Liverpool v Inter Milan match thread

[El Jefecito]

I addressed the point - you think any criticism is 'beating him with a stick' - i dont. Good night.

YOu seem to have convenintly changed your position on whether or not the players we're motivated at the Barnsely game in order to claim that Rafa can't motivate players.

Sophistry.

[Ron_Mexico]

I've thoroughly enjoyed it mate, it was a great atmosphere and it'll live in the memory, same as Chelsea, Juve and the others. That doesnt negate from me being able to have an opinion that doesnt paint rafa as perfect in every way.

I've never said rafa is perfect in every way, if you look back through my posts you'll see i've been critical of his selection policy and the role it plays in undermining players confidence and form

i just think it's silly the first thing you post when you get back is some self righteous tripe about how it proves your motivation theory correct. your priorities are strange to me, but if it makes you happy than go for it

[bigfooty]

A fantastic result, probably should have been more, Materazzi unlucky to be sent off as his first booking was a complete farce from a ref who was erratic all night.

On our side a lot of good performances. Lucas had some stray passes but looked comfortable at this level. Mascherano was phenomenal, Finnan got forward a lot, Kuyt put in a great shift and even had the odd moment of skill that lead to some attacks.

My concerns are mainly about our delivering from wide areas. Babel's decision making was awful at times, running into massed ranks for no particular reason, whilst in general from set plays and numerous free-kicks we were not able to put their keeper under any pressure.

For Kuyt's goal the interesting thing for me was that you had 3 people in the box when the cross came over, in a line almost. That just NEVER happens normally under Rafa, you get a striker maybe and perhaps someone arriving late but there we had all three forwards and it really paid off.

Crouch should be a nailed on starter for the away leg, they were almost sitting off him at times and working on the second-ball because they knew they were unlikely to win aerial challenges. Torres tired as the match went on, as you would expect playing the lone striker role, but had done his work in the first half.

It's hard to know what to do with Deadly Dirk. There were times today when he looked fairly decent in wide areas and his crossing is / was probably better than Aurelio, Babel and Finnan. I'm not saying he should be played wide, I hate having a lack of pace in wide areas, but I wouldn't mind seeing a 4-3-3 type of formation given a run against weaker oppo, with Kuyt on one side and Torres the other with Crouch through the middle.