Match Day Thread Blackburn v Liverpool FA CUP

Rodgers hitting the sunbeds or what, looks like a leather bag

 

Semi Final!

 

Unhappy

We've blown my prediction league as I said 6th round


Ah well

Suppose if we win it I'll be placated

 

Tough game, got the win and we move to the semi's

 

Nah man when they had some energy in their game they closed us down very well, yes we made it easier because we were not taking it for granted and we didn't have much presence in the box but they couldn't keep that workrate up. They did at Anfield and got a decent result. We have an issue with teams that sit back and close off the space between the defence and midfield cos we try to play through teams rather than getting it wide and sending in quality delivery. We are pretty poor out wide. So we are predictable atm.

 

Job Done.

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Well not the best performance, but we won and on a bad pitch. They never really offered much except the hoof ball to the two big lads up front. They closed us down well, but on a better pitch we would have passed our way around them a lot easier.

Sturridge still needs to get his shooting boots back on he still seems well off the pace.

Newcastle next!!!!

 

Tough game maybe but Blackburn are absolutely rank. They were utterly toothless. If we had gone out to a team like that , who we could and should have dominated with ten or nine men, then Rodgers should be dismissed on the spot.

Hard going but we are through....

 

All about the results.

I'll take two more 1-0 wins in the cup

 

They are already on the beach. That's 3 points in the bag. If they cannot be arsed to beat Sunderland who are on the floor in a hot derby then why should they for a nothing match at Anfield

 

I suppose with us playing a championship side, nothing less than 8-0 would have done for Brod's good name #luckedout

 

Clucking bell, that was hard work. And Michael Owen - the worst commentator on Earth? How the **** was that NOT a pen when Osama Bin Laden kneed Allen in the back of the leg when clean through? Anyway, my markings:-

Migs: 8 Loved it when he cleaned out Lucas - he really has to keep doing this, especially against big forwards. No looking back now, and he unfairly criticised on Saturday when he kept the score down to single figures.

Johnson: 7 Dodgy in defence, at times, but like a winger going forward.

Moreno: 8 Best game in a Liverpool shirt. Better, and more disciplined, in a back four.

Sakho: 6 Nearly caught dawdling on the ball, but was hoping to see him against Gested.

Lovren: 7 Definitely HIS best game in a Liverpool shirt. Hope he does this on Monday now.

Henderson: 7 Mis-controlled several times in the first half, but came on in the second with his super fitness.

Coutinho: 7 More space in the second half than first, took his goal well, but often tried too hard for a wonder goal in the first.

Allen: 7 Busy with several interceptions. Got away with a handball, butad a pen after being brought down by the charmed Williamson.

Lucas: 7 Hard work and put in a shift. Not as dreadful as Saturday, which is something.

Sterling: 7 Soldiered on when kicked to buggery (and slapped) by Osama, but could have put it all to bed on several occasions with more composure.

Studge: 7 missed a good opportunity to put it beyond doubt, but never stopped moving and held the ball up well.

Subs; Toure: 8 Suited him as all he had to do was defend and not try anything pretty - and the old man did it fine.

Lambert: 5 Got a header straight away - and totally muffed it. Unlucky on the break that Sterling wouldn't pass it to him when through, but won a couple of good defensive headers.

Team: 7 Yes, it was only Blackburn, and we should be grateful that we only faced Gested for half an hour, but we didn't make too many chances for that dominance, did we? More than Blackburn, I suppose, but that was thin-ice stuff.

Brod: 7 Nothing wrong with a back four, though you suspect, with Can back on Sunday, it may be a return to five. Hope not, but we'll see.

 

The massive overreaction to 2 defeats on the trot to 2 top 4 teams meant that the whole world and his dog was on the team's back.
With that in mind it was always going to be a tough game and we ground out an adequate win. It was a good way to steady the ship, but the makeshift defence will get caught out by a stronger team, and we really need to start converting more chances.

 

Fair enough, to a degree; but getting beat by our two closest rivals, as they were, for top four status, following on from some really spawny wins against Swansea and Soton, meant a massive 'reaction' was due.

 

Why? What does it achieve?
Are we deluded enough to think we know better than the players and staff and they will happily continue with complacent mediocrity unless we start to rip into them?
All that the recent events have shown is that perhaps the fans have had higher expectations than the team is actually worth and then, having their hopes dashed, have turned on them.
I was as disappointed as anyone with the results against Utd and Arsenal, but I don't think they showed us anything we didn't already know, tbh.

 

However, club competition is different, especially FA CUP

 

It wasn't just the fact that we lost - it was the performances. We were comprehensively outplayed by both.

 

Henderson needs a rest - he's been poor for a while now and whilst I think he is technically limited, he looks a bit jaded.

 

To be fair Rodgers is as guilty as anyone in raising expectations well above the reality. He is as bad as a fan if not worse.

During that unbeaten run, I and many fans could see that there were still things that could be improved. The pundits could not see beyond the stats. The best team in the league etc. The fact that the only team in the top 5 we beat during that run was a City team playing poorly seemed to have escaped every ones notice.

After this Blackburn win, we are now at our very best again. Lovren and Johnson are playing great and we are going to win the FA cup. We all forget that Blackburn was decimated with injuries and was really a poor poor side against whom we made hard work. But hey, this is what being a fan is all about. Victory goes to our head and long may it continue