Leeds: Martyn, Kelly, Robertson, Haaland, Radebe, Wallace,
Hasselbaink, Ribeiro, Hopkin, Halle, Molenaar.
Subs Not Used: Wetherall, Bowyer, Lilley, Kewell, Beeney.
Booked: Halle.
Liverpool: James, Jones, Kvarme, Wright, McManaman, Harkness,
Riedle (Berger 82), Thomas, Ince, Owen, Bjornebye.
Subs Not Used: McAteer, Babb, Murphy, Warner.
Booked: Thomas, Ince, Bjornebye, Kvarme.
Goals: McManaman 23, Riedle 75.
Att: 39,775
Ref: A B Wilkie (Chester-le-Street).
[PA-Report] [Telegraph-report] [Times-report]
The questions were all answered. Liverpool arrived at Elland Road with a huge cloud hanging over them but they left with a stunning victory and their confidence sky high. The Reds had performed as a team at last. Steve McManaman, David James, Karlheinz Riedle -- all with doubts about their effectiveness -- contributed massively to the Anfield giants' first Premiership victory of the season. Anything else and boss Roy Evans would have been staring a crisis in the face, but he witnessed a display of control, skill and confidence that eventually subdued a Leeds side who have had their own problems already this term.
McManaman, the memory of that abortive £12.5million move to Barcelona still biting deep into his mind, scored an outstanding goal. It was his first of the season and only his third league goal since last December. He'd suffered the wrath of the critics at Blackburn on Saturday when he missed a sitter, seeming to re-inforce the popular theory that the England man just couldn't finish. But the superb angled drive into the far bottom corner from the corner of the box destroyed that myth.
From James, a goalkeeper who has seen his England claims all but disappear on the back of a string of howlers that won him the nickname "Calamity", there was a display of composure and agility. He made five great saves, three in the first half and one from Jimmy Hasselbaink near the end that was the best of the match. Then, in the dying minutes he blocked a point-blank David Hopkin drive that had the Leeds captain shaking his head in disbelief.
Riedle, the skilled German front man, had not looked strong enough for the rigours of the English game in his early matches, but he struck the killer goal -- an absolute gem -- 16 minutes from time, to send the Liverpool coaches and Evans leaping from the dug-out in delight.
Leeds had their moments, mainly through the high-speed running of Danny Wallace, but they had their hearts broken by James' top-notch display. Yet again there was a display from Michael Owen that made it hard to believe he's still only 17. He outfought Lucas Radebe and then outpaced Gunnar Halle in one electric first-half run that ended with a cross shot that grazed the far post.
The goal that meant so much to McManaman and put Liverpool in the driving seat came after 23 minutes. He looked outnumbered way out on the right, but with Robert Molenaar standing off, McManaman curled a delightful shot across Nigel Martyn and into the far corner.
Wallace ran at Liverpool with great pace and skill and created one opening for Hopkins that James saved at close range. Another blinding save thwarted Bruno Ribeiro, and then James plunged to his left to save from Hasselbaink from 18 yards. Liverpool maintained their control, if not dominance, in the second half. James brilliantly pushed aside another Hasselbaink shot, after Hopkin had put him clear, and Leeds were by now running out of ideas and were overcome by frustration.
Then came Riedle's crucial clincher. Molenaar was clearly pulling him back by the shirt, but the £1.5million new boy turned 25 yards out to send a beautiful chip over Martyn and just under the far angle. Leeds were finished now, and as Liverpool left the field to the acclaim of their fans, the home side were the ones beginning to lurch towards a crisis, beaten now twice in four days on their own pitch.
Liverpool manager Roy Evans believes "calamity" keeper David James is back to his best after a breathtaking performance that broke Leeds' hearts in the 2-0 Premiership win at Elland Road tonight. James was on the brink of international recognition last season, but a nightmare spell forced him back into the shadows and ultimately cost Liverpool any chance of the Premiership title. Now, though, the 27-year-old, who earned the unwanted nickname following his string of horror shows, has proved he is ready to fight his way back into the England picture again. A sensational 14-minute spell towards the end of the first half, after Steve McManaman had silenced his own critics with only his third goal since last December, kept United at bay as they searched for an equaliser. Portuguese midfielder Bruno Ribeiro, captain David Hopkin and Dutch striker Jimmy Hasselbaink were all left shaking their heads in disbelief, as James defied the unlucky trio. The Liverpool stopper also thwarted Hasselbaink -- George Graham's £2million summer signing from Boavista -- just before the hour mark with the save of the game, tipping a venomous drive round the post. After Karlheinz Riedle had broken his Reds duck with a sensational 71st-minute strike following his £1.5million summer move from Borussia Dortmund, James then made it a five-star show, palming away a Hopkin blockbuster in injury-time.
