Europa League quarter final first leg: Benfica v Liverppool

kingshankly

Big 2 positives from the first half
were 1-0 up and
insua misses the 2nd leg

Chucky the tree

jesus insua. Worst half I've seen from any player in a long long time.

Headshot

insua has been awful

Hoki

citytillidie wrote: »

This is not the premier league and them tackles often lead to red in Europe

Watching that tackle in real time its a yellow card no more, the refs dont have the advantage of slow motion where it became apparent that Luisao went for Torres.

Its funny listening to Mark Wright trying to stay neutral , he keeps throwing in the "we" & "us" when talking bout Pool.

Peyton Manning

yom 1 wrote: »

a yellow for that.......you're having a laugh ref.......

R_H_C_P wrote: »

yellow card for insua.. riiiight

SlickRic wrote: »

a booking for Insua for that?

i'm not normally one to berate referees too much, but this guy has been one of the biggest homers i have seen a very long time.

smoochie06 wrote: »

stupid referee i cant believe how bad he is.

How can he book Insua for that and let all the high tackles go

He did you a favour there, trust me.

mike65

WHATTHE****WAS BABELTHINKINGOF?!

mayordenis

Kess73 wrote: »

I am just curious to see the replay of the Babel incident again. Just before Babel puts his hand to Luisao's cheek, did Luisao do the same to Babel?

Sorry when I said "up" in his face, I meant just like abuse, verbal.

opr

That half flew by, great half of football.

Opr

SlickRic

Fuhrer wrote: »

This is the 3 or 4th time hes pulled him back after being left behind

we'll ignore the incessant kicking from Benfica, particularly the centre halves, for the first halfhour, and book Insua for a couple of pull backs.

spockety

How anyone can take issue with babel's red i do not know. Blame lies squarely with babel regardless of how good or bad the ref has been with other decisions.

YOU CANNOT PUT YOUR HAND ON AN OPPONENTS FACE BABEL YOU MORON!

The second he did it i said red card on the way here.

Fuhrer

mike65 wrote: »

WHATTHE****WAS BABELTHINKINGOF?!

That the manager isnt communicating with him and hes on a sinking ship?

Yakult

Archimedes wrote: »

He did you a favour there, trust me.

Who do we put there for the 2nd leg tho? Surely if there was someone better we'd be playing him right now.

LuckyLloyd

Oh dear, this second half is going to be distinctly uncomfortable.

Lads: part of European football is the fact that refs generally swing towards home teams - particularly in the more hostile venues like this one. We have to accept it.

Babel once again does something beyond the pale moronic. I will never warm to him, gah. We were in a great position to finish the tie if he was still on the pitch.

With 10 men, we will come under more and more pressure as the half drags on, and the few half chances we have seen since the red card will diminish in frequency.

I'd snap your hand off if you offered me 1 - 1 from here.

Fuhrer

SlickRic wrote: »

we'll ignore the incessant kicking from Benfica, particularly the centre halves, for the first halfhour, and book Insua for a couple of pull backs.

They're mixing it up between them around the pitch, hes doing it every time he gets beaten for pace in the corner, which is every time a BEnfica player has the ball

mayordenis

spockety wrote: »

How anyone can take issue with babel's red i do not know. Blame lies squarely with babel regardless of how good or bad the ref has been with other decisions.

YOU CANNOT PUT YOUR HAND ON AN OPPONENTS FACE BABEL YOU MORON!

The second he did it i said red card on the way here.

Agreed to a point,
but seriously the rule is in place to stop violence, not that. A touch in the face? if someone got sent off for touching my face in a game I'd be embarrassed.

missingtime

Fecking donkeys Babel and Insua.

In for a testing 45 minutes.

Peyton Manning

R_H_C_P wrote: »

Who do we put there for the 2nd leg tho? Surely if there was someone better we'd be playing him right now.

Another poster mentioned that ye should put Agger there and stick Kyrgiakos in the middle. Worth a shot, Insua is gettng murdered out there tonight.

