Liverpool v Fiorentina [Match Thread] Aquilani to start

Boggles

bayviewclose wrote: »

No but you cant using the word "Fook" and take off your baggy top!

Bit early to be drinking isn't it? Your talking more jibberish than usual.

Spiritoftheseventies

Boggles wrote: »

Bit early to be drinking isn't it? Your talking more jibberish than usual.

This from the guy who uses the word Fook. Seriously its annoying. You need a new thing!

Boggles

bayviewclose wrote: »

This from the guy who uses the word Fook. Seriously its annoying. You need a new thing!

Please put me on ignore then, please.

Spiritoftheseventies

Boggles wrote: »

Please put me on ignore then, please.

No you just use the word Fook a little less often. When in Rome as they say. just sounds very contrived. Dublinese or country dialects suffice here.

whatawaster

I agree with whoever said Dossena was good last night. He has played well a couple of times on the left wing. I wouldn't mind him getting a couple more chances there to be honest. Riera has been terrible when he's played this year and Kuyt has been awful all season.
Benny on the right, Gerrard in the centre, and Dossena on the left

I know Rafa will want to win the thing, but it would be great to see the likes of Kelly, Pacheco, Ecclestone etc get runs in the Europa league, alongside the likes of Gerrard and Torres.

Aquilani impressed me last night. He's obviously far closer to Alonso than Lucas in terms of passing and technical ability. He's way more confident on the ball and is not afraid to play the ball first time. Can't wait to see him get more time in the team

Spiritoftheseventies

whatawaster wrote: »

I agree with whoever said Dossena was good last night. He has played well a couple of times on the left wing. I wouldn't mind him getting a couple more chances there to be honest. Riera has been terrible when he's played this year and Kuyt has been awful all season.
Benny on the right, Gerrard in the centre, and Dossena on the left

I know Rafa will want to win the thing, but it would be great to see the likes of Kelly, Pacheco, Ecclestone etc get runs in the Europa league, alongside the likes of Gerrard and Torres.

Aquilani impressed me last night. He's obviously far closer to Alonso than Lucas in terms of passing and technical ability. He's way more confident on the ball and is not afraid to play the ball first time. Can't wait to see him get more time in the team

Thought Pachecho looked lively when he came on. Darby was a bit weak for the Fiorentina winner but needs a bit of time. Overall disappointing end to the campaign. Gerrrard got in some good crosses but wrong people on the end of it apart from Benny. its clear again though that Gerrard and Torres will be crucial for us in second half of season.

mike65

Boggles wrote: »

A fair shake of what?

The club is falling apart from the inside out, what the fook do you want from me a hug?

No I wanted you to bump the Is Rafa/Liverpool done? thread. You haven't bumped it? Go on, it'll make you feel better.

Boggles

mike65 wrote: »

No I wanted you to bump the Is Rafa/Liverpool done? thread. You haven't bumped it? Go on, it'll make you feel better.

Nah, sick of preaching to the deaf.

mike65

If only that were true....

Spiritoftheseventies

Boggles wrote: »

Nah, sick of preaching to the deaf.

could you do that again please

Boggles

bayviewclose wrote: »

could you that again please

Could you structure a sentence that makes some sort of sense? :rolleyes:

MementoMori

So the end result was a shot in the knackers, but fingers crossed the curse of the silly late goals is simply a CL 2009 type deal and done and finished with now..

Overall the game had the feel of a nothing game for long periods and I felt both teams had their eye on other priorities.

Aquilani started brightly but definately seemed to run out of puff as the game went on. He had some nice touches and played some nice passes. One early ball to Dossena in the first-half was a bit Xabi-esque and the I feel that he has very tasty vision in terms of picking a pass. He also seems to like getting forward and I would be surprised if he doesn't notch a few goals/assists around the box before the end of the season. One concern would be his tackling defensive duties where he didnt really compete very well. I don't know if this was as a result of it being his first start/a function of his fitness or what, but something to keep an eye on. I really cant see him starting on Sat and would expect to see him on the bench as I think it was pretty clear that he doesn't have 90 minutes in him yet.

Given we don't see him all that much a word of praise for Cavalieri as I thought he had a very decent game. Don't think he could do much about the two goals as the defence left him very exposed. He did have one nervous moment early on where he smothered a cross/shot to the near post and the rebound could have gone anywhere but he got away with it. He was also very alert off his line on two occasions - on Agger's stumble backpass and once again in the second half, when he reacted quickly to poor play by his defence. He did well on a couple of tricky shots on a greasy night.

Another positive was Skrtel in terms of being up for the match and showing that he is still up for competing for the CB spot.

