Liverpool 1-1 Hearts (2-1 on agg) In game and post match thoughts

I thought Allen, Downing, and Shelvey were good from the starters. Morgan is not there yet, Kelly, Henderson, and Gerrard were so-so, and Luis was poor by his standard but he scored a great, decisive goal.

Shaky performance, brilliant in parts but inconsistent overall.

Suarez pissed me off yet got me celebrating like a little kid at the end. If he would shoot on sight i think he would get a lot more goals however he seems to love holding onto the ball and complicating the situation. 

Sterling again looked brilliant when on the ball. Shelvey & Henderson played well.

Downing seemed to be very effective when going forward however was quite vulnerable in regards to his defense.

Man of the match for me would Allen, he was immense, broke up play very well and played several passes brilliantly, kept us ticking and was always looking to be on the ball.

Not the best of performances but it was the result which mattered and the fact we had enough in us to make a comeback.

Hearts were tougher than i thought. Not happy with conceding especially from an error like that, however, in Pepe's defence we could say the scorer took the shot early and might have surprised him, moreover it passed though a lot of players and may have unsighted him. Moreover it was a strong shot and looked liked it swerved late but a golly of Pepe's class should have saved it. Disappointed with the Penetration of the Attack however the other two Ps seem to be working.

Poor performance but through to the groups so lets move on.

As for Pepe...been poor for 2 years now. He flapped on sunday and cost us again tonight. Far too many clangers and its becoming a joke. We need to buy a good young keeper to put him under pressure for his place. This is a big season for Reina.

Stuffs, I know plenty about the comments that appear during a match thread and when we're losing or things aren't going well certain people seem to post with much more regularity than when things are going well. Did I single you out, no, you'll find that was somebody else.

Luke, you better watch your stuffs.

Downing seemed to be very effective when going forward however was quite vulnerable in regards to his defense. 

Did you see Downing actually get beaten by a player No he didnt and he did very well disrtibuting and making hmself avaialable.

Hearts were tougher than i thought. Not happy with conceding especially from an error like that, however, in Pepe's defence we could say the scorer took the shot early and might have surprised him, moreover it passed though a lot of players and may have unsighted him. Moreover it was a strong shot and looked liked it swerved late but a golly of Pepe's class should have saved it. Disappointed with the Penetration of the Attack however the other two Ps seem to be working.

Hearts are a poor side - wouldn't survive in the Championship. We were what we were at this time last season and will be for a while again- a team in transition not quite sure yet of roles, responsibilities and expectations.

Hearts are a poor side - wouldn't survive in the Championship. We were what we were at this time last season and will be for a while again- a team in transition not quite sure yet of roles, responsibilities and expectations.

In fairness mate this was their Cup Final. They're not gonna play like that every week.

The longer it went on without us scoring the more confidence they got.

To be honest I thought they were going to be tough, and they proved to be. The most important thing is that we are through to the group stages.

Luke, you better watch your stuffs.

One thing I'm damn glad we avoided was extra time, Gerrard and Suarez had done plenty of work tonight and with a massive game at the w/e we could ill afford the extra minutes in the legs. As much as some have tried to run the performance down I just thought we were a bit toothless in attack and unfortunately put plenty of that on Morgan, I just don't see the potential others do in the lad. The work the midfield did though was outstanding and I include Henderson in that although he needs to still improve massively in his productivity the lads across the middle were tireless and it was great to see Gerrard showing improved levels of stamina again.

In fairness mate this was their Cup Final. They're not gonna play like that every week.

The longer it went on without us scoring the more confidence they got.

To be honest I thought they were going to be tough, and they proved to be. The most important thing is that we are through to the group stages.

Aye no different to a Huddersfield or Hartlepool coming here in one of the cups and giving it there all

Joe Allen MOTM for me as well, he was born to be a Liverpool player it seems.  Great to see Luis get a goal, not so good to see him struggle to control the ball before that.  Pepe got punished for one error.  Adam Morgan had a baptism of fire, it all seemed a bit much for him on the night...similar to out captain's first game maybe, seen Stevie go on record saying he felt so out of his depth when he made his debut.  Thought Downing did alright at LB.  Jonjo was good, Carra did ok, Skrtel should have got that horror back pass out of his system.

End of the day, we got the job done.  That's what matters at the end of the day.

Did you see Downing actually get beaten by a player No he didnt and he did very well disrtibuting and making hmself avaialable.

