Liverpool v Benfica (scores, everything !!)

redspider

19:00

Hi,

I realise mike65 started a thread on the CL 2nd leg matches, but this match is a big one for Liverpool and I think it deserves a thread on its own.

The team:

---

Reina
Finnan Carragher Traore Warnock
Garcia Alonso Gerrard Kewell

---

Crouch Morientes

Subs: Dudek, Hyypia, Hamann, Cisse, Fowler, Barragan, Anderson


Hyppia still injured.
Is Riise injured, he's not in the squad?

I'm ok with seeing Garcia on and lets hope he is a strong contributor. Gowler and/or Cisse will have to get a run out if Crouch and Morientes cat produce the goods.

A lot will depend on Gerrard, and Alonso. We need him to come up to get the odd strike off, and Kewell, keep up your recent form and you should be ok.

redspider

damienom

Strange selection!!

Would have prefered Didi in there somewhere with the state of the defence

kaimera

ehh...Djimi in the centre?

God help us. Christ.

Other than that, good to see Stevie back in the centre alongside Xabi. Hopefully they call pull it together tonight.

I'm not sure about the front two...or any of our strikers given the last few games.

I'm optimistic we can pull back the 1 goal...but I don't think I'd bet on it after the first leg.

DaBreno

Jimmy in the center? Rafa doesnt come accross as a Sadistic man to the fans but the team selection suggests otherwise.
Surprised about Moro up front, would have thought maybe Kromkamp at Right mid with Garcia pushed up along side the big man.
I see Baragan makes the bench, he hasnt played since the friendlies!

redspider

Hopefully Traore wont be tested that much, apart from dead-ball cross situations where up to now he has been reasonable.

We only need 1 goal to tie the leg and its important not to go all out for attack and let Benfica get a break. They dont have much to offer, so they will more than likely be going for a 0-0 and to sneak a goal from a half-chance.

I hope to see a reasonably lively start, not all out, and with growing confidence. This is a match where Gerrard really needs to pull out all his tricks, which he can of course. I'm waiting for a ball to be laid up nicely for him to strike from 20 yards for a goal. On the Liverpoolfc.tv website, Paddypower are giving 4-1 odss or something like that on it happening.

We need it to happen .....

And Garcia in and around the box could produce ....

fingers crossed,

redspider

mike65

Traore is a better CB than LB but Warnock is pants at LB so we're not much better off. Strange to have Hyypia on bench if he's not fit. Hamann needs to be on there to protect that defence. Still he ain't, but don't be suprised if at half time the formation/line up changes.

Mike.

Chardee MacDennis

lets just hope we put up more of a fight than chelski!!

tbh

If they do what we did against Juve and come out of the traps running, we could be in trouble - to be honest, I can only see us scoring one, no way three. Having said that, it's Liverpool, Crouch could get a hat-trick. A real test of how the team is progressing. Funny, I don't think I'll be gutted if we go out or anything, I really think we are progessing and its a long game really.

redspider

John Arne Riise was ruled out due to a groin injury.
Thats a pity as his pace and shooting power could have unleashed a goal.

Warnock is ok but gives nothing going forward, and is arguably weak at the back at times.

Its the front-line and midfield which we need to be worried about in terms of goals.

We have at least one in us I believe.

redspider

blu_sonic

dunphy and giles are the pundits! YES!
doubt on Rafas future?

Dr Galen

i think rafa will still stay regardless of what happens tonight. he seems a proud type of man, hpefull this equates to loyalty, and is still relatively young, still has the time to manage madrid before he retires as he as stated he wants to do.
i do think though that he might be swayed if he can't get the money we need to improve the squad. traore at the back.......symptomatic of the problem really.

Aquos76

Liverpool really look to be up for this one. They have looked very good so far. Their finishing is still letting them down so far.

Benfica do look like they could catch them on the counter attack though

Villain

Crouch must be watching tapes of Drogba, he just got booked for an awful dive. Clearly trying to cheat his way to a penalty as bad as any dive I have seen this year. Although you probably can't blaim him for trying to get a Penalty because he doesn't look like scoring, he missed a sitter a while ago.

Villain

GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Benfica, screamer of a goal by the guy Liverpool tried to sign Simao!!!!!

Liverpool need 3 now!!!!

Aquos76

Aquos76 wrote:

Benfica do look like they could catch them on the counter attack though

They have only themselves to blame there. They now need 3

Brian017

Good goal too.

el rabitos

aaaannnnnd here come the "but we came back against milan posts"

its over

Aquos76

Didn't liverpool need a 3-1 in a CL game last season though. Stranger things have happened

merlinsmerryman

Bye bye Liverpool..Crouch is a good player!! Good to be a United fan watching this.:D

Villain

It isn't over yet, Rafa needs to go for it now though, bring on Fowler I reckon.

Aquos76

I really dont like the way the liverpool players are starting to dive in and around the penalty area. Crouch had one earlier and now gerrard has done one.

Aquos76

irish1 wrote:

It isn't over yet, Rafa needs to go for it now though, bring on Fowler I reckon.

I would have to agree with you mate. Still a few goals in this game.

kaimera

arse.

Ah well.

Aquos76

Liverpool just hit the post for the second time

Villain

Oh the post denies Crouch, Benfica Keeper is awful at dealing with crosses.

zAbbo

Nobody said it was going to be easy, plenty of chances.

