Liverpool vs Ludogorets Match Thread
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Forgot about Suso. Yeah get him involved
We're gonna lose. Lose. LOSE !!!
Yep I agree, but with Lambert alongside him we'd simply be playing two relatively static strikers.
May not be a massive issue, depends on this ludo team, I have no idea what the fuck to expect.
http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/170786-ludogorets-too-soon-for-fit-again-skrtel
"Martin Skrtel has resumed training – but Tuesday's Champions League tie with Ludogorets will come too soon for the centre-back."
"Martin Skrtel has resumed training – but Tuesday's Champions League tie with Ludogorets will come too soon for the centre-back."
Damn you
http://int.soccerway.com/national/bulgaria/a-pfg/20142015/regular-season/r25721/
Ludo are 4th in their league. Played 8 games so far
Ludo are 4th in their league. Played 8 games so far
I like this team. I would also consider giving Suso a start in place of Lallana or Coutinho. And maybe Enrique for Moreno as well.
I would do this but with Borini instead of Lambert. I think Borini complements Balotelli better in the early stages than Lambert.
We would do well by not underestimating our opponents even though they are relatively unknown and sound like a disease.
It's far from the glamour tie Liverpool fans would have dreamed of upon the club's return to Champions League football as Brendan Rodgers' side take on Bulgarian minnows Ludogorets on Tuesday night.
The Bulgarian champions earned their place in this season's top European competition thanks to a dramatic Champions League play-off win against Steaua Bucharest in August.
How did they get to the Champions League group stage?
Promoted to the Bulgarian First Division in 2011, Ludogorets have managed to make history by winning three successive titles, largely thanks to the investments of businessman Kiril Domuschiev.
Ludogorets' summer campaign to claim a place in this season's Champions League group stages caught the neutrals' eye after a dramatic penalty shootout win against Steaua Bucharest in August.
As the tie was forced into extra-time, Romanian defender Cosmin Moti came to his side's rescue following the 119th minute dismissal of goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov.
Moti, forced to wear the shirt of substitute keeper Ivan Cvorovic, was the hero of the night, scoring the first penalty for his side before making brilliant diving saves to deny Paul Pirvulescu and Cornel Rapa as Ludogorets won the shootout 6-5 to spark wild scenes.
The club’s ground seats only 6,000 people and does not meet UEFA requirements, so their home games will be played 200 miles away in Sofia.
Domuschiev has plans to build a new stadium for the club and one of the stands will be named after Moti.
One to watch
Brazilian forward Marcelinho has the creativity to cause Liverpool problems if he's given too much time on the ball.
And with Rodgers claiming 'we have to defend better,' following Liverpool's 1-0 Premier League defeat against Aston Villa on Saturday, Marcelinho will be hoping to find the gaps between Liverpool's midfield and defence.
Who will be kicking Mario Balotelli into Row Z?
As long as he doesn't have to make another memorable cameo appearance in goal, Moti will be the one to let Super Mario know he's in a game.
Ludogorets captain Svetoslav Dyakov will try and fill holes, but he may be pre-occupied with the forward running of Liverpool's man of the moment Raheem Sterling.
How will they line-up?
Georgi Dermendzhiev's side are likely to line-up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with their 2014 Europa League talisman, Slovenian striker Roman Bezjak, leading the line.
Tuesday night's away side will try and settle into their own half and wait for chances on the counter-attack to make the most of their pacey wingers.
Should Liverpool break down Ludogorets' defence, you'd expect Balotelli and Co to end up on top as the Bulgarians have a habit of conceding late on.
Season so far
The Bulgarian champions haven't had the best of starts to their 2014-15 domestic campaign.
Ludogorets have won just 15 points from eight games but that's enough to keep them in fourth, just two points off the pace behind CSKA Sofia.
The Bulgarian champions earned their place in this season's top European competition thanks to a dramatic Champions League play-off win against Steaua Bucharest in August.
How did they get to the Champions League group stage?
Promoted to the Bulgarian First Division in 2011, Ludogorets have managed to make history by winning three successive titles, largely thanks to the investments of businessman Kiril Domuschiev.
