Arsenal v Liverpool - Match Thread (CL)

Well i just like to say; remember the games of Barnsley at home and Birmingham away i think, we dominated and didn't pick up the wins, thats what Arsenal did today and im so happy. Finally Karma. The style of play will change next match, and hopefully we can get a goal if we don't win. I'm not sure about this formation anymore change it round and yes, like it has been said a lot, Crouch should be used.

Ithink kuyt works well for the team , he tracks back , and has good ball retention , and he is a gambler , when gerrard picked the ball up last nite you could see kuyt hovering and as soon as steve got passed the last man to cross kuyt was there brave as a lion getting in where it hurts , still think crouchy will play a big part in our champions league quest , would like to see him on saturday with torres .... the plot thickens on squad selection ..

Well I just like to say; remember the games of Barnsley at home and Birmingham away I think, we dominated and didn't pick up the wins, thats what Arsenal did today and im so happy. Finally Karma. The style of play will change next match, and hopefully we can get a goal if we don't win. I'm not sure about this formation anymore change it round and yes, like it has been said a lot, Crouch should be used.

Worried about the formation too. Our lone striker gets locked in. Maybe the three players behind the striker need to support more. There are times the lone striker is ALONE and needing support. Happened a lot in the Everton game.

As for the Bedneter clearence, you make a good point about him being offside, never saw the flag go up mind you?

Flag definitely went up mate.

Half the game's a blur to me TBH, I got far too pissed while it was on, but from what I do remember we were marginally outplayed but definitely not outclassed. We did our job well apart from the goal we conceded and got the all important away goal. I'm starting to get really pissed off with the comments about zonal marking whenever we concede from a set piece, it's getting tiresome now. When anyone else concedes you never hear the commentator saying 'their man marking system has let them down'. It's a fact of life that sometimes you're not going to defend every set piece successfully regardless of what marking system you use, but it seems to be the latest thing for the press to knock Rafa for. It would be interesting to see what our record defending set pieces is like compared to teams that man mark, I'm sure there wouldn't be much difference.

Flag definitely went up mate.

Half the game's a blur to me TBH, I got far too pissed while it was on, but from what I do remember we were marginally outplayed but definitely not outclassed. We did our job well apart from the goal we conceded and got the all important away goal. I'm starting to get really pissed off with the comments about zonal marking whenever we concede from a set piece, it's getting tiresome now. When anyone else concedes you never hear the commentator saying 'their man marking system has let them down'. It's a fact of life that sometimes you're not going to defend every set piece successfully regardless of what marking system you use, but it seems to be the latest thing for the press to knock Rafa for. It would be interesting to see what our record defending set pieces is like compared to teams that man mark, I'm sure there wouldn't be much difference.

You can thank our favourite commentator Andy Gray for that. That tw*t just wouldnt let it go!

"Zonal Marking was the problem for liverpool there, its as simple as that"

I'm starting to get really pissed off with the comments about zonal marking whenever we concede from a set piece, it's getting tiresome now. When anyone else concedes you never hear the commentator saying 'their man marking system has let them down'. It's a fact of life that sometimes you're not going to defend every set piece successfully regardless of what marking system you use, but it seems to be the latest thing for the press to knock Rafa for. It would be interesting to see what our record defending set pieces is like compared to teams that man mark, I'm sure there wouldn't be much difference.

Rafa is doing a good job using his own methods no matter how unpopular those methods may be; and he is getting results. How best to stop other managers from emulating him, by thinking outside the box than to criticize his methods and try to make them even more unsuitable for anyone to adopt. First it was the rotation policy, now zonal marking. They're just bitter.

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.

crouchinho, I'm with you on that mate...he is as big a tw*t as Andy Gray sounds from the description of our English friends. I was pretty happy at the end of the game that we came away from the Emirates with a 1 all draw. Then I had to listen to Graig w**ker Foster "analyze" the game.

