Sparta Prague 0-0 Liverpool - post match toothache

One thing is worrying me, Haven't seen Pepe with a smile on his face for a few weeks now.

I was actually thinking the same during the game.

Not sure if it's just me being paranoid after the Torres situation but Pepe just doesn't seem the same these days.

I think the priority was not to lose tonight. An away goal was a bonus. I remember Lille last season where we lost 1-0 in the first leg meaning we needed to score three times without response to be sure of the tie. It's an easier situation now, knowing that a win, regardless of how many they score, sends us through.

It was a typical game that needed something like a spark from Suarez or Gerrard or a little bit of strength and jumping from Carroll at a crucial moment but sadly these players weren't there.

I'm confident we will rise to the occassion at Anfield next week. Hopefully the return of Gerrard (and maybe even Carroll) will boost us.

And on a positive note, I thought Wilson had a brilliant game. Lot of similarities to Agger.

I've just arrived home from the match and I have to say I'm really dissapointed with our performance tonight. No goals, no Pacheco and Sterling, a dire effort from N'gog and an invisible Maxi Rodriguez yet again.
And to add insult to injury I'll probably get a cold:)
MOTM Danny Wilson, didn't put a foot wrong and should be preffered to Škrtel even in league games, could even be used at left back.

Very boring match tonight. Think it was a bit of an experiment from Kenny, how many chances is he going to give Maxi?. Wilson played really well. Nice to see the youngsters grabbing chances with both hands. N'Gog and Kuyt were terrible up top, absolutely terrible. Never mind, seven matches unbeaten, that's a positive. Moving in the right direction at least. Going to be a long wait until the Summer.

And how much do we miss Gerrard?. Suarez?. Agger?. Just a few exclusions and it really highlights how theadbare this squad is. I'm feeling a bit down at the minute but i know the happy times are most definitely back at our Club.

That was p*ss

Anybody care to glorify it as any better?

And what about Dirk Kuyt some of you may say? True he had a terrible night on the right wing yet again but how many times must it be stressed that he is a striker and not a winger? But the fact is we still need him. He offers something different upfront. With his running as a striker he pulls defenders over whilst other players occupy the box - as we saw in the lead up to the goal against Chelsea a couple of weeks ago. Plus as witnessed this time last year when Torres was injured he can take on the role up front and score against the teams we should be scoring. The difference is that Kuyt offers something but N'Gog and Rodriguez don't and never will.

I disagree. He has shown no finishing ability this year and despite giving terrific effort every time he is simply not skilled enough to be getting the minutes he is getting. His first touch is terrible and he has terrible pace. He would be a nice bench player who could come in and give a lot of effort but he is not a starter at wing or striker.

back to how it was under hodgson again. we have to many passengers. very woefull performance  3 shots on goal. ngog stats 4 fouls,3 offsides, 1 shot.even when he gets a shot he usually shoots right at the goalkeeper.how did we get a clean sheet. no man of the match for me. saurez could have scored two against this team.looking at the performance today time to bring up some youngsters. raheem sterling name comes to mind,pacheo

Soto was man of the match for me. Wilson and Carra had a good game too. The rest mehhh...
It was as if our players knew they'd knock Sparta out in the second leg and couldn't be bothered.

I disagree. He has shown no finishing ability this year and despite giving terrific effort every time he is simply not skilled enough to be getting the minutes he is getting. His first touch is terrible and he has terrible pace. He would be a nice bench player who could come in and give a lot of effort but he is not a starter at wing or striker.

