Europa League: Utrecht v Liverpool full time report
Utrecht 0 Liverpool 0
An uninspiring Liverpool earned a Europa League point in the Netherlands in what was a disappointing match.
The Reds had started strongly, and both Raul Meireles and Fernando Torres came close with efforts from distance, before Utrecht’s Jan Wuytens saw a goal disallowed for a push.
The hosts got better as the match went on, and after Dries Martens had tested Pepe Reina, the Reds goalkeeper was indebted to Meireles for clearing a Michael Silberbauer effort off the line after the Spaniard had completely missed a corner.
Torres brought an excellent save from Michel Vorm at the other end, but the Reds lacked imagination and will be happy with their point.
It was a Liverpool display that will once again raise more questions than answers about Roy Hodgson’s team.
All of the pre-match attention in the Netherlands had been on Reds forward Dirk Kuyt, who was returning to his first professional club where he played for five years, but it was Meireles who was first to test goalkeeper Vorm with a long range effort that the Dutch international dealt with comfortably, before Joe Cole’s clever cut inside resulted a shot that went wide as Liverpool started well.
Meireles’ header from a Glen Johnson cross went straight at Vorm, before Johnson had to clear well from Jacob Mulenga’s cross. From the resultant corner, Utrecht defender Wuytens fired in only to see his effort ruled out for a foul by Mulenga.
With the hosts growing in confidence, Reina had to be alert to keep out a Tim Cornelisse cross, before Torres curled on effort narrowly wide from a distance at the other end.
After their bright opening, Liverpool were now making too many errors and after a sloppy Lucas gave away a corner, Martens brought a good save from Reina after easily evading Kuyt and Meireles. Cornelisse headed over from the resultant corner.
Kuyt tested Vorm from distance but Reds boss Roy Hodgson would have been happy to get his side in at the break level – not for the first time this season.
They emerged after half time looking much the same, and after Reina did well to keep out Ricky van Wolfswinkel, he soon completely missed a corner, allowing Silberbauer an effort that Meireles did well to clear off the line. The Reds goalkeeper then launched a rapid counter attack that ended with Vorm making an excellent close range save to deny what looked a certain Torres goal.
There was an ongoing lack of quality from both sides in what had become a scrappy affair, and after Jamie Carragher had failed to clear a cross, Silberbauer fired narrowly wide on the stretch, before Utrecht had a real claim for a penalty when Carragher tangled with Wuytens from a corner.
Liverpool were looking far from convincing at the back, and hesitation between Carragher and Martin Kelly resulted in Mulenga latching onto a ball and firing narrowly wide, and although sub Maxi Rodriguez offered some promise going forward, the Reds were poor in the attacking third.
They’ll be happy to leave the Netherlands with a point that keeps them top of Europa League Group K, but there remains a lot of work to do for Hodgson.
So, so much work.
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