Ludogorets' summer campaign to claim a place in this season's Champions League group stages caught the neutrals' eye after a dramatic penalty shootout win against Steaua Bucharest in August.
As the tie was forced into extra-time, Romanian defender Cosmin Moti came to his side's rescue following the 119th minute dismissal of goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov.
Moti, forced to wear the shirt of substitute keeper Ivan Cvorovic, was the hero of the night, scoring the first penalty for his side before making brilliant diving saves to deny Paul Pirvulescu and Cornel Rapa as Ludogorets won the shootout 6-5 to spark wild scenes.
The club’s ground seats only 6,000 people and does not meet UEFA requirements, so their home games will be played 200 miles away in Sofia.
Domuschiev has plans to build a new stadium for the club and one of the stands will be named after Moti.
One to watch
Brazilian forward Marcelinho has the creativity to cause Liverpool problems if he's given too much time on the ball.
And with Rodgers claiming 'we have to defend better,' following Liverpool's 1-0 Premier League defeat against Aston Villa on Saturday, Marcelinho will be hoping to find the gaps between Liverpool's midfield and defence.
Who will be kicking Mario Balotelli into Row Z?
As long as he doesn't have to make another memorable cameo appearance in goal, Moti will be the one to let Super Mario know he's in a game.
Ludogorets captain Svetoslav Dyakov will try and fill holes, but he may be pre-occupied with the forward running of Liverpool's man of the moment Raheem Sterling.
How will they line-up?
Georgi Dermendzhiev's side are likely to line-up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with their 2014 Europa League talisman, Slovenian striker Roman Bezjak, leading the line.
Tuesday night's away side will try and settle into their own half and wait for chances on the counter-attack to make the most of their pacey wingers.
Should Liverpool break down Ludogorets' defence, you'd expect Balotelli and Co to end up on top as the Bulgarians have a habit of conceding late on.
Season so far
The Bulgarian champions haven't had the best of starts to their 2014-15 domestic campaign.
Ludogorets have won just 15 points from eight games but that's enough to keep them in fourth, just two points off the pace behind CSKA Sofia.
I smiled just then when I read 'CSKA Sofia'. Takes me back to those glorious European campaigns of the late 70s and early 80s when we'd draw CSKA or any side with Dinamo in their name and I'd think 'they sound good' without having a clue who they were or where they were from.
I was really looking forward to this game, but for some reason since our performance at the weekend, and that fucking result and the way we played - I kind of feel I don't give a shit about this game. I wish I did not feel like this but seriously - our focus should be to win every game in the league. Don't feel much for this game at all.
Tony Barrett
Last updated at 12:01AM, September 16 2014
Over the past week, Brendan Rodgers has seen the signs and sensed the growing anticipation among Liverpool’s players and supporters. He has looked on with pride as Anfield has been adorned with Champions League livery and his squad has trained with the tournament’s specially commissioned footballs. It is new and it is exciting but at once it is neither of these things; managing in Europe’s elite is exactly as he long visualised it to be.
Casting his mind back to his days as youth team coach with Chelsea, when he would regularly accompany the first team on European assignments, Rodgers believes the experience he garnered then and his willingness to imagine himself in the role of leading actor rather than loyal understudy means he is not only aware of what awaits him in the Champions League, he is wholly prepared for it.
“I remember walking out of the tunnel when the teams (Chelsea and Manchester United) were coming out ahead of the Champions League final in Moscow and I was behind them, picturing myself as the manager in a Champions League final,” Rodgers said. “I was putting myself in that position and what it might be like. So when we were walking out in Moscow, I was framing the mindset that one day, if this was to happen, then I will have been here before.
“At that time in my mind I was preparing towards being the manager. With all the experiences of games in that period, they all helped me because in my mind I was looking at the game and making decisions as a manager. I was thinking of what could happen, so to arrive and be at that level is great. But we want to stay here and be successful in it and that’s the key.
“There have been many very good coaches that have never had the opportunity to work [at this level]. I feel totally relaxed at the level and around the big games. This is it. I have worked all my life as a coach. I have been able to sample it in a second position really from a coaching perspective so I know the dynamics around the Champions League and the excitement it brings to everyone involved. It’s something that I have really, really wanted to experience as a coach. At 41, to be able to get the chance to do it is really young, but it’s something I’m really looking forward to.”
