Portsmouth (H) Post Match Reaction

[Leyton388]

Looking at the highlights tonight and Lucas played quite well

[dww]

To be fair on MOTD we look good. Not sure what that means though.

[El Jefecito]

Looking at the highlights tonight and Lucas played quite well

We didn't miss El Jefecito that's for sure. Which I have too admit I thought we might given that they played a 5 man midfield but he and Xabi controlled it well (with SGs help of course).

[El Jefecito]

To be fair on MOTD we look good. Not sure what that means though.

I have to admit I spent so much time gnashing my teeth at the sloppy passes that it kind of drowned out the really good passages of play. Sounds like the highlights help redress the overemotional reaction to watching it live.

Thats what usually happens when I watch the game again the following day anyway.

[livvy145]

RAFA: WE KEPT OUR BELIEF

Steve Hunter 29 October 2008


Rafael Benitez reflected on the 1-0 win over Portsmouth and admitted he always had belief that his team would score after another late show at Anfield.

Steven Gerrard's 75th minute penalty kept the Reds top of the Barclays Premier League and the boss felt it was important his team kept up their winning momentum after Sunday's triumph at Chelsea.

"Clearly the win was more important than the performance," said Benitez. "After the victory against Chelsea it was important to get the three points tonight.

"We changed four players and still won the game and the message for the squad and everyone is we can make changes and still win. We used players with different qualities and we always had belief we would score.

"Portsmouth are a good team and we needed to be patient and keep passing the ball and creating opportunities. Being patient was the key word for us tonight.

"Everybody could see Portsmouth were defending well and they had a lot of bodies behind the ball so it was not easy to find the space. So we had to be precise with our final pass.

"We were very dominant in the first half and controlled the game. We had our chances and we regained the ball quickly.

"I thought the second half was more open and at the end we were a little nervous because they were playing a lot of long balls up to Crouch.

"I don't remember Pepe having a shot to save. Okay, we won the game with a penalty but we had other chances."

Despite seeing his team remain three points clear of nearest rivals Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Premier League, Benitez claimed he's taking nothing for granted.

"We will try to be at the top of the table for a long time but our idea as always is to think about one game at a time and the next three points," said the boss.

Benitez also revealed that Robbie Keane and Albert Riera were on the bench as a precaution because they were both nursing knocks from the weekend.

"Keane and Riera had some problems and were a little bit tired so I wanted to protect them," he added.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N161877081029-2256.htm

[MrMichael]

I thought we were ok, just lacked a bit of killer instinct up front. Portsmouth came to play for a 0-0 and showed no attacking intent whatsoever until after we scored. If Kuyt's shot against the post in the first half had gone in we'd have won that comfortably.

Babel was good in the first 60 mins but still needs to improve his decision making. Lucas was alright, nothing special but he didn't do a great deal wrong either. Pennant really was anonymous. But all that's pretty insignificant, only one thing actually matters; 3 points and we're still top of the league

[Gingawaria]

Another great result tonight!

One thing that bothered me, and I know I should expect it by now, but I was watching the Arsenal/Spurs match (Brilliant game btw) and at full time they were running through the results of the other matches and when it came to us, Richard Keys said something along the lines of "Liverpool win to maintain their place at the top, but like at the weekend it isn't without controversy". What the hell was controversial about the Chelsea win?! Plus...there was nothing controversial tonight either, it was a stone-wall penalty.

Anyway...other than some blatant Sky ****-stirring, it's been a pretty much perfect night.

Keep it up lads!!!

[El Jefecito]

Another great result tonight!

One thing that bothered me, and I know I should expect it by now, but I was watching the Arsenal/Spurs match (Brilliant game btw) and at full time they were running through the results of the other matches and when it came to us, Richard Keys said something along the lines of "Liverpool win to maintain their place at the top, but like at the weekend it isn't without controversy". What the hell was controversial about the Chelsea win?! Plus...there was nothing controversial tonight either, it was a stone-wall penalty.

Anyway...other than some blatant Sky ****-stirring, it's been a pretty much perfect night.

