AUGUST 29
Big Sam so
happy with great start
Bolton Evening News
Wanderer's boss Sam Allardyce was delighted with the
1-0 win over Liverpool which lifted his team into third
place in the Premiership after three wins from four.
Wanderers have now beaten Charlton 4-1 at home,
Southampton 2-1 away and lost 2-0 at Fulham with
Manchester United the next Reebok visitors on September
11.
Allardyce said: "We defended exceptionally well and
limited them to only a few chances.
"What we needed was to score the first goal - that gave
us something to go for and we've got our first clean
sheet.
"It's a little bit of luck we needed. But I think we
deserved the win," added Allardyce, referring to Luis
Garcia's disputed offside goal for Liverpool.
AUGUST 29
Benitez
frustrated with defeat
By Steve Hunter - LFC Official Website
Rafael Benitez said he was a frustrated manager after
seeing his side lose their second game in a week 1-0 at
Bolton, and believed his team should have got something
from the game.
Benitez felt Liverpool created some good openings in the
first half but didn't use the wrongly disallowed Luis
Garcia goal as an excuse for the defeat.
Benitez said: "I thought we played okay in the first
half and had three good opportunities to score, and in
the second half we had a great chance at the end with
Cisse.
"In our opinion the Luis Garcia goal should have stood
because I looked at it on the television and it wasn't
off-side, but there's nothing we can do about that as
you can't change the decision. That's football and
sometimes things don't go for you.
"In the first half I tried to play three midfielders
attacking supporting Baros as I wanted us to play in the
wide areas and we did create good possibilities but
didn't score."
The Reds boss admitted that he needs time to get the
players playing to a consistent level, and said when he
took the Liverpool job he knew it wasn't going to be an
instant turn around in the Reds fortunes.
Benitez said: "I have said all along that we need time
to improve as a team and it will probably be three or
four months before we are playing at the level I want."
AUGUST 29
Davies rocks Liverpool
4thegame.com
Bolton Wanderers rocked Rafa Benitez's new-look
Liverpool side with a narrow 1-0 victory at the Reebok
Stadium.
Benitez brought his two latest signings into his line-up
- Luis Garcia who cost £6million from Barcelona and Xabi
Alonso who was a £10.7million catch from Real Sociedad.
But there was no starting place for Djibril Cisse, who
cost £14million from Auxerre, as he was left on the
substitutes bench.
Sam Allardyce relied on the Bolton side that won at
Southampton in midweek with Tunisian international Radhi
Jaidi making his home debut in the centre of defence in
place of Julio Cesar who was on the bench.
Kevin Davies scored his first goal of the season for
Bolton in the 37th minute to earn his side their third
win of the season against a Liverpool side that looked
strangely out of sorts.
But there was a blow for Liverpool on the first minute
when Sami Hyypia received a facial injury in a clash
with Bolton's Davies. The Liverpool man had lengthy
treatment on the pitch, but only lasted until the 13th
minute when he was replaced by Djimi Traore.
Liverpool had the first chance of the game when Jay-Jay
Okocha lost possession in midfield and Steve Warnock
raced away to set up a shooting chance for Milan Baros,
who fired wide from a good position.
Another good Liverpool move ended when Dietmar Hamann
fired wide from the edge of the Bolton box after Steven
Gerrard, Baros and Alonso had linked to set up the
opening.
A Gary Speed shot was deflected over the Liverpool
crossbar as Bolton tried to make their mark on what was
a fairly lifeless encounter.
Jerzy Dudek in the Liverpool goal saved a Stelios
Giannakopoulos header after Okocha had worked his magic
on the Bolton left, tricking his way past two defenders
before crossing.
Bolton continued to press and were rewarded in the 37th
minute when a Henrik Pedersen shot from the left eluded
a cluster of players in the goalmouth and ran to Davies
on the far post, who crashed the ball home from close
range.
Liverpool replaced Warnock with Cisse at the interval in
a bid to put more bite into an attack that looked
disjointed in the first half.
Dudek saved from Davies at full stretch then was on the
spot again to collect a dangerous looking long-range
effort from Okocha.
A Ivan Campo free-kick headed at goal by Jaidi brought a
fingertip stop from Dudek, but Liverpool bounced back
and when Gerrard found Garcia on the far post, the
Spaniard ought to have done better when he shot well
wide.
Garcia was starting to look more lively and had a shot
blocked in the Bolton penalty area after being set up by
Gerrard.
And in the 81st minute Liverpool thought they had
grabbed the equaliser only to be denied by an offside
flag after Garcia had beaten Jussi Jaaskelainen from
close range.
A Bruno N'Gotty slip in the Bolton defence nearly let in
substitute Cisse who shot over after being put through
by Garcia.
Liverpool desperately chased the leveler, but were
unable to break down a Bolton defence that rarely looked
in much trouble.
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