Point in one. There's no point highlighting 'work ethic' as the specific thing that one player brings to the table - lots of players bring that to the table (Tevez, Suarez, Rooney, Aguerro, forlan etc). If one of our regular starters cannot possibly get into the team of one of our CL place competitors, then why on earth is he good enough for us? Kuyt on the right was a successful experiment under Rafa because it was implemented within a very specific gameplan where each player knew what they were to do. Roy has destroyed all that, and Kenny/Clarke are getting the team to gel and play in a new and different way. Under this evolving system, it is obvious that the individual failings of a player's game will become more visible than under Rafa's system where Pennant looked like Ronaldo and even N'gog occasionally looked like a striker. If a certain player simply isn't good enough or is past it, he should be dropped, and sentimentality over his beloved 'work ethic' should never cloud footballing judgement. I hate referencing Slur Alex, but look what he did with Gary Neville once it became evident that he was past it. That's how some teams stay successful, and some others fall into decline.

f***in hell it was woeful, a terrible performance apart from the first 5 mins when we kept the ball, i said F**k me, were playing like Barca, then reality set in, not pretty to watch and lots of ammo for the gutter press to have a go at but all in all its a results business, we got the desired result and thats all we could ask for, forget Ngog should have done this or Kuyt should have done that we never lost, kept a clean sheet, and we will progress to the next round.     
                                                                      NEXT!!


                     IKWT     YNWA

Boring game. It would have been nice to get an away goal, and end the contest over there, but Sparta didn't show anything to make me think we should be worried in the second leg.

Looking forward the the return match. Easy win for the RED'S.

At least we kept a clean sheet, which makes things harder for them 2nd leg.

Kenny said that he would have liked to be more offensive but the personnel didn't allow for it.

Boring game. It would have been nice to get an away goal, and end the contest over there, but Sparta didn't show anything to make me think we should be worried in the second leg.

Looking forward the the return match. Easy win for the RED'S.

That about sums up my feelings on the matter.

The only positive thing I can say about that spectacle is the fact it was 0-0.

Found it hard to believe what I was watching. In fact, it was making me quite angry at the time. I was looking forward to the game so much and to be presented with that performance was nothing short of extremely disappointing.

On reflection though, considering we had no first team striker and were without Gerrard and Agger the end result was a good one.

Man of the match for me would have to be Kyriakos, thought he saved our skin a few times.

As for N'gog well, what positive remark can be said about him? I can't think of any and not for the first time either. Although, not everything about last night was down to his lack of anything whatsoever. The team as a whole were very poor and showed us that with a few key players missing our options are very limited. I fear about what could of happened last night if we had played a better quality team that were up for it.

But, that's enough negativity so I won't go on about Cole, Maxi or Kuyt. At the end of the day, we are still in with a chance of getting through and winning a trophy and play that lot again at Anfield going into it 0-0, were I believe we will come away with a win.

Dire performance, good result.

Heads up Lads and Lasses its only half time, the last two times we've drawn 0-0 away from home in the 1st leg of a 2 leg European tie we won both trophies !

Dire game. Soto and Wilson played well. Would pick either for MOM. That about sums up the positive.

Ngog-knocked off the ball all day
Kuyt-treats the ball like a grenade
Aurelio-will never be a good CM
Cole and Maxi-cul de sac and running down springs to mind

Clean sheet, win it at home

It was poor - for me it really demonstrates we still need better players. As Hardcoresoldier says above take a few names out and the "experienced" replacements aren't good enough. Cole looked way off pace (and carrying a bit of timber).
Would like to see Wilson get a run and wonder whether we might start to see 15mins or so of Sterling once Carroll is in the side.

So, in summary, disappointing - but it is a knock out competition and we will batter em at our place and we move onwards and upwards.

I think if that had been a Roy Hodgson game, we would see more angry comments in here.

That performance was sh*te.

I think if that had been a Roy Hodgson game, we would see more angry comments in here.

That performance was sh*te.

If that had been a Roy Hodgson game we'd be hearing how his 36yrs of managerial experience mean he's the only one who can judge, not us!

But we were p**s poor

Toothache summed it up for me . It was painful.

Still , onwards and upwards Redmen !!!

The only other positive I can think of, is that we dont have a league game at the weekend, so can be fully rested up for next Thursday.

Still cannot belieive it is a 6pm KO though

The match put me to sleep, twice, the first time was live, the second time when watching the replay.

We will do better with Gerrard, Agger, Carroll, Kelly and Suarez in the side, just a shame Suarez is cup tied.