Liverpool: James, Kvarme, McAteer, McManaman, Leonhardsen, Fowler, Redknapp, Harkness, Owen, Matteo, Carragher.
Subs Not Used: Babb, Riedle, Berger, Bjornebye, Nielson.
Booked: Carragher, Kvarme.
Goals: Owen 14.
Coventry: Hedman, Shaw, Huckerby, Whelan, Dublin, Telfer, Soltvedt (Strachan 82), Boateng, Hall, Haworth (Ducros 85), Nilsson.
Subs Not Used: Ogrizovic, O'Neill, Prenderville.
Booked: Telfer, Boateng.
Att: 39,707
Ref: P E Alcock (Redhill).
[PA-report] [Telegraph-report] [Times-report]
Michael Owen started the day with his good name being defended by boss Roy Evans in the wake of a strange attack by England chief Glenn Hoddle. The 18 year-old kid ended the day as the hero, having scored a poachers' goal and given Liverpool points and a victory they really struggled to achieve.
Owen had been confused and worried by Hoddle's remarks about his off-field behaviour, and Evans had seen fit to describe the new England Under 21 international as a model professional. Hoddle, no doubt concerned about the way his words were being interpreted, or misinterpreted, was forced into an early morning call to
Evans to explain his words away.
Owen answered in the only way he knows, with an outstanding performance. His goal came after 14 minutes when he arrived on the far post to stab home a fine pass from Steve McManaman, who had jinxed and teased his way into the box. That should have been the platform for a Liverpool show of power, in fact it turned into a scrappy, worrying display that did nothing to underpin any belief that they could seriously challenge for the title.
If Liverpool had lost this one, it would have been the first time in 34 years that they had lost three home league games on the bounce. After the shattering home defeats by Barnsley and Manchester United, Liverpool are in an unenviable position now of having to win every time they set foot on Anfield, so worrying is their position in the pack chasing leaders United.
Boss Roy Evans was again without groin injury victim Paul Ince, so he stuck with the side that had produced a morale boosting victory at Crystal Palace last weekend. Coventry, with new Dutch Under-21 star George Boateng impressing in midfield, were without four players through suspension and Gary McAllister with a long term cartilage injury. The Midlanders should have been there for the taking, but after Liverpool's impressive opening 20 minutes in which they had produced some of their best passing and movement of the season, the concentration and confidence started to ebb away. In the end it was an unsatisfactory performance, failing to inspire the belief that this side can get onto the coat tails of United.
Had it not been for the sustained work rate and pace of Owen, and the constantly impressive attacking play of Steve McManaman, Liverpool would have been in deep trouble. Their second half performance revealed all the known flaws in the side. David James was over casual and prone to absurd distribution to nearby defenders who frankly wanted nothing to do with the ball in their own box.
Coventry in the end had Liverpool on the rack -- the Anfield men were hanging on for dear life and the mistake ridden Liverpool display had the crowd fuming.
Coventry tried to apply the pressure, it was clear that possession and good quality ball into the box would cause mayhem. Sadly for the Midlanders, they didn't possess the men of ability to unpick Liverpool's defence. In that first 20 minutes, Liverpool looked as good as they have done all season. McManaman was running riot, Owen frightened the life out of stand in centre back Dion Dublin. The pace was hot, the passing crisp and the movement impressive. Dominic Matteo surged onto a Oyvind Leonhardsen square pass only to blaze a shot wide.
And Owen raced away onto a Jamie Carragher ball to outwit Richard Shaw and blast his shot across the face of Magnus Hedman's goal. Liverpool deservedly took the lead with that Owen effort, but then the fizz went out of their play.
Coventry got their act together, started to compete in midfield, and slowly worked their way into the game. Noel Whelan cracked a 20-yarder over the top, Simon Haworth had a header scrambled wide of the post by James, and Marcus Hall produced an acrobatic hook volley that screamed over the bar. McManaman made two openings for Fowler, and then saw a shot of his own skim the bar. But it was no longer a convincing display. The second half just emphasised the point. Liverpool squandered possession time and again, looked tentative at the back, and that fear spread like wildfire through the side.
Had it not been for Owen and McManaman's attacking ability, Liverpool would really have been in trouble. Owen twice produced efforts that could have put the issue beyond doubt, but it ended with Coventry pumping the ball forward. The anxiety from home fans, the Liverpool bench, and the players was clear for all to see.
