Arsenal v Liverpool - Match Thread (CL)

I understand your point, but Kuyt is doing a better job than Pennant at the moment.
Kuyt is becoming a great outlet, and can put in a killer cross.
But, the main difference is, is that Kuyt can find that space to run into and score an all important goal.

Pennant has not done himself justice with his overall performances as yet, he fails to produce any sort of constant performance. He really needs to improve, or else he'll be part of another Rafalution.

I know kuyt is thriving in that role and i think people should just leave it at that and praise him not mention others not doing as kuyt has. Im resigned to the fact that pennant will be on his way out soon enough anyway but i just think he doesnt get the credit he should do, he is a good player but how are you expected to play well without a decent run of games. Its the same situation as crouch, people expect them both to play well with 1 game in about 10. I think they will both leave but that is just me. Exactly like the kuyt situation earlier in the season, bad form people call for him to be sold asap but if they came back into the side and put in performances as good as kuyts recently im sure there would be calls for them to stay.

Agree.  Pennant might get a game this weekend but his Anfield career is finished.  And from what I hear it isn't only to do with the fact that he is a very average footballer.

Yes his Anfield career is finished for sure. And you know what? So is Crouch's. Neither of these play anymore, with Dirk Kuyt the striker being prefared to play in Pennant's right wing role, and Andriy Voronin even being chose ahead of the 10 seconds a game Peter Crouch.. says it all doesn't it?

I don't think it is in Dirk's interest to stay.  He might be hard-working but he ain't no Ronaldo.  We need a proper belting right winger if Rafa intends to stick with this formation.

It's in his, and our interests (financially) to let him go.

Yeah I know but I think Dirk Kuyt can do a job, as in coming off the bench for instance. I don't think Dirk Kuyt is good enough to start for us, especially if we are looking to win the title, however you don't get many players that keep trying and trying and it does pay off.

Pennant ain't even half the player Dirk Kuyt is on the right, and Dirk's a striker!
I want Dirk to stay with us next season, feel he can do a job now and then, brilliant player! I have slated him in the past, he's not the best player but he just doesn't stop running and he has as much passion as anyone for us!

Twice the player, have you forgotten Pennants good performances.  Pennant on his day is also a good player too.  I don’t really rate Dirk Kuyt, but he is the one player that deserves all the credit not because of his talent but his energy, passion and professionalism on and off the pitch.  He is very committed to the club and when he scores I share the same sentiment ‘if there’s a player that works hard for his credit its Kuyt’.  But I do question his raw talent and in fact feel that Pennant has more ability.  I sometimes think that it might have been a better idea scouting the London Marathon than contacting Faeynord.

I thought Kuyt played well tonight and he helped out at the back a lot too but i think his control really lets him down, anyone else notice this? literally worlds apart from gerrard in this area, with the pace of modrn football, first touch is everything

Pennant ain't even half the player Dirk Kuyt is on the right, and Dirk's a striker!

Is it really that easy to run Pennant down?; He didn't play today. But I recall clearly that it was Pennant that tore through the Right back of Inter and made those crucial passes that brought about the two goals at Anfield. He deserves some credit. The last time Dirk played, some people thought he was sloppy, especially against the mancs.

Torres is a Classic and a World Class by all standards, but he hasn't been able to score against Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea; We all know better than to slate him because we see his game and we know he's got game. Pennant has his game too and like every other player in the LFC (save for Mascherano), has his off moments too. I can still remember the Pennant goal against Chelsea last season.

Dirk is a striker/ primary responsibility: Scoring, Pennant is a winger and he does his job of pulling out those quality crosses. Dirk seldom beats a defender when attacking from the wings, Pennant beats defenders on the wing.

Both players are good.

Is it really that easy to run Pennant down?; He didn't play today. But I recall clearly that it was Pennant that tore through the Right back of Inter and made those crucial passes that brought about the two goals at Anfield. He deserves some credit. The last time Dirk played, some people thought he was sloppy, especially against the mancs.

Torres is a Classic and a World Class by all standards, but he hasn't been able to score against Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea; We all know better than to slate him because we see his game and we know he's got game. Pennant has his game too and like every other player in the LFC (save for Mascherano), has his off moments too. I can still remember the Pennant goal against Chelsea last season.

Dirk is a striker/ primary responsibility: Scoring, Pennant is a winger and he does his job of pulling out those quality crosses. Dirk seldom beats a defender when attacking from the wings, Pennant beats defenders on the wing.

