Liverpool's recent impressive run of form continued at The
Valley as they eventually demolished struggling Charlton Athletic
3-0.
But they made hard work of their victory with the three points not
safely in their grasp until two late goals finally won them a game
they should have wrapped up much earlier, such was their
domination.
harlton got off to a disastrous start giving away a penalty after
just three minutes.
The culprit was former Liverpool player Djimi Traore who was back
in the home side after injury. His foot was high as Jermaine
Pennant went to head the ball and referee Howard Webb pointed to
the spot. Xabi Alonso put the penalty kick into the net to give the
visitors the lead.
The Premiership strugglers could not have picked a worse time to
play Liverpool who arrived at The Valley on a five-match run
without conceding a goal.
The only glimmer of hope for Charlton was the fact that Liverpool
had won only once away this season and had taken only five points
from a possible 24 on their travels.
After conceding the early goal Charlton were all at sea and could
have been three goals down in the first 15 minutes. Craig Bellamy
was denied by a last-ditch tackle from Luke Young and Traore made
some amends for his earlier mistake when he cleared off the line
from Pennant.
Charlton saw a shaft of light when Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink's
goalbound effort was deflected for a corner. The home side missed a
great chance when Andy Reid broke clear to fire in a low angled
shot which goalkeeper Jose Reina pushed out, and an off-balance
Hermann Hreidarsson fired over the bar from the rebound.
Liverpool had scored first in seven games this season and gone on
to win them all, so Charlton's hopes of getting something from the
match looked unlikely. The visitors totally dominated midfield and
had the home side on the back foot for long periods.
There was more bad news for Charlton at half-time when Reid failed
to appear after the break and they also lost skipper Young midway
through the second half.
Liverpool should have put the game out of Charlton's reach with a
second goal but they continued to squander opportunities as Addicks
keeper Thomas Myhre saved well from Alonso and Steven
Gerrard.
Liverpool's domination was embarrassing for the home side and yet
another chance went begging when Dirk Kuyt thumped his shot against
the post.
Charlton had a rare goalscoring opportunity when substitute Darren
Ambrose volleyed over the bar and they missed an even better
opportunity when Darren Bent screwed his shot across the face of
the goal.
Eventually the expected sting in the tail came from Liverpool with
two late goals, Bellamy hooking in an angled shot after Charlton
had waited for an offside flag, and Gerrard put the icing on the
cake with an exquisite finish to finally shatter Charlton's meek
resistance.
The Londoners plight in the relegation zone is looking increasingly
hopeless and they have taken just 12 points out of a possible
54.
Liverpool, on the other hand, have scored 11 goals in their last
three matches and haven't conceded in six. But they may have left
their title challenge too late after their stuttering start to the
season left them in the slipstream of leaders Manchester United and
Chelsea.
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez said: "We badly needed the second
goal earlier. It was the kind of game that if we made a mistake we
could have conceded, but it was pleasing that we created so many
chances and the team performance was fantastic.
"We are playing really well at the moment but we need to be a bit
more calm and clinical in front of goal when we get the
chances.
"We finished the game off with two great goals and we could have
scored a lot more. I admit we could also have conceded some.
"Charlton were always up against it after conceding an early goal
and they couldn't really deal with us because of our territorial
superiority."
Charlton's head coach Les Reed said: "It's not easy when you're at
the bottom but I have to continue to believe that we can turn it
around.
"I've got to keep being positive and instil confidence in the
players. We have a League Cup tie on Tuesday which could be a
pleasant distraction and if we win it will help us to get our
confidence back.
"We know what targets we've got to achieve. We need to get around
40 points and there are enough points available for us to pull away
from trouble. Defensive errors cost us the game and I'm not happy
about that.
"They left a window of opportunity open when it was only 1-0 but we
didn't take advantage of the few chances that came our way. Going a
goal down from a penalty after two minutes wasn't the greatest
start and we then had to rearrange things because of
injuries.
"There's no point in me flying off the handle at the players
because that won't help the situation. We must work hard on the
training ground to get it right."