agreed, first game back in the CL, lots of nerves all round and still not gelled as a squad yet, but managed to grind out the win. Also nobody on here talking about Balo's goal which I thought showed great touch, kind of reminded me of Torres type goal, plus great to see him get his first goal for LFC. I do agree though we need to play 2 up front, we look a bit toothless without 2 strikers, I think we need them to create space in the attacking 3rd something we did great last year. I can see what Rodgers is thinking with these tactics, a more compact team, tighter at the back and a similar setup to how rafa played. The thing is we don't have the muscle in midfield or the consistency at the back for that to work atm, but i guess you can't go to the bernabeu all guns blazing!
Liked seeing marios reaction to his and Gerrard winner. When Gerrard scored he was just as happy and normally he looks a grumpy batard!
Oooooooooooh Mario Ooh Aah Got a mohawk And scores great goals (To the tune of 'Hey Baby' by DJ Otzi)
You were playing a side who's record signing cost £1.5m and had never playing in the CL before Fair play to them for putting up a real show and were desperately unlucky to lose like that (Liverpool winning with an iffy penalty? Surely not...) I thought you were bobbins tbh, and without Lovren making some last ditch interceptions you could have been beaten. A wins a win, but that was a crap performance and fell far short of the occasion
Nevermind Tobes, I'm sure the Toffees will put in a better performance in their CL group match tomorrow night... oh, wait...
Balotelli's response to his goal says a lot about his character. I hope that goal is the first of many.
at this stage all that matters, 3 pts. performance wasn't great and needs to improver vastly, but then 1st game back in a long time. its a bit like the league at this stage, shows us nothing really, it did have a 05 feel to it, hopefully be the same outcome. ie we started off ****e then and got better and better as it went on, only thing that worries me this time is scoring and our strikers, thank **** ballo has got off the mark, was a nice goal as well, hopefully we will see more from him now he has his first. what's every ones feeling on how many points we may need to qualify?
iffy penalty did you watch the highlights at 10:40pm? They looked at it and they agreed clear contact. I personally think we underestimated the opposition, a seriously bad thing to do in any CL match. After all, these lot put one over on Lazio and PSV in the EL, last year I believe. So they certainly aren't no push over. I admit I undersetimated them - but now after getting 3 points in the bag I'm glad they're in our group because I can see them and Basel getting a draw (possibly home and away). We'll see but a win's a win. One thing I learnt from that performance it would have been a loss or a draw if Johnson was playing down the right - we certainly wouldn't have won that penalty at the death as he would have been wondering aroung scratching his arse, not being the most forward person on the pitch still pushing for that lucky break like Manquillo. Good luck tomorrow Tobes, I genuinely want you to win - and Wolfsburg are quite a tidy team at times, so could be a real test
http://www.lastminutegoals.org/live...zgrad-champions-league-group-b/#tabs-7500-0-4 if anyone missed it
Joe Allen is an important member for me - such an underrated player. However, I think the central midfield isn't the problem. It's the lack of movement from the front men and the current formation we've adopted. Whether Rodgers doesn't believe that we have the personnel to continue with the diamond or he just fancies a change - I'm not so sure. But playing Lallana and Sterling on the wings isn't the answer as both are better centrally. Going back to my point about the lack of movement up top - this is seriously hampering Coutinho's ability. Granted, he has been poor regardless - sloppy passing and failed tricks but to get the best out of Coutinho, you need to have space, movement from the front men. He's getting very little of that. It's not until Sterling moves centrally do we see Coutinho light up a bit (this was evident against Villa in the latter stages and against Ludogorets). Looking at the defence - I find it laughable how some can criticise Sakho but not Lovren. IMO - Sakho is our best centre back. That's not to say he's perfect or that he doesn't make any mistakes but he is by far the most commanding centre back we have in terms of his physical presence and positioning. For Ludogorets, Lovren's positioning was completely wrong and he shouted that it was his ball. This meant that Migs stayed on his line but once the danger became apparent, he sprinted out. But I'm losing a lot of faith in Mignolet - he's so indecisive and it causes panic. For the goal against Villa, he was the one who shouted to Sakho that it was Migs's ball. It wasn't until Migs realised that the ball wouldn't reach him did Sakho have to deal with it (Sakho himself should have dealt with it a lot better). All in all - I think this is the defence we should persist with because all of them are on the same wavelength - they're front foot defenders and will naturally push up the field. The problem we have are individual errors. Both Lovren and Sakho are youngish so I do see a potential partnership. Both full backs have been a god send for me.
We played terrible against lesser opposition and won 2-1. United play terrible against lesser opposition (mk dons) and get battered 4-0. We made the best of a bad situation - it was never going to be flowing footie with so many new faces and our first CL game in 5 years.
I think you could beat Basel at Anfield, I think? If you get the same referee. I can't see where you'll get any other points from though. Ludogrets away? Doubtful. Real Madrid? Very very doubtful. Basel away? Outside chance. So, probably the EL. You know the competition designed to keep rich clubs rich by giving them yet another (undeserved) opportunity in Europe instead of giving it to say teams who finish 7th or 8th spots in their leagues?
is that what he/she meant, wasn't sure the point they was making, seemed odd. we came 2nd in league last season so there on merit, if anything bring that point up on the Chelsea and arsenal boards as they finished 3rd and 4th.
The saints poster was very bitter earlier on the thread during the game Jenner's, was in tears that Lallana and Lovren weren't part of a defeat for us.
