Liverpool V Shanghai Shenhua Match Thread

~Rebel~

Rafa has a full squad to choose from with the exception of Aurelio, but all the new boys are available. Would expect to see Leto play a part, but probably not start. Since this is the easy game before the Feyenord game id like to see some a varied teamsheet, and the put out a stronger team in the bigger game. For tomorrow im hoping for something like;

Arbeloa--Paletta--Agger--Riise/Threlfall

Pennant--Lucas--Alonso--Babel

---

Kuyt--Torres

With probably benayoun on for pennant, Leto on for Babel, Sissoko prob on for Lucas, maybe gerrard on for alonso if his injury is ok. Would give Paletta as much game time as possible. Kuyt and torres prob off at some point for Crouch and Voronin. Just really want to see Torres start a match.


What time is this match kicking off at actually?

Zapp Brannigan

I wanna see Torres and Voronin together. Kewell to start on the left I reckon. One of the main strikers will probably be rested, maybe Kuyt, and Babel will be played there. Leto will prolly come on for Kewell.

Daemonic

17:30 according to the LFC.tv site

machiavellianme

Correct.
Coverage starts at 5 on Sky Sports 1 for KO at half past.

Mr Alan

I just want Torres to score

PHB

I'm looking forward to seeing Lucas play.

Drag00n79

I hope I can catch some of this. I'll be away from home so will have to go into a pub... ah well, what can you do!

Chardee MacDennis

Starting line up

Martin
Finnan Paletta Hyypia(c) Insua
Benayoun Leiva Sissoko Leto
Torres Crouch

subs to be announced

dardoz

couldnt have asked for a better lineup to check out the new boys.

zAbbo

dardoz wrote:

couldnt have asked for a better lineup to check out the new boys.

Yeah, time to test out Insua and Palleta, considering we might not be in for a CB of LB.

RE*AC*TOR

Leto looks great, strong as an ox. Torres also looking sharp....

Pitch looks strangely bouncy.

RE*AC*TOR

torres 1-0 great finish
dinked it over the keeper

emc2

torres 1-0 good finish

missingtime

Whoooo!

darkskol

forgot this started at 17.30. Great to see Torres off the mark. How are pool playing now

NotWormBoy

darkskol wrote:

forgot this started at 17.30. Great to see Torres off the mark. How are pool playing now

Fairly lacklustre match, though one doesn't really expect much this close to the start of the season...

Liverpool aren't playing badly at all. Torres with a few nice touches. Sissoko his usual industrial self.

RE*AC*TOR

Crouch looks a bit off the pace.

Sissoko is looking good, real good, more forward running than normal.

As I said Leto looks great.

Torres is looking sharp, and a threat everytime he gets on the ball.

Benayoun a few nice link ups with Torres.

Leiva looks confident, although has stumbled on the pitch a couple of times. He's playing a more holding role than Sissoko.

Insua, Palletta, Hyppia and Finnan have been largely untested at the back.

The match overall is fairly tame.

zAbbo

Levia looking good, but Momo should not be involved in so much of the buildup, something which Levia should be doing.

Insua looking good also, but himself and Leto need to combine more and get to the byline.

Finnan and Benayoun look a great combination.

kaimera

live stream anywhere?

RE*AC*TOR

Sissoko actually looks like he's learned to pass.

If this continues he could be an amazing player.

Then all he needs to learn is to shoot.

seabee

try this
http://www.myp2p.eu/Matches/Match2.htm

darkskol

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Sissoko actually looks like he's learned to pass.

:eek:

RE*AC*TOR

Looks like Gerrard and Babel coming on. Might liven things up a little.

Insua has looked good at left back, Paletta not so much at centre half.

