Liverpool FC Forum

[Big Niall]

We put 8 past a team in the CL. Period.
Although they played very poorly we still needed to be professional and put the ball in the net.
One of the biggest plus points for me was that Harry looked sharp and fit. i hope he gets a start soon.

Don't rely on Harry being around for long. We cannot rely on him and his contract should NOT be renewed whenever it is up. We got nothing from him but millions in salaries.

[Ade]

I can't believe this place sometimes. We've been playing kak for weeks. When we put in a record breaking champions league performance, we've got people puttin the boot into Riise, someone slagging all our goals off as being "soft", saying we only won because they were so poor, their keeper winning us the game and someone slagging of the player that got a hat trick and two assists.
While not getting too carried away, let's enjoy the win for what it was. All the lads did well last night, some more than others. And while Besiktas were no Barcelona, they are still a Champions League side who have already beaten us, so they're no mugs. It says it all that no other team has won by that scoreline in the Champions League before. We earned it, so give credit where credit's due.

Like i said, I'm not going overboard either way, but someone said Riise played well. I don't agree. He had the opportunity to shine against a right soft team. And he didn't.

You might not think this is the time and the place to be critical. I disagree - it's exactly the time and the place. Be critical when you win and when you lose. it's how you get better.

Riise, for me, is out of sorts and is not going to get better. We've had the best out of him, and Aurelio looks a better option.

[bunglemark2]

Who the 'kin hell can honestly say that Benayoun was or is a class player based on last night's performance ? Face it - Besiktas were muck; they had a keeper who handed Benayoun two goals on a plate.....and for most of the rest of the game, Benayoun failed to "ghost" past a single player. Tried too many times to take a player on and skin him, and failed pretty much every single time. Either that or he was pushed off the ball way, way too easily. Suggestion: Go and eat a whack load of pies, put a bit of meat on you, train hard, do weights, do some sprinting....Maybe then you might be as good as - God forbid! - some of our competitors' wingers....
LFC beat Derby by 6 goals to no reply. We looked good - not great - in that match too.

But you can be damn sure that Porto will not give us anything like the freedom Anfield like Besiktas did last night. The first ten minutes, Carra and Hyypia were almost stuffed again.

I am a big, big LFC fan....but I have this niggling feeling we're not going to get out of this group.

Mr Benitez: Was your decision to play Crouch last night validated by the mayhem he caused in their defence ? What the f**k was going through your head for the game two weeks ago then ??

What about his two assists then ?
3 goals and 2 assists from a right sided midfielder will more than do for me. Yes two of the goals were tap ins but he was alert and followed in like a forward would. Pennant wouldnt of got himself in there.

Hell, *I* could have done what Benayoun did last nite, Besiktas were that bad.

Look, there are too many people getting carried away here : record CL victory here; fantastic individual contribution there..etc...etc..

There is NOTHING from last night's performance that suggests to me that we have a right to expect to make it out of this group, or that we can launch a credible campaign henceforth on either the Premiership or the Champions League.

We were beaten 2-1 by a team we subsequently emabarrassed by a cricket score. Where's the consistency in that ? The explanation ? Too many players not pulling their weight, for one.

It's very easy for, say, Mascherano to thread an inch perfect pass for Gerrard for SG's goal last night. Why the hell has he not done it before now ? Does he only do it against Sunday League teams.....

Sorry folks, not being negative here, but let's all take off the rose-tinted glasses

[Lucky]

A great win!

A funny thing is that at the early stage of the 2nd half, the commentator began to criticize Benayoun, saying that although he scored a beautiful goal in the 1st half, he hadn't been playing very well this season and blah, blah, blah, then came Benayoun's 2nd goal, which made the commentator have to shut himself up on this chatter by joking that maybe it'd be better not bad-mouth others too much.

[Ola Mr Benitez]

I would just like to comment on litle Yossi, for me he should be our first choice right winger.  What I really like about him is the way when we are attacking down the left, he does what all good wingers do, and that is come in field, into the box and becomes an extra striker.  Why Pennant never does this I will never know..

He was brill last night, along with Crouch, who just had all their defenders panicing everytimne we had the ball.

