Blues set themselves up a little differently from the Bolton win, with Oubina and Wilson 'The Magician' Palacios coming in for Gary McSheffrey (dropped to the bench) and Fabrice Muamba (not involved - possibly still injured after the knock he picked up against Bolton). This meant that the back four remained the same, with Oubina taking up a central midfield position in what's best described as the Makelele role in front of the back four, with Palacios and Mehdi Nafti in front of him and Olivier Kapo and Seb Larsson both wide looking to support Cameron Jerome up top. It's a system that Steve Bruce had been hinting towards playing for a while, and, let's be honest, in this game it worked well.
Unfortunately Blues were hampered fairly early on when Oubina picked up what appears to be a serious injury. It was a shame, as although he hadn't been overly involved, he looked like he was a natural in that Makelele role - the positions he took up and the like meant he looked like he was perfect for the role. It appeared to be a knee injury, and both sets of players were immediately concerned - great credit should go to Alvaro Arbeloa who was breaking with the ball with plenty of dangerous options available to him when Oubina fell. Arbeloa stopped, turned and immediately knocked the ball out of play when Liverpool were well set to attack.
Oubina's early injury meant that my current pet hate McSheffrey got a chance to prove Bruce and Barker wrong, as he came on. Initially he went to the left with Kapo going into the middle and Nafti taking on Oubina's role, before this was changed quite quickly to Larsson moving inside with Palacios, Kapo going to the right and McSheffrey on the left, as Nafti sat deep - the right move, if you ask me.
First half Blues played reasonably - they didn't create a great deal, but the gameplan worked well and Liverpool were forced into long balls over the top that inevitably ran out of play. Palacios had one shot well wide into the Kop when well placed, but did sting Pepe Reina's hands with another long range drive.
So, what to make of The Magician's debut? Well, it was a surprise that he (and Oubina) were thrown in for debuts in such a game, but Palacios really did shine. He showed plenty of energy in the midfield, and looked like the kind of midfielder I personally feel we lack. He's not a defensive midfielder, but he's not an out-and-out attacking midfielder - he's the typical central midfielder, if you like; box-to-box, tackles, gets stuck in, passes, gets forward. He was up against the best central midfielder (of that sort of ilk that I've described) in Steven Gerrard, and he did not look out of place. He was comfortable on the ball, happy to take his time, not nervous in possession and certainly impressed.
In the second half, Liverpool were again disappointing and ended up throwing on the ludicrously left out Fernando Torres (they've got one of the best young strikers on the planet and they leave him out? What are they saving him for? Their midweek Carling Cup tie at Reading?). Apart from a decent save from Andriy Voronin after a moment of madness from the otherwise excellent Johan Djourou, Maik Taylor didn't have a proper save to make. Liverpool had plenty of possession and piled the pressure on Blues, but the defence (with some fine last gasp tackles, blocks and clearances) protected Taylor superbly, and Liverpool didn't create any clearcut chances.
Towards the end, as Liverpool bombed on, Blues actually looked like they could nick the game as McSheffrey, Kapo and Gary O'Connor on several occasions broke away. Blues just didn't get the luck they needed on the break though to make a telling contribution and nick three points in a game in which they fully deserved one point, but not all three.
What was most pleasing about this performance from Blues was the fact that in many ways it was real team effort. Blues must have gone there expecting to be up against it, and they were in some respects, but they also stopped Liverpool playing, and the players and, dare I say, messrs Bruce and Black deserve a tremendous amount of credit for that happening. Liverpool weren't great, but they beat Derby 6-0 last time out at Anfield, and Blues made sure and worked their socks off to make sure that Liverpool weren't going to get such an easy ride.
To a man, Blues were excellent. Sure there were faults... McSheffrey still wasn't at his best (although late on he looked a little better) and one or two people made some sloppy errors, but everyone worked so hard. Rafael Schmitz came on late on to anchor the midfield and pick up Gerrard, and he did that well. O'Connor came on and held the ball up well and used his presence. Jerome put in a good shift up front (even if he looks for the ball with his back to goal too much when, really and truly, against Carragher and Hyypia he should have been playing on their shoulders and screaming for balls over the top/through the channels) and then did the same wide right for a period. Kapo was excellent in a more disciplined midfield role. Stephen Kelly and Franck Queudrue were both solid at full-back. I could go on and on...
Anyway, it was only a 0-0 and no doubt everyone will talk about Rafa Benitez's squad rotation and Liverpool being poor and this, that and the other, but from a Blues perspective, after the horror show at Middlesbrough in the last away game, it was good to see them restore some pride, and they certainly did that. Two clean sheets in a row too... bring on United.