Wasteful Reds Held

English Premiership

Blackburn 0 - 0 LIVERPOOL

Liverpool's unbeaten run this season continues as they were held to a dull nil-nil draw by Blackburn Rovers. But the visiting Reds will surely be disappointed by the outcome as well as the overall performance as they huffed and puffed their way through.

There was a apparent lack of urgency from the away side and only started to pound on the Blackburn goal in the last 10 minutes of the game, especially when Rafa Benitez decided to throw on the out-of-favour Peter Crouch and the injury-proned Harry Kewell.

Given the nickname as a 'cup final' player, Kewell came on to make an impact but still looked a long way from full match fitness.

Crouch, too, came on and nearly gave an undeserving lead after connecting well with Steven Gerrard's corner but it was cleared off the line.

Despite impressing in his previous outing against Arsenal, Dirk Kuyt was preferred by Benitez to play upfront on his own and it took only a glance to tell that Kuyt was ineffective as a one man strike force.

He couldn't be blamed for much of the game as the Liverpool midfield were stifled by an organised and tenacious Blackburn team and it is of common knowledge that Liverpool lacked the spark and creative force within. There was no movement and the passing was appalling at times.

Yet when presented with chances, Dirk Kuyt fluffed it all and Liverpool will travel back to Anfield with only a point. A hard fought one indeed. As a striker at the top level, he is expected to take the chance and put Blackburn to the knife for their carelessness but as we all know, he isn't the best finisher out there.

As a striker, he is supposed to score goals but apparently, not being the 'sharpest knife in the drawer', he skied one of the best chance Liverpool had in the entire game and two others.

I personally admire his never-say-die attitude, desire, determination and mental strength but when the 'knife meets the butter', he's expected to cut it but as profligate as Liverpool had been for the past month or so, he didn't help the situation.

Especially when Torres is out with an injury and Crouch out of favour.

But to be fair, Liverpool didn't deserve to win this game as Blackburn, too, had their fair share of chances and came closer to scoring than the visiting team. Both David Dunn and David Bentley skinned the Liverpool defence and were unlucky not to score as both their shots found the frameworks instead.

As one of the 'Top 4' of England, it's apparent that Liverpool doesn't seemed to be on the same level as the other 3 teams in Chelsea, Arsenal and ManYoo as they possessed a balance team with a couple of players capable of changing the game just with a moment of magic.

Arsenal is a joy to watch and they have shrugged off their impotency and exchanged it with sharpness and maturity while ManYoo grew from strength to strength. Chelsea moved on from Jose's era and are steadily improving.

While Liverpool at times, looked like 11 strangers, clueless on the pitch and even with a tactics set by Benitez, there was no shape and players don't make runs and create space for each other, making life difficult for every players.

There were times when I thought I was watching England but at least we could control possessions better.

Though we know that Ewood Park is a tough place to visit, it is no excuse that they are there for the taking and that as a club contending for the Premiership, we ought to start to play well and get the right results. Continuing with this form is only going to make us fall backwards from the pack.

It already looked as if we're falling further away in terms of quality and that many believe that players like Kuyt, Crouch, Sissoko or Riise won't get us anywhere near the Premiership crown and it is true in some way.

But I believe Rafa has bought himself plenty of time, contrary to the tabloid reports about his job on the line, and he is capable of turning things round. But maybe he just needs to learn his lesson and stop being so stubborn and sticking to his own principles and guidelines.

Rotation or whatever the ideology is, it might work in the La Liga which he won the title, it might not happen in the Premiership.