Coventry City 2 Liverpool 1

by Brian Doogan of "The Sunday Express"

Steve McManaman must have been homeless, diseased and impoverished in a former life while Liverpool
paid yesterday for all that success they accumulated in the 1970s and Eighties. If you follow Glenn
Hoddle's line of thinking, that is. 

Like a Millennium messiah, the England coach attracted a posse of photographers and fans around the
directors' box at Highfield Road eager to catch a glimpse of the prophet with the baffling proclamations
and predictions. 

Fudging the issue of whether or not he does believe-as quotes attributed to him suggest-that the
handicapped and disabled are paying for high crimes and misdemeanours in previous lives was his sole
means of escaping all the furore yesterday. 

But he has to pick an England squad in the coming week and there will be little room left for him
squirming then. 

A highly-organised and destructively decisive Coventry side left Liverpool with little room to manoeuvre
either. Sky Blues manager Gordon Strachan will probably be relieved most by the fact that Hoddle did not
pass judgment on their chances of Premiership survival-or, for that matter, whether or not they deserve to.

On this evidence they will. Spirit, says Strachan, is the reason and yesterday it seemingly hung on every
breeze. 

This was a Liverpool side resurgent. In five games leading into this one, Gerard Houllier's men had
amassed 13 points in an ominous fashion that bore all the hallmarks of an advancing army. 

But George Boateng's first league goal of the season, and third in total, stopped them in their tracks and
Noel Whelan's unquestionably deserved ninth of the campaign ensured the first retreat by the Red Army
in many an encounter. 

Not even McManaman's intervention four minutes from the end could change the outcome. 

He will have been enthralled to have scored, of course, on the day his long anticipated defection to Real
Madrid, netting him a cool �14 million over five years, was finally made public. Introduced from the
substitutes' bench in the 69th minute, you could understand the Coventry players' concern at sticking
close to him. 

If wealth was passed on by osmosis, some of them will soon come into money. 

Amid all the money men it was Whelan who stood out like a rare diamond early on. 

The 24-year-old, whose off-field activites have so frequently made the headlines though it is his prodigious
productivity on the pitch that consistently merits them now, saw his shot fly wide of David James's
left-hand post after only eight minutes. 

A minute later he was the beneficiary of Gary McAllister's short, incisive pass and he rounded Rigobert
Song-substituted to make way for McManaman after a nondescript debut-before his shot took a deflection
of Steve Staunton for a corner. The Coventry currency of cohesive simplicity and striking boldness as they
surged forward continued to be worth more than a Liverpool side strangely subdued. 

A cross from the left by McAllister was volleyed firmly by Whelan on the back post across goal but
Williams failed narrowly to get the touch that would surely have yielded a goal. 

Liverpool fans could have been forgiven for believing James had momentarily lapsed back into his bad old
ways when he roamed so far clear of his line in his efforts to intercept Darren Huckerby he was in danger
of catching a glimpse of the Mersey. 

Huckerby beat the Liverpool keeper but then shot from way out on the right flank rather than look up to the
unmarked Whelan. McAllister struck a fierce 30-yard free-kick narrowly over as Coventry sustained the
barrage with little constructive response from the illustrious visitors. 

When Liverpool did finally stir, Michael Owen shot well wide before chipping Hedman and grazing the bar
with an exquisite effort from just inside the area. 

Eventually, Coventry went ahead when Froggatt's cross was met by George Boateng's diving header in
the 60th minute. 

Boateng also supplied the cross that capped a fine display for Whelan who slid the ball past James at the
far post. Hedman made a brave save at Fowler's feet from a Heggem cross before Owen's cross was
converted by McManaman at the far post. 

Coventry (4-4-2): Hedman 7; Nilsson 7 (Breen 46), Shaw 7, Williams 7, Burrows 7; Boateng 7, McAllister
7, Soltvedt 6, Froggatt 7; Whelan 8, Huckerby 7. Goals: Boateng 60, Whelan 71. 

Liverpool (3-5-2): James 6; Song 5 (McManaman 69, 6), Staunton 7 (Gerrard 87), Matteo 6; Heggem 6,
Redknapp 7, Ince 6, Berger 6 (Riedle 78), Bjornebye 6; Fowler 6, Owen 6. Goal: McManaman 86.
Booked: Heggem, Song. 

Referee: M Riley (Leeds).