Liverpool Thread

Duke Raoul · Post by **Duke Raoul** » August 20th, 2006, 2:11 pm

Some random thoughts about the game:

* To paraphrase Kenny Dalglish - 'Of course it was a penalty, the referee gave it'. However, having said that, it wasn't a penalty.

* Having given the penalty why didn't Rob Styles send Morgan off?

* Phil Jagielka looks every inch a Premiership player.

* Jan Kromkamp doesn't. Can we have Josemi back please?

* If Daniel Agger hasn't ousted Hyypia from the team by the turn of the year I will be very surprised.

* Robbie Fowler seemed to be wearing Luke Fitzgerald's boots.

* Why is it that every time Liverpool concede a goal from a set piece people question 'Zonal Marking' but whenever any other team concede they don't question the use of 'Man Marking'? Having said that, Aurellio wtf?

* Despite the Chelsea performance the jury is still very much out on a Zenden and Sissoko midfield partnership. Watching I just kept thinking 'Didi' 'Didi'...*sigh*

* It was good to see Bellamy and Fowler scrapping for the ball to take the penalty. Good also that Bellamy had the good grace to defer to the senior man without too much fuss.

* The injuries, though not as serious as they first looked, could not have come at a worse time. Maccabi, Everton and Chelsea are all season defining games.

* Maureen reckons that to win the league this year you can probably drop nine points max. Two down, seven to go.

* Bottom line, the excuses I've heard about the long grass, the mid-week internationals, the injuries, the fact that it was Sheffield United's first game back in the big time don't in anyway cut it. The squad is strong enough to cope, we've been congratulating ourselves on that fact all pre-season. There were just too many players off key. No excuse.

* To finish on a positive; It's the first game out of 38, we didn't lose, Agger and Bellamy (both essentially new recruits) were excellent and Aurellio showed up very well in general play.

Roll on Tuesday!

Flash Gordon · Post by **Flash Gordon** » August 20th, 2006, 2:23 pm

Outclassed by a quality outfit lads.....

Up the Blades!!

You fill up my senses
Like a gallon of Magnet
Like a packet of Woodbine
Like a good pinch of snuff
Like a night out in Sheffield
Like a greasy chip butty
Like Sheffield United
Come fill me again....
Na Na Naa Naa Naa Naaa Naaaaa, ooo!

PS Kuyt is shoite, always looks busy, but scoring again NAC Breda or Sparta Rotterdam is a different proposition to champions league football.....

Duke Raoul · Post by **Duke Raoul** » August 20th, 2006, 2:29 pm

I was wondering what the lyrics were. That's class.

Best of luck for the season, you really are going to need it.

1 point up, 39 to go...

Grumpy Old Man · Post by **Grumpy Old Man** » August 20th, 2006, 6:40 pm

Flash Gordon wrote:Outclassed by a quality outfit lads.....

Up the Blades!!

You fill up my senses
Like a gallon of Magnet
Like a packet of Woodbine
Like a good pinch of snuff
Like a night out in Sheffield
Like a greasy chip butty
Like Sheffield United
Come fill me again....
Na Na Naa Naa Naa Naaa Naaaaa, ooo!

PS Kuyt is shoite, always looks busy, but scoring again NAC Breda or Sparta Rotterdam is a different proposition to champions league football.....

Thought you'd be happy with that FG. Fancy hi-jacking this thread for the purposes of discussing proper teams?

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 21st, 2006, 9:07 am

Bloody worried about Tuesday now!! Flash I'm sorry for saying that Sheffield United would be relegated, I obviously invited bad karma

General Collins · Post by **General Collins** » August 21st, 2006, 9:56 am

i don't feel well. Why can't we ever start the season with a win.
2002 was the last time we won an opening game. Ah well, always next season.

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 21st, 2006, 12:09 pm

Uncanny

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 21st, 2006, 12:12 pm

Duke Raoul wrote:
* The injuries, though not as serious as they first looked, could not have come at a worse time. Maccabi, Everton and Chelsea are all season defining games.

Ruined our chances of changing the game, as Rafa loves to change it in the 2nd half. That said I would have brought on Timmy rather than JP!

jezzer · Post by **jezzer** » August 21st, 2006, 12:39 pm

sarah_lennon wrote:
Duke Raoul wrote:
* The injuries, though not as serious as they first looked, could not have come at a worse time. Maccabi, Everton and Chelsea are all season defining games.

Ruined our chances of changing the game, as Rafa loves to change it in the 2nd half. That said I would have brought on Timmy rather than JP!

Surely Gonzalez will normally start ahead of Riise?

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 21st, 2006, 12:40 pm

jezzer wrote:
sarah_lennon wrote:
Duke Raoul wrote:
* The injuries, though not as serious as they first looked, could not have come at a worse time. Maccabi, Everton and Chelsea are all season defining games.

Ruined our chances of changing the game, as Rafa loves to change it in the 2nd half. That said I would have brought on Timmy rather than JP!
Surely Gonzalez will normally start ahead of Riise?

Who at LB, Aurelio?

I think the plan was to absorb a lot of what SU would naturally throw at us and then get them with pace if they tired throuh Gonzalez and Pennant. But the injuries fist half put paid to that

jezzer · Post by **jezzer** » August 21st, 2006, 12:44 pm

sarah_lennon wrote:Who at LB, Aurelio?

I think the plan was to absorb a lot of what SU would naturally throw at us and then get them with pace if they tired throuh Gonzalez and Pennant. But the injuries fist half put paid to that

That's how I understood it. Thought Rafa was resting some of the key guys for the CL game later in the week....

