Houllier draws little comfort at home

Liverpool 1 Aston Villa 1

There have been so many inadequate moments in Liverpool's desperate run of 11 Premiership matches without a win that it is hard to mark the nadir, but few can have been more miserable than this. Error-prone, and unimaginative, it was as limp a performance as you could remember from them.

A 1-1 scoreline should not be despised in the Premiership but while sharing the points with the champions Arsenal is one thing, doing the same with Aston Villa, who seem to travel bracing themselves for the worst, constitutes the last straw. Even the boos from the Kop at the end of the game were half-hearted.

Liverpool have now taken just five points from their last 33, and from a position where the title appeared feasible, their chances of making the Champions' League are dwindling by the week. On 2 November, when they last won in the League, they were seven points clear at the top; now they can barely see Arsenal, such is the gap between them.

Where might they be but for Michael Owen? He provided their few moments of danger and got a trademark poacher's goal in the first half. That was wiped out by Dion Dublin's penalty, only Villa's fourth goal on their travels this season.

If one of the first signs of an uncomfortable manager is his refusal to listen to local radio phone-ins, then a second is euphemistic references about form and Gérard Houllier has gone down with the first and showing symptoms of the second. "Our results have been mixed since the turn of the year," the Liverpool manager wrote in yesterday's programme.

But if you had to pick a side against whom to arrest a slump, then Aston Villa would do as well as any. They arrived here with no wins away in the Premiership this season and, over a longer period, one win in 18 games.

Neither side had reason to be brimming with confidence but it was Liverpool who began tentatively, often surrendering possession by the inaccuracy of their passing. Villa could hardly fail to be flattered by the comparison and might have scored twice in the opening six minutes.

Dion Dublin has the imposing presence to be noticed at a convention of rugby forwards but Sami Hyypia let him get the wrong side of him after three minutes and was fortunate that the Villa forward's volley from Gareth Barry's cross looped harmlessly over Chris Kirkland's goal.

Two minutes later the Liverpool defence reacted slowly to Lee Hendrie's free-kick, Dublin got a touch beyond Kirkland and a goal was denied only by Stéphane Henchoz's hurried clearance.

The first sign that Liverpool were chasing a Champions' League place and not resisting relegation came with Salif Diao's shot that crept by a post in the ninth minute. But their first real chance came when Danny Murphy, who had been among the most profligate, found Owen on the left of the area. The England striker looked almost surprised to have the ball at last and it was perhaps that which made him shoot into the side-netting.

If Owen was inaccurate with that chance, he made amends with his half-volley that gave Liverpool the lead after 37 minutes. El-Hadji Diouf skittered along the byline and there were appeals for a penalty when his attempted cross was cut out by what might have been Olof Mellberg's arm. That argument became irrelevant because when the ball touched the ground it was met by Owen's right foot, which crashed it low through a thicket of players into the far corner.

Graham Taylor introduced Stefan Moore for Darius Vassell at the start of the second half and the Villa manager was nearly rewarded within 30 seconds as the substitute crossed from the left and Ian Taylor's header was kept out only by a flying save from Kirkland. A few seconds later the goalkeeper had to react quickly again to catch Hendrie's shot.

The momentum was with Villa, yet it was still a surprise when they were awarded a penalty two minutes later, as much as anything because Barry appeared to have kicked the ball too far when Hyypia's clumsy challenge brought him down. Dublin's kick was into the corner, which it needed to be because Kirkland had dived the right way. It missed his fingers by a fraction.

Dublin ought to have done better with a free header from Ulises de la Cruz after 53 minutes but Liverpool diverted the flow in the direction of their area and it required a goal-line clearance from Jlloyd Samuel to prevent Danny Murphy's clever free-kick from creeping in by the post.

Steven Gerrard and Emile Heskey forced saves out of Peter Enckelman in the closing stages but the match was summed up by Vladimir Smicer's ridiculous decision to pass in the 78th minute with the situation demanding a shot to the far post. No confidence, no instinct to gamble. It summed up the team.