RE*AC*TOR

Cracker from Gerrard, curling looping above the keeper

darkskol

Gerrard scored? That didn't take long did it

NotWormBoy

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Cracker from Gerrard, curling looping above the keeper

Typical. I switch program to try and get an English commentary, and I miss the only decent thing in the second half thus far.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Anybody got a vid of Torres goal ?

evil_seed

http://www.dailymotion.com/redhalfofmerseyside/video/x2ol6h_torres-10-vs-shanghai-shenhua_sport - torres goal

http://www.dailymotion.com/redhalfofmerseyside/video/x2oll0_gerrard-20-vs-shanghai-shenhua_sport/1 - gerrard goal

dardoz

Torres - great pace and strength over 10 yards. looks dangerous every time he gets the ball
Leto - final delivery is terrible. looks a little outclassed in the side tbh. He can knock it past a player and get a cross in, but ALL the crosses were terrible
Leiva - sat back to much and wasnt involved cos the opposition were poor
Yossi - great vision, nice touch, gonna be a great asset
Crouch - lacks sharpness
Sissoko - industrious, and a few surprisingly good passes although trying to do a gerrard running to the oppositions peno area. stick to what ur good at momo
ensua - very good touch, very calm. good prospect. wont be first team often tho.
Paulette - get rid of him. hes as slow as hyppia and hes only a young lad. got caught with simple balls over the top on numerous occasions. It scares me when i see him starting.

mike65

Great goal (helped by some crappy defence) from Gerrard.

Mike.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Yes, enjoyed Gerrard's. Was there a touch of offside for Torres ? Great ball for Yossi

Dub13

Torres looked sharp and its good that he is now of the mark with his first goal,he is a tall lad.

NotWormBoy

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote:

Was there a touch of offside for Torres ? Great ball for Yossi

Nah, he was well onside. Great ball though, aye.

The Rooster

Great to see Torres score, and a lovely finish to boot. He's incredibly sharp over 10 yards, albeit I'd say he has a tendency to go out of games for spells.

Crouch was brutal. 4th choice at this moment.

I thought Leto showed a lot of promise. Very happy with him. Benayoun is classy, knew he would be.

I liked Levia a lot in the centre of the field. Went out of it a bit in the second half, but he'll get plenty of games this year.

Sissoko gave away the ball the first three times he got it. Improved after that and was the dominant player in midfield. Still, its only very rarely that he achieves anything when in possession.

Insua looks good at left back. He'll definitely play games this year. Not the finished article but games should improve him.

The keeper, Martin (son of Alvin), looks alright.

Babel looked like a footballer :eek: Thanks be to jaysus. By miles his best few minutes in the red jersey - definitely potential there.

Kuyt did well when he came on. Amazing reception he got from the Feyenoord fans. It was like Fowler going back to Anfield.

Overall a nice performance, without as much cutting edge as there should be. Need to get more bodies in the box when we attack to avoid our strikers being hopelessly outnumbered.

Zapp Brannigan

Nice to see Torres score, he had an opportunity to square it to Crouch but he took his chance. Shows he's confident in front of goal and a bit selfish. Something we haven't had in a striker in ages.

darkskol

Zapp Brannigan wrote:

Nice to see Torres score, he had an opportunity to square it to Crouch but he took his chance. Shows he's confident in front of goal and a bit selfish. Something we haven't had in a striker in ages.

Agree

darkskol

evil_seed wrote:

http://www.dailymotion.com/redhalfofmerseyside/video/x2ol6h_torres-10-vs-shanghai-shenhua_sport - torres goal

http://www.dailymotion.com/redhalfofmerseyside/video/x2oll0_gerrard-20-vs-shanghai-shenhua_sport/1 - gerrard goal

Cheers for the links!

Just watched the goals there, Gerrards goal was class.

~Rebel~

From individual performance's point of view I'm delighted with this game. Yes we should have scored more, but all in all I'm more convinced then ever that we can challenge on all fronts this year. particularly in the wide areas that we were caught in in the past few years. Leto impressed me a lot and is actually a viable choice against probably all but the toughest opponants, an even against them I wouldnt be too disappointed to see his name - he's very big and seems strong as an ox! his final ball was lacking but this was his first game so wouldnt worry too much about that.

