Lucas injures his thigh, Gerrard has to step in and start the match, all the preparations are fu**ed.
It shouldn't make as much difference as it did, but everything was slow, slow, slow.
In the first half there was hardly any pressing.
No player consistently showed in front of the CB's for the ball, and when BR put it right Gerrard was laboured and too many players were deferring to him.
At one point, Henderson was on the right and was looking to pick out Coutinho in the centre, only for Gerrard to call for the ball, Henderson promptly turned around and passed backwards, and all momentum was lost.
This happened time and time again.
I don't think it was the players as such, I think it was bad preparation and shows the flaw in BR's training where he does it incrementally over a week.
This was also a problem in the CL, so it's not like it's a surprise.
Logged