Liverpool vs Pompey Match Thread

In my view, fantastic belief this evening, we wouldnt have won this game last season it would have been a 0-0 draw!! Crappy displays so far have turned out good apart from Stoke at home, Chelsea fantastic, Scum on a high, just goes to show we have what it takes if we go into a game with confidence and Rafa does tinker the team, to be faior he has got it right so far!!!

Winning ugly but sitting pretty at the top - 3 more points in the bag.

I haven't seen the highlights yet but by all accounts we deserved the victory (and with Lucas playing the full 90?) Ok, I am missing the point.

26 points from 30, Top of the table - Impressive!

Well I've gotta say the line up had me scratching me head.

Same here.

But it worked I suppose. Think Keane and Reira were carrying knocks and that's why they were on the bench. Still would have prefered Mascherano ahead of Lucas but I suppose the rest will do him good before our next tricky fixture. And Hyypia was totally understandable considering Crouch was on the pitch.

I've calmed down a bit now and obviously I can see the three points were the most important thing. Hope we're more sharp on the attack in the future though. We had some great space around their box tonight and we didn't take advantage of it.

What we've got to realise is the three points were alwas coming to us, not because of anything to do with skill or anything like that but because Pompey play in blue.

Our last five league games have resulted in wins against sides who play in blue (Everton, City, Wigan, Chelsea, Pompey) so there was nothing to worry about.

Seriously though, was nerve racking. Plenty of possesion without that killer pass and when it finally come (Gerrard's to Benayoun) we fu**ed the chance up. But at the end of the day it's three more points in the bag.

poor tonight i think
although we won so its ok.

poor tonight i think
although we won so its ok.

unlike City who lost, so do yourself a favour and bury your head in a bucket of sand.

unlike City who lost, so do yourself a favour and bury your head in a bucket of sand.

That was my mate so stop being so childish
we was poor tonight, grow up.

Okay here's my 10,000th post. Don't expect anything inspiring because far more importantly it was Liverpool's 10th match of the Premiership and we're top of the league after 8 victories and two draws.

Tonight was vital to get three points.  We didn't play perfectly (where have you heard that before this season!) but we were the only team looking to win it.  Still without Torres we got the result we deserved.

Atmosphere could have been better - some of you season ticket holders in Block 104 should be ashamed of yourselves.   When I rock up and find that I'm possibly the only person on my row singing YNWA you just know its going to be a bad sign.

But the Kop roared in to life, and funnily (take notes here fellow 'fans') this was when we began applying all the pressure which eventually led to our goal.

Portsmouth are no mugs, but we played them off the park in my opinion.

Pennant was totally useless.  That guy will never deserve a League Cup medal never mind a Premiership medal.  I don't expect him to play again for us in the Premiership.  Nabil El Zhar, Babel and Kuyt are all better players than him.

I can understand the injury to Torres and Keane having a slight knock - but to play one lone striker at Anfield against a much lesser side was disappointing - what#s happened to N'Gog.  Even Babel up front with Kuyt on the right would have been a better choice.

But anyway, it was a vital win.  We move on to White Hart Lane - facing a rejuvenated Spurs side.  Another three points.

poor tonight i think
although we won so its ok.

We controlled the game from start to at least the last five minutes.  I'd say 'poor' would be a bit over the top.

That was my mate so stop being so childish
we was poor tonight, grow up.

appologies mate, I thought I read your mate has taken the name so you weren't bothering to post under it anymore.

We controlled the game from start to at least the last five minutes.  I'd say 'poor' would be a bit over the top.

fair enough mate
but we wasnt on are game me thinks.

I don't think we were poor but it was just difficult because of the amount of players they had behind the ball. However given the amount of chances we did till manage to make it should have been a much bigger scoreline. We got the 3 points and at the end of the day that is all that matters.

To be honest, I thought we were really lacking that cool head like Torres or Keane in the final third, as well as a real killer ball. Although neither of these were helped by the fact that Portsmouth were playing pretty damn deep for 90 minutes. Thought Lucas had one of his better games of this season.

