A Few points + Player Ratings

[univofchicago]

All these people who keep saying Pennant was poor, should go and have another look at the match, he was one of the best players in the first half, along with Agger. He tired in the second half but i feel that was because of the amount of running he had to do to pick the ball up cos Zenden was doing bollox all.

Yeah, I'm with you on this one. Don't think "he was one of the best players", but he wasn't as poor as many people here are making out to be.

[FowlerLeftFoot]

Agreed. Its exciting to watch him dribbles past opponents, delivered a few dangerous crosses as well. We havent seen that from any of our wingers for ages.
Him and Bellamy seem not being appreciated some section of our fans just because of their past, which is very unfair.

All these people who keep saying Pennant was poor, should go and have another look at the match, he was one of the best players in the first half, along with Agger. He tired in the second half but i feel that was because of the amount of running he had to do to pick the ball up cos Zenden was doing bollox all.

[Jack D Rips]

Yeah, I'm with you on this one. Don't think "he was one of the best players", but he wasn't as poor as many people here are making out to be.

I'm afraid those with preconceived ideas about Pennant are never going to give him credit. I agree with you he wasnt one of our best but I thought he had a decent game. Very good in 1st half. Ran his socks off but faded in the second. Seemed to be getting drawn inside and I think this may have been down to Zenden's poor performance. Had Stevie and Xabi been in the middle I dont think this would have happened.

But then football is all about opinions.

[Kiwi]

The result tonight was excellent in my view. away from home against the 2nd seed in the group & we had the better of a 0-0 draw.

Its no good people moaning about the team Rafa picked. Fans must understand that the 1st choice 11 can't play every game. players can't play Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday throughout the season. To those who moan about no alonso or SG etc, when would you rest them. We've got 7 games in 21 days. players aren't machines, they need rest.

Tonight was typical Rafa. Strange team selection in some ways but it was the right team. We've got a massive game on sunday, more important than tonight & most of our key players will go into it fresh.

Totally agree. Before the start of the season everyone was on about No19, when asked what they
would prefer to win this season. It seems people are getting ahead of themselves. Sunday is in reality a 6 pointer.
Come on Redmen.

[Howard_lfc]

Him and Bellamy seem not being appreciated some section of our fans just because of their past, which is very unfair.

Bollox! Nothing to do with their past mate. People call it as they see it - simple as that. Pennant was terrible in the second half - anybody saying anything different is talking through their ar$e. If the whole team had played to that standard in the second half we could well have lost that game.

Pennant was poor. End of. Get over it.

[univofchicago]

Pennant was terrible in the second half - anybody saying anything different is talking through their ar$e. If the whole team had played to that standard in the second half we could well have lost that game.

Pennant was poor. End of. Get over it.

Granted, Pennant faded towards the second half. But that was more to do with tiredness I think...

[enema of the state]

Great to be talking about football again

bright spots: alonso has not been right since the pre cup final injury - he showed signs of a return to form

Agger - imperious - has to be 1st choice for the key games ahead of sami now

bellamy - excellent attitude and effort

pennant - worked his ass off - mistake by rafa not to sub him earlier

kuyt - a "man for the long road". hell keep coming and hell still be doing it 60 games from now

dark spots

Zenden is a poor CM - which is not to say the didi sale was wrong (class player though he was, he is in the sami bracket of (legs nearly gone") but we need a better replacement there than bolo.

pepe - not in sync with the defence and confidence is bruised - but this a a soluble problem

left back - people slag rise but look what happens when hes not available

[enema of the state]

Granted, Pennant faded towards the second half. But that was more to do with tiredness I think...

[enema of the state]

I thought Agger was SUPOIB! Rock solid in defence, faultless in distribution.

I gave him 10 on 10 ; he couldn't have done anything better.

not the perfect performance but pretty effing good. to get 10 from me hed need to have scored the winner too so i'll go 9/10

[enema of the state]

I appreciate the modern game being a squad game and I understand the need to rotate players to keep them fresh. However doing this every game at the level that Rafa is doing it i.e up to 5 changes per game can only be disruptive to the natural rythm of a team. Players are creatures of habit and need to play with each other week in week out to develop a good understanding of each others game.

not true anymore mate. theres been a polarisation of team strengths. we play say 15 games a season against REALLY strong sides and the rest against sides we are far stronger than.

Its all about squad "management". to be successful you need to be winning the lesser games with a rotated squad and therefore making your strongest side fresher for the key games against other big sides.

youll see the strongest 11 on sunday

i'm not dismissing continuity and familiarity but its not like 1977 anymore - the physical demand have increased exponentialy. freshnes and rest - allowing a higher tempo and work rate - have just outgrown them in importance

[KJI]

just my opinion
i thought we looked very solid - Agger was great
but by mid second half - Pennant, Warnock, Carragher and Bellamy looked knackered. By the last 10 mins - Kuyt was as well (not surprising with the work he put in).
Zenden was playing apparently - saw far more of Alonso in 20 mins than Zenden all game. Was surprised to see Momo come off rather than zenden

overall we looked like we didn't want to lose more than going all out for a win (not unusual after conceding goals in the last few games). Still i was certain we'd nicked it with Gerrards shot - no luck though, even the rebound went away from goal

[univofchicago]

overall we looked like we didn't want to lose more than going all out for a win (not unusual after conceding goals in the last few games).

I would put it a bit differently. It looked like Rafa had put the emphasis on not conceding a goal and I'm glad that he did. I thought it was crucial to get a clean sheet yesterday especially after our horrow show on Saturday. Prior to yesterday's game, we had no clean sheets - I think we had something like 32 clean sheets last season...Good defending is an absolute must in today's game and if we are to have any chance of winning the title this season, we've got to get our defence going again..

[KJI]

i agree - not losing was more important than winning - but it was hard to not feel that the game was there for the taking - apart from Farfan, Kone and Mendes they had nothing

[univofchicago]

i agree - not losing was more important than winning - but it was hard to not feel that the game was there for the taking - apart from Farfan, Kone and Mendes they had nothing

I would have been very disappointed if it was a Premiership game. We really have to win the away games at the league, but a draw away at the Champions League is good enough for me. That's my take anyways...

[Red_Polo]

It depends on our big game on Sunday doesn it?

If we can get a result at Chelsea, Rafa's "strange team selection" would be vindicated.

Not necessarily. If we win on Sunday who's to say that we couldn't have done so without resting players that could've helped us get a win yesterday? There's no real way of knowing for sure the impact of team selections, but I do hope we see a more settled team soon, with just one or two changes made to freshen up the attack and/or provide us with the best tactical set-up for the game.