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

I could have asked for Carra to put his foot through that ball and put it in Row Z.

Anyway, a fantastic 3-1 win at home to a CL team in front of a packed Anfield European night, a decent win bonus, and keeping the coefficient up for the next year we get into Europe. Just like the good old nights. What could we possibly be gutted about?

Oh right, yeah....

Oh right yeah....who's gutted??
Disappointed that a glorious victory means F**k all in the cold light of the away goals F***ing nonsense.
Absolutely ecstatic with the wonder goals and spirit shown to say nothing of the magnificent support right from the off.
Oh right yeah it's the other fella over the water who sees the worst in everything LFC.

Went to the game last night and say with MsG. Can't fault the team at all. They gave it their all and tried their best.  Unfortunately we left a bit too much to do from the first league, made worse by conceding first. However, they were fantastic and I am devastated their efforts were not rewarded with going through.

In terms of the way the team were set out, I was shocked to see Allen in the starting XI. However, he played well and when he came off and Shelvey came on, I felt we were losing the drive in midfield. Lucas and Agger were great, as was Downing. He rand down the wing and chased back when needed to. Special mention to the magician Luis Suarez. If there is anyone who I would have wanted to get through for, it was Luis. Seeing him at the end with his head in his hands, bent over in front of the Kop, close to tears, was hard to watch. He worked his backside off and his goals were fantastic. Gutted for the team!

Overall, can't fault Brendan or the team for the second leg. The atmosphere on the Kop was electric and I stood the whole game, which is a rarity these days. If only we could get it for every game.

Dissapointed with the substitutions after the 3rd goal as felt it was way too early as very much had Zenit rocked & afraid...Assaidi aquitted himself well  but Shelvey?...didn't improve us at all so we lacked that urgency afterwards even though Suarez & Gerrard, with their herculeon efforts to drag us over the line, we fizzled out in the last 10 mins!
Them last 10 mins killed me as we passed around the back almost carelessly & had no sense of urgency.

Now, I'm sure when Brendan & his crew review the match over the next coming days, he will see what happened when he made the double subsitutions as a mistake instead of phasing them in one by one...hey hindsight to learn from & foresight to build upon! The gaffer would have learned a lot from last night as don't think he would have experienced a night like that before so it would bode well for him in the future.

Anyhow, onwards & upwards!

 I am finding it hard to get enthusiastic about last nights result when we went out of the competition.

 We tried very hard, we came close, but we went out

I am finding it hard to get enthusiastic about last nights result when we went out of the competition.

 We tried very hard, we came close, but we went out

I think that is fair enough mate. This club exists to win. I think I would be telling fibs if I said I was enthusiastic after the result. However, I am trying to take the positives from the game and I think the players need to, as well as learn from the first leg.

who's gutted??

A fair amount of us.......

Uber disappointed.

Totally gutted

Bitterly dissappointed

I am finding it hard to get enthusiastic about last nights result.

.....as you can see.

I understand where you are coming from but we did not go out on his mistake. We lost it last week. He was unlucky. It was just one of those things. We seem to get punished for every mistake we make.

It's European football. You make mistakes, you get punished. We've seen it in earlier rounds, we saw it last night, and there's only so often you can come back from them.

3E Commentator just said "should carragher of retire a season too late"... media vulture was just complementing his form prior to kick off! Half witted F**k!

The commentator is a known manc, and rejoices in every Liverpool error.

The crosses were decent enough last night, just nobody on the end of them, and usually went to the first defender or the keeper. The passing let us down in all areas of the pitch too, so much possession given away cheaply.  Once we got to 3-1, we didn't seem to know what to do. We didn't know whether to keep coming at them or wait for openings, and we ended up doing neither. The expected alamo mission in the last 10-15 minutes never materialised. But Brendan can finally prioritise the league now.

Credit to the fans though. On the evidence of last night, plenty still care enough about us in the UEFA Cup.

Not only is he the best right back in the country,
Hes also the best left back in the country.

Come at me bro.

What does that say about this country's footballers if he's the best full-back, Crouchi's right, his defending is F***ing awful and I'm sick to death of him switching off, something him, Downing and Gerrard to be fair are guilty off sometimes is standing watching after they've passed the ball, instead of moving into space it's pass ball, stand and admire, then look to move into space.

Absolutely gutted last night, can't believe we took our foot off the gas after getting it level we just seemed to drop the intensity when we made the two subs instead of literally going for the throat when we had them on the ropes. And couldn't believe Brendan took Henderson off who was being an absolute pain in the arse to Zenit's midfield and was winning the ball back along with Lucas. Twice now I've seen Brendan take Jordan off and watch our midfield just invite the opposition onto them, happened the other week with West Brom and happened last night in the last 20 minutes or so.

And wouldn't just blame Carra for their goal, blame your captain too for a poor pass back to him. That passing around our own box needs F***ing off massively, as well as constantly going backwards, looks pretty yeah, but it has cost a stupid amount of goals this season.

