Liverpool Watford Semi-Final First Leg (scores)

mike65

Having at times lucked thier way a bit to the League Cup Semi-Finals Rafa has bought out the big guns for Tuesdays game. Gerrard, Carra, Luis Garcia are among those playing for the first time. Also Baros will be selected, though I doubt he'll start

Liverpool (from): Dudek, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore, Biscan, Diao, Warnock, Potter, Nunez, Hamann, Gerrard, Luis Garcia, Riise, Mellor, Sinama-Pongolle, Baros, Harrison.

Watford (from): Jones, Chamberlain, Chambers, Cox, Demerit, Darlington, Devlin, Dyer, Gunnarsson, Mahon, Ardley, Webber, Bouazza, McNamee, Helguson, Blizzard, Doyley.

I'll go for a comfortable win after a nervy moment or two, then the youngsters can play the return leg.

Mike.

Jivin Turkey

I fully expect a Liverpool win tomorrow, 2 or 3 nil. Even if a full strength team isnt sent out. Watford have only won twice in the league since September, although they have turned over both Southampton and Portsmouth by three goals in this competition.

A three nil win would put the tie out of sight and is what Liverpool should be aiming for, then they could rest first teamers in the away leg.

Big Nelly

I expect a win for Liverpool......Rafa has said he is going to put out a full strenght team!! I think he knows this could be his only chance of some Silverware!! with Utd V Chelsea in other leg he got the easy team to get to final!!

Wat is happening to Partridge? would he not go on loan to someone now he isnt even in the squad for League Cup games!! or is he injuryed again?

thegills

Partridge is injured again AFAIK.

I think he knows this could be his only chance of some Silverware

Your right about this and Utd. have also realised this.

The Rooster

Richie Partridge is injured again :eek:

He's had minor keyhole surgery on his knee, so is out for another month or 6 weeks.

Sami Hyypia has the flu and is out of tonights game.

No news on whether Zak Whitbread or Pellegrino have been called into the squad to deputise (Pelle had been previously ruled out as being unfit). Other options would be Traore, Biscan or Diao - none of which would inspire a whole lot of confidence at CB - though in saying that I wouldnt mind seeing if Djimi has improved at all in that position.

Shred

Big Nelly wrote:

Wat is happening to Partridge? would he not go on loan to someone now he isnt even in the squad for League Cup games!! or is he injuryed again?

He's injured again - expected to be out for around 6 weeks:

From Liverpoolfc.tv:

Liverpool have been dealt more bad news on the injury front after Richie Partridge was ruled out of action for six weeks.
Partridge underwent keyhole surgery to cure a minor knee injury on Thursday.

The 24-year old Irish winger has endured a torrid time with injuries of late and this is a further blow to his hopes of establishing himself in the first team picture under Rafael Benitez.

Shred

Teamsheet:

Dudek

Finnan
Traore
Carragher
Riise

Nunez
Hamann
Gerrard
Garcia

Pongolle
Mellor

Subs:

Harrison
Biscan
Warnock
Potter
Baros


That's a lot stronger than I expected, I thought there would have been two or three youths thrown in. Looks like Rafa is going all out for a decent win (and also to give the first teamers a run out before Saturday's big game) - I'll go for 3-1.

Big Ears

Whats the Watford team ?

eirebhoy

Partridge will be on Newstalk in the few minutes for anyone that cares.

Ardent

Watford's line up:

Jones
Chambers
Demerit
Cox
Ardley
Devlin
Mahon
Gunnarson
Bouazza
Helguson
Darlington

Subs:
Doyley
Webber
Dyer
Chamberlain
Blizzard


Fair play to the Watford supporters, all 6,500 of them!!

Ardent

Gerrard goes for goal from kick off, make a mess of it!

Ardent

Great cross from Nunez, Pongolle narrowly over the bar.

Shred

Quite a decent first half from Watford - Liverpool are disgraceful, things better change after the break :mad:

Shred

Ardent wrote:

Great cross from Nunez, Pongolle narrowly over the bar.

Nunez is getting a lot of space down the right and putting some decent balls into the box - if only someone could finish one

mike65

I'm listening to Five Live who are not impressed with Pool, esp those Spanish types.

Mike.

Shred

mike65 wrote:

I'm listening to Five Live who are not impressed with Pool, esp those Spanish types.

Mike.

Garcia having another sh*t game so far :mad:

Ardent

Garcia having a 'mare. He's too lightweight for the Premiership, let alone English cup games IMO. Traore also giving me heart palpitations every time the ball comes near him, was all over the place for the header Watford almost scored from. All in all, Liverpool playing poorly. Watford hassling and harrying all over the pitch very well, Liverpool will have to show a little more urgency in the second half to win this game.

