Fiorentina vs. Liverpool Match Thread [mod warning post #92]

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Wow, what a first half from Fiorentina, absolutely blew Liverpool away, and stifled every time they tried to start an attack. Perfect game plan to attack through the middle, which was Liverpool's weakest point, meaning Gerrard had to drop deeper and deeper to help out, leaving Torres totally isolated.

Seconf half, and in the first twenty minutes Fio just soaked up pressure, with Liverpool not really threatening, although some will say that they could have nicked a goal, it wouldn't have been enough.

Fiorentina definitely deserved that win.

Liverpool won't struggle to qualify though, with Mascherano back to shore up the middle, they should get enough points to get to the knock out stage.

Barr

If Liverpool play anything like that on Sunday - Chelsea will hide them.

Handsome Bob

Dirk Kuyt from RM this season has scored three goals and has made three goals. This from an unnatural position for him. So anyone who claims he is mediocre is quite frankly talking ****e, like my friend Tony Cascarino on the TV right now.

therecklessone

General player critiques here please, discuss tonight's game on this thread.

Thank you.

me-skywalker

Deleted User wrote: »

Have you watched him at all this season.....? Stop dribbling on your keyboard for fúck sake! Someone get this man a bib.

As a 'defender' awful!! they shouldnt be relying on him to be getting forward to do well.

whatawaster wrote: »

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

should tell that to the defenses we've scored over 20 goals in 7 PL games against

Do you mean against Hull? Bolton? West Ham? Stoke? Burnley?

oh top 10 teams? good point mate. hah

Chardee MacDennis

Des wrote: »

Wow, what a first half from Fiorentina, absolutely blew Liverpool away, and stifled every time they tried to start an attack. Perfect game plan to attack through the middle, which was Liverpool's weakest point, meaning Gerrard had to drop deeper and deeper to help out, leaving Torres totally isolated.

Seconf half, and in the first twenty minutes Fio just soaked up pressure, with Liverpool not really threatening, although some will say that they could have nicked a goal, it wouldn't have been enough.

Fiorentina definitely deserved that win.

Liverpool won't struggle to qualify though, with Mascherano back to shore up the middle, they should get enough points to get to the knock out stage.

couldnt disagree with your second half analysis any more, we could easily have grabbed a goal and got a penalty.

Bandit12

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Best team on the night won, no question. Poor performance in many different respects, and once we went two down in that environment it was always going to be tough. Not much else to say, nights like this will come along every so often.

+1
Qualification is the only thing that really matters, group stages are a means to a end but we all know where we'll be every year at the end of them. They were well up for it, you could see how much it meant to the Fiorentina players and crowd. Massive victory for them, minor inconvenience to us. Simples.

Spiritoftheseventies

Depressing!

Mitch Connor

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Dirk Kuyt from RM this season has scored three goals and has made three goals. This from an unnatural position for him. So anyone who claims he is mediocre is quite frankly talking ****e, like my friend Tony Cascarino on the TV right now.

he has played RM consistently for ages now - RM is his position.

Tusky

spockety wrote: »

Who do you sacrifice?

Kuyt...? :eek:

---

Torres

Kuyt

---

Benayoun

---

Babel

---

Masch---Gerrard

Also think Babel should be put up front every time Torres is taken off and for all cup games.

ntlbell

Mitch Connor wrote: »

he has played RM consistently for ages now - RM is his position.

Yup, tired of hearing it, how many years do you play out of position before it becomes your position?

2/3/4 seasons?

Spiritoftheseventies

Mitch Connor wrote: »

he has played RM consistently for ages now - RM is his position.

yes Kuyt an RM player. No doubt. But we were way too predictable tonight. Less said about this display the better.

Oliver1985

Lucas on for full 90 mins????? Veronin on for Kuyt????? I say no more!!! :eek:

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Oliver1985 wrote: »

Lucas on for full 90 mins????? Veronin on for Kuyt????? I say no more!!! :eek:

Who would you have put in midfield?