The crowd were great last night, not all tiime shaking Kop like Chelsea or Olympiakos, but at least some of the whoppers around me got to have a good time.

Make it standard procedure never to pass back to the goalkeeper. kick the ball off the pitch for a throw in.Never seen a guy try as hard as luis to win a game what a warrior he is.

Best atmosphere and game I've ever been to. Just got back from Liverpool, so gutted for the players but it was a fantastic performance. Just felt we took our foot off the gas a bit after we went 3-1 up.

Where to start?

Really thought we were going to pul this one out of the bag. Gutted that we went out to a goal from nothing, and more so that the mistake was made by a giant on the night.

We responded brilliantly but I cant help but moan about the quality of some of the crosses we put in and the lack of bodies at times getting into the box. It should not be underestimated how important Sturridge already is to us. We were denied a clear penalty that was a glaring handball. Truthe be told we lost this in a 5 minute spell in Zenit last week.

Thought Assaidi looked lively when he came on but needs more game time, wuill he get it with Coutiniho's arrival?

Thought Downing and Lucas put in good shifts last night and Luis of course. Did we test there keeper enough tho?

Finally lets hope the 12th man learned from last night. Great atmosphere and it definitely helped the team. Lets back them that way all the time.   

Sorry how could I leave out the performance of Enrique, top drawer last night

Fantastic performance by the lads.  They gave their all and nearly overcome the long odds to put us through.  Very proud of the fight and spirit they showed.  Clearly the best team over the two legs did not go through, but we really did it to ourselves with some cheap goals in the affair.  I agree that the first subs came a tad early and that a double sub was a little bold and probably not necessary as it impacts momentum greatly until the new payers get into the flow of the game.  Hindsight being 20/20 the Jonjo sub really hurt us in the middle of the park.  Instead, in that instance, if it was Allen coming out for Assaidi I would have shifted Henderson back to one of the mid three positions.  But the thinking behind his subs was good as he subbed 3 offensive players in as we chased a 4th goal.  I guess the timing for me was off.  Thought Assaidi showed some good spark initially and, as with the rest of the team, fell off the final 10 minutes.  Jonjo was rash and Raheem offered little in his cameo.  With that said, I'm proud of the effort and hope we can carry it over down the stretch in league play.

That was the performance of the season for me, not sure why Shelvey was introduced but I suppose if he had put away the 6 yarder he would have been a hero. Assaidi coming on and showing he has something to offer was a major plus. Onwards and upwards from here.

This fantastic photo from Hoyared,although from a previous game , totally sums up last nights performance..Suarez ran his little legs off from start to finish...to score 2 world class goals in the manner he did and still be on the losing side was heartbreaking for our little wizzard...and when he sank to his knees at the final whistle I felt so sorry for him...
FSG and the backroom staff MUST pull out all the stops to keep this guy at the club because he is the best thing i have seen in a red shirt for years...
If only he had put away those 2 or 3 chances in the away leg we would be rattling every europa league clubs cage today..

YNWA......

A fair amount of us.......

.....as you can see

In the context of throwing yourself off the Liver building the sentiment expressed in those comments does not equate.
Some people are ''gutted'' that after that performance we are deemed losers, the majority of the quotes you use express disappointment, rather different to the all consuming reaction you suggest with the associated suicidal implications.
Negativity personified.

edit: the three posts below are an example of the ''gutted'' I describe, enthusing optimism tinged with disappointment. 

And couldn't believe Brendan took Henderson off who was being an absolute pain in the arse to Zenit's midfield and was winning the ball back along with Lucas.

Completely agree with this, Henderson was having a great game IMO, showed real fight and put in a right shift and dare I say it showed confidence last night.

While I'm bitterly disappointed, I think we put up a F***ing fight last night and I'm very proud of the players, we were so F***ing close but yet so far. I said pre-match conceding would've been disaster and ultimately it was the away goal that knocked us out, but we responded well. It's ashame we couldn't just get one more b***ard goal in 20-25 or so minutes when we had done all the hard work. I won't blame Carragher, in fact I'm gutted for him as that was his last ever Euro game for us

I think the 1st leg was a big deficit to overcome, even too big for Anfield but we put up a F***ing fight. Brendan should experiment for the rest of the season now, everyone playing for their futures, long as we finish above the toffee nose cu*ts. More performances like last night in the league and we'll be in the top 4 next season, just need consistency. Its ashame we need it to be a 'European night at Anfield' to perform. This was all without Sturridge and Coutinho aswell which is a positive.

I definitely think Brendan got it wrong last night. Handed the momentum back to Zenit by making the substitutions in the first place! Should never have made subs when he did. I cant believe the Allen haters on here! He was the only one retaining the ball. Brendan has brought him in to get his foot on the ball and keep possession and he does that 9 times out of 10. if you have to go backwards and sidewards to keep the ball then thats what you have to do. Or should we just launch balls into the channels? I remember Hansen and Lawro passing sideways and backwards quite a lot as well as nearly every single midfield player we have ever had at the club! And he has been played in all 3 central midfield roles cos of injuries and slotting in round SG. I think he has been made the scapegoat! got a goal too. Well done Joe, 1 of the few that played his part last night along with Suarez.

