How to beat Milan

[CAD]

Whatever Lecter. We crowded the midfield with Hamann and Kaka, Gattuso and Pirlo suffered. Not really that important is it?

You think Pirlo is key. I think Gattuso is key. Let's just leave it there

[Lecter]

Whatever Lecter. We crowded the midfield with Hamann and Kaka, Gattuso and Pirlo suffered. Not really that important is it?

You think Pirlo is key. I think Gattuso is key. Let's just leave it there

I think crowding the midfield is the way to go anyway

[murder_inc]

Lec, your supposed to do a Maureen and declare that you were right all along and that CAD MUST have docted the quote somehow. Its all a conspiracy blah blah blah.

[CAD]

Ooops I apologise you were right - its old age I dont know whether its Wembley or Wednesday these days

"I started to write the new formation on the board. I told Traore to get changed and that Hamann was coming on for him. The idea was for Hamann to make Kaka’s life much tougher.

No problemo, Lec.

[Lecter]

No problemo, Lec.

"YOU ARE LIVERPOOL ..GET YOUR HEADS UP, GET OUT THERE AND DO IT FOR THE FANS"
Martin Lipton

RAFAEL BENITEZ has finally revealed the chaos and confusion from which he conjured Liverpool’s greatest triumph out of impending disaster.

Giving the first in-depth account of what really happened in the dressing room as his side faced up to the mountain they had to climb from a 3-0 half-time Champions League Final deficit against AC Milan, Benitez admitted he did not know if he could find the words to bring his team back from the dead.

The Liverpool manager also confessed that at one stage he was sending out a 10-man team for the second half in Istanbul as his plans verged on bedlam.

While his players were reeling, Benitez strode from the dug-out and down the tunnel at Attaturk Stadium to find a Liverpool dressing room in a state of shock and knowing he had a brief window of opportunity to get across the most important message of his career.

"I walked into the dressing room rehearsing what I was going to say to them but also how I was going to say it," he said. "It’s really difficult to come up with all the things you want to say in a foreign language. I was trying to find the right English words.

"We talked about what we were going to change. It’s tough enough motivating a team which is losing 3-0 in Spanish. In English, it is much, much tougher.

"But the words came more easily than I could ever have hoped. The important aspect was to lift their spirits.

"I started with a motivational speech to get them fired up. I demanded they start working again and emphasised there were 45 minutes left and we had to come off the pitch proud of ourselves because we’d done everything in our power.

"So I reminded them it had been a hard battle to reach such a massive game and that we owed something important to all the Liverpool people. I said if we scored we would totally change the course of the game. I emphasised it was the most important challenge.

"I said: ‘Don’t let your heads drop. We’re Liverpool. You’re playing for Liverpool. Don’t forget that. You have to hold your heads high for the supporters. You have to do it for them.

‘You can’t call yourselves Liverpool players if you have your heads down. If we create a few chances we have the possibility of getting back into this. Believe you can do it and you will. Give yourself the chance to be heroes’."

It was a chance that was gloriously, unforgettably taken and Benitez broke open the secrets of his finest moment in A Season On The Brink, a new authorised account of his first term at Anfield, by distinguished Spanish journalist Guillem Balague.

But the Liverpool chief told how even after he had given the exhortation that changed everything, his plans were enmeshed in a few minutes of sheer chaos.

Benitez wanted to introduce Didi Hamann and told Djimi Traore he was coming off - but then learned Steve Finnan’s injury was too bad for him to continue.

Benitez added: "I started to write the new formation on the board. I told Traore to get changed and that Hamann was coming on for him. The idea was for Hamann to make Kaka’s life much tougher.

"I took Didi up to the whiteboard so he understood what I wanted and explained the tactical changes to the rest of the side. Then I was told Finnan was injured.

"Finnan was unhappy. He believed he could keep going. But I reckoned if he told me midway through the second half I’d have to make a change beyond my control.

