Liverpool 0 PSV Eindhoven 0: So sluggish has the opening to Liverpool's season proved to be that Rafael Benitez might be grateful for this small mercy. The Champions League brought a return to normality of sorts last night, a first clean sheet since mid-April to secure Liverpool a point, though the Spaniard will not be fooled. His team were unconvincing, their defending still laced with indecision.
It had been 11 matches since a defence once renowned for stinginess last emerged unscathed, though the draw was only preserved late on by a fine challenge from Steve Finnan which denied Jefferson Farfan a shot from six yards out. Yet while that was reassuring, the sight of Steven Gerrard, summoned from the bench 72 minutes in, turning to volley gloriously against the far post as full-time approached, must have had Benitez cursing.
Logic would have demanded Benitez start with his strongest line-up, though attempting to second-guess the Spaniard's selections is becoming precarious.
Gerrard and Xabi Alonso began on the bench and Boudewijn Zenden - who played for four years at PSV - was favoured alongside Mohamed Sissoko in the centre. The pairing came as something of a surprise, though Benitez had omitted Gerrard for the equivalent tie, a trip to Real Betis, a year ago and seen his unfamiliar team win 2-1.
Benitez' line-up was geared for soaking up pressure and hitting them on the break. Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy were eager to charge from deep, the Welshman's threat clear and his ability to isolate Alex offering Liverpool hope, yet the initial lack of a figure like Gerrard to impose himself - particularly on the hapless full back Jan Kromkamp - was disturbing.
Bellamy's presence increasingly occupied his markers and three minutes from the interval Kromkamp - until recently a Liverpool player - again surrendered possession and Fabio Aurelio slipped Kuyt through the centre. It took a smart dive and block from Carlos Salcido to suffocate the former Feyenoord striker's angled shot.
Yet that opportunity rather halted the relentless if rarely sophisticated Dutch pressure, the marauding Anouna Kone and Jefferson Farfan discomforting their markers. Kone out-sprinted Sissoko and veered away from Jamie Carragher early on only to belt the ball against the bar. Ibrahim Afellay was slightly more accurate with another swerving shot only for Jose Reina to deal with it.
There was a vulnerability to Liverpool's defending with Kone's twists and turns inducing panic. Carragher did well to snuff out Farfan as he threatened to turn and shoot on the edge of the area, but Edison Mendez' influence in midfield was steadily growing.
It was Mendez who emerged from the centre after Zenden's poor control to slip Kone into space inside Finnan, though the Ivorian's composure evaporated as he bore down on Reina, a weak shot saved gratefully at the Spaniard's near post. Exasperated at such profligacy, Mendez twice thrashed goalwards from distance, with Reina just as thankful for the late swerve which took that attempt wide.
Benitez' response to the apparent erosion of his team's composure was to introduce Alonso in the hope possession could be wrestled back. The Basque managed that much and watched as Kuyt dribbled a shot wide of Heurelho Gomes' post with the goalkeeper beaten, though it still reflected the manager's concern that Gerrard had to be summoned to try to win an increasingly fraught contest.
LIVERPOOL: Reina, Warnock, Agger, Carragher (capt), Finnan, Aurelio (Gonzalez, 82) Sissoko (Alonso, 62), Zenden, Pennant, Kuyt, Bellamy (Gerrard, 72). Subs not used: Dudek, Hyypia, Crouch, Garcia,
PSV EINDHOVEN: Gomes, Salcido, Reiziger, Kromkamp, Affellay (Vayrynen, 74), Simons, Mendez, Culina (Aissat1, 63), Farfan, Kone. Subs not used: Moens, Kluivert, Addo, Lamey, Da Costa
Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland).