Roll on the second half and the patented 3 goal comeback

RE*AC*TOR

for fúck sake.

I'd take a half fit hyppia over traore any day. he's a donkey.
I don't know what to do now, its not like their not up for it. They have hit the post twice.

Big job second half.

el rabitos

its a good thing warnock doesnt get paid per second on the ball

Dr Galen

how many of them have we got left tho?
bring on God.....2nd half hat trick for the prodigal son lol

GLaDOS

Should be 2 or 3 goals up This is what we get for not having a decent striker

DMC

Lightning striking twice within a year is extemely slim.

Kingp35

Liverpools strikers are just awful. I used to call them average but I have changed my mind, awful. The Crouch miss when he was in on the keeper was just terrible. A pitiful side foot DIRECTLY at the outcoming goalkeeper. Absolute sh1t that was. Garcia missed a great chance too as did Carragher. Liverpool are creating chances but I said in previous threads that if Liverpool did not score early Benfica will hit them on the break and thats exactly what happened.

I see Liverpool scoring at some stage because these awful misses surely cant continue but dont see them scoring three.

Aquos76

Into the final 20 mins now and it still remain 2-0 to Benfica over the two legs. Liverpool really are ****e up front. Gerrard is really putting everything into this game but the clock continues to tick down.

smemon

and tonight is when liverpool come back to the real world.

benfica are a decent side, but no great shakes. over 2 legs you'd expect the defending champions to walk on them.

this side isn't full of champions, lack of quality, creativity, penetration.... as someone said, lightening DOESNT strike twice.

mike65

As I predicted...sadly. All the problems that have niggled away are being shown in the full glare of the floodlights.

Mike.

merlinsmerryman

2-0 lol, Liverpool were bad tonight.

RE*AC*TOR

amateur hour.

looks like the best team won on the night

fade2black

AC Milan to win, Lyon to win, Arsenal to Draw, Liverpool to draw..37-1.

Even when they lose, Liverpool continue to frustrate me. They were apalling tonight.

Aquos76

Chereo Chereo Chereo

zAbbo

I assume its all Arsenal fans gloating?

Oh well, there's always next year

RE*AC*TOR

Aquos76 wrote:

Chereo Chereo Chereo

Cheerio?

The Muppet

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

amateur hour.

looks like the best team won on the night

Both Nights.

Benfica are a tough well organised team. I will resist the temtation to revisit the goading comments of a minority of pool fans when Benfica knocked United out and just say hard luck Liverpool.

Chucky the tree

Aquos76 wrote:

Chereo Chereo Chereo

:rolleyes:


This match pretty much summed up liverpool perfectly. No strikers, and outside of first 11 our squad just isnt good enough. Having to bring in the likes on traore is when one of our central defenders is injuried is just embarissing. Warnock isnt good enough either. If we had a decent striker and luck went our way we would of been 3 up early on. But it wasnt.

Rafa has gone some way to sorting out the back 4, we need a top quality left back in the summer though. A right winger and a striker aswell.

Still, were 10 times better off then we were last season so atleast we are improving.

zAbbo

3 out of the 4 strikers were bought by Rafa, the blame lies firmly with him.

Chucky the tree

The Muppet wrote:

Both Nights.

Benfica are a tough well organised team. I will resist the temtation to revisit the goading comments of a minority of pool fans when Benfica knocked United out and just say hard luck Liverpool.

Honestly, Benfica are a poor team*. Liverpool tore through them in the first half at will. Just didnt have dcent strikers to finish them off. United should of done them aswell, they just didnt have the experience in midfield to control the game.


Seems muck is a bit too harsh.

RE*AC*TOR

Chucky the tree wrote:

Honestly, Benfica are muck. Liverpool tore through them in the first half at will. Just didnt have dcent strikers to finish them off. United should of done them aswell, they just didnt have the experience in midfield to control the game.

Benfica might be muck, but they can hit the shagging target - ergo they are the better team - cause liverpool cannot.

fade2black

A bit much to call them muck to be honest. They beat you fair and square home and away. A lot of Liverpool players were made to look very ordinary tonight and it says a lot about them that they're looking to Robbie Fowler as a savior.

RE*AC*TOR

mike65 wrote:

Did'nt see the second goal. Who was at fault (if anyone?). Everything that has been suspected or said about Morientes has been shown tonight why bother with him at all?.

The grumpy old men are of course having a field day on RTE 2,Bill O’Herlihy just stated Rafa has spent 75 mill, where the feck did he pluck that number from?

Mike.

well he spent about €30m on Alonso, Mori and Reina.
Not sure about the rest.

mike65

Did'nt see the second goal. Who was at fault (if anyone?). Everything that has been suspected or said about Morientes has been shown tonight why bother with him at all?.

The grumpy old men are of course having a field day on RTE 2,Bill O’Herlihy just stated Rafa has spent 75 mill, where the feck did he pluck that number from?

Mike.

Villain

Benfica - muck, they beat the European Champions in both legs and also Beat United???

Chucky the tree

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Benfica might be muck, but they can hit the shagging target - ergo they are the better team - cause liverpool cannot.

I suppose when we beat juve, chelsea, and AC milan last season you thought liverpool were a better team then them aswell yea?