Liverpool FC Forum

by **Reg** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 3:25 am

Igor Zidane wrote:Rafa's fault .

Oh cough igor, I dont expect that from you.

by **Bad Bob** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 3:58 am

TomG wrote:
SportingCPFan wrote:Hey lads. Unlucky in your macth yesterday agaisnt my big rivals, benfica. I just wanted to show you guys this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=352R9OhOnqo&feature=player_embedded

As you can see, Luisão gets two yellow cards and he doesnt get sent of.

Try to show this videos to many people, lets hope it gets to Uefa. Good luck in your 2nd game!

Cheers from Portugal

No, Luisão doesn´t get two yellow cards.

The first one shown in the video is not seen by him, as he is in the discussion with Babel.

As the discussion is over, in the end, the ref calls the two players, shows the yellow to Luisão and the red to Babel.

Easy.

Ohh and another thing:

"Liverpool faced a cauldron of hate at the Estadio da Luz."

What?
A "cauldron of hate" ?
What a stupid thing to say, really!
Probably who wrote this wasn´t in Lisbon yesterday. Neither had a beer in the Rossio square between the supporters of both clubs.
Do you believe in this bullsh**?

I removed your link from this post as it was a link to the Sun--a rag of a newspaper that Liverpool supporters (and many other English football fans besides) refuse to acknowledge for reasons that are outlined HERE

Please do not create links to or quote from the Sun on this board.

by **Scottbot** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 11:15 am

s@int wrote:Putting aside for a moment the sending off and the bias shown by the ref in the game, I don't think there is any real doubt that we were not playing well anyway. The fluency, passing and movement that was very prominent in our previous game was absent, and we were back to the stuttering football of the game against the mancs. Maybe we can only play the relaxed passing game against poor teams, or maybe its all down to Lucas, or more likely in my opinion that the balance of the team is such that when we don't play with a good passing midfielder the whole system breaks down.

We had a spell in the early part of the second half when Gerrard dropped deeper and for the first time we looked likely to create something, sadly it was during this better spell that Benfica scored, Gerrard was pushed forward (or decided to go forward) and we were back to the stuttering football again.

I thought our players showed great determination and effort, but the way our defence was cut open time and time again (even with 2 defensive midfielders ) was a constant worry , and maybe we were a little lucky to come away only the odd goal down (If only fecking Torres had put away that chance! ) as it could have been so much worse.

Good post mate. We never really looked comfortable, even when we had 11 men on the pitch and I deffo agree we struggled without that 'passing midfielder'. I thought the red was VERY harsh so to get out of there with the away goal and a 2-1 defeat was a pretty good effort. I really fancy our chances at Anfield.

The lads worked their butts off and I just hope there aren't too many tired legs for the match with Brum. I'd expect to see Maxi, Benny and Aqua (if he's fit) back in.

Just a word on Insua, he was terrible. Diving in on several occasions and leaving his CB's utterly exposed. His play has been a big problem all season in my opinion. I know he's a young lad but he's a liability. Rafa is usually on the money with his defensive players so it's a real head scratcher to see him have so much faith in the player.

by **Sabre** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 11:36 am

I disagree.

Against Benfica I disliked the ref, a very nervous Insua who made a lot of mistakes (he's too young for some responsabilities), and a Lucas who did not enough.

But I liked the rest of the team pretty much, I saw Gerrard proving bóllocks the notion he's finnished (quality passes with the left and the right, runs), I saw Johnson doing a good job, Kuyt did a serious game in that game, and Agger allowed himself a quality goal.

Benfica these days have a better team they used to have and they have an attacking team, and a 0-1 to recover from, I expected no less than them trying to attack in their stadium. They have a team for that with Pablo Aimar, Cardozo, or guys like De Maria. Plus, that defender, De luz, did a good job minimising the impact of Torres.

But they had a good Liverpool side on front of them, at least a more solid Liverpool than the Liverpool that was really struggling one or two months ago. Yes, Lucas is worse option than Aquilani, Insua was struggling, and we allowed two free headers to a man like Cardozo that we shouldn't, but I also saw signs of recovery of the team, and many red men fighting a difficult game, before, and after the red card, which was insane.

We scored one, we were overruled one goal, we had another one on one with Torres in a counter attack (Kuyt pass), and we did a serious game, and only could be beaten by a couple of penalties and a red card.

The refereeing rules were harsh for Liverpool yesterday, only Liverpool saw the rules applied to the letter. Benfica wasn't punnished by the ref for kicking our players from behind, which the rules talk clearly about it, and that was precisely what put Babel "on fire" (if that was an aggression at all).

With the right men, Liverpool will beat this lot, who are a good team. I'm confident.

by **dawson99** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 11:40 am

Lets not forget that Torres missed an absolute sitter when it was 1-1 as well...

I still think we'll do 'em

by **Sabre** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 11:44 am

dawson99 wrote:Lets not forget that Torres missed an absolute sitter when it was 1-1 as well...

I still think we'll do 'em

Yes that's the one I mentioned, if you see him in the previous play, he was taking deep breaths as he came from another big run in which he was fouled. He was being kicked, and I think he reached a tad exhausted to the chance he had, in normal circunstances he scores those.

As for Insua's season, Both Scott & me liked what we saw of Insua in certain moments of last season, and both him and me would have liked to see more of him this season.

But I have to agree his lack of experience has costed us this season, and in the Benfica game particularly.