Hank Scorpio

Someone once asked me whats the worst thing to ever happen Ireland, i told them the famine and the oppression, after listening to tony cascarino tonight, those two go out the window.

Liverpool just dont have enuff quality players and i wouldnt be surprised if Lyon and Fiorentina go through. Would Benitez still be in a job if they had not of won the CL in 2005? I somewhat doubt it. This is his SIXTH season at anfield and the players he seems to buy become worse and worse.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

Wonderkid Jovetic played up to his Football Manager billing. :cool:

Reginald P. DuM

Very poor result but qualification is still well within the grasp of LFC. Tonight Lucas was dreadful, I honestly wonder at times what he has over Rafa. Simply not good enough at this level and he displayed this in spades tonight. Anyone else on the end of that cross it was a goal and with only 2 mins gone of second half they might well have gone on to win.

ntlbell

Des wrote: »

Who would you have put in midfield?

Personally I'd have put in pepper.

Spiritoftheseventies

Des wrote: »

Who would you have put in midfield?

End of the day we lack a cutting edge.Tonight showed that.

ntlbell

nuxxx wrote: »

Someone once asked me whats the worst thing to ever happen Ireland, i told them the famine and the oppression, after listening to tony cascarino tonight, those two go out the window.

Liverpool just dont have enuff quality players and i wouldnt be surprised if Lyon and Fiorentina go through. Would Benitez still be in a job if they had not of won the CL in 2005? I somewhat doubt it. This is his SIXTH season at anfield and the players he seems to buy become worse and worse.

tony said exactly what you said tho?

Handsome Bob

nuxxx wrote: »

Someone once asked me whats the worst thing to ever happen Ireland, i told them the famine and the oppression, after listening to tony cascarino tonight, those two go out the window.

Liverpool just dont have enuff quality players and i wouldnt be surprised if Lyon and Fiorentina go through. Would Benitez still be in a job if they had not of won the CL in 2005? I somewhat doubt it. This is his SIXTH season at anfield and the players he seems to buy become worse and worse.

Cascarino, like Haughton and Whelan, is a ****ing ****e commentator. Lazy journalism at its' worst.

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Reginald P. DuM wrote: »

Very poor result but qualification is still well within the grasp of LFC. Tonight Lucas was dreadful, I honestly wonder at times what he has over Rafa. Simply not good enough at this level and he displayed this in spades tonight.

I'm certainly no Lucas fan here, but he's a young player and was playing with an out of position full back tonight. It's not the place for a player like that. Liverpool's squad doesn't have the depth to cope, in that department, that much is clear.

Fiorentina targetted Liverpool's weakest spot tonight, to great effect.

It wasn't all down to Lucas though. With Mascherano in there with Lucas it would have been very different.

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bayviewclose wrote: »

End of the day we lack a cutting edge.Tonight showed that.

Why didn't you answer my question?

raven136

It was lucas's fault,he was rubbish again.No wait it was Kuyts fault,he wouldnt make the first 11 for any other top team,despite his 12 goals,12 assists last year.No it was Rafa and his non rotations fault,he is so lucky to have signed Torres when a lot of people said his goal ratio wasnt good enough and he wouldnt cut it in england.If he hadnt won the champions league with Houillers team he would be out of a job now,i know wenger hasnt won the champions league still he is far superior.No it was Carra's fault,no wait it was Zonal marking:rolleyes:

Cant think of anything else that will be used or what players will be blamed.Bad night at the office and fair play to Fiorentina they were excellent and wanted it more.Onwards and upwards to Sunday and a better performance.