None of it was lost on a delighted Evans, who said: "They were great saves just from being alive and alert. Over the years he has improved and improved. "He had a bad spell last season; he was criticised for that, and no one can deny that he went through it. When he is in that kind of form, there is nobody better. "His confidence is back, and that happens by working hard on the training ground. He is not the easiest of characters, but then he is like a lot of goalkeepers. "He has got great ability and he can get even better if he gets the concentration right. "It's all about confidence and concentration, and unless those are with you that's when things start to go wrong. "But today he was excellent. We have had four games and certainly in the away fixtures he has done really well. "Only in the home performance against Leicester have we not played up to par, but that was as a team and nothing to do with David."
McManaman's 23rd-minute strike silenced those who claimed he could not finish, following his dramatic miss in the 1-1 draw at Blackburn on Saturday. He hit back with a perfect riposte, and Evans added: "I was delighted for Macca. His work rate throughout the game was superb. "He has been pulled from pillar to post over the past few weeks, but he showed what he can do when he is on form, and I was delighted for him that he got that goal."
Leeds manager Graham also praised James' performance and said: "When you get a Liverpool goalkeeper that makes so many great saves then you know you are on the right lines. He was superb tonight".
McManaman gains
from his ventures
By Henry Winter
Leeds (0) 0 Liverpool (1) 2
AFTER three false starts, Liverpool are off and running. Roy Evans will take great pleasure not simply from the result, Liverpool's first victory of the season, but also from the identity of last night's scorers at Elland Road.
Steve McManaman's first goal since April 13 capped an industrious personal display, so stilling the growing whispers questioning his importance to the team. Karlheinz Riedle's first strike for his new employers confirmed that Evans had bought well in the summer sales.
Leeds United will take heart only from their busy second-half display and would have scored but for David James, excellent in Liverpool's goal.
Angered by the cascade of criticism following their disappointing start to the season, Liverpool's players, and McManaman in particular, began the match as if their livelihoods depended on it. McManaman, ostensibly tucked in on the right, ventured everywhere, his good work undone in the early stages only by a poor final ball.
It was good to see the real McManaman standing up. The unhappy backwash from the Barcelona saga, with accusations of greed and disloyalty upsetting someone who values his Merseyside roots, patently rankles McManaman, who has been berating journalists but here channelled his emotion positively.
After 23 minutes McManaman scored a goal which will have given him, and the ranks of red-shirted supporters present, immense pleasure. It was not a classic, assisted by indifferent Leeds defending, but brought deserved reward for the visitors' enterprise. Rob Jones initiated proceedings, charging down the inside-right corridor but ignoring McManaman's availability on the flank.
When the white blanket of Leeds' central midfield eventually smothered Jones, Ince reacted quickest, selecting the perfect option with a simple pass out to McManaman, who was still lurking with intent. The ball at his feet, and with defenders wary of diving in on a footballer who can trick his way past the best, McManaman swayed in towards the area. Everyone appeared to be awaiting a pass, a little lay-off to a colleague arriving late, but McManaman was determined to prove a point to the doubters. His right foot came down, imparting enough energy to dispatch the ball past a series of defenders, across Nigel Martyn, and low into the far corner. His punched salute spoke volumes.
McManaman embodied Liverpool's determined mood. Michael Owen again confirmed his precocious talent, spinning away from Lucas Radebe, darting forward before placing his shot just wide. Just after the half-hour, Owen went even closer, stopped only by the alert Martyn.
Leeds, initially pedestrian and hamstrung by the lack of a passer, slowly came to life. Bruno Ribeiro demanded a smart save from James, following a fine build-up between Gary Kelly, the lively Rod Wallace and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. James also did well to thwart David Hopkin and Hasselbaink, though the Liverpool keeper almost undid his good work by missing Wallace's cross. Hasselbaink, twisting athletically, was unable to profit.
Leeds' growing hopes were sustained for half an hour of the second period. Driven on by Hopkin, and with Wallace causing mayhem with his runs from the deep, George Graham's team twice went close to equalising either side of the hour mark. Hasselbaink, set up by Ribeiro, caught the ball well enough but found James in formidable mood. Wallace was similarly negated.
