Liverpool FC Forum

by **account deleted by request** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:41 pm

metalhead wrote:
s@int wrote:Reina - Bit dodgy but made to great saves.

Arbeloa - P!SS poor first half, better second half

Carra - Did Shevchenko play? Maybe could have helped Agger more?

Agger - Totally dominated by Drogba, hardly won a header and by the end wasn't even competing for them.
Riise - poor not helped by Zenden's performance

Zenden - poor not helped by Riise's performance

Mascherano - worked hard but still gets caught in possession too often

Alonso - struggled with the Chelsea tactic of bypassing our 2 defensive midfield players, and too slow to get back.

Zendon - Created width and a ready outlet, then wasted it.

Bellamy - off the pace, never looked like getting into the game

Kuyt - Worked hard but offered no threat or real linkup play

Gerrard - great shot, and showed great determination with some great tackling and runs but created little

Crouch - improvement on Bellamy, but thats not saying much

we have a zendon player?

He was so good I thought I would have two goes at him

by **Stu.Murph** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:42 pm

ivor_the_injun wrote:
Stu.Murph wrote:
Ciggy wrote:
eds wrote:Right!

Get this through your THICK F/UCK>ING sculls you stupid stupid people.

Bold Zenden is one of the worst players we have had at LIVERPOOL in the last decade. He is in the same boat as Diao, Traore, Cheyrou and Diouf. He isn't good enough to play at Scumchester United, Arsenol or Cheatski SO WHY IS HE GOOD ENOUGH TO PLAY FOR US?

NO, there was no one out there that played as bad as him tonight. Yes Bellamy, Arbeloa and Agger had poor games but they all pale in comparison to the waste of oxygen that is Zenden. His whole game was summed up in the 2nd half when he had almost a minute to cross the ball to Kuyt or Crouch which was then inexcusably closed down for a corner.

How he played 90mins is beyond me? Gonzalez maybe average but he would have put a better performance.

Theres always a scapegoat hey........
Zenden was one of our best players tonight.
But hey lets blame him for our loss.
Dont get me wrong I dont like Zenden he is not a Liverpool player but the long standing footballers that have been at LFC for years where worst than Zenden.
This is OT but why on earth pay 2 million for a LB and feel confident enough to play him in a lot of our recent games.
Yet pay 7 million for Pennant who has really improved over the last few months and has helped us scoring getting crosses in and helped Crouch and Gerrard.
But you have more confidence in a free player or one thgat cost 2 million?
Questions need to be asked.
Why play Gerrard on the right when he is a CM, when tonight it was obvious we needed out and out wingers.
Are Gonzalez and Pennant leaving in the summer then?
Cause obviously the boss has no faith in them.

Zenden was one of our best players?

What game were you watching?

You don't half talk rubbish.

Our team tonight, in order of how well they did:

1st: Reina
2nd: Gerrard
3rd: Carragher
4th: Zenden
5th: Alonso

Everyone else was much of a muchness. This isn't to say that anyone apart from Reina had particularly good matches, but it was a fairly stodgy performance from most of the team, and Zenden was far from the main reason why it wasn't any better. Yes, getting decent crosses in from the left would've helped, but it's not like anything was coming from the right either. Gerrard was our second best player, but this was based on a performance where he seemed to ignore the fact that he was supposed to be out on the right.

I don't rate Zenden at all, but the fact is he kept plugging away and was responsible for us camping out in Chelsea's half for most of the second half. Fine, so a cross into the box would've been preferable to corners and throw ins, but I don't particularly think Gonzalez would've done any better, and it's not like we're dripping with quality left wingers right now.

I wouldn't put it like that at all.

I'd be a hell of a lot more inclined to say only Gerrard and Reina done anything all game. Alonso, Mascherano, Riise and Carragher looked average.

The rest were just :censored:

poor. Zenden's use of the ball or even lack of was a joke. An absoloute joke.

by **Dundalk** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:43 pm

s@int wrote:
metalhead wrote:
s@int wrote:Reina - Bit dodgy but made to great saves.

Arbeloa - P!SS poor first half, better second half

Carra - Did Shevchenko play? Maybe could have helped Agger more?