I have no doubts about his future, but he needs experience, and right now we need experienced players, not to form players. Fabio Aurelio's injuries have been another massive problem this season.

by **Fauxy** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 3:12 pm

If we hadnt got a red we would of won that match easily. Benfica were on the back foot before Babel got sent off and might of got a goal but we were playing well. Even with 10 men we played fairly well against them I thought.

We will tw@t these guys at anfield.

by **account deleted by request** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 3:12 pm

Scottbot wrote:Just a word on Insua, he was terrible. Diving in on several occasions and leaving his CB's utterly exposed. His play has been a big problem all season in my opinion. I know he's a young lad but he's a liability. Rafa is usually on the money with his defensive players so it's a real head scratcher to see him have so much faith in the player.

I suppose this is were I agree with the people who moan about our lack of funds. We just don't have the money to cope well with mistakes in the transfer market. If Dossena had been a good buy rather than just a goodbye we would be ok at Left back, similarly on the right if Degen had been half decent and not made of glass.

When money is tight, if you make a mistake in the transfer market you tend to pay a heavy price. Keane cost us last season, Aquaman, Dossena, Degan....... things could have been much better if they had been successes.

The sad thing is that the players they replaced Riise, Arbeloa, Sissoko(Alonso)and Crouch were all still young enough(good enough?) to have given years of service.

by **tonyeh** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 3:49 pm

badradio wrote:Honestly I still think the ref was too harsh on sending off Babel...I mean, it's obvious Babel shouldn't have done that, but the ref must have the sensibility to see what's an aggression and what's a 'discussion' between 2 players. He certainly didn't hurt Luisão...

Look, it's simple. The rule is harsh because it SHOULD be forcing players to think before they raise a hand in any situation.

It's enforced that way because the players should NEVER raise their hands to another player regardless.

It's an across the board rule for a reason, whether it's a pat on the cheek or a fist to the nose.

The main problem is that refs don't enforce it on a level basis.

by **ironman** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 3:58 pm

s@int wrote:
Scottbot wrote:Just a word on Insua, he was terrible. Diving in on several occasions and leaving his CB's utterly exposed. His play has been a big problem all season in my opinion. I know he's a young lad but he's a liability. Rafa is usually on the money with his defensive players so it's a real head scratcher to see him have so much faith in the player.

I suppose this is were I agree with the people who moan about our lack of funds. We just don't have the money to cope well with mistakes in the transfer market. If Dossena had been a good buy rather than just a goodbye we would be ok at Left back, similarly on the right if Degen had been half decent and not made of glass.

When money is tight, if you make a mistake in the transfer market you tend to pay a heavy price. Keane cost us last season, Aquaman, Dossena, Degan....... things could have been much better if they had been successes.

The sad thing is that the players they replaced Riise, Arbeloa, Sissoko(Alonso)and Crouch were all still young enough(good enough?) to have given years of service.

what was wrong with steve warnock or ris jon arne risse???

by **account deleted by request** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 4:19 pm

ironman wrote:
s@int wrote:
Scottbot wrote:Just a word on Insua, he was terrible. Diving in on several occasions and leaving his CB's utterly exposed. His play has been a big problem all season in my opinion. I know he's a young lad but he's a liability. Rafa is usually on the money with his defensive players so it's a real head scratcher to see him have so much faith in the player.

I suppose this is were I agree with the people who moan about our lack of funds. We just don't have the money to cope well with mistakes in the transfer market. If Dossena had been a good buy rather than just a goodbye we would be ok at Left back, similarly on the right if Degen had been half decent and not made of glass.

When money is tight, if you make a mistake in the transfer market you tend to pay a heavy price. Keane cost us last season, Aquaman, Dossena, Degan....... things could have been much better if they had been successes.

The sad thing is that the players they replaced Riise, Arbeloa, Sissoko(Alonso)and Crouch were all still young enough(good enough?) to have given years of service.

what was wrong with steve warnock or ris jon arne risse???

Riise had a poor season followed by a bad one. Off the field problems (his divorce and bankruptcy ) took their toll imo. I always thought that with a little more patience he could have still played an important role for us, as he was a very hardworking never say die type of player.

Again with Warnock we exchanged a player who's career had been set back by injuries for a player who's career has been beset with injuries (Aurelio). Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but its these type of decisions that we seem to get wrong time after time.

by **Owzat** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 8:27 am

I don't believe Riise was ever a long term solution to LB. He had good games defensively, most LBs are bound to, but he wasn't good enough defensively to play LB and wasn't good enough attacking to play LM so he was neither one thing nor t'other.

Warnock had the potential but it seems noone was prepared to put faith in him as the long term solution, a joke under the circumstances of not having had a standout LB since before Carragher filled in adequately and gave us four CBs across the back. We were bound to go for Aurelio, problem is his being injury prone and the sale of Dossena leaves us very thin at LB and little choice but to play Insua. RB isn't much better, when Johnson was out we played Mascherano and Carra there rather than a youngster or Degen who seems to be the oddest bosman signing yet.

DEGEN AND DOSSENA APPS

09/10

Degen = 9 apps (PREM 6, LC 2, FAC 1)
Dossena = 5 apps (PREM 2, LC 1, CL 2)

08/09

Degen = 2 apps (LC 2)
Dossena = 26 apps (PREM 17, CL 7, FAC 2)

Supposedly the solution to our lack of width as I recall Rafa saying, so in 103 games they played 42 times between them so just 1 in 5 (of the apps they could have made ie 42/206)

by **Excentrico** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 3:11 pm

Benfica defender, Luisão received 2 yellow cards and wasnt sent off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=352R9OhOnqo&feature=player_embedded

The first yellow wasnt shown to Ramires, look at here:
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeur....ex.html

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