Lille Post Match Thread

[Vermilion]

really good performance.............all we need now is for one of the players to bad mouth the team every week and see the team pull together.

torres was simply sublime last night but looked ****ed after 70 mins - would love to have seen him rested for the really important game onsunday.

gerard had hustle and bustle about him again which is great to see.

babel is a new man and it feels great to stick two fingers up to all those who doubted him.......great game last night.

lucas........brilliant last night.....nothing else needed to say except why has rafa constricted him to a defencsive role for 3 years that he obviously does not want nor like to play. if thats how he performs as pasrt of a 4-1-4-1 formation then i say play him in that role for good. ( of course i'm expecting rafa to go 4-2-3-1 on sunday and restrict his play gain )

all in all, a good performance and hopefully a bit of confidence for sunday.

Funny that, i seem to remember similar comments from people after the Portsmouth game...and about the up coming Lille game, and how Lucas and Kuyt would be brought back to stifle the play.

[Shaggy]

babel is a new man and it feels great to stick two fingers up to all those who doubted him.......great game last night.

Come on.

He's trying now, which is great to see. His work-rate and attitude last night were really good, continuing the improvement.

But now he needs to start actually performing, because last night he was pretty poor again. Wasn't involved enough and when he did show up he kept losing possession. The great thing is he worked really hard to get it back and the crowd showed their appreciation. He does look much more at home in the team all of a sudden.

I doubt that he has the talent to succeed here but would love to be proved wrong. Now Riera's burned his bridges there's an opening for Babel. This improvement in attitude needs to be maintained permanently now. For the rest of this season, all of next. Demonstrating a better attitude for a handful of games isn't enough. You're very, very easily pleased.

[the rev leeroy brown]

Come on.

He's trying now, which is great to see. His work-rate and attitude last night were really good, continuing the improvement.

But now he needs to start actually performing, because last night he was pretty poor again. Wasn't involved enough and when he did show up he kept losing possession. The great thing is he worked really hard to get it back and the crowd showed their appreciation. He does look much more at home in the team all of a sudden.

I doubt that he has the talent to succeed here but would love to be proved wrong. Now Riera's burned his bridges there's an opening for Babel. This improvement in attitude needs to be maintained permanently now. For the rest of this season, all of next. Demonstrating a better attitude for a handful of games isn't enough. You're very, very easily pleased.

wouldnt say i'm that easily pleased, its just that again last night babel was a torment down the left. he lost the ball less times than kyut, no doubt had a very high pass completion percentage, tracked back to help out insua who still looks incredibly shaky defending and is one of only two players ( the other bieng torres ) who actually gets the anfield crowd excited these days ( very quiet and nervous ) whenever he gets on the ball. if we left him and torres higher up the field when defending corners / free kicks instead of putting 11 men in the box, i'd bet a **** load of money we would score a hat full of counter attack goals.

he will succeed here i have no doubt.

[Matt]

One point about Gerrard (and haven't read the whole thread so apologies if it's been picked up on) aside from the fact he had his best game for a while...

In the first half we won a corner on the centenary stand side and the ball was resting against the advertising board. Gerrard looked really awkward having to almost step down a bit and pick up the ball, like he was definitely carrying an injury still.

Probably nothing like, I just picked up on it at the time.

[Shaggy]

wouldnt say i'm that easily pleased, its just that again last night babel was a torment down the left. he lost the ball less times than kyut, no doubt had a very high pass completion percentage, tracked back to help out insua who still looks incredibly shaky defending and is one of only two players ( the other bieng torres ) who actually gets the anfield crowd excited these days ( very quiet and nervous ) whenever he gets on the ball. if we left him and torres higher up the field when defending corners / free kicks instead of putting 11 men in the box, i'd bet a **** load of money we would score a hat full of counter attack goals.

he will succeed here i have no doubt.

I hope you're right.

I don't mind him losing the ball if a) he's having a go at defenders and b) he tries to win it back.

We need his pace in the side and I'd be delighted if he made a success of this.

[Taxi]

A good performance last night but it we need to keep our feet on the ground and remember that this is 2 wins against poor to average opposition.

Torres is starting to look razor sharp which should be good for Sunday and Stevie seemed to be a bit more positive. Was also good to see Lucas being a little more ambitious, we need to see a lot more of that from him in the future.

Agger came close a couple of times and I'm sure he'll come closer against the Mancs.

They'll be ****ting bricks about Fernando this weekend. On this sort of form I can see him tearing them up again, hopefully that little **** Neville will play and lose his rag with him and get sent off.

[dww]

I think Babel is probably not going to be a world beater but it looks like he might be capable of playing a 'Walcott for England'esque role on either flank giving us pace and direct running. Which is something we lack. Allied to Maxis intelligent movement on the other side I think that could replace the excellent balance we had last season when Riera and Kuyt were on the flanks and be more suited to combining with a Mascherano - Lucas midfield pairing.

[magicalbarnes]

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/match/statistics

Played Scored
2009 - 2010 19 15

2008 - 2009 24 14

2007 - 2008 33 24

I think these are league stats.

And all his golden boot rivals take penalties, i dont think Nando has taken a single once since he's been here.

[SB]

Through to the next round, some nervy moments but we also played some really good football at times.

Torres is just utterly, utterly incredible. Good to see Gerrard getting back to his best and I'd like to see Lucas attack more often - he's got it in his locker.

Also a mention to Pepe for saving that one-on-one in the first half. Could've been a different game had that gone in.

It hit him in the head Lee.
Don't know just how much Pepe knew about it TBH

[Bender]

It hit him in the head Lee.
Don't know just how much Pepe knew about it TBH

[Shaggy]

It hit him in the head Lee.
Don't know just how much Pepe knew about it TBH

That's not the point though is it, he came charging out and made himself big. Great goalkeeping, whether he knew anything about the actual save or not. He's our most important player.

[Maxiedge]

It was class goalkeeping.

[SB]

That's not the point though is it, he came charging out and made himself big. Great goalkeeping, whether he knew anything about the actual save or not. He's our most important player.

I agree Shaggy about him coming out and making himself big BUT as I said, he didn't know too much about it though did he. Pepe makes plenty of great saves for us but even the great man wouldn't claim that.

He got lucky but put himself in the right position IMO.

[red g]

I agree Shaggy about him coming out and making himself big BUT as I said, he didn't know too much about it though did he. Pepe makes plenty of great saves for us but even the great man wouldn't claim that.

He got lucky but put himself in the right position IMO.

great keepers put themselves in the right positions ergo he wasnt lucky

[Craig_H]

Let's not try and kid ourselves that Lille were whipping boys, because they're not. Portsmouth, granted, cannon-fodder, but this lot are a decent side and that was a good result, make no mistake.

It's more about being at home, where we're strong, compared to away, where we've been a joke.