Post Match: Fiorentina 2 Liverpool 0

A defeat is not the end of the world.All over the place, no fluidity,no sharp passing.We deserved to lose.

I've been saying it all along, our passing is something like "hope for the best" and more often than not it doesn't find the target. Not sure what the hell they do in training.

A bit of high definition imagery of some low definition defending.

Reckon Insua is in a trance myself.

Just going back to that picture, how is it they've got five against four and the lad on the ball is ahead of our entire midfield with nobody even getting near him.

And while blame will fall on Insua for not pushing up, neither Carra or Skrtel went to close the ball down. They allowed the Fiorentina lad to wait and wait and wait to pick the right pass rather than hurrying him.

It's just a complete mess from start to finish that goal, from our point of view. None of the midfielders have tracked back, none of the defenders are marking anybody instead they're just watching the ball, Insua hasn't pushed up and we got punished. Rightly so!

Rafa's midfield selection was bizarre to say the least compounded by the team's dire performance. Slight improvement second half but game was lost in the first 45. And please Rafa get the corner taking sorted it is a complete joke.

It has been a joke for the last 3 years as far as I can remember and they still think everthing is ok. When the ball is whacked into the box, the players were at the far end of the post and the opposition have a few six footers at the middle of the box, how to get to head the ball? We don't have a corner taker that can loop a ball into the box, clear of those 6 footers defenders. Pure common sense, wonder what the coaches do on match day, don't they go for matches??? For a change, get a few of our players to charge in at the near post as the ball is struck, maybe we stand a better chance of scoring. A case of a corners taken without  a clear intent and purpose.

One thing we (and hopefully Rafa) have learned from this - never pair Lucas and Aurélio in midfield, it just doesn't work.

Tactics, defending, midfield, everything was pathetic until the second half, and even then we still weren't good enough.

I have no time for knee-jerkers, and we can and will advance despite that performance, but we need to step it up and fast.

How can we beat Hull 6-1 so easily, yet come in to this game with a negative mentality and negative tactics is beyond me though.

I missed the match, thank goodness, but pairing Lucas and Fabio in the middle, someone must be drunk. Both are slow and non-aggressive, how do we expect them to contain their midfield??? Do that again against the chavs we are asking for trouble, we must distrupt Chavs midfield if we hope to win a game. One more thing, for god's sake we must get forward faster and cut those meaningless side and back passing, it's killing us while the passing, as usual going nowhere.

Back to that picture one more time.

Having your two centre backs so close together and both ball watching is never a good thing. I also question the role of two of our lads tracking behind him Aurelio and Lucas when the player received the ball I could have sworn it felt like an eternity before he released it. Honestly felt like 5-6 seconds in real time.

the image is subjective as angles can prove decieving its history now,lets move forward we were beatan by a better team. well the next game will prove wether we have quality or not

the image is subjective as angles can prove decieving its history now,lets move forward we were beatan by a better team. well the next game will prove wether we have quality or not

Yes we were beaten by a better team on the day, we were playing like crap yes but i see Daddo's point. That was a goal very easy to prevent on another day, great run yes but not an unpreventable one. The positioning was poor, and watching it again he did have a lot of time on the ball. It's something we shouldn't just wash over and say it was just 'on the day'. We really need to improve there, and hopefully that will happen straight away beginning at that sh*t-hole of a stadium known as Stamford Bridge.

We'll beat thme when we meet them at Anfield!

The midfield and defence clearly didn't turn up.

The first half was absolutely crappy, we didn't get any fluent movement going, the players looked intimidated by the atmosphere as though it was their first time out in a European competition. We were second best for everything I felt, failing to pose any threat whatsoever to them in the first half at all. I can't recall us having a decent shot on goal at all in the first.

At the start of the game, the defenders looked more satisfied with rolling the ball sideways, and there were at least 3-4 Fiorentina players exerting pressure on us as we failed to manoeuvre our way out of our own half. There wasn't any fluidity in our play, there wasn't any good off the ball movement at all.