Agger - Totally dominated by Drogba, hardly won a header and by the end wasn't even competing for them.
Riise - poor not helped by Zenden's performance

Zenden - poor not helped by Riise's performance

Mascherano - worked hard but still gets caught in possession too often

Alonso - struggled with the Chelsea tactic of bypassing our 2 defensive midfield players, and too slow to get back.

Zendon - Created width and a ready outlet, then wasted it.

Bellamy - off the pace, never looked like getting into the game

Kuyt - Worked hard but offered no threat or real linkup play

Gerrard - great shot, and showed great determination with some great tackling and runs but created little

Crouch - improvement on Bellamy, but thats not saying much

we have a zendon player?

He was so good I thought I would have two goes at him

There could have been 2 of him on the wing and it still woulodnt have made a difference

by **metalhead** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:43 pm

s@int wrote:
metalhead wrote:
s@int wrote:Reina - Bit dodgy but made to great saves.

Arbeloa - P!SS poor first half, better second half

Carra - Did Shevchenko play? Maybe could have helped Agger more?

Agger - Totally dominated by Drogba, hardly won a header and by the end wasn't even competing for them.
Riise - poor not helped by Zenden's performance

Zenden - poor not helped by Riise's performance

Mascherano - worked hard but still gets caught in possession too often

Alonso - struggled with the Chelsea tactic of bypassing our 2 defensive midfield players, and too slow to get back.

Zendon - Created width and a ready outlet, then wasted it.

Bellamy - off the pace, never looked like getting into the game

Kuyt - Worked hard but offered no threat or real linkup play

Gerrard - great shot, and showed great determination with some great tackling and runs but created little

Crouch - improvement on Bellamy, but thats not saying much

we have a zendon player?

He was so good I thought I would have two goes at him

world class isn't he? stu would agree!

by **redtrader74** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:45 pm

Sabre wrote:
Arbeloa - P!SS poor first half, better second half

Píss poor both halves. A long ball of Alonso to the other wing and he started to run in the middle of the flight? where the fúck had his mind, a sub 15 would have picked that ball. Bad in tackling, bad in marking, lost important balls. Píss poor both halves.

Take off the rose coloured, that pass from Alonso was mis-hit, Arbeloa was bad, but you need to stop defending Alonso, he is a senior player and needs to take control when needed, he could have gone forward, as they were taking him out the game with the long balls. BTW for the best passer(usually) why doesn't he take free kicks and corners?? G better in the box for corners.

by **Igor Zidane** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:45 pm

Right the difference between the two sides tonight was one mistake , arbeloa didn't track back well enough on J cole for his goal that's all it was , one small mistake cost us tonight.

We are well good enough to bring them back to Anfield and beat them , i'm well confident of that. I woud just like to say that Stu you would be happy to hear i would play Hyppia instead of Agger in the second leg , because Agger can't cope woth Drogba .

Feck Mascherano off and play stevie in the middle , with Pennant on the right , Finnan at RB Arbeloa at LB and RISSE at LM and guess what play Crouch and Fowler up front to give us an attacking threat.

We were better than them in the second half without no real attacking threat ,we need players to get in the box , the amount of times i sore Kuyt Fannying around on the edge of the box was unreal . we need an attacking threat and tonight our pair upfront did not provide that threat. We were by far the better side in the second half , Chelsea were gone and were there for the taking and we didn't capitalise on it , we will have to at Anfield and i'm pretty confident we will.

I'm pretty :censored:

off at the mo because we dominated the second half without providing any real threat on goal. That will have to change at Anfield and with the changes i would make i think we can beat chelsea at our gaff . Y.N.W.A

by **account deleted by request** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:45 pm

Sabre wrote:
Arbeloa - P!SS poor first half, better second half

Píss poor both halves. A long ball of Alonso to the other wing and he started to run in the middle of the flight? where the fúck had his mind, a sub 15 would have picked that ball. Bad in tackling, bad in marking, lost important balls. Píss poor both halves.

P!ss poor first half better second half ,only fkn awful second half.

by **Sabre** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:47 pm

that's more like it yes

I'm off this chat. I'm angry. ANd when I'm angry I can't think clearly. As soon as you spot a Chelsea WUM, report it. I'll do the job

by **Bad Bob** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:53 pm

Well, it could have been much worse and a big thank you to Reina for keeping out Fat Fwank's shots. How livid would we have been if that numpty was on the score sheet?!?