He said LFC supporters wouldn't be happy with the way Liverpool played tonight but the millions of Arsenal supporters around the world, would be absolutely ecstatic with the football the likes of Fabergas, Flamini and Hleb played. WTF.

I wanted to jump into the TV and rip his F***ing lungs out...I was that pissed off....makes you almost consider watching ESPN's coverage but then you think of Tommy Smyth "with a Y" and " the old onion bag".

As for the match, was gutted when Adebayor scored....was wondering what Sami was doing just watching him. Then that amazing run from Stevie G and of all people Kuyt was there to tap it in. (That's the quickest I've ever seen him run...well done Dirk)...Get in 1-1.

I was a bunch of nerves for the next 70 odd minutes and I must say I was truly bewildered when Rafa took Torres off and bought on Voronin. Thought the same as pennol32....Arsenal are going to love this. Why take off our main goal scoring threat who is quite visibly being marked by 2 defenders and bring on someone like Voronin who really isn't going to pose too much of a threat, instead of Crouchie who is rotting away on the bench and is much more of an imposing figure and has so much more physical presence. It just didn't make sense to me ...I felt that whenever the ball went into our half, it was just going back into theres with ease.

That was my only sore point during the match, just glad we scored an away goal and that Bendtner plays for them.   I really feel that we'll get the job done at Anfield and Torres will do what he does best and score in front of the Kop, in what is going to be another wonderful European night at Anfield.

GO YOU REDS...FINISH THE JOB

I watched from start to finish and I thought it was Anfield (from earlier this season) all over again. Sure, we did hang on, shut them out in the second half but we came undone quite a few times at the back. We all know "they should have won" but they didn't and more importantly, we got the away goal out of it all, almost against what was quickly becoming the run of play.

There were heroes last night, Kuyt was unbelievable, never stops running and hustling and got in the thick of it to get the goal. Masch also cleaned up and out wherever he could, screening the back four. Ninja Skrtle was caught out once or twice but otherwise he and Hyypia hung on. Thought Aurelio had a decent game although Walcott gave him a hard time when he came on.

I know the scenario all to well by now...we got an away goal, we needed to preserve that at all costs...but I never like watching us play like that. Wave after wave of attacking and looking to unlock. On the balance we were outplayed for large parts of the game (but not outclassed, as mentioned by Eddie) and didn't look like keeping the ball let alone put a passage of play together to really threaten. Not to mention the shredded nerves at the final whistle!!!

But in the end, they will feel like the universe (or that dutch ref that used to live close to Kuyt) owes them something next week and I hope that we will be more assertive and imposing at home. Saturday however, that's anyone's guess...and I'm not just referring to the teamsheet!

Walk on you reds...sometimes, you have to do what's gotta be done. May not be pretty but if we are crowned champions, last night's game will be a faded memory.

IRWT...

Sorry but a goal that wasn't even taken well is not going to change my opinion of Mr Kuyt. Alright he bustled and hustled the Arsenal defenders, but did you see him give Clichy one thing to worry about when he got the ball on the wing? Compare that to Babel who looked threatening when he ran at Toure.

Tbh I thought we were awful. Couldn't string much of a passing move together, didn't get much momentum going forward, and the Arsenal fans were right to take the piss as we just started hoofing it up to Torres, who had a quiet game himself. Gerrard, Aurelio and Mascherano were our best players on the pitch. Stevie looked dangerous when he got the ball, Mascherano didn't have his best game and gave the ball away a couple of times, but still won things in the middle, and Aurelio had one of his best games in a Liverpool shirt. He was inch perfect in the tackle, and I can't remember an Arsenal attack coming down the right succesfully, even with Walcott switched over there.

We looked nervous for a lot of the game, apart from a 10 minute period after our goal. They should have won, but for a kind Dutchman ref and a superb stop from our Nicklas on the line. Incidently, the flag did go up, but I don't think he was actually offiside, as on the replay Hyypia is the one who comes off the line to clear it once it bounces off Bendtner. As for the penalty, it is a penalty, but at the same time they just don't get given a lot of the time. What I'm saying is that they should be given, but it would be inconsistent of referees this season to do so. Sure Arsenal will complain, but if this is our "was it over the line?" moment after which we go on to win the cup, I'm not bothered.

