Liverpool v Olympiakos

Shaque attack

hoping for a straight-forward win tonight but i'm wondering how effective rivaldo will be.

more importantly does anyone know a pub in the ucd area that will be showing the match they seem to all be utd pubs in the area

The Rooster

A "straightforward win" in Athens is a rarity.

I'd stick with the team that beat Norwich, but indications are that Luis Garcia will revert from a wide role back to supporting a front man. The report I read suggested Cisse would be up front, but I cant believe he will get in ahead of Baros.

Josemi has been tipped to return with Finnan moving back to right side of midfield and Kewell replacing Warnock.

Will be interesting to see how good or bad Rivaldo is.

Ardent

The Waterloo on Baggot St is showing the game. GET IIINNNNNN!!!!!!

(Shaque, you can get a number 10 bus from UCD to Baggot St)

jonno

Any ideas what channels it is on?

Ardent

Itv2

Shaque attack

Ardent wrote:

The Waterloo on Baggot St is showing the game. GET IIINNNNNN!!!!!!

(Shaque, you can get a number 10 bus from UCD to Baggot St)

sound. i might head that way

Shaque attack

a mate of mine is looking to know if there are any pubs in galway showing the match if anyone knows?

mayordenis

its on itv2 wtf?? like i can watch any of tonights matches except the only one i would watch .

p.pete

Depending on what area you're in it may repeated on ITV1 later - I have itv2 but I'm working til 10 so going to have to watch the replay. Going to be a late one - starts about 2am!!!

mike65

I heard that Biscan may start! Eh?

I'll go for a win.

Just heard this - Baros on his own, Finnan on the wing, Josemi at right back. NO Kewell.

Mike.

mike65

The team -

---

Dudek

---

Josemi----Carragher----Hyypia----Riise

Finnan----Alonso----Hamman----Warnock

---

Garcia

---

---

Baros

---

Glad that Warnock has been given a chance to shine, he'll work harder than a fit Kewell.

Mike.

p.pete

Glad Biscan isn't starting! probably as good a team as we can muster at the moment - fingers crossed

jesus_thats_gre

1 nil down.. fook

uberwolf

any indication on how they are playing?

jesus_thats_gre

From the brief commentary I have read, not good!

mike65

Monaco are 2 up on Deportivo. I cant decide if thats good or bad.

just found this from bbc message board-

Dudek - Laughable

Sami - A shadow of his usual self

Finnan - Is he playing? I read his name on the teamsheet but havent seen him.

Warnock - Drastically out of his depth, very poor

Hamann - clumsy, given away fartoo many free kicks.

Baros - unidirectional and uncreative

Alonso, Garcia and Carra best of a bad bunch at the moment. Josemi and Riise ok.

Overall the team has been awful, woeful marking (again), terrible set piece delivery and a need for drastic changes second half. Kewell and Cisse on for Warnock and Finnan with Garcia to go right side.

Oh and Collina - Best ref in the world? Give me strength...

Mike.

p.pete

p.pete wrote:

Depending on what area you're in it may repeated on ITV1 later - I have itv2 but I'm working til 10 so going to have to watch the replay. Going to be a late one - starts about 2am!!!

Think I'll take my sleep - our first loss to a Greek team and it was deserved :mad:

Ronan|Raven

Mangaged to get a feed of the game. Was painful to watch and ive watched a man get dragged over sandpaper with his arse exposed! Truely terrible performance and got what they deserved. This Zonal Marking of set pieces is a hard one to judge as it is what gave the Olympiakos layer a free header much as the 2nd goal they gave away against utd. They were inefectual going forward, constantly loosing possesion is midfield and unable to supply the front men. Hyppia was very poor. If the game had another hour to run they still would not score.

mike65

BBC report

Olymp'kos 1-0 Liverpool


Liverpool suffered a first ever defeat against Greek opposition despite an improved display in the second half.

Yiannis Okkas struck the post with a powerful drive before Ieroklis Stoltidis headed in from a free-kick.

The visitors were much better after the break and had an effort from Harry Kewell ruled out for offside.

Stoltidis hit the bar with a header as Olympiakos finished strongly and, although Anastasios Pantos was sent off, they held on for a famous win.

Liverpool looked to have the pace in Luis Garcia and Milan Baros to cause Olympiakos problems on the break - but they saw so little of the ball in the early stages that it did not matter.

The Reds had problems implementing the zonal defence Rafael Benitez prefers and they had a lucky escape when Jerzy Dudek got a finger to Okkas' shot to ensure it thudded against the near post rather than the back of the net.

It was no surprise when Stoltidis got in front of Sami Hyypia and produced a superb header from Rivaldo's free-kick to make it 1-0.

Liverpool might have hit back immediately when Baros looked to be impeded in the area but that was it in terms of first-half highlights for the visitors.

Brazilian maestro Rivaldo showed that he can still produce moments of magic when he rifled in a 30-yard half-volley which whistled past Dudek's left-hand post.

A poor Dudek clearance allowed Grigoris Georgatos to cross and Giovanni headed just wide, although there was a suspicion that John Arne Riise's hand had got the decisive touch to deflect it wide.

Pantelis Kafes should have made it 2-0 from a Georgatos corner but he could not keep his header down and Liverpool went in at the interval relieved to be just a goal down.

Benitez made a predictable change at half time, withdrawing Stephen Warnock, who had endured a torrid first 45 minutes, and putting on Kewell.

And there were signs that Liverpool might just keep their unbeaten record in this part of the world intact.

Defensively they looked more assured and, with Kewell offering more options going forward, the Greeks were on the back-foot.

Kewell had the ball in the back of the net after a lay-off from Baros but a debatable offside call denied the Reds an equaliser.

However, it needed a timely intervention from Riise to cut out a dangerous cross from Georgiadis.

From the ensuing corner Liverpool had another slice of luck when Stoltidis again found room but this time his header crashed against the bar.

Georgiadis was enjoying plenty of time on the ball down the right and he cut in before firing in a 25-yarder which went straight at Dudek.

Liverpool made their final change by putting on Salif Diao for Dietmar Hamann and they soon had a one-man advantage when Pantos was sent off for a second bookable offence after bringing down Xabi Alonso.

Georgiadis had a chance to finish them off when he raced into the box, only to send his effort wide of the far post - but it mattered little to the home fans who were joyous at the final whistle.

Say No to Zonal Defending.

Mike.

Jivin Turkey

Yes that Zonal defending has to go, or at least lets not play it at Old Trafford or away in the CL.

Poor result, would have taken a draw. But we are still in second. I think this is going to be a tight group.

LizardKing

Having watched TV3's Abysmal "Highlights" of this game , I was really pi$$ed off with the Performance from the Liverpool players, they had few chances and looked really poor from corners, crosses etc. They have to get over this away game hoodoo which has been dogging them recently , They really need to beat Deportivo in next game now ....

Lex Luthor

If they can get 4 points from Depor, I'll be happy.
At least Rafa came out and said he wasn't happy, but if he believes with the zonal defence, then he should stick with it.

Does anybody know if he used this at valencia?

Kone

Give it time lads, it's early days yet...

The Rooster

Does anybody know if he used this at valencia?

Yes, he did.

And obviously it worked very well for them. Though Ayala seemed to win about 90% of the headers that came into the box.

It may also be fair to say that, in general, teams are stronger in the air in England than in Spain, so what might work very well in Spain may not work at all in England.

Dont think Ayala has played at all yet for Valencia this season (went in for a minor op straight after the summer tournies). I would bet there will be plenty of speculation linking him with a reunion with his ex-manager in the January t/f window. 31, but would be worth a 2/2.5 year contract.