One of the ghosts of Liverpool’s past has been haunting Rafael Benítez of late, with the spectre of G?rard Houllier, his managerial predecessor at Anfield, looming large both in body and in spirit.
Ever since Liverpool went on a calamitous run of form that has resulted in the obituary notices being tagged to their season before it had even got going, Benítez has had to grow used to unflattering comparisons with Houllier.
Last week, Benítez ran into Houllier in Lyons two weeks after the Frenchman had been at Anfield. It is not known whether they compared notes on the pressures of life at the helm of one of English football’s greatest institutions, but, given their shared experience, it would be surprising if not. Another subject upon which they would be similarly qualified to converse would be the life and times of David Ngog, a young player consistently championed by both but derided by seemingly everyone else but who may finally be blossoming into the kind of forward whom Liverpool’s managers past and present always maintained he could be.
Ngog is no Fernando Torres, but then who is? In fact, there have been times since he joined Liverpool in the summer of 2008 when the praise Benítez conveyed upon his scouting department for discovering the French youngster has been looked upon with almost as much disdain as Houllier’s never-to-be-forgotten description of Salif Diao as “the new Patrick Vieira”.
Thankfully, Houllier’s recent verdict on Ngog was of a much more realistic kind. “We have to wait,” the former France coach said. “But he is part of a great club where he will learn a lot.”
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That natural progression was certainly evident last night as Birmingham City discovered to their cost — and as Manchester United had done previously — that Ngog is finally starting to develop as a front man who is capable both of leading the line and scoring goals.
The ferocity of his strike to open the scoring on a night of rich entertainment will live long in the memory, but it was the confidence the 20-year-old displayed in taking the chance in such a dynamic fashion that was most revealing.
If there is to be a negative, it would be that increased experience does not always provide pleasing results.
The way Ngog went down to win the penalty from which Liverpool equalised may have conned Peter Walton, the referee, but it did not fool his opponents. This was a moment of which not to be proud. .