Liverpool Vs Chavski post match thread

[Craig_H]

To be honest, whether Chelsea go through or not, they aint gonna challenge for the title.

[Charlie_B]

See, i heard lots of this 'tactics' stuff on the radio and about how Hiddink 'out thought' Rafa, but i dont see that at all. End of the day, the players were simply not with it. They had a **** day.

Nothing to do with tactics, IMO. If we'd defended 2 corners better, i dont think anyone would be suggesting that Hiddink out thought Benitez.

I completely agree. I came out of the ground last night feeling sorry for Benitez - there was no poor tactic or poor team selection, it was completely the fault of the players - not a SINGLE player came out of that with any credit, bar possibly Reina.

Any support of Torres is bias - he could have had about three goals before they scored their first, and his touch at times (like the rest of the team) resulted in Chelsea possession.

Lucas was by no means the poorest player on the pitch, so again, leave the guy alone.
The widemen were particularly poor; Aurelio, Riera, Kuyt and Arbeloa, as well as Carragher and Skrtel were horrendous.

No manager error there for me - the players played with no heart or drive, and repeatedly allowed Chelsea to come at them.

Shocking.
But not over.

[FatTony]

See, i heard lots of this 'tactics' stuff on the radio and about how Hiddink 'out thought' Rafa, but i dont see that at all. End of the day, the players were simply not with it. They had a **** day.

Nothing to do with tactics, IMO. If we'd defended 2 corners better, i dont think anyone would be suggesting that Hiddink out thought Benitez.

I think you're wrong if you believe that only the two corners was the difference last night. It also looked to me that Hiddink had identified our formation at defending corners as one of our weaknesses.

Chelsea were looking dangerous everytime they attacked and they were able to do this comfortably because Essien was doing a job on Gerrard and Lampard on Alonso. Take those two out and we're toothless.

Tactically they were absolutely spot on and you have to give credit to Hiddink for that.

I think its a little sour grapes to not give credit to Hiddink here, had it been Rafa's victory I'm sure you'd be praising his.

[Reece]

to aid this cause, from now on any more personal or abusive posting will be summarily deleted.

ffs

[DannyMan2006]

To be honest, whether Chelsea go through or not, they aint gonna challenge for the title.

Correct. We need to win all our games as it is. Chelsea are three points worse of and have very little chance. Anything is possible in football, but it's highly unlikely, just like a Liverpool come back.

What frustrated me most last night was how easily our side crumbled under the pressure. Our success in Europe has been built on staying solid and with standing horde after horde of attacks. Last night Drogba should have had a hat-trick, he had three clear chances.

Amazingly, last night we had more possession, had the terrortorial advantage and had more accurate passing than Chelsea. Yet they created chance after chance. Tellingly, after an end to end first half in the second half we did not force cech into making a save in the second half, until Alonso effort at the death.

I think our problem at the moment is lacking a plan B. And this is not a rash statement I am making, as our home performances against the lesser teams has proved this for a while.

It made me laugh on Talksport when I heard that maybe teams had now figured out Liverpool after Essien had him in his back pocket. But Makalele did the same for years to stop Liverpool playing so it's nothing new. Thankfully not many teams have a Michael Essien in their team or a Makalele, hence we will not be found out often.

But when we do, we need another option. Last night, for the second half I would have took Lucas off and put Babel on. Babel behind Torres and Gerrard in midfield in place of Lucas. We needed a physichal player with pace and tackling ability last night, and Alonso and Lucas are neither.

Babel himself has played behind the striker before in the under 21 tournament and for me it looks his best position. He has better dribbling ability than Gerrard and was more likely to lose Essien. And if he was marked out the game, it matters not, because it's exactly the same position we were in.

If it happens when Mascherano and Alonso are in the middle, maybe put Stevie on the right, where he will have a full back on him and that's it. Either way it allows Gerrard to be effective again and also gives us another player capable of doing something.

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That said, I think last night was the reason that Rafa wanted to bring in both Robbie Keane and Gareth Barry, because a similar thing happened to us last season on a couple of occasions - The time Anderson marked Gerrard out the game against the Mancs sticks in the memory.

But I don't think we need an entirely different system. We just need a plan B, as well as better player in certain areas to implent the system better.

[DannyMan2006]

See, i heard lots of this 'tactics' stuff on the radio and about how Hiddink 'out thought' Rafa, but i dont see that at all. End of the day, the players were simply not with it. They had a **** day.

Nothing to do with tactics, IMO. If we'd defended 2 corners better, i dont think anyone would be suggesting that Hiddink out thought Benitez.

Maybe a combination of both players and tactics. I noticed Riera and Kuyt get no joy on the flanks, whilst Malouda had his best game yet in a Chelsea shirt against Arbeloa, whilst Aurelio had a night to forget and allowed Kalou to what ever he liked. Dossena coming on for him, showed Rafa knew the same, but also showed again that Dossena should never be considered as a LB long term.