"It was a total mess for a while. I was reckoning on Djibril Cisse on the right but someone pointed out I’d have no more substitutions.

"So I took Cisse out but also deleted Luis Garcia from the board because I wanted to move him. Now I only had 10 players in the team. The system was changed several times on the board and it created havoc.

"The idea was to play 3-4-2-1 with John Arne Riise tucked in. But with the realisation Finnan wasn’t fit to stay on, the logical thing was to tell Traore he wasn’t being taken off. By this time he had his boots off and was on his way to the shower."

Somehow, despite the flurry of thoughts and the situation, the seeds of glory were being sown.

Benitez added: "In the first half we weren’t threatening around their box. We wanted to change the pattern by using two players in the hole between midfield and Milan Baros.

"The task was to produce terrific movement and also put massive pressure on Milan building out of defence through Pirlo. We felt we could slam the brakes on the damaging work which Gatuso, Seedorf and most of all Kaka were doing.

"Using three centre-halves would make us more secure by staying tight on the runs of their strikers. You can try anything tactically if you’ve worked hard on such ideas in training. We had."

In that instant, a voice cried out, reminding the players of the second half comeback against Greek side Olympiakos that had brought the Reds back from the brink in their final group game.

Outside, the stunned Liverpool fans were singing the roof off the stadium, not even dreaming of what would follow in front of their disbelieving eyes.

Benitez said: "Normally it’s Xabi or Carra or Gerrard who shouts ‘Come on boys’ when it’s needed. In the first few minutes there wasn’t any of that.

"But in the last couple of minutes before going back out, the animation and noise hit a normal level.

"We needed to attack and they let us. We scored and started to look confident all over the pitch. When a team loses control of a match, it can take 15 minutes to get it back. While they are recharging their batteries, anything can happen.

"I didn’t hear the fans singing You’ll Never Walk Alone from the dressing room. On the way out I did hear it but I was lost in my thoughts."

[Rich]

Glad that's all sorted.

[Lecter]

Lec, your supposed to do a Maureen and declare that you were right all along and that CAD MUST have docted the quote somehow. Its all a conspiracy blah blah blah.

[Mr Tourette]

....just a few observations i made last night.

1. Firstly, it was almost as pleasurable as watching us win on tuesday!

2. I thought milan there were stunning last night - i would love to see us having that amount of composure on the ball..... but having said that Utd really were very poor and tactically all over the place and had a completely makeshift defence out. this will not be the case with us come athens

3. Gatusso was clearly on drugs. He was so up for it it was frightening. (Get him tested - does no one remember maradona in 94?) Hes a very very good player but if you could get the same controlled aggression from Gerrard - he would eat him - hes faster and stronger. He has to be subdued to slow milan down.

4. Kaka is clearly the main man to stop. He recieves the ball all over the park and has so much pace and skill, hes a very clever, very stylish and very effective footballer, very impressed the way he skinned vidic a few times last night and our defensive midfielders (all of them? ) will have to provide a better shield to the back 4. Carrick was woeful last night. Alonso and mascher surely wont give him that sort of room? Controversially - but id be tempted to play sissoko. providing his confidence isnt totally shot and hes not injured?

5. For the record - and i dont care what anyone says - i think Pirlo is massively overrated. If you want a passing midfielder that doesnt score - id take xabi any day. I havent seen one of his free kicks go within 15 yards of the goal and i think that our midfield will make short work of him.

6. I make us underdogs after milans performance last night - which i like, but they will be petrified of us. We're a european winning machine. They will go in the italian bottom and i think we will win a 6th.

[Joe Le Toff]

For me Pirlo starts off their attacks
Agreed.

Gattuso is the water carrier who does the donkey work for the other midfielders
Agreed again, Gattuso is a good player but wildly overrated IMO.

