Liverpool 4 - 1 Portsmouth: Post-match bliss

Good posts - all very valid and great win even if it was a poor Portsmouth.  Rafa does have a plan B if he all but knew it.  Acquilani did look good, my motm anyway  

Hope Gerrard isn't punished for that raising elbow incident against Brown. Afterall no-one really saw if there were any 'off-camera/ball' indicents did they!

Everyone saw yesterday what we are capable of when we play right players at the right position.If only rafa played a similar team against some of the mediocre teams we would have been in a comfortable place.I was really pleased by the starting line up.Gerrard was below par yesterday but he played quite a role in build up plays.The elbow on brown was uncalled for.Really didn't expect from him.Hope he has instored something for the old trafford show.I would like to see benitez going with the similar formation against united.Only one change, Gerrard to midfield and Aquilani in the whole because of defensive qualities of Gerrard.Torres was coming back to his best.Maxi is improving with every game, and babel looked more confident yesterday.He needs just 2 or 3 games before he's back to his best.Yesterday's match was a proof that the main culprit for our season's debacle has been Mr.benitez , ofcourse along with the players.Anyways I hope benitez learns and takes some bold decisions to reveive our season atleast to restore some pride.And lastly my man of the match Aquillani.He made Gerrard looked ordinary.Was dominating the match and played some eye catching football.Really look more fit and was running all over the pitch.The left footer goal was a sweet strike.He will be a very very important player next season.For the first time looked a special player.Hope he continues his form against united if he gets some time on the pitch.Lets go and win against Lille and united and reinstore our pride.

God did we need that!!!  (us fans aswell as them!)

I only watched the 2nd half as was at work for the 1st-  Everyone played well- looked like the team we used to and should be!!
Aquliani looked brilliant- i knew he just needed some time to settle-  Alonsos boots cant be easy to fill!

Torres back to his usual amazing self-  Glad to see Ngog used as a sub and not for when we need a goal!!

Someone needs to kick Gerrard up the arse-  He can do so much better!

Good result, well deserved-  Bring on Lille!

I remember after the Wigan game a lot of people were saying it was the worst performance ever, even the pundits were getting in on it, so I guess last night was one of our greatest victories?

More seriously, it wasn't just the result that mattered last night, it was the way we went about the game from the off. It was the intent of the players to attack, the movement was excellent and as a result, our passing was vastly improved. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Lots of us have been calling for Kuyt to be dropped despite him having a decent February (at least on the goals front), and the difference on the right flank was massive. Whilst Maxi isn't the fastest winger in the world, or best technically, he has bags more pace going forward than the Dutchman, and I thought he and Johnson made a decent partnership.

The exclusion of Lucas made an equal difference to midfield. Mascherano was relieved from trying too much to forge forward or spread the play, and remained outstanding in his "destroyer" role in front of the defence. Aquilani was a revelation, pushing forward and moving the ball around with ease. I was very encouraged by his ability to link up with both Gerrard and Torres, showing that he can clearly turn what was our front duo into a bit of a threesome.

Babel hugely impressed me, I'm pleased to say. I've berated him in the past for being too greedy, for not lifting his head, and for not making the right choices. Last night, I felt he got it all right. His pacy runs were as good as ever, but it was even better to see him trying to pick out the right cross or pass at times.

Torres looked more himself, though I still feel he isn't at all 100%. That being said, putting in such a great display is a sign of the fearsome amount of talent and class the lad has.

The players I felt who struggled a little would be Insua and Carra. Insua pushed forward well, but he gets too often caught out of position, and his passing/final ball is often hit and hope rather than a genuine attempt to pick a player out.

I'm not going to jump the gun. We can hardly say everything is fine again or we've turned a corner. But I do just want to bask in the satisfaction such a fine performance gives me.

I don't care if it was "only" Pompey. Recent weeks I more feel we've been fighting a battle against ourselves rather than the opposition, and whilst the war isn't won, last night was a sign that our players are at least prepared to stand up and be counted.

It was brilliant to see the lads playing with confidence last night and although the foot was taken off the pedal slightly in the second half it was an entirely more positive performance than the one we witnessed a week ago. Talking of the Wigan game is it just me who thinks Rafa must have seen the posts in the match thread because he certainly tried to rectify many of the negative points we raised, gone was Kuyt who was replaced by a proven winger even if Maxi is still obviously trying to find his feet, also rested and not shot as I first hoped (I know its harsh) was the much maligned Lucas a player who in the past had been known as ‘marmite’ as reds fans seemed to like him or dislike him but surely even those who do have a soft spot for him (ten miles out in the Irish Sea would suffice) could see the benefit of playing a much more forward thinking midfielder such as Aquilani. The minute I saw the line up last night I was so much more positive and thought Rafa had at last reverted back to a much more cavalier attacking formation instead of his usual thinking of ‘they shall not pass’.