That excitement is shared by everyone at Liverpool after a turbulent five-year absence from the competition that they have won five times, a British record. During that period the club have had four different managers, two sets of owners, been on the brink of administration and risked drifting so far from the elite that there might have been no way back.
That they are now preparing to resume their relationship with the European Cup is remarkable in itself given what has gone before and testament to the re-establishment of stability under Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the club’s owners, and the coaching skills of Rodgers.
As Rodgers hopes Ludogorets will discover, there is also an all-pervading sense of Liverpool looking to make up for lost time having realised what they had — two Champions League finals in three seasons and momentous victories over the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan — only after it was gone. “It hits home as soon as you actually see yourselves back in the Champions League how much it can actually be missed,” he said.
“I looked at the footballs yesterday. Little simple touches like that let you know this is where this club has to be.It went through a great period for many years at that level and then to be out of it — the struggles it brings when you’re not in it as well. For the players and everyone involved [being back] is something that brings the excitement. We have earned the right to be there, that’s the important thing.”
Liverpool’s recent progress on the pitch is being mirrored off it, with plans for Anfield to be redeveloped and its capacity increased to 60,000 having been recommended for approval by city council planners. It is a far cry from the situation when they were last involved in the Champions League five years ago, when stadium promises made by Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the previous owners, had been found to be empty and Liverpool’s fortunes plummeted to the extent that Rafael Benítez ended up parting company with the club just 12 months after guiding them to second in the Premier League.
That reversal of fortunes, the accompanying return of belief and the desire of Rodgers and his young squad are firing Liverpool’s ambitions once more. In some ways, it harks back to the mood 50 years ago this week when Bill Shankly took Liverpool into the European Cup for the first time. Then, Shankly spoke of “this only being the beginning” as he looked to continue “the business of keeping Liverpool on the football map”.
Such words will ring familiar to Rodgers tonight but whereas his legendary predecessor made no bones about targeting lifting the trophy at the first attempt — “If we don’t win the cup it won’t be for a lack of trying,” Shankly said — the present Liverpool manager accepts that having come so far so soon his own immediate ambitions need to be more prosaic. “We will be really positive and try to qualify through the group,” he said. “That’s key for us. We are not looking at anything else other than that.”
Rodgers’s ability to visualise himself rubbing shoulders with the great and the good may have allowed him to prepare for managing in the Champions League but it does not extend to envisaging himself winning it. Not yet, anyway.
Last updated at 12:01AM, September 16 2014
Over the past week, Brendan Rodgers has seen the signs and sensed the growing anticipation among Liverpool’s players and supporters. He has looked on with pride as Anfield has been adorned with Champions League livery and his squad has trained with the tournament’s specially commissioned footballs. It is new and it is exciting but at once it is neither of these things; managing in Europe’s elite is exactly as he long visualised it to be.
Casting his mind back to his days as youth team coach with Chelsea, when he would regularly accompany the first team on European assignments, Rodgers believes the experience he garnered then and his willingness to imagine himself in the role of leading actor rather than loyal understudy means he is not only aware of what awaits him in the Champions League, he is wholly prepared for it.
“I remember walking out of the tunnel when the teams (Chelsea and Manchester United) were coming out ahead of the Champions League final in Moscow and I was behind them, picturing myself as the manager in a Champions League final,” Rodgers said. “I was putting myself in that position and what it might be like. So when we were walking out in Moscow, I was framing the mindset that one day, if this was to happen, then I will have been here before.
“At that time in my mind I was preparing towards being the manager. With all the experiences of games in that period, they all helped me because in my mind I was looking at the game and making decisions as a manager. I was thinking of what could happen, so to arrive and be at that level is great. But we want to stay here and be successful in it and that’s the key.
“There have been many very good coaches that have never had the opportunity to work [at this level]. I feel totally relaxed at the level and around the big games. This is it. I have worked all my life as a coach. I have been able to sample it in a second position really from a coaching perspective so I know the dynamics around the Champions League and the excitement it brings to everyone involved. It’s something that I have really, really wanted to experience as a coach. At 41, to be able to get the chance to do it is really young, but it’s something I’m really looking forward to.”
