Owen goal not enough for Reds win - report

Liverpool 1 Aston Villa 1

Michael Owen is back but Liverpool have still a long, long way to travel before they arrest their alarming Premiership slide.

The striker scored his first Premiership goal since November 2 this afternoon and yet the Anfield faithful still went home bemused, and not a little angry, at the form of their side.

Leaving Anfield without three points is becoming as inevitable and as distressing as tax in their pay packets. Today they greeted the final whistle, after Dion Dublin had equalised from the penalty spot, with a chorus of boos - and who could blame them?

Only supporters in possession of a bus pass could have been familiar with the sort of crisis Liverpool are enduring.

They have now taken just five points from a possible 33 in the Premiership, plunging from a position where they led the league by six points in November to one which found them 11 points behind leaders Arsenal, having played a game more, at the end of this afternoon.

It amounts to their worst run since the 1950s and the pressure inevitably is increasing on Houllier, despite his defiance last week that he would never quit his beloved Liverpool.

His team, however, continue to produce relegation form and that against a side which have scored just four goals and not won away from home all season.

You can almost touch the uncertainty at a club which was once so dominant. Players continually go for the same ball, the passing is poor, the understanding minimal, the confidence non-existent.

It could have been worse, because Villa had enough chances to win this game. But until Houllier introduces some much-needed width, accepts that such as El Hadji Diouf and Salif Diao are just not up to the job and provides Owen with much better service than this afternoon then Liverpool are

destined to slide even further.

True, when Owen’s precious goal came – after 37 minutes and 48 seconds – it owed much to the industry of Diouf, the £10million striker who has endured much criticism since he was signed by Houllier on the back of a sparkling World Cup.

Diouf, for one of the few times, wriggled and writhed his way into the Villa penalty area before unleashing a right-foot shot which appeared to strike the arm of Villa defender Olof Mellberg.

Some of the Liverpool players appealed, the assistant referee even began to signal for a spot-kick but Owen is a natural predator and he had only one thought – rippling the Villa net.

That’s exactly what he did, lashing the ball home from 12 yards and referee Paul Durkin promptly awarded the goal.

It was deserved reward for Liverpool’s work-rate in a first-half in which Villa, for the most part, gave as good as they got. Indeed, Dion Dublin might easily have given Villa a two-goal lead before the game was 10 minutes old if his aim had been as precise as crosses provided by Gareth Barry and Lee Hendrie.

It took Liverpool a long time to raise any worthwhile rhythm and Diao continues to search for his best position. Too often he was the man who squandered possession, his distribution frustrating the Anfield faithful.

Just as well then that Liverpool had Danny Murphy at the centre of the action to pick up the pieces – the England man their lone inspiration.

Villa might have been expected to fold after the interval considering they had not won away from home all season. Instead Villa manager Graham Taylor made a change at half-time, bringing on Stefan Moore for Darius Vassell, and Villa responded superbly.

Only a brilliant flying save by Kirkland kept out an Ian Taylor header but there was an inevitability about the equaliser.

Not for the first time Liverpool failed to clear their lines swiftly enough and captain Sami Hyypia was ruled to have brought down Gareth Barry.

Dublin stepped forward to take the kick, sliding the ball sweetly under Kirkland’s body as he dived low to his left and no-one could say that Villa did not deserve their stroke of fortune.

There was a lack of cohesion about Liverpool’s play and on the hour Houllier made a double substitution, bringing on Emile Heskey for Mellor and Vladimir Smicer for Diouf.