The Offical Liverpool - Milan Champions League Final Thread (before during & afters)

MisterAnarchy

fullstop wrote:

Sky sports gave Gerrard 9/10 and Zenden 7/10 :eek: Bit generous there methinks

Says it all really.Rose tinted glasses.
Liverpool were the better team in the first half but Milan were the better team throughout the tournament.

evad_lhorg

3 English teams in the semis and not one of them could do it :rolleyes:

Chelsea or United would have demolished Milan tonight.

BaZmO*

~Rebel~ wrote:

ugh i know. should be some ruling against exams the morning after the champions league final! at least its my last one.

Are you still here?

BaZmO*

evad_lhorg wrote:

Chelsea or United would have demolished Milan tonight.

What are you on? Did someone spike your drink in the pub?

kaisersose77

I hope your being sarcastic, even as a Man U supporter, i'd say Utd would probably have done worse.

Little-Devil

leninbenjamin wrote:

so was Kuyt playing in defense then? and did Crouch not play along side Kuyt later on or was I imagining it?

Kuyt was never near gerrard when the ball was played forward and Crouch was on for how long :rolleyes: .

Liverpool not good enough on the night, Rafa playng to cautious as usual and payed the price. Harry Kewell has played 45min all season and comes on for a 35minutes in the biggest game of the season. Liverpool fans are so fickle, every week at anfield they slag kewell and tonight they where calling for him.
Bellamy not given a chance tonight.

johnor

Man U fan here, got to be honest wanted milan to win and thought they would win more convincingly - they seemed unprepared for liverpool to come at them as they did. Liverpool had a great deal of the play over the whole game, clsoing down and fighting did really well, lacked that class i felt especially on the wings to really hurt milan when they were on top. Kaka was very quite, then that pass through for inzaghi I guess thats why he can be considered one of the best if not the best(an argument I cant stand as form is temporary and to class one player as the best is silly imo). League should be interesting next year, likes of pennant, kewell and zendan dont have that extra touch of class, i mean they had a significant amount of the ball and they had some space to hurt milan. Any talk of milan being lucky and liverpool deserving the win is silly, thats what a cup is, a league evens itself out over a season and the cream rises to the top.

Mitch Connor

evad_lhorg wrote:

3 English teams in the semis and not one of them could do it :rolleyes:

Chelsea or United would have demolished Milan tonight.

i reckon United could have provided more of a threat going forward, but our midfield and defence probably would have given the Milan players a lot more space.

I would have fancied United to do better against a Milan team playing like that then how they played when we played them at the San Siro, but it has to be said Mascherano was a big part of the reason Kaka wasn't involved for the most part of the game, and we don't have a player to play that role, or at least we decided not to tell anyone to do it in either game of the Semi.

jank

Well that makes up for 2005 me thinks......
Milan deserved it overall

Let rafa splash the money now..

leninbenjamin

Little-Devil wrote:

Kuyt was never near gerrard when the ball was played forward and Crouch was on for how long :rolleyes: .

well your first post implied that there were no liverpool strikers on the pitch for the duration of the match.

the only reason Kuyt was forced so deep was that the rest of the team were feckin useless at getting the ball to him. they never saw the early ball over the top, or the through ball etc.

Crouch should have started though alright. 15mins certainly wasn't enough.

Little-Devil

leninbenjamin wrote:

well your first post implied that there were no liverpool strikers on the pitch for the duration of the match.

the only reason Kuyt was forced so deep was that the rest of the team were feckin useless at getting the ball to him. they never saw the early ball over the top, or the through ball etc.

Crouch should have started though alright. 15mins certainly wasn't enough.

What i ment to say was Gerrard is not a striker, but yeh he was liverpool's futherest player tonight and Kuyt is not an out and out striker for liverpool. Gerrard and Kuyt are not the best players in the air.

I agree i think Benitez made a mistake tonight. Pennant had loads of the ball first but was running around circles for 90minutes and held on to the ball far to long at times. Rafa should have gone with the team below and formation as well with Gerrard.

