okay, its a tradition
so, brum away in an absolutely must game. brum are no mugs with none of the top 4 (manu, chelsea, arse and man city) taking all three points. it was always going to be a tough game.
rafa actually picked quite an attacking team; gerrard, yossi, maxi, kuyt and torres all in the same side.
the game started ridiculously slowly with brum content not to dictate the pace of the game despite being the home team, liverpool content to just prod and prob without exerting themselves which must have exasperated all the fans as 3 points were an absolute must.
the best chance of the half fell to maxi with an inch perfect cross to maxi from torres who met the cross brilliant and whether the keeper brilliantly pushed the shot onto the bar is unknown.
half time - time running out
second half and gerrard scored an absolute peach of a goal with an odd assist from johnson, definately looked like a cross, and then defensive frailties that has plagued liverpool all season long reared its ugly head.
It's difficult to know who to blame, for a start the shot shouldn't have been allowed to come in and almost to a man the entire back line was attracted to the crosser like moths to a flame, absloutely comical school boy errors. then you have the goal scorer ghosting into the box completely unmarked, seriously what the fuck is going on there? who is marking whom?
one is bad enough but the exact same thing happened again with bowyer ghosting into the box unmarked, what is the POINT of having a holding midfielder if runs from deep are unchecked? answers on a postcard please.
and then THE turning point of the match, rafa choosing to withdraw torres (later claiming torres was 'tired) look, let's not argue about torres being tired he clearly was, nando had done pretty much fuck all all game (except a brilliant cross) torres WAS tired the question is should a tired torres have remained on the pitch?
there are two examples that spring to mind; benfica away and villa away
villa away torres did absolutely nothing all game and then BANG one chance one goal, he is a special player and if you wanted chances to fall to any player (in the LEAGUE never mind liverpool) it would be nando. and you have the benfica game when he missed a glorious chance to win the game (you could also through in the two sitters at manu) he IS human but you would THINK he would have finished one of the glut of chances that fell to torres.
the thing is why did all the chances 'suddenly' start materialising the moment torres left the field
a number of reasons
1) brum were simply tired
2) with the likes of babel on the pitch brum were defending deeper to counter that pace
3) ngog was get to positions nando couldn't because he was tired or double teamed
4) johnson pushed up and was cutting them open time and time again
the truth is I think the chances would still have happened had torres remained on the pitch. torres was the first sub, yossi and kuyt could and maybe SHOULD have left the field before him.
it should be noted that rafa could genuinly have been protecting the player, there are five games to go and tiredness coupled with meaty challenges and who knows what might have happened. I personally would have left torres on the pitch but I can kinda see why rafa did it.
there is also the last chance of silverware on thursday that might have playing on rafa's mind as well.
people are ripping into ngog I actually thought he did quite well without being clinical, he got himself in front of the defender to get the header off, was in the right place to shot wide and brought down gerrard's cross brilliantly to only fluff his lines. but he PUT himself in the position to miss. he could easily have chosen to hide, being round booed when he came on (by the brum fans in case people thought our own fans was booing the decision to take torres off) but he stood up. its a lot of pressure for a 21 year old (birthday april 1st ha ha TRU FAX!) and he shouldn't be put in that position there should be more expensive to call on but the situation is what it is and he was a whisker away from making rafa's decision decision genius as it is with the misses rafa's decision instead looks like madness.
well onwards and upwars but I feel 4th has well and truly gone and only a horrible end of season run to spurs and man city will let us in and that IF we win our games, but stranger things have happended
so, brum away in an absolutely must game. brum are no mugs with none of the top 4 (manu, chelsea, arse and man city) taking all three points. it was always going to be a tough game.
rafa actually picked quite an attacking team; gerrard, yossi, maxi, kuyt and torres all in the same side.
the game started ridiculously slowly with brum content not to dictate the pace of the game despite being the home team, liverpool content to just prod and prob without exerting themselves which must have exasperated all the fans as 3 points were an absolute must.
the best chance of the half fell to maxi with an inch perfect cross to maxi from torres who met the cross brilliant and whether the keeper brilliantly pushed the shot onto the bar is unknown.
half time - time running out
second half and gerrard scored an absolute peach of a goal with an odd assist from johnson, definately looked like a cross, and then defensive frailties that has plagued liverpool all season long reared its ugly head.
It's difficult to know who to blame, for a start the shot shouldn't have been allowed to come in and almost to a man the entire back line was attracted to the crosser like moths to a flame, absloutely comical school boy errors. then you have the goal scorer ghosting into the box completely unmarked, seriously what the fuck is going on there? who is marking whom?
one is bad enough but the exact same thing happened again with bowyer ghosting into the box unmarked, what is the POINT of having a holding midfielder if runs from deep are unchecked? answers on a postcard please.
and then THE turning point of the match, rafa choosing to withdraw torres (later claiming torres was 'tired) look, let's not argue about torres being tired he clearly was, nando had done pretty much fuck all all game (except a brilliant cross) torres WAS tired the question is should a tired torres have remained on the pitch?
there are two examples that spring to mind; benfica away and villa away
villa away torres did absolutely nothing all game and then BANG one chance one goal, he is a special player and if you wanted chances to fall to any player (in the LEAGUE never mind liverpool) it would be nando. and you have the benfica game when he missed a glorious chance to win the game (you could also through in the two sitters at manu) he IS human but you would THINK he would have finished one of the glut of chances that fell to torres.
the thing is why did all the chances 'suddenly' start materialising the moment torres left the field
a number of reasons
1) brum were simply tired
2) with the likes of babel on the pitch brum were defending deeper to counter that pace
3) ngog was get to positions nando couldn't because he was tired or double teamed
4) johnson pushed up and was cutting them open time and time again
the truth is I think the chances would still have happened had torres remained on the pitch. torres was the first sub, yossi and kuyt could and maybe SHOULD have left the field before him.
it should be noted that rafa could genuinly have been protecting the player, there are five games to go and tiredness coupled with meaty challenges and who knows what might have happened. I personally would have left torres on the pitch but I can kinda see why rafa did it.
there is also the last chance of silverware on thursday that might have playing on rafa's mind as well.
people are ripping into ngog I actually thought he did quite well without being clinical, he got himself in front of the defender to get the header off, was in the right place to shot wide and brought down gerrard's cross brilliantly to only fluff his lines. but he PUT himself in the position to miss. he could easily have chosen to hide, being round booed when he came on (by the brum fans in case people thought our own fans was booing the decision to take torres off) but he stood up. its a lot of pressure for a 21 year old (birthday april 1st ha ha TRU FAX!) and he shouldn't be put in that position there should be more expensive to call on but the situation is what it is and he was a whisker away from making rafa's decision decision genius as it is with the misses rafa's decision instead looks like madness.
well onwards and upwars but I feel 4th has well and truly gone and only a horrible end of season run to spurs and man city will let us in and that IF we win our games, but stranger things have happended