I did think we looked a bit nervous early on but the minute the first goal went in confidence grew and they seemed to have a weight removed and played with a lot more freedom than has been noticeable of late. We seemed to attack with more pace and because of the afore mentioned Aquilani and Rodriguez and of course Babel it was much easier to get men into the box to support Torres, build up play was much slicker and midfield especially constantly looked for a forward pass instead of the usual sideways ones we have become all to familiar with.

I don’t think the game signalled another ‘our season starts now’ moment but it was certainly a good shot in the arm and hopefully we can build on it by dispatching Lille on Thursday and take that form into Satan’s den on Sunday when the Mancs will meet a much different team than the one that looked so lost against Wigan.

I was however disappointed with ESPN’s commentators last night although in Joe Royles case commentator is used in the loosest sense of the word, firstly we where constantly reminded about how poor Portsmouth are all the time knowing full well if the Manc’s had dismantled them they would be singing their praises from the rooftops, also something that was very distasteful was the way they jumped on the Gerrard ‘forearm smash’ incident in the closing minutes of the game as they tried desperately to make it the headline story of the night. Brown had been involved in numerous dubious challenges throughout the night and whilst not condoning Stevie’s actions I might add Brown also raised his arms as he looked to land one himself, the ref didn’t give it so that should be the end of it and we shouldn’t have to see the incident from every angle in order for TV to get a player banned.

For Lille I'd keep Kuyt and Lucas out of the side their hinderances and give El Zhar (sp) a game out wide if Riera isn't playing.

Agree, although I'd probably prefer to give the nod to Benayoun over El Zhar, or even Kelly at right back and push Johnson forward.

Masch injured.

Yeah he didn't look too clever at the end.  Lucas in for Masch then.

I must be the only dissapointed Red.
Im away with work and for the first time this season i wasnt at the match or saw it on the telly (theve never even heard of ESPN where i am!).
Delighted with the result and by all accounts we played well so heres hoping we can keep it going.

Can anyone help me as to how i can see the goals, i dont have a Tv here just a crappy computer, not sure what sites will show them. Cheers

I must be the only dissapointed Red.
Im away with work and for the first time this season i wasnt at the match or saw it on the telly (theve never even heard of ESPN where i am!).
Delighted with the result and by all accounts we played well so heres hoping we can keep it going.

Can anyone help me as to how i can see the goals, i dont have a Tv here just a crappy computer, not sure what sites will show them. Cheers

footytube.com mate. Has it all.

footytube.com mate. Has it all.

Cheers Crouchy

I must be the only dissapointed Red.
Im away with work and for the first time this season i wasnt at the match or saw it on the telly (theve never even heard of ESPN where i am!).
Delighted with the result and by all accounts we played well so heres hoping we can keep it going.

Can anyone help me as to how i can see the goals, i dont have a Tv here just a crappy computer, not sure what sites will show them. Cheers

http://www.liverpoolfcclips.blogspot.com/
There mate. Just go through it, you'll get to see the goals as well as highlights if you want.

http://www.liverpoolfcclips.blogspot.com/
There mate. Just go through it, you'll get to see the goals as well as highlights if you want.

Thanks mate

Mascherano is Injured?

Rafa said he was just tired

Not sure mate. Early word was muscular problem. Could of been tired/slight cramps.

I was however disappointed with ESPN’s commentators last night although in Joe Royles case commentator is used in the loosest sense of the word, firstly we where constantly reminded about how poor Portsmouth are all the time knowing full well if the Manc’s had dismantled them they would be singing their praises from the rooftops, also something that was very distasteful was the way they jumped on the Gerrard ‘forearm smash’ incident in the closing minutes of the game as they tried desperately to make it the headline story of the night. Brown had been involved in numerous dubious challenges throughout the night and whilst not condoning Stevie’s actions I might add Brown also raised his arms as he looked to land one himself, the ref didn’t give it so that should be the end of it and we shouldn’t have to see the incident from every angle in order for TV to get a player banned.

Disappointed wasn't the word, I was fuming, the way they kept on about the negatives and trying to pull Liverpool down from every conceivable angle, Brown asked for everything he got the little tosser, he deliberately tried to block Gerrard's run, and made a meal of having Gerrads elbow shoved in his face, Stevie shouldn't have done that but he asked for it, they are desperate to see Gerrard suffer by a ban.  Makes me so angry when you see what some players get away with.

