Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

copacetic

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Yeah sure, Gattuso's not a Fabregas or an Alonso (on his increasingly infrequent day), but he CAN pass the ball. Sissoko cannot, I'd say his pass completion rate is about 40% (that's being generous).

Its actually like he's a freakish athlete who never played football before, so he was put into football for his physical abilities with the prospect that he might learn football at some stage.

He's Forrest Gump....

I actually had a lot of time for Momo, until that shameful mis control 20 feet in the air on saturday. Never seen anything like that before..

redspider

Its the well-known problem for Liverpool in midfield. Gerrard and Alonso make a useful pairing, but when Gerrard goes forward on his forays, it leaves Alonso bare. Sissoko on the other hand doesnt get far forward. In all fairness to Sissoko, he was never a passer. He is probably worse than Gattuso in that facet. Both teams have good passers as in Pirlo and Alonso.

But to the task in hand. Barca will play 3 up front as Ronaldinho is always sort of in between those lines. Messi also likes to come from the attacking midfield line, lets call it the half-forward line. If they only play 3 in midfield, that will allow Liverpool to use the flanks more. If I was Barca, a 3-4-3 would be a risky formation but given the state of the tie they have to score 2 goals at least so there is no ponit waiting to change things at 45 mins or on 60 mins.

If we play Gerrard out 'wide' and a Riise, then that could create some chances, and certainly some breaks. I would favour Bellamy and Kuyt, especially playing against a 3-4-3, although at some stage we may get a lot of mileage from a Crouch/Puyol match-up, maybe in the last 20 mins if its still 0-0. He could certainly provid some knock-downs to another forward, Riise, Stevie G or even an Alonso if he dared tio go up to the attacjing third zone.

Barca are definitely worried and we need to remember this and keep this mindset. I sense nervousness at times though in what I hear Gerrard saying, etc, as everyone knows how dangerous Barca can be on their day and at their best. Lets hope they wont be. This is Liverpool's season so I dont blame the players for being nervous. And that wont help. Barca wont be nervous as they have nothing to lose at this point and need to save their pride. Etoo will be rusty.

If I was Rafa I would go for a 4-4-2 .... keep it simple. I think he will have to play Sissoko in the centre to just be that awkward so-and-so he is normally good at.

I'm looking forward to this one ....

Redspider

copacetic

redspider wrote:

Its the well-known problem for Liverpool in midfield. Gerrard and Alonso make a useful pairing, but when Gerrard goes forward on his forays, it leaves Alonso bare. Sissoko on the other hand doesnt get far forward. In all fairness to Sissoko, he was never a passer. He is probably worse than Gattuso in that facet. Both teams have good passers as in Pirlo and Alonso.

But to the task in hand. Barca will play 3 up front as Ronaldinho is always sort of in between those lines. Messi also likes to come from the attacking midfield line, lets call it the half-forward line. If they only play 3 in midfield, that will allow Liverpool to use the flanks more. If I was Barca, a 3-4-3 would be a risky formation but given the state of the tie they have to score 2 goals at least so there is no ponit waiting to change things at 45 mins or on 60 mins.

If we play Gerrard out 'wide' and a Riise, then that could create some chances, and certainly some breaks. I would favour Bellamy and Kuyt, especially playing against a 3-4-3, although at some stage we may get a lot of mileage from a Crouch/Puyol match-up, maybe in the last 20 mins if its still 0-0. He could certainly provid some knock-downs to another forward, Riise, Stevie G or even an Alonso if he dared tio go up to the attacjing third zone.

Barca are definitely worried and we need to remember this and keep this mindset. I sense nervousness at times though in what I hear Gerrard saying, etc, as everyone knows how dangerous Barca can be on their day and at their best. Lets hope they wont be. This is Liverpool's season so I dont blame the players for being nervous. And that wont help. Barca wont be nervous as they have nothing to lose at this point and need to save their pride. Etoo will be rusty.

