Liverpool v. Internazionale [R] 1st Leg

It's not the greatest win in the world, but I imagine fans will take it. It lessens the pressure on Rafa a bit, sure, but there were far too many missed chances for my liking. Then again, we won, and I'm sitting on my ass in graduate school while Rafa is managing a team, so who gives a hoot what I think... Great evening all around.

 

What a fascinating match!
It was pretty clear as to what their intent was from the start. Play in their own half, soak it up our pressure and at the right moment pass to one of their 2 strikers, who hadn't touched the ball until then to score the away gaol to take back with them.

Liverpool's job was simple, to break down one of the all time best defenses and get a couple of goals

Their defense was good as well, they played well together and covered just as well.

After the half we started to pile on more pressure by adding Finnan and Aurelio to the fire, really stretching them but they continued to hold out

I was starting to look like they were going to frustrate us for the full 90 and then came sub time and a nice change in rhythm. I was beginning to get worried in the 84th minute then the ball fell to our favourite player in the Box and Bam! 1- 0.
I didn't feel like one was enough and was still apprehensive until Captain Fantastic pumped in that second.


2 - 0 was just the score I was hoping for. Should we for some strange reason score a goal in the San Siro, Inter would be in deep shit, they'd need 4 goals to win.


Watched 3 matches today and ours was the most entertaining by far.
FORZA Liverpool sempre!!!

 

East Coast he got out at 3 so he missed the first half hour, He's a senior in high school. Not really a kid.

 

It was fun, wasn't it?

And on the cards for the ex-BlueShite, I watched those games as well and saw yellows handed out for much less in the Roma/Real match. So I will take what we got. YNWA

 

Well we got lucky.

Inter seems to go about their business clutching and grabbing those who go around them, and the ref was having none of it. Still those were harsh yellows, borderline preposterous to have shown the red.

But, alas, the breaks went our way.

Terrific vindication for Kuyt. His best game of the year. He was everywhere.

Gerrard's goal was unexpected, and brilliant that the team still pushed for the second.

Where has this team been all year? We were outplaying Inter even before the red card was shown.

Simply a terrific night for us fans.

 

Someone really doesn't like Liverpool.

 

I'm about to turn in for the night, and I'm still buzzing from the win. Holding a team of Inters calibre to 0 shots in the first half is incredible. Nobody played poorly (for us at least!), a very good performance all around, from start to finish.

Not even sure who MOTM would go to. Kuyt was everywhere, Carra and Hyypia kept Ibrahimovic completely quiet, Finnan got a handful of balls into the box, Babel really impressed in the first half, Gerrard scored one of his finest ever goals. And of course Masch... He was a monster all game. Inter would have held even less possession if some calls that should have gone Masch's way actually did.

Only real down point was the quality of the crosses and set pieces. I think we could have done considerably.

Oh and Tommy Smyth is a cunt. I was kind of excited for ESPN to be showing Euros this summer, until I realized who was commentating them.

 

if it were not for Pennant, who provided the service for Kuijt's and Gerrard's goals, and for Kuijt for his knee knocker.

Mascherano can completely boss a midfield. fearless little guy. sort of like Makelele a while back, not that i like Makelele, mind, but you have to give him his propers.

personally, between Tevez and Mascherano, i take Javier.

 

Yet, it's in the simple inaccuracies that he's reassuring; he wasn't watching Liverpool v Inter last night.:-

 

I'm sure it's all been said here already, but, oh my god, I just finished watching and just have to share the relief/joy.

Marco Materrazzi, what can I say? I cheered for him in the WC final and I cheered for him again, today Quite honestly, I thought his sending off was a bit harsh, but I'll take it b/c the ref wouldn't call a hand ball on Inter no matter how blatant. For so long, it was the same old story: Liverpool dominate possession and are utterly sterile at finishing. When that French piece of crap Vieira escaped getting whistled for an obvious hand ball, I was convinced it would be a crushing 0-0. Now, can it be that we're about to do the tournament favorites again? Hell yes, Rafa knows Europe. I'm clinging to this "upbeat" feeling for as long as I can 'cause lord knows our boys have delivered their fare share of disappointments this season. Too bad we have to wait three weeks for the return leg at the San Siro. Snatching one goal away should be enough to go through.

Whoa... YNWA!!

 

I have to say, and I know it may be unpopular, but I think this guy's hit it. I just finished watching not 5 minutes ago and I found myself asking the same questions of Rafa, this match, as this writer did. That said, I'm just so pleased to have a 2-goal cushion heading to San Siro.