MementoMori

Insua's yellow means he is out of the second leg and Aurelio will probably still be crocked.:(

So Agger or Mavinga ????

Babel is one dim individual.

Torres looking lively and have to wonder what he would be like if he got any sort of decent service as opposed to balls hoofed up the pitch.

Defence looks unsteady but thankfully Pepe is looking his standard immensenessity.

Worst case scenario we have the away goal which is always invaluable.
Even if Benfica score two, the away goal means that we will be in the tie at Anfield.

whatawaster

Chris Mavinga. Going to be a terrific player. The best player in the reserves this season along with Pacheco.

mike65

4-4-1 with Gerrard left for the next 45.

Hoki

R_H_C_P wrote: »

Who do we put there for the 2nd leg tho? Surely if there was someone better we'd be playing him right now.

Agger or Carragher can play left back.

SlickRic

Agger LB please.

The Greek on please.

Thank you Rafa.

spockety

mayordenis wrote: »

Agreed to a point,
but seriously the rule is in place to stop violence, not that. A touch in the face? if someone got sent off for touching my face in a game I'd be embarrassed.

Maybe so, but there is an easy way to avoid it. square up with your hands firmly locked behind your back, let your opponent do the stupid thing and give the ref a decision to make.

spockety

spockety wrote: »

How anyone can take issue with babel's red i do not know. Blame lies squarely with babel regardless of how good or bad the ref has been with other decisions.

YOU CANNOT PUT YOUR HAND ON AN OPPONENTS FACE BABEL YOU MORON!

The second he did it i said red card on the way here.

But you can kick someone in the head? Its ridiculous that leaving your hand thats s**ts face after an awful tackle on torres gets red yet studs to the head of babel is nothing. I hope that defender gets a very nasty kick or two after that kick in torres and getting babel sent off.

LuckyLloyd

Archimedes wrote: »

Another poster mentioned that ye should put Agger there and stick Kyrgiakos in the middle. Worth a shot, Insua is gettng murdered out there tonight.

Me. Seriously need to take him off...

Headshot

you cant raise ure hands

spockety

Zavier Disgusting Snowshoe wrote: »

But you can kick someone in the head? Its ridiculous that leaving your hand thats s**ts face after an awful tackle on torres gets red yet studs to the head of babel is nothing.

I did say regardless of other decisions. The ref is having a mare, but he was right to send him off, much as it infuriates me.

Spiritoftheseventies

Scandinavian officials ref by the book says Babb. Tell that to Chelsea :rolleyes:

MementoMori

whatawaster wrote: »

Chris Mavinga. Going to be a terrific player. The best player in the reserves this season along with Pacheco.

Would be a bit concerned though - massive gulf in class between the reserves and European football.

whatawaster

Pacheco on for Insua please. Now Rafa

MonkeyTennis

take a bet on another sending off anyone?

LuckyLloyd

MementoMori wrote: »

Defence looks unsteady but thankfully Pepe is looking his standard immensenessity.

SlickRic

Headshot wrote: »

you cant raise ure hands

i completely understand that, and blame Babel.

but it's farcical that Babel putting his hand up, with no force, merely touching Luisao, gets him sent off, and a kick at Torres' knees and to Babel's head, don't.

citytillidie

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

Scandinavian officials ref by the book says Babb. Tell that to Chelsea :rolleyes:

And Ireland

whatawaster

MementoMori wrote: »

Would be a bit concerned though - massive gulf in class between the reserves and European football.

yeah. I'm not even sure he's registered? He looks every bit as good as Kelly to me, and he was thrown in against Lyon, so why not?

MementoMori

whatawaster wrote: »

Pacheco on for Insua please. Now Rafa

What you smoking?

Not a chance in hell.

whatawaster

MementoMori wrote: »

What you smoking?

Not a chance in hell.

i'm joking

MementoMori

whatawaster wrote: »

yeah. I'm not even sure he's registered? He looks every bit as good as Kelly to me, and he was thrown in against Lyon, so why not?

