Post-Match - Benfica (A)

[Ryan]

haven't read any other posts on the forum this evening, so apologies if some of this has been mentioned anyway, but I gotta be quick...

- Smashing game in a smashing stadium. If we ever get a shiny new bit of architecture to play in, I wouldn't mind it being something like that. Wonderful atmosphere all night long.

- Agger's goal was deflected. Off Luisao I think, and it was a significant defelection. Still, yet another super free-kick engineered by Benitez, I'm sure he's got zero credit for that too.

- Kuyt was our oustanding player on the pitch. Absolutely fantastic, and I'm pretty sure he did something well on every single blade of grass on that pitch tonight.

- They were knocking it about well prior to the sending off, but we were killing them on the break down our left. As predicted, Dirk tucked in to free up Babel, and the triumverate of Babel, Gerrard, and Torres attacking their left-back was working very effectively. We're 4-3-3 when we've got the ball these days, and the pace and skill of that three causes problems against everyone. We'd have got a decent result were it not for Babel.

- I kinda agree with Benitez re his reference to the Luisao tackle from behind being the worse of the offences, but there was still no need for Babel to put his hand in the Brazilian's face TWICE, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE REFEREE IS STANDING IN BETWEEN YOU. Stupid, stupid decision from Ryan and it fucked us.

- Gonna be very interesting to see how we back up in the league this weekend after that. That was a gruelling, intense 90 minutes, for the most part with 10 men, and we simply don't have a good enough squad to rotate things for the league. We'd do very well to get 3 points.

- And finally, yet more frustration from Torres. Seriously - what does he have to be annoyed about? I don't get it. Moaning, falling, diving, bitching, lying, and then missing a sitter with 10 minutes to go. He fucked me off royally tonight.

- What else?

EDIT: Oh, and Di Maria is the meeting. He won't be there next season anyway.

 

[krissr]

Cardozo's two penalties where fantastic

 

[Friend no. 2]

i fucking love nando, but that miss couldd codt us.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=krissr link=topic=39611.msg1080789#msg1080789 date=1270171127]
Cardozo's two penalties where fantastic
[/quote]

Yup, they were. I thought he was a fucking goat in the first half after all those missed headers, but he showed some nerve to battle his way back into the game after that. Two quality penalties, a free kick that broke the post into about 800 pices, and should have had another penalty too when Carra booted him in the shoulder.

 

[krissr]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=39611.msg1080794#msg1080794 date=1270171840]
[quote author=krissr link=topic=39611.msg1080789#msg1080789 date=1270171127]
Cardozo's two penalties where fantastic
[/quote]

Yup, they were. I thought he was a fucking goat in the first half after all those missed headers, but he showed some nerve to battle his way back into the game after that. Two quality penalties, a free kick that broke the post into about 800 pices, and should have had another penalty too when Carra booted him in the shoulder.
[/quote]

He's a fantastic goalscorer, i mentioned earlirer on in the season, who we could do well to get

 

[jimmy]

[quote author=GOD_23 link=topic=39611.msg1080790#msg1080790 date=1270171276]
i fucking love nando, but that miss couldd codt us.
[/quote]

He was exahusted so no surprise he missed. He got hardly any supporty since Babel got sent off and was there all on his own until Dirk joined himup for creating that chance. If we had Stevie of previous seasons we might have got more goals through the compbination of him and Torres on the break.

yes, and babel showed he lacked intelligence in general, not only math intelligence. I mean putting his hand on Luisao's face right in front of the ref's eyes!

 

[Hansern]

What could cost us the game was the ref.
The red card is a scandal in itself, but the real icing on the cake, is that the ref gives Luisao two yellow cards. One for the tackle and one for the push on Babel. Tv footage clearly shows this, but he didnt send him off. That my friends, is a fucking outragues scandal.

 

[Buddha]

[quote author=Hansern link=topic=39611.msg1080803#msg1080803 date=1270186242]
What could cost us the game was the ref.
The red card is a scandal in itself, but the real icing on the cake, is that the ref gives Luisao two yellow cards. One for the tackle and one for the push on Babel. Tv footage clearly shows this, but he didnt send him off. That my friends, is a fucking outragues scandal.
[/quote]

Really? There's not a jot about it in the media this morning.