 

imo both cards for Materazzi were harsh. They were both fouls, the first for a trip and the second for a tug on Torres' shirt. It was clear from the opening exchanges that Materazzi was beaten for pace by a sharp Torres. He knew it as well and did what many CB's would have done when Torres got goal-side and gave a sly niggling foul on Torres (a shirt tug to steal momentum). Normally I would expect a free kick for each foul and a talking to but not both offences meriting a yellow card. Referees (at least in the Prem) are more lenient about this sort of thing and so I was surprised but not displeased to see Materazzi walk.

I can understand the Italians/Argentinian side being upset with the red card. I would be upset if one of our players got sent off for two such soft challenges. It should also be said that Inter had some fortune of their own when Vieyra clearly handled the ball in the area from Gerrard's attempted flick. The ball was not blasted into his face so he did not need to protect his face as such. A clear penalty that Vieyra was expecting to be given after he handled it.

As it was Inter were reduced to nothing as an attacking force (which I was not complaining about). Thankfully Zlatan was starved of the ball and completely isolated with Liverpool easily stifling any forward thrusts from Inter. Essentially Inter could not get or keep possession at all. I am sure Inter fans would agree that this was the worst performance their team has had for months and months. Liverpool passed very well and were dominant and threatening even before the red card.

Cordoba is likely to make the second leg and may be out for months. Materazzi will be suspended for the return leg. Inter have some amazing players but Liverpool denied them the ball yesterday with their possession and pressing. I understand that Inter will be stronger at home and will show more but Liverpool are now in a very strong position tactically. The tie is still alive but the onus is now on Inter to score twice without conceding, anything less and Liverpool are through.

 

torres had been fouled three times previous to the first card, so persistent infringement comes into play.

 

An interesting computer simulation of the goals. (I am not sure if this will work outside UK but it might do).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/02/20/ufnchampionsleague120.xml

 

Materazzi was foolish with his 2nd booking, he shouldve known better.

Out of the 3 "handballs" i think only Vieira's shouldve been a pen. Ibra was clearly trying to get out of the way of his one and it hit him on more on the shoulder. Cordoba was on the ground, looking the wrong way when Carragher smacked the ball at his arm, ball to hand and totally unintentional.

Rafa got it spot on and definitely won the tactical battle with Mancini.

 

Granted Benitez exploited their weakness but I saw a match over the weekend against Livorno. Then, they were very confident, passing the ball well. At Anfield, they froze, literally with very effort to go and score. Of course, against Livorno, they didn't have Materazzi (whose suspension could be a positive for them in 3 weeks), Cruz and Ibrahimovic which could be a major reason. I can understand, though, as we played absolutely rubbish in the first 3 Champions League matches. Then we had 3 more games to recover: they only have one. I doubt that they will be this bad at San Siro but they have left themselves a huge task. Ruling out nothing, of course.

 

I felt Mancini's decision to put Chivu at LB with Maxwell LW and Stankovic CM backfired. Why test out something like that in such an important match? I felt Crespo (great at exploiting the offside trap and has done well against Liverpool in the past) or Suazo (his pace was needed) were better options than Cruz upfront. And terrible decision to bring on Vieira and not even use his 3rd sub since his players were getting tired, being a man down.

The possesion and pressing game of Liverpool worked really well.

 

To be fair, nobody saw those two goals coming, so predictable had Liverpool been up to that point. I reckon Mancini didn't want to disrupt what was looking a good containing-job with only 5 minutes to go. His biggest mistake, I think and I am on shaky ground here as I have only seen 2 Inter matches this season, was setting out to defend for 90 minutes and hope for fortuitous break or set-piece to steal a goal. That seemed poor.

 

Seems I can't rep you for this but thanks for posting. Funny how the memories can fool you a little over time. My excuse was, for as big as I am, I didn't always have a clear view with the mob we had standing (for the most part) on the Kop that night.

So let's see how the return goes this time around, we went in with a 2 goal lead last time.

 

I was glad that Crespo never got the chance to leave the bench. The guy has scored some huge goals against us. I also thought Suazo would be put on for Zlatan late in the game, in the hopes of catching us on the counter. Dude is fast as shit.

I can't really argue with bringing on Vieira though. He wanted to lock up shop and Vieira's defensive presence and workrate helped in that regard. Of course, he should have given us the first goal with that terrible no-call on the handball.

Inter looked absolutely out of sorts. Liverpool looked good in possession (60/40 before Materazzi got rightly sent off), but our crossing was just atrocious. There was not one decent ball put into the box from a deadball, nor from the run of play, until Pennant put in the one that was the eventual winner.

Great finish from Kuyt. His game isn't pretty, but he has been a proven, clinical finisher in the past (never in a Red shirt, however), so it's good to see him coming into form somewhat. Two goals in two games should help his confidence.

2-0 to the good heading to Milan. Not a bad position at all. Just need to score one away goal and we should be golden.