Matchday 1: FC Porto vs. Liverpool FC [R]

Agger apparently had a slight knock before hand.

I think the ease with which they were going past the defenders had Liverpool losing shape. But that was a wicked ball behind and beyond Hyypia.

I think the point has been made that although Porto played brilliantly we were equally diabolical; yet we didn't lose and that is heartening. Also, the fact that Porto created far too few chances from all that possession and couldn't score from those they had showed we are still difficult to beat. Even Carragher wryly said we need to tighten up the defence so as not to concede penalties

Pennant will learn. They will make sure of that at Melwood. Benitez said that, at half-time, they had told him to stay on his feet all the time but he simply lost it. And they were ready to take him off when he got sent off.
[note to self]So maybe, he does watch the game, eh?[/end of note to self]

That's more like it.

 

Red, Is this qoute referring to whether I watch the games???

Anyway, just finished watching the game, I had to record it as I was working, and just wanted to ask if anyone saw Gerrard and Torres out there today???

 

Nope. I meant Benitez During the match I kept wondering if Benitez was noticing the disciplinary tight rope which Pennant was walking. As his post-match comments suggest, the bench was actually in the process of substituting him. Too late, as it turned out.

I think Torres was starved off service to be honest-- heck we could hardly string 2 passes together and he was forced to feed off scraps. Gerrard did come alive at the end as Porto started to look ragged and almost conjured an unlikely winner. For the majority of the match he was far too invisible for comfort. Most likely still building up to full match-sharpness.

 

The game was a bit unusual in that so much of the play occurred on the wings and much less in the middle. I guess wing-play is a strength of Porto and Rafa had instructed Pennant and Babel to stay out wide to help nullify this. The consequence was that there was a lot of space in the middle but no-one really tried to exploit that and instead spread play into the wide areas.

I think we could have won this match with 11 men but we'll never know. In the circumstances a draw was good for us. People should not get too upset with the performance as we were one man down for a lot of the match. The Liverpool fans were singing and the Porto fans were whistling at the end. This showed who got the best result. In the Group stages it is so important to win your home games and then try and get something in at least one away match. Liverpool are on course for that, Porto blew their chance to collect 3 pts and may regret it.

Porto were impressive in their play but not impressive in their ability to finish. Liverpool do have a strong defense though so not being able to score against us (except from a penalty) is not so bad. It is interesting to note that Porto did not really work the ball into their players in the penalty area. Their key tactic was to get the ball out wide and cross the ball into the penalty area. I assume this is a common tactic of their play. This was the reason why Hyypia was in the side - to deal with these crosses. He was important to cut out these crosses and deal with all the corners from Porto. He also got an assist for Kuyt's goal. It was for his ariel prowess that he was selected. He is slower than Agger but the main danger was from crosses rather than quick attackers in the middle.

Liverpool will improve and will beat teams as long as we keep all our men on the field. Porto and Liverpool to go through.

 

The interesting thing was the way in which Porto attacked our zonal marking system. They played a lot of long deep crosses to a runner who moved into the channel across the back in anticipation and then had two or three midfielders hanging back attacking the big empty space around our area that was created by the runner's movement. Take a bow, Porto tactical planners. Hope not too many EPL managers were watching.

 

Unless you're going to score from turnovers, you have to string together some passes to mount an effective offense, and Liverpool's sad display of passing was about as constipated as anything I've seen from the lads in quite a spell. It was everyone.

That, coupled with the fact that Porto closed down almost every offensive foray and pressured the ball so well that Liverpool kept finding themselves with few attacking options, made for a match that was destined to wind up 1-1.

Did the Reds have ZERO corners (or one?), and did the Reds have 3 shots to Porto's 11? It wasn't like Porto's defense was so stifling, tho' they played better than Liverpool, in my estimation. It was that the Reds kept shooting themselves in the foot.

 

I am not going through the whole thread so if I repeat some peoples posts I am sorry.
I for one think it was a good result, away from home against the second favorites in our group and coming away with a result, a win would have been icing on the cake.
Looking at their team, it will be a win at anfield, they were on top for the first 10 mins, after we equalised they were a typical european team, shot from distance, get as many corners as you can, which for English teams is bread and butter defending, and fall all over the place.
This was the one I was worried about, first game against someone like Porto, they were out to prove that last years finalists could be beaten, well we weren't which is a bonus.
We expected rolling around we were playing a portugese team, with a better ref at home a few of the play actors would have been booked.
The first half was by our standards pityful but we pulled it around in the second half, Gerrard was defending deep and that was obvious part of Rafa's plan. What I don't know is why was Agger not playing?

 

If I may opine here I am disappointed with Pennant. he needs to get a good reaming out from the coach. Dont think he is great but can be a solid player. but he just seemed like he was doing everything in his power to get sent off. some of hte things he did was just silly. i know he can do better but he has to put his head down and think of what his actions do to the team.

if he keeps getting selected and that is his attitude then you might as well play 10 V 11.

 

to be fair Pennant has played well this season in most (some?) of the games. Last night as just an off night for everyone (hopefully). Much as I disliked the performance, I love the result. 1-1 away at our top contenders is great.

If I were a Porto fan i'd be feeling pretty pissed - I'd have felt we were there for the taking. As a 'pool fan I'm pissed because I don't think their defence could have stood up to us if we were halfway decent.

 

I watched from my bed last night and now this morning I've waded through all the thread so I don't have anythig new to add.

Felt sorry for Torres, he must have said something so bad in the dressing room before the match that nobody wanted to play with him.

My wife was so Happy when the ref finally sent Pennant off, she was tired of me yelling a Rafa to get him out of there.

Some clever stuff by Porto, that brilliant move over Sami's hip by Quasimoto would have made Louganis proud and the recovery from the broken ribs that Babel inflicted on him, was even faster than Caragher's.

For all their running about and clever talk of skinning our defence.... if I didn't know the score I'd have thought we'd been beaten but in the end Pepe didn't have that much to do. He got hit with a couple of balls that shudda gone in but in the end we, the visiting team came away with a point from a team that brags about "No English team beating them at home"

1-1 going into Anfield. That away goal is so important, especially if we score first in our house.

Quasimoto .....No thanks...!!! He doesn't even like his own teammates.

 

You don't by chance think that this might be indicative of the quality of the rest of the Portuguese league, do you?

 

Yup. And last season we would have had ten corners and 15 shots and they would have beaten us 1-0.

Yeah ... if only this weren't the group stages ...

 

Away goals still come into play for tiebreakers, don't they? That's why we could have beaten Olympiakos 1-0 and advanced in 04-05, but once they scored we had to win 3-1.

 

Yet it works both ways. Last night we didn't concede a goal from a set-piece. Two man-marking teams, Chelsea and Porto, did, though. Actually, I thought our defending was edgy throughout, whether from set play or not.

 

If only......................Duh...!!!!

 

Seemingly, he hasn't learned anything, yet,

 

Rafa will school Pennant. Have no fears on that regard. Pennant let the team down. The important thing is he learns from that and does not repeat it.

 

Bit of an arrogant reply while saying he learned his lesson.
He'll be riding the pine for a game or two.

 

http://www.fatasyrafa.com/

I'm in!