He played a couple wayward passes at the beginning of the game and was loosing out the ball in the air, i do have to admit in the second half he seemed a lot more settled. Nevertheless he had a good game.

Can someone put a MotM poll up it will be interesting to see who people will pick having an argument with my brother over it.

One to forget ,take the result and move on.Allen was great again and the midfield decent enough,Morgan not ready yet and thought Downing did ok at left back but not really tested  defensively like he would be in the prem . Sterling was lively again when he came on as expected but i much prefer him on the other side so he can cut in on his right foot and have a dig.Luis had quite a poor game ,even some of his first touches were poor first half  but a wonderful goal made up for it all . The last two games have had 2 awful individual errors ,any more in the next few games and i would address it as a problem . As mentioned already on here Pepe needs some competition for his place to push him.All eyes on tomorrow now for the draw and any last minute transfers.

I think overall it's decent performance of the team, just lack clinical of goal.

Now happy with us through next stage.

 

Joe Allen MOTM for the 2nd straight game for me with Downing coming in a close second for playing a new position quite well.

We have no strikers but have plenty of quality and cover in that back 4 now.

Don't know if they were posted yet. But these are the pots for the Europa League draw:

On my way back from the match. Wasn't great but we got the job done and that's all that matters at the end of day. Allen was immense. One more point, why were so many Hearts fans allowed in our section? I was sat next to some and celebrated like F**k when we scored cos they shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Good to see Gerrard putting in a more dominant performance . ALLEN again excellent and Sterling impressive. Think he is starting against arsenal

Poor performance by our standards tonight but we got the job done and we can looks forward to the next stage of this competition. I thought Downing played well at left back, he made some good runs throughout the game and to my calculations, he wasn't skinned once in the game. Stevie G and Joe Allen were solid in the middle of the park while Raheem Sterling made a big difference in terms of creating openings as we were lacking alot of that until he came on.
Pepe's clanger was down to rustyness in my opinion, he barely touched the ball all game and so  that mistake can be forgotten. Just need to make sure he doesn't do that against Arsenal otherwise we wont be getting a much needed 3 points on the board.

Suarez is beginning to frustrate me as good as he is, his skill and technical play is excellent but he needs to stop showboating and instead do the simple things right. The amount of times he is breaking down our play due to trying something absolutely extroadinart is ridiculous and that chance where he rounded the Tarts keeper tonight summed it up perfectly for me. He could of just scored a simple goal and put the tie to bed but instead he tries to be clever and konock it past the defender to score. He is a big part of our future but he needs to perform the basics as well as the extroadinary. Good goal to make up for his misses tonight but still I was dissapointed with him tonight.

Oh well onwards and upwards and lets give the Gooners a beating at Anfield on Sunday!! Carling Cup draw could of been kinder but we owe WBA a beating after that shocking opening day performance.

Just not convinced with Suarez as the centre of the top 3

Disappointed with the result. More so with Reina who I do worry about a bit. We had Steve Nicol taking it out of him just a couple of days ago and then that happens. I do fully back him to find his form again though.

The performance was inconsistent. We had them on the ropes well into that second half and attacked at them with such speed and ease (in no large part thanks to the brilliant performance yet again from Joe Allen). Henderson showed a couple of nice passes and movements but on the whole was anonymous once more. Gerrard and Shelvey couldn't really get a grip on proceedings in the way they did on Sunday but were ok, especially Gerrard who I liked watching striding through the massive gaps in midfield with a great deal of pace! Don't like the idea of Stewart Downing at left back. A couple of times he looked around for the ball and found he was a few paces out of position. Defence all round was solid enough though. The team would benefit from passing it around a bit more at a gentle but effective pace. Too often tonight did they rush things and still a few too many long balls for my liking.

A shout out to Hearts though. They played out of their skins and definitely put on one of the best performances I have seen at Anfield by an away team tonight. They really were excellent and a credit to the SPL.

On my way back from the match. Wasn't great but we got the job done and that's all that matters at the end of day. Allen was immense. One more point, why were so many Hearts fans allowed in our section? I was sat next to some and celebrated like F**k when we scored cos they shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Get a grip, you sound like a bluenose whinging with that crap, a couple of Hearts fans around near us in the kop who were sound and a good laugh, happened before with Celtic, when loads of their fans were all over anfield and it used to be like that for the derby.

Overall not a great performance but job done, Joe Allen standing out yet again, as well as Shelvey who put a good shift in, great goal from Suarez, which makes up for the howler of an open goal he missed. On  to the group stages we go.