That coupled with the Fiorentina players who looked determined to win every ball, they were threatening, motivated to prove something and they went for everything they could. Off the start I saw a lot of their attacking players chasing the ball with intensity, that I actually had a feeling that this was going to be a tough game for us. They had good chances early on, a through ball from their own half finding Jovetic, who shot, and Johnson was nowhere near, and he needed Skrtel to clear up the mess for him.

From a corner later on, a Fiorentina player picked up a loose ball in the box and sent a pinpoint cross, and the lad had an overhead kick. Where was the marking? He was left free to do what he wished to, no one had spotted him and was sticking to him - another error.

The first goal could be prevented, as JD posted the screenshot, there was no one exerting pressure on the lad who squared the ball through to Jovetic, Carra and Skrtel weren't even closing him down, our fullbacks not doing anything to help matters either by leaving both Fiorentina players on the wings onside. He had so much time on the ball, it was a sickening goal, could easily have been prevented.

For the second, Insua was well beaten. The cross came in, Johnson was running back to cover his position, Lucas was behind Jovetic but left him unmarked. If we had our positions in sync and we knew what we did, I think it wouldn't have happened at all.

These goals came from open play, not set pieces and they were mistakes as a team, not from an individual. Overall, we failed produce anything in defence in the first half, it was horrid, the marking was all over the place and out of sync. Both goals could have been prevented but lets work them on the training ground, analyse them and then ensure we don't commit them again.

We've got Chelsea coming up, let us pull our act together, this game has suddenly become more important after the loss, we don't want two losses in a row after 6 wins on the trot. Put our faith back in the lads, with them we always know anything is possible!

I don't think anyone really turned up, especially in the first half but I do think Dirk Kuyt was one of the better players out there.

First of all, that first half was horrible. We failed to hold and keep the ball. Take nothing away from Fiorentina, though, they were on top of us and deserved to lead although IMO, the first goal could have been flagged offside by another linesman. Italy is never an easy place to play. Our passes went awry and even the players who are usually reliable kept losing the ball. It was just a first half that should be forgotten. I've already posted my thoughts about the picture of the first goal and I still think Jovetic was nearer to the line than our fullbacks who supposedly played him onside.

The second half was much, much better. We were all over the place but failed to take our chances. The game was already lost in the first half.

I just hope our defence gets sorted out sharpish and we have to buck up if we want to win at Stamford Bridge. This is our first real test.

Right!! Onwards and upwards now I think, It's a blip and we can defo come back from this!! Bring on Saturday, we can get a result off the back of this, we just gotta get behind our team intead of trying to pick them to bits!!

Rafa was fuming after the game and i can only guess it was for the first goal. That goal would of made him want to shoot someone.

I think Rafa needs to take a look at himself maybe the reason we looked so poor in the first half  might be because he paired  the very average Lucas with an unfit  Aurralio who hasn't played  for five months  , we looked  lke a sha
bles the passing was awful  with the biggest culprit being  Stevie G  it can't  help  switching from one position one week then  another the week later  ,We have looked ok recently when he put Gerrard back in the middle changing it was a big mistake and probably cost us the game .

IAurralio

F***ing hell lad that has to be the poorest attempt at spelling a players name.

Aurelio how's that, too many foreign names nowdays. Whatever happened  to Smith , Jones and  Hughes.

Agree with the posts that we just did not turn up and that was the most annoying thing.Lets hope we can bounce back on Sunday and put this game behind us

I think Jovetic could become a great player. I say Sign him

I think I could become a great player with that amount of time and space to play in as well.

I wasn't able to watch the match but managed to listen to the second half on 5 live. I was surprised to see that Aurelio and Lucas started together in center mid. In fact gob smacked. Then throughout the comentary, all that was consistant was, Another mistake by Lucas, Lucas has lost possesion again, another wayward pass by Lucas. I am not a Lucas fan, never thought he was good enough. Did give him the benefit of the doubt when he improved a bit, but now it seems clear he is just not up to the job. Did it look as clear cut as that to those who watched the game ? i'm aware we didn't play well in any position, but was Lucas as bad as was suggested. I just don't see him with a long term future with us. I don't think he'll be strong enough against the chavs on Sunday. Not looking forward to that game if he starts for us. He'll be targeted as a week link.