Reina

Finnan - Carragher - Agger - Arbelo

Gerrard - Mascherano - Alonso - Riise

Kuyt - Crouch

I'm a manu fan as well. Liverpool have one of the best center mid's in england probably better then Manu if i'm honest.

Edit: Not that i was shouting for liverpool ;-)

Jesus Wept

I just can't understand why the Ref blows it up 50 seconds early (I also thought thought there would be more than 3 mins injury time).

People will correctly say 'It probably wouldn't of made any difference'

I agree the odds are againest it, but there is no reason whatsoever to leave that doubt in anyones mind, play the last minute of the game, it's not a boxing match, no ones life is in danger.

---

I can't understand why it took until the 75th minute till we put Crouch on, we never threw everything at it, we went down without our usual fight.

I don't understand why Rafa swapped Arbeloa for Finnan with 2 minutes to go.

redspider

AC Milan 2-1 Liverpool

AC Milan:
Dida
Oddo, Nesta, Maldini, Jankulovski (Kaladze 79)
Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Seedorf (Favalli 90)
Kaka
Inzaghi (Gilardino 88)

Subs Not Used: Kalac, Cafu, Serginho, Brocchi.
Booked: Gattuso, Jankulovski.
Goals: Inzaghi 45, 82.

Liverpool:
Reina
Finnan (Arbeloa 88), Carragher, Agger, Riise
Alonso, Mascherano (Crouch 78)
Pennant - Gerrard - Zenden (Kewell 59)
Kuyt

Subs Not Used: Dudek, Hyypia, Gonzalez, Bellamy.
Booked: Mascherano, Carragher.
Goals: Kuyt 89


I have to say overall, a dissapointing result in this match from a Liverpool perspective. Liverpool had the beating of this Milan team, but I felt that the selection, the effort and performance put in by certain players and the changes made by Rafa did not give Liverpool all the options that they should have had at their disposal.

The formation was a 4-2-3-1 and gave Gerrard an advanced and cenrtal yet free-roaming role which suits him as a player, in terms of style and capability. One good wideman as in Pennant and he did quite well overall I thought. However, with only one target-man and him being Kuyt, it was never going to be easy to reach him and set up a good move and create clear openings. His support player was Stevie G, however, Gerrard is rusty in this position, and who can blame him as Rafa has not played it very often all season. Gerrard tried hard but many things didnt come off.

Once again, Benitez selected Zenden on the left hand side. He is just not good enough at getting in good crosses, passes, and at being on the end of things. This has been flagged before and yet he plays him. Granted, Riise at left midfield may not have been a better option, but Gonzalez was worth a shot at some stage. Then, replacing Zenden with Kewell, oh my God ..... disaster waiting to happen and it surely did. We all know that Rafa likes Kewell, but this is ridiculous.

Milan 1-0 Liverpool
So, to the goals. Kaka won a soft free kick on the edge of the box 'fouled' by Alonso, when there was no danger. The free was taken by Pirlo but hit Inzaghi high on the arm, and it was deflected just past a trailing leg of diving Reina. Agger perhaps could have bullied Inzaghi more, but overall, a lucky goal from Milan with little blame on Liverpool. These things happen, and just before half time.

Gerrard chance
Liverpool did have a lot of the ball and created most of the half chances, indeed the stats at the end of the match showed that Milan had just 5 attempts on goal in the whole match to Liverpool's 12.

A lot of Liverpool's chances were just that, half chances. However, the Gerrard chance on 62 minutes was a clear cut chance, and should have been put away. Stevie must have been kicking himself afterwards as his shot was too tame, too weak, side footed on the deck when it should have been curled around to the far post and with more pace. This was a case of the 'one that got away'. I think that if Liverpool scored that chance, that they would have taken heart and gone on to win the match, whether in extra time or penalties. But such is football, and games like these with so few clear cut chances, means that when you get a chance and if you dont take it, it can and is the difference between winning and losing.