On Darby I may be a bit harsh but I would have preferred to have seen Kelly at RB as I think Kelly is the better bet long-term. Even apart from the second goal, I would lay some part of the first goal at Darby's feet as he seemed to have been dragged into the centre. There were also a couple of other occasions when his positioning looked suspect and there seemd to be a lot of room down the right for Fiorentina. Darby is just turned 21 and I feel he would benefit from a longer-term loan and regular football. He has looked competent at reserve level without really impressing. Also physically I feel he could do with developing a bit as on at least one occasion he was out-muscled. He's under contract until 2012 but if I had to guess right now, I would imagine he much more likely to be sold on than ever nail down a regular starting place at Liverpool.

Dossena had a lively game but the feeling I keep getting is that he's not good enough defensively for LB and that we have better options in terms of the left-wing. I think part of last night might have been a bit of a come-and-get-me type performance to any watching Italian teams. With Aquilani starting and Italian opposition he would have been aware that there would have most likely been fairly strong Italian interest in the game back home. I've posted a Tony Barrett article in the main thread linking him with a move back to Italy and I would be really surprised if he was still around come February.

It was a night of debuts given both Aquilani and Darby started their first competitive game, but possibly debut of the night was Pacheco coming off the bench for his first competitive appearance. Might only have been the 76th minute when he came on, but for an 18 year-old he looked to have all the right stuff and didn't look a bit overawed for a cameo appearance. Had a decent effort at goal in terms of possibly making a dream debut but clearly seemed comfortable on the pitch. Fingers crossed it's the first of many appearances and will be interesting to see how he gets on over the rest of the season.

In terms of the rest of the team, which was pretty much all first-teamers, the performance levels varied between reasonable to awful. I don't know how much of this was due to the nature of the game and the whole fact of Arsenal on Saturday, but I would be hopeful for improved performances in most cases come Saturday as getting a win against Arsenal would set us up nicely given the three softish league games after that. I did read that N'gog was supposed to start up front but took ill yesterday and given he did the press conference with Rafa Tuesday and yet wasnt in the squad I would tend to believe this. Would prefer him over Kuyt in the loan striker role every day of the week. Also to whoever suggested Pacheco as a replacement for N'gog - there's no chance of that given Pacheco's size and also the fact that he just doesn't play there. He would either be playing in one of the forward three roles(preferably the centre) or else in centre-midfield where he has featured for the reserves on a couple of occasions.

Another big positive from the game was how hungry and up-for-it Nando was when he came on - we looked so much more dangerous with him on the bench. Whoever said he looked disinterested was speaking the crazy talk as he seemed massively keen in my eyes. Also thought the ref offered him very little in the way of protection with Koldrup very lucky to escape a yellow card for some very cynical fouls.

Overall I'd be of the view that this game was only really important in terms of the fringe players and the performance would seem to bear this out. I'd be optimistic about Aquilani as he seemed to have something about him and I hope he gets back to full fitness soon. I'd also be optimistic on the Pacheco front as he seems a definite prospect over the longer-term. I'd also be very optimistic given Nando is back on the pitch.:D:D:D

monkey9

Boggles wrote: »

A fair shake of what?

The club is falling apart from the inside out, what the fook do you want from me a hug?

We don't want anything from you, Boggles!!! That's the point!!

NukaCola

bayviewclose wrote: »

could you that again please

Boggles wrote: »

Could you structure a sentence that makes some sort of sense? :rolleyes:

Typos are hilarious :rolleyes:
Fooks sake

Spiritoftheseventies

Boggles wrote: »

Could you structure a sentence that makes some sort of sense? :rolleyes:

Yeah cracks me up everytime

Spiritoftheseventies

Boggles wrote: »

Please put me on ignore then, please.

Think i might do that. for the time being

Headshot

bayviewclose wrote: »

Yeah cracks me up everytime

bayviewclose

what is with always adding the big grin icon to everyyyyyyyyyy post

your too happy for my liking

Spiritoftheseventies

Just got my teeth whitened.

onemorechance

Raskolnikov wrote: »

To be honest, I think that he just looks knackered. With Torres out he's had to play practically every game this season. For an all-action player who never stops running, that'll take its toll.

About 3 hours of football a week, a few training sessions, imagine how knackered he would be if he had to do a 40 hour week!

noodler

onemorechance wrote: »

About 3 hours of football a week, a few training sessions, imagine how knackered he would be if he had to do a 40 hour week!

More to the point - he has been injured so much this season that he is far from having to play every game.

segadreamcast

noodler wrote: »

More to the point - he has been injured so much this season that he is far from having to play every game.

They're talking about Kuyt......?

noodler

NoelRock wrote: »

They're talking about Kuyt......?

Indeed,I have Torres on he brain.