Jeepers, Reina doesn't look very clever in both goals. In fact the entire defence looked hair-tearingly abysmal with Skrtel doing his usual back-turning deflections. At some stage, we are going to deal with the lack of composure on the ball and the average blocking of shots.
So it was all Reina's fault. It was only a full booded volley from 7 yards, simple pick up. Then he should have known the second would be a deflection. Dump the bum.
Left the house around 85 min to go to the girlfriend and by the time I get there I get a message "Fcuk off" from a mate... I knew as soon as it saw it that we conceded. We're just making it hard for ourselves. I still think we'll qualify but I'd rather we put it away today and let the young kids have some fun in Italy next game.
I don't know how I held back from dropping some major league f-bombs when that equalizer went in. Being with my in laws and my wife's abuela, I had to mind my manners. It was hard though... Next up Udinese. It's got to be a lot tighter at the back.
We're bound to give up some scoring chances playing 2 defenders, 7 midfielders, and 1 striker. We did everything we could to break up the buildup to their second goal. He got the shot off, it took a slight deflection. I felt Reina reacted slowly. He seemed stuck to the ground. Compared to what I saw from other goalkeepers in the past week I think a world class keeper would get something on that shot. Did anyone see Lloris at Lazio or Cech at Juventus? They put on a goalkeeping display. Cech gave up two goals that were more deflected than Young Boys' second but he had some brilliant close range reaction saves. Anyways, Suso and Cole were good. Their connection for the first goal was sublime. Shelvey also showed a lot of good touched and vision. Overall a pretty disappointing second half performance at home. Fortunately I think that had more to do with it being a midweek Europa League match and a weakened side. This won't feed over into our league performances.
LOL Bringing Suarez, Sterling and Gerrard off the bench seems to backfire for us every time. Games like this seem to happen and I cant really fault any of the players as no one was awful. I think the biggest problem was that with Gerrard and Sahin as the CM's and Downing and Henderson as the fullbacks we were always likely to allow them to walk through. Allen, Enrique or Coates should of came on to stabilize the team rather than our ultra attacking trio. Cole had a really good game and perhaps we can utilize him as some kind of supersub as I don't trust his little legs and non existent engine in the Prem, not just yet anyway. Impressed with Shelvey, he made this fantastic pass in the first half to Henderson which would of been the assist of the season, his overall game reminded me of Michu at Swansea. I really think he can be our 2nd regular goalscorer in the team given time. Pretty sure we'll get the draw in Italy to go through, but I hope we play a very strong side to get though.
their equalizer was atrocious - from so many perspectives. Could have scored the killer 10 seconds earlier and then AS USUAL failed to close down.
Still disappointed we gave up the second wonder goal so close to the final whistle, and just after we missed another golden opportunity to put the game out of reach. Very frustrated that we failed to secure a chance to advance before our final group game. Now we have to do it on the road. Blah.
I'd not be that drastic . Others were more culpable. Carragher was between 'n' 'twixt; he blocked Reina's view of the striker of the ball at the same without closing him down, and Skrtel turned his back on the shot inducing a wicked deflection. Before that Gerrard and Shelvey waved the midifeld runners through all the way from their box.
Don't forget Sahin's role. He was caught wrong-side of the ball and player when it mattered most. He still has a lot to learn defensively. When we lost the ball, I just about knew we'd be scored on. You could see it coming.
Yeah, that goal was coming. It was just the wasted chances but some of our players lose their heads when players run at them. For the 20 minutes I watched, we kept losing the ball for the simple reason that Young Boys' ran at each and whoever had the ball, and inevitably it was hoofed forwards.
Amazing how we're still going with the highs and lows. Win or "draw" a tough one, then toss away the, so easy we'll let the kids play. The upcoming Swansea match has me worried.
He had one very good tackle, and drew one very good foul. But, apart from that, he wasn't great without the ball. He was clean and simple with it, but he didn't have a great game. I think he was the best of a bad lot in midfield.
The problem was a tactical one. Once we had the lead we kept on attacking. Nothing wrong with attacking but in the last ten minutes we committed too many players to the attack, at a time when Young Boys HAD to attack because they were losing. We should have sat back and defended the lead and used only Suarez and Sterling on the break. Instead we had Gerrard and Sahin and Suarez and Assaidi and Sterling ALL attacking which left us too open at the back. Rodgers is supposed to be all about the possession, so he should have instructed the team to just hold the ball and keep possession rather than chasing a third goal.
Hindsight is always 20/20. If we had sat back and been bombarded and lost loads of possession, we'd have complained about that. I would have liked to have seen Assaidi come off, Cole move to midfield, and our shape become a 4-diamond-2, but this doesn't mean Rodger's made a bad decision. It just didn't work out. If Suarez shoots from outside the 18, or three other guys can finish a shot in the box, or Sahin runs back to defend before he has to (lack of urgency), or a bunch of other things, and we're not bemoaning the draw as if it were a loss. oh, btw, not meant to be directed to you, Rev, but, did Anzhi just beat Udinese 2-0 in Russia and knock them out? Weren't we just whinging for days about losing to them 0-1 in Russia? Anzi are group leaders/winner, and with our kids, we posted better results against them (home and away) than any any other team in our group. Yet, we act like we've done something horribly wrong.
It's the lack of confidence in possession. Very few are willing to get clattered while shielding the ball with the result that the instinct of most of our players is to get rid of the ball at the first hint of danger . I though Young Boys were technically better than we were, both when they had the ball and when they didn't.