by Owzat » Fri Apr 02, 2010 8:05 am
I think we'll need to score three in the return leg, just can't see Benfica not scoring. Under the circumstances I think 1-2 was a good result for us, without Babel for 60 minutes and with them creating so many chances. One thing to note is the foul count was 19-12 in their favour yet only two of their players got booked. Thought the high foot on Babel deserved a yellow, borderline whether Luisao deserved red or not but noone can argue Babel wasn't an idiot and rightly saw red. While some do get away with yellow, a) this is EUROPE not the Premiership and b) just because some get away with it doesn't mean it isn't a red card offence. Myself I would have started with Benayoun as I might well have said on here before the game, Babel did as much in the 30 minutes as he would in 90 and I'd just fancy Benayoun more for scoring in Europe.
Without trawling back through the pages I take it the ref, C5 commentary and Babel incidents are taking the blame rather than the usual suspects.............................. :rolleyes: It was inevitable Lucas would play, no Aquliani, Maxi both ineligible and illegible and we were away from home against a good side and our manager is defensive minded and old school thinking (keep it tight away, win at home) BUT we've conceded 48 goals in 47 games so the chances of us winning 1-0, 2-0 etc aren't good against Benfica.
09/10 RESULTS BY GOALS CONCEDED
0 goals : P18 W15 D3 L0 F28 A0 (Won 82.33%)
1 goal : P12 W5 D3 L4 F20 A12 (Won 41.67%)
2 goals : P15 W2 D2 L11 F18 A30 (Won 13.33%)
3 goals : P2 W0 D0 L2 F2 A6 (Won 0.00%)
That despite playing two DMs a lot, we'd be better off playing more attacking players and more possession and pressure might take the pressure off our defence by giving them something to worry about. Did we keep a clean sheet against Sunderland because we soaked up as much pressure as Benfica put on us or because we did all the pressing and they simply couldn't get into our half often enough? There is the cliche you can't score from your own half, well most of the time you don't.
One interesting stat I perchance noticed, the break down Rafa's record in charge by (current) Premiership, rest of England and then Europe/ROW/
vs current Premiership sides* : P203 W100 D54 L49 F312 A192 (Won 49.26%)
vs rest of England* : P66 W46 D9 L11 F137 A53 (Won 69.70%)
vs Europe/ROW : P72 W43 D12 L17 F120 A51 (Won 59.72%)
*current Premiership includes sides played while in the Championship, so rest of England includes sides like Newcastle played while in the Premiership
vs current Premiership sides* : P203 W100 D54 L49 F312 A192 (Won 49.26%)
Rafa overall Premiership results : P222 W124 D52 L45 F363 A180 (Won 55.86%)
Read between the lines and a lot of Rafa's wins that make his win percentage look so good and is compared with true Anfield greats, has to be down to sides that have been relegated - 6/6 wins vs WBA, 4/4 vs Watford, 8/10 vs Newcastle, 5/8 vs Reading. Good record in Europe, but then if you don't win 50% of your games then you won't get very far - as proven in the CL this season.
And one final stat :
Rafa season losses
19 : 2004/05 (19/60 = 31.67%)
17 : 2009/10 (17/47 = 36.17%)
16 : 2006/07 (16/58 = 27.59%)
11 : 2005/06 (11/62 = 17.74%)
9 : 2007/08 (9/59 = 15.25%)
5 : 2008/09 (5/55 = 9.09%)
Ironically if we reach the Euro Disney final then that will be European finals in each of Rafa's three seasons with the most defeats. Despite only losing five games and nine games in 08/09 and 07/08 respectively, neither season produced a final or a trophy. You might argue more games = more defeats, but only in two-legged ties/ group stages can you lose and progress and we did reach the QF and SF in those two seasons with least losses. And both those seasons produced a low percentage of losses without significantly less games than average (will be around 58-58.5 by the end of this season)
Last edited by
Owzat on Fri Apr 02, 2010 8:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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