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 21st, 2006, 12:46 pm

jezzer wrote:
sarah_lennon wrote:Who at LB, Aurelio?

I think the plan was to absorb a lot of what SU would naturally throw at us and then get them with pace if they tired throuh Gonzalez and Pennant. But the injuries fist half put paid to that
That's how I understood it. Thought Rafa was resting some of the key guys for the CL game later in the week....

Yeah Alonso and Garcia didn't make the trip nor Finnan. Expect heavy involvement tomorrow

jezzer · Post by **jezzer** » August 21st, 2006, 12:53 pm

I've forked out a lot of money on gonzalez in my fantasy team (now that i think of it that flies in the face of my firm belief expensive Latin players rarely justify their transfer fees in the defence-manic prem) so he bloody better play... and play well. If there's one player who's not going to disrupt my chances of success it John Arne bleedin Riise!

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 21st, 2006, 4:25 pm

Liverpool arrive "safely" in Kiev according to .tv

Squad

Reina, Dudek, Finnan, Kromkamp, Warnock, Hyypia, Agger, Aurelio, Zenden, Alonso, Gerrard, Sissoko, Pennant, Gonzalez, Luis Garcia, Bellamy, Fowler, Crouch.

Duke Raoul · Post by **Duke Raoul** » August 21st, 2006, 10:57 pm

Benitez under-fire from Israelis

Rafael Benitez had to withstand a tortuous trip to the Ukraine on Monday before walking straight into an astonishing assault on Liverpool's motives and character ahead of Tuesday's Champions League showdown against Maccabi Haifa.

Liverpool's flight from John Lennon airport was delayed for 90 minutes due to mechanical problems before they were forced to wait for another 90 minutes at Kiev airport to get their baggage because their plane 'had been parked in the wrong place'.

Eventually the charter plane was moved to the correct place to allow the baggage to be unloaded but not before there had been further delays over Chile international Mark Gonzalez's visa, while Peter Crouch was unable to produce his passport because it was stuck in the hold while the baggage row continued.

Both players eventually continued their journey to the city centre with their team-mates before embarking on a delayed training session.

Liverpool arrived for this third qualifying round second leg, with £12million hanging on the outcome as they hold a 2-1 lead over the Israelis, they were without injured defenders Jamie Carragher, John Arne Riise as well as youngster Gabriel Paletta.

Steve Finnan's return from a muscle injury did little to lift the mood of frustration as they finally reached their hotel.

But then their manager was ambushed by a remarkable sustained assault of questioning from Israeli journalists who criticised Liverpool's part in having the game moved from Israel because of the Middle East crisis.

They accused Liverpool of pressuring UEFA into taking this second leg to Dynamo Kiev's small stadium and then constantly asked Benitez why his club was scared to travel to Israel, insisting that 'there was no war in Tel Aviv'.

Liverpool were also accused of roughhouse tactics in the first leg as Benitez struggled to keep his cool and the focus on the match.

He said: "We are here because of a UEFA decision and I only want to talk about the game. My only concern is with football, you must understand why we couldn't come to Tel Aviv.

"I was asked these same questions a few years ago when I was manager at Valencia and we had to play a game outside of Israel. That too was a decision made by UEFA. We at Liverpool are now here to play football and you all know the reason why.

"We have always said we have respect for Haifa, their team and supporters and we did not pressure anyone."

But it is clear the game is being built up into a grudge match with further complaints about Liverpool's tactics at Anfield.

Benitez added: "I have seen the video, maybe you are seeing something different; a different video than me."

Benitez tried hard to stick to the match, in which he accepted that Liverpool dare not lose the tie.

He said: "We know the situation, we need to score early. But we have lost important players in our defence, although we now have a better squad than before and will manage the situation.

"We have experience now, we have players who have won league titles, the Champions League, FA Cup and UEFA Cup. We know what to do and know who we will play."

Donny B. · Post by **Donny B.** » August 23rd, 2006, 9:01 am

Very nervy match last night.

They always insist on torturing us in the qualifiers.

I think the best thing that can be said is that we're through!

rex banner · Post by **rex banner** » August 23rd, 2006, 9:11 am

Liverpool need to tighten up at set pieces and also at picking up runners from deep. The set pieces thing is following from last year. But Haifa were able to get in behind too often when they tried to attack. Could spell trouble for yous against better teams.
Just be glad that Haifa didn't start to play until they were one nil down.

Donny B. · Post by **Donny B.** » August 23rd, 2006, 9:20 am

rex banner wrote:Liverpool need to tighten up at set pieces and also at picking up runners from deep. The set pieces thing is following from last year. But Haifa were able to get in behind too often when they tried to attack. Could spell trouble for yous against better teams.
Just be glad that Haifa didn't start to play until they were one nil down.

They still seem to be doing this zonal marking cr@p at set-pieces.

Also Hypia is having a poxy start to the season which makes Carragher's injury particiularly ill-timed.

rex banner · Post by **rex banner** » August 23rd, 2006, 9:41 am

I believe it should be 50-50 zonal marking and man marking.
The injuries haven't helped Liverpool so far (obviously). But there is only so much that sissoko can do to help the defence. Alonso is playing cr@p in every department.

Uncle Mort · Post by **Uncle Mort** » August 23rd, 2006, 9:45 am

rex banner wrote:I believe it should be 50-50 zonal marking and man marking.
The injuries haven't helped Liverpool so far (obviously). But there is only so much that sissoko can do to help the defence. Alonso is playing cr@p in every department.

Do you really mean every department?

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