Besiktas 1-0 LFC (1-1 agg / 5-4 on pens): In game and Post Match Debate

Respect to Lovren who has been having a mare recently for agreeing to take the penalty, that takes bottle.

Or stupidity.

Never mind not on the pitch mate. There was a perfectly good taker on the pitch but had Lovren ahead of him. Out of the players left I'd have felt more than comfortable that Kolo would have scored.

I think we would have needed 8 or 9 good penalty takers to win that shoot out tonight. Mignolet's guessing work for whatever reason in penalty shoot outs tends not to produce the desired results. I can never understand why players are not fighting each other for a spot on the penalty takers list. When it comes down to the likes of Lovren and John Terry (Champions League final vs United) to take the most important penalties, something is wrong.

If you say this is a 'blessing in disguise' you are an absolute moron. I would 1000% rather win a trophy than finish 4th. Finishing 4th will be no easy run and I think this has once again proven Rodgers naivity in Europe.

Whilst in this competition we had two avenues open to us for Champions League Qualification. Now we are limited to one opportunity. We also showed the, quite frankly embarrassing lack of European experience in our team from the Manager to the players and this competition offered us a chance for all involved to gain some sorely needed experience in dealing with the travel, potential rotations and playing against some of the best teams across Europe, albeit teams a step down from those still in the UCL. Plus it was a potential trophy. No matter how you look at this, we are all the poorer for our exit from the competition and anyone suggesting the contrary is not looking at the bigger picture.

My birtday, and im speechless... comon the pool on sunday!

But mate, and I'm not after an argument here, you did say we should play our best 11 when the only two players not playing needed a rest (or a knock in Hendo's case). I don't get the logic. You don't need to have seen the game to understand why they didn't travel.

Back to the game, I actually thought moving Can into mid with Allen was a good move and we looked good in first half. Just cannot believe we let them dominate midfield in second half and waited until 70th min to bring Lallana on.

Having said that, Studge and  Sterling were poor. Besiktas wanted it more and deserved it tbh. So pissed off with the way we went out.

Have to agree to disagree with you, I am of the firm belief that we should play our strongest team in every match. Oh for the likes of Gerry Byrne.

F***ing gutted. Cant believe some guys are cool with being beaten. We are out of a major competion (granted its not the CL, but we were here cause we were out of that one too), and its not ok. Or it shouldnt be...

Totally agree with you.

with our payroll and roster.. we should have mutliple starting xi.  quite frankly it is obvious that once we are down a little magician in coutinho, our creativity is severely limited.


i hope the lads rebound and win .. would be a rough week if not

i know you're an Aussie mate, but we've got a bit more than 24 hours. 6 goals in 8 games in Europe, won two with late pens, says it all, simply not good enough

sh*t, meant to write 48 hours, was so fu**ed off with that performance, I don't know what I was writing!

Ha ha somebody's been smoking some funky mud. Lunchtime on Sunday we play them mate

 . Yeah I had been mate. See above post. 

Have to agree to disagree with you, I am of the firm belief that we should play our strongest team in every match. Oh for the likes of Gerry Byrne.

I agree bud.

Those saying that Coutinho needed a rest, played 43 games this season so deserved a rest, would they have said the same if we were playing the knockout stages of The Champions League and the circumstances were exactly the same, ie scores first leg at home were same and a big game coming up on the weekend?

That's great that he was brave....but you are a professional....the giant open goal mouth is 12 yards away. My 12 year old would have done better than that, he'd have at least put it on the goal. And he'd have been jumping up and down to take the pen. So yes, shame on the others if they turned down the opportunity, but unfortunately being brave doesn't help us in Lovren's case.

Have to say as soon as he stepped up to take it, I knew he had missed.

Aren't you a proper div lad?

The best players in the world miss penalties in the biggest games.

Stevie stepped up first in the Carling cup final and missed yes from a mere 12 yards away too.

Fuking woeful that people on here are giving the lad stick for missing a penalty! The job should have been done at home.

Aren't you a proper div lad?

The best players in the world miss penalties in the biggest games.

Stevie stepped up first in the Carling cup final and missed yes from a mere 12 yards away too.

Fuking woeful that people on here are giving the lad stick for missing a penalty! The job should have been done at home.

I recall the Mighty Emlyn Hughes quote on penalties which I have put in a previous post. If you put a scaffold board on the floor and everyone would walk over it. Put the same scaffold board a 100 foot up in the air, how many would walk over it. In view that the lad appears to have lost all confidence maybe he should not of been put in the position of taking a penalty that was so critical to the outcome

Feel disappointed  to say the least, felt that we could have gone all the way in this competition

We get the message lfc across the water!!

This.

After the hard work we made of trying to beat Besiktas, had we even qualified to the next round on pennos, the next EL games were only going to get more difficult and would have unquestionably effected our PL performances to the point we would seriously struggle for top 4. Now I feel much more optimistic about our top 4 chances.

The Bitters may have qualified to the last 16 but their league performances have suffered hugely this season as a result and will continue for as long as they continue in the competition.

Getting knocked out this early is a blessing in disguise.

No it isn't. No more European games affect our seedings again next year. Looking forward to trips to Swansea rather than Seville. At least the neighbours have the latter to look forward to. No Europe has not helped the mancs this year, who are just a few points away from  missing out on Europe again.

There's no way to dress it up. Going out of Europe is terrible. Always was, is, and will be. To go out in Istanbul, on penalties, into that goal, makes it even harder to take.

It was a good match yesterday, i was at the stadium and atmosphere was unbelieveable.

I think we deserved it. And i am sure that Liverpool will be in top 4 this season. See you in CL next year

Was never going to lay the blame at Lovrens feet for the miss. The team were poor first and foremost.

For gods sake, Messi missed a penalty AND an open goal the night before!

Worst performance since palace in the league - we didn't want it

If you say this is a 'blessing in disguise' you are an absolute moron. I would 1000% rather win a trophy than finish 4th. Finishing 4th will be no easy run and I think this has once again proven Rodgers naivity in Europe.

With our league form the best in the PL since the start of the year finishing 4th looks a damn sight easier than winning the Europa League with a team vastly inexperienced in European cup competitions.

I think it's moronic to think this team is ready to win a European cup even one as "easy" as the EL.

We are still in with a good chance of winning a cup this season and qualifying for the CL next season. The longer we stayed playing Thursday night European football the lesser our chances of domestic campaign success.

Of course we all want to win cups but this squad is clearly still not ready to challenge on multiple fronts.

It was a good match yesterday, i was at the stadium and atmosphere was unbelieveable.

I think we deserved it. And i am sure that Liverpool will be in top 4 this season. See you in CL next year

Congrats mate. I think we performed well below par last night. Injuries to key midfield players cost and a bit of tactical nativity and inexperience.

But take nothing away from Besiktas performance ye were the better team last night and wanted it more. Best of luck in the rest of the competition.

With our league form the best in the PL since the start of the year finishing 4th looks a damn sight easier than winning the Europa League with a team vastly inexperienced in European cup competitions.

I think it's moronic to think this team is ready to win a European cup even one as "easy" as the EL.

We are still in with a good chance of winning a cup this season and qualifying for the CL next season. The longer we stayed playing Thursday night European football the lesser our chances of domestic campaign success.

Of course we all want to win cups but this squad is clearly still not ready to challenge on multiple fronts.

So what's the point of having a squad large enough to rotate for lots of games then?

So what's the point of having a squad large enough to rotate for lots of games then?

We have a very young squad, we had injuries to key experienced players. We got knocked out on pennos. It happens. We move on.