Keep it up lads!!!

ha ha ha. If I were you guys, I'd refuse to pay Keys wages through subscribing to Sky. To think probably a penny or so out of every pound you spend on Sky goes into his pocket

[rage]

i'm still cold, don't know what u guys saw on the telly but we were lucky to leave with the 3 points. we were awful.

no idea what formation we played 4411 maybe but it didn't work. today showed why we need agger in the team as neither hypia or carra can really bring the ball out well enough, they tried mind as portsmouth just played for the draw.

attack wise we were far to narrow, kuyt whilst having improved will never succeed as a lone striker and pennant and lucas were awful. i'd go as far as to say lucas is worse than diao!

i agree that portsmouth offered virtually no threat but i expect most teams to line up this way against the league leaders and we need to come up with a bit more creativity if we are to remain at the top

[El Jefecito]

i'm still cold, don't know what u guys saw on the telly but we were lucky to leave with the 3 points. we were awful.

no idea what formation we played 4411 maybe but it didn't work. today showed why we need agger in the team as neither hypia or carra can really bring the ball out well enough, they tried mind as portsmouth just played for the draw.

attack wise we were far to narrow, kuyt whilst having improved will never succeed as a lone striker and pennant and lucas were awful. i'd go as far as to say lucas is worse than diao!

i agree that portsmouth offered virtually no threat but i expect most teams to line up this way against the league leaders and we need to come up with a bit more creativity if we are to remain at the top

You don't understand football.

[rage]

You don't understand football.

says u. aren't u american?

i've seen us play since the 70s so tell me el jef were u at the game tonight? what did i say u disagreed with?

[El Jefecito]

says u. aren't u american?

i've seen us play since the 70s so tell me el jef were u at the game tonight? what did i say u disagreed with?

I'll ignore the wibble.

Lucas was good. Won the ball well (more than anyone else), always got it out to the designated hitters. Got forward when he could without exposing us.

Pretty much what Rafa wants from someone in that role. Can't really ask him to do anymore than he's asked to do!

Justify rubbish for me. Did he give the ball away a lot? No. Did he pass it well? Yes. Did he win the ball back a lot? Yes.

So, rubbish? Explain.

[-V-]

Feckin hell rage. Why do you expect a super performance in every game? Do you just not understand that its impossible? We beat Chelsea just 3 days ago and the players were obviously still tired. You seem to think footballers are robots. We had 5 key players missing, we kept a clean sheet and got 3 points and your still moaning

I may not have been at the game tonight but i clearly understand the situation alot better than you. You just seem to think we should score 3-4 goals every game regardless of the situation.

Such a negative person its unbelievable

[MrMichael]

Did you really think seeing the game in the flesh that Lucas was that bad Rage? Watching a stream I wasn't particularly impressed, for me he had a quiet, unobtrusive game, what some might call disciplined, but I certainly didn't think he was that bad... and absolutely not as bad as Diao, who is probably the worst player I've ever seen play for us.

Whatever though, I think that was the right game to rotate in (if there's ever such a thing), and although Pennant and Lucas didn't really step up, Babel was good and Hyppia his usual reliable self - and I can totally see why Agger was rested, we need him to stay fit 'till Skrtel is back. Although I'd always play Mascher ahead of Lucas I don't really think he was needed in that game, and giving Babel a start ahead of Riera was probably sensible. Not the most satisfactory performance ever, against a team that showed absolutely no ambition whatsoever, but its the result that counts and hopefully we'll now have a few important players (Riera, Mascher, Agger, Keane) raring to go against Spurs at the weekend.

[El Jefecito]

Did you really think seeing the game in the flesh that Lucas was that bad Rage? Watching a stream I wasn't particularly impressed, for me he had a quiet, unobtrusive game, what some might call disciplined, but I certainly didn't think he was that bad... and absolutely not as bad as Diao, who is probably the worst player I've ever seen play for us.

Whatever though, I think that was the right game to rotate in (if there's ever such a thing), and although Pennant and Lucas didn't really step up, Babel was good and Hyppia his usual reliable self - and I can totally see why Agger was rested, we need him to stay fit 'till Skrtel is back. Although I'd always play Mascher ahead of Lucas I don't really think he was needed in that game, and giving Babel a start ahead of Riera was probably sensible. Not the most satisfactory performance ever, against a team that showed absolutely no ambition whatsoever, but its the result that counts and hopefully we'll now have a few important players (Riera, Mascher, Agger, Keane) raring to go against Spurs at the weekend.

Apparently, Riera had a knock, which I guess is why Babel had to play left.

People need to remember that Lucas is not the finished article, he's still developing and we need to get him games as and when we can. We also need to keep him primed ready to come in in case someone is injured.

I also think people need to adjust their expectations for Lucas. He is being asked to play a very specific role. Win the ball. Get it to Xabi / SG to attack. Get forward if you can. You can only look so good when your role is to enable others to play better. In a way, his job is not to win games, but to put others in a position to win games. He has a team role and alas those players don't get the glory, but they don't deserve to be pilloried.