opposition, they still emerged victorious with Cardiff hovering into view.
Not that they should be contemplating an eighth League Cup success just yet. Rafael Benítez will not have been fooled by this stuttering display, his side's split personalities all too evident yet again to the extent that it was only when Milan Baros added pace to their front line that Liverpool stretched lowly Watford.
The visitors will return home heartened but unrewarded. The Premiership side may hold the advantage but progress remains in doubt; if Benítez had contemplated playing his second string in the return, the fragility of this lead will surely now prompt a rethink.
Liverpool's predictably whirlwind opening was soon smothered by dogged defence before invention drained from the Premiership side's play. Watford should have capitalised, though they could be forgiven for being left to pinch themselves at Liverpool's early inadequacies.
The last time Ray Lewington sent his team out here they had sunk without trace, his Fulham side shipping 10 goals in August 1986 while the manager fidgeted red-faced in the dug-out. Yet once Liverpool's initial menace - brimming from Luis Garcia who volleyed from distance for Paul Jones to gather - had dissipated, any suggestion of a similar score last night was ridiculous.
Rather, Watford prospered. Paul Devlin, still pesky at 32 and initially supplied by James Chambers, crossed into the six-yard box where static home defenders watched aghast as Hameur Bouazza, unmarked, mistimed his shot in front of goal.
So bemused were Liverpool that Devlin was allowed to gather the loose ball and centre for Brynjar Gunnarsson to head at Jerzy Dudek. Bouazza and Jermaine Darlington might both have pierced Liverpool's porous rearguard before the interval.
Watford were displaying all the drive and creation which had embarrassed Southampton and Portsmouth in earlier rounds, though Liverpool had no excuse for their lax display.
They could not have been baffled by the midfield quintet which cramped them too often in the centre. It is a vogue tactic used widely in the Premiership this season, not least by opponents at Anfield. A side which had won once in their previous 13 Championship matches made Liverpool appear horribly toothless.
That will have been noted in the boardroom as much as the dug-out. Fernando Morientes' name still buzzes around this arena, his transfer to these parts apparently as imminent now as it was last week.
Lyon muddied the waters yesterday by offering £8 million for the Spaniard, though Morientes remains intent on forcing a move to Merseyside. Liverpool are not prepared to offer Real Madrid more than £6.5 million.
Perhaps the 28-year-old might have mustered a better finish to Antonio Nunez's cross on a rare break downfield, Florent Sinama-Pongolle shooting over, though it was notable that the chance came on the break, such was Watford's swelling ambition.
When they were caught on the counter just before the interval, Steven Gerrard sliding through for Neil Mellor to collect, it took an excellent tackle from Chambers to stifle the chance.
Gerrard had been becalmed, though his simmering threat was present and he, like Benítez, was unlikely to put up with the lethargy for long.
A curled attempt just over early in the second half suggested a switch in momentum which was reinforced when the captain slipped Mellor away only for Jones to save well with his legs. The young striker's replacement by Milan Baros moments later was a statement of intent.
So it proved. The Czech sprung Watford's offside trap from Sinama-Pongolle's pass within minutes and Jones spilled his centre. Gerrard, arriving at pace on the edge of the area before the goalkeeper could recover, belted at goal with his attempt deflecting off Neil Cox and into the net. Watford for all their endeavours, were breached.
LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Finnan, Carragher, Traore, Riise, Nunez, Gerrard, Hamann (Biscan 71), Luis Garcia, Mellor (Baros 53), Sinama Pongolle (Warnock 78). Subs Not Used: Potter, Harrison. Goal: Gerrard 56.
WATFORD: Jones, Chambers, Cox, Demerit, Darlington, Devlin, Gunnarsson, Ardley (Blizzard 81), Mahon, Bouazza, Helguson. Subs Not Used: Chamberlain, Dyer, Webber, Doyley. Booked: Chambers.