If I was Rafa I would go for a 4-4-2 .... keep it simple. I think he will have to play Sissoko in the centre to just be that awkward so-and-so he is normally good at.

I'm looking forward to this one ....

Redspider

sounds about right, am very nervous, but fancy us to create a few chances with bellamy/kuyt running wide down the channels and feeding it back in for risse and gerrard coming from midfield. Or the other way with early balls short inside to draw a defender out then back to the passer down the line.

The question is can we put away our chances, if so we will be alright but fancy them to score at least one.

Melion

Firstly, on the Sissoko thing:
He is a great athlete and the kind of player the casual fan loves. He will give his all for the 90+ minutes, will never pull out of a tackle and will go through the opposition player to get the ball and worry about him after the ball is gone. Thats just the thing though, he cant get rid of the ball. The amount of times he gives the ball away in a match is unbelivable. The reason he has to do so much tracking and hustling is because it is normally him who gives the ball away. I remember one incident last season where he put in a class tackle, took the ball cleanly. Got up, tried to pass the ball about 10 yards but missed his target and put it out for a throw. Shocking, to say the least. He will play tonight though and even though i have slated him im glad he will play because we need him in the centre to look after Deco. Ive always said it, you stop Deco and you stop Barca. He controls everything but doesnt get the credit he deserves.

The sad thing is that Rafa really likes him because if it was down to most of us he wouldnt be anywhere near the starting 11. It should be Stevie and Xabi in the centre with Mascherano pushing them for a place. Forget all this rubbish about Gerrard on the right, he is a central midfielder so why play him out of position? Dont bother saying "But he's good out there", put Stevie in goal and he'd get a 7 or 8 out of 10 in every game. He doesnt have any influence on a game when he's on the right. It takes away a lot from our game when he is out there because he is always going into the centre being attracted to the ball, then when someone does get it and looks right there is nobody out there because Stevie has come into the middle, that means there is nobody to whip a ball into the box.

And now for tonight. This is a massive game and ive got a lot of money riding on it. The sad thing is, i cant see us keeping Barca out. I hope im wrong but they are going to be hurt after we beat them and the defeat they got against a rival for La Liga at the weekend. Dont anyone underestimate how much damage Samuel Eto'o is going to cause tonight, Carra is world class and he will need every bit of his ability tonight because he has never come up against a striker anywhere near the calibre of Eto'o(Not even Sheva in the CL final). I just hope all 11 of our players step up and play the way we all know they can.

COME ON YOU FCUKING REDMEN!!!!!!!!!!!

Tusky

leninbenjamin wrote:

:eek: he was a striker? my God! didn't hear that before... it's such a shame though that he isn't a better passer because he's fantastic at the defensive stuff. How many times do we see him breaking up an attack only to hand it to the opposing team 5 seconds later. I was really hoping that with time, being at a club like Liverpool would force him to up this aspect of his game, but each time i see him play i feel reconciled that he will never go beyond the level he's at now.

Are you absolutely insane ? The lad is 21! He is TWICE the player now than when he first came to Liverpool, he has improved immensley over the last two seasons. He was originall a squad player and now is an integral part of one of the best central midfields in europe. Give him a couple of years.

Melion

Tusky wrote:

Are you absolutely insane ? The lad is 21! He is TWICE the player now than when he first came to Liverpool, he has improved immensley over the last two seasons. He was originall a squad player and now is an integral part of one of the best central midfields in europe. Give him a couple of years.

Fair enough, he has improved an awful lot. But he has got 2 current world class players and 1 potentially world class player infront of him for the position in our midfield. And id have Mascherano ahead of him everytime in my starting 11

Tusky

Lex Luthor wrote:

it seems to me that Sissoko's return from injury and into the first team has hindered results in the last few weeks barring the Barca one.

We were doing fine with SG/XA in midfield until the partnership was split up

What about that little result in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago ? Was'nt he named man on of the match ?

