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Your support makes all the difference.It is a pity the rules of football do not allow Michael Owen to bet on himself. If you had to place your mortgage on a footballer to score in a one-on-one with a goalkeeper – and there are safer methods of investing – you would be hard pressed to choose anyone else.
The only serious point in the furore surrounding Owen's gambling was whether it has affected his ability as a goalscorer and, judging from the way he took Steven Gerrard's through ball and clipped it with beautiful assurance past Paddy Kenny, the answer is an emphatic no. But for the brilliance of Sheffield United's goalkeeper, he might have had a second in the extra time the Blades' rugged defiance had forced.
Liverpool's route to their ninth League Cup final has been tortuous. Extra time and penalties against Ipswich, a 4-3 win over Aston Villa in a game that did not finish until 11 o'clock because of ticketing delays at Villa Park, and now a bitterly fought semi-final which ended nastily with Stéphane Henchoz throwing the match ball at Neil Warnock and allegedly spitting at the Sheffield United manager on the final whistle before being restrained by the Liverpool coach, Sammy Lee.
It summed the night up. The antagonism between Liverpool and Warnock has festered since the first leg kicked off at Bramall Lane, although the latter attempted to diffuse matters as all of Anfield chanted: "Warnock, Warnock, what's the score?" as the final whistle beckoned. To huge cheers Warnock indicated it was 2-0.
Gérard Houllier is unlikely to have been impressed. He said that Liverpool's football would do the talking for him, which it did at the beginning and the end of the contest. Certainly, Gerrard, sprinting through late in extra time, could twice have given the scoreline a wholly unfair sheen had he not been denied by Kenny, who has the looks of a pub footballer but the ability of a Premiership keeper.
Houllier had hardly helped matters. Warnock's comments comparing Liverpool's wages and turnover to his own club's were dismissed as "very mean and very cheap" by a man who usually displays a sense of diplomacy. Last night his Sheffield United side proved very tough.
Nobody could call El Hadji Diouf cheap. Four goals in nearly five months had not been much of a return for £9m, especially when the man bought to replace Nicolas Anelka "discovered" his best position is on the right of midfield. Diouf played there last night and Wayne Quinn, for one, will not forget his display. He might have gone into the interval with a hat-trick against his name.
Diouf had already squandered one opportunity before scoring and it might have led, indirectly, to his goal. Liverpool had begun alive with a confidence and purpose not seen at Anfield in weeks and as early in the third minute Owen threaded his way into the box and, rather than shoot, squared to Diouf, who made an utter and wholly typical hash of things.
When the next time Owen found himself in a similar position he chose to shoot, forcing the first of many fine saves from Kenny. Diouf, lurking on the edge of the area, was fed by Emile Heskey, and crashed the ball home, via the inside of the post past an unsighted keeper.
Sheffield United had been able to protect their one-goal lead from the first leg for all of eight minutes, although unlike Crystal Palace, who came to Anfield in a Worthington Cup semi-final two years ago and surrendered after conceding an early goal, they did not cave in.
However, had Diouf's shot from Vladimir Smicer's cross gone in, Liverpool may have settled the semi-final by the midway point in the first half. Instead, they had to wait another 90 minutes, mainly because Danny Murphy, Gerrard and Diouf himself all missed late chances, or saw them deflected.
Recovering from a goal down was familiar territory for United. They had done it against Leeds earlier in the competition, they had done it against Liverpool in the first leg and they had done it to Wednesday in the Sheffield derby. Last night for 20 frenetic minutes after the restart, they threatened to repeat it at Anfield.
The clash between Michael Brown and Chris Kirkland, who was fortunate not to have been dismissed for handling outside his area, had soured the first leg and less than a quarter of an hour after the restart, the United midfielder might have embarrassed the Liverpool keeper rather than injuring him. A free-kick floated over from the left threatened to squeeze between glove and crossbar until a fingertip forced it over. It was as close as an upset came.
Liverpool: (4-4-2) Kirkland; Carragher, Henchoz, Hyypia, Riise; Diouf, D Murphy, Gerrard, Smicer (Cheyrou, 95); Heskey, Owen. Substitutes not used: Baros, Diao, Mellor, Dudek (gk).
Sheffield United: (4-5-1) Kenny; Jagielka, S Murphy, Page, Quinn (Ten Heuvel, 115); Ndlovu, Montgomery (Mooney, 45), McCall, Brown, Tonge; Allison (Peschisolido, 105). Substitutes not used: Kozluk, De Vogt.
Referee: A Wiley (Burntwood).
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