Both players are good.

Good one mate!

Is it really that easy to run Pennant down?; He didn't play today. But I recall clearly that it was Pennant that tore through the Right back of Inter and made those crucial passes that brought about the two goals at Anfield. He deserves some credit. The last time Dirk played, some people thought he was sloppy, especially against the mancs.

Torres is a Classic and a World Class by all standards, but he hasn't been able to score against Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea; We all know better than to slate him because we see his game and we know he's got game. Pennant has his game too and like every other player in the LFC (save for Mascherano), has his off moments too. I can still remember the Pennant goal against Chelsea last season.

Dirk is a striker/ primary responsibility: Scoring, Pennant is a winger and he does his job of pulling out those quality crosses. Dirk seldom beats a defender when attacking from the wings, Pennant beats defenders on the wing.

Both players are good.

Good call.

Pennant is a good player and some of his play has been forgotten very easily. When was the last time he got 90 minutes for people to be able to work his way back into form like dirk has had ?

Solodee im afraid you have forgotten Torres goal vs chelsea, how you have i do not know.

Pennant has done well for us and made the passes for both goals in the lfc 2 inter 0. Anyone who has bad words for him play football constantly then dont play for a while and play again, you wont expect yourself to be at the level you where when you played constantly will you and its no different for our players. You need time to get into a run of form KUYT of alllll people has showed this so how they are being compared is a bit silly.

There must be a reason why Pennant doesn't play though? Rafa obviously knows best! In our new formation Pennant wouldn't do so well, he's an out an out winger who suits 4-4-2. Rafa doesn't want to play this formation, which leaves Pennant unsuited to our new game plans..

But thats just the thing. People change what they are saying when it is brought up that he can play well and bring up proof. No one will normally mention the current formation and he still didnt start when we were using a 4-4-2 earlier in the season. Players dont just lose talent they have, it doesnt just go one day and then they are crap. Pennant has shown his class many times and his MOTM performances all came when he got a good run in the side.

If he cant work in the current formation why do people keep putting him in there team there when they say we should rest kuyt it makes no sense.

Solodee im afraid you have forgotten Torres goal vs chelsea, how you have I do not know.

Just confirmed it. That was the match I missed most of. My bad.

But thats just the thing. People change what they are saying when it is brought up that he can play well and bring up proof. No one will normally mention the current formation and he still didnt start when we were using a 4-4-2 earlier in the season. Players dont just lose talent they have, it doesnt just go one day and then they are crap. Pennant has shown his class many times and his MOTM performances all came when he got a good run in the side.

If he cant work in the current formation why do people keep putting him in there team there when they say we should rest kuyt it makes no sense.

Because Kuyt is more important towards the game on Tuesday and he deserves a breather as Pennant can take his role for that game.. only makes sense no?

Im not saying that im saying in general, no one has even put up their team for the prem game so this is what i mean. Im talking other games, if they want to rest kuyt they put in pennant but then say he cant play in our formation when it suits them. Hes not the only player other than kuyt that can play RM is he. Why dont they put yossi in or babel in there?

Clearly he can play in it or they wouldnt include him atall whether they rest kuyt or not. Its a contradiction and doesnt make sense.

He cant play in the formation then all of a sudden he can.

Well done RAFA and the mighty REDS for a good result well earned.I think RAFA must check this forum out as he picked the same starting11 as I did pre match.I was glad Kuyt got a goal as I think he deserved it for the effort he put into the game.

I think Kuyt does the hard yards a little better than Pennant in terms of tracking back players. Also given that Clichy likes to attack down the flank I can see Rafa's logic in playing Kuyt in that position.

Pennant has done allright for us and I will leave it at that.

I must say fair play to Dirk Kuyt, I do knock him a bit but i can't knock his workrate and i think that really helped us get the result tonight. He got his goal and that's something I'd like to see a bit more from him but he's adapted pretty well to the wide position and I think with the squad we have he probably is the more viable option.
Mascherano had another sterling performance and he really is making his name as the best DM in the world, during the match you could see Arsenal had basically given up on penetrating through the middle and it was because of that man, immense.
Couldn't argue with Torres' performance, he worked hard but arsenal looked to mark him out of the game. That's not necassarily a bad thing though, he is preoccupying the two centre backs for the whole game and thats creates for pace for other players. He didn't score but that doesn't make it a bad performance and when people say he doesn't do it against the top teams (just the 1 against chelsea) I get really angry, the reason he hasn't scored against them is because he is being marked in these games by two really good defenders and generally not much ball is being given to him.
Anyway very pleasing result tonight, definately advantage us to go through to the next round, it is only half-time though.

