Tie Finely Balanced After 1-0 Win

Liverpool's Europa League play-off against Turkish side Trabzonspor is finely balanced after a Ryan Babel goal on the stroke of half time gave the Reds a 1-0 victory.

The Reds were disappointing during the first half, and the visitors enjoyed large spells of possession, however, after the arrival of Fernando Torres at half time, the home side significantly improved and took control of the match. We created several chances, and could have earned a comfortable lead to take to Turkey had Cole converted his spot kick and Poulsen's debut goal been allowed to stand.

The major team news saw Christian Poulsen given a starting berth alongside Lucas in the centre of midfield, whilst Ryan Babel was deployed in the lone striker role, a position he regards as his best, and one which he was rarely allowed to play in under Rafael Benitez.

Liverpool started on the back foot, with Trabzonspor comfortably keeping the ball. At one point, the boisterous away supporters even began singing "Ole, Ole" such was the ease of which they kept the ball.

With 10 minutes played Trabzonspor went close to taking the lead as Burak flashed his header just wide of the post after he got on the end of Colman's corner. It was loose marking from Liverpool as they allowed Burak a free header on goal.

Liverpool began to come back into the match, and retained possession of the ball for a spell, however we were finding it hard to break down the stubborn Turkish defence. It was like so many games under Benitez, where the passes were going backwards and sideways, and the attacking play lacked penetration and purpose.

On 25 minutes Fabio Aurelio stood over a set piece on the right hand corner of the penalty box. From 25 yards out the Brazilian failed to hit the target as the ball flew disappointingly over the top right hand corner.

Just before the break Trabzonspor had a similar situation as Burat's free kick blazed over the bar from 30 yards out. At this point most Reds supporters were resigned to a long wait before Liverpool finally managed to break the deadlock, and start playing some attractive football.

Thankfully, on the stroke of half-time Ryan Babel, who had had little impact during the whole of the first half, scored a great goal to give Liverpool a vital lead. Joe Cole ran with purpose at the backtracking defence before slipping Babel in on goal with a wonderful pass.

The Dutchman, who got his first 45 minutes of the season under his belt last night, coolly converted past the hopeless Kivrak to send Liverpool in at the break with a one-goal lead.

Fernando Torres, who had received a warm round of applause whilst warming up in the first half, replaced Ryan Babel up front at half-time, and immediately made an impact.

The Spaniard found himself out of position on the left wing, however he managed to step inside onto his right foot before unleashing a fierce shot goalwards. His strike stung the fingers of Kivrak before travelling behind for a corner.

Following that Christian Poulsen, who had looked comfortable and composed on the ball throughout the match, shot just over the cross bar from 30 yards out as Liverpool started to play some better football, and the noise levels went up another notch inside Anfield.

Only a minute later Liverpool had the perfect opportunity to double their lead, and Joe Cole had a fantastic chance to score his first Liverpool goal in front of an expectant and excited Kop.

Lucas was tripped over on the left edge of the box, and a penalty was duly awarded. It was perhaps the only correct decision made by the referee, who was far too whistle-happy, creating a stop-start game more akin to a rugby match than a football match.

In the absence of normal penalty-taker Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole stepped up to take the spot kick. Unfortunately his effort was tame and was comfortably stopped by the keeper. Kivrak was several feet of his line, however Cole's effort was poor and probably wouldn't have hit the net even if the keeper had observed the rules.

We continued to search for a crucial second goal, and Milan Jovanovic nearly provided it after 56 minutes when the fantastic Fernando Torres sent him through on goal. The Serb was one-on-one with the keeper, however Kivrak stayed tall and made a vital save to deny the home side yet again.

With the hour mark approaching Trabzonspor had their only clear opening during the second half. Umut evaded the offside trap to get on the end of a wonderful clipped pass, however Reina produced a tremendous save to deny them a critical away goal.

After that, Milan Jovanovic and Torres combined once again to test the keeper. Jova put an early cross into the box from the left, and Torres superbly met the ball with his head. It was a good effort from Torres, but the keeper made a good save.

As the clock ran down Christian Poulsen was unfairly denied a debut goal by an unbelievably bad refereeing decision. Jovanovic's left footed corner was headed goalwards by Kyrgiakos.

Kivrak spilt the ball and Poulsen scrambled the ball home, however the referee judged that the keeper had been fouled, despite the fact that no Liverpool player touched him. It was a terrible decision, and even worse play-acting by the keeper who was deservedly booed for the rest of the match.

Liverpool now travel to Turkey for the second leg next Thursday. They are sure to meet a hostile atmosphere from the passionate Trabzonspor supporters, however I believe that if Hodgson plays his strongest eleven then we should progress to the group stages. If we can score a goal then the Turks will have to score three and, after what I witnessed last night, I cannot see them doing that.

YNWA