AC Milan 2-0 Liverpool
The clock was ticking down and I felt that Liverpool werent being adventurous enough. Mind you, with Kewell going into dead-ends and giving the ball away cheaply, a lot of posession was lost. Kewell was 'involved' in Milans 2nd goal. He lost a tackle in midfield, got a knock, but his covering position was covered by Kuyt. Then the ball went back to the centre of the field and Kuyt and Kewell 'switched', except that they didnt. Kewell didnt fill back. Milan then fed the ball to Kaka, who was unmarked and had space. Agger approached him but stood off him and gave him 3 yards. Riise had an eye on the Milan player on the wing but was very flat-footed and ended up standing and ball-watching. And a jaded Jamie Carragher looked to catch Inzaghi offside. However, Kaka threaded the ball through, Inzaghi did his curve run and was this found free in the box and onside, and I have to say that an alert Riise should have and could have stuck out a leg if he tried to intercept that pass. Agger too should have been closer to Kaka. And in an instant, Inzaghi worked an angle with one touch on Reina and slid it under him with another. Even then the Liverpool backs IF they had have sprinted back as soon as Inzaghi turned may have made it back on time to clear off the line. But they hadnt, and the ball tickled into an empty net. But in that couple of secs, the Liverpool defence as a unit switched off. An unfortunate conincidence, although it must be remarked that Mascherano was off the field at the time. Liverpool seemed to be beaten before the ball went in.

AC Milan 2-1 Liverpool
To be fair to the Liverpool players they did come back another time. Sometimes I dont know how professional players do it. I know that I personally would have found such a situation hard to go all out for a goal in a seemingly hopeless situation. But they did. The goal came from little, a corner, a header on by Agger in the box and Kuyt free at the far post 3 yards out where he headed across. It was a consolation only.

Game finished early
Liverpool didnt get a good effort off after that. They tried, but the moves broke down, even Stevie G lost the ball inexplicably in the middle of a move. 3 mins were added, Milan used up 1 min of that with a sub, which surely should warrant an extra 30 secs at least, and the ref blew up a full 15 secs early. That 45 seconds difference may have prevented Liverpool from having one last gasp effort. They didnt get it, and that was a point that Rafa raised with the officials afterwards, and even Platini when accepting his runners-up medal.

Congratulations to Milan. They are a team which have a lot of good players, and its amazing that the likes of Maldini are still playing at such a high level at the grand old age of 38, and nearly 39! The old men of Milan deserve their moment of glory, as well as their younger talents such as Kaka.

Overall, Liverpool did okay, but its frustating to lose a final when it was possible even to play better players and a better selection.

Rafa's Mistakes
I would have put Crouch on much earlier, such as 60 mins, probably for Kuyt and left Mascherano on. This would have given Liverpool a viable target up front. There is also a valid argument that Crouch should have been played from the start.

I would not have put on Kewell for Zenden. I would have put on Gonzalez.

If losing and with 10 mins left, I would have probably put on Bellamy. Perhaps taking either Agger off or Alonso.


would have's, should have's, could have's .....

It wasnt to be. All we can do is hope that the club can do things a bit better next season.

Redspider

Little-Devil

The-Rigger wrote:

I just can't understand why the Ref blows it up 50 seconds early fight.

It was actually 18 seconds Ac had a throw in when the ref blew for full - time.

Jesus Wept

Little-Devil wrote:

It was actually 18 seconds Ac had a throw in when the ref blew for full - time.

yes, it was 92:42 on the clock, and they made a substitution during injury time, which to the letter of the law is 30 seconds added on.

= 48 seconds.


Even it had been 18 seconds, it should be played, it was 48 seconds.

Bateman

Is the 30 seconds per substitute a law or a directive? Can someone clear this up to prevent stupid mickie excuses passing for fact??

2005 Champions League
Nowhere in the Premiership

2006 FA Cup
Nowhere in the Premiership

2007 Nothing
Nowhere in the Premiership

The Rafalution is complete.

Little-Devil

The-Rigger wrote:

yes, it was 92:42 on the clock, and they made a substitution during injury time, which to the letter of the law is 30 seconds added on.