That excitement is shared by everyone at Liverpool after a turbulent five-year absence from the competition that they have won five times, a British record. During that period the club have had four different managers, two sets of owners, been on the brink of administration and risked drifting so far from the elite that there might have been no way back.
That they are now preparing to resume their relationship with the European Cup is remarkable in itself given what has gone before and testament to the re-establishment of stability under Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the club’s owners, and the coaching skills of Rodgers.
As Rodgers hopes Ludogorets will discover, there is also an all-pervading sense of Liverpool looking to make up for lost time having realised what they had — two Champions League finals in three seasons and momentous victories over the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan — only after it was gone. “It hits home as soon as you actually see yourselves back in the Champions League how much it can actually be missed,” he said.
“I looked at the footballs yesterday. Little simple touches like that let you know this is where this club has to be.It went through a great period for many years at that level and then to be out of it — the struggles it brings when you’re not in it as well. For the players and everyone involved [being back] is something that brings the excitement. We have earned the right to be there, that’s the important thing.”
Liverpool’s recent progress on the pitch is being mirrored off it, with plans for Anfield to be redeveloped and its capacity increased to 60,000 having been recommended for approval by city council planners. It is a far cry from the situation when they were last involved in the Champions League five years ago, when stadium promises made by Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the previous owners, had been found to be empty and Liverpool’s fortunes plummeted to the extent that Rafael Benítez ended up parting company with the club just 12 months after guiding them to second in the Premier League.
That reversal of fortunes, the accompanying return of belief and the desire of Rodgers and his young squad are firing Liverpool’s ambitions once more. In some ways, it harks back to the mood 50 years ago this week when Bill Shankly took Liverpool into the European Cup for the first time. Then, Shankly spoke of “this only being the beginning” as he looked to continue “the business of keeping Liverpool on the football map”.
Such words will ring familiar to Rodgers tonight but whereas his legendary predecessor made no bones about targeting lifting the trophy at the first attempt — “If we don’t win the cup it won’t be for a lack of trying,” Shankly said — the present Liverpool manager accepts that having come so far so soon his own immediate ambitions need to be more prosaic. “We will be really positive and try to qualify through the group,” he said. “That’s key for us. We are not looking at anything else other than that.”
Rodgers’s ability to visualise himself rubbing shoulders with the great and the good may have allowed him to prepare for managing in the Champions League but it does not extend to envisaging himself winning it. Not yet, anyway.
Brendan Rodgers has vowed that Liverpool will treat Ludogorets as if they were facing Real Madrid on their return to the Champions League tonight.
Last season’s Barclays Premier League runners-up will end a five-year spell away from European club football’s most prestigious competition when the little-known Bulgarian side visit Anfield.
Despite the five-times European champions being the overwhelming favourites against the expected makeweights of group B, Rodgers is refusing to take Ludogorets lightly.
“We’ll respect them like we would if we were playing Real Madrid,” the Liverpool manager said.
“They play an open, attacking style and they’ll come here with confidence. They’ve worked hard to get here and we know they’ll be excited about coming to Anfield, one of the most iconic stadiums in the world.”
“We’re very excited to be in the Champions League. Five years is a long time to be out of it for a club like Liverpool. Our overriding objective first of all is to qualify and come out of the group. We’ll take it one game at a time and aim for three points.
“It is one of the great clubs with a rich European heritage, and the competition needs Liverpool in it. The key is to ensure we remain in it for the long term, and it is a challenge that excites us as well - for us there is no fear, we will embrace it.
“We want to be at the elite level and the Champions League is that.”
Liverpool go into the match looking to bounce back from their surprise 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday. Rodgers is hoping that disappointment will act as a wake-up call for his defence, and insists that his side need to improve at the back having kept only two clean sheets in their last 13 Premier League matches
“We need to be better in those areas. We were disappointed with how we conceded a goal at the weekend. We had five players making their Anfield debut and the cohesion does take a little bit of time.”
