Bill Edgar's tactical analysis

As he walked off the pitch, stopping not once but twice to applaud the Liverpool supporters as they belted out his name, this briefly felt like a breakthrough for Peter Crouch. If his 18-minute cameo from the bench did not quite win the game, his contribution certainly seemed to have proved a point to his manager, but then becoming a cause célèbre among the fans may actually do him more harm than good where his relationship with Rafael BenÍtez is concerned.

Logic says that Crouch should start against Besiktas in the Champions League tomorrow, but BenÍtez is more likely to be deterred than swayed by popular demand. Crouch is few people’s idea of the perfect striker, but surely he deserves better than to be restricted to 148 minutes of play in Liverpool’s first 11 Barclays Premier League matches, in which six of their 17 goals came against Derby County.

There was a clear demarcation at Ewood Park between Liverpool’s performance before and after Crouch’s introduction. For 72 minutes, Blackburn were the better team, unfortunate to see David Dunn’s shot crash off the crossbar in the first half and to be denied a penalty midway through the second when Andre Ooijer’s shot struck Jamie Carragher’s outstretched arm. Liverpool’s supporters were imploring their team to “attack, attack, attack”, but they did not do so until after Crouch was sent on. In the final ten minutes they had five decent chances to win the game, two of them squandered by Dirk Kuyt.

BenÍtez suggested that Crouch may be more effective as a substitute and hinted at the forward’s incompatibility with wide players such as Yossi Benayoun and Ryan Babel, who “tend to go inside”. Apparently it takes a player with the intelligence of Kuyt or Andriy Voronin to play “between the lines”. For Crouch, reading between the lines may prove rather easier.

Blackburn Rovers 0

(4-4-2): B Friedel 7 – A Ooijer 7, C Samba 7, R Nelsen 6, S Warnock 6 – D Bentley 6, B Emerton 6, D Dunn 7 (sub: Tugay Kerimoglu, 57min 6), M G Pedersen 5 – B McCarthy 5 (sub: M Derbyshire, 89), R Santa Cruz 6.Substitutes not used:J Brown, Z Khizanish-vili, K Treacey. Next: Manchester United (a)

Liverpool 0

(4-2-3-1): J M Reina 7 – S Finnan 7, J Carragher 7, S Hyypia 6, J A Riise 6 - J Mascherano 7, M Sissoko 6 – Y Benayoun 5 (sub: P Crouch, 72), S Gerrard 6, R Babel 5 (sub: H Kewell, 63 6) – D Kuyt 5. Substitutes not used: D Martin, Á Arbeloa, Lucas Leiva. Booked: Carragher. Next: Fulham (h).

Referee M Atkinson

Attendance 30,033