In summary, the final score was 1-1 no matter what could have been, and that's an excellent result for us. They'll come at us at Anfield, with no fear considering they beat us so comprehensively not so long ago, and we'll have to be on top form to see them off without conceding. But with Fernando in such amazing form in front of the Kop, I won't be betting against him bagging No.29 or even No.30

We have different opinions on Kuyt, but the fact of the matter is he can be "bad" and next to hopeless if we want it to be by playing him outside the box where he does not possess the speed and skills to outrun and go pass defenders and frustrating to watch at times. He can be "good" if we play him inside the box, he's effectively a goal poacher and we have seen that on many occassions already. How many goals did Kuyt scored from outside the box, not too many that I could remember. He'll just need to be sharper and more ruthless inside the box and to effectively link - up with Gerrard and Torres. I used to moaned about Kuyt but not anymore because asking him to play out of position and expecting him to score many goals is too much to ask of him. Camp him inside the box and we'll see him score a few more goals here and there.

With out a doubt that was a below par performance, BUT we showed that you can have the kitchen sink thrown at you and go into the 2nd leg with the advantage . I think that because of how well we defend at anfield arsenal will find it very hard to score and if we can get them on the break then i think we may win it 1-0. Have a great feeling we will go through to the semi final and hopefully Fenerbache will beat knock out chelsea, although it would be great being able to say we put them out of 3 champions league semi finals and an fa cup semi final .

lets just hope bendtner plays ecause then we are certain to go through, he defended great 

Croucinho and Aussie Red I agree Foster is a F***ing tw*t. Thinks he knows so much more about the game than he actually does, I never listen to his commentary as soon as the game is finished I change the channel. ESPN is just as bad fuking Tommy Smyth the old b***ard shits me to death.

On the note of Craig "Fozzy" I play agains this tw*t in the Eastern Suburbs Amateur Premier League he plays for a club called Waverley might give him a F***ing two footer in to the ankles next time we play them for his stupid comments. I though he was going to jizz when he was analysing Arsenal.

Great away goal for LFC!! Especially at The Emirates! To be honest, the way both teams played I could see a 3-1 to Arsenal - luckily this was not the case, and if we can win at Anfield then BAM! They will be out of the CL.. again

Dadorius, I'd never condone a two foot, studs up challenge mate, but this is an excepiton...take him out and make him hurt

Yeah totally off topic Aussiered but "Fossy" got a red card this weekend playing against my mates team for telling the ref to F**k off. Kind of funny considering his comments on the Mascherano red card and saying sh*t like that as a proffesional he should know better. Bloody Hypocrite! 

Yeah totally off topic Aussiered but "Fossy" got a red card this weekend playing against my mates team for telling the ref to F**k off. Kind of funny considering his comments on the Mascherano red card and saying sh*t like that as a proffesional he should know better. Bloody Hypocrite! 

That'll teach him to shut his mouth...hypocrite, tw*t, arsehole, Manc lover...what other superlatives can we come up with up with for this Australian icon

what other superlatives can we come up with up with for this Australian icon

Screw the superlatives just grab a bat and head to the SBS.

Dadorious, please! Would love to have a morning of the CL without Fozzy the Fonze. Branko Culina and Les Murray know their stuff but Craig MUST have been rejected from the resrve team in Liverpool for the way he talks of the club. c**t.

As for the red card, might send something in to the SBS on that. He was on Masch's case for the red and saying it was appauling and how Bennett did the right thing, well i would love to have seen his reaction to his red card. The rush the ref would have gone through....priceless!

Is it still Monday? Damn I'm going back to bed...

2-1 or 1-0 to us...but this will be one of those games where our hearts will be on our throats till the final whistle.

Go REDS!!!