PiE

Whatever about the players, but I know I certainly haven't been this nervous about a game in a long time. Even the Milan final doesn't compare to this 'cos we've got it all to lose. I hate it when we're not the underdogs.

Could see Rafa going with that odd 3-5-2 formation he's tried a few times to combat Barca's 3 up front, but I'd really hate us to go into this game on the defensive. I hope we go at them from the off. If we attack like we did against Juve 2 seasons back, we could easily get a goal or 2. Barca's defence is no great shakes, even Puyol is only half the defender Carra is.

Can't wait for tonight.

Melion

Am i the only not nervous?

I think Barca will score, no question about that. But so will we. I said that we'd do them in the Nou Camp and nobody believed me. Ive got a massive bet (€500)on us winning the CL outright this year. The only team im worried about knocking us out is Inter and they probably wont get through tonight anyway.

Chucky the tree

Sissoko is essential in the team. If we just have Alonso and Gerrard in midfield, the top teams would piss all over us. Barca would of easily won in the Nou camp if we didnt have Sissoko playing.

redspider

PiE wrote:

Could see Rafa going with that odd 3-5-2 formation he's tried a few times to combat Barca's 3 up front

Please God No!

Dont be nervous Pie, it may transmit to the players ...... !

> COME ON YOU FCUKING REDMEN!!!!!!!!!!!

aptly and succintly scribed ..... I concur.

Redspider

Melion

Chucky the tree wrote:

Sissoko is essential in the team. If we just have Alonso and Gerrard in midfield, the top teams would piss all over us. Barca would of easily won in the Nou camp if we didnt have Sissoko playing.

What????

Gerrard can do what Sissoko does a lot better than Sissoko. He is the most complete midfielder in the world, nobody can argue that. He can win tackles, track back and compete just like Mo does but when Stevie wins a ball back he doesnt give it away, he looks up and plays it out to a teammate.

I dont think many central midfield partnerships in the world come close to what we have when XA and SG are on top form.

PiE

Some balls Melion.

Yea I'm not getting all the Momo bashing lately. Ok sure, he had a bad game at the weekend, but it's not like it was his fault we lost. We've known he can't pass since he arrived. Be nice if he could, but it's not his job.

Zapp Brannigan

I'm kinda worried about tonights game. We have to play to our very best because Barca are gonna come right at us.

I can see Arbeloa starting to deal with Messi but perhaps Aurelio might be in as he too has experience of dealing with Barca (and probably Messi). Riise and Gerrard on the wings, with Xabi and Momo in the center. Though I wouldn't be disappointed to see Mascherano line up.

Melion, I think Gerrard has forgotten how to tackle. I mean didnt he let Zambrotta run past him in the 1st leg? He needs to get back to that mindset that made him the most complete midfielder and that means games in the center!

Chucky the tree

Melion wrote:

What????

Gerrard can do what Sissoko does a lot better than Sissoko. He is the most complete midfielder in the world, nobody can argue that. He can win tackles, track back and compete just like Mo does but when Stevie wins a ball back he doesnt give it away, he looks up and plays it out to a teammate.

I dont think many central midfield partnerships in the world come close to what we have when XA and SG are on top form.

When are they on top form? Gerrard and Alonso werent excactly great at Barca or the weekend either. I cant remeber the last good game they have had together against good opposition.

I cant remeber the last time Gerrard had a great performance against a top team. Hes grand against the likes of Wigan, sheff united etc etc. He still needs sissoko to help him though.

Gerrard doesnt come close to covering the ground sissoko does. neither does alonso. Neither has the fitness of Sissoko aswell. Against Barca, if it was just those 2 in midfield we would seriously struggle to get the ball of them. Sissoko can continuously harass opposition players into mistakes, he is vital too Liverpool.

Sissoko had a shocer against United. But the way people are going on you would think he is that bad every game and a completely liability to the team, which is complete bull****.

