Real Madrid 1-0 Liverpool: In game and Post Match Debate

Fantastic effort which is all I asked for. Same starting line up against the Chavs they deserve it. Cou, Raheem and Hendo to come on in the second half. Balotelli to sit out again until his chance comes. Hopefully when Danny is back Mario might start proving his worth with a strike partner. If he doesn't then I don't see him with the club beyond this season.

I think it's a pretty damn good sign that we've got a handful of chocies for MOTM. That shows how well we played as a unit.

Defensively, we were pretty solid (or at least as solid we've been all year). Madrid had some decent chances, but I don't think we needed a Superman act from Mignolet except on a few Ronaldo free kicks (insane movement on those btw).

Even the goal is one you can't be too hypercritical of IMO. It obviously starts with Mignolet not distributing it well, midfield not winning it, Marcelo beating Manquillo(?) and Toure not tracking Benzema well enough. That said, the cross from Marcelo was inch perfect. A little more either way and Toure snuffs it out or Benzema can't one-touch his finish.

Certainly, the lack of scoring opportunities was problematic. But let's remember that Lallana was the only true creator playing tonight. Swap out Allen for Coutinho and Sterling for Markovic in that match and I think we'd have had more opportunities.

As for our holding mids, Lucas and Can were BOSS.

Don't see any reason why Toure, Lucas, Can, Lallana and Borini should be dropped vs Chelsea.

For what it's worth, if we had last seasons SAS I reckon we'd have had them tonight

I think it's a pretty damn good sign that we've got a handful of chocies for MOTM. That shows how well we played as a unit.

Defensively, we were pretty solid (or at least as solid we've been all year). Madrid had some decent chances, but I don't think we needed a Superman act from Mignolet except on a few Ronaldo free kicks (insane movement on those btw).

Even the goal is one you can't be too hypercritical of IMO. It obviously starts with Mignolet not distributing it well, midfield not winning it, Marcelo beating Manquillo(?) and Toure not tracking Benzema well enough. That said, the cross from Marcelo was inch perfect. A little more either way and Toure snuffs it out or Benzema can't one-touch his finish.

Certainly, the lack of scoring opportunities was problematic. But let's remember that Lallana was the only true creator playing tonight. Swap out Allen for Coutinho and Sterling for Markovic in that match and I think we'd have had more opportunities.

As for our holding mids, Lucas and Can were BOSS.

Don't see any reason why Toure, Lucas, Can, Lallana and Borini should be dropped vs Chelsea.

agreed mate you should have to earn the shirt and those lads definitely earned the shirt for Saturday for me no doubt about it,

For what it's worth, if we had last seasons SAS I reckon we'd have had them tonight

1000% They were there to be got at. Bar Varane their defense is weak in defense. Great in offense though. Marcelo killed us.

The way Rodgers is talking, he sounds over the moon we only lost 1-0

He was mate, you could see the relief and smile on his face.

I hope we can take the confidence this should give us defensively, but there's no denying the truths out there that some are glossing over. Ronaldo was way off his game, mostly caused by us granted but that's the worst I've seen him play in a long time, thought the Raul record was probably on his mind especially on the free-kicks, my daughter could hit them better.

The stats:

Shots 18-3
On target 9-1
Corners 7-1

So yeah we did much, much better defensively but we were never really a proper threat and that's something like the first time we haven't scored in 3 games since 1965 it was said in commentary.

Against Chelsea would we take a draw and put out a similar display? I'd certainly be starting Kolo and Lucas without doubt.

Partially because they can't leave the stadium yet.

I'll write my own story goddammit!

Gutted we lost but I'm dead happy with the work rate and composure a very young team showed out there tonight. Nice to see that we can actually defend, we may have conceded but it was a smashing cross, not much could have been done.

More positives than negatives from tonight, build on this for Saturday please.

who was it posted about Sanchez scoring for Arsenal tonight well they blew it and drew 3-3.HaHa.
I feel slightly disappointed by the result I was so worried about the club being totally embarrassed I was just glad it was only 1-0 but we could have easily got something out of it,

Thought Can played better than I've seen Gerrard play all season.

If I had to choose between him and Lucas to play against Chelsea I'd probably back the German.

Still don't like the one up front - Borini worked far harder than Balotelli has but he'd chase the ball down on the wing, look up and there would be no one there.  It just doesn't suit us at all. 

Take some solace in it only being 1-0 tonight but lets be honest, it could have more easily been 3-0 to them than us getting an equaliser.

Would love to see BR start this for Chelsea.