Spiritoftheseventies

Des wrote: »

Why didn't you answer my question?

okay to answer your question. Lucas does enough. But not enough. He never takes game by scruff of neck. Benny for me is the marker here. He gets stuck in. He looks for the goal.Lucas never does beyond what is asked of him.

mayordenis

raven136 wrote: »

It was lucas's fault,he was rubbish again.No wait it was Kuyts fault,he wouldnt make the first 11 for any other top team,despite his 12 goals,12 assists last year.No it was Rafa and his non rotations fault,he is so lucky to have signed Torres when a lot of people said his goal ratio wasnt good enough and he wouldnt cut it in england.If he hadnt won the champions league with Houillers team he would be out of a job now,i know wenger hasnt won the champions league still he is far superior.No it was Carra's fault,no wait it was Zonal marking:rolleyes:

Cant think of anything else that will be used or what players will be blamed.Bad night at the office and fair play to Fiorentina they were excellent and wanted it more.Onwards and upwards to Sunday and a better performance.

you forgot that he sold and hated Xabi Alonso and that he played Kewell when fit. He's too defensive also. etc. etc.

Hank Scorpio

ntlbell wrote: »

tony said exactly what you said tho?

I have no idea, i had to mute the sound on the tv

SlickRic

anyone calling the players sh*te, and benitez's buying sh*te after that needs to get a hold of themselves tbh. stop with the happy trigger fingers.

we had a bad night, but f**king hell, fiorentina had a damn good one, both tactically and how well each individual played. it happens.

well played Fiorentina.

our defence does need to cop on though.

now hopefully the lads pull their heads out of their arses in time for sunday.

ShooterSF

If you are a pool fan I'll offer this consolation. If you are going to lose a game that matters during the season the first away CL group game is as good a one as you can pick. I'm sure you'd take it if it meant even a point rather than a loss against Chelsea (assuming that happens obviously).

Reginald P. DuM

I know Aurelio was playing out of position but I didn't think he played too badly now. match practice missing yes, but he sprayed around some decent ball, he's no Alonso but who is.

I don't think anyone should be defending Lucas now to be fair. He is simply not up to it and with him starting most games I genuinely fear for LFC's prospect of lifting silverware of any kind.

Boggles

Jaysus that was a tough watch, woeful from both sides.

Most telling part of tonight is Rafa losing all confidence in Gerrard playing in the centre of the park. He should have changed it at half time.

Credit the Italians they stuck to their game plan, but my god was some of their passing woeful.

Goes to show how important winning your first CL game is.

Headshot

there goes the record too

CHD

Didn't see it, should i be happy as a Chelsea fan with Pool coming this weekend or were Fiorentina amazing for one night only.

Headshot

CHD wrote: »

Didn't see it, should i be happy as a Chelsea fan with Pool coming this weekend or were Fiorentina amazing for one night only.

a bit of both I think

if chelsea cant score against that liverpool defence,god help ye

CHD

Headshot wrote: »

a bit of both I think

if chelsea cant score against that liverpool defence,god help ye

Grand, as long as they are still sleeping back there i expect a win. Phew.

SlickRic

CHD wrote: »

Didn't see it, should i be happy as a Chelsea fan with Pool coming this weekend or were Fiorentina amazing for one night only.

a bit of both.

if aurelio and Lucas are central midfield on sunday, you can laugh all the way to 3 comfortable points.

this could give us a rocket up our arses though. it should.

we were very very not good.

though fiorentina executed their game plan perfectly; basically overwhelm the middle of the park.

raven136

The last couple messages are hilarious,Liverpool are playing the worlds greatest club team sunday,not the one Wigan beat 3-1.I was nervous about the match anyway but im shi##ing it now:D

CHD

raven136 wrote: »

The last couple messages are hilarious,Liverpool are playing the worlds greatest club team sunday,not the one Wigan beat 3-1.I was nervous about the match anyway but im shi##ing it now:D

You know Liverpool, and especially Chelsea -v- Liverpool... anything can happen. These matches are responsible for taking years off my life.