Well played boys.  Lets hope for a similar set up against Fulham...

[gato_busta]

It's very easy for, say, Mascherano to thread an inch perfect pass for Gerrard for SG's goal last night. Why the hell has he not done it before now ? Does he only do it against Sunday League teams.....

Are you sure you were watching the correct game? It was Gerrard who gave the ball to Voronin who then flicked it with his heel back to Gerrard for goal.

[ivor_the_injun]

Benayoun and Kewell on the flanks could be absolutely stunning combination. It's been too long since we had a potent threat from both sides, and after Harry came on we absolutely pulled them to bits, such was our width across the pitch.

Returning to an earlier topic however - get Gerrard away from those corner kicks. Woeful again last night, when everybody could see that their keeper was flapping at everything put near him. If Aurelio's on the pitch, he should be taking them as far as I'm concerned. Even an outswinger from the left hand corner is preferable to a Gerrard pea-roller to the opposition's first man. I don't mind him showing interest at the free-kicks, but his corners have been appalling for ages now, and I don't really understand why Rafa's not pulled him up and insisted he gets himself in the box to offer an aerial threat instead.

[Leonmc0708]

Who the 'kin hell can honestly say that Benayoun was or is a class player based on last night's performance ? Face it - Besiktas were muck; they had a keeper who handed Benayoun two goals on a plate.....and for most of the rest of the game, Benayoun failed to "ghost" past a single player. Tried too many times to take a player on and skin him, and failed pretty much every single time. Either that or he was pushed off the ball way, way too easily. Suggestion: Go and eat a whack load of pies, put a bit of meat on you, train hard, do weights, do some sprinting....Maybe then you might be as good as - God forbid! - some of our competitors' wingers....
LFC beat Derby by 6 goals to no reply. We looked good - not great - in that match too.

But you can be damn sure that Porto will not give us anything like the freedom Anfield like Besiktas did last night. The first ten minutes, Carra and Hyypia were almost stuffed again.

I am a big, big LFC fan....but I have this niggling feeling we're not going to get out of this group.

Mr Benitez: Was your decision to play Crouch last night validated by the mayhem he caused in their defence ? What the f**k was going through your head for the game two weeks ago then ??

What about his two assists then ?
3 goals and 2 assists from a right sided midfielder will more than do for me. Yes two of the goals were tap ins but he was alert and followed in like a forward would. Pennant wouldnt of got himself in there.

Hell, *I* could have done what Benayoun did last nite, Besiktas were that bad.

Look, there are too many people getting carried away here : record CL victory here; fantastic individual contribution there..etc...etc..

There is NOTHING from last night's performance that suggests to me that we have a right to expect to make it out of this group, or that we can launch a credible campaign henceforth on either the Premiership or the Champions League.

We were beaten 2-1 by a team we subsequently emabarrassed by a cricket score. Where's the consistency in that ? The explanation ? Too many players not pulling their weight, for one.

It's very easy for, say, Mascherano to thread an inch perfect pass for Gerrard for SG's goal last night. Why the hell has he not done it before now ? Does he only do it against Sunday League teams.....

Sorry folks, not being negative here, but let's all take off the rose-tinted glasses

Clueless, every last word is a joke.

[taff]

Ok they were poor but it was still a CL game.  Before the match the talk was of must win, a draw would not be good enough.

Although I had no doubts of anything but a win, the most impressive thing was the way we fought for 90 minutes.  Im not saying that this is a season turning game but at least it has shut up the people who think the squad is not united and hasnt the hunger.  There was pressure on the team last night and the vultures were circling.

To just win would have meant more criticism, but we battered them, so in my honest opinion we should not look for faults, just enjoy the fact that our team, probably minus a few players who we would have in there, battered a CL team.

Oh, and as far as Im aware they havent lost that badly this season

[account deleted by request]

Who the 'kin hell can honestly say that Benayoun was or is a class player based on last night's performance ? Face it - Besiktas were muck; they had a keeper who handed Benayoun two goals on a plate.....and for most of the rest of the game, Benayoun failed to "ghost" past a single player. Tried too many times to take a player on and skin him, and failed pretty much every single time. Either that or he was pushed off the ball way, way too easily. Suggestion: Go and eat a whack load of pies, put a bit of meat on you, train hard, do weights, do some sprinting....Maybe then you might be as good as - God forbid! - some of our competitors' wingers....
LFC beat Derby by 6 goals to no reply. We looked good - not great - in that match too.

