Article: Sparta Prague 0 Liverpool 0 - Match Reaction

Probably for the same reason Carroll's there - getting used to the squad, the atmosphere etc., the desire to get on the field, so he's not like a rabbit in the headlights when he does get a game.

 

Have we had a shot on target all game?

 

Proper **** game all round!

They look okay, but no real end product. We are just showing what I already know. A lack in depth and overal quality in the squad. Thankfully we are adjusting this problem with two quality strikers. Are midfield needs serious work though.

One benefit of tonight is that hopefully Ngog has shown enough to Kenny that he is a Championship player at best. I'd rather have Kevin Philips!

Tonight was about being solid and punting to the forward to hold the ball up and bring others into play. Ngog couldnt, so we couldnt do anything but defend. Cole's days are numbered also.

Onwards and upwards.

 

I started watching Masterchef for the last 15 minutes....

Properly **** game, if Ngog can't do a job on Tomas ****ing Repka then he should get the boot. Haven't been that bored watching a game in a long time. Probably end up destroying them next week though!

 

Man of the match: Reina

Being Spanish, it is clear that this humble man is full of excellence. His skills kept Liverpool in the game and gave them hope. While Liverpool failed to get a shot on target, Mr. Reina did a brilliant job in preventing the 4 Sparta Prague goals that I predicted. Forza Reina!

As for Ngog,

 

Would have been better off sending the youth team over to play this. 0-0 puts us in good shape for next week though. Soto man of match.

 

Well, it's a 180-min match in all. Of course we all want Liverpool to trounce Sparta 0-3 away in the east of Europe & then coast the return without a hassle. It was never going to be that way though, From Johnson to Kuyt through Lucas, Ngog, Cole & the ever-present Reina, everyone played EXACTLY to the level we KNEW they would play at! We had no Gerrard, Torr.. erm, Suarez, Carroll, Agger... - it was pretty much a 2nd team, and the result was probably, strategically, just about acceptable.

Let's judge them on the overall result.

 

Forza Fernando Alonso! That was dire, reminded me of the Utrecht match. I'll take a 0-0 just as long as we batter them next week.

 

Respect!

 

Has there been anything duller than our Euro aways this season? Spurs and Milan had served up a brutal but thrilling encounter on tuesday night, and 24 hours later Arsenal and Barcelona produced an enthralling exhibition of pass and move football that had the purists drooling. Then it was our turn. ‘Thursday nights, channel 5′ indeed. It was wretched stuff, but this is how it’s been for us away in Europe all season.

For the life of me, I can’t even remember us scoring a goal. The stats show we’ve scored a couple, but I have no recollection of them or indeed of anything of note from those away games other than glaring misses by Babel and Torres in Naples and Utrecht respectively. We’ve defended pretty well, especially as for the most part we’ve fielded weakened sides, but going forward we’ve produced next to nothing.

A lot of that was put down to Hodgson and his tactics, but not even Kenny could make a difference here, as we failed to produce a single shot on target. The only attacking threat we had was our right back, which speaks volumes. Ngog just isn’t good enough and never will be. He can make a contribution if he’s alongside another striker, but up there on his own? Useless. The lad does his best, and he wasn’t helped by some bizarre refereeing.

He was pushed, kicked and bullied from pillar to post by that psychopathic yard dog Thomas Repka, yet often the free-kick would be given against Ngog. And the yellow card he received is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen. Having said all that though, he was inexcusably getting caught offside far too often, he wasn’t holding the ball up and we couldn’t build any attacks as a result of it. It’s not just on him though, Maxi was completely invisible whilst unfortunately Dirk wasn’t. He’s laid some eggs in his time has Kuyt, but this may be one of the worst. He was just terrible, he makes the baby Jesus weep.

Meireles has been in great form of late, but he did nothing either. I can excuse him though, as how is he meant to do anything when he only has Ngog, Kuyt and Maxi to play off? Joe Cole came on, and he too did absolutely nothing. It’s depressing to see what’s become of Cole. No-one is going to convince me he is a bad player, but sadly performances like this have been the norm rather than the exception.

The only thing I can say in his defence is that for me it looks like he’s always picking the ball up 30 yards deeper than he needs to be. It’s been like this all season, he’s a player who when I think of him in his Chelsea days, I see him in and around the opposing area using his close control and clever passing. I used to hate facing him as he’d cause us al kinds of problems. When I think of him in a Liverpool shirt, I see him on the halfway line playing a five yard pass to a team-mate or losing the ball as he is pressured by a couple of players.

I don’t know the reason for it, I just know that if you are the opposition you are delighted to see Joe Cole on the ball forty or fifty yards from your goal. The only way we are going to get him on the ball closer to goal is by dominating games and being camped in the opposition half. That doesn’t happen much because we aren’t good enough in attacking areas to do it.

Having Carroll, Suarez and Gerrard in the side should rectify that, but unless he starts showing something soon that’s not going to make a difference for Cole as he won’t be in the side to benefit from it. He seems to be a perennial square peg in a round hole, which is a shame as I think he’s an extremely gifted footballer.

I didn’t like the team Kenny picked and when I saw it I felt it was going to be a long night. I was hoping we’d see Raheem Sterling on the bench instead of Jovanovic, so that was disappointing even though it is also understandable I guess. When I actually thought about it though, that was probably the strongest team Kenny could have picked. It looked a poor, unbalanced side with no pace whatsoever, but what other options did he actually have?

The only player on the bench who would arguably have strengthened the side was Cole, and he hasn’t played for weeks so you can see why he didn’t start. I know some people didn’t like the substitution Kenny made late on either, sending on Skrtel for Ngog. It’s fair to say that Benitez and Hodgson would both have been hammered for that, but by that point I wasn’t even bothered as we were never going to score anyway, and I didn’t feel that Jovanovic or Pacheco would have altered the flow of the game.

The problem isn’t the tactics or the substitions, it’s that the squad depth is just crap in attacking areas. We’ve got some fantastic young forward players such as Sterling, Suso, Ngoo and Silva, but they aren’t ready to be thrown in just yet so until Gerrard and Carroll return we have to persist with Kuyt, Ngog, Maxi etc in Europe for now. It’s not as bad domestically as Suarez is available, but it’s in Europe where the real lack of depth has been evident.

We’ve been pretty good at the other end though, and haven’t let many goals in. The squad players in defensive areas have done better jobs than the attacking players, that’s for sure. Kyrgiakos played very well and Danny Wilson was solid at left back. Pepe only had two saves to make, although that is two more than the Prague keeper sadly. 0-0 is a decent enough result, as we should be able to see them off in the home leg.

A goalless draw away at a top side is not always ideal as you have to be worried about them scoring an away goal. Prague aren’t a top side though, you only have to look at who some of their star men are to realise that, rejects from West Ham and Reading. We should beat them comfortably next week, but the likes of Kuyt, Ngog, Cole and Maxi will have to up their games considerably from this or it might be a lot more difficult than we think.

 

We'll run over them at Anfield.We'll probably do it too without Gerrard.Agger will be the difference as when he plays we move better.