Two things strike me

Firstly I'm not convinced their back four is actually that good, United didnt even get close to exploiting them because their midfield protected them. Obvious solution would be to play Crouch and bypass their midfield
Seemed to me that Fergie gave them the centre of the pitch because he thought he'd get at them down the flanks. Poor tactical thinking
Secondly their midfield had time and space yesterday - I'm fairly certain we will press them in fact I wouldnt be surprised to see Rafa playing 5 in midfield to try and keep things very tight and smother them
For me its Pirlo we've got to get at. Second half in Instanbul when we reduced his space, closed him down quickly and hurried him, he didnt like it and disappeared out of the game, thus nullifying their midfield to a good extent. First half, Kaka aside,he looked the best player on the pitch because we allowed him time and space
I sincerely hope they stick Gattuso on Gerrard because I think Gerrard will have a field day with him.
I wouldnt be surprised to see us line-up 3-5-2 for this one, like second half Istanbul. Getting at the them in the centre of the park, closing down quickly, Mascher/Sissoko tight on Kaka.
Do that, and do it right, and i think we'll win it.

[Lecter]

For me its Pirlo we've got to get at. Second half in Instanbul when we reduced his space, closed him down quickly and hurried him, he didnt like it and disappeared out of the game, thus nullifying their midfield to a good extent. First half, Kaka aside,he looked the best player on the pitch because we allowed him time and space
I sincerely hope they stick Gattuso on Gerrard because I think Gerrard will have a field day with him.
I wouldnt be surprised to see us line-up 3-5-2 for this one, like second half Istanbul. Getting at the them in the centre of the park, closing down quickly, Mascher/Sissoko tight on Kaka.
Do that, and do it right, and i think we'll win it.

If you read Rafa's comments on 2005 above its highly likely we will flood the midfield (ie play 5 in there)

Whether that means playing 3 at the back or 1 upfront I'm not too sure though

[Joe Le Toff]

If you read Rafa's comments on 2005 above its highly likely we will flood the midfield (ie play 5 in there)

Whether that means playing 3 at the back or 1 upfront I'm not too sure though

Since Rafa has been manager and we've played 3 at the back, ive always thought we looked good and it suited our game.

TBH 5 in midfield would more than likely mean 1 up front with Gerrard supporting.

[tomasjj]

And what did Milan do when we crammed the midfield, taking out Pirlo? They brought on Serginho to attack down the left...bypassing central mid cause then understood we were too strong there...

Then SG played right back...
And we won.

[CAD]

CAD, super post mate. Everything in there is so spot on.

IMO, as an old Mafia saying goes - To kill the snake you cut off its head.
With Gattuso out of the game you cut off the supply route from Pirlo and Seedorf to Kaka.

I never really realised how integral Gattuso was to the Milan team until the game last week at OT and last night. The man is a ****ing monster and HE will have to be stopped. Full stop.
Yes Pirlo and Seedorf have to be kept a close eye on but not as much as that ****ing beast.

He reminds me of an older Masher

Cheers

Mascher might well be as close as you can get to Gattuso these days! He has simular aggression and will to impose himself on the game. He might even have a little more skill on the ball. What Mascher needs to do is improve he's passing under pressure. Much too often he choses the difficult pass and we lose possession in very dangerous places. I'm mostly concerned with his cross court passing. We saw it at Anfield against Chelsea a few times. That sort of thing will not pass quitely against Milan (Kaka!) When that is said I think the tempo will be much more to Maschers liking in the final. Obviously a keyplayer. I think he looks much better with Gerrard than with Alonso. Mash/Alonso at CM is too stale for my liking.

[CAD]

Since Rafa has been manager and we've played 3 at the back, ive always thought we looked good and it suited our game.

TBH 5 in midfield would more than likely mean 1 up front with Gerrard supporting.

I think both Kuyt and Crouch are vital if we want to dominate Milan. I also think that Pennant needs Crouch to have any real effect.

Imagine a fully fit Kewell on the left at the same time! What a difference that would make.

[Joe Le Toff]

Imagine a fully fit Kewell on the left at the same time! What a difference that would make.

If only, been saying that myself, for years.