Melion

Slurms wrote:

Melion, I think Gerrard has forgotten how to tackle. I mean didnt he let Zambrotta run past him in the 1st leg? He needs to get back to that mindset that made him the most complete midfielder and that means games in the center!

He cant control where Rafa plays him. Everyone and their blind mothers can see that Stevie wants to play in the centre. I can remember one quote from Rafa saying something along the lines of "Well i cant play Xabi or Mo on the right." Why not? He is taking Gerrard and playing him out of position, why not put Xabi or Mo out there?

~Rebel~

First off, on Sissoko - I think its a bit unfair the stick he's getting on here at the moment. Since he's come back from injury he's only really played against Barca and Man U. Had one MOM performance an one terrible one. Now at the best of times i agree his passing needs work big time, but the Man U game was more of an exception, in that he was much worse then usual. Usually he'll make 3 or 4 terrible noticeable bad passes, but get the ball to a man the rest of the time, anyone. Granted, he doesnt add an attcking aspect to the team, but for what he does, he's indispensable against decent opposition. He's wasted against the likes of Watford etc though, but i think thoroughly deserves to be wheeled out to break up the top teams. When Barca get going they're like poetry in motion, anything that can disrupt and annoy them, knocking them out of rhythm is worth it. As we saw they practically gave up in the Nou Camp with frustration from Alonso and Sissoko.

Gerrard "on the wing" i think its worth it, in the big games where sissoko is played. After all Rafa has made it clear he doesnt see hmi as a winger, but as a Zidane, Ronaldinho character who is offically wide, but is essentially given a free role to attack. What is important in this role though is that where normally he would need to run back to defend, he should be running wide to collect , if its appropriate. He needs to be always on the move.

What i would love to see for next season maybe is a barca styled 4-3-3

---

Reina

Finnan----Carra---Agger---Riise

---

Mascherano

---

Alonso

---

Gerrard

--Garcia

---

Bellamy

---

Kuyt

With a question mark really over the front 3 based on the transfers, but ideally played with all 3 shifting around. From what i've read apparantly Voronin does well in a wing forward,supporting role..we'll see though.


For tonight - i have an awful feeling it will be a 1-2 and go to pens! Though in reality i could see pool getting a score draw.

(ps. sorry for length)

~Rebel~

Melion wrote:

"Well i cant play Xabi or Mo on the right." Why not? He is taking Gerrard and playing him out of position, why not put Xabi or Mo out there?

Because Gerrard has the attributes to be successful out there. Momo would be lost, he could run up and down the wing all day, but with his short passing not being great, i'd hate to see his crossing!

Alonso, like gerrard would do well im sure, but its more important he's in the middle then gerrard. He reads the game better. The system works best when Alonso can stay central and ping the ball around, as well as breaking up the opposition. Gerrard on the other hand should be the dynamic runner picking up alonso's passes deeper into opponants half and supplying either a killer ball or a pass and run to collect again. Thats probably how both would work the best, but would leave us a bit thin against decent teams. Momo means the otehr 2 can do their jobs, albeit Gerrard on a wide(ish) attacking role

Dont be at yourself

---

Reina

Finnan----Carra---Agger---Riise

---

Mascherano

---

Alonso

---

Gerrard

--Garcia

---

Bellamy

---

Kuyt

Macherano and Alonso are too similar to play together, I think. Sissoko, despite his flaws, still deserves a place in the team. Should a top class right midfielder be brought in, allowing Gerrard to move into the centre, that'd change, but until then, Alonso and Sissoko are our best option for the centre.

On tonight's game:
I'm nervous. Barcelona are a team who can turn it on when it's needed, and I'm worried they'll come out of the traps and score early, setting us up for a night of torment. That said, we outplayed them in the Nou Camp for large portions of the game, and I'm sure we can do the same at Anfield.

I'm not sure how much we should press for a goal though. One more goal for us wont change the fact that Barca have to score two, but I do wonder how long our defence can withstand a Barca in full swing.