But you can be damn sure that Porto will not give us anything like the freedom Anfield like Besiktas did last night. The first ten minutes, Carra and Hyypia were almost stuffed again.

I am a big, big LFC fan....but I have this niggling feeling we're not going to get out of this group.

Mr Benitez: Was your decision to play Crouch last night validated by the mayhem he caused in their defence ? What the f**k was going through your head for the game two weeks ago then ??

What about his two assists then ?
3 goals and 2 assists from a right sided midfielder will more than do for me. Yes two of the goals were tap ins but he was alert and followed in like a forward would. Pennant wouldnt of got himself in there.

Hell, *I* could have done what Benayoun did last nite, Besiktas were that bad.

Look, there are too many people getting carried away here : record CL victory here; fantastic individual contribution there..etc...etc..

There is NOTHING from last night's performance that suggests to me that we have a right to expect to make it out of this group, or that we can launch a credible campaign henceforth on either the Premiership or the Champions League.

We were beaten 2-1 by a team we subsequently emabarrassed by a cricket score. Where's the consistency in that ? The explanation ? Too many players not pulling their weight, for one.

It's very easy for, say, Mascherano to thread an inch perfect pass for Gerrard for SG's goal last night. Why the hell has he not done it before now ? Does he only do it against Sunday League teams.....

Sorry folks, not being negative here, but let's all take off the rose-tinted glasses

Even before we scored we were stringing 8 or 9 first time passes together, tackling hard, Riise, Mascherano and Gerrard especially. We had width yet the wingers were also getting in the penalty box. Crouch was winning headers and showed good skill and link up play with Voronin.

We may or may not get out of the group, but to not see the positives from last nights game is crazy.

[woof woof !]

I certainly enjoyed the battering we gave Besiktas but they were so static a team of traffic cones would have given us more of a game.

I know you can only beat what's in front of you. Delighted with the win, but I'm not gonna get carried away.

[destro]

Great result last night, I wouldn't say we played amazing Besiktas helped us look amazing by how poor they were.

It was one of those nights when almost everything we tried came off. It was a great game to watch from a Liverpool point of view and I hope we can now go on a run in the Premiership, the confidence should be sky high now and  as long as Rafa doesn't tinker with the team to much ( if at all ) we should be ok, obviously last nights result is not going to magically cover up the recent problems we have had (just as the Derby result didn't) so there is no reason to get carried away.

Its what Rafa and the Team do from now on that counts more than the result last night, and fingers crossed last night is THE turning point and maybe we can get our act together for the rest of the season.

[Emerald Red]

8-0 .Are we that good or were the turks just awful ?

Bit of both I think. The Turks came to Anfield and just sh*t themselves once they were on the pitch. Their fans pride themselves on creating an intimidating atmosphere? Well, they ain't been to Anfield!

[zarababe]

We were that good and swept them aside - the press and pundits are 'oh so full of us' and I have to say a record performance - only under Rafa ay - deserves all the plaudits. Onwards and upwards from here on ...

[red37]

I can't believe this place sometimes. We've been playing kak for weeks. When we put in a record breaking champions league performance, we've got people puttin the boot into Riise, someone slagging all our goals off as being "soft", saying we only won because they were so poor, their keeper winning us the game and someone slagging of the player that got a hat trick and two assists.
While not getting too carried away, let's enjoy the win for what it was. All the lads did well last night, some more than others. And while Besiktas were no Barcelona, they are still a Champions League side who have already beaten us, so they're no mugs. It says it all that no other team has won by that scoreline in the Champions League before. We earned it, so give credit where credit's due.

Well said there Nifty...

Though the lengths some are going to describing last nights events, outside the sensible perspective that should be considered based on the collapse of the opposition as any real substantial force, particularly in the second half;  is quite frankly embarrassingly OTT to say the least...