Reina reigns supreme at Anfield

THE KOP saluted Fernando Torres after the striker climbed off the bench to spectacular effect, but it was an unsung Spaniard who was the inspiration behind Liverpool’s first Premier League home win for two months.

Victory over a Fulham team which has forgotten how to win on the road is unlikely to strike fear into title rivals, yet Jose Reina found it difficult to contain his emotions as the goalkeeper celebrated Torres’s goal with his team-mates.

It was Reina’s huge kick which Torres collected before cutting into the Fulham penalty area and whipping a shot into the bottom corner, just inside the near post.

Liverpool’s grouchy supporters — who had already resigned themselves to seeing Fulham emulate Portsmouth, Birmingham and Tottenham in eking out a point at Anfield — breathed again and the points were secured by Steven Gerrard’s late penalty.

It was Reina, however, who deserved recognition. Quite apart from showing a hitherto unappreciated creative side, he has now kept seven clean sheets in 12 top flight games this term, a statistic that has not gone unnoticed by Rafael Benitez.

“Reina is a goalkeeper with real game intelligence,” he said. “He can read the game and play the kind of balls he delivered to Torres. He can play these passes to strikers if the strikers move for the ball.

“A modern goalkeeper needs to be able to read the game like this. That is the difference. You can save 100 balls, but if you don’t do something more you will be a good goalkeeper — not a top class goalkeeper.”

Benitez’s teams have rarely had trouble scoring goals against Fulham, but his 200th game in charge of Liverpool ended in relief rather than celebration.

Until Torres’ late introduction Fulham — without a Premier League away win for 14 months — looked likely to escape with a point thanks mainly to the heroics of their own goalkeeper Antti Niemi.

Torres was forced to start from the substitutes’ bench as Benitez rewarded those who brushed Besiktas aside so easily in the Champions League by naming an unchanged line-up for the first time in 13 months. Yet the club’s record signing can expect to start the next league game at Newcastle after his impact on a cold Merseyside Saturday evening.

“For me the key is to know when to use each striker, how and when to use the qualities of each one, but that is why we spent the money,” Benitez added. “In the last few years we have controlled a lot of these kind of games but we needed to score more goals.

“We bought Fernando with the idea of turning these draws into three points, and to make the most of our movement, our passes and our crosses.”

Liverpool’s win may yet also impact on England’s Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

The impressive Yossi Benayoun has been ruled out for three weeks after an abductor muscle injury has forced him to withdraw from the Israel squad ahead of their group game with Russia next Saturday. England are relying on an Israel win to give them a chance of qualifying for next summer’s tournament.

Benitez added: “Yossi has a problem with his adductor muscle. In the last five minutes he was limping and the doctor has said his injury is very clear.”

Fulham, although impressive in containing Liverpool in the first half, were unable to respond once Torres had broken the deadlock.

But Fulham boss Lawire Sanchez is confident his team’s long wait for an away league win will soon be over.

“We led at Arsenal with six minutes to go on the first day of the season, we drew at Chelsea, and might have taken all three points in the last few minutes, and we have played well enough at Liverpool,” he said.

LIVERPOOL (4-4-2): Reina 6, Arbeloa 6, Carragher 7, Hyypia 6, Aurelio 6, Benayoun 8, Mascherano 7 (Lucas, 81, 4), Gerrard 6, Riise 6 (Babel, 62, 5), Voronin 6 (Torres, 70, 7), Crouch 6.

Subs Not Used: Martin, Finnan.

FULHAM (4-4-2): Niemi 9, Baird 6, Hughes 6, Stefanovic 6, Bocanegra 6, Davies 5, Davies 6, Murphy 6, Dempsey 6 (Kamara, 69, 4), Kuqi 5, Healy 6 (Bouazza, 60, 4).

Subs Not Used: Warner, Smertin, Leijer.

REFEREE: Steve Tanner (Somerset) 6: Struggled to get a grip on proceedings and MATCH RATING: *** A woeful first half gave way to a fascinating final 45 minutes as Niemi’s heroics looked like frustrating the hosts until the introduction of Torres.