If you're right we'd have serious grounds for complaint.

 

[Hansern]

There's a big story about it on Liverpool.no

I'll post more about it if there's an update


Oh, and the ref told Babel the red card was for putting his hand on Luisaos face.

 

[the count]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=39611.msg1080787#msg1080787 date=1270170840]


- And finally, yet more frustration from Torres. Seriously - what does he have to be annoyed about? I don't get it. Moaning, falling, diving, bitching, lying, and then missing a sitter with 10 minutes to go. He fucked me off royally tonight.

- What else?

EDIT: Oh, and Di Maria is the meeting. He won't be there next season anyway.
[/quote]

Come on Ryan. Fernando was getting hacked to bits constantly, predominently by the same couple of players, without getting feck all protection from the ref. He had plenty to moan about in my book.

Also it was hardly a sitter that he missed near the end. He had the keeper fooled and had him going the wrong way but just dragged his shot abit trying to tuck the ball into the botom corner.
Sure you would expect him to score but it wasn't a sitter, chances like that go a begging in most matches. It is just the Torres is normally so lethal in these circumstances that we have come to expect success every time. After the effort he put in all game and the fact that he was clearly knackered, I am willing to forgive him for his miss.

 

[Hansern]

http://msn.tv2sporten.no/fotball/europaligaen/her-faar-benficaspilleren-to-gule-kort-3174433.html

Here's the link with the evidence...

 

[Stulikesdrums]

I think Mascherano's performance is noteworthy. He was sometimes doing the job of two men because Lucas turned in, in my opinion, one of his worst ever displays in a Liverpool shirt. You can be sure that if it was one of his worst then it was one of the worst the club has ever seen because I can think of very few players who have been more undeserving of such a pivitol role in our team. This is Rafa's biggest blindspot and I think it'll end up costing him his job.

 

[mark1975]

Agree re Kuyt Ryan, he was intelligent in possession and linked well with Torres (as per), Masher deserves a massive pat on the back aswell though, I thought he put in a stella performance. He was running costantly deep and beyond with their players, winning everything while the defence was allowed to hold it's shape and stop anything from being played through.

As I said in the ratings thread, I was really fearing Benfica prior to the match, now I've seen them in action I'm largely unimpressed. I know they do have players that can hurt us, so we need to be careful, but I think Gerrard, Kuyt and Torres will do them at Anfield.

And despite what most people seemed to think, I thought Gerrard played well, he was all over the place in the second half AND chasing lost causes. I don't know what else people wanted with 10 men, him, Torres and Kuyt ran themselves into the ground.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

It twas like a scene from the Apocolypse, two gigantic forces set to clash under unfurled banners in the shimmering amphitheatre, home to the Benfica led by Jesus defending their citadel against the invading hordes of Liverpool marshalled by their General, Rafatollah. Iberinian heavyweights head to head.

I remember being at the 1978 European Cup final in Rome. We were denied access to the Olympic Stadium by the local broadcaster, they wouldn't even give us tickets, so Bob [Paisley, the Liverpool manager] chucked me a No 14 shirt and told me to sit beside him on the bench as a substitute. Can you imagine the privilege? It was the greatest match I've ever seen. The excitement was incredible. Before the game, the players were drumming their boots on the dressing-room floor. It was like the climax to Tristan and Isolde.
Lovely city Benfica.

HAHAHAHAHA

Bloody ‘ell. I mean Lisbon. HAHAHAHA. There isn’t a city called Benfica is there. I remember coming here in 77 with International It’s A Knockout. HAHA. Eddy Wareing, God Bless His Soul, got into a right pickle with a local fisherman.
It was a lovely morning yesterday. Not too hot, not too cold. Me and the wife started the day off with a light breakfast of orange juice, you could tell it had been freshly squeezed and still had all the bits in but I don’t mind that. Makes you feel you’re abroad. We also had some chipolatas. Isn’t it funny how sausages you get on the Continent always taste different to those you get back home. HAHAHAHA.

After breakfast we headed into Benfica Old Town. It was only two hours from the hotel so walked it. HAHAHA. Right along the sea front we walked. The smell of the sea brought back ancient memories of Armadas heading off to war or exploration.
I've never been brilliant in business. If you have an artistic bent, you're never going to be good at the logistics of business. I've no time for all that. I'm the man who ran Shit Travel - what a great venture that was.

