Liverpool 07/08 Season Thread

Watched the game on LFCTV last night.

Really was a good game. Liverpool controlled it and the score line was closer than the game really was.

Yossi made a great run and layoff to SG for a great goal.

El Zahr's goal was like a Riise special. Past the keeper before he knew what was going on

Stevie was driving on most of the match and looked in great form. Hobbs had a solid game at CB.

Their goal was from a great free kick and poor defending from Carra/Crouch. They didn't really compete for the header and it was knocked past Itandje. Good goal from them, we should have done better.

Obviously GOD got a nice reception from the Kop.




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F Blackburn
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1. Played with some heart and emotion last night.
2. Played a tactic that fits their personnel (Direct with Crouch as target man).
3. Besitkas quit and their Gk was dreadful.

Is goal difference the 1st tie breaker in the group stage? If so, we're home if we win out since we'll (worst case) tie Marseille with 10 pts, and presumably have the GD advantage.

Now, this effort needs to carry over to fulham on the weekend. CROUCH MUST START! Hopefully Kewell is now fit enough to go at least 60 minutes. I'd forgotten how good he is. Imagine - a wide player (on the left side) who can beat players off the dribble and actually get to the byline. Kewell serving them up to PC sounds delicious - escpecially if Torres is fit to play off Crouch.

Lucas needs to play more (at the expense of Momo). Momo should be moved to halfback. He's tall, athletic, can tackle, and has a great sense for positioning. I've just listed all the proper attributes of a HB. Plus, it would be nice to get some pace back there.

***UPDATE*** - According to Football Manager 2008 (an impeccable source), the Group Stage is decided by:
1. Points
2. GD
3. GS
4. GA

[side comment - if 2 sides are tied after tie breakers 1-3, what's the point of #4 (think about it)?]

In other words, unless Marseille skunks Besitkas, 2 wins does it for us.
 
Thank you Nando! I was puckered up tight looking at dropping another 2 pts when Torres struck. He and Babel immediately took the tempo to a whole other lever, and the goal was a moment of class.

This international break should give us a chance to finally get Torres fully fit (he's skipping Spain's matches) and hopefully get Agger back. We come back with three "winnable" matches (Newcastle, Bolton, Reading). Hopefully, we can collect full points and things will be looking a lot better.
 
El Nino's goal was sick. He plays so well with both his feet, shook two defenders and neatly tucked it inside near-post. We've really missed him this past month.

In other not so good news, Benayoun out 3 weeks with abductor tear.

Yossi was in sparkling form and now he'll miss the Newcastle and Porto fixtures, in all likelihood. Hope he can shake it off and play as well as he has upon his return. He had just become a regular in the starting XI.

Sucks for England fans, who need some help from Israel in their Euro qualification.
 
any of you crazy ******** going to watch game ~ 6:30 am in austin? i'm thinking about watching my team get punished by attacking soccer and grousing loudly about our manager at fado. but i'm not sure if i'll actually drag my *** out of bed to do so.
 
Wow. What has happened to the barcodes? I'd like to claim that Liverpool was just that good, but I think it's more that Newcastle was just awful. If nando had had his scoring boots on, that game could easily have been 6-0. Hopefully, he was saving his goals for Porto on Wednesday.

Assuming we win our game in hand, we're now tied with the scum for second. 3 weeks until that deathmatch.

I don't know if this was Rafa's deliberate intention, but bringing Babel off the bench late is really looking good. His energy, pace, and aggressiveness have been very troublesome for tiring defenses lately.

Anybody want to guess with Rafa for Wednesday? Assuming Agger is still not ready:

-----------------------------Reina-------------------------------
Finnan--------Carra-----------Hyypia-----------Arbeloa
Gerrard-------Masch----------Momo-------------Kewell
------------------Crouch---------Torres----------------------

Bench:
Itanjde, Riise, Lucas, Kuyt, Babel, Agger(?), Voronin
 
Biggest question is will Rafa be there Weds.

Hicks cleaned out the Stars front office. I just hope to God he's put his broom away. The most disgusting thing is that the spat between Rafa and Hicks/Gilett is being played out in the media
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Scoreline finishes at 4-1, which in all fairness is a bit flattering to Liverpool. We dominated 80% of the game - they had a lot of possession following their goal, but after that it was all Liverpool - and definitely deserved the full 3 points.

Torres' second goal was pure class. We are so much different a team when he's fit. Kewell's been huge as well and he really changed the game when came on today. He did most of the work to set up Torres' goal.

Masch neutralized their midfield and kept Quaresma out of the game. We really need to scoop him up for 17M quid in January and sign him to a 7-year contract. The kid is a stud.

Crouchy even bagged one, which he normally doesn't do as a sub. He was useful in knocking the ball down and linked up well with our other players. I think that the Torres/Crouch combo is one that we're gonna see more of.

Last 4 games - 4 wins, 17 goals scored, 1 conceded. We're in great form and hopefully can pick up some points on l'Arse as they go through a mini injury crisis.

A win and a win only sends us through. It's not the easiest of games, away to Marseille, but it's by all means winnable.
 
Here's how we get in with a draw if Porto lose. The table would be:

Besitkas 9
Porto 8
Marseille 8
Liverpool 8

Since there would be a 3-way tie for 2nd, it would go to GD. We win by a landslide.

I wouldn't hold my breath on this outcome though. Let's just beat the damn frogs. They're just barely avoided the relegation zone in France!

BTW, how crazy would it be for the turks to get into the 16 after losing 8-0?
 
Damn, I hope this is true. I would be crushed if we sold Crouchaldinho:

Rafa rules out Crouch exit
City warned off making move for Reds striker

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has ruled out selling Peter Crouch after Manchester City were the latest club linked with the striker.

Crouch's future at Anfield has been subject of speculation for the last few months as he has struggled to hold down a regular place in the starting line-up.

Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra admitted Sven Goran Eriksson was interested in signing Crouch as he looks to bolster his attack.

However, Benitez insists the England international is going nowhere and remains part of his plans at Anfield.

Key player
"We do not want to sell Peter. So there could be rumours in the press but we are really happy with him," said Benitez told Sky Sports News.

"The players in a top side know sometimes they will not play every game but you can see how important Peter Crouch is for us

"The other day he was a key player with Harry Kewell [against Porto] and we do not want to do any movement.

"We want to enjoy and see Crouchie score a lot of goals.

"Always you know Peter in every training session is a very good professional.

"He is always ready if he must play and if he is not playing he is working hard to be ready for the next time."
The Link
 
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