Or Sagna

good performance by the pool even without torres and some other players.. XD

i was chuckled when crouch scored.. this guy's almost as tall as the net posts.. and always stands out in the crowd.. not quite my fave player though.. but i appreciate him for the goals he scored for england anyway.. lol..

Just got back from the pub so I can't comment too much. Good performance from an understrength side though. Great strike from Pennant who had a good game, he set-up Crouch for his goal aswell. You could say Keller got his positioning wrong but it was a fierce strike from Pennant.







As for Lucas I know a lot of Liverpool fans that don't like him but I keep telling them he needs more time. He's done well in his last three premiership games, he put in a good performance against Arsenal, Set-up Gerrard for his goal against Blackburn and intercepted Ryan Nelson's pass to start the move to the Torres goal also. And today he set-up Pennnant for his goal and he played in Benayoun with a chance that he should have done better with. He's got the talent but we'll see the best of him next season.

Notice how all three are physically quite strong, with plenty of pace? That's the main reason Lucas hasn't settled properly, in my opinion. He'll need more time before i think we begin seeing the best of him.



Easy saying that on one occasion that he does actually score though. There are plenty of occasions where he's been given a chance and failed... (Although i admit if he had a run in the side he'd be reasonably prolific.)


From this afternoon the result was most important, and to get three points was very pleasing. Not half surprising after last year, where, even though we lost, we made the chances to easily win - the squad has improved and the (relatively) second side should be capable of beating Fulham. Everyone seemed more free and relaxed to express themselves, and i think it showed in a period in the first half between about 10mins and 35mins.

The only downsides were Mascherano getting a few knocks - i was shouting for Rafa to take him off by the first one, as we can't afford to lose him for the Champions League, but thankfully he didn't seem too affected and made way without injury.

From those players i think, beforehand, the only in contention to force themselves into Rafa's thoughts for Tuesday would be Lucas (for Alonso), Benayoun (for Babel) and Crouch (for... someone). I however think the only player who stands a realistic chance now is Yossi. Not because he was sensational today, but because he's better at keeping possession compared with Babel.

Anyway, a single point against Birmingham means 4th is mathematically ours. To pre-empt that game, i'd not be surprised if a few reserves got a run out to rest our entire side involved against Chelsea: the likes of Skrtel, Hyypia, Carragher and Mascherano, who otherwise wouldn't have much of a replacement in our immediate squad. I'm quite looking forward to that, if some from the likes of Nemeth, Insua, Plessis, San Jose, El Zhar, Spearing etc. can make the squad and even first-team.

I didn't realise Hyypia had gone off injured.



Should be fine. At least we're not pretending that Gerrard, Torres, Carragher, Mascherano, Reina and Alonso are all 95% doubtful to appear, like Chelsea are almost doing with some of their stars. It is a pathetic attempt at conning your opposition.

Oh, and i thought Reina played very well. He was solid and managed to get to every cross and shot, without looking vulnerable - that's so important with Chelsea looming, as we've seen him make mistakes against United and Arsenal. He should be boosted by today's performance.

For all his mocking i didn't think Voronin played that badly either. His movement, running on the ball and distribution to Benayoun/Pennant was generally good and he was only let down by really poor finishing.

Pennant was probably Man of the Match, and not just for the goal. He was our best attacking threat, getting behind with a consistently decent delivery - his control was excellent too. If only he could perform to this level consistently.

What concerns me though is how we finish games with 5 minutes to go. Has anyone else noticed? We seem to finish before the whistle's blown and accept the result, whilst the other team keeps on playing - we knock it about between ourselves and try and kill the game with us leading, but our concentration fades. We saw it against Blackburn, carelessly conceding right at the end, and Fulham very nearly repeated that this afternoon. It's something i think is sort of true for the first-half as well. We just don't play 100% 'till the final whistle, which can be fatal.

mmm. He worked hard and yes his movement, running on the ball and distribution was good but some of the shots he had on goal were woeful.

Aye. Bit of a shame really. Remember him in pre-season? He tore through, was it, Werder Bremen? I remember joking about him being a better signing on a free than Torres for £20million! Nando sure showed me.

Still, it's annoying how his great start has detoriated so...

Gerrard took a rest today from diving?

I think so. And he scored a superb goal against Toulouse in a chamipons league qualifier, things were looking good for him. Then he started to get benched and when he did play Rafa was playing him out of position.

Yes. sore neck. diving.

He didn't play.

Exactly

I know thats why i asked the question.

Who do you support?

If it's Man U, did you catch the Rooney today? How about his dive? That was worse than any of the Gerrard ones in the game you're referring to.

I support dundee but like Spurs in this league.

Rooney shocking. Not seen Rooney dive for a long time

Someone explain to me how Rooney can leave the ground two footed making no attempt for the ball clearly reacting to not having had things go his way, argue constantly with the ref and use foul and abusive language not only with the ref but the lino as well and not be sent off?

Nice to see that as I suspected the consistency has been kept up since Liverpool went to Old Trafford.

Why am I talking about that? Because this was a nothing match that basically came down to Liverpool beating a very poor side. That said, we are the kind of team you really don't want to play if you are the bottom because our game is to give teams NOTHING and we work as hard as anyone.

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum - Only struggling to hold on to 5th will do.

Hey gerrard did that last week and didnt get a booking.... Must be the big teams who get away with everything. Glad thats all cleared up now

Dirk Kuyt anyone