Roy Evans hailed superkid Michael Owen's goalscoring display in the 1-0 win over Coventry and claimed: "He did all his talking on the pitch -- and that's exactly how it should be."
The Liverpool chief was referring to the remarks by England boss Glenn Hoddle, who 24 hours earlier was reported as having doubts about Owen's off-the-field behaviour. Hoddle was quick to speak to Evans, explain his comments and claim that a general suggestion that all England's young stars had to be careful about
their lifestyle, had been misinterpreted. Owen's response had been to fire the winner against Coventry, and turn in a spellbinding display of pace and attacking skills.
Evans said: "I saw no problems with Michael out there, but then I have never seen any problems with him. "He did his talking out there. Apart from his goal, his work rate was exceptional. "But for one or two situations when he almost squeezed through, he could have had even more. He made the chances, he made the runs, he was fine. "But he knows he has got to keep doing that. And he also worked very hard when we didn't have the ball, I was very pleased with him."
Evans added: "We started so well, the first 20 minutes we were excellent, and then we started to get nervous. But I couldn't doubt the commitment and effort, and they were determined not to throw the points away even though things were not going as well as we'd have liked."
Coventry chief Gordon Strachan said: "I feel we missed the chance out there. After the first 20 minutes or so, we got a grip. "We started by not playing to our game plan. When we started doing what I had asked them to do, things improved. "In the second half we did fine, we were a lot, lot better. They have quality and you have to work at stopping them. The boys showed they had big, big hearts, but it showed that you need footballing intelligence to wingames in the Premier League, and they had more of it than we did."
Owen's light touch lifts the clouds from Anfield
By Derick Allsop
Liverpool (1) 1 Coventry (0) 0
MICHAEL Owen may not, to quote Glenn Hoddle, be the finished article yet, but his imperfect class illuminated a frosty Anfield. The 18-year-old striker, who scored a debut goal for England Under-21 in midweek, gave Liverpool a long-overdue home victory in a stunning demonstration of his fledgling skills. His pace constantly shredded the Coventry defence and his instinct for scoring brought him to the right place at the right time to turn in Steve McManaman's low cross.
Coventry eventually broke free of their own penalty area to discover that Liverpool's defence too, was vulnerable and, with more assured finishing, Gordon Strachan's side might have drawn level. But, by the interval, the home team had regenerated a more positive momentum. Defeated in the last two home games, Liverpool have clung to the coattails of the Premiership's leading pack by gathering wins away from home. Symptomatic of their inconsistency this past year has been the form of their goalkeeper, David James, making his 200th consecutive appearance for the club yet seemingly destined to lose his place to the American Brad
Friedel, who has finally been granted a work permit.
Coventry revived their perennially uncertain status after introducing the Swedish international, Magnus Hedman, in goal last week for the veteran Steve Ogrizovic, who thus yesterday resumed a role of a generation ago at Anfield - that of stand-in. Another new player in the Coventry side here was George Boateng, the
Holland Under-21 captain signed for £250,000 from Feyenoord, his recruitment some consolation for the loss of Gary McAllister through injury. Coventry have, however, enjoyed productive trips to Anfield in recent seasons, having won their previous two matches here. Their 2-1 victory last spring seriously damaged Liverpool's championship aspirations.
Owen threatened reprisals from the start of this encounter. Twice in nine minutes his high-speed assaults pierced Coventry's back-line yet somehow they survived.
They could not, however, resist the youngster in the 14th minute. Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp worked the ball out to McManaman on the right, and the captain appear to mesmerise Coventry's defenders. McManaman rolled the ball beyond the static opposition for Owen to score at the far post.
Coventry mustered a shot after 17 minutes, Boateng volleying straight at James. A long-range effort by Noel Whelan was too high; the goalkeeper fumbled Simon Haworth's header and Marcus Hall blazed over the bar.
Liverpool came out of a mini-bombardment unscathed and Owen might have extended their lead after 28 minutes but he lifted the ball off-target. Robbie Fowler looked distinctly uneasy in the shadow of his remarkable younger partner and squandered two chances which came his way while McManaman steered a chance wide early in the second half but Coventry were equally wasteful.
Owen outfoxed Dion Dublin only to be denied by Hedman's save and the Coventry captain almost gifted a goal to Fowler, who was unable to control the ball on the edge of the six-yard box.
