Michael Owen chose the day England boss Kevin Keegan came to Anfield to honour
Bill Shankly to show that he's back to his best.
The youngster, 20 last Tuesday, scored a brilliant goal, his first at home
this season, and the strike had all the hallmarks of Owen's dazzling ability.
Keegan was surely impressed.
Owen showed pace, initiative and stunning quick-thinking skills to put
Liverpool ahead and go a long way to silencing the army of critics who have
hammered away at him throughout a season dogged by injury.
Titi Camara scored a cracking second from 25 yards as Liverpool turned in a
compelling display that stretched their current run to six successive home
league games and just one defeat in their last ten matches.
It would not be fair to compare this current side with any of Shankly's great
teams, but the fans saw enough to know that Gerard Houllier is moving in the
right direction and Shankly's name once again boomed down from the Kop in
tribute to the past as well as the present.
Liverpool had marked the 40th anniversary of Shankly's arrival at the club and
the onus was on the current crop to try to produce a performance in keeping with
the occasion.
With past heroes like Keegan, Ron Yeats, Ian St John, Peter Thompson and Emlyn
Hughes among a glittering array of Shankly's old boys, maybe it was asking too
much of Houllier's side.
But one young man was intent on doing his bit to show that the youth of today
have the potential to go on and be compared with Liverpool's greats.
Owen, who has been forced to endure plenty of ill-informed and sometimes
spiteful accusations from being branded a cheat to a burnt-out teenager, was as
near to his best form as he has been all season.
Darting runs, solid tackling back and some clever, if ignored, runs into
space, suggest that Owen had something to prove, and he had been waiting for his
match fitness to slowly return.
He was a constant threat and completed only his fifth full 90 minutes since
the first of his three hamstring injuries last April. Keegan must have been as
delighted as Houllier obviously was.
Liverpool had Patrik Berger back after injury, and made the surprise decision
to replace out of sorts David Thompson with Vladimir Smicer after just 37
minutes.
The England Under 21 kid's slow progress from the far side of the field,
taking handshakes and back-slapping on the way from players from both sides -
plus the look that could kill when he reached the dug-out - will not have
impressed Houllier.
But while he was disappearing down the tunnel, Owen was sparkling. Robbie
Keane was booked for a late tackle on Owen after just 16 minutes and Gary Breen
was also booked - after referee Andy D'Urso had consulted both linesmen - for a
bodycheck that poleaxed Owen on the halfway line.
Noel Whelan should have scored when he was presented with a free header eight
yards out from Gary McAllister's cross, but he nodded the ball wide. McAllister
himself also should have done better when nodded clear by Whelan, but the game
was all about whether Liverpool could turn spluttering excellence into genuine
superiority.
Magnus Hedman had excellent saves from an early Thompson free-kick and then
Camara's free header on the six-yard line, and Coventry at no time dipped below
being highly competitive and dangerous on the break.
But when Owen struck his goal in first-half injury time, it was a lead
Liverpool deserved. Dominic Matteo's neat pass was snapped up by Owen, he turned
Breen in the blink of an eye and stole into the box to clip a fine striker's
goal past Hedman.
Liverpool were intent on turning the full force of their attacking options on
Coventry in the second half.
Berger, Smicer, Camara, Owen - all prompted by Hamann and the excellent
Gerrard - surged forward time and again.
But Coventry defended with calm and skill, and until Camara struck a
sensational second after 74 minutes, it was always a real contest.
Berger hit a dipping volley wide of Hedman's far post in the first minute of
the second half, but when and Carlton Palmer planted a free header wide from a
corner when he knew he should have done far better, the danger was still there
for Liverpool.
A sweeping move involving Berger, a long run from Camara, and Owen's pass to
Gerrard ended with Hedman saving the youngster's shot at the second attempt.
Coventry created their best opening after 63 minutes when Mustapha Hadji
crossed to the far post, and Matteo lost Whelan. The Coventry striker controlled
the ball and smashed a power drive from 10 yards that Sander Westerveld saved
with a Schmeichel-style plunge from his line.
But Camara's instinctive 25-yard volley that dipped and crashed over Hedman
was worthy of clinching any match.
He can be irritating at times, too greedy and ignoring the runs of Owen, but
when he scores goals like this, the Kop will forgive him anything.
They rose at the end to a side who have now established themselves firmly in
the top five.
Teams:
Liverpool: Westerveld, Gerrard, Henchoz, Hyypia, Matteo,
Thompson (Smicer 36), Hamann, Carragher, Berger, Owen,
Camara (Heggem 86), Smicer (Murphy 88).
Subs Not Used: Song, Nielsen.
Goals: Owen 45, Camara 74.
Coventry: Hedman, Telfer, Williams, Breen, Froggatt, Chippo,
Palmer, McAllister, Hadji (Normann 74), Keane,Whelan (Roussel 70).
Subs Not Used: Eustace, Ogrizovic, Gustafsson.
Booked: Keane, Breen.
Att: 44,024
Ref: A D'urso (Billericay).
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