Liverpool FC Forum

[account deleted by request]

I think if Skrtel hadn't been injured Drogba wouldn't have got his goals and maybe we could have scraped through.

[puroresu]

Too many players didn't turn up tonight. Pennant when he came on was pathetic. Kuyt did nothing, Alonso and Mascher never got to grips in midfield. Benny apart from the run for Torres goal was poor. Not many had good games for us, Carra probably the pick of the bunch.

Rafa got his subs wrong - should have been Crouch or Babel not Pennant and why take Torres off ?

I actually think Saint we would have been better advised sticking with the same team which had served us so well over these last two months. Benayoun made me eat humble pie with his run, but in truth even switching him right didn't really give the team any balance. It was fairly clear from an early stage that he was going to have to make way at some point, and with Skyrtel picking up an injury that meant two of our subs were spoken for. I'm sure Rafa would like to have introduced Crouch at some point but unfortunately once benayoun and Skyrtel had come off, his options were severely limited.

Needless to say when Kuyt was moved into the central striker role he barely touched the ball and it made it hard for us to really get a foothold.

All in all though, we played against a good side who are just running into form at the right time and we ran them very close. But for the bounce of the ball here and there we could quite easily have gone through, and ultimately Riise faux pas at Anfield probably did for us. Without that, Torres's equaliser would have left them needing to score another two goals in normal time which would have been beyond them I think.

Anyway like I said earlier, despite everything I hope they beat the Mancs in the final.

chelsea can win.  They have some way of stopping Utd playing.

[lakes10]

I hate to say this but i just seen Frank Lampard snr on tv when they got the pen, i just could not help but feel for him and i understand that seeing his son get that goall must have made him happy for the first time in a very sad part of his life.

[Toffeehater]

Luck went against us saint , skrtel injured , riise own goal , an offside goal , a soft penalty , so many factors but despite that the team managed a 3-2 , well done lads .

[Pepe25]

they were able to bring on malouda anelka schevencko on ---- essien one of the best players in the world was at right back------ wont you dont get luck then all things considered how could we have gone through?

[Kharhaz]

I think if Skrtel hadn't been injured Drogba wouldn't have got his goals and maybe we could have scraped through.

Im liking skrtel more and more each time I see him, he and agger in the future are going to be massive for this club. How ironic though that rafa was talking about ayala and how he didnt need to tell him about how to handle players like drogba, he just knew. Go figure, skrtel takes this on board and goes off injured ! Lady luck was in two minds tonight !

[banana]

I give you 5 for today.

1. Skrtel injury.
Very big impact on the game. Hyypia is not good enough and fast enough for these kind of games. We conceded only minutes after Skrtels injury.

2. Hyypia
Made a terrible terrible tackle. The ref was just waiting for an excuse to award a penalty and Hyypia made it easy for him. Also his passing and overall contribution was way way way off the standard required in a CL semi final. His days are long numbered.

3. Carra
Is he good enough for Liverpool? Great committment and a scouser through and through. But that don't make him a LFC solid. At fault on two goals today. Clearly destroyed the offside trap on 3-1 and let the team down on 1-0 (together with a unbelieavably horrible Hyypia). Terrible passing and creativity.

4. Rafa
Made clear errors with the substitution of Torres and with allowing Pennant to play and Kuyt to finish. Kuyt was no threath. Pennent has never produced anything against quality opposition and Torres should always play unless he has two broken legs.

5. Referee
Overall very good. Could have awarded a penalty for LFC. Should have added more time and given more yellow cards to Chelsea. Why not give a penalty for the foul on Hyypia. Suspicion of offside on Chelsea goal nr.1 .


Ratings

Reina    7

Arbeloa   6
Carra 5
Skrtel 7
Riise 5

Kuyt  6
Alonso  8
Masch 8
Gerrard 7
Benayoun 6

Torres 8

Subs:
Hyypia 3
Babel 8
Pennant 2

[Dutchsky]

personally i would have thrown Crouch up front for Alonso.

Yup, would have done the same.

Kuyt pulled some defenders with him, same did Torres. Extra attacker up front could have...

Ah well, afterwards its always easier to speculate.

I think Gerrard wasn't too good today. That always makes a big difference.
Over two matches Liverpool should have gone tru.
Sad own goal...ah well, next season another try.

Liverpool still is the most successfull english club in Europe.

[username]

Torres went off, babel scored. okay, he could of took kuyt off. but babel probably would of never got his goal if that was the case.

Seriously, what people are saying about rafa for that change is just stupid

[Toffeehater]

One of my mate said that mourinho was in the stands , can anyone confirm that?

[bigmick]

On the penalty thing, i notice some are calling it soft. I think theirs was soft in that it came out of nothing, but was absolutely stone-wall in the sense it was a definate penalty. You've only got to look at sami's reaction to see he knew it 100%. Ours when Sami went down wasn't unfortunately although I have seen them given to balance things up in the referees mind. I did think though we were denied a clear handball at the start of extra time when makeleli headed it onto his own hand, although I couldn't say if it was in the box or not. Alos with about 60 seconds left we should have had a corner and the non-award of that was the final nail in our coffin.

[lakes10]

One of my mate said that mourinho was in the stands , can anyone confirm that?

I heard that on radio five live, not sure it is true.

i know he has been a guest at liverpool for 5 games this year.

[metalhead]

Should have had a penalty in extra time, but I can take it because thats football.

Anelka was offside when drogba scored, but I cant take that as an excuse because we should have done better with all this talking before the game.

Im just gutted because we are still not good enough, some of the players we have, have been a let down seriously.

Chelsea deserved their win.

[puroresu]

they were able to bring on malouda anelka schevencko on ---- essien one of the best players in the world was at right back------ wont you dont get luck then all things considered how could we have gone through?

Essien is a beast.  I actually dont think it hurt them with him being at RB.

[Dutchsky]

Needless to say when Kuyt was moved into the central striker role he barely touched the ball and it made it hard for us to really get a foothold.

Needless to say, this is a onesided view.
The strikers up front didnt receive any good pass at all.

Apart from his goal, Torres didnt do much up front either.

So stop the blame game.