Liverpool then had to survive hand-ball claims against Ince and Mark Wright. In an open game of cut and thrust, mistake and break, Leeds, too, went close to conceding a penalty when Owen fell under Gunnar Halle's challenge.
Increasingly exciting, the match almost saw Leeds move level 20 minutes from time. Hasselbaink, sprinting through, placed a low shot which James, dropping down and spreading himself well, brilliantly clawed away.
Poor Leeds. Their storm was checked by Riedle after 74 minutes. Despite having the strength of his shirt seams tested by Robert Molenaar, Riedle ran and shot superbly from right to left past Martyn.
BY OLIVER HOLT, FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT
Leeds United...0 Liverpool...2
AFTER the scoring extravaganzas at Barnsley and Blackburn Rovers on Sunday and Monday, Liverpool's brace of goals against Leeds United at Elland Road last night almost seemed like a paltry return. After the start Roy Evans's team has had, though, and the pressure that was beginning to build on them, it felt as if they, too, had scored a hatful.
The win, Liverpool's first of the season, brought redemption for all the night's protagonists. Steve McManaman rammed the carping of his critics back down their throats with a fine finish for the opening goal, David James emerged from his prolonged goalkeeping purgatory with a string of fine saves that preserved his team's lead and Karlheinz Riedle, a close-season signing from Borussia Dortmund, scored his first goal for his new club, a delightful 20-yard chip that killed the game off.
In the world of instant gratification that is the FA Carling Premiership, Liverpool's meagre return of two points from their three games before last night was already being discussed in terms that suggested there was an approaching crisis. The opening trio of games, against Wimbledon, Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers, had produced performances far short of the standard needed to sustain the title challenge their supporters crave.
Last night, though, rather than shrink with the pressure, Liverpool came out with renewed verve and purpose. McManaman, castigated beyond all measure for his part in the breakdown of recent negotiations with Barcelona, played with something like the form that has made him such a coveted player, and Liverpool responded.
Against a Leeds side that lacked direction and focus, Liverpool made the better start and nearly took the lead in the fourteenth minute. Owen, still deputising for the injured Fowler who is now almost certain to miss England's World Cup qualifying tie against Moldova in a fortnight wriggled clear of an awkward challenge from Radebe and skipped past Halle's lunge before steering his left-foot shot past Martyn but just wide of the far post.
Midway through the half, though, after Liverpool had had a narrow escape when Haaland's header bounced narrowly wide, they went ahead. McManaman picked the ball up on the right and, with the Leeds defence massed in front of him, he stepped neatly outside Molenaar and hit a fierce, left-footed drive across Martyn and into the far corner of the net.
The Liverpool winger is not a particularly demonstrative player, but he punched the air with delight after the goal, a timely answer to the critics who suggested he was not the player he once was and, more pertinently, that his great weakness was finishing.
Two minutes later, Liverpool should have gone further ahead. Owen ran clear of the Leeds defence as he chased a through-ball and slipped it past Martyn as he raced out to meet him. Owen, who is still 17, eschewed the chance to shoot and crossed for Ince, but the Liverpool captain could not keep the ball down and hooked it over the bar of the empty net.
Thereafter, though, Liverpool's advantage owed much to their other maligned player, James. The goalkeeper, who has had such a torrid time of late and whose shaky form of last season appeared to have chased him into this season, produced a string of fine saves to keep Leeds at bay. First, in the 28th minute, a sharp reaction save allowed him to beat out a point-blank volley from Ribeiro and, four minutes later, he pushed Hopkin's drive over the bar when it was bound for the roof of the net. He kept the best for last, flinging himself to his left to parry Hasselbaink's curling shot as it sped towards the corner of the goal.
Leeds continued to dominate possession at the start of the second half as Liverpool appeared content to sit back and soak up pressure. For all that, the first two openings of the half fell to the visitors. Bjornebye hit a fierce left-footed shot just wide of Martyn's left-hand post nine minutes after the interval and two minutes later, Haaland's tackle inadvertently freed Owen on the right and the young forward blasted his shot high and wide from 15 yards as he bore down on the Leeds goal.
Twenty minutes before the final whistle, though, James produced the save that finally seemed to break Leeds's resistance and confirm his own recovery from his descent into the goalkeeping yips. Hasselbaink seemed certain to score when he advanced on goal after a through-ball from Hopkin, but James somehow managed to push his low shot round the post.
From the resulting corner, Hasselbaink headed over from six yards out and four minutes later Riedle sealed Leeds's fate when he shrugged off the grappling Molenaar and floated a delicate chip over Martyn for Liverpool's second.