Owen puts Liverpool in the frame
Ian Hawkey at Anfield
Liverpool 1 Coventry 0
MICHAEL OWEN, the England hierarchy are said to believe, has football lessons still to learn. On yesterday's evidence, they would include completing the 100 metres in under nine seconds and perhaps adding an inch or two to his 5ft 8in. Owen's goal decided Liverpool's victory over Coventry, and his game enlightened a match of fits and starts. Liverpool's start was excellent, Coventry's fitful. It is too often thus for Anfield's liking this season that they promise more than they deliver.
They might have won by many more, two perhaps in the space of two minutes late on. First, Owen ran free of his markers, his stock in trade all afternoon, and had a low shot brilliantly pushed wide by Markus Hedman; second, Robbie Fowler was offered a grand chance by Dion Dublin's stray clearance and Hedman smothered at his feet.
Still, the three points move Liverpool to fifth in the Premier League. "We got the goal and then got a bit nervous," said Roy Evans, the winning manager. "We gave too much of the ball away." When Steve McManaman and Owen were zipping down the Coventry left, Liverpool flowed and strutted. Given opportunities from the edge of the box, McManaman looked less incisive.Fowler had a quieter match than his junior partner, Hedman saving a first-half header to keep him off the scoresheet.
Liverpool took an early lead into the interval, Owen's goal a reflection of where their most penetrating contributions had focused. The teenager, 18 last Sunday, had opportunities even before he tapped in McManaman's right-wing cross, unmarked, at the far post. His pace taxed Coventry from the opening moments. His movement, too, had been as busy as it was brisk, darting variously wide right and down the left. A searing Owen centre was arrowing towards Oyvind
Leonhardsen's forehead until Roland Nilsson nodded adeptly clear; an Owen volley from 15 yards ought to have finished closer to the target.
For Richard Shaw and Dublin, at the heart of Coventry's back line, Owen was a perpetual handful. Fowler's pace, too, might have undone them 11 minutes before half-time after Jamie Redknapp's clever through-ball looked to have put him a yard ahead of Dublin. The Coventry captain recovered to challenge, and Fowler
fluffed his second bite at it.
Coventry failed to play to their plan, said Gordon Strachan, their manager. They were also without several of their defensive personnel, Gary Breen, Paul Williams and David Burrows all suspended. Those who were available starting with all the pattern of a half-completed Rubik's cube. An errant pass, under no pressure, from Richard Shaw gave McManaman possession in the first minute; Owen skinned the same player to prod wide in the seventh and, by the eighth, the uncertainty spread to goalkeeper Hedman, who let slip an innocent high cross.
George Boateng, operating deep in midfield, made an impressive enough debut, although he, too, caught the early uncertainty. The Dutchman had warmed up, by homesickness or concidence, next to an advertising hoarding offering cheap tickets to Holland. After two minutes, he might have stopped to take down the number; his first contribution was a foul on Owen, his next a sloppy long ball straight to Steve Harkness. It got better, though, Boateng forcing David James into his first save with an opportunist volley and, once or twice, spreading play effectively to Coventry's further corners, a handy fulcrum for their counterattacking game in Gary McAllister's absence. They may need more than that over an imminent succession of fixtures that brings them up against Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal as well as back to Anfield in the FA Cup.
Strachan stood up next to the touchline for much of the first hour, seated only after a word from Paul Alcock, the referee. He had his pulse quickened by the odd James juggle and some sixes and sevens in the centre of the home defence. Bjorn Tore Kvarme had his name taken for a desperate foul on Darren Huckerby, a chapter in one individual contest in which the blue corner finished well on top. Hints of openings came to Coventry, but only sporadically, Noel Whelan firing from distance, Marcus Hall lobbing over.
But they had no one like Owen.
Liverpool: James, McAteer, Kvarme, Matteo, Harkness, McManaman, Redknapp, Carragher, Leonhardsen, Fowler, Owen.
Coventry: Hedman, Nilsson, Shaw, Hall, (Ducros 85min), Dublin, Boateng, Telfer, Soltvedt (Gavin Strachan 52min), Haworth, Huckerby, Whelan.
Scorer: Liverpool: Owen 14
Booked: Carragher (54min); Kvarme (61min); Telfer (62min); Boateng (82min).
Referee: P Alcock (Halstead).
Attendance: 39,707.