Post Match: Fiorentina 2 Liverpool 0

God I hope they play with more itensity on Sunday otherwise we're DEAD ....come on REDS 

Curious, how did Carra and Skrtel play?

Got carved open for the 1st goal.

Losing Masch has been my biggest worry.. hopefully he will be back for Chelsea, also Aquilani is on the mend and Agger, so we can still step up a gear. Its a shame our defence is leaking goals, because we look much more of a threat early in the season compared to early last term. I'm still very optimistic as a fan though, we finish strong and we are stilll in all competitions, there is a long long way to go.. I expect  a couple of additions in January, as im sure Rafa can see areas that need improving. Take over talk is positive so funds may be available. Onwards and upwards people.

First Goal



Insua playing Jovetic onside.


Second Goal



Skrtel had already headed a clearance right across the area to the Fiorentina winger before failing to get close enough to Jovetic.  Also Johnson was nowhere near close enough to allow the cross in.

^^ Where's the leadership.

jovetic was awesome. We were rubbish. I didnt expect us to win anyway

You didn't expect us to win or hoped we wouldn't? :

Was in class while this happened, but from all reports im seeing here it seems we were pretty uninspiring Pretty confusing when we can beat Hull 6-1, and then we can't even put one past Fiorentina. As good as they may be, they are a team we should beat on our good days. Obviously a bad day, we shouldn't get to worried though. Hopefully another kick up the ass for the players anyways, but we just gotta remember to go for it from the off! That brilliant run in the last third of last season was down to blitzkrieg like tactics, and we need to use that EVERY game we play.
And is it the more higher up teams at the moment that are able to bring us unstuck? Think about all our wins, they have come against average-ish teams. Stoke, Bolton, Burnley, West Ham, Hull, Debrecan. Whilst decent teams, none are the teams you expect to really be competing for major honors. Now our two premier league losses, both teams whilst not at the top of england, are very close to that bracket. And we have struggled. Now Fiorentina, a team doing very well in Italy and again it seems we have struggled. Though im not getting to worried, it makes this weekends clash against Chelsea very, very important. Big moment in the season coming up.

Certainly suits him/her.

Related to Corballyred by any chance?

yawn..

you're absolutely right, I'm clearly the only person who was disappointed tonight.
and (again, clearly) the midfield and defence were excellent.
It was a bad day, and I really wanted Liverpool to win, aren't we allowed to say it if our postcount is low?

And I'm sorry if you all adore Lucas, but perhaps, just perhaps, some people are entitled to a different opinion.
Cheers

Second Goal

Also nobody is close enough to the one lurking outside the box so if it had fallen to him he would have had enough space for a shot at goal, he should not have anywhere near that much space around him.

That was always going to be a goal if it fell to Jovetic because he has gotten goal side of Carragher and for the reasons JD pointed out about Skrtel and Johnson.

We lost one game and it's all 'Mascherano and Alonso missing'.  F**k off Strachan you gnome.

We had a so called 'analyst' (Craig Foster) sprouting the same sh*t and the stupid c**t couldn't wipe the smile off his face at half-time.

Ordinary is about the only way I can describe our performance tonight.

Disappointed to see Lucas taking the full square blame for our defeat tonight amongst many, not only here but on other places.

I've already demonstrated the three dickheads in the defence who were at fault for our two goals.

I don't think it is unreasonable to expect at least one decent chance from 10 second half corners. (Oh - we had one - and it was from Lucas).

Wrong selection cost us. Not neccessairly wrong players, just in the wrong positions.

If Aurelio was to play it should of been on the left wing, with Kuyt behind Torres, Yossi on the right and Stevie and Lucas in the middle. But as I hinted at a while back in some thread I started over keeping Masch and Aurelio out, bringing them in would cause moving too many players around. So was the case tonight, in an attempt to fit Aurelio in, three players were shifted from where they played after a 6-1 win against Hull.

