C5 @ 19:00 tonite - Cologne v Liverpool

ButcherOfNog

1st preseason friendly

StickyMcGinty

great... except i dont have channel 5

any chance of sky being able to show the highlights? sometimes they dont have the rights to

Ronan|Raven

I had originally planned to goto the match over there as I have family in Koln. It was an ok game a typical preseason game especaially the first pre season game. Emile got a good goal and then missed an easy one Rest of the game was a formality. 10 changes at half time with only Biscan staying on for both halves. Also being a Fortuna Koln fan it's always nice to see our snobby neighbours getting beat

mike65

Yes but did Kewell weave his magic around the left side....?!

Mike.

PiE

Didn't see it myself but apparently Kewell played on both wings. He set up the second goal and set up an easy tap-in for Mellor but he missed. Good start :]

Neither of the french lads got on the pitch though, did they?

StickyMcGinty

finnan didnt get on either i dont think. Kewell was predominantly on the right, and di some nice flicks and that. I HEARD SMICER WAS ON FIRE!!!!! class act so i hear. i had a friend at the game

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N140959030716-2107.htm

this link has a match description. see the starting back 4:

Babbel

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Biscan

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Hyypia

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Vignal

??

Ronan|Raven

Originally posted by PiE

Neither of the french lads got on the pitch though, did they?

They still have to recieve work permits....

Kewell only for 45 minutes of the game but he did play some nice passes and a few good crosses from the wing, id have liked to see more play down the wings but it is the first "real" game together and we still played pretty much our old style. All will change in time... Or will it!?

mike65

I see that Marcus Babbel played the first half and Finnan did'nt play at all....whether that means anything is another matter!

Mike.

Wolf

For a objective point of view I felt there were some massive plus points for Liverpool and some rather major down points.

First the plus points which there are many.

Marcus Babble looked one of the best players on the pitch be far. His touch controll and composer were first class. When he got down the wing he really did look first rate!

The two losers Diouf and Diao look ed massively improved, even tho Diao still gave the ball away like a muppet, at times he looked more like the player Liverpool thought they were buying. Diouf, however, was massivly improved. He work some great play down the right hand wing and looked a dangerous throughout the first half.

A good game from Owen after a lack luster season last season was another good omen.

Bad points would be that the defence looked weak at times, which is something Liverpool shouldnt have problems with. Even dispite the goal Heskey still looked terriable.

Smicer also desipte getting some shots away was like last season getting the shots in but not even threating the keepers.

Also, the other main point is that Cologne aren't much of a measure of Liverpool. Most of the top six teams I feel would have looked more in controll from the word go and would have destroyed Cologne.

But still alot of good plus points there esp Babble and Diouf.

Bannor

Reds explain reasons for absent trio (Official Site)

Liverpool have explained why only one of this summer's four new signings were on show in Cologne last night.

Harry Kewell made his debut with a second half run-out but there was no sign of Steve Finnan or French youngsters Anthony Le Tallec and Florent Sinama-Pongolle among the 21 players who took part in the 3-1 win.

Finnan underwent a hernia operation in the summer and hasn't yet returned to full fitness while the Reds are still waiting to receive international clearance before being in a position to give Le Tallec and Pongolle their first appearances in Liverpool shirts.

Djimi Traore was unavailable last night after picking up a minor hamstring strain in training.

Croatian star Igor Biscan was the only player to complete the 90 minutes in Cologne and his performance pleased the manager. Houllier said: "Igor is very quick and not many people beat him for pace. He did well."

jonno

How well did Kewell really play? Did he have a free role or did they change the wings he was playing on? Just wondering did our left wing show a bit of width or what

irishgeo

Originally posted by Bannor


Croatian star Igor Biscan was the only player to complete the 90 minutes in Cologne and his performance pleased the manager. Houllier said: "Igor is very quick and not many people beat him for pace. He did well."

Yeah apart from the guy who scored their goal.

Space Coyote

I saw highlights of teh game on tv3 sport that night, was just flicking thru the channels and they were showing it. Nice 1. Sky News mentioned teh game but didn't show goals. I noticed Smicer was creating chances, bad bad sign. He always plays pretty well in pre-season, trains like a demon and then performs like a bag of cats for teh rest of the season. Take that jersey off him quick. From what Wolf said, it's good to hear that teh Senegalese lads looked well improved. And Babbel !? Is he gonna be playing this season or what? One minute he's out teh door, the next...

eyerer

to whoever moans about the performance, it was a pre-season friendly, not a competetive match
houllier fielded a different team for each half with only biscan playing the 90, some of the better players played seperately e.g. hyypia in the first half and henchoz in the second

kewell started on the right for 10-15mins, hardly touched the ball, came over to the left and got more involved some decent passes and he got a good cross in from the left wing, but he played for 45mins without having much training, so this is no indication on how well he will perform throughout the season
good news is that he was in his own half doing some tracking back, hes been accused of being lazy

kewell didn't set up owen for the second goal, stevie gerrard did
and it was riise who crossed the ball for mellors open net, 3-yard out miss

owen looked very sharp
the best part is the lads passed the ball a lot and didn't do so much hoofing it away



my only complaint is no more of their friendlies will be shown on terrestrial tv