His link up with Aquilani especially was nice to see and perhaps a decent run in the team was all he needed.

Something I've been saying since the start of his carreer, .

Let's offer Rafa the excuse that we need to score more goals in case goals difference is needed to get us into the CL. So he has to stick to the same team from now till the last game.

To be fair the away end was empty and bearing in mind every single game has been on the box that's a decent turnout - would you be paying $140/£80 week in week out.  It's a lot of money.

Hey i never said i didnt agree with any of the above, was strange seeing the number at 40,000 is all, i expected lower

said before the game I was delighted by the team sheet and it was Babels chance to prove the critics wrong. The performance for me was the main thing, the passing and moving was so good to watch, I could almost feel my eyes filling up once or twice, brought back memories of last year, Aquilanis performance really showed us what weve been missing in central midfield. his pass to set up Torres was sublime for the fourth and himself and babel took their goals very well,also he controlled the game with his quick passing and this is something we havent seen all season from that position. I was also a little skeptical about the potential of Maxi but he showed last night that he is settling and hopefully he can continue to improve. If we keep attacking and passing like this until the end of the season 4th will be ours so lets just hope Rafa dosent revert back to his defensive ways.

Agree with Notorious was delighted when I saw the team sheet as well, I'm not sure would I give Rafa much credit because it was fairly obvious this is the team he should have been picking weeks and weeks ago. It was long over due Kuyt and Lucas were dropped.

 I was also delighted to see Babel get game time because I've been saying for weeks he gives us pace in the side, he is a confidence player and will get better and better with games. I'm also delighted to see someone playing right midfield that actually is a right midfield rather than playing a striker there who doesn't have the ability to play there.

 Our centre midfield has been extremely poor offensively this season we saw the benefit last night of having a midfield with creative ability in there.

I was however disappointed with ESPN’s commentators last night although in Joe Royles case commentator is used in the loosest sense of the word, firstly we where constantly reminded about how poor Portsmouth are all the time knowing full well if the Manc’s had dismantled them they would be singing their praises from the rooftops, also something that was very distasteful was the way they jumped on the Gerrard ‘forearm smash’ incident in the closing minutes of the game as they tried desperately to make it the headline story of the night. Brown had been involved in numerous dubious challenges throughout the night and whilst not condoning Stevie’s actions I might add Brown also raised his arms as he looked to land one himself, the ref didn’t give it so that should be the end of it and we shouldn’t have to see the incident from every angle in order for TV to get a player banned.

Excellent post mate and who could disagree with your judgement of the "commentary" during the game?
The only pundit worth listening to is Alan Hansen and the best solution for the other sour faced cynics is utilise the volume control on the remote during the game and replace said untrue reflections with some Pink Floyd at a suitable undistracting level of course....and a very enjoyable event should unfold.

Watched it again last night on LFC TV and I noticed the commentators were trying to play down the significance of how well we played saying it was only Portsmouth, I have to disagree with them if I'm honest.

Watching the game I don't believe it was because Portsmouth was poor, I honestly think it was because the passing and movement last night for the majority of the match simply made Portsmouth look that bad, they spent vast amounts of the game chasing shadows and some of the one touch football and interplay between the reds was breath taking at times.

Best Performance of the season no doubt and there was no lack of creativity, just plenty of movement and balls to feet and for me Aquilani was the star of the show, nearly everything good that happened in the match he was the catalyst in it, yes he had a couple of passes go astray, but that sometimes happens when you try the unexpected, great showing by the reds but most importantly Aquilani who can not be dropped now surely ?

Also thought Maxi had an outstanding game as did Torres as did Stevie, if only he had his shooting boots on, Babel again wasn't his best performance in a reds shirt but very much improved on recent showings and thought he done well, ran into one or two blind alleys and was greedy at times, but for me looked like he wanted to work hard for the team and to earn himself a place in the side and a well taken toe poke to top it off, Masch was brilliant, as was Johnson F**k it they all were, its hard to pick any one out who didn't perform, Insua gave me a nervy moment but Masch cleared it up, and the goal conceded.. I can live with that if this is a sign of turning the corner.

Turned a corner in more than one sense Daz, for Aquilani to score his first and all the critics of him be proved as wrong as wrong could be is a sharp reversal and then turning a corner in one maneuver - as the chart above shows.
   [edit] will this performance affect the sack Rafa brigade who use the Aquilani signing as an indication of the the mans "lack of judgement"?

I just saw our 4th goal which Torres scored, and the first thought that came to my mind was : 'This is the type of final ball we need', which was played by Aquilani. Quality.