Two good: Nemeth was on target twice as Liverpool
stepped up a gear
Young Hungarian striker Krisztian Nemeth scored twice
and Xabi Alonso made his first pre-season appearance as
Liverpool
trounced Singapore 5-0 at the National
Stadium.
Seeking their first pre-season victory after draws with Thailand
and Swiss side St Gallen and a 1-0 loss to Rapid Vienna, the Reds
gave a disjointed appearance in the first half but took the lead
with the final kick before half-time when Andriy Voronin's
long-range effort found the net.
Albert Riera extended the advantage early in the second half
before Nemeth struck twice in the final 17 minutes with a Fernando
Torres effort wedged in between.
With Rafa Benitez naming several unfamiliar faces including
goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri, defenders Mikel Dominguez and Philipp
Degen and forward David Ngog in his starting line-up, the Reds
struggled to assert themselves in the first half against a
defensively-minded Singapore side.
Ryan Babel rose above the home defence to put a header straight
at goalkeeper Hassan Sunny after seven minutes but apart from that,
there was little to entertain the crowd as the Premier League side
were restricted to shots from distance.
There were some moments of concern for the Reds as Javier
Mascherano twice went to ground after heavy challenges by Mustafic
Fahrudin and Noh Alam Shah and the hosts nearly took a shock lead
in the 22nd minute when Shi Jiayi's through pass released Shahril
Ishak whose weak shot was easily saved by Cavalieri.
But in stoppage time at the end of the half, Liverpool's opening
goal arrived out of the blue as Voronin got past the challenge of
Fahrudin and, with the Singapore defence backing off, fired in a
low shot that crept past a late-diving Hassan.
Buoyed by the unexpected goal, Liverpool were much improved
after the break and extended their lead 10 minutes into the second
half when Mascherano floated in a fine cross from the right for
Riera, who chested the ball down at the far post before firing a
low shot past Hassan.