= 48 seconds.


Even it had been 18 seconds, it should be played, it was 48 seconds.

The Ref had already indicated a minimum of 3minutes, Rafa Clutching at straws there. I think Rafa was settleing for 2-1 when he brought on Arbelo .

Jesus Wept

Little-Devil wrote:

The Ref had already indicated a minimum of 3minutes, Rafa Clutching at straws there. I think Rafa was settleing for 2-1 when he brought on Arbelo .

I think they are totally seperate. It wouldn't matter if Rafa put on 10 Carraghers.

They game should be played out, tell me one good reason not too?

I would have exactly the same viewpoint if I was a neutral.

Little-Devil

I agree you with you, just winding you up. The rules state its a "minimum" of (ie) say three minutes like tonights game, so the fact Benitez made a sub durning extra time, there should have being an extra 48sec's played.

I expect Benitez/liverpool to sign at least 5 quality players this summer and Bellamy, Zenden, Kewell, ( Gonzallez, i have it on good authority ) he's going back on loan to spain and not permanent. Pennant, Hyypia, Fowler and Dudek to all leave.

Unlucky tonight liverpoolfc, i expect you tho to have a bigger and better season next season.

Bateman

Does the fourth official "advise" the referee as to how many minutes "should be played", or does he actually instruct him?

fullstop

Bateman wrote:

Does the fourth official "advise" the referee as to how many minutes "should be played", or does he actually instruct him?

The ref signals to the 4th official how many minutes will be played and he just conveys this to the crowd.

redspider

Bateman wrote:

Is the 30 seconds per substitute a law or a directive? Can someone clear this up to prevent stupid mickie excuses passing for fact??

2005 Champions League
Nowhere in the Premiership

2006 FA Cup
Nowhere in the Premiership

2007 Nothing
Nowhere in the Premiership

The Rafalution is complete.

I dont think its a law. These are guidelines and Ref's may or may not implement them correctly. I dont think there is a case for complaint unless the Ref gets it wrong by much more than 1 min, and closer to 2 mins. In such situations, the 4th official and Ref's assistants should step in (and would have), converse with the Ref and get the game played out to the full. With just 15 secs on the normal clock, no chance.

In terms of the 'Rafalution', you paint Liverpools achievements a bit too pessimistically. Its more like:

2005 Champions League Winners
5th in the Premiership 58 pts (money-wise, 2m behind winners)
League Cup Runners-Up

2006 FA Cup Winners
Champions League - Last 16
3rd in the Premiership 82 pts (money-wise, 1m behind winners)

2007 Champions League Runners-Up
3rd in the Premiership 68 pts (money-wise, 1m behind winners)

Not too bad, but obviously with room for improvement!

Redspider

jesus_thats_gre

Bateman wrote:

Is the 30 seconds per substitute a law or a directive? Can someone clear this up to prevent stupid mickie excuses passing for fact??

2005 Champions League
Nowhere in the Premiership

2006 FA Cup
Nowhere in the Premiership

2007 Nothing
Nowhere in the Premiership

The Rafalution is complete.

Rofl. Would normally ignore these posts but its too easy... Actually no, I won't bother. There are actually many things that I could point out that I couldn't actually construct a proper sentence out of them all. A few hints though - how much have Chelsea spent to buy the league and isn't it a shame that no matter what you do, you can't seem to buy the trophy that ye really want.

Chelsea will never have the history or heritage that Liverpool FC has and you will always be a small club compared to us, Manchester United and Arsenal..



Fair played to AC Milan tonight. They played a good game tonight and Liverpool's weaknesses were clear for all to see. It was always going to take a set piece or a mistake to determine how the tie panned out.

Bateman

redspider wrote:

I dont think its a law. These are guidelines and Ref's may or may not implement them correctly. I dont think there is a case for complaint unless the Ref gets it wrong by much more than 1 min, and closer to 2 mins. In such situations, the 4th official and Ref's assistants should step in (and would have), converse with the Ref and get the game played out to the full. With just 15 secs on the normal clock, no chance.