PHB

Nunez is doing good imo, best I've ever seen him play.

Garcia is leagues above these guys, they know it, and they are pushing him lots. But I agree he isn't really in for a good solid pushing match which you get in these games.

mike65

Ha! Mellor off, Baros on = Goal!

Mike.

mike65

Hamann off, Biscan on

Pongolle off, Warnock on.

Over, like pulling teeth....

Mike.

Shred

Terrible game, not very entertaining. Watford played very well and can hold their heads quite high (and I don't mean that in a patronising way either). Much better second half from Liverpool but not good enough by a long shot. Baros making the difference when he came on, he looked very sharp. 1-0 going into the second leg away and I wouldn't be too sure of progressing onto the final looking at the way Watford played away from home. I'd say they'll be quite tough at home...

Jivin Turkey

Didnt get to see the game, but not a good result for Liverpool. Watford may have played well but Liverpool with a pretty much full strength team should have put the tie to bed tonight. Particularly with no game at the weekend. It now means they will have a tough game at Vicarage Road that they dont need.

Ardent

Yeah fair play to Watford. They fought well, almost deserved a draw.

As for Baros making such a huge difference when he came on, that tells you all you need to know about Mellor. He's a good finisher but isn't capable of making intelligent runs or running at the opposition back line. He's too static and has very little pace for a young lad.

If Rafa can spot someone like Mellor having a mare and substitute him why can't the same apply to Garcia who was abysmally bad tonight?

mike65

Ardent wrote:

If Rafa can spot someone like Mellor having a mare and substitute him why can't the same apply to Garcia who was abysmally bad tonight?

Who would he have picked?

Biscan
Warnock
Potter
Baros (on for Mellor)

Mike.

Shred

mike65 wrote:

Who would he have picked?

Biscan
Warnock
Potter
Baros (on for Mellor)

Mike.

Personally I would have tried Warnock replacing Garcia on the left and if that didn't work out bring on Baros for Mellor then. Warnock couldn't have done any worse on the left - Garcia wouldn't stay wide and kept drifting into the centre where he was being closed down (where I feel he usually plays best - ie:in the 'hole'). Or perhaps Pongolle off, Warnock on the left and Garcia behind Mellor with Mellor holding the ball up for him to run onto. Either way a change had to be made but I think Garcia should have either been taken off or changed position, he just wasn't cutting it on the left.

Ardent

Shred wrote:

Personally I would have tried Warnock replacing Garcia on the left

I agree with that. The Baros/Mellor substitution was spot on but Garcia was just as bad as Mellor, if not actually worse.

Ronnie Whelan was saying after the match that he counted the number of times Garcia gave the ball away in the second half - 17 times! He reckoned, and I agree with him, that this is not a once-off thing with Garcia - he's been doing this all season.

I can certainly see what Rafa sees in Garcia - he's a very versatile player. He can play on either wing or as a withdrawn striker. But surely, if Garcia keeps turning out poor performances like tonight, there'll have to come a time when Rafa will say to himself "OK maybe this guy shouldn't start so many games, better to have him as an option on the bench".

The Rooster

The reason Garcia doesnt get taken off is because he is Benitez's biggest signing so far. Managers rarely take off their biggest signing, especially in the first year. Garcia started the season great, but he's been dreadful for the last 2/3 months - especially since his injury.

Nunez on the other hand has been consistently poor. He was our best player in the first half, which tells you how bad Liverpool were. But he was only our best player because he was given so much space. He did hit it one great cross, but he also hit one into the stands behind the goal. He was just about above average in the first half, and was back to useless in the second.

In no particular order, Finnan, Gerrard and Baros are our best (only!?) three players at the moment. United will have to be brutal not to beat us.

yom 1

The Rooster wrote:

In no particular order, Finnan, Gerrard and Baros are our best (only!?) three players at the moment. United will have to be brutal not to beat us.

Have to say I dont agree with that. Pongolle has played very well recently. Carragher and Hamann are their usual rock solid selves in their preformances and Riise has being showing the form of late that we all know he can. It will be a very difficult game on sat but i dont think we only have 3 players playing well. Plus with a bit of luck Morientes could bang in the winner for us

Ardent

yom 1 wrote:

Have to say I dont agree with that. Pongolle has played very well recently. Carragher and Hamann are their usual rock solid selves in their preformances and Riise has being showing the form of late that we all know he can. It will be a very difficult game on sat but i dont think we only have 3 players playing well. Plus with a bit of luck Morientes could bang in the winner for us

Agreed. The only players who are causing me concern are Mellor, Garcia, Nunez and Traore. Now that Pellegrino is on board we might see less of Traore, so that's one box ticked. And with Morientes in the bag, Mellor will have to play a lot better than he did last night to warrant inclusion in the team. I think we're still crying out for a quality right-winger, Nunez won't cut it IMO and Garcia is not the man for that side either.

