Liverpool FC Forum

[Toffeehater]

Mate the second half of last season , even you have to admit kuyt was a different player , infact one of our better players , our top scorer in the champions league 7 assist in the league , 11 goals in total . Not bad for someone who's been asked to play as winger and has to drastically change his game . I think we have kuyt to thank for his goals against arsenal and inter milan , he was the one of the players who got us to the semi's with this tireless running and tracking back . Yes he may not be a david villa , or a silva , but the lads deserves respect and i think some of us need to tone it down a little and give him the respect that he deserves . He stood out for you when the whole team was poor because whether you know it or not , you're bias towards kuyt . He may not be everyone's flavor of the month , but he's playing for LFC and in a red shirt .

[Toffeehater]

Not only Kuyt and Bennynoon but the whole team was woefull i blame Riise.

Beer still in your system? 

[maypaxvobiscum]

kuyt does play consistently. consistently poor.

[maypaxvobiscum]

heres my lowdown on kuyt.

1) he was bought as a striker, not a right winger, or defender so obviously for that kind of money we paid for him at that point in time, do expect disappointment.

2) considering his goal tally in holland, how can we not expect more?

3) he cant dribble, cant take on players one-on-one.

4) he works his off but that simply covers up for his lack of ability.

5) he just cant score. in the end you're a striker and goals is what you're called upon to deliver and be judged on.

6) his ball control is invisible.

7) he was brought as a striker but his finishing is so bad he is now a defensive rightback. not a right winger. he offers nothing going forward.

[NiftyNeil]

That was worrying last night. What was clear to see is that we are badly lacking in width. We've had all summer to strengthen in this area, yet we've been wasting our time chasing Barry. For the money being asked, we could of bought a decent left and right winger. The only true winger we have is Pennant, and he looks set to be sold, which leaves me really concerned for the forthcoming season.
I feel on the whole, we have invested in the wrong areas. We have sold Riise, who was half decent going forward, but suspect at times in defence. We've replaced him with Dossena, who is er, well the same. All this for an extra £3M.
The Keane signing worries me too. We played 4-4-2 for the first half of last season, but in the second half, Rafa stumbled upon the 4-2-3-1 formation. This seemed to play to our strengths, given our lack of width. Gerrard was given more of a free license playing in front of two holding midfielders. In doing that, Gerrard was the missing link between the midfield and striker and we all saw how devastating that was. Keanes arrival suggests a switch back to 4-4-2, and with no wingers, you have what we saw last night. There was no link between midfield and strikers. There were hardly any crosses into the box - the only ones I can remember were from the full backs, and they were few and far between. Because of the huge gulf between Alonso/Plessis and Torres/Keane, we played an embarrassing game of long ball, the result of which saw us lose possession time and time again. Keane's signing would be complimented by two all out wingers, but in the absence of those, we could have a very expensive white elephant on our hands.

[Sabre]

I avoided newkit because I didn't want to spoil the fun of not knowing the result.

I've been reading the reactions, and Scottbot's pretty much sums it up for me. I'd agree S@int's point of Plessis being too young to take blame, and I also agree quite a lot of our men were playing below par.

Despite Keane wasn't justifying what he has costed (in this game), it surprised me a bit he was the one to be substituted by Gerrard, it's as if I expected that with Keane there, we would see Gerrard less often playing behind Torres. Alonso had some bright passes, with some big mistakes, irregular game of the basque, he was booked, and I expected a substitution from him or Plessis rather than Keane.

The most worrying thought that crossed over my mind during the game is that it didn't seem the new signing would improve us miles, but then, it was a thought in the middle of a frustrating game.

Liverpool are superior to that team anyway, so I hope we spank them a 3-0 in the next game.

[woof woof !]

Gutted by last nights performance. A f'uckin' shambles. I'm only encouraged by the thought that surely we can't perform that badly again . Can we ?

(answers not required   )

[Toffeehater]

I think is the worst we have performed under rafa in any game ? Surely nothing can top this?

[maypaxvobiscum]

nah man. im sure arsenal gave us a lesson a few times.

[LegBarnes]

when is rafa goin to learn that you'll win nothing without quality wide men, simple as

Did we have quakity widemen when we won the cl NO, so do one.

Slickrick is kind of right though, when was the last time a team won the EPL without a quality wide man?  Rafa is depending on Dossena and Arbeloa to give us width, but judging by today's game, I don't think that it's enough.  We desperately need a wide player who can get past defenders and get the ball to Torres and Keane.  Benayoun and especially Kuyt do not do that enough for me, maybe Babel will, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  I'm still hoping that Rafa will go for someone like Joe Cole or Arda Turan.

I been saying it for last 12 months since barnes was last time end of story we need real wingers.

[LegBarnes]

I was about to post a nice comment about the game...Until i saw some disgusting racist comments about Belgium.

I feel very sad for the guys who write this kind of sh1t. Ciggy : you got a problem man, sort it out with professionnal help. Might be frustration after tonight's game...

i was at the stadium in Liege :
1) This is the Liverpool crowd ??? Come on, i didn't hear your 3000 men once and i was 30 meters (yes meters) away !!!
You may have got out with a draw, but you definitely lost the game in the stands. A big disappointment regarding your reputation.

