thoughts on tonight

[Lecter]

Having 8 players behind the ball doesn't necessarily mean playing deep.

Having your 2 centrehalves no more than 10 yards from your penalty box does though

[tomasjj]

Having 8 players behind the ball doesn't necessarily mean playing deep.

Well, they had 8 players from 25 meters and in.

[Guest]

Having your 2 centrehalves no more than 10 yards from your penalty box does though

True but didn't mean we weren't playing deep. I think Drogba scared the **** out of our defense after the 1st goal though and that's probably why we retreated.

[Lecter]

True but didn't mean we weren't playing deep. I think Drogba scared the **** out of our defense after the 1st goal though and that's probably why we retreated.

I thought we played deep ourselves so you wont get any argument from me

Chelsea played very deep also but then they always do

No doubt Drogba was a big worry and probably the reason the back four dropped off however I also thought the central midfield 2 were very deep as well

I still think the way to go is to condense the play rather than stretch it

We are far more effective as a unit playing in 40-50 yards. I'd have liked to see us playing a high line and the midfielders pressing their midfielders back

Looking at the pitch yesterday it was very slick and balls over the top were tending to run away from players anyway so pushing up probably wouldnt have made a significant difference defensively

[Guest]

I thought we played deep ourselves so you wont get any argument from me

Chelsea played very deep also but then they always do

No doubt Drogba was a big worry and probably the reason the back four dropped off however I also thought the central midfield 2 were very deep as well

I still think the way to go is to condense the play rather than stretch it

We are far more effective as a unit playing in 40-50 yards. I'd have liked to see us playing a high line and the midfielders pressing their midfielders back

Looking at the pitch yesterday it was very slick and balls over the top were tending to run away from players anyway so pushing up probably wouldnt have made a significant difference defensively

Yep, our midfield, especially Mascherano didn't apply much pressure to the Chelsea midfield and that's why Lampard almost scored from two loose balls in the first half (or was it one in the 1st one in the 2nd?).

I don't understand why we're so poor against the top teams away from home. Manure always play a high tempo game and they keep any team on their toes because of that. We need to copy some of their tactics and be a little 'in your face' as regards to our away games against the likes of them.

[tommyg]

excuse my ignorance, but why didnt rafa play sissoko in the first leg? is he injured or something or just didnt get the nod?

[Guest]

excuse my ignorance, but why didnt rafa play sissoko in the first leg? is he injured or something or just didnt get the nod?

Loss of form and Mascherano keeping the ball better. Think that was his idea. On the whole we kept the ball really well in the second half but couldn't do anything with it.

I think it suits us better to be the underdogs and when we play our pressing game. We seem to run out of ideas when we're having plenty of the ball as we're not very incisive.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

Post match analysis etc.... from RTE

http://www.rte.ie/

[blacky]

I was convinced SG was going to play behind one striker last night.When I seen Zenden on the teamsheet my heart sank. The team lacked any sort of balance in midfield and we had zero creativity going forward. I think Rafa bottled the team selection last night bigtime. Our two "form" players recently have been Crouch and Pennant. If you don't play your strongest 11 in a CVL semi final when do you play them exactly?? baffled

[bazza76]

Post match analysis etc.... from RTE

http://www.rte.ie/

no thanks, switched over to Sky when this part came on, am sick of hearing their negativity about LFC.

[der_Fuchs]

Mixed feelings. We really should have been out of it by half time, so to get through the match without conceding another was vital.

However, it will be very very tought in the 2nd leg. We had a better 2nd half but produced very little in terms of efforts.

I'd say we've got a 40% chance of getting through. Huge improvement in attacking play will be needed though.

40% is about right, but we need to be a lot more professional and take whatever half chances we create, because Chelsea aren't going to give us much sight of goal. We need to be a lot quicker about it, too: pumping balls into the box isn't going to help when most their team are already waiting there. I thought Zenden did his best, but he is too slow. We need a quicker, more accurate service. That rules out Riise, obviously. Momo isn't the answer, either. He gives the ball away too much. Destructively he is good but we had plenty of the ball in any case.

I thought we were too unambitious last night and got punished for it. Perhaps Rafa planned it that way, hoping for a draw or a low scoring defeat in the hope we can outscore them at Anfield, but we only started to play once we went behind, not for the first time. Rafa needs to address this.

We were lucky that Chelsea were equally as unambitious, and time wasted right from the moment they scored. For a team with pretensions to be European Champions, I thought their attitude was disgraceful, but it helped us. If we were playing the Mancs we would have been caned. If they sit back in the second leg we only need a goal to get level, but if they score first I think we are doomed.

So we are still in it, but Chelsea and the Mancs have the upper hand now.
Like Sir Bob, I can deal with the fact that we're probably not good enough to win, but it rankles to be knocked out by a team that plays pub football. If it rankles the new owners as much as it rankles me, perhaps we will see some real creativity and pace injected into the side next year.

[Shaggy]

40% is about right, but we need to be a lot more professional and take whatever half chances we create, because Chelsea aren't going to give us much sight of goal. We need to be a lot quicker about it, too: pumping balls into the box isn't going to help when most their team are already waiting there. I thought Zenden did his best, but he is too slow. We need a quicker, more accurate service. That rules out Riise, obviously. Momo isn't the answer, either. He gives the ball away too much. Destructively he is good but we had plenty of the ball in any case.

I thought we were too unambitious last night and got punished for it. Perhaps Rafa planned it that way, hoping for a draw or a low scoring defeat in the hope we can outscore them at Anfield, but we only started to play once we went behind, not for the first time. Rafa needs to address this.

We were lucky that Chelsea were equally as unambitious, and time wasted right from the moment they scored. For a team with pretensions to be European Champions, I thought their attitude was disgraceful, but it helped us. If we were playing the Mancs we would have been caned. If they sit back in the second leg we only need a goal to get level, but if they score first I think we are doomed.

So we are still in it, but Chelsea and the Mancs have the upper hand now.
Like Sir Bob, I can deal with the fact that we're probably not good enough to win, but it rankles to be knocked out by a team that plays pub football. If it rankles the new owners as much as it rankles me, perhaps we will see some real creativity and pace injected into the side next year.