Rapid Vienna 1-0 Liverpool - post match thoughts

Oh come off it and stop all the moaning!

It is a pre season friendly not a champions league final, yes we lost and no that doesn't make me happy but lets look at the reality of the situation.

 

So get over the result and look to the next friendly and lets see how we start the real season before crying over a couple of petty losses in friendlies.

I'd love for Shankly to still be around and hear these comments. He instilled a mentality at Liverpool, a winning mentality. A defeat is a defeat, no matter what game it is. We need to get into the winning habit, and pretty soon. A few goals would be nice too. I'm not crying yet, but i am slightly concerned.

jeez its only a friendly, as the commentator said, its just for fitness, and both teams we have played were well up on their fitness compared to ours because they are already into their seasons proper.

result is insignificant, good to see the fringe players playing.

Like to bet the players did'nt think "it was just a friendly"Good players hate to lose any game no matter what.Not too many shining lights out there tonight.

No read the first comment i made, "yes we lost and NO this doesn't make me happy" im not saying that it is ok to lose friendlies or it is ok not to show up for games such as this one, because of course that would be wrong.

I am just saying that it is a slight over reaction to a 1-0 loss in a friendly. If this is the reaction to a friendly loss then i would hate to see one to a real game in the league.

This is not what the team need, for fans to get on there back at any possible chance, this happened last year in league games and it does no good. Look back to the game against City at home last year, the fans got on the back off the team and they fell apart.

And yes lets look towards the next friendly to get FIT and READY for the season to come.

Maybe when the likes of Torres, Alonso, Arbeloa and the rest of the spanish contingent begin to play in this pre-season, we will begin to show some class. What was it with our defense? It was actually in tatters. Does that mean the absence of Alonso & Mascherano was a key problem? or that the young lads are not just ready?

Pacheco has it; Not sure about Nemeth. Ever more doubtful about Ngog's ability to step up and fill Torres' shoes when things get hectic.

Never use to like comments about some players not being Liverpool FC Standard - But now? I wonder about the likes of Babel, Ngog, Nemeth and Voronin. Are they surplus to requirement? Do we need to sell and use the money for some other quality purchases?

Buying Silva will look more like buying a knife when what you need is a spoon. We already have Babel, Riera, Aurelio and Benayoun all able to play the LM position. Invest the money on some English striker that can fight for the top spot or act as a sub to Torres.

Rapid Vienna is starting its season next week. Our players had a training the morning of the game and had total of 90 min competitive (friendly) this season. Rapid Vienna are no Tranmere rovers or Malaysia X1 or Barnette (no offense meant). Get a grip. Wake up dudes (dudettes)

No read the first comment I made, "yes we lost and NO this doesn't make me happy" im not saying that it is ok to lose friendlies or it is ok not to show up for games such as this one, because of course that would be wrong.

I am just saying that it is a slight over reaction to a 1-0 loss in a friendly. If this is the reaction to a friendly loss then I would hate to see one to a real game in the league.

This is not what the team need, for fans to get on there back at any possible chance, this happened last year in league games and it does no good. Look back to the game against City at home last year, the fans got on the back off the team and they fell apart.

And yes lets look towards the next friendly to get FIT and READY for the season to come.

Fair point mate. But even you must be concerned at the lack of opportunities we are creating. I understand that maybe you think some of us are over-reacting, but I genuinely believe there is no such thing as a "friendly". If, as a player you are taking it easy because it's a friendly, then that's not exactly the best preparation for a new season and title assault. The players have had their break, they should now be chomping at the bit to stake a claim for a place in the team for the EPL assault.

 People get so worked up because they "assumed" it should have been certainly a good result for Liverpool against RV, and that's wrong.
 RV is Austrian Liga champion in 07-08, and 2nd in 08-09. Although Austrian Liga is an average league in Europe and can't compare to EPL, they are by no mean an easy opponent, even for the Liverpool starting XI.
 The loss doesn't concern me much, but no goal in 2 matches bothers me big time. We depend too much on Torres, and if he or Gerrard is injured during the next season, we are so ***ed.

Always upsetting to see us lose, friendly or not.

More concerned with drawign a blank in two matches now.

Ah well. Be reet!

If we go two Premiership games without scoring THEN I'll stab jabbing away at my panic button.

I'm with Redkenny on this. I hate losing any game be it preseason friendly or not. It just sticks in my gut.

I'm more concerned that we really didn't create many goal scoring opportunities apart form Pacheco and the one Benni tried to flick around the back of his legs. I can't even remember 1 in the first half. That's the disappointing thing.