I definitely think Brendan got it wrong last night. Handed the momentum back to Zenit by making the substitutions in the first place! Should never have made subs when he did. I cant believe the Allen haters on here! He was the only one retaining the ball. Brendan has brought him in to get his foot on the ball and keep possession and he does that 9 times out of 10. if you have to go backwards and sidewards to keep the ball then thats what you have to do. Or should we just launch balls into the channels? I remember Hansen and Lawro passing sideways and backwards quite a lot as well as nearly every single midfield player we have ever had at the club! And he has been played in all 3 central midfield roles cos of injuries and slotting in round SG. I think he has been made the scapegoat! got a goal too. Well done Joe, 1 of the few that played his part last night along with Suarez.

What fu**ed Brendan up was not having the use of the vital parts in the jig-saw he is on the brink of solving, the subs used and the timing of was a tactic he was more or less forced to use to ring the changes.
Talking of tactics there's not much I could fault with the building from the back, keeping possession and frustrating their smash and grab attempts.
For the record Joe Allen did do well on the night, the goal was class.

Last night was a throwback performance, its what we should expect from our group. Well done to the lads, I sincerely hope Brendan noted how good the squad is when allowed to play with some directness and pace, and I hope he also noticed the folly of overplaying in your own defence, not just for their goal, but on other occassions too.

Let's play with this freedom for the rest of the season and see where we finish, you never know, spurs might collapse.

I really can't see how anyone can slag off either the team or the manager for last nights game, or even criticise them.

BR did the best he could with the players available, and the team left everything they had on the pitch and gave it 100%

I thought no one would be able to moan about the performance, but obviously I'm either wrong or there's some right dickheads about who know nothing about the game of football.

It was a great effort, really unlucky not to get the 4th

We deserved to win and the lads should be proud with that performance they put. Yes individual errors cost us again but don't take away the fight they showed yesterday

On Glen Johnson, for 'the best right back in the country' renowned for his attacking ability, to not know how to cross is piss poor. For a defender by trade to not know how to defend is equally as poor.

As a pedestrian in the team who hits a wonder strike every season, he is a massive liability for the team as a whole. If he didn't have Lucas he'd be shown up more.

He's better on the left because he concentrates more and makes sure he is in position. On the right he is too comfortable and very complacent.

I'd argue he's not even the best right back at the club let alone country or league. If Kelly wasn't injured Glen would be struggling for his spot but that's just my opinion on it.

On a side note, anyone have a .gif of Suarez' reactions to his second goal and full time? Kind of a twisted pleasure to see them because his reactions after his goal made me so excited and hopeful and then his reaction at FT made it hurt so much more.

Still gutted. Can't believe we are not in Europe anymore and can't believe we went out that way.

The lads were F***ing fantastic. One error in this game and 2 in the last cost us dearly.

Oh well, it's done now. I'm going to hold my head up high and Walk on!

Just like to say that i'm extremely proud of the lads last night for a monumental effort. We did the best we could with what we had at our disposal. We fought, we worked hard but it wasn't to be. The story of our Season i'm afraid, we have no problem putting nails in the coffin, it's just the final nail we have trouble getting in.

I'd also like to say this, please lay off Carra. His mistake did not cost us the game, go back a week ago and 8 or 9  missed chances and a few minutes of defensive madness and there you'll find the answer. If anything, the mistake by Carra gave us a kick up the arse, it forced our hand.

I thought that how Brendan dealt with the absence of Coutinho and Sturridge would determine the result and i think he made a mistake, well two mistakes in fact. The first was starting Joe Allen, boring, uninventive and bullied off several balls again. Now that Lucas is back and we look to Allen to offer us offensive creativity he is shown to be severely lacking. Yes he scored a goal, but it didn't make up for a less than impressive offensive display.

The second was starting Henderson out on the left when we had Assaidi and Sterling on the bench. We had 2 players who specialise in that position yet we play a central midfielder there. Henderson should have started instead of Allen in my opinion and either Assaidi or Sterling on the left. I just found it strange that he went for the Allen/Henderson combo.

I will afford Brendan time because i believe in him, i believe in what he wants to recreate here and i believe he can put us back where we belong. I wish i could say the same for the owners but i can't.

Now more than ever we need to see the colour of their money. Those final nails we can't seem to hammer in, experience hammers them in.

When you're in a hole, experience digs you out of it.

The difference between scrapping for Europa League spots and fighting for the title is experience.

Experience costs money. If a player is 19 or 29, should it matter?. No it f**king shouldn't.

The only thing that should matter is that we get that player. Not whether we can sell him on at a profit in 3 years time or so.

This Summer is going to be massive for us. This current predicament is very similar to that of the one Rafa found himself in. The requirement of strengthening the Squad without having to deplete it to achieve that strengthening.

I thought £40 million would cover it but it's looking like we'll need £60 million. we need at least 3 top quality players this Summer. That's three experienced players.