Stoke frustrate leaders Liverpool

Liverpool passed up the chance to move six points clear of Chelsea with a goalless draw at Stoke that will inevitably lead to intense questioning of the credibility of the Reds bid for a first title since 1990.

This trip to the Britannia Stadium was always going to be seen as a benchmark of Liverpool’s resilience in the wake of their manager Rafael Benitez’s calculated attack on Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson on Friday.

But for a second time this season, they dropped two points against the Potters, who had the better chances and dominated for lengthy spells.

Irish midfielder Glenn Whelan, who was drafted in after Salif Diao’s late withdrawal, curled high and wide with a free-kick after just a couple of minutes.

But the league leaders should have gone ahead in the eighth minute when Steven Gerrard fed Albert Riera, whose cross picked out Dirk Kuyt, only for the Dutchman to glance his header high and wide from six yards.

Rory Delap’s first long throw of the game almost led to the Potters getting themselves into the lead.

Delap launched the ball into the box and after Gerrard headed away, Amdy Faye hooked back in, and Ryan Shawcross managed to feed Delap, whose stab from six yards came back off the bar and bounced wide off Richard Creswell.

With 21 minutes gone, Whelan’s sliced clearance fell for Kuyt, who swapped passes with Yossi Benayoun but then fired a low shot straight at Thomas Sorensen from a tight angle.

But Pulis would have been right to throw his baseball cap in disgust when Cresswell was denied a free-kick on the edge of the box after he was barged over by Sami Hyypia.

The Potters continued to sling everything at the league leaders and after Pepe Reina flapped at Danny Higginbotham’s cross the Reds scrambled it away. But Etherington clipped back in for Shawcross to head in only for the ex-United man to rightly be denied by the offside flag.

Liverpool were limited going forward and Riera was left frustrated when Kuyt failed to get on the end of his neat cross into the box.

Fernando Torres was put through a strenuous warm-up at the interval and Liverpool produced an early opportunity when Gerrard’s corner was fumbled by Sorensen only for the goalkeeper to reach the ball ahead of Kuyt.

But Reina almost gifted Stoke the lead when his slack kick flew straight to Kitson, who went around the Spanish goalkeeper but hit the side-netting with Hyypia getting across to cover.

Benitez finally decided the time had come to throw on Torres just before the hour but Liverpool were still having to cope with relentless pressure from the Potters.

Gerrard was cautioned for driving a free-kick into the wall when referee Lee Mason was still ensuring it was 10 yards back.

Lucas should have scored when he got on the end of Kuyt’s hook into the box but the Brazilian headed across goal and Hyypia shot wide at the far post.

Kitson wasted another great opening when he got on the end of Delap’s huge throw only to glance his header on to the roof of the net.

And Stoke went close once again when Whelan’s curling free-kick grazed the outside of the post.

Torres did not have a single effort on goal after coming on but Liverpool were left even more frustrated as Gerrard twice hit the woodwork late on.

After seeing a free-kick come back off the bar, the England midfielder latched on to a Torres flick-on only to see his shot bounce off the outside of the post.