Liverpool 2-1 Atletico Madrid: Live match thread and post match frustration

What the F**k went wrong lads / lasses?. I managed to watch the first half, as i walked through the door on my way to work, Aquilani scored a cracker! Recorded the second half, but heard the final score by accident in work! Thought it was a wind up to be honest. I'm off to bed now, not had time to read all the post match comments, but it sounds like some dodgy substitutions again. El Zhar? I despair.

Hopefully someone has already or could put up a post match analysis, to save me the heartache of watching the second half.

Absolutely devastated.............

In terms of subs Aquilani was taken off for El Zhar he was carrying a knock and was shown immediately with an ice pack on his kneee.

Masch pulled up and limped off in extra time and Degen came on to cover the right side..makes sense.

Pacheco came on for Benny with 7 to go because Benny was breathing out of his ass.

The sub decisions were not that dismal.

Agreed Dado, think it more just highlights our lack of depth. Not to mention no Maxi or Torres in the side.

Calm down mate, this a democratic forum, it just my opinions as im not alone in criticizing rafa's tactics, you people should admit he has made a lot of strange selections this season, too stubborn to change his tactics even though we always lose or draw. and has cost us a top 4 finish and cl spot. i'm a die hard liverpool fan, not rafa's fan. So whats the problem then? anyway, no hard feeling mate.

In terms of subs Aquilani was taken off for El Zhar he was carrying a knock and was shown immediately with an ice pack on his kneee.

Masch pulled up and limped off in extra time and Degen came on to cover the right side..makes sense.

Pacheco came on for Benny with 7 to go because Benny was breathing out of his ass.

The sub decisions were not that dismal.

true. We played a good game, made one mistake at the back (which cost us in the end) and did not have enough quality on the bench to turn things around. This due to lack of investment and injuries!

Let's all stop saying Rafa's mistake, cuz this game there weren't any

Think Dirk again did a great job up front and Javier was immense! Definitely MOTM for me!

calm down mate.., this a democracy forum..it just my opinions as im not alone in criticizing rafa's tactic...you ppl should admit he has made a lot of strange selection this season,too stubborn to change his tactic even though we always lost/draw.. n cost us top 4 finish and cl spot..im a die hard liv fan, not rafa's fan....so whats the problem then?? anyway, no hard feeling mate..

Who are you talking too?

I think it sums up the majority of our performance when we have a good few names mentioned for MOTM. I've seen Aquilani, Yossi and Masch mentioned. Reina deserves a shout too, some terrific saves pulled off lastnight.

I'm proud of our lads. I felt we played well initially but as the game wore on, our lack of depth shone through unfortunately. And the substitutions weren't as bad as people are cracking on. Especially given the bench we had to play with lastnight.

2 games left now. Let's go out with a bang and look forward to the summer and next season.

Havent the energy to go into much debate but one question Id like to ask

We continued to play long balls to Kuyt (who was a doubt before the game) he won very few. In extra time this continued. Why if the case was get the ball up top like that did Rafa and his staff not think outside the box and throw the Greek on up front let him do the aerial battle?

Whopper post of the year.

this...

Havent the energy to go into much debate but one question Id like to ask

We continued to play long balls to Kuyt (who was a doubt before the game) he won very few. In extra time this continued. Why if the case was get the ball up top like that did Rafa and his staff not think outside the box and throw the Greek on up front let him do the aerial battle?

Couldn't see that at all Brian. Rafa gets slagged off for bringing a right back on for a right back. Imagine what would happen if he replaced a lone striker with a centre half?

I know what you're saying though. He wasn't winning much but the strikers we had on the bench were young and injured, and Pacheco wouldn't have won much in the air. 

Couldn't see that at all Brian. Rafa gets slagged off for bringing a right back on for a right back. Imagine what would happen if he replaced a lone striker with a centre half?

I know what you're saying though. He wasn't winning much but the strikers we had on the bench were young and injured, and Pacheco wouldn't have won much in the air. 

Sorry mate I should have made it clearer that I meant in extra time not early on in the game. Dirky was not getting on the end of any of the long balls I thought for the last few minutes maybe the big fella up there might have caused a bit of hassle

I personally have no problem with the subs last night, what more could Rafa have done. I think in the end we were outplayed due to the fact over our lack of strength in depth.

My night went from bad to worse. After the match i went to get something to eat from the chippie and fell down the kerb broke my leg and sprained my ankle. I have only just got back from the hospital.

I am now pissed off, and then the thought just crossed my mind do we need to finish 6th in the EPL to get Europa league football next season.................. ................

calm down mate.., this a democracy forum..it just my opinions as im not alone in criticizing rafa's tactic...you ppl should admit he has made a lot of strange selection this season,too stubborn to change his tactic even though we always lost/draw.. n cost us top 4 finish and cl spot..im a die hard liv fan, not rafa's fan....so whats the problem then?? anyway, no hard feeling mate..

