KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum LFC v Birmingham - CONFIRMED TEAM & MATCH THREAD

Hear any rumours of Rafa/Torres argument? Heard from a few people in the sandon that there was a major nark between em!

why dont you get lost emperor rafa (im being polite ) do us all a favour latch onto some other club. we really dont ned the likes of you . by the way have you ever set foot in anfield ?

Didn't know about that one Rafa Out, just read it in another thread. It's got no mileage & a load of BS me thinks.

Couldn't have said it better if i tried.

Just been reading the Mirror's report, but have to question some of the scores out of ten for the players.

Liverpool: Reina 6; Johnson 7, Skrtel 5, Agger 6, Insua 5; Mascherano 6, Lucas 5; Benayoun 6, Kuyt 7, Riera 5 (Gerrard 44, 7); Ngog 6.

If I remember right, Kuyt was getting worse as the game went on & was not a 7. Mascherano was an 8 or 9, & Lucas was way better than a 5!

i can clear up the confusion there. its the Fifth word of your post.

effin media have been on us hard for atleast a year now utd were flavor of the month now there leaning towards chelsea spurs and arsenal

well lets hope it will get better at city, cuz if he want to finish top 4 for it would be nice to get some points.

Sorry for this but i think we can forget about league titles and maybe in the long run it may be better for the team as it will lift some pressure of them.

I think top 4 comes above any cup as we don't archive this then season = failure

League????? i dont seee finishing in top 4

here's my take on the players' performance.

reina - nothing much to do except pick the ball out of goal twice. did well on 2 occasions to prevent possible goal threat by coming out early and narrowing the angle. could be at fault for being too far off his line in conceding the 2nd goal. but that was a "wonder" goal which jerome would probably not score again in his life

johnson - my MOTM. excellent when going forward. like hot knife through butter. pretty solid tracking back too. unfortunately, we lacked a poacher to capitalise on his crosses.

agger - stable and calm throughout. surprised he did not venture up more and take some shots.

skrtel - weak link. a few misplaced passes and had trouble coping with the physical jerome. shouldn't have lost the header that resulted in the 1st goal

insua - did well to combine with reira in the 1st half. need to work on his crosses. after getting to the byline, he just whips a ball in without looking.

kuyt - high workrate as usual but seems to be in two minds at times whether he should cross or shoot. ends up loosing the ball. lack of pace major issue for a wide man

lucas - another solid performance. a couple of nice defence splitting passes not taken by the frontmen. could have scored but the shot with his weaker foot got cleared off the line.

masch - seems to be getting back in form. partnership with lucas getting better. able to switch and cover when the other goes up. needs to be aware of play more as he does take some time to pick team mates out in open positions. when aquilani came on, masch seems to bypass him even though he was open. that said, masch looked really up for it the past few games.

reira - did well in 1st half before he went off injured. was able to hold play and switch play to either flank. with him out in 2nd half, attack from the left dried up.

yossi - usual hassle and bustle but in spurts. looked a little tired at times. on his day, would have put away that chance instead of the shot being saved by hart.

ngog - overall good performance. nice movement into space and giving the defenders plenty to worry about. excellent goal. could have had a couple more if not for a rush of adrelanin. with more experience, would be a strong backup for torres. big minus point. although it could be said that carsley would have caught him if ngog had not jumped, it still looked like he was looking for a penalty. rafa should have a stern word with him about this. diving is a definite no no in football. so instead of being applauded for a good goal, he will be lamblasted for the penalty.

gerrard - provided more impetus upfront but looked rusty. would have scored his header if not. with aquilani fit, rafa should consider switching gerrard to right midfield. his pace and delivery from there could bring plenty of rewards.

babel - hardly ever been effective when played on the left. at least he did bother to track back and get stuck in. with yossi out and the players left on the bench, i guess babel was the only one able to play on the left

aquilani - finally our man from italy is playing in the EPL. composed on the ball, aware of play and quick to release the ball. a nice 40yard cross field ball to kuyt was ala alonso. would definitely add creativity from the midfield when fully fit

overall delighted with the commitment and performance. the lyon game and last night's game shows that the team is fighting back to the turn the season around. let's hope the international break allows the lads to recover, regroup and get back on the winning trail!