There have been many factors in our current impressive vein of form, our relative return to health that allows us to play our best eleven being the most important and the overall career peak performances of Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard, and Fabio Aurelio, among others, also being crucial. Yesterday appeared to mark the continued resurgence of Albert Riera, whose controlled-chaos dribbling, spot-on passing, and nasty volley goal, produced minced-meat of the Villa defense, who were lucky the scoreline did not end worse.
In his first few matches for our club, Riera looked golden. His league debut against Man United in September was one of legends, as he made their defense look not only less than superhuman, but frankly porous, as we beat our bitter rivals, 2-1. It was our first league win against the Mancs since 2004 and our first at Anfield in nearly seven years. His gangly-legged, two-steps-forward-one-step back style then continued to leave Premier League defenders dazed and confused as his cleats chewed up the left sides of pitches across England. It was appearing that his £8m price tag was quite the bargain.
Suddenly though, he disappeared. After scoring his first league goal against Wigan, the energy that seemed to spark his unpredictable and unstoppable flair seemed to dissipate. Though flashes of brilliance would occasionally sneak through, for the most part Riera was ineffective, if not invisible. It appeared the physicality of the English game had worn him thin, sapping his mental strength and severely depleting his creative juices. To put it bluntly, His game went from grand to bland.
In December, a seasonal renaissance occurred with Riera scoring three goals in five matches, but still he seemed to lack the dynamic fortitude that he displayed earlier in the season. His first Champions League goal against PSV was followed up by a disappearing act against Hull and an uninspired effort versus Arsenal, only to end the year with a goal against Bolton, in an otherwise forgettable showing, and begin 2009 with a stunner against Preston North End in the FA Cup.
It ended up being more a mirage than glint of hope as the Spaniard once again fell into a lull. His lackluster play reflected our results as we went 1-1-5 over the next seven matches he played, including crashing out of the FA Cup in a loss to Everton. Then came the CL tie at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Being back in Spain seemed to rejuvenate Riera. Maybe a renewed hatred of Real Madrid or the familiarity of surroundings reignited the left winger as his effort was encouraging and reminiscent of early season form. Following that, he was left out of the match against Middlesborough, which we lost, 0-2. His omission was a bit baffling, but I'm not sure if he would have made much difference.
Then came a tremendous performance against Sunderland, where his spot-on passing, though wasted for the most part, certainly kept up the pressure on the Black Cats defense. He appeared to regain the confidence of his teammates as well, as their shyness to go to the left flank became less apparent. Real Madrid came to Anfield that following Tuesday and shockingly, Riera did not even make the bench. His omission leads me to speculate that Rafa does not believe Riera has the physical ability nor mental sharpness this late in the season to play more than one match a week. It's also convenient that we have plenty of left-side coverage in Ryan Babel, Fabio Aurelio, and Andrea Dossena, if needs be.
In our second meeting with United, Riera was solid, but not as scintillating as he was in the first match. Dossena once again played well and I think that may have caught the Spaniard's attention since he came out on fire against Villa, putting on one of his best performances of his short Liverpool career. It wasn't just his world class finish, but his pass completion percentage was a ridiculous 94% on a season high 52 balls played. Not to mention his making Nigel Reo-Coker not an option at right back for Villa anymore.
I'm not sure you could go as far as to say that Riera is the main factor in our results, but he's certainly an important one. When he's playing well, he takes out the right side attacking options of our opponents and those who lack all-round right sided wingers, like say, Manchester United, are completely exposed. I have to concur if Rafa is resting the Spaniard for one match a week, as he has shown the wear and tear has had effect, which leaves Benitez with some strategy to ponder with our four upcoming ties.
