Liverpool FC Forum

[red or dead]

not long got back from the game what the hell is wrong with some of these players not one of the players seem happy you would think something is up behind closed doors, most of the players could not be ars$d i spent £80 on tickets etc to see that, very poor.
how many shots have we had in the last 3 games and not scored the only good points from tonight are that we are in the group stage and sissiko what a player he will be and a little mention josemi at least he got stuck in
                             
                                     

[Ciggy]

Is it just me.................but,

Why did iTV interview Stevie G after the game?
I can understand that Rafa may not have come out because he is absolutely fuming at the result, and I suppose that this would also have the effect of the players not being available as they were being lambasted for a poor performance. (I am beginning to answer my own question here!! ).

But I am sure if Alonso (for example) was in the stand and injured, then it would not have been as likely they interviewed him, though on the other hand if the team are 'unavailable' for comment (along with the manager!) then they probably would......FFS, ok scrap the first part of this post, I ave answered my own question (in part) it seems!!!!

But what really annoyed me, was te further asking of Gerrard about the Owen situation, I mean they never stop do they?? I mean they should not (though it is their job to an extent!) be putting him in that sort of position, having to answer those questions abuot Owen and other players we need and getting im to say (paraphrasing here) 'Yea we definetly need someone down the right', now although Rafa has said this HIMSELF, our players (IMO)should not be talking about who/what we need, especially with all te furore in the summer (with talk that SG was demanding better/certain players to be brought in....speculation I know, but nonetheless...).

I mean, I feel that it undermines other players, especially coming from SG, who is obviously the No.1 player in terms of ability, wages, prestige and media hype!! So for him to confirm we need someone down the right, is basically saying we are s.hit down there and nobody works in this position, no matter who we play there (which is of course true, we ALL know this!), but it might just have a negative affect on players that have been played out there - Potter, Cisse, Garcia et al!

But I think he was also interviewed to reinforce the fact he WAS NOT playing, and that was part of the reason for the poor performance, and also make out (as the pundits love to do at the moment!) that we are a one man team!

But TBH, if we dont start picking up our perfrmances AS A TEAM, and at the same time SG shines (even if we lose!) then this is gonna get ever more prevalent!
And what will that possibly lead to  - SG (once again) considering his options, becuase the team are basically NOT up to his ability and he is always pulling us out of the quagmire. I mean how convincing would we have been if SG had not played ONE game this season?  Not very, and IMO we should ALL see and know that, though it is hard to admit this to an outsider (non LFC fan!)!!

The person we get for the right side of midfield, not only has to be a WINGER (not a right midfielder), a real out and out, chalk on his boots winger, but ALSO is able to CREATE (like a robben, duff etc;), not just cross the ball, I want more than that TBH I want to see a lot more, because Cisse can cross a good ball from out there (dont forget the pace!) but he cant play there effectively really can he? If we dont sort it PROPERLY then our creativity levels are just not going to be high enough.

Yes we have SG and Alonso..........but then what? Zenden, isnt what we all hoped we were getting, as he drifts in WAY TOO MUCH, and it is annoying me already, add to this Garcia doing the exact same thing from the right, then we have up to 6 (3/4 mids + 2 att/1 att and the hole player) in the centre of the park, and you have to have emmense creativity to create in such little space (Arsenal are the ones that do this, often too often for their own good and trying to walk it in through the centre and being TOO intricate!).

I know there are not many RW out there right now (that are realistic) that really fit the bill, but something has to be done and soon.
Because if we have SG or Alonso injured (even frighteningly both at the same time), we are gonna struggle a lot IMO, and for me I think the creativity problem we currently have, is more serious than the strikers not being potent!!

Ive only read the first paragraph of your post and Stevie was interviewed cause hes the captain, dont be lookin more into things.
I f John Terry was injured, or Henry after a game they would be interviewed this is not a conspiracy theory.

[woof woof !]

Reality check .
How many of us still think we look like a side likely to make it into the top 3 ?
I know we didn't have our first eleven out there but perhaps tonights performance is a reminder of how thin our squad is when it comes to creativity and quality .
Maybe this should be in the poll section . 

[Ciggy]

Reality check .
How many of us still think we look like a side likely to make it into the top 3 ?
I know we didn't have our first eleven out there but perhaps tonights performance is a reminder of how thin our squad is when it comes to creativity and quality .
Maybe this should be in the poll section . 

It is a big fat reality check woof your right, but who is to blame? Houllier? The Board? the players? no motivation what so ever, we havent got any arrogance about us atall and all winning teams have arrogance, I just dont know where it is going to come from if I am honest, the heroics from Istanbul have brought every person connected to the club in what ever shape or form right back down to the ground tonight, was this needed? YES it f@ckin well was.

