Reds progress despite Reina fumble

Liverpool qualified as group winners despite themselves.

From Roy Hodgson gambling with team selections when under the fiercest pressure to José Reina gifting Steaua Bucharest a point here tonight, the Europa League has witnessed Liverpool at their most casual and yet their most comfortable this season. How Hodgson must wish he could take a similar approach to the Premier League.

A draw in Romania, coupled with Napoli's recovery to take a point from Utrecht, was sufficient for Liverpool to win Group K with a game to spare and to overcompensate for the disappointment felt by Reina when he spilled Eder Bonfim's second‑half header over the line.

Given the relative inexperience and rustiness of those he selected, Hodgson's satisfaction was well founded.

"I was a little bit concerned with my selection," the Liverpool manager said. "But I think the players I picked served the club well and if Joe Cole had taken his chance in the first half maybe we'd have had it easier.

"I asked a lot of them, with so many who haven't played for a long time, to come here and get a result against a team of Steaua's quality.

"It was a big ask to deal with the pressure here and to handle the quality of football that Steaua played, but they stood up to the challenge."

Liverpool took the lead with their first attack, courtesy of two forwards on trial for Hodgson in Bucharest, Milan Jovanovic and Ryan Babel, although the manager may have already reached a verdict on the pair.

The Serbia international, a bit-part figure since his free transfer from Standard Liège in the summer, instigated the attack with a sharp turn in midfield before releasing Babel down the right.

Cole made an inviting run to the near post but the Dutchman cut back inside and floated an inch-perfect cross into the centre, where Jovanovic glanced a header into the bottom corner.

It should have been two moments later when Babel broke down the left and squared for Cole, unmarked and with only the goalkeeper to beat.

A player Hodgson had admitted was desperately low on confidence trod on the ball, however, and the opportunity was carelessly lost.

Steaua's greatest threat came in the air but it took a calamity for Marius Lacatus's side to equalise.

There appeared little danger when Stanislav Angelov crossed from the right and, even when Bonfim headed goalwards, the weakness of the effort should have posed no threat.

Reina, however, was distracted by Romeo Surdu who, to his eye, was in an offside position and who then ducked out of the way as the ball sailed over the forward and through Reina's grasp.

Surdu was, in fact, played onside by Danny Wilson and Reina, targeted by a green laser throughout the game, belatedly held up his hands. "It was a real pain," he said.

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