I think because of his age he's eligible - under 21.

Kelly at least had experience at Huddersdfield and was that bit older.

Just can't seem him starting.....unless we get another 2 goals here and the tie is pretty much dead.

MementoMori

whatawaster wrote: »

i'm joking

Got me.

daithijjj

Theres an awful lot of drama queens in here.

Firstly. Insua IS getting torn a new hole, however, we dont have anyone else. If the gaffer didnt spend 7mil on an absolute 'puddin' of a player in dossena then insua would have time to mature into the team instead of getting vaulted in at the deep end all the time. Its his first season as a regular starter and hes got the like of aimar to play against whos got 10/12 years of top football behind him. We do need another left back, BUT WE DONT HAVE ONE.....get over it.

I think moving agger out there and bringing on the greek looks plausible but would leave a shocking lack of pace in the middle of defence.

Just a thought, having extra officials makes no difference at all, torres should have had a second goal, kuyt didnt touch it from what i saw but havent seen a replay.

LuckyLloyd

daithijjj wrote: »

Theres an awful lot of drama queens in here.

Firstly. Insua IS getting torn a new hole, however, we dont have anyone else. If the gaffer didnt spend 7mil on an absolute 'puddin' of a player in dossena then insua would have time to mature into the team instead of getting vaulted in at the deep end all the time. Its his first season as a regular starter and hes got the like of aimar to play against whos got 10/12 years of top football behind him. We do need another left back, BUT WE DONT HAVE ONE.....get over it.

I think moving agger out there and bringing on the greek looks plausible but would leave a shocking lack of pace in the middle of defence.

Just a thought, having extra officials makes no difference at all, torres should have had a second goal, kuyt didnt touch it from what i saw but havent seen a replay.

It hasn't made much of an impact, but I'm happy they tried something all the same...

MementoMori

daithijjj wrote: »

Theres an awful lot of drama queens in here.

Firstly. Insua IS getting torn a new hole, however, we dont have anyone else. If the gaffer didnt spend 7mil on an absolute 'puddin' of a player in dossena then insua would have time to mature into the team instead of getting vaulted in at the deep end all the time. Its his first season as a regular starter and hes got the like of aimar to play against whos got 10/12 years of top football behind him. We do need another left back, BUT WE DONT HAVE ONE.....get over it.

I think moving agger out there and bringing on the greek looks plausible but would leave a shocking lack of pace in the middle of defence.

Just a thought, having extra officials makes no difference at all, torres should have had a second goal, kuyt didnt touch it from what i saw but havent seen a replay.

On Insua there's also the fact that Babel offers the full-back he's playing in front of very little in the way of protection. It's one big advantage Riera[panto boos] offers when he plays.

tok9

whatawaster wrote: »

Chris Mavinga. Going to be a terrific player. The best player in the reserves this season along with Pacheco.

ha.. i heard that about Insua and now look at the amount of criticism there is towards him. He has played a huge amount of games this season in comparison to his previous 2. He needs a rest.

He didn't deserve a yellow there and personally i thought the Babel decison was poor but i can see why he made it..

Pepe Reina.. i love you

Boom_Bap

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

It hasn't made much of an impact, but I'm happy they tried something all the same...

except for without them, we would not have got the free kick that lead to the goal

Spiritoftheseventies

free header there.

5starpool

daithijjj wrote: »

Just a thought, having extra officials makes no difference at all, torres should have had a second goal, kuyt didnt touch it from what i saw but havent seen a replay.

he didn't need to touch it. By trying to get to it and getting the keeper to possibly change his actions based onit is enough to 'be active'.

LuckyLloyd

Di Maria sticks great balls in, and Cardozo ****ing owns our center halves. Lucky he can't finish his dinner thus far...

5starpool

Another big miss. W ecan't keep letting them do that.

SlickRic

FFS.

we should be losing.

our defending is atrocious.

Glico Man

Funking hell, how is that guy still getting clear headers??