A nervous performance from most of the lads tonight which, given how brave our performance was at the Nou Camp, is worrisome. Let's hope the Anfield crowd gives the lads a huge lift next week and puts the wind up their back.

The goal was a classic pacey counterattack, aided by Agger getting sucked in by Drogba twice and by Arbeloa letting Cole slip past him. There other shots were down to Drogba's tenacity and vision. Yes, he dives, he moans, he plays mind games and all that. But he's a good player that can take a game by the scruff of the neck and he MUST be neutralized much better next week. I don't think Hyypia has the pace to live with him when he runs the channels so I hope Agger really ups his game next Tuesday.

As for our side, there's the obvious target that is Bolo Zenden. First off, how little confidence does Rafa have in Gonzales to not even bring him on late, after Zenden had toiled in futility for the whole match? The future does not look bright for the Chilean. There's no question that the only reason Zenden was on the pitch was due to the injury to Finnan (otherwise, Arbeloa's at LB and Riise's at LM). And, he did carve out a lot of possession--but, of course, I think Chelsea were more than content to give it to him. That's because he did so little with the ball. He didn't have the pace to beat Ferreira (how many crosses were charged down?) and he was pretty weak when he checked back onto his right foot...why wouldn't they let him see a lot of the ball? The only threat down that flank came in the second half, with Riise pushing up more and putting in some decent balls (which ALMOST made up for his shocking passing in the first half).

On the other side, Gerrard had to go ball hunting through the middle in order to feel involved in the first half, which cost us our shape and provided no outlet on that flank. If Bellamy had wanted to be of greater use, he might have pushed out to the right but, as it was, he was anonymous. Gerrard was clearly told to stay toward the touchline in the second half but they had him covered pretty well and Arbeloa, understandably, was reluctant to get forward. Nonetheless, as usual, Stevie created our most threatening moves but, as Stu's said, one shot from distance on his weaker foot makes for a poor team effort at getting him the ball in dangerous positions.

In the middle, I'm with Sabre--Alonso had a strong game. He made a decent fist of the Sissoko ball hunter role and he was generally strong in the tackle. Except at the very end, I thought his distribution was spot on and he was the only player working to switch play quickly, which was our best chance of getting in behind their defenders. Unfortunately, when one of your targets is Zenden, there's only so much that can be done. I thought it was a classic game of Alonso doing all the unsung things well, yet people moaning that he wasn't contributing anything. Mascherano, too, had a decent game but he was in tough dealing with Joe Cole's clever little runs and constant movement.

Up top, I agree that this was not a game for Bellamy. Unfortunately, most games with little space for him to run in aren't and that's why I think he'll be surplus to requirements next season. We need a striker with equivalent pace but who can also do more in tight spaces. Kuyt, as usual worked hard but rarely looked a goal threat. Too often he showed for the ball deep in "the hole," spread the play to Zenden and then failed to get into the box for the return ball. Crouch did alright but I agree with Ivor--Chelsea can handle the speculative high ball into the box quite well (at both ends of the pitch) and there were very few whipped crosses for him to get on the end of.

This thing's still salvageable but we really need to up our game in all areas of the pitch next week. Going at them hammer and tongs for a goal is necessary (because we're p!ss poor at creating late goals) but we can't afford to get hit on the counter either. I'd like to see 4-1-4-1 with Gerrard and Alonso playing ahead of Mascherano and Pennant and Riise out wide, with Crouch up top. What price a fit Luis Garcia or Harry Kewell now?

by **destro** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:57 pm

Right now its all over and all the knee jerks have had their say i thought i would add my two pennys worth

First of all the main reason why we didnt play well tonight....Rafa for the first time in Europe got his tactics wrong, im not saying Bellamy was poor he just didnt get the service he needs. He was picked tonight because Rafa expected Chelsea to play a different way ( more high up the pitch ) Rafa got it wrong but lets blame Bellamy because its easier :no

Zenden, already slated before he kicked a ball tonight, would of loved him to have got a hat trick and shut a few people on here up but unfourtunately he didnt even get a hat trick of crosses into the box without hitting the first man, was he put in the team for his experience,to track back, to not be so easily knocked off the ball ( see Gonzo ).