In terms of the 'Rafalution', you paint Liverpools achievements a bit too pessimistically. Its more like:

2005 Champions League Winners
5th in the Premiership 58 pts (money-wise, 2m behind winners)
League Cup Runners-Up

2006 FA Cup Winners
Champions League - Last 16
3rd in the Premiership 82 pts (money-wise, 1m behind winners)

2007 Champions League Runners-Up
3rd in the Premiership 68 pts (money-wise, 1m behind winners)

Not too bad, but obviously with room for improvement!

Redspider

"Money-wise" ah come on, the phrase "clutching at straws" is beginning to sounds more and more apt for Liverpool fans these days. Who appointed you judge of how many million a point is worth? :rolleyes:

Bateman

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Rofl. Would normally ignore these posts but its too easy... Actually no, I won't bother. There are actually many things that I could point out that I couldn't actually construct a proper sentence out of them all. A few hints though - how much have Chelsea spent to buy the league and isn't it a shame that no matter what you do, you can't seem to buy the trophy that ye really want.

Chelsea will never have the history or heritage that Liverpool FC has and you will always be a small club compared to us, Manchester United and Arsenal..



Fair played to AC Milan tonight. They played a good game tonight and Liverpool's weaknesses were clear for all to see. It was always going to take a set piece or a mistake to determine how the tie panned out.

Hint; Chelsea didn't win the league this season.

Fair play to you though, for admitting that if Liverpool were ever going to create a goal it was always going to be from a set piece. The only goal they got in the semi final was from a set piece, and when you see a slogger like Gerrard fluffing a chance like he did in the second half (not to mention Milan's 2nd), I suppose there's no escaping the realisation that Liverpool are a set piece team. Every time Liverpool threaten from open play, it almosts looks accidental, and the players almost look apologetic.

Please don't address me with the word "ye" when speaking about Chelsea. I haven't been to a game in a season and a half, and I cringe when Irish people say "we" when speaking of English teams. Cheers.

Jesus Wept

Bateman wrote:

Hint; Chelsea didn't win the league this season.

Fair play to you though, for admitting that if Liverpool were ever going to create a goal it was always going to be from a set piece. The only goal they got in the semi final was from a set piece, and when you see Gerrard fluffing a chance like he did in the second half (not to mention Milan's 2nd), I suppose there's no escaping the realisation that Liverpool are a set piece team. Every time Liverpool threaten from open play, it almosts looks accidental, and the players almost look apologetic.

Yawn.

---

I thought Gerrard's chance was a difficult angle with 2 defenders closing in, and the keeper to beat. I thought it was a missed opportunity, but not clear cut.

WhiteWashMan

evad_lhorg wrote:

3 English teams in the semis and not one of them could do it :rolleyes:

Chelsea or United would have demolished Milan tonight.

shame it was liverpool playing though, eh?

on the other hand, there does appear to have been a lot of enlgish teams in the latter stages of the competition over the past 3 or 4 years.

i really dont see what milan winning the CL proves tonight, but i certainly wouldnt use it as proof that the EPL is not one of the best leagues in the world, or that italian football is better than anyone else. its football, and results like this happen week in and week out.
i dont think pool played well tonight. i personally wanted chelsea in the final, it would have been a better game, but then again, it could have been much worse. i will never know.

i would however put money that an enlgish team will win it next year, and im thinking it will be chelsea or utd. now, that just brings us back to the silly debate about whether the 'champions' of this year are really the champions of next year, and all that rubbish!

Chucky the tree

The best footballing side on the night lost. Milan were a jok and really showed the how typically negative Italian football is. They sat back and defend for the match and realied on a lucky goal to win the match. They only got the second goal due liverpool having to attack.

This is what happens when you let team who rig matches into big competitions, they provide us with ****e through out the competition and then fluke a win.

Well done UEFA.

Jesus Wept

I agree that Milan were poor, it didn't feel like they went out and won it, it kind of just happened to them.