Great result! Thanks to the muddled up time i missed the first 27 minutes, yes thats right i missed all the build up to the two goals so i had Craig F***ing Foster analyse it for me We came under immense pressure in the econd hhlf but soaked it all up and held on thanks to Nicklas Bendtner  My M.O.M DIRK KUYT! I would have never guessed it before the match but he was outstanding and supported every attack and was like another defender. Gerrard's best chance in attack he took and what a run to set up Dirk. Torres looked isolated but you get that in an away tie as a lone striker and shouldnt read into that. Aurellio, Skrtel and Jamie were AMAZING! Hyypia was great but must deduct marks for the goal. Babel, poor.

All the Aussie's here, can we put up a petition to get rid of Foster. Honestly the man is a tit! Claims we played sh*t and dont play proper football like Arsenal and are killing the game when any side would do that against the Arse away from home then goes on to say how brilliant Man Utd are winning 2-0 away from home in Roma but then says with no Totti its like draining 40% of their confidence and skill down!!!! Craig your a fuckwit.

Aurellio, Skrtel and Jamie were AMAZING!

With the amount of pressure they put us under for long periods of the match, our defence was either going to crack or put in a heroic performance, and all credit to them they played really well last night. I was particularly impressed by Skrtel, he seems to be improving with every match! He has the no-nonsense attitude a bit like Carra, but with a lot more pace, I really hope he'll continue to improve, he could become one of our great players. (Plus he looks hard as F***ing nails too! ).

I don't know if we were lucky to come away with a draw or not, yes they had a good shout for a penalty (and I was kacking my pants at the time!), but Kuyt had a really good chance to score a second for us, bringing a great save from their keeper and almost a rebound for Hyppia I think it was. For all that is said about him he could have been even more the hero tonight!

Well...tough game as expected...and I'm happy we managed an away goal.

I think we are in a comfortable position and our experience in the CL should pull us through in the 2nd leg at Anfield.

I think Kuyt played well last night but he's not the same kind of player as Pennant who is a natural winger, has lots of pace and skill and is also a good crosser of the ball. I was watching some highlights of Crouch's goals and it was amazing how a lot of them came from Pennant crosses...I reckon he can supply Torres too.

got to be said , great result for us ,, am just baffled why rafa put voronin on , 10 mins to go why didnt he put crouchie on insted that would of give the gunners much more to think about, they must have been made up when they seen voronin standing on the line waiting to come on

very pleased with that result considering in the second half we were poison!! Did we keep the ball for more then 3 passes in that half? Anyway mainthing was getting an away goal.

In general it was backs to the wall and in that respect thought the lads done well to hold out. Kuyts workrate is amazing he really is doing a most unselfish job for the team and he is fully deserving of his place for the work he does. Aurelio again impressed me like Riise seems very one footed even when the harderr thing to do is to pass with his good foot he still tries it rather then using his right but his defending his solid enough.

Ive stood by Babel all season but he his doing my head in now and I feel he needs to be pulled out of the side for a bit maybe get a few games in with the reserves to get some form back

Skrtel again looked impressive but Carra at right back for me is a no no.

Final point is what did Crouch do so bad that voronin gets on ahead of him? I was sick when I seen him coming on for Nando  Crouch as done a good job for us since he arrived while I agree our system cant fit him in he should at least be worthy of replacing Nando for 10-20 minutes more so then Voronin

Good morning!! I did not see the match last night, but when I switched the radio on to 5Live Arseholes scored; so I switched off. Then 5 mins later I tuned in.. what do I find out it's 1-1...

This is a normal occurrence for me, even at home!! When a goal is required I'll take a leak!!!!

Kuyt scored the much needed equalizer! Good! Another person that deserves a standing ovation? Gerrard, he created the goal-scoring opportunity by waltzing past two key defenders and then a third before passing to Kuyt. He was great.

Final point is what did Crouch do so bad that voronin gets on ahead of him? I was sick when I seen him coming on for Nando  Crouch as done a good job for us since he arrived while I agree our system cant fit him in he should at least be worthy of replacing Nando for 10-20 minutes more so then Voronin

I thought speed and agility was the reason Voronin was brought in to replace Nando ahead of Crouch. But, he lacked both yesterday night.

Maybe Crouch will headline the premiership game.