2) Pretty much everyone here was scared of a 0-3 or 0-4 beforehand. Pretty much everyone was disgusted with the draw after the game.
Liverpool looked like a subtop belgian team in weak form, sorry to say it. Whereas Standard played at Champions League pace : like Premiership, Belgian League has not begun.

3) Hope Reina gets injured, great player.

4) I hope your team is as confident as you all are about your win at Anfield. Few come to win at Anfield ? Don't care, we only need a scoring draw. Keep on underestimating us and we'll send you in UEFA cup.

Don't worry mate , come at anfield , we;ll teach you a lesson . We did not contest 2 finals for no reason , we'll have the returning ryan babel with us who thrives on games as open as this . His pace and dribbling will be a problem , we'll see if you guys can handle a fit steven gerrard , or pump in long balls when we have  martin skrtel back . Last but not least we'll have the monster returning to break up plays . Good luck for your game at anfield , you're going to need it .  As for the fans Europenas nights at anfield are always special , you'll see our fans there . 

Yep Barnes Mark II was not playing he bring much needed pace to wings when he is back we need babel this season so much hope he can keep his nerve.

I like benny in some areas of pitch but he is not a wide player yer he can take the ball out wide only to look out of his depth and lose the ball.

He is pure attacking midfielder a carryer of the ball if you like.

Babel can take it past people and get crosses in even if they are a little hit and miss he still keeps the full backs guessing.

[LegBarnes]

Biggest problem for me tho last night was we had 2 strikers 1 droped deeper to pick up ball but that wasn't working. 2 midfielders alonso and ples was to sqaure and didn't offor each other a forward pass. So this in end forced us to play long balls into wide areas which are very easy to defend.

We need to be making smarter and more runs of the ball at times last night players wasn't even moving to get the ball. If you look at teams like arsenal and man u they are always moving always pulling the other team out of postion we rarely do that. I really think it time rafa stops playing to square DM it adds nothing to the team IMO mabye more defence.

But isn't that the problem with last season 2 DM and to many draws i wonder if he has learnt any thing from last year.

[metalhead]

Rafael Benitez admitted his side were lucky to escape with a draw after they produced a below-par display in the first-leg of the Champions League qualifier with Standard Liege. 
The Reds boss was frustrated that his side could not reproduce their good pre-season form against the Belgian champions but feels the Anfield factor will play a vital role when the two sides meet at Anfield in a fortnight's time.
 
"I think we were lucky not to concede," said Benitez.
 
"You never know what is going to happen when a game gets underway but clearly we didn't play well.
 
"The performance was poor but the result was good. We didn't concede away from home which is always important and to play the second-leg at Anfield could make a massive difference.
 
"The positive thing was the result and we didn't have to say too much about the display in the dressing room because everybody already knew it wasn't good."
 
The Reds struggled to come to terms with Liege's fast start to the contest and Benitez felt his side were their own worst enemy and was grateful to keeper Pepe Reina for securing a 0-0 draw with a first-half spot-kick save.
 
"They were very aggressive and we could not keep the ball," he said.
 
"Our passes were bad and we always lost the first and second ball.
 
"In the first 20 minutes they were on top of us and after that we controlled it a bit more.
 
"In the second-half they started the same way and played more long balls and continued to win the first and second balls and if you don't win them you will continue to be under pressure.
 
"I was a little bit surprised because we were playing well in pre-season with a lot of confidence.
 
"I told the players before, after watching their Super Cup game against Anderlecht, that it could be like this.
 
"We knew they could be very aggressive. They were organised and pressed well and it was difficult for us to keep the ball.
 
"I think the entire team didn't play well; so the strikers, midfielders and defenders didn't play well and Pepe Reina was man of the match."
 
With Javier Mascherano, Lucas Leiva and Ryan Babel all on Olympic duty and the likes of Fabio Aurelio and Martin Skrtel out injured, Benitez felt his side lacked options on the bench and admitted he had been forced to bring skipper Steven Gerrard into the frame to try and inspire a late rally.
 
"We have a lot of players away or injured and the competition for the places needs to improve," he continued.
 
"Gerrard couldn't start and he is a player who can change a game and if you have two or three players of this level on the pitch it is different.
 
"We were talking with the doctor before the match and we knew he couldn't start and we were thinking maybe we could use him and in the end we did need him.
 
"I have been really pleased with the commitment of the players in the pre-season but this game was different, it was difficult and we didn't play well.
 
"Fabio Aurelio and Skrtel have been training and when they are available we will have more options.
 
"Argentina play Holland in the Olympics too, so one player will return earlier. If you have more players competing for places it is better for the team." 


.tv

At last! Rafa admits that we were poor 

[Scottbot]

Sorry about last night I had been on the belgium beer 

We figured 

[Scottbot]

one game in and already people making excuses for how garbage we were last night

One game in and already people have their gloves off and are writing off the season.....