~Rebel~

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

Macherano and Alonso are too similar to play together, I think.

I was thinking about that, but thinking bacl to Alonso at Sociadad, he working more as a full on central player. In what i said he could be more like that with Masch being the man in front of our defence. Id love to see them have a try together with Alsono a little more free, but still supporting the defence. Be class to have 2 great passers beside each other with gerrard and 2 of the front three running about. Obviously Alonso and Masch would be further away from each other in practice then i showed. Dont think they'd get in each others way really, since they both play a passing game anyway rather then a running one. (the problem with playing Lampard and Ballack, or gerrard and lampard together,) The only all action runner would be Gerrard.

Dont be at yourself

Still, a bit unbalanced to have two (three with Stevie) world class passing midfielders distributing play, with our strongest ball-winner sitting on the bench. But I guess a criticism of Liverpool is that they're often not adventurous enough in their play in comparison to Man Utd. and Arsenal, so perhaps it does deserve a try-out!

emc2

Momo to score tonight after all this bashing!!!!

jesus_thats_gre

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

I don't know how you can play a midfielder who can't pass the ball. Its a fundamental ability that he doesn't have. He's a useful battler, and can break up the opposition's play, but he offers absolutely zero in terms of attacking / play-making etc.

From the one match Mascherano has played for us, he seems to be a better prospect, able to put in a tackle, but also well able to play.

Personally I quite fancy Gerrard + Mascherano in the centre. Alonso's form hasn't been great this season either, perhaps a spell on the bench might sharpen his mind.

Maybe this is exactly why he bought Mascherano. Gerard, Alonso, Sissoko and Mascherano certainly makes for a decent centre midfield and backup anyway. Sissoko will be more than good enough for the kickfests that matches with the Bolton's and Blackburn's of the league tend to become. Sissoko is a very raw talent and still very young. It is important that we give him time to improve.

Sissoko is a very defensive player with little vision for passing.
Mascherano is slightly less defensive but is a more capable passer of the ball.
Alonso is a very balanced midfielder who has been playing a more defensive role for Liverpool. Is generally a very good passer of the ball but has been off the boil slightly.
Gerard, well we all know about Gerard.
Garcia is a very attacking midfield player with an eye for a good pass but is very sloppy in his distribution.

You can mix and match those 5 depending on the opposition and it allows for some very flexible options on the subs bench for wholesale tactical changes.

copacetic

emc2 wrote:

Momo to score tonight after all this bashing!!!!

he'll probably try to control a cross and it will go shooting off his leg into the net! (hopefully at the right end)

mike65

I heard Barca are set to field a whacky 2-5-3 formation so there'll be loads of space down the flanks - Riise on the left and Gerrard on the right with Alonso and Mascherano in the middle and Momo as enforcer just ahead of back line . Bellamy up front.

Hey it might work.

Mike.

kaimera

Jaysus lads,

Forget the bloody nerves. When it boils down to it, we are capable of taking Barca tonight. The first leg showed that, even without the dodgy keeper imo.

I feel we can win tonight, it might be a moment of magic [hopefully Bellers] or a goal mouth scramble but I believe we can. As it is, we have the current CL Champs on the ropes going into 12th round.
The lads will be fired up, it's in Anfield and the confidence it will give to knock out the Champs will be something else.
Let them play Eto, Guily, etc from the start. Carra showed in the first leg and over the weekend just how good he is.

As for Momo, he reminds me of me playing on the astro; win tackles, break up ****ing everything but can't pass for ****. He's very effective at what he does but if he keeps the passing up, he might just pass into the Garcia territory of 'bad passing'.

C'mon you reds

Chucky the tree

Reina

Finnan-Carra-Agger-Riise

Gerrard-Sissoko-Alonso-Arbeloa

Bellamy-Kuyt

kaimera

I can maybe see Pennant coming on later again.