We didn't show our usual fight, but I think that was down to the tactics, mainly the lateness of the subs been brought in/not enough attacking subs, we didn't throw enough at it imo... :mad:

Trippie

p_larkin99 wrote:

So you think he's correct in saying tht both Italy winning the world cup and Milan winning the CL is "not good for Italian soccer"?

i cannot understand how you can agree with what he was saying, surely these type of events are likely to raise the status of Italian football - therefore potentially attract investment then takeovers and other issuells that you are talking about?

the fact there is no tv deal, billionaire takeovers or big name players going there has nothing to do with what he was talking about - winning those 2 competitions!

is the amount of billionaire takeovers the sign of a prospering domestic league these days? in fact berlusconi,moratti and the agnelli family are some of the wealthiest people around so who could take over from them


i was also under the impression ronaldinho was interested in coming to milan and the fact that eto'o would come to italy well before england would suggest the name players consider italy to be better than egaknd although england does have the big name players like hardgreaves flocking to it so perhaps you are right

Chucky the tree

Trippie wrote:

is the amount of billionaire takeovers the sign of a prospering domestic league these days? in fact berlusconi,moratti and the agnelli family are some of the wealthiest people around so who could take over from them


i was also under the impression ronaldinho was interested in coming to milan and the fact that eto'o would come to italy well before england would suggest the name players consider italy to be better than egaknd although england does have the big name players like hardgreaves flocking to it so perhaps you are right

Who gave you that impression? The sun? Its definitely true then.:rolleyes:

YeatsCounty

Chucky the tree wrote:

This is what happens when you let team who rig matches into big competitions, they provide us with ****e through out the competition and then fluke a win.

Please provide actual proof to back up your statement. Milan were not even charged with fixing matches. They were tried for not stopping a liason arguing with an Italian refereeing official that an official at a previous Milan match was poor from his point of view. It should not have been done but it was not "match fixing".

And as for "provide us with ****e through out the competition", did you see the games against Manchester United at all then? :rolleyes: Also, they didn't "fluke" a win tonight. Milan most certainly were second best in the first half but they took their chances and half chances when they had to. Liverpool didn't. In 2005, Milan dominated the entirety of the game except for six minutes, so I could argue that Liverpool "fluked" that win. Except I don't because they had the guts to hang on and finish the job. A little respect, please.

PHB

Milan were incredible through the compo, and beat United, Bayern, and just there, Liverpool.

Very impressive tourney for them. The 3-0 beating of United was the best performance from any team I've seen in a while.

As for Liverpool playing the better football, while they dominated possession in the first half, they couldn't do jack **** with it. Indeed, in their whole match, the best chance they had was Gerrards, and that was largely due to luck. If they had created lots of chances and not scored I could accept they were the stronger team. But they passed it around alot, never really pushing forward, and when they did, they lost the ball.
Liverpool over-extended themselves in the first half, Gerrard was wrecked by the 60th minute, that was their game plan though, early goal and defend for 90 minutes, but they couldn't score, so they just got tired. Once they started to get tired, Milan came into the game.

shane86

Disappointed. Liverpool played their heart out and the first goal was the luckiest Ive seen in a while, Id say when it whacked off Inzaghi he initially thought he had fecked it up, wasnt a chance of Reina reading that situation. However thought he poorly read it re the second goal.

Never hugely rated Pennant before, but he on fire last night, I havent a clue what the RTE lads were criticising his performance for, tied with Kaka for best on the night. Kaka was unlucky not to score himself, he was the only AC player who really struck me as brilliant. Have to say Rafa was a bit dodge last night. Kewell was woeful, and I think they kept the below par (on the night) Gerrard on only because he is captain, which is not a good enough reason. Think Bellamy would have been a wise choice, and I still think Crouch is tired after that head knock weeks back. Had to feel sorry for Dudek on the bench.

btw did some relative of Pennants go missing during the match or something? Some announcement was made for a kid of 11 odd with the same surname, from Nottingham. Maybe the Milan lads got some bird to pretend to be his mother, get the announcement made to throw him off concentration

The Muppet

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Rofl. Would normally ignore these posts but its too easy... Actually no, I won't bother.

