Never given a good enough chance with a rather average squad. Hodgson got the short end of the stick.

He did a good job against a striker that he didn't have to do much on. But against players who move a lot he's not very effective.

If Hodgson was in charge it would have been our fourth game on the trott without a win.

:lol: Imagine the uproar if that was Hodgson in charge.

He wasn;t playing regularly because of Dagger and Skrtel coming though, as well as JC. He wanted regular time, so he had to leave for it. Soto is just a bench player, but he is usually ok. He played very well against Man U

I don't know why we let Sami go and then bought in Soto. 37yo Sami Hyypia >>>>> Soto ever.

I love Sami Hyypia- he's probably my favourite Liverpool player of all time. Such a class act both on and off the field. How our defence could benefit from having him in there.

Kyrgiakos has to go. We need someone better than him.

Very average performance, as it has been without Gerrard all season. We need to do better in the second leg, obviously.

Not seen the game yet, but Kenny said it was shite in the first half so I'm bound to believe him.

Not utterly shocked that Sotos gave away the penalty, though. That's his weakness. No fucking finesse.

I do love Estadio Municipal, though. Apparently the sound off the wall is amazing.

It's ok. We haven't travelled well all season, and neither have they. We should have enough to take them at Anfield.

Poulsen was absolute cack, it was a mistake to play the formation we did (though there weren't many alternatives)

For the 2nd leg I'd play

----------Carroll---------
Maxi-----Cole-----Kuyt
-----Lucas--Meireles-----
GJ--Skrtel--Soto--Carra

Worrying for Liverpool, the first half was toothless, the 2nd was better but still.

Carroll played well.

It would be great to have him back...but I'd much rather play a team like Leverkusen in the final. They could prove troublesome.

Gerrard is out of the Braga clash too.

Would love that. He would get a brilliant reception.

Well we've only got one fucking league game this month #-o can't be that hard to cock up, surely?

Fucking typical away game after the international break too just to piss us off even more.

"You're only as good as your last game" =;

[youtube]42k0elOeA8s[/youtube]

:lol: :lol: :lol:
I can so relate to that cause sunday night games i have to stay quite cause people have to go to work the next morning

:lol:
[youtube]sik1DyxrpFc&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

Edited by tiny455: 8/3/2011 07:57:14 PM

If Liverpool are so shit how come United got absolutely slaughtered by them?

You chose a pretty stupid time to come in here picking a fight.

If Liverpool are so good why arent they in the top 4 and challenging for the title

Awesome game. Who said the point of the game is to make space when you've got the ball and prevent the opposition getting space when you haven't... well, we fucking did that.

Amazed at how few Man U attacks managed to get down the centre. Amazed at how disciplined the back four was.

Still though, we're sitting very precariously on a depleted midfield and back four, hence Gerrard and Lucas sat back where they did. More often than not it felt like we had four up front, not one. It's no wonder that they had trouble marking us when Kuyt, Raul, Suarez and to a lesser extent Maxi had free reign to run in on those killer diagonal runs.

Were Vidic and Ferdinand key to that? Well, perhaps. I think there was a distinct lack of organisation around the United defence, but unfortunately we've seen that kind of thing happen even when Vidic or Rio have been there. I think they were fucked from the moment they stepped on the pitch, because there was a plan to put those four fast runners in the box a lot, keep the line high and stifle their game in midfield. Aside from a 10-15 minute period in the second half - worrying for me, because I saw them sitting back and looking for the 2-0 - United looked fucked. No imagination going forward, spilling passes.

You wouldn't believe just how little work Kyrgiakos and Skrtel had to do until you've seen the heatmaps - in total, they probably took no more than 25 touches between them for the whole game because Lucas, Gerrard and Maxi took all the sting out of Rooney and Berbatov.

It's frightening how effective they were at doing the job. I said a few months ago, and something maintained through the Rafa years, that Lucas wasn't effective enough in defence. I'm glad I was wrong - he's highly effective sitting in front of the centre halfs, and provided with some defensive midfield cover, like Gerrard, perfect for the job at the moment, he's got license to get forward. The issues with Lucas were clearly tactical ones - in the first half of the season Maxi would be coming inside to cover for him (we were wondering what he was for) and he'd be redundant, but now, well... words gladly eaten.

Best players for us? All of them, but Suarez was king. Sotos did his job well - I don't rate him as a defender, I think he's too overtly physical and plays a dangerous game - but the hidden star was Lucas.

For United? Wes Brown, shockingly, although his defensive discipline was at times pretty crap. Supposed to be the organiser back there. Poor show in that respect, especially for Kuyt's third. The only running back he did to cover for spillages was with his fucking hand up shouting for offside. Carrick was a bit of a midfield stalwart though. Quietly impressive.




COME ON ARSENAL.

Probably Not :lol:
Be interesting where United go from here

Deserved result, will be interesting to see whether they can back it up for their next game

=d> thats all I did once the final :-" blew :cool:
Suarez is just the tonic we needed up front ala KK days, win of the season as far as I'm concerned =d>

Our only real concern is Agger and Kelly's fitness and they can be compensated for.

Suarez was simply magnificent. His movement and interplay with kuyt was first class!

With Carroll coming in and Kuyt, Raul and Gerrard hitting some form, things are definitely looking up for us :)

Loved it when the kop started singing happy Birthday to Kenny.

I will man up and congratulate you and Liverpool. Too good on the day. Enjoy.

=d>

Edited by busbybabe: 7/3/2011 09:29:14 AM

Couldnt agree more

What a player Suarez is going to be for us, phenominal!!!

YNWA

Excellent performance from all involved. Can't really fault anyone in that. People are saying United were poor, but they were only as good as we let them be.

Kuyt, Suarez and Lucas had a great day. Meireles' contribution was superb. Gerrard deserved a goal late on there.

My favourite game this season. :)

Brilliant. Everyone, but particularly Suarez, Kuyt and Lucas. Meireles in the first half too.