Insua was fantastic as well I thought, looked really confident after his exploits winning the you-20's world cup. Benayoun showed why we bought him, adds another cutting and an ability to split defences with a pass. Torres looked devestating whenever he received the ball. He looked like he was going out of the game at times but I actually yhought of this as a plus. We have enough players who when they're not getting the ball go very deep and force themselves into the game like Kuyt and crouch, was great to see Torres stay up there waiting for his chance. Whenever these chances presented themselves he looked sharp and ready (bad one bad touch he miscontrolled).
Lucas played well, was obviously told to play a defensive role with sissoko given the freedom to go forward, would like to see Lucas given a freer role, maybe with mascherano or alonso. Looked comfortable though. Sissoko was all action, if he could shoot straight it would be nice. He's progressing though, his passing has improved and he showed some great touches. Babel also looked better then he did in some of the other games he's played in. think Rafa is forcing him to play on the right side to improve his game in preseason as he's obviously much more comfortable operating on the left. We all know how Rafa likes his wingers to be able to switch. Its probably a good idea, get him used to the right now when it means nothing.

I liked the look of our passing around the box, keeping a move going. I've felt in teh past 2 years far too often we start passing back towards our CB's and keeper who then boots it back up the field. Tonight though we were comfortable passing around the box waiting for the right ball.

Paletta was my one drawback from tonight. he just seems to lose concentration at times. Looks like he has potential but I think a year away on loan would do him good. id be terrified if he had to play a run of premiership games if agger or carra got injured. I say loan him out, bring in a good fallback option for this season and maybe next season and reappraise then. One player who could play across all of the back 4 when required would be very handy as they'd get a few extra games on the flanks as well so wouldnt be too annoyed with the situation. We've been told Arbeloa can play across the back 4 but untill I see him play CB id be wary.

Phew that was long!

mike65

You getting coaching from Red Spider? (who seems to be absent without leave these days)

Mike.

~Rebel~

mike65 wrote:

You getting coaching from Red Spider? (who seems to be absent without leave these days)

Mike.

You've stumbled on my dark secret! The question is which one of us gets to be Peter Parker and which one gets to be Spiderman! Though i suppose with his avatar he gets dibs on spiderman

Nah we both know RedSpider would never have commented on the length of his own post

AdrianII

My man of the match - sissoko

yes i know

he was brilliant today, what about that pass he drove out left to leto (i thought it was gerrard for a minute)

Babel didnt look great - but he got a rotten reception (maybe that was on his mind)

eirebhoy

Benayoun - Liverpool player of the year 2008.

PHB

eirebhoy wrote:

Benayoun - Liverpool player of the year 2008.

I know, he seems so darn direct, gona put him in my FF

tibor

palletta must go. he's a shocking player.has he ever had a good game?

leto was terrible. gave the ball away needlessly over and over again. moves were constanly breaking down at his feet.

sissoko's passing was impressive.

Kanney

Benny for FF is a tough call, I've got three Pool players, finnan, gerrard, torres, three (besides carragher and reina) who I can see certain of starting most games.

So happy to see Torres score, very well taken, missed the second half but caught the gerrard goal on SSN, what a shot. Sissoko impressed, where was Crouch???

IrishMike

I thought that levia played one of the worst halves of football ive ever seen
How on earth are people saying he played well? what match were they watching?
His passing was shocking, sisokko beside him looked like zidane in comparison.
He will have to improve a heck of a lot if he is to play any premership games imho
Thought sissokko was unreal. Constantly going forward and his passing has
improved but still needs a bit of work.
Thought insua at left back was excellent. Tough as nails great tackling and
knew when to pass the ball and move to a better position
Leto looks incredibly raw but could be excellent. Seems to lack a bit of pace though. Reminds me of Kewell in a way but that could be just the hair
Thought Torres looked excellent as did benayoun
Pauletta didnt seem related to a footballer im afraid

DeadSkin

tibor wrote:

sissoko's passing was impressive.

'Bout bloody time, the guy has some engine on him, I am a big admirer of the guy because of this, but jeez, his touch last season was brutal.
Maybe this is somethin' they've been workin' on since the season finished.

evil_seed

eirebhoy wrote:

Benayoun - Liverpool player of the year 2008.

agreed. i have sooooo mch faith in yossi. can;t wait for the kick off in villa park