Ah go on. I'll only get in trouble if I do it.;)

Says a multitude though when you get "fans" quantifying success in monetary terms. You can't put money in the trophy room.

Pennant ran his heart out but the end product was very poor.

cournioni

I'm not trolling here, but did anyone notice how shít Gerrard was last night? I'd say he had about two passes that found a Liverpool player. The rest were just Gerrard at his best, overhitting passes, trying to blast the ball and hitting it well wide/over. Wasteful wasn't the word for him last night.

Mascherano was by far Liverpool's best player last night. Quality player.

iregk

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

how much have Chelsea spent to buy the league and isn't it a shame that no matter what you do, you can't seem to buy the trophy that ye really want.

Replace Chelsea with Liverpool there and it works just as well!!!!

On last nights game I find it funny the posts stating Milan were dire, fluked it and Liverpool should have one. As PHB said, Liverpool did an Arsenal. Lots of posession, lots of passing but not really doing anything with the ball. How many chances did they have the entire game? About 5?

Milan played them tactically. Sat back when they could do and picked them off on the break. Some say thats negative, I call it tactics. Milan created the better chances and scored from two of them. To say they have been poor all comp is hillarious and deserves to have his post removed from this thread. They have been the best and most beautiful to watch team in it this year and deserve to lift the trophy.

2 years ago, they dominated the game and had 6 mins where they switched off and lost it. Thats what happens at this level. Last night they never switched off and didn't allow Liverpool in.

p.pete

Well done Milan. Liverpool played well and got some chances which they unfortunately didn't take. By the end of the game we were flat on our feet and if we had got an equaliser it wouldn't have gone to penalties as Milan easily had the beating of us at that stage...

d22ontour

Chucky the tree wrote:

They only got the second goal due liverpool having to attack.

Yes shame on Milan for having the lead and forcing Liverpool to try and break them down which they couldn't do, maybe if they brought Crouch on earlier or even started him then they could have hoofed it all game ? But thats not the pass and move style of Liverpoool or is it ???

Tusky

When I saw the teamsheet my first thought was 'who is going to score the goals?'. The only player I had any confidence in scoring was Gerrard. Zenden, Pennant, Alonso, Mascherano or Kuyt have hardly been prolific scorers in the Champions league. Kewell is a goal scorer but it would be a bit much to ask of him as he is coming back from injury.

Looking at the Liverpool squad, they dont have enough goal scorers and that is something that needs to be mended this summer.

Overall I thought Liverpool were the better team. Dominated in the first half but couldnt do anything with it. Very unluck to concead a goal at the end of the first half in that mannor, im not even sure it was a free kick in the first place. In the second half I felt that Liverpool ran out of steam and ideas. Gerrard looked knackered.

gucci

id have to agree that pennant "played his heart out" but it was all hustle and bustle and no end product, too often he over or underhit crosses and had beaten a man with a few in the box and wastefully passed it short to finnan.

rafa's substitiutions didnt help 'pool in the slightest lasnite, although zenden had to be taken off, that was fair enough, but pennant or alonso should have made way for crouch not mascherano, who i thought was our best player. his tackleing and winning back of possesion was tremendous and i just had a sinking feeling in my heart that they would get another goal after taking him off. the play for that second goal was the only time in the match that milan got time on the ball with NO pressure, because others were tiring and of course Harry Kewell was on the pitch for all of about 15mins at that stage so he wasnt capable of focusing on a tackle. all kewell seemed to want to do when he came on was get gattusso sent off.....which was never going to happen.

All round a good performance by liverpool, just lacking up front, but we won the champions league 2 years ago without much up front too.




Hands up who thought arebola was gonna be the one to get us the equaliser!??!

raven136

The simple fact about last night is that Rafa has been working miracles not having a goalscorer in the squad and last night was just a step too far.Our defence and midfield are excellent but we badly need a centre forward.
Zenden playing says it all about our lack of squad depth,Kewell threw himself to the ground constantly when he came on and Gonzalez has been a major disappointment.
Pennant played well without having decent end product but if a more quality player is available then he should be signed.