With the following, we'll be OK for the rest of the season:

Pellegrino
Morientes
A. Johnson/Anelka
Malbranque/Routeledge
A Keeper

BolBill

Nunez is complete muck - Real must be still laughing about off loading him in the Owen deal.

Kencu

It was always going to be a tricky game last night. A cold windy night against a kick and run team was always going to be tricky. I'm much more confident we'll beat them easy in the second leg than i ever was about last nights game. Watford have actually been better away form home this season and despite the fact that we had Djimi at centerhalf they didnt really trouble us that much except for a few half chances and the header. I just hope that with Pellegrino on board now we don't ever have to see Traore at centrehalf again, he's serviceable at leftback tho. Garcia is a good player, he just needs time to adjust fully. He's shown glimpses and i have no doubt he'll come good for us. He reminds me of what Pires was like in his first season, and he turned out alright for the gooners. Prediction 3-0 win for pool in the away game. Once we get the first they'll have to throw everyoine forward and then we get two on the break.

Villain

Looking forward to the second leg, I reckon Watford will put it up to the pool. But IMHO it really doesn't matter who wins, because the winners will probably be wipped by Chelsea or Man U

eirebhoy

irish1 wrote:

because the winners will probably be wipped by Chelsea or Man U

Man U will be sticking with their reserves, although I'm sure there'll be one or two first teamers. Looking forward to tonights game, better open a thread.

Shred

Kencu wrote:

Garcia is a good player, he just needs time to adjust fully. He's shown glimpses and i have no doubt he'll come good for us.

I've no doubt that he is a good player and I also believe he'll come good, but right now he's the most frustrating player to watch at Liverpool. He drives me mad the way he keeps going asleep on the ball or losing the ball and then making no effort to get it back :mad:

BolBill

irish1 wrote:

Looking forward to the second leg, I reckon Watford will put it up to the pool. But IMHO it really doesn't matter who wins, because the winners will probably be wipped by Chelsea or Man U

Yeah like when Man U wipped ( whipped !!!) the 'pool in the final a few years ago.

Villain

BolBill wrote:

Yeah like when Man U wipped ( whipped !!!) the 'pool in the final a few years ago.

Well sorry for leaving out the "h", but in fairness that was a few years ago, I really doubt the pool can go on to win the trophy, fair play if they do but I can't see it.

The Rooster

Garcia is a spoofer.

Riise's not great defenisively, has no right foot, and is too greedy. Super left foot alright and has some great games, but is inconsistent.

Hamann is totally redundant in games like last night when Liverpool are playing anybody apart from the top 4 or 5. He just sits in front of the back 4 and does nothing. No doubting he's a good footballer though, and also no doubting that StevieG plays better when Didi is in the team, but it irks me that Hamann doesnt do more when we're playing poor teams.

Carragher is playing great for Carra. Tries harder than anyone in the Premiership. But its not untypical that he gets left for dead by an opposing striker at least once a game, e.g. when Helguson turned him last night, but Traore got a terrific block in.

Sinama is good in patches, but is too lightweight. Easily dispossesed.

Morientes is well over-priced. £6m + 43k a week for 4.5 years = £16m. I'd be astonsihed if Liverpool got value for that money. Will he put it in week in week out? Will he be up for the physical nature of the premiership? I predict he will do very well in some games (e.g. ManU on Saturday), but overall he will disappoint.

Also should be pointed out that bar a couple of players, Watford are pretty useless, and Liverpool should find it easier to win at Vicarage Road than they did at Anfield.

mike65

The Rooster wrote:

Garcia is a spoofer.

Riise's not great defenisively, has no right foot, and is too greedy. Super left foot alright and has some great games, but is inconsistent/

/Morientes is well over-priced. £6m + 43k a week for 4.5 years = £16m. I'd be astonsihed if Liverpool got value for that money. Will he put it in week in week out? Will he be up for the physical nature of the premiership? I predict he will do very well in some games (e.g. ManU on Saturday), but overall he will disappoint.

Also should be pointed out that bar a couple of players, Watford are pretty useless, and Liverpool should find it easier to win at Vicarage Road than they did at Anfield.

Jasuz give the man a chance, Morientes not Garcia!

I think Riise should be employed only as LW, but where to put Kewell?

As for Watford, well they now think they have a chance so will go for it at home, should leave plenty of space for Gerrard and Baros/Morientes to florish.

Mike.

Chucky the tree

watford home record is terrible isnt it? away record is very good i think.

away from home they stick back alot which makes it hard to break down, return leg they will have to attack which will leave more space at the back and should give liverpool the win.