                   Migs
Manquillo Skrtel Toure Moreno
                 Lucas
            Can Coutinho
Gerrard                   Lallana
                 Borini

No chance though. Raheem and Hendo have been sub par and need time out. The rest need to earn their place again.

I don't think they offered anything to be fair.

Okay, Gerrard's laser guided passing seems more applicable when towards the end of the match when the opposition is more suspect, but he didn't offer anything in terms of the decent possession we had prior to him coming on.

Coutinho was alright, but again, nothing much superior to what we saw before.

And Sterling was detrimental when he came on - thought Markovic was far far better. Time to give Raheem a rest I think.

Agreed. I thought when the 3 'first choice' players came on, they were a shade better than Allen. To be fair to Couts though, he didn't see much of the ball for about 15 mins after he came on. Thought Gerrard and Sterling looked out of place and off the pace they were that poor

My ratings:

Mignolet: Continued his excellent recent form. He's been our best player for the last few games, brilliant again tonight. 9/10.

Manquilo: Looked like what he is, a 20 year old learning the game but doing well. Thought he did well under extreme pressure. 7/10.

Toure: The commanding centre half we needed. As long as we don't cloud his head too much with trying to play out from the back he can do it again. MOM 9/10.

Skrtel: Aside from the odd calamity did well. Both him and Toure defended set pieces excellently. 7/10.

Moreno: Raw but bags of ability. We're going to have to put up with mistakes like on Saturday, but he's going to be a player alright. 8/10.

Lucas: Excellent aside from one first half error, some really crisp passing. I think he's been unlucky not to play more than he has, and until he tired was a candidate for MOM. 8/10.

Can: His best game in a Liverpool shirt by a mile. Has the quality that we really lack in midfield, power. 8/10.

Allen: Better without the ball than with it and made some excellent interceptions. 7/10.

Markovic: Finally showed there IS a player in there. Only a boy and tonight will have done him the world of good. 8/10.

Lallana: A truly smashing footballer, did well. 8/10.

Borini: His relentless effort didn't quite make up for his lack of quality, but he didn't let anyone down. 7/10.



Subs: 7/10.



Saturdays game: Toure must play, as must Lallana and Borini.

If I had to choose between him and Lucas to play against Chelsea I'd probably back the German.

It'll never happen but I'd be tempted to play both.

The way Rodgers is talking, he sounds over the moon we only lost 1-0

I wonder did he think this was something he had to do to shake up the team. It was a huge risk but in a way
it paid off.

Fair play to the lads tonight (first choice), they done well to contain Real but we still lack a threat up front and until we do then we hold no fear.

Hard choice for MOTM for me between Migs and Toure, common sense for his saves would be Migs as he saved us getting arse raped but I had to go for Toure as he filled a void in my head for our defence.

how good is Moreno going to be he is turbo charged that lad and even after 85 mind Bale did not out pace him.

Start Can against Chelsea. He's a powerhouse.

just realised I left Can out so Sorry Jordan its the bench for you too.

i would agree with that. and to be honest, i'd leave gerrard and sterling on the bench too. one of the reasons why we kept madrid quiet is because can, lucas and the defence (and borini) worked so hard to press them. madrid is a team that can't stop scoring at the moment, so don't underestimate the work rate.

i'd start with lucas and can, play makovic, llalana and couts ahead and borini up front. if sturridge is fully fit, play him with borini and drop llalan purely out of necessity. some players earned the shirts ahead of others tonight. hendo and stevie don't earn it at mo and sterling clearly needs resting, we cant burn out our star so early.

just realised I left Can out so Sorry Jordan its the bench for you too.

Have to be brutally honest - but Can over Henderson is a no brainer at the moment.

Henderson struggles to hold the ball and takes an age to control. His physicality and runs forward can help us, but when we're struggling to take hold of the game, he is useless.

Can showed discipline and composure on the ball - the qualities that Brendan goes on about when he wants to replicate Barca.

I am so happy he DROPPED BALOTELLI!

Sure, he may have been resting him, but still, I believe a statement was made tonight; biggest game of the season and you don't get a sniff.

Love all that "Madrid were below their best tonight". Ah right, so we don't get any credit for that then.

And "Brendan is over the moon we only lost 1-0"? What do people expect him to say, really? Embarrassing on here sometimes.

Would love to see BR start this for Chelsea.

                   Migs
Manquillo Skrtel Toure Moreno
                 Lucas
            Can Coutinho
Gerrard                   Lallana
                 Borini

No chance though. Raheem and Hendo have been sub par and need time out. The rest need to earn their place again.

I~ wanted Gerrard wide right for a while and until its too much for him then that's where he should play. Got to reward those lads tonight who played really well it would be such a kick in the balls  if they were back on the bench