Mitch Connor

raven136 wrote:

The simple fact about last night is that Rafa has been working miracles not having a goalscorer in the squad

who's fault is that though - he is the one that bought Bellemy, Fowler, Kuyt and Crouch.

shane86

PORNAPSTER wrote:

I'm not trolling here, but did anyone notice how shít Gerrard was last night? I'd say he had about two passes that found a Liverpool player. The rest were just Gerrard at his best, overhitting passes, trying to blast the ball and hitting it well wide/over. Wasteful wasn't the word for him last night.

Half agree. He wasnt on top of his game, seemed more to be taking sloppy half chance shots on goal than anything. As said, I dont think the fact hes captain should mean he is immune from being taken off. I think Rafa was gambling that one of his crap shots might bounce in. I think Liverpool were marginally better on the night and it was sad to see them go down. Pennant was top class (wtf were RTE lads on about?). In fairness Kaka was the only Milan player who wowed me. Seedorf was very average imo.

raven136

Tauren wrote:

who's fault is that though - he is the one that bought Bellemy, Fowler, Kuyt and Crouch.

think we all expected more from Bellamy,i thought he would be our pacy goalscorer but he has been a complete flop.Kuyt does his job and Crouch ofers a different option

raven136

shane86 wrote:

In fairness Kaka was the only Milan player who wowed me. Seedorf was very average imo.

disagree with that totally,he barely touched the ball,masch had him totally and only when he went off did Kaka do anything

Mitch Connor

raven136 wrote:

think we all expected more from Bellamy,i thought he would be our pacy goalscorer but he has been a complete flop.Kuyt does his job and Crouch ofers a different option

don't know why you expected more from Bellamy to be honest, he has been a hit and miss striker all along his career; and i don't know why Kuyt was bought - he is not prolific and what he does bring to the table was already there in Crouch imo.

mada999

I thought Liverpool played very well and were the better team...
Milan got lucky with the first goal...the second goal was a quality..

Liverpool's attacking quality was exposed last night, it's a pity we didnt have more quality up front as Milan were there for the taking....

YNWA...

Mr. Presentable

shane86 wrote:

Pennant was top class

This may be why English football is so unattractive to me. Pennant was not "top class", what he was was hard working and athletic. The guy has no real technical ability, no guile, no class. And yes, I am aware that football is about winning, so 11 big athletes with power and pace will beat 11 technically skilled flair players, but that's not the football I want to see.

quarryman

some hilarious excuses here.

The ref didn't give us our last 30 seconds.
The best footballing sided lost.
1st goal was lucky
Negative Italian football.

Great stuff guys.

Its simple, the best footballing side won. I lost count of the amount of times Milan short-passed their way out of their own box. It was awesome to see a team with that much confidence and skill to match.

Liverpool could have kept the ball all night and punted in sh*t crosses, bread and butter for Maldini and Nesta. Milan were happy for them to have possession and then take it back.

Sure the first goal was a deflection but you have to be pressuring to win the free in the first place, I don't remember Liverpool getting a similar chance.

Milan are and were a class above that Liverpool side. Had Liverpool provided some actual goal scoring chances Milan would simply have upped their game and scored another.

There was no 'luck' about the result despite what some think here.
Milan: deserved winners.

The best footballing side on the night lost. Milan were a jok and really showed the how typically negative Italian football is. They sat back and defend for the match and realied on a lucky goal to win the match. They only got the second goal due liverpool having to attack.

This is what happens when you let team who rig matches into big competitions, they provide us with ****e through out the competition and then fluke a win.

Well done UEFA.

ha, blaming UEFA now!

Milan sat back and soaked it up sure but did not rely on a lucky goal. The longer liverpool went without getting a goal (or even a shot) the more likely AC were to score. As the game got stretched and Liverpool needed a goal the easier it became for AC.

Tactically perfect: credit to Ancelotti.