Liverpool v. Internazionale [R] 1st Leg

The only Italian in the squad did that in the first half.

 

BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE!!!made my cat (stevie g) sh!t herself (not literally) when the second went in, she's hiding in a corner now lol, well done lads just what we needed

 

That's what makes it great -- they'd not lost in 29 games in Serie A and the CL.

Red card or not that's monumental as our pressure and speed of play caused the cards.

 

great result now lets finish it, Matta didnt deserve to be sent off, but we outplayed em from the start, and we had a blatant penalty denied

 

MiniLB and I were shouting the Steve Gerrard song so loud that both our cats ran for cover.

GO BACK TO ITALY

 

Now that is what is known in the trade as a fucking right good larruping. I know "it's only half-time" yadda yadda, but we've not dominated a team like that all season. In fact, we've not dominated a team like that since the last time an Italian team came to Anfield. I'm sure the Inter fans will be citing the very soft sending off of Materazzi as the main cause of their total failure to show up, but let's be straight here: they thought they had it made once they got the chance to just sit in their final third and defend, with no onus upon them, as the away side in a big European tie, to attack or trie to win. But for once we had dominance with a purpose. Unlike against Barnsley (and many, many - oh so many - others), we had possession that clearly, visibly counted. And count it did. Kuyt's goal was a smidgen fortuitous, but then if anyone deserves a break it's that big, ginger lug. And Gerrard's goal was ... well. Gerrard.

Given our season to date, I wouldn't rule out going to the San Siro and getting tonked 5-0, but then before we scored I also didn't rule out going there with a 0-0 and winning, so all things told, I'll buy that for a dollar!

Brilliant night at Anfield by the sounds of it - even more gutted I had to turn the ticket down now.

 

Wow I can hardly even breathe, what a game! This is why the fans will always support Rafa despite our many downs in the past 4 years.

Until the 85th I didn't know whether to be happy that we're controlling the game against the in form team in Europe or to be upset that we can't seem to score while dominating. Thank God for the two goals in the end or else this would have been another disaster.

I'm not happy about the way we played but somehow we managed to score two goals. If the ref had been awake we would have at least two penalties to add to the scoreline. This is a great lead to take to Italy. Make no mistake though, Inter will be a different team at the San Siro and the players will have it a lot harder.

 

Me, too, I'm so excited that I'm literally having trouble breathing!

Dirk Kuyt officially gets a free pass from any criticism for the next three weeks.

 

They'd be silly to, Stankovic handled the ball with his hands and the ref didn't call anything. Ibrahimovic made contact with his arm that could have been a penalty. And the most obvious was Vieira's blatant handling of the ball in the box that robbed us of a clear cut penalty in the eyes of any competent.

The Inter fans should only be angry at themselves for such a spineless performance.

 

1-0 Kuijt (Min 86)

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Is Materazzi out for the return leg as well due to suspension? If so we may be sitting pretty with a 2-0 lead when we head to the San Siro.

 

Totally agree! What an embarrassing performance from the overrated Italian champion (even with 10 men you can't play so destructive)!

Congrats on the important 2:0 win against Intermerda, I knew that you would be able to beat them! Well done, dear Scousers!


PS: What a sensational shot from Steven Gerrard!

 

'd say we'd be better off if he plays. He's a total liability - always has been.

 

Of course, he'll be out!

 

Bigger question is the status of Cordoba?

Like Matt said a good old fashioned butt kicking.

This is why I love Liverpool -- and football in general-- in the dumps on Saturday and in the sky on Tuesday.

 

It would still be idiotic to go into the second leg overconfident. Like Matt said, we could get trounced by Inter in three weeks and render this win irrelevant. The players have to focus and prepare for one of their toughest matches in their careers because Inter is going to come out swinging. You're not going to see the apprehensive cautious side that played today but the side that scored close to 50 goals in Seria A.

And now for some constructive criticism. The shape of our attack is much too predictable and linear. It was no wonder we failed to score for 85 minutes. Everytime someone had the ball you could immediately guess which way it would go. The pattern is usually sending the bal out to the flanks and then a long ball into the box expecting something to happen. That must have been repeated close to 20 times tonight and only once did it result in a goal. That one time mind you, was a bit fortunate. We have to adjust our game and play the ball quicker on the ground. Any other way the opposition will always anticipate and neutralize our attack.

We were also quite lucky that Inter's attack was nonexistent or else Aurelio would have been toast. I don't want to be overly critical or sound like I'm complaining in the aftermath of such a wonderful victory but I thought Fabio had an aweful match. His runs forwards were ineffective and he gave the ball away too often. I will never feel comfortable with him playing at the back. I would actually prefer Riise at the moment.

 

Before we scored I told my son we should bring on Riise for Aurelio -- he was wide open 25 yards from goal repeatedly -- it screamed for Riise. Still it worked out fine

 

2-0 Gerrard (Min 90)


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Why so he could punt it into the stands? Aurelio and Riise have both been really good at not being good. Make sense.

My neighbors came next door in my apartment to make sure everything was alright after Kuyt scored. I jumped up and yelled, knocking my shin on the coffee table uttering curse words and yelling.

Gerrard's shot was a rocket. I thought it got deflected. But no just a typical Gerrard screamer. And Kuyt's finish looked like something an in-form Torres would have produced not an out of form Dirk Kuyt. That finish makes me almost forgive him for his last months of terribleness...almost.

LB, did you take your kid out of school for the game?

 

Football is quite the odd game.

Lose to a Championship side only to outplay and beat the Italian champions

 

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Champions League, Round of 16
Liverpool (5th, Premier League) v. Internazionale (1st, Serie A)
Tuesday, 19th February, 20:45 (CET)
Anfield, Liverpool



:: Goals ::

1-0 Kuijt (Min 86)
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2-0 Gerrard (Min 90)
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:: Extras ::

Aurelio Free Kick (Min 4)
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Hyypia Header (Min 9)
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Materazzi Red Card (Min 30)
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The Assistant Referee Falls And Brake His Flag (Min 33)
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Cambiasso Shoot (Min 48)
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Torres Chance (Min 57)
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Hyypia Header (Min 58)
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Torres Shoot (Min 64)
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Managed to sneak out of the office and catch the last half hour. Wow, what a difference 72 hours makes...

The second goal plus keeping a clean sheet is huge. We've given ourselves a great chance to advance, let's finish it off in Milan.

 

Congrats on the win today we played like shit and desevered to lose, one of the most disgraceful performances I have seen from this team under Mancini. It was pretty clear even before the sending off we came to play from the back, and only attack on the counter, which I wanna slap Mancini in the face for, that's a small time tactic.

Maybe the players will wake the hell up for the 2nd leg and decided to play again but I won't count on it.