I really like this kid Pacheco...he's got something about him. A bit of flair and creativity. He seemed like the only player out there capable of coming up with something different. At least he tried, he just needs to pass the ball a bit quicker. Noticed that in his last game as well. He had runners either side of him that he could have laid the ball onto but he went himself and fluffed it. having said that though, I must say I have a lot of time for him, he's only a kid and I'm excited about his future with us.

My highlight of the match was seeing Torres shove that bread roll down his mouth and Riera snatching only the last bit off him. Gold 

Agree with the general consensus here. I was pissed off watching the game. The lads looked like they didnt care - except for Nemeth and Skrtel.

2 games, 0 goals and should be 3 conceded. Not good stats considering who we are and who we've played.

Quite worrying but the result is insignificant. Just got back from school and am looking at the highlights now, we did not create as many chances as we would have liked. It is always bad to lose pre-season games, I am not with losing them, they need to wake up and know this is not some park football but some serious business - gearing up for our title assault.

However I wouldn't be pressing the panic button yet. Only played 2 games and they used the full squad of 20+ players odd. Its not about the tactics but more of giving the young players pre-season exposure, to be ready for the new season. It is more about understanding each other on the pitch and having good communication. Perhaps that was what we lacked today that made us lost.

There are 2 Far East games coming up now, and for me I live in Singapore, and obviously keep track of Thailand, Malaysia, and there are South East Asian competitions once in 2 years. Thailand and Singapore are around the same standard, although I will say that Thailand would pose a greater trend with them under Reid, his guidance has strengthened Thailand.

There is a clause which the team is obliged to field more or less their first team XI, so I will imagine the younger stars to cut down playing, and more of Riera, Torres, Alonso. Reina coming back into the game. Only then I believe we would see a much clearer picture of how fully warmed up we are for the new season.

This is the highlights for the game. I will post it in the Video Thread as well. Enjoy.

Rapid Vienna Vs Liverpool[1:0][19/07/09][Friendly]

 As REDS we do not like to lose,but it is better to lose a friendly match pre season and get the squad in the right frame of mind for results that do matter.If we had put our strongest 11 out then we would have cause for concern and posters would have a right to be worried.A poster mentioned Bill Shankly having a winning mentality well contrary to popular belief I can recall losing matches when the great man was our manager,it hurt just as much then as losing does today.Give the lads a chance and I am sure they will repay us when the results matter.

From the beginning it was Rapid all the way...in the half our performance was far from ok. The midfield was sitting too deep in defense and Nemeth looked like a passanger alone up front, but in the second half, our game upped slightly when Rafa introduced Pacheco, Spearing and Benayoun. Eventhough we lost but hey, it's still pre-season and most of our 1st squad weren't playing. The thing is Rafa do need to play the Pacheco and co. more with the 1st squad. They were not connecting well.

Well, on the plus side, it seems like we have a bright future in Pacheco and Spearing while others might have to buck up and rise to the occasion. I was dissapointed in how crap Voronin was that night. Babel was nowhere to be seen. Kuyt also not playing well but I'll reserve my judgement until the Thailand game

Well. Its only a friendly anyway. Pacheco looks really good. His skill on the ball remind me of Messi. Rafa should work on him! We could creat a 'new Messi'.

Hey I wanted to comment He looks like our Liverpool 'Messi', but someone done it.
Anyway the concern is his size. Dunno if can suit the EPL, however Owen was 'small' too.
Body strength needed I guess.

As for the match. Our team looks like a bunch of hastily assembled players who did not play with one another before.
However it's just a friendly, and like they say, no match fitness. But I hope this doesnt goes into the real matches.

I don't size does matter...Luis Garcia and that traitor were pintsized but hell they were good...just need a good physical workout and learn from monster Masch...

In one of the diaries it said that Yossi took Pacheco under his wing, knowing Yossi, i bet that means a lot and he's actually showing him all the right moves cause he sees something in him.

It was a great atmosphere last night but the game was very bad and we have to learn many things from a game like this. It was of course a great moment for our youngstars to play in a stadium with 50.000 people. The best thing is to forget this game and to make it better in the next game.

You can't really take much from friendlies - especially at the start of the pre-season - and making so many changes wouldn't have helped.  But good experience for the young lads and, as long as we're ready for the start of the season, the focus is there with all to win the league, then we can lose every friendly as far as I'm concerned.  Although a winning mentality would help....

All about fitness,result isn't important at this stage of the season.

On to Thailand to take another boring draw or defeat I guess.