[76-1115222408]

Ive only read the first paragraph of your post and Stevie was interviewed cause hes the captain, dont be lookin more into things.
I f John Terry was injured, or Henry after a game they would be interviewed this is not a conspiracy theory.

Read it all or dnt bother qouting me please!!!

Thankyou!!

People round ere FFS!!!

[adamnbarrett]

RAFA HOPES FOR A GOOD OMEN DESPITE DEFEAT
Steve Hunter 23 August 2005 
  Rafael Benitez felt Liverpool were unlucky to lose 1-0 to CSKA Sofia at Anfield and preferred to look to last season as a good omen when the Reds lost a match to Grazer AK and then went on to win the Champions League. 
At this same stage of the Champions League last season Liverpool were leading Grazer AK by two goals from the first leg. The Austrians won 1-0 at Anfield and Liverpool went on to win the Champions League in Istanbul. Benitez is hoping lightening strikes twice so to speak and the Reds can win the competition again in Paris this season.
 
Benitez said: "This is a difficult match for me to explain because we had so many chances but didn't score. We had a lot of clear chances to win the game but the most important thing is that we are through to the next round.
 
"I always look for positives and I would look back to last season when we played Grazer AK at this same stage. We went into the match with a two goal lead and then lost at Anfield 1-0. The same has happened tonight so hopefully that will mean we go on and win it again.
 
"They scored a good goal but we tried hard to win the game and maybe we were a little bit unlucky. With the goal they gave us a sensation of danger but we had enough chances to win the match.
 
"Sometimes for a striker they go two or three games without scoring and then get a hat-trick. I hope that will happen for us."
 
The Liverpool manager also had words of praise for Josemi who played at centre half alongside Sami Hyypia with Jamie Carragher being rested.
 
Benitez said: "I was pleased with Josemi at centre back. Before I signed him he had played for a season at centre back with Malaga so he isn't new to the position. I thought he did well."

[stmichael]

Reality check .
How many of us still think we look like a side likely to make it into the top 3 ?

no chance.

unless one of the top three has a horrendous run of injuries or starts seriously underperforming, we'll be fighting for fourth with the likes of boro, man city and spurs.

i can still see consistency being a problem for us due to rafa's inevitable squad rotation. well the reality of the situation is, most of our so called "fringe players" just aren't of the standard required.

spurs away and manure home in the next two league matches. if we don't up it 200% we'll get 0 points out of 6 in those two games.

[JC_81]

Why play Josemi at centre back??  Doesn't make sense at all.  Rafa has already said that he's after 1 or 2 centre backs so he obviously doesn't trust Josemi there in the long term.  Why not play Whitbread?  He's young and at least has potential.  I'm pretty dissapointed with that team selection to be honest.

Potter has had plenty of chances now on the right and it's clear that that's not his best position, why not play Pongolle to try him out, or Garcia (who has had very little playing time in pre-season or the 2 league games).

I don't think Sofia are capable of turning the tie around tonight but I just hope this team selection doesn't backfire and lead to an embarrassing 0-1 defeat or something...

I don't take any pleasure at all in predicting this one, but I could see it coming.  The team we put out was all wrong, but despite that we had enough decent players on the park to win on the night.

Josemi is a joke, I've defended him plenty of times in the past for his commitment alone, but he's always out of position and goes to ground far, far too easily.  I won't blame the 1st half defensive play on him alone, but he didn't help.  Sami needed to take more responsibility tonight, he's got too used to Carra giving the instructions and should have taken on that role himself tonight.

The goal was not due to individual error, it's just one of those things that's going to happen from time to time because of our zonal marking from set pieces.  The system is usually quite sound but we are vulnerable to late runners, it happened tonight as it did with Maldini in Istanbul.  It will happen again before the season's out I suspect.

Hamann stayed back more in the 2nd half, stopping their breaks, an obvious tactical ploy that had to happen.  Sissoko was our best player agin.  I REALLY like the look of this player.  I've said it before, in a couple of seasons he will have surpassed Vieira as a player, but he's not there yet

I've defended Morientes loads of times on here saying he needs time etc, but that argument is starting to wear thin with me.  When we eventually do get the service to him from wide areas sorted out then we may yet see the best of him, but if he still fails to deliver there are no more excuses.

Cisse is fu.cking lazy.  You may ask how a guy that clearly put so much into getting back from injury could possibly be called lazy?  Well just watch him, no tackling back (at least Morientes did that) and gives up too easy when he loses the ball instead of chasing it.  And all this throwing the hands up when a decision goes against him, it fu.cking annoys me, just get on with it.