Rafael Benitez reflected on the 1-0 win over Portsmouth and admitted he always had belief that his team would score after another late show at Anfield. 
Steven Gerrard's 75th minute penalty kept the Reds top of the Barclays Premier League and the boss felt it was important his team kept up their winning momentum after Sunday's triumph at Chelsea.
 
"Clearly the win was more important than the performance," said Benitez. "After the victory against Chelsea it was important to get the three points tonight.
 
"We changed four players and still won the game and the message for the squad and everyone is we can make changes and still win. We used players with different qualities and we always had belief we would score.
 
"Portsmouth are a good team and we needed to be patient and keep passing the ball and creating opportunities. Being patient was the key word for us tonight.
 
"Everybody could see Portsmouth were defending well and they had a lot of bodies behind the ball so it was not easy to find the space. So we had to be precise with our final pass.
 
"We were very dominant in the first half and controlled the game. We had our chances and we regained the ball quickly.
 
"I thought the second half was more open and at the end we were a little nervous because they were playing a lot of long balls up to Crouch.
 
"I don't remember Pepe having a shot to save. Okay, we won the game with a penalty but we had other chances."
 
Despite seeing his team remain three points clear of nearest rivals Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Premier League, Benitez claimed he's taking nothing for granted.
 
"We will try to be at the top of the table for a long time but our idea as always is to think about one game at a time and the next three points," said the boss.
 
Benitez also revealed that Robbie Keane and Albert Riera were on the bench as a precaution because they were both nursing knocks from the weekend.
 
"Keane and Riera had some problems and were a little bit tired so I wanted to protect them," he added. 

I think that is actually a very good post match reflection by Rafa because to me he has emphasised the fact that we did'nt actually play as badly as some people are making out. I.e. Charlie Nicholas on SSN


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Excellent another 3 points in the bag if we win our 28 remaining games then we are champions,i thought some of the balls thru Gerrard was playing were amazing if only he had Torres to pass them to,never mind we created plenty of chances which is pleasing on the eye.

Just back from school and the match summed up my day; frustrating, full of cursing yet ended in euphoria. What i would do without this club....

I just love rivalries. Tottenham coming back means we pull away from the Arse

Neverton getting a point v Scum and we're now 8 points ahead of them.

To our match, to realise the strides we have taken from last season to this, we would have near lost that last season yet we found a way to win in a frustrating match albeit from a penalty. We had the luck the 'C' word needs to take home trophies and got it. Just happy we won, keeps the confidence up and doesnt deflate Crouchy all too much which is good

A great result from a really tough match just after the Chelsea game and a 1-0 result is excellent. On to Spurs!

YNWA

To be honest, I thought we were really lacking that cool head like Torres or Keane in the final third, as well as a real killer ball. Although neither of these were helped by the fact that Portsmouth were playing pretty damn deep for 90 minutes. Thought Lucas had one of his better games of this season.

Actually mate, i think considering the amount of men behind the ball and the fact we got a handful of killer balls in and not to mention the amount of times Stevie had to hold back because no one was in the 6 yard box, we did ever so well to get 3 points.

Agree on Lucas, he actually passed the ball....TO A TEAM MATE! I do feel sorry for him though, you could see him trying to be someone he wasnt by holding back a shot and offloading sideways instead.

3 points in the bag. How we win it doesn't matter at all, as long as we got the 3 points. We didn't play as well as against chelsea, you can't be HIGH all the time. It'll come down no matter what you do.

Like Rafa said 1 match at a time & grind our way there.

Remember, Rome is not build in one day.

Getting 3 points is what it is all about,how many timers in past seasons have we run the opposition ragged and come away with nothing.If this is what is required to win the premiership then I hope RAFA and the REDS continues to do it.

Had chances but couldn't take it. 3 points is just the thing we needed. There's no point playing well and not return with 3 points.

Another 3 points in the bag. Good enough.

It's brilliant. Only 1 good performance at home (against Man U) and yet we have 13 points from 15!!

I think we have to start scoring earlier because we won't always win games late on.

We have to keep in mind that Rafa made 4 changes to the team after a long time. It definitely contributed to us scoring so late on. We will see the real liverpool back this weekend.