Having said all this, I can not see any of the above playing to similar levels at the Bridge, and a late goal would have given me hope. A goal before half time at the Bridge and then one before the 85th minute and you never know. We can go for broke at certain times due to us needing three, at not having to worry if Chelsea score, as we'd still need 3 whether they score or not.

[FatTony]

It made me laugh on Talksport when I heard that maybe teams had now figured out Liverpool after Essien had him in his back pocket. But Makalele did the same for years to stop Liverpool playing so it's nothing new. Thankfully not many teams have a Michael Essien in their team or a Makalele, hence we will not be found out often.

I think what happened last night (and why in my opinion Hiddink out thought Rafa) is that big clubs don't normally lower themselves to man marking.

Big clubs have big ego's and you get a lot of "we have the best players, WE'LL dictate the game" attitudes.

Rafa results to it, he often concentrates on nullifying the opposition first, but your Barca's, Real Madrids and Manu's rarely ever do. Its the arrogance that so often undoes them, and I think a little arrogance crept into our plan last night on the back of some fabulous results.

It was a home game and its not the done thing to play that way at home, but I don't buy into this. In europe the second leg is where the match is won, regardless of whether its home or away. If you go into the second leg within touchnig distance, you are still in it. To play an open game against a team with Chelsea's squad in the 1st leg was a pretty daft thing to do.

[-V-]

Bad day at the office, happens get over it and move on now. We had no energy and too many bad performances. We were due a bad game.

But what pissed me off was the fans. After 10 mins the fans went quiet and started acting as nervous as the players. Could not believe how quickly the atmosphere changed in the crowd when Chelsea started pressuring. I had this bald **** behind me giving the players stick throughout the game and shouting abuse at them whole 90 minutes. Wanted to deck him so badly. ****ing ****

[DannyMan2006]

I think what happened last night (and why in my opinion Hiddink out thought Rafa) is that big clubs don't normally lower themselves to man marking.

Big clubs have big ego's and you get a lot of "we have the best players, WE'LL dictate the game" attitudes.

Rafa results to it, he often concentrates on nullifying the opposition first, but your Barca's, Real Madrids and Manu's rarely ever do. Its the arrogance that so often undoes them, and I think a little arrogance crept into our plan last night on the back of some fabulous results.

It was a home game and its not the done thing to play that way at home, but I don't buy into this. In europe the second leg is where the match is won, regardless of whether its home or away. If you go into the second leg within touchnig distance, you are still in it. To play an open game against a team with Chelsea's squad in the 1st leg was a pretty daft thing to do.

Personally I think the tie is normally won at home and defended away. The benefit of playing at home second is a massive one when teams are so evenly matched. You can see Liverpool thought the same when they resulted to sending Reina up towards the end last night. He will not be going forward if we get an early corner at the Bridge, but it was obvious a late goal last night could have given us some impetus.

That said, if the game at home results in a 2-0 win the the home side I would say they are 90% of teh time progressing to the next round. Away from home they would just sit back and hit on the counter.

Chelseas undoing and our salvation could well be that Chelsea play the game as normal and come at us, leaving them open at the back. There is no doubt an early Liverpool goal would have them stuck in two minds. Do they sit back and soak up pressure or go forward and finish the tie?

[kingfunk]

Gerrard should have man marked Lampard with Essien man marking him! We would of had two chelsea players out of the game!!

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[Neil Young]

Gerrard should have man marked Lampard with Essien man marking him! We would of had two chelsea players out of the game!!

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You're a tactical genius.

[Tee]

Gerrard should have man marked Lampard with Essien man marking him! We would of had two chelsea players out of the game!!

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TBF that was Fwanks best game in a good few years IMO.

Xabi was desperately isolated in the middle and left exposed all too often. We realy missed Mascher.

[Joe King]

Gerrard should have man marked Lampard with Essien man marking him! We would of had two chelsea players out of the game!!

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Why didn't Gerrard man mark Essien out of the game? They would have cancelled each other out and then we could have relied on Alonso and Lucas...

Oh.

[Craig_H]

Chelseas undoing and our salvation could well be that Chelsea play the game as normal and come at us, leaving them open at the back. There is no doubt an early Liverpool goal would have them stuck in two minds. Do they sit back and soak up pressure or go forward and finish the tie?

I see no reason why they'd come at us mate.

They'll just sit back and soak it up, try to hit us on the break and do it that way.

[doogle]

TBF that was Fwanks best game in a good few years IMO.

Xabi was desperately isolated in the middle and left exposed all too often. We realy missed Mascher.

did anyone else see him have a laugh with our fans, he was near the centenary stand about the half way line and was about to take a free kick and threw the ball about 5 feet forwards and has soon as the ball landed he grabbed the ball back knowing we were going to give him **** about trying to gain the extra yards and pointed to us and started laughing