Liverpool 3-1 Zenit (3-3a): In game and Post Match Thoughts

13% crossing accuracy today from 38 crosses..... Wow!

I keep saying we shouldn't cross!

I keep saying we shouldn't cross!

Its not that we shouldn't cross its knowing when to cross.

Far too slow and mistimed attempts at crosses and johnson was massively guilty of this.

Brilliant effort from everyone, absolutely fantastic.

How the F**k did their player Neto not get sent off, or for that, not even get a yellow?

What a difference when we press the opposition, how I wish we play like that every game and we will be very hard to beat. Thought everypne played well but Johnson doesn't seems to be himself of late, unsure of what to do with the ball and often lost possesion. Impressed with Assaidi, just wonder why only at this late stage of the season only BR brough him on. He should hae more game time and he would have been more productive in this game.

I'm very dissapointed why no one attacked their near post while everyone concentrated on the far post while most of our crosses never made it beyonf the near post or goalkeeper. The coach must do something about it.

Really proud of our performance tonight, and the 12th man was so important! We should really do that for every game - we must push on for the league! We were terrific.

Unfortunately we have gone out due to a combination of

1) Poor finishing in first leg
2) Mistake in this game which led to their goal
3) Away goals rule

Some might also say the changes Brendan made which were a tad surprising but I didnt expect them to be that ineffective. Shelvey was woeful, Assaidi was not bad.

What a difference when we press the opposition, how I wish we play like that every game and we will be very hard to beat. Thought everypne played well but Johnson doesn't seems to be himself of late, unsure of what to do with the ball and often lost possesion. Impressed with Assaidi, just wonder why only at this late stage of the season only BR brough him on. He should hae more game time and he would have been more productive in this game.

I'm very dissapointed why no one attacked their near post while everyone concentrated on the far post while most of our crosses never made it beyonf the near post or goalkeeper. The coach must do something about it.

Utterly agree with your post.

I would just add that all the crosses came into too late and we didn't therefore test their keeper enough.

Uber disappointed yet very proud.

I'm very dissapointed why no one attacked their near post while everyone concentrated on the far post while most of our crosses never made it beyonf the near post or goalkeeper. The coach must do something about it.

Its not a PL coaches job to teach a player how to cross. Players should have learnt how to do that in the youth ranks...

How the F**k did their player Neto not get sent off, or for that, not even get a yellow?

That was something incredible.

Unfortunate after such an epic performance. Completely agree with Mos, one of the performances of the season and alot prouder of the lads tonight than at the weekend.

Enrique was  a beast, and the whole team put in a shift with maybe Johnson and the subs having an off par night -  the others shone though.

Dont disagree with the changes and not blaming BR, the players started looking knackered as had been playing at a high tempo all evening, we still are lacking depth. Sturridge and Coutinho would have made the difference.

Little bit disappointed that the substitutions were made as early as they were, but can't really complain. This was the type of performance that makes me proud to be a Liverpool fan!!

onwards and upwards red men.

Totally gutted we didn't make it through but it's made easier by the fact that we put in such a good performance and didn't go out without a fight, many times this season if we looked out of something we would just accept it and just try and get the game over with. Was like watching a Champions League tie again, everyone from the players to the fans were fantastic. We just couldn't get that final bit of luck! We attacked them constantly and still remained composed at the back (mostly). Enrique showed that he is just as strong as Hulk, every time he went shoulder to shoulder with him he came out on top from what I can remember. 2 fantastic goals from Luis!

Assaidi injected a bit more life down the wing, looked good and created a few good chances.

Can't help but feel we would have gone through if we had Sturridge but nothing we could do about that!

Why is it though that both f**king Spurs and the Chavs managed to get a goal they needed in injury time?! It would go that way wouldn't it!

The only down side I think is bringing on Shelvey, he looked very reckless and could have easily of ended up with a 2nd yellow and made things even harder for us, he came close to scoring and should have buried it in all honesty.

Loved seeing BR's reaction to our 3rd goal, showed he really does want us to get back to where we were, just the sort of passion you want to see from the gaffer!