Didn't do too bad in the first leg.

mike65

Barca playing 3 strikers with 3-4-3 formation. If Pool get down the flanks and get some decent crosses in it could be interesting.

Mike.

~Rebel~

mike65 wrote:

Barca playing 3 strikers with 3-4-3 formation. If Pool get down the flanks and get some decent crosses in it could be interesting.

Mike.

So much for Rijkard saying Rafa knew nothing after he said he thought barca would play ith 3 strikers...In Rafa we trust.

Christ i havent felt this nervous since leaving cert results day i'd say! (and thats a good 5 and a half years ago!) And on that note - off to the pub. For the love of god i hope my next post is a possitive one!

copacetic

kaimera wrote:

Jaysus lads,

Forget the bloody nerves. When it boils down to it, we are capable of taking Barca tonight. The first leg showed that, even without the dodgy keeper imo.

I feel we can win tonight, it might be a moment of magic [hopefully Bellers] or a goal mouth scramble but I believe we can. As it is, we have the current CL Champs on the ropes going into 12th round.
The lads will be fired up, it's in Anfield and the confidence it will give to knock out the Champs will be something else.
Let them play Eto, Guily, etc from the start. Carra showed in the first leg and over the weekend just how good he is.

As for Momo, he reminds me of me playing on the astro; win tackles, break up ****ing everything but can't pass for ****. He's very effective at what he does but if he keeps the passing up, he might just pass into the Garcia territory of 'bad passing'.

C'mon you reds

as sat showed, being capable and things going for you are 2 different things, hence the nerves!

Vokes

Wow, Barca's 3-4-3 looks really unbalanced - no natural left-sided midfielder at all? Finnan / Gerrard should have plenty of opportunities and time to pick their crosses hopefully.

el rabitos

sissoko is such a poor footballer its unreal, giving away the ball so often against barca is suicide. i dread to see him play against the likes of milan, they'd kill us.

on the other hand his tackle percentages must be through the roof.

over all the performance isnt good enough, we can play them off the pitch all week, but it means jack sh!t unless they're put to the sword. barca could be back in this in the space of 5 minutes and pool would be left looking like saps, a la againt man u.

need to take the chances.

Vokes

*phew*

Great team effort. Carra and Finnan were immense.

Thought Crouch was gonna score that one at the end. Oh well

Zapp Brannigan

Jesus christ we need to score more!! I mean the amount of chances we had that weren't converted.
Lucky to scrape through mainly thanks to Carra and Agger giving immense performances.

el rabitos

that was terrible on so many levels. how you can give the ball away so often and still be in the champions league is shocking.

losing 1 - 0 at anfield in that atmosphere is a bad result any way you slice it.

appologies for being mr.negative

hooray for the next round, hopefully its valencia

mike65

Vote

Mike.

copacetic

I thought we were ok in first half, created a lot more and kept them very quiet. second half was a different story, but they only had a couple of good chances and we must have had 7 or 8, so deserved it in spite of performance.

Zapp Brannigan

It was stupid taking Bellamy off, he was our biggest threat!

mike65

Hmmmm, I think Rafa must take some of the blame for the second half, he was moaning about possesion and using the flanks but he did'nt play an orthodox right winger, Gerrard will always drift inside. I would have played Pennant from the off with Gerrard at the head of a triangle with Alonso and Sissoko and one up front.

Mike.

copacetic

mike65 wrote:

Hmmmm, I think Rafa must take some of the blame for the second half, he was moaning about possesion and using the flanks but he did'nt play an orthodox right winger, Gerrard will always drift inside. I would have played Pennant from the off with Gerrard at the head of a triangle with Alonso and Sissoko and one up front.

Mike.

pennant is so crap when he comes back though, the defending on their goal was rotten.

$lattman

Although we should have won and gave the ball away way too much, I don't think it was that bad. Did anyone see Dunphy? "Gerrard has been exposed as a nothing player", "Alonso is a poor player", "Benitez has been found out tonight". Is this man having a laugh or is he really an "expert"?

mike65

Sometimes he forgets RTE is not the Daily Hack.