Rant over.  I've probably been a bit harsh here but fu.ck it, that was a totally embarrassing result tonight, whether we won the tie or not.  We should have more pride than that.

[Dalglish]

Sissoko Finnon and Rise apart we looked very ordinary tonight. I suppose from the starting 11 you could almost sense there was't going to be a lot of creativity and to that end Liverpol didn't disappoint.

Without wanting to become a Boo Boy can anyone tell me what qualities Zenden brings to the play ? He looks very very average to me and Garcia was largely ineffective tonight.

We can draw some comfort from the fact that despite UEFA's best intentions we have made it into the group stages and i fully expect Liverpool to improve considerably over the coming months.

Walk on ....... 

[XSD]

Everyone has to calm down, this game meant nothing. I understand and sympathise with the frustration felt by those who went to the trouble and expense of buying a ticket and seeing the game, but the criticism is maybe over the top on this forum and some of it coming from people who I'm sure only watched it on tv.
We know Morientes is a class striker, and Cisse is very talented, we are 2 premiership games into the season so lets wait untill we have 20 of those out the way before judging peoples form. This game wasn't important and we progressed, it's the premiership and the CL proper that counts.

[Ciggy]

Ive only read the first paragraph of your post and Stevie was interviewed cause hes the captain, dont be lookin more into things.
I f John Terry was injured, or Henry after a game they would be interviewed this is not a conspiracy theory.

Read it all or dnt bother qouting me please!!!

Thankyou!!

People round ere FFS!!!

No I wont read your posts cause I find you exremly boring cut it down to a paragraph or 2 and maybe people will read what you write.

[76-1115222408]

Cisse is fu.cking lazy.  You may ask how a guy that clearly put so much into getting back from injury could possibly be called lazy?  Well just watch him, no tackling back (at least Morientes did that) and gives up too easy when he loses the ball instead of chasing it.  And all this throwing the hands up when a decision goes against him, it fu.cking annoys me, just get on with it.

I have to say I agree with that John, though it is hard to admit.
I argued a while back that WE would see this from him, but admittedly I was saying it was because he has high standards and wants to win so bad etc; and that top players often have that sort of streak in them.

BUT now, I just think he is almost sulking like a child (so hard to type this, as I really think if he gets going then he will be REALLY dangerous!) when he doesnt get the ball EXACTLY where he wants it.
I think Rafa MUST see this too, and I cant see him standing it for too long TBH, especially if he continues to fire blanks.

Look I am not trying to get on Cisses back, as its still early in the season, but he needs to just work a lot harder on the pitch and realise, sometimes he should take a leaf out of the Baros book, and actually CREATE(theres that word again!) something for himself and stop fannying around like a prima donna!!(on the pitch that is, obviously Baros acted like one OFF the pitch).

[red37]

Ive only read the first paragraph of your post and Stevie was interviewed cause hes the captain, dont be lookin more into things.
I f John Terry was injured, or Henry after a game they would be interviewed this is not a conspiracy theory.

Read it all or dnt bother qouting me please!!!

Thankyou!!

People round ere FFS!!!

==================================

not too mention damn rude! abrasive and above all PARANOID!

[banana]

i think ppl are being too critical of nando,a still think hes a superb striker and once he gets a couple of goals under his belt he'll be a new player than he is now.He still got into the goal scorin chances tonite and shud hav at least scored once but the more he gets into those positions one will go in eventually and that will hopefully lead to many many more.

So when is that going to happen? He has been here almost a year and still he can't score.

I wouldn't worry if he did a lot of work and set up goals for other players. But his overall contribution is very poor. It's like playing with 10 men.

[zarababe]

Sissoko Finnon and Rise apart we looked very ordinary tonight. I suppose from the starting 11 you could almost sense there was't going to be a lot of creativity and to that end Liverpol didn't disappoint.

Without wanting to become a Boo Boy can anyone tell me what qualities Zenden brings to the play ? He looks very very average to me and Garcia was largely ineffective tonight.

We can draw some comfort from the fact that despite UEFA's best intentions we have made it into the group stages and i fully expect Liverpool to improve considerably over the coming months.

Walk on ....... 

totally agree. Perspective please ppl, how many games have the lads played? Including internationals ?

It will come good. The other three teams (Ch, Ar.se Manc) expect us to be a threat. I do too.. when the new players settle improvemnets there will be.

Lets face it most of these have not played together, so to expect a fluent performance well a bit difficult.

The job was done tonite. We are through and now for the super cup.