I thought his tactics worked well today, just the finishing was poor. How many balls were crossed today? The ball in from masch, but fluffed by kuyt. In most peoples opinion its the effing owners. I mean if Torres was playing today, surely there wouldve been an extra goal. Heck that ball in by Masch couldve been the difference if it was a quality striker. Rafa's doing well with the resources he has. And im sure rafa wants the best for liverpool, so he'd obviously put the best tactic. Strange selections, again that goes back to the owners. Eg, today he put masch as a full back, would you prefer degen there? I thought masch done well at right back.

What the draws and losses? Blame rafa if you want, can u really blame him for the injury toll and for the lack of depth in our squad? If your a die hard liverpool fan, then you should back rafa. Put yourself in rafa's position, ie the squad given, the money given, objectives, etc. We should give him credit for  staying in liverpool with twit and tw*t running the club. Im sure if we had a different manager, they'd flee from those 2 idiots. Anchelloti, Mourinho, Van Gaal, etc., what kind of tactic would they put up? Im sure they'd put up a similar tactic. We get jack shyt each transfer window. All we can buy are cheap average players. Mourinho said he'll manage liverpool, but only if he'd been given the money for the squad? Regardless if that was true or not, my point is no manager can win without money given. There you go, thats the problem.

I think it sums up the majority of our performance when we have a good few names mentioned for MOTM. I've seen Aquilani, Yossi and Masch mentioned. Reina deserves a shout too, some terrific saves pulled off lastnight.

I'm proud of our lads. I felt we played well initially but as the game wore on, our lack of depth shone through unfortunately. And the substitutions weren't as bad as people are cracking on. Especially given the bench we had to play with lastnight.

2 games left now. Let's go out with a bang and look forward to the summer and next season.

I agree with you regarding lack of depth in the squad it has cost us dearly this season.I was disappointed that there was no one marking Forlan when he scored and it was that lapse that cost us.

                 We do have high standards at Liverpool and though we have had a bad season there is many a club in Europe as well as in England that would love to have got as far as we have.As you say with 2 matches left  let us go out with a bang .

why  didnt rafa put on pacheo instead of el zahr he just keeps on ignoring him as though he doesnt exist

Do you not think he may be nurturing him as he is obviously potentially a big player for us. I cant see how the deep end is a good place for him. Rafa did it with torres and nobody ever mentions how he eased him into the league and rested him at times, which in the longer has vastly improved his game. They cant all be like maxi at jump from one pond to another with ease. Give the lad time.

true. We played a good game, made one mistake at the back (which cost us in the end) and did not have enough quality on the bench to turn things around. This due to lack of investment and injuries!

Let's all stop saying Rafa's mistake, cuz this game there weren't any

Think Dirk again did a great job up front and Javier was immense! Definitely MOTM for me!

What was rafa's mistake?

0 Shots on target at madrid?

I thought Gerrard did well in the first half with his one touch and movements. To be fair to him, the whole team kind of lost steam in the second half.

Don't think Rafa could have done much with the subs. There was no one he could summon to make things exciting, other than an unexperienced 19 year old in Daniel Pacheco.

We played well last night but our downfall was the away leg where we didnt have a shot on target.

Last nights tactics and selection were spot on by Rafa but the away leg was where he got it wrong and last night we paid for it.

Congrats to Fulham as well - hope they go on and win it.

What a drama yesterday night was! I was so disappointed with how the match went, receiving a silly goal after overall being solid in defense. However I am proud of the lads this had to be our best performance this season. I was thrilled by the passion, both Aqua and Beni almost cried when they scored, the team wanted that win so very much and they must have been devastated after the final whistle. Still that is how life is, credit goes to Atletico too, they had their chance and they took it, a little bit of luck and they are through. We will be back stronger next year!

I agree with you regarding lack of depth in the squad it has cost us dearly this season.I was disappointed that there was no one marking Forlan when he scored and it was that lapse that cost us.

absolutely, one momentary lack of concentration cost us the game. otherwise I thought we had a really good game. everyone looked up for it and was working very hard. we were creating chances and were all battling.

mascha is a beast, aquilani's use of the ball and distribution reminded me of you-know-who, benni was creative and how babel has turned from a dis-interested, lazy whinger to someone constantly attacking and defending is a mystery.

we were beaten by a very good side mind you, athletico may be 10 th in their league but it doesn't reflect their true status, they're a very technically gifted and pacy side.

shame our bench was short of any experience or quality (h&g take a bow).

What was rafa's mistake?

0 Shots on target at madrid?

The goal of Yossi that should have counted you mean?

We played well last night but our downfall was the away leg where we didnt have a shot on target.

Last nights tactics and selection were spot on by Rafa but the away leg was where he got it wrong and last night we paid for it.

There you go..thats what i'm talking about..why not playing our most creative player (atm) in Aquilani but stick with 2 holding midfielder that was working awful...at that time we should go all out to get advantage from away goal , definitely by playing our most attacking sources we had, not only defence and hope to turn it at Anfield.... for me thats not the owner fault, but obviously on someone who pick up the team...

The goal of Yossi that should have counted you mean?

That was a nice goal, ruled out wrongly, wasn't it? Thought he was onside.