Whatever the reason it didnt work ...Rafa got it wrong

Alonso apart from giving away free kicks and trying hollywood balls he was almost non-existant, ive read a few posts that say he was ok, he wasnt even close to ok

Agger, was given a torrid time by Drogba and showed that he still has a bit to learn, Carra should of picked Drogba and left Agger with Shevchenko as it was obvious he wasnt up to it

Gerrard, what is the point in playing him on the right when he drifts all over the pitch to dictate the game and leaves us short, i mentioned it earlier on when the ball crossed in it ran out of play on the right, mainly because Gerrard was taking a corner from the left !!

Leave the corners and get on the edge of the box or at the back post for ALL the over hit crosses/corners

Arebola, tracked Cole all the way back to inside the box then chose to run behind him to cut out a ball he was never going to get to, another one who will learn a lot from tonights game

Mascherano, strong in the tackle and in keeping his passing simple, but was a little over run due to the absence of Xabi. Lucky not to give a penalty away because the new rules clearly state HANDBALL OUTSIDE THE BOX is a penalty ( Jose you are a muppet )

Carra prob man of the match for me, could of got across to help Agger and double up on Drogba for the goal but then again he probabaley thought ( like i did ) Agger had it under control

Kuyt, ran around looking busy like he always does, so what. nobody called for him to be subbed ?

Riise, expected more of a goal threat from him ( he likes to score against Chelsea) not really with it tonight, one mistake almost cost us another goal !

Reina, couple of great saves not much he could of done with the goal on a par with Carra for MOTM

And there we have , we lost but its only halftime with the right team selection,tactics and mentality ( and the crowd behind us)i dont see why we cant turn this around next tuesday

by **SuperScouser** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:57 pm

Why Play zenden in such a big match as this ?? As soon as crouch came on thought we played alot better... just have t do the business at anfield with the migty Kop behide us

by **ivor_the_injun** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:57 pm

Stu.Murph wrote:
ivor_the_injun wrote:Tonight was the biggest example this season of how much we're missing a fit and firing Harry Kewell. He would've murdered Ferreira out there tonight.

Tonight showed a hell of a lot more than that mate.

A hell of a lot more.

In particular, Arbeloa, Agger, Zenden, Crouch, Bellamy and Kuyt for what they really are.

I don't think so. Most of those players are better than they showed tonight. The supply to the strikers was terrible, and they were generally well dealt with by Terry and Carvalho.

A hungry Joe Cole is a big test for any right back, and Arbeloa suffered tonight. Worse than that though, his passing went, and he just got stuck in his own half. When he asserts himself and has confidence, he looks a better player. I'd like to think he'll be better for the experience.

Ditto Agger. Drogba's a f*cking handful, and don't forget he's muscled Carra out of games before. Don't remember anyone righting him off after that.

Bellamy I do have reservations about, but - again - there was no supply tonight. If he'd timed his runs better early first half there were some promising balls from deep, but after he was caught offside 2 or 3 times he just disappeared from the game.

Crouch is a good player, but he's only as good as the supply he gets. When the ball is fizzed in for him to run at, he can be excellent. When he gets it on the deck with a bit of space, he can be excellent. When it's dinked up with nothing on for him other than try and guide it goalwards from 15 yards out with a defender round his neck, he looks limited. But then who doesn't?

What we got from Zenden tonight is roughly what I'd have expected from Zenden out on the wing. Throw ins. Zenden vs Gonzalez for a spot in the team isn't exactly inspiring, but that's what happens when injuries hit. People on the board tonight are noting his deficiencies because he had the ball a hell of a lot. I'd prefer to see the fact that he kept getting on the ball as a good thing - at least it means someone completed a pass. Kuyt hasn't had much stick because most passes in his direction were in the air at a comfortable height for the defenders, so he rarely had anything to work with.

by **The Manhattan Project** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:04 pm

Disappointing.

The defender botched when he allowed Joe Cole to get past him.

Still 1-0 is not a disaster. It can be overturned at Anfield.

by **Dundalk** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:06 pm

We are 11/2 outsiders to win it now

by **ivor_the_injun** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:06 pm

I'll take those odds. :cool:

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