SlickRic

CHD wrote: »

You know Liverpool, and especially Chelsea -v- Liverpool... anything can happen. These matches are responsible for taking years off my life.

yep.

i literally go through pretty much every emotion you can go through in a football match.

pain, ecstasy, disappointment, relief, boredom.

i even laughed last year when we got it back to 6-5 in the Champions League.

raven136

CHD wrote: »

You know Liverpool, and especially Chelsea -v- Liverpool... anything can happen. These matches are responsible for taking years off my life.

these matches can be worse than matches against United for me,every emotion.Im not allowed watch the away games in the house anymore.Thats the life of a football fany i guess:D

Thanx 4 The Fish

raven136 wrote: »

these matches can be worse than matches against United for me,every emotion.Im not allowed watch the away games in the house anymore.Thats the life of a football fany i guess:D

A football fany? Is that some kind of new thing

Anyway, awful game, poor performance all over the park. It seems that once they worked us out we had no plan b.

8-10

Reginald P. DuM wrote: »

I don't think anyone should be defending Lucas now to be fair. He is simply not up to it and with him starting most games I genuinely fear for LFC's prospect of lifting silverware of any kind.

I don't think anyone expects him to be starting most games once Aquilani is fit after the international break. I'm not defending his performances, I'm defending his position in the team, which is the same as last year, 1st choice backup in centre mid. We don't have the money for a better person to sit on the bench...Masch, Aquilani, Benayoun, Kuyt and Gerrard should be first choice midfield 5 with Lucas as backup for the first 2, and Riera and Babel backup for the other 3.

A lot of people seem to forget that Liverpool didn't replace Alonso by promoting Lucas. They replaced him with a £20m midfielder. And if Aquilani doesn't work out this season you can bet Rafa will sign someone better in the summer and offload him, because it's the first team that's the priority, not the backups. Once they get the first team right, then getting the backup right is the priority.

Stevie G was the worst midfielder out there today if anyone was watching btw. Followed by Aurelio. Masch was a glaring absence.

dannydiamond

Boggles wrote: »

Jaysus that was a tough watch, woeful from both sides.

Wtf? What were you watching? Fiorentina were superb, fair play to them.

Nalz

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Cascarino, like Haughton and Whelan, is a ****ing ****e commentator. Lazy journalism at its' worst.

cannot stand all three. All were fantastic footballers, even Cas to a point in their day, but they sure as hell can't commentate or write on a game.

Harpy

that was a pretty boring match.. although i won money of the fiorentina player scoring so that was the highlight..

anyone else think the interview with carragher at the end was kind of like they had just lost a final? him on the pitch speaking with one or two fiorentina players walking past behind celebrating with eachother thought it was strange and funny at the same time..

Boggles

dannydiamond wrote: »

Wtf? What were you watching? Fiorentina were superb, fair play to them.

Superb?

Did they create a chance in the second half?

I watched the game on a station with no commentary, I always find you get a better reflection of the match without been influenced by commentators or analysis.

The Italians are no great shakes, Liverpool were at about 25% last night, I fully expect them to hocky them in the return leg.

Nalz

I think if Liverpool beat Lyon at home they'll qualify. Simple as. I fancy them to do so. Take max points at home and get at least a draw to Debrecen away, easy!

raven136 wrote: »

Liverpool are playing the worlds greatest club team sunday

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Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

once they worked us out we had no plan b.

They had you worked out before kick off, in fairness.

Target the middle of the park, it's where you were weakest. A youngster and a out of position full back.

Then, target a suspect RB, that's exactly where the second goal came from, Johnson was walkabout and there was zero Liverpool presence to confront the guy who whizzed the ball in.

Because the midfield was so weak, Gerrard had to keep dropping deep, which left Torres isolated and you couldn't start any attacks due to the determination of the Fio midfield, they won pretty much every ball in the centre of the park last night.

I thought Kuyt did quite well in the second half though, couple of nice touches.

But anyone who says that Liverpool deserved anything out of that game is a clown.

Mr Alan

everything you've said is accurate des, except, johnson being a suspect right back.

oh & of course wat you said is all only relevant for the first half.

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Mr Alan wrote: »

oh & of course wat you said is all only relevant for the first half.

It's all it had to be relevant for, to be fair.

Fiorentina got two goals.

Liverpool got none.