Liverpool FC Forum

[A.B.]

says rafa

Rafael Benitez has spoken of his pride for his players and felt Liverpool deserved to win the FIFA Club World Championship in the aftermath of the 1-0 defeat to Sao Paulo.
The Liverpool manager couldn't hide his disappointment at some of the decisions which went against his team and added his team couldn't have done any more to win the game.

"The first thing I can say is congratulations to my players and we deserved to win," Benitez commented.

"We had 21 shots and 17 corners and we hit the bar twice, we scored three goals but what can you do? We couldn't have done anymore to win.

"I am not happy with a lot of things from the game but I am very happy with my players and we did everything possible for winning. I would like to know what is a red card as Lugano should have been sent-off for the foul on Gerrard. Why did we only play three minutes of stoppage time at the end of the game as there should have been at least five minutes.

"We know the goal from Sinama-Pongolle was a clear goal. I have tried to show respect for Sao Paulo because it is a good team but we deserved to win and we controlled the game. You don't normally see a team from Brazil defending like they did."

Couldn't agree more with the man. We dominated 95 % of the game, especially in the second half. They hardly crossed the half-way line in the second half, Brazilians defending for their lives, who would had thought?

Blame it on Rafa's selection, but his selection dominated the game and should had won. The subs might have made a bigger impact earlier but we fielded a good enough side to beat Sau Paulo.

[Sabre]

I agree the Gaffer. He makes sense even in the deepest sorrow. Animo Rafa!!!!!!

[greenred]

The man speaks the truth.We were unlucky to lose against a pi.ss poor "Brazilian" side.We would expect to beat them 9 times out of 10.

[A.B.]

But you know what, we all said that this cup did not matter that much and really doesn't. Theres a lot more important games than this one, I rather we get more points in the Premiership than anything else now.

[Knowledge King]

3 points against Newcastle is far more important!!!!!!!!!!!!

[A.B.]

Aye, and it's going to be a difficult game. Vital period for us now.

[A.B.]

This is the kind of attitude all of players must have after today:



John Arne Riise claims Liverpool must take inspiration from the way they bounced back from last season's Carling Cup final loss to Chelsea in the aftermath of Sunday's bitterly disappointing World Club Championship defeat.
Many of the Liverpool players were close to tears after surrendering an early lead and with it the final to Jose Mourinho's side in Cardiff back in February but despite a faltering league campaign, they ended the season landing the biggest prize of all in Istanbul just three months later.

Now the Norwegian who came on as a second-half substitute insists the players must do the same again and make up for the defeat to Sao Paulo by extending the excellent run they left behind in England before jetting out to Japan.

"We're all desperately disappointed to be going home in second place because I thought we were the better team in the final and we deserved to win," Riise told liverpoolfc.tv. "It's gone now though and we're not going to start feeling sorry for ourselves.

"There were a few players who went to have words with the referee and the linesman after the final whistle but the game was over then and there was nothing that could be changed. The linesman was very slow to raise his flag a few times during the first-half but there's no point complaining about decisions now. We should have scored before Flo had his goal disallowed.

"We know he was onside for the equaliser and television has proved that but we had two or three good opportunities to score before then. It just wasn't our night. Luis might have had a hat-trick on another day but at least we created lots of chances. That's one positive we can take from the final. I know you need to score goals to win matches but tonight we did everything but that.

"We've proved we can play some great football out here but now we've got to go home, get used to English time again and start thinking about the match against Newcastle on Boxing Day.

"This was a bonus from last season's Champions League win and now we have to react in the same way as we did when we were beaten by Chelsea in the Carling Cup.

"We've still got the Champions League to go for with a great tie against Benfica coming up and we're third in the league and going strong in the Premiership. We're looking forward to going home now. It's been a great experience, we played very well in two games and now we have to bounce back and keep our Premiership run going."

[Reinas No.1 Fan]

The man speaks the truth.We were unlucky to lose against a pi.ss poor "Brazilian" side.We would expect to beat them 9 times out of 10.

I 100% agree my friend you sumed up my views.

[Bandeirante_SPFC]

I agree...

If you beat us 9 times in 10 games come to play here...

In Morumbi... let´s see that...

The truth is:

Your defense wasn´t effective and we score a goal...
Your forwards wasn´t effective too because they didn´t score one single goal...

You´re a jokers!



Beside...

The statistics of Liverpool in this game... come on...
Until the game was 0-0 we´ve play better than you...
After Mineiro´s goal WE choose (wrongly to me) to defend instead of attack.

If the game stays 0-0 I do believe we should have a better stats than u.


Best regards and thanks for the game!!

[Marvril]

Well...

Until the game was 0-0 we play better than you.

Sorry.

[drummerphil]

can someone ban this ,hes had enough warnings.........this is taking the now

[Reina From Spaina]

says rafa

Rafael Benitez has spoken of his pride for his players and felt Liverpool deserved to win the FIFA Club World Championship in the aftermath of the 1-0 defeat to Sao Paulo.
The Liverpool manager couldn't hide his disappointment at some of the decisions which went against his team and added his team couldn't have done any more to win the game.