Rodgers remains positive about the form of Mario Balotelli despite him failing to sparkle on his first two appearance his £16 million move to Anfield from AC Milan. The Liverpool manager will be hoping that the Italy striker can make it third time lucky as he bids to embrace and has every confidence that he will relish the responsibility of leading the Liverpool frontline.
“Time will tell. The boy is only just in the door,” Rodgers said. “The best players enjoy that responsibility and I am sure it is one he is relishing but on the training field he is going to work hard to accept that responsibility knowing he has been brought in here to do a job which is to create and score goals and work hard.
“He was unfortunate he was ill last week and it was only on the morning of the game [Saturday’s defeat to Villa] he declared himself fit to play, which shows he really wanted to get out and play here.
“He is also experienced as well. He is arguably one of the most experienced players we have in terms of this competition and international calibre and at club level.”
Liverpool will be without Joe Allen, who has not yet recovered from a knee injury, but Raheem Sterling will start after being dropped to the bench for Saturday’s defeat to Villa.
Emre Can (ankle), Daniel Sturridge and Glen Johnson, who are both struggling with thigh problems, are all missing, while Lazar Markovic is suspended. Rodgers also confirmed that the game comes too soon for Martin Skrtel to make his return from injury.
Last season’s Barclays Premier League runners-up will end a five-year spell away from European club football’s most prestigious competition when the little-known Bulgarian side visit Anfield.
Despite the five-times European champions being the overwhelming favourites against the expected makeweights of group B, Rodgers is refusing to take Ludogorets lightly.
“We’ll respect them like we would if we were playing Real Madrid,” the Liverpool manager said.
“They play an open, attacking style and they’ll come here with confidence. They’ve worked hard to get here and we know they’ll be excited about coming to Anfield, one of the most iconic stadiums in the world.”
“We’re very excited to be in the Champions League. Five years is a long time to be out of it for a club like Liverpool. Our overriding objective first of all is to qualify and come out of the group. We’ll take it one game at a time and aim for three points.
“It is one of the great clubs with a rich European heritage, and the competition needs Liverpool in it. The key is to ensure we remain in it for the long term, and it is a challenge that excites us as well - for us there is no fear, we will embrace it.
“We want to be at the elite level and the Champions League is that.”
Liverpool go into the match looking to bounce back from their surprise 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday. Rodgers is hoping that disappointment will act as a wake-up call for his defence, and insists that his side need to improve at the back having kept only two clean sheets in their last 13 Premier League matches
“We need to be better in those areas. We were disappointed with how we conceded a goal at the weekend. We had five players making their Anfield debut and the cohesion does take a little bit of time.”
Rodgers remains positive about the form of Mario Balotelli despite him failing to sparkle on his first two appearance his £16 million move to Anfield from AC Milan. The Liverpool manager will be hoping that the Italy striker can make it third time lucky as he bids to embrace and has every confidence that he will relish the responsibility of leading the Liverpool frontline.
“Time will tell. The boy is only just in the door,” Rodgers said. “The best players enjoy that responsibility and I am sure it is one he is relishing but on the training field he is going to work hard to accept that responsibility knowing he has been brought in here to do a job which is to create and score goals and work hard.
“He was unfortunate he was ill last week and it was only on the morning of the game [Saturday’s defeat to Villa] he declared himself fit to play, which shows he really wanted to get out and play here.
“He is also experienced as well. He is arguably one of the most experienced players we have in terms of this competition and international calibre and at club level.”
Liverpool will be without Joe Allen, who has not yet recovered from a knee injury, but Raheem Sterling will start after being dropped to the bench for Saturday’s defeat to Villa.
Emre Can (ankle), Daniel Sturridge and Glen Johnson, who are both struggling with thigh problems, are all missing, while Lazar Markovic is suspended. Rodgers also confirmed that the game comes too soon for Martin Skrtel to make his return from injury.
Training today.
Trivial, I know but, is the special CL training gear?
Have we ever had special CL training gear before?
I.WANT.ANSWERS!!!
I hate all this Match Day 1 bollocks. And it's a corporate wank fest. But fuck it, the competition is better with us in it. Their transfer fee record is £1.5 million. We should beat these right?
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