Liverpool wore the white away strip, and the home team, its usual Red-Lion colours. Liverpool started with a few faces that did not feature much last season - Stephen Wright on the left, Dijmi Traore in the centre of defence with Stephen Henchoz and Bernade Diomede on the left wing. Diomede did not seem to be the typical pacy winger but rather used trickery and skills to get past the defenders; he did not do much of that though to really impress. New Norwegian signing John Arne Riise appeared in the 2nd half and played in Diomede's position. He impressed with his bomber throws into the box and his solid, workman-like effort. Jamie Redknapp captained the team in the first half but had a subdued outing, safe for a scorching free kick that the Singapore keeper Rezal Hassan palmed to safety (Emile Heskey scored from the resulting corner though).

I thought Liverpool did not get a good grip on the game, although they did pressurise the Singapore defence severely in spurts. Heskey's strength and pace was something to behold, when he latched onto a Robbie Fowler through ball in the first half and *overtook* 2 Singapore defenders into the box before being covered by a last ditch tackle from Daniel Bennett. He did score with a header late in the first half to give the Reds the lead. The Lions' most impressive move was carved out solely by S-League player, the Croat Mirko Grabovac, who surged forward from inside his own half in a quick break, rode the challenge of Henchoz only to have Traore clear his final ball. Otherwise, Singapore was mainly defensive-minded and concerned with breaking up the Reds' attacks; in this respect, Bennett and S. Subramaniam were outstanding.

The 2nd goal was courtesy of Michael Owen, who looked lively and dangerous when he came on in the 2nd half (to the loudest cheers of the night, if I may add). He had already lifted the ball over the bar under pressure from the substitute goalkeeper Lionel Louis and smacked a fierce shot against the bar when a neat Vladimir Smicer move released him. Minutes before the end, a brilliant Liverpool move on the right brought Markus Babbel into space, his cross-goal ball was dummied by Smicer and despatched towards goal by Patrik Berger. Louis saved but the rebound was smashed into the roof of the net by Owen.

Certainly Liverpool were not at their best; the attack lacked direction and rhythm for large portions of the game. The defence was solid, as usual, and Riise (the Stig Bjornebye lookalike?) did seem good enough for a run in the first team.

But I think the overall point was that this was a good run-through for the Liverpool in Singapore and the region. Certainly the local fans went home happy and it was football that won tonight. Who would remember that Man United are playing next week?

Posted in uk.sport.football.clubs.liverpool, 16 July 2001