EL quarter final second leg: Liverpool v Benfica Post match discussion

copacetic

mike65 wrote: »

TV3 + txters = bebo on your screen?

more a case of fake controversial txts to try and get real people fired up to txt in, therfore making them money..

MementoMori

Jazzy wrote: »

dodgy 10 mins but not overly so. befica didnt really look that threatening up front. the second free kick was the most nerve wracking moment of the game. benfica arent really that good a side in the long and the short of it though, few bruisers in defence, bit of pace up front, nothing to really write home about. de maria is very good though, poor enough game tonight for him. liverpool were in control for the full 90 minutes tonight and that was great to see, actually imposing control of the ball and pitch on another team

Would agree with a lot of this. Benfica are a decent side but they're not all that good in terms of talking about the final stages of a European competition.

Also given the utter ****eness of the Portugese League, I'd imagine in most games they are a fair bit stronger than the opposition and aren't really tested all that much.

All three of their goals came from set-pieces and while they had a number of half-chances, the number of decent chances they had from open play was minimal over the 180 mins, especially when you consider 60 of those they were playing against ten men.

K-9

MementoMori wrote: »

Would agree with a lot of this. Benfica are a decent side but they're not all that good in terms of talking about the final stages of a European competition.

Also given the utter ****eness of the Portugese League, I'd imagine in most games they are a fair bit stronger than the opposition and aren't really tested all that much.

All three of their goals came from set-pieces and while they had a number of half-chances, the number of decent chances they had from open play was minimal over the 180 mins, especially when you consider 60 of those they were playing against ten men.

I'd agree with that, I think people over rated Benfica from the first leg and under rated us.

Always thought since the first leg, we could afford to concede 1.

mike65

The first leg would have nearly rendered tonight a formality had Babel not got himself sent off, no reason to think it couldn't have been a 3 goal victory...

Mr Alan

Lads, they're running away wit their domestic league meaning they'll be a champions league team next year, and beat Everton 7-0 over two legs. they're a good good side.

K-9

Mr Alan wrote: »

Lads, they're running away wit their domestic league meaning they'll be a champions league team next year, and beat Everton 7-0 over two legs. they're a good good side.

Yes and so are we, we've had a crap season.

With all the bashing over the season, we forget that.

Jazzy

Mr Alan wrote: »

Lads, they're running away wit their domestic league meaning they'll be a champions league team next year, and beat Everton 7-0 over two legs. they're a good good side.

based on the two legs ive seen this week and last i doubt they will make it out of the group stages next year in the CL. the portugese league is of horrible quality tbh, and lets be fair here - anyone can beat sticky toffee puddings 7 - 0 over 2 legs :pac:

Headshot

Mr Alan wrote: »

Lads, they're running away wit their domestic league meaning they'll be a champions league team next year, and beat Everton 7-0 over two legs. they're a good good side.

tbf Alan Everton had an injury crisis

but I do agree they're a good team

MementoMori

Jazzy wrote: »

based on the two legs ive seen this week and last i doubt they will make it out of the group stages next year in the CL. the portugese league is of horrible quality tbh, and lets be fair here - anyone can beat sticky toffee puddings 7 - 0 over 2 legs :pac:

Also the toffees in those games were massively injury plagued and given the lack of depth in the toffee squad it was real men against boys stuff.

Mr Alan

no injury crisis would excuse a 7-0 agg. defeat of a good team

SlickRic

right, just back from the pub.

i was scared for those first 15 minutes. we were not good enough at all. but then we proceeded to put in, what was in a lot of ways, one of our best performances of the season.

that was a perfect counter-attacking performance.

Masch was a beast all game. the man never stops. how he wasn't booked i have no idea, but who gives a f*ck. immense he was. i'll be honest, i thought Lucas was completely anonymous until his goal. but in the second half particular, he was brilliant. and he was the only one who looked to play it simple on top of his endless industry.

Nando was so clearly injured it was untrue. so this fact, combined with the fact he lived off scraps, culminated in me having no earthly idea how he scored 2 goals. i love that man.

Kuyt was also an animal. great cross for Torres' first. he'll always be a little frustrating, but he did a lot more good than bad tonight. i'm also loving his new trademark stand in front of the keeper routine.

Gerrard even looked closer to his old self!

MOTM, for me, Kyrgiakos. a beast that man is, and tbh, he is our best defender right now. it's brilliant to have such a competent, big, uncompromising front post defender. he can barely pass, he has little or no technical ability, but he had Cardozo in his pocket, and mopped up a lot more besides.

i do have a small gripe, that i think i'll always have with us under Rafa...we need to keep the ball better and stop hoofing it forward. especially at home. it gets very tiresome. it asks so much of the midfield and forward players to work their ass off to harry and fill the space so often, in order to try and get that second ball. i wish we'd have the confidence to play it out of defence a bit better. we did it once tonight, and it created Lucas' goal.

but no more complaining; as it was a very professional and efficient performance. if we keep that effort up, and can keep counter attacking with that sort of verve, we could still rescue this season somewhat.

de-f*cking-lighted.