Mike.

redzerdrog

i really think dunphy was drunk he had to be. what a moron this man is. he is clueless.

jesus_thats_gre

God I wanted to stab Houghton!!

gary the great

Dunphy: "Liverpool were extremley fortunate tonight". Was I watching the same match? we hit the bar twice, a great chance cleared of the line, crouch had a good chance as did Stevie G. Meanwhile Reina had to do nothing - ye they scored and hit the bar, but I think barca wewre fortunate not to be beaten. He's mad that Dunphy lad.

Brady: Liverpool had no wonderful players - JC was immense tonight, as was finnan. Riise, Gerrard and Sissoko were also great. Barca have all the wonderful players in the world, but were not a team tonight. That was their downfall.

Everyone is giving out about the pool, but its not their fault BArca were crap, in fact liverpool made them look ordinary which they should be given huge credit for.

Guy:Incognito

Crouch needs shooting for his miss. The long shots hitting the bar from Riise and Sissoko are one they you can get fortunate with that, but Crouch missed 2 very good chances in the last 2 games and that isnt good enough. I never liked him or wanted him at the club and a few goals here and there that at the end of the day dont mean anything isnt going to cut it.

Pennant was crap for the goal and i dont think he slipped, i reckon he saw he ****ed up and made it look like he slipped. He did grand going forward but was a negative at the back if anything.


Fitting Gerard in around the team has to stop. Play him in his best position and then worry bout the rest.

Sissoko is a terrible footballer and I dont think breaking up play is enough to keep him in the team and being carried.

Carra, what can I say, massive, massive player. Cant be faulted as usual. What a rock to have at the back.

Alonso was missing and could proabbly do with being dropped for a bit now. Seems to be on rafas "must play" list thjough.

I just cant feel 100% confident with Reina in goal, kept expecting him to drop a cross or spill something. Not a good way to be.

kaimera

I actually thought Reina did well for what was thrown at him.

Momo was terrible; a former striker and still couldn't put the ball in an empty net!

Why the hell did Riise come off? Could have used his left foot for those last few free kicks.

Good thing to come from this is Momo is suspended for the next game.

~Rebel~

First and foremost - QUARTER FINALS!!! YEEAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!


Now. A lot of poeple saying how bad it was, but we had 3 strikers who each absolutely should have scored. Imagine the difference the game is if they all put their quite easy chances away. Granted Valdes did well with Kuyts rebound of bellamys shot. Bellamy should have gotten something on the Gerrard cross that went over Kuyts head and landed on his lap bouncing harmlessly away. I know you can say he wasnt expecting it, but he's meant to be a top striker, he should be ready for any chance. Crouchs miss from Pennants beautiful beautiful ball at the death was woeful. he was ahead of his marker, and the keeper went the wrong way.

We need people who can finish the gilt edged chances.

Otherwise, Liverpool were the better of 2 teams that didnt quite hit top form. Barca were really bad i thought tonight, some of it may have been the harrying etc, but they really didnt offer much until the last 15minutes! Eto'o's touch was a bit off and he got no real chances. Messi was anonymous. Ronaldinho was only ok beyond his fantastic run that he should have finished.

Sissoko had a second dodgey game, but im still gonna reserve calling for his head, everyone has bad runs, his passing is noticeably worse then normal in the last 2 games. Thats ok, its something that can be worked on in training, his workrate is still second to none, and what a shot off the crossbar!

Finnan, Agger and CARRA were immense!

and again to finish...QUARTER FINALS!!! YEAAAAHHHH!!!! COME ON YOU REDS!!

P.S. Someone get a petition going for Ken and Deirdre to divorce and get married again!

Guy:Incognito

~Rebel~ wrote:

P.S. Someone get a petition going for Ken and Deirdre to divorce and get married again!

I'd be willing to off the pope in return for a guarentee of winning the CL,