We may have gone out but this is another good performance on the back of a great showing against Swansea so hopefully we can use this to propel ourselves up the league.

Leaves me to ask one question though, why do we not go for it as much as that in every match?!

Oh man. Gutted. It's a long long time since I felt this way but there is no better a feeling than having that pride of our own fan base fully restored as a result of that symphony of noise. I shouldn't contemplate what a 4th goal would have been like but my word it would have been mind blowing. What an effort by the players and fans. We were definitely one today.

in theory subbing some players on with fresh legs could be a good thing.  the flipside is that the team needs to re-gel again.  Especially if you do two at a time.  I dont fault BR's decision to sub, I just wish his timing would be better.  we lost some tempo as our guys needed to regroup

i'm gutted with the ressult but my faith with LFC is always strong.  We proved that we do have the heart o fight back.  A bit more experience and less mistakes could've got us through (either cara's goal or our mental lapse of the 2 goal zenit got last game)

Maybe, but probably not in my opinion. We need people who can get into those kind of positions and anticipate. Sturridge does it very very well, for example. Shame he and Coutinho were cup-tied.

We're not passing enough ground balls into the box to be a threat. Maybe, there's no game plan for it in the first place.  Yes. I do agree Sturridge does it very well but in the abscence of Sturrige someone would have to do it with Suarez. We can't rely solely on Sturridge, what happens if Sturridge were to be injured while we need different combinations througout the game? There must be a plan B. We just lacked that understanding inside the box and perhaps no game plan for it in the first place. That being most probably why all the crosess came flying in.

The goal by Allen is a typical example of pressing, pressing and pressing and some beautiful combos inside the box between him and Enrique to force the ball over the goal line. That's what I'm talking about here, that's about how we used to play during the 70s and 80s, we terrorized defences inside their own box.

I would believe Allen's goal came out of sheer determination and it was never planned for. But how I wish BR can allow the lads to express themselves and not too regimented.

Having said that, very proud of the lads and they gave their everthing but it's a preview of what we can do in the near future. Sad with Carra's mistake but I won't start to fault him while he has saved us on countless occasions.  Let's take our vengeance on the remaining games and aim for 4th.

If we had played a different strategy in the last 10 mins and really gone for it rather than the short passing pocession footy that we played then i'd be alot happier.

Such a waste after all the great play during the prior 80 mins (except for Carra's mistake) that we didn't utilize the pace we had up front.

Very disappointed yet proud.

Unforunately Assaidi part of "Bad substitutions" tonight

If we had played a different strategy in the last 10 mins and really gone for it rather than the short passing pocession footy that we played then i'd be alot happier.

Such a waste after all the great play during the prior 80 mins (except for Carra's mistake) that we didn't utilize the pace we had up front.

Very disappointed yet proud.

To be honest pal we don't have that much pace. Downing was probably our quickest player on the pitch until Assaidi and Sterling came on. Suarez isn't the quickest, he just has exceptional movement that allows him to get a yard head start on the defence.

Unforunately Assaidi part of "Bad substitutions" tonight

Totally disagree.

Thought he was the added bit of pace and danger we needed.

Tell me what he is consistently better at than  any other RB in the PL?

He can't defend, he can't cross, he can't pass. He can shoot, though. What use is that?

He's so inconsistent too.

If he's inconsistent, doesn't that mean he can defend, cross, pass & shoot?

Afraid Shelvey showed just how much he isn't good enough for us. Pity for Jamie to make such a simple mistake that caused us so much grief. Thought Rodgers made a tactical mistake by bringing on two subs at the same time. Disrupted the flow of the team, and once again Raheem looked a bit naiive, like a youth team player in the wrong game.

To be honest pal we don't have that much pace. Downing was probably our quickest player on the pitch until Assaidi and Sterling came on. Suarez isn't the quickest, he just has exceptional movement that allows him to get a yard head start on the defence.

Agree. BUT the last ten minutes were all about utilizing our subs pace and instead we created our own pressure at the back and wasted soooooo much time.