"The first thing I can say is congratulations to my players and we deserved to win," Benitez commented.

"We had 21 shots and 17 corners and we hit the bar twice, we scored three goals but what can you do? We couldn't have done anymore to win.

"I am not happy with a lot of things from the game but I am very happy with my players and we did everything possible for winning. I would like to know what is a red card as Lugano should have been sent-off for the foul on Gerrard. Why did we only play three minutes of stoppage time at the end of the game as there should have been at least five minutes.

"We know the goal from Sinama-Pongolle was a clear goal. I have tried to show respect for Sao Paulo because it is a good team but we deserved to win and we controlled the game. You don't normally see a team from Brazil defending like they did."

Couldn't agree more with the man. We dominated 95 % of the game, especially in the second half. They hardly crossed the half-way line in the second half, Brazilians defending for their lives, who would had thought?

Blame it on Rafa's selection, but his selection dominated the game and should had won. The subs might have made a bigger impact earlier but we fielded a good enough side to beat Sau Paulo.

well it's obvious we didnt deserve to score as we didnt score a legitimate goal!

plus carra and hyypia didnt mark thier striker properly when he went through the middle to slot it home!

Doesnt matter how dominant you are, wasn't good enough.

top four finihs in the league is now what we can expect, and a good champions league run, although I personally dont think we will retain it. Simply because no team ever has.

[Sabre]

top four finihs in the league is now what we can expect, and a good champions league run, although I personally dont think we will retain it. Simply because no team ever has.

I don't think this game, no matter a win or lose, has anything to do with our eventual league position we get. Retaining a title is complicated, for every team, in that I agree, but then again, has nothing to do with the score of this game

[GunGod]

For once AB I agree with you, we deserved to win. 21 shots is not the point, but 17 corner kicks to ZERO? That's really odd. Sao Paulo is hardly premiership material based on that only.

But corner kicks are not what wins us a game and despite a few Sao Paulo (or should I say anti-Liverpool) posters in here to wind us up, I say congrats to all Sao Paulo fans for winning the cup. I have to say that a victory is a victory, especially so since many a times (though not recently) we have also opted for the all-defensive approach after having taken a lead. I think all's fair in that sense and that Rafa too, did not choose to blame Sao Paulo's tactics.

What I don't agree with you is that the cup is not important. We have to win the Euro cup to even be able to participate in this tournament, and how many times can we go to Tokyo? This was really a precious chance and we shouldn't make it any lesser just to console ourselves. That's hard to swallow, for you and for me as well, but that's how it is and we have to bounce back by overtaking Man U first, then Chelsea in the league.

I'm actually absolutely pleased with our play today, it was an absolute demonstration of what we can do when we choose to attack. Ok, we didn't finish off our chances but it can only get better, right? The only thing is, with the way Sao Paulo played we really won't know whether we can repeat such performances against better opponents cos, we all due respect to Sao Paulo, they were not much a test for us (this is not meant to be offensive, apologies to SP fans).

What we can be absolutely angry about are the terrible referee decisions. 3 goals disallowed is an absolute disgrace. At least one of them was legitimate. If you ask me, I would say two, incl. Pongo's 'goal'. I suspect the result was fixed beforehand, but that's baseless and Sao Paulo will remain in the history books as 2005 winners.

I hate to bring this up but on a weekend whereby Owen scored a hattrick in an ordinary Newcastle team, it's really time to bring in a good striker. The emphasis shouldn't be on techinical skills but purely on his predatory abilities. Someone who can be in the right place at the right time, that's a skill in itself. And we probably need to work on our corners and set pieces as well. To be honest, Chelsea would have torn SP apart to shreds today. And all the difference between us and them is the finishing.

Nevertheless, things still look good for us. We conceded only 1 goal in 12 matches and our play is getting more fluid by the day. So there's no need for depression, I'm sure we will be in the top 3 this year in the league, and be geniune contenders for the next. Cheer up lads!

[The Manhattan Project]

OK, we lost, but many positives should be taken from the match IMO.

We played well and basically dominated the match. Sao Paulo didn't win the match, they pretty much "survived" it. It was just one of those games where it wasn't really our night and nothing was going to go in.

Three disallowed goals are a joke really. The last one certainly looked harsh. I think Crouch, Cisse and Riise should really have started and I also think Rafa waited far too long to bring on Crouch.

Morientes' lack of finishing cost us. Garcia also wasted a number of chances and his passing was generally poor. Kewell played very well and the goal was more a lapse in concentration rather than any display of skill from the other team.

I think it demonstrates the need for a clinical striker. We are lacking one at the moment. Although the Brazilians here may celebrate this win like the second coming of Christ We know that this was really an insignificant competition that we only entered for financial reasons and to please FIFA. I'd be happier winning the Community Shield With this competition it was really a matter of saying "If we win it, great, but if we don't then meh, who cares?"

What's important now is to identify the players we need in January and get back to Premiership form. For all intents and purposes Arsenal are now out of the title race and we are STILL third, so we need to come back home and concentrate on the important stuff.