Other than that, two badly defended goals and we've lost. I'm not gonna make out it's alright or it's meaningless or anything of the sort because it F***ing isn't. It's a defeat for this club and defeats shouldn't just be treated as if it's ok. We need to sort those problems out because in this group it's gonna be hard to qualify now. Have to beat Lyon, certainly at home as well as going to Hungary and picking up three points. I'm still expecting us to qualify but tonight didn't exactly fill me with much confidence.

We had a so called 'analyst' (Craig Foster) sprouting the same sh*t and the stupid c**t couldn't wipe the smile off his face at half-time.

Ordinary is about the only way I can describe our performance tonight.

F**k me i hate Craig Foster! One thing i don't miss about living away from Australia. As soon as i saw you mentioned his name i was pissed off

Anyone and everyone who aint a Liverpool fan takes any opportunity to write us off. Yeah maybe we are missing Alonso a bit, but manure are missing Ronaldo, only relying on a 36 year old welshman now. But we won't hear about that of course :

First Goal



Insua playing Jovetic onside.


Second Goal



Skrtel had already headed a clearance right across the area to the Fiorentina winger before failing to get close enough to Jovetic.  Also Johnson was nowhere near close enough to allow the cross in.

Its been awhile since I played but isn't that Fiorentina player offside?   They allowed the goal?

Its been awhile since I played but isn't that Fiorentina player offside?   They allowed the goal?

The guy apart from Jovetic? Yeah, but of course he probably wasn't interfering with play. Only our team gets called for players that don't interfere with play :

Midfield not in control tonight and the back four believe that hoofing it up the park will result in Torres weaving some magic, not going to happen.They wanted it more although diving and deliberately being offside and interfereing with play seem to count for nothing as far as the ref was concerned.We need to toughen up quickly or the chavs will have a field-day.At the moment I am more concerned with Carra and Stevie G's form than 1 result.

All I got to say is they better get their sh*t on straight for Sunday.  This upcoming match w/ Chelsea is going to set the pace for the rest of the season!

Good point about Fabio, DLS.  I had already posted in the Match Preview that I thought Aurelio was going to play in central midfield.  But with Benayoun fit I was disappointed to see it pan out like that.

I certainly didn't expect Aurelio to come in at Riera's expense.

Huge mistake that.

He may be able to cope against the likes of Leeds but not in top European competition.  Benitez needs to learn from that, but as for the rest - the team clearly didn't perform to the expected standards.

Those screen grabs of their goals only proves individual defensive errors.

Looks like I didnt miss much then...

if this is the way that we're trying to win something.. well God bless us because all I see today was a team with no heart and players on it..
the game was absolutely boring and the team was the worst in ages...
no matter what you say I'm very disappointed with all..

Good point about Fabio, DLS.  I had already posted in the Match Preview that I thought Aurelio was going to play in central midfield.  But with Benayoun fit I was disappointed to see it pan out like that.

I certainly didn't expect Aurelio to come in at Riera's expense.

Huge mistake that.

He may be able to cope against the likes of Leeds but not in top European competition.  Benitez needs to learn from that, but as for the rest - the team clearly didn't perform to the expected standards.

Those screen grabs of their goals only proves individual defensive errors.

Like I've said mate could easily of been like for like with Aurelio and Riera. Left winger out, left winger in. And it brings up the very old argument of mass rotation, though it may not be rotating several players out of the side, it is rotating four players. Gerrard, Kuyt, Benayoun and Aurelio all played different roles to where they played when we beat Hull - four changes. If it'd just been a like for like swap, it'd of been one change. I'm not saying we'd of won if Aurelio had been on the left and Gerrard in the middle, but it wouldn't have caused as much disruption in turn giving us a more settled side.