Jazzy

Mr Alan wrote: »

no injury crisis would excuse a 7-0 agg. defeat of a good team

good, but not great

MementoMori

Not saying that Benfica are a sh1t team or anything but they had a relatively easy run to get to the quarters and the Portugese league is a byword for gashery.

Match report from the 5-0 win over Everton here.

It meant an entire team was unavailable - nine out injured and two Cup-tied in Johnny Heitinga and Lucas Neill - so Moyes had a threadbare, inexperienced squad at his disposal.

Also Tony Hibbert was marking Di Maria,:D:D:D who set up the first three goals.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8318447.stm

thegen

Just like to congratulate a Liverpool on getting to h semi finals great performance

mike65

SlickRic has a beastiality thing going on....I think we talked ourselves into thinking Benfica were rather better than they are. Thumping early season Everton is no great achievement, dominating the Portugese League is not great achievement.

MementoMori

SlickRic wrote: »

right, just back from the pub.

i was scared for those first 15 minutes. we were not good enough at all. but then we proceeded to put in, what was in a lot of ways, one of our best performances of the season.

that was a perfect counter-attacking performance.

Masch was a beast all game. the man never stops. how he wasn't booked i have no idea, but who gives a f*ck. immense he was. i'll be honest, i thought Lucas was completely anonymous until his goal. but in the second half particular, he was brilliant. and he was the only one who looked to play it simple on top of his endless industry.

Nando was so clearly injured it was untrue. so this fact, combined with the fact he lived off scraps, culminated in me having no earthly idea how he scored 2 goals. i love that man.

Kuyt was also an animal. great cross for Torres' first. he'll always be a little frustrating, but he did a lot more good than bad tonight. i'm also loving his new trademark stand in front of the keeper routine.

Gerrard even looked closer to his old self!

MOTM, for me, Kyrgiakos. a beast that man is, and tbh, he is our best defender right now. it's brilliant to have such a competent, big, uncompromising front post defender. he can barely pass, he has little or no technical ability, but he had Cardozo in his pocket, and mopped up a lot more besides.

i do have a small gripe, that i think i'll always have with us under Rafa...we need to keep the ball better and stop hoofing it forward. especially at home. it gets very tiresome. it asks so much of the midfield and forward players to work their ass off to harry and fill the space so often, in order to try and get that second ball. i wish we'd have the confidence to play it out of defence a bit better. we did it once tonight, and it created Lucas' goal.

but no more complaining; as it was a very professional and efficient performance. if we keep that effort up, and can keep counter attacking with that sort of verve, we could still rescue this season somewhat.

de-f*cking-lighted.

ANIMAL REFERENCES:p

SlickRic

mike65 wrote: »

SlickRic has a beastiality thing going on.

MementoMori wrote: »

ANIMAL REFERENCES:p

thanks for the close attention to detail lads.

flahavaj

SlickRic wrote: »

thanks for the close attention to de-tail lads.

More animal references.:eek:

yayamark

Thinking of going to semi final. Friend says that we are away on 22nd. Ive looked at uefa and pool site but cant see anything.

Any ideas?

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/match/fixtures

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/matches/season=2010/round=2000041/index.html

Edit they have just updated.

5starpool

yayamark wrote: »

Thinking of going to semi final. Friend says that we are away on 22nd. Ive looked at uefa and pool site but cant see anything.

Any ideas?

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/match/fixtures

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/matches/season=2010/round=2000041/index.html

Edit they have just updated.

I presume the Burnley and Chelsea games will be put back a day each to the Sunday? Come to think of it, why is our game vs Chelsea not on tv as it stands now?

yayamark

All to be changed in the next few days id say.

Dublin_Gunner

I must say, I'm quite content now after that good win tonight.

I was really hoping for a clean sheet, but a 4-1 thumping will do just fine.

I'm looking forward to us winning the first Europa League. Will be a nice trophy to adorn the cabinet.

TBH having such a dire season, but to go on and win the EL, and hopefully finish 4th - would turn a terrible season into a fantastic one IMO.

One thing though - is anyone else absolutely astonished at how well Lucas took his goal? He usually gets a nose bleed being that high up the pitch, but dare I say it, he rounded that 'keeper like Nando. He must be learning from him on the training ground! And though it was a tap in, it was a very composed finish.

Impressed.

Kuiyt - nearly always comes up with the goods when we need it.

Nando - 2 goals. Got little of the ball all game and still scored twice. Legend.

As was said - Socky played a blinder. He HAS to start more games for us, he nearly single handedly nullified any aerial threat.

Agger - did quite well at LB. Very well actually.

Benny - couple of nice touches, and a good pass to Kuyt for Nando's first. Not his best performance.

Gerrard - looked like he actually wanted to play football tonight. 'Bout bleedin' time.

Masch - animal. He's just deadly. Never stops, I'd HATE to have to play against him.

Couldn't be arsed going through the rest of the team. But good result, and looking forward to Atletico now

:D

yayamark

Flights are a disaster to Madrid, pay 4-500 euro direct might have to look at murcia or alicante.

Anyone else looking?