But you're right with the rest not playing to their quality, no matter how many changes were made. Too many players let us down, particuarly the full backs as you've hinted at on the screenshots of the goals. Now it's just time to learn from those mistakes and kick on. I can honestly see Aurelio being moved again for the Chelsea game though with him replacing Insua at left back, especially if Masch is fit again for the weekend game.

it seemed to me a complete lack of interest in the game in the first half just one shot on goal. you cant win a game playing 45 minutes. our champion league form has been the pits. that hungarian team we beat barely lyon crushed the 4-0. that makes us look like a championship side in terms of quality

Absolutely gutted with that performance, that first half  was nothing short of embarrassing we were second best to everything on the ground and in the air. Rafa got this one horribly wrong with the team selection as has been mentioned Aurelio should not have been near the centre of the park not even touching it with a 20 foot pole. If he was going to be selected should have been at the expense of Insua, I dont see any reason why Riera should have been dropped based on the performance against Hull. Even after we were 2-0 Rafa persisted with the same tactics, should have introduced Babel or Riera much earlier in the second.

The underlying problem for me here is that this is our third loss of the competitive season and each one has come because we were heavily pressed in the centre of the park by Spurs, Villa and now Fiorentina. On every occassion our midfield has struggled to get any fluency into our game, what has made it worse is that with Gerrard dropping back we have lost that vital link between an attacking mid and Torres in the final third. This is very concerning when you analyse the way Chelsea have played and so effectively as well with 5 across the park and we will need Mascherano for this one. Lucas was very dissapointing failed on many occassions to do the basics i.e. control and pass, I see JD you have excluded Lucas's involvement in the second goal and placed Carragher, Skrtel and Johnson at fault. Skrtel did make the clearence with his head seconds earlier and whilst it looks simple in freeze frame (had he a pair of wings) should have picked up Jovetic, the nearest player to him was Lucas. Football logic would dictate that the nearest player to the free man, picks up the man.

Anyways not too many positives other from the fact that Rafa can give them a bollocking and fire them up for Sunday. Rafa got the tactics wrong but there was a lack of heart and determination shown by the players which was equally dissapointing.

Absolutely gutted with that performance, that first half  was nothing short of embarrassing we were second best to everything on the ground and in the air. Rafa got this one horribly wrong with the team selection as has been mentioned Aurelio should not have been near the centre of the park not even touching it with a 20 foot pole. If he was going to be selected should have been at the expense of Insua, I dont see any reason why Riera should have been dropped based on the performance against Hull. Even after we were 2-0 Rafa persisted with the same tactics, should have introduced Babel or Riera much earlier in the second.

The underlying problem for me here is that this is our third loss of the competitive season and each one has come because we were heavily pressed in the centre of the park by Spurs, Villa and now Fiorentina. On every occassion our midfield has struggled to get any fluency into our game, what has made it worse is that with Gerrard dropping back we have lost that vital link between an attacking mid and Torres in the final third. This is very concerning when you analyse the way Chelsea have played and so effectively as well with 5 across the park and we will need Mascherano for this one. Lucas was very dissapointing failed on many occassions to do the basics I.e. control and pass, I see JD you have excluded Lucas's involvement in the second goal and placed Carragher, Skrtel and Johnson at fault. Skrtel did make the clearence with his head seconds earlier and whilst it looks simple in freeze frame (had he a pair of wings) should have picked up Jovetic, the nearest player to him was Lucas. Football logic would dictate that the nearest player to the free man, picks up the man.

Anyways not too many positives other from the fact that Rafa can give them a bollocking and fire them up for Sunday. Rafa got the tactics wrong but there was a lack of heart and determination shown by the players which was equally dissapointing.

Totally agree about "Pressing the Center".  I'm a big Hockey fan and in Hockey their is a scheme called "The Trap", which I never would of thought it would be used in the EPL. But basically it's pushing all the play to the sides, keep it out from the center of the Ice then collapse back on Defense and goal and take away scoring chances.  I couldn't believe it was being used on a English Football pitch.  If used properly its a devastating tactic. So far the Liverpool losses have come from that style of play.  The only way to counter that style of play is constant movement of the ball and capitalize on the "Rare" scoring chances.