I needed some new jewellery. I remembered being here in 1978 with International It’s A Knockout and there was a problem with Princess Margaret’s costume. We were due on air in an hour. So me and Eddy thought we’d head into City Centre to find a jeweller to get some replacement jewels for her costume tiara. Eddy thought it would be quicker to go by boat.
Young people used to come from school to see me when I was at the BBC in Manchester, to talk about a career in broadcasting, and I would always tell them, 'You must develop your own style.' There's no point taking a degree in 'media studies', whatever that is. You may as well do embroidery at Bolton university because that would be just as useful. No, give me the quirky, the off-piste, the stylish.

So, I found this jewellwers that me and Eddy had stumbled across 22 years ago and bought myself a nice new bronze medallion and emerald cuff-links. As we walked out the shop there was a poster of Emile Heskey in a sport shop window. What a player. Balletic. He could have been a dancer for the Kirov. Emile is a real artist, and that is that has gone out of the game. Neville Cardus once wrote of Frank Woolley, the Kent and England batsman, that his strokes 'were conceived in joy and performed at leisure'. Artistry, you see, not the stuff that we get today from Sky, who have hyped the game up as far as it can go. Nobody can pretend that watching Middlesbrough play Reading is five-star entertainment.

HAHAHAHA

When I first began, there were two engineers setting everything up for you. All you needed to do was talk into the microphone. Now, it's DIY. You have to clamber to row Z in the stratosphere, hauling three tons of kit like a pack mule. I was at Turf Moor the other day and I had to climb so high I was in need of oxygen. Looking out over the grey roofs of Burnley, I could scarcely observe the football, but I was so high I could see the Statue of Liberty. The weather was appalling. The rain was borne on a terrible west wind. Down below me appeared to be a shoal of silver sardines, swishing about in the gale. A thought occurred that I should have been at home in my slippers filling my pipe. But why was I there? Because Burnley played pure football.
I love words. Words like chocolate and custard and crystal and iconoclast.

Lisbon won 2-1.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

[quote author=the count link=topic=39611.msg1080817#msg1080817 date=1270193902]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=39611.msg1080787#msg1080787 date=1270170840]


- And finally, yet more frustration from Torres. Seriously - what does he have to be annoyed about? I don't get it. Moaning, falling, diving, bitching, lying, and then missing a sitter with 10 minutes to go. He fucked me off royally tonight.

- What else?

EDIT: Oh, and Di Maria is the meeting. He won't be there next season anyway.
[/quote]

Come on Ryan. Fernando was getting hacked to bits constantly, predominently by the same couple of players, without getting feck all protection from the ref. He had plenty to moan about in my book.[/quote]

Yup, it's hard to take Ryan seriously where after 50 minutes of getting hacked to pieces, you can't figure out why Torres would start sulking. I guess he's just not like Kuyt ...

 

[manwithnoname]

'Lucas is a good player'

He was boss yesterday. Again.

I honestly don't know why anyone reads these fucking threads

They're risible

 

[Jürgen4PM]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=39611.msg1080787#msg1080787 date=1270170840]

- And finally, yet more frustration from Torres. Seriously - what does he have to be annoyed about? I don't get it. Moaning, falling, diving, bitching, lying, and then missing a sitter with 10 minutes to go. He fucked me off royally tonight.

[/quote]

Me too.

He's been acting like a fucking proper girly at times this season.

 

[Oncy]

[quote author=Brendan link=topic=39611.msg1080841#msg1080841 date=1270197885]
'Lucas is a good player'

He was boss yesterday. Again.

I honestly don't know why anyone reads these fucking threads

They're risible
[/quote]Coz you know.....were into football and that.
Maybe if you just dont read them it would be better for you.

 

[Oncy]

PS-Stuart Halls effort is excellent.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Brendan link=topic=39611.msg1080841#msg1080841 date=1270197885]
'Lucas is a good player'

He was boss yesterday. Again.

I honestly don't know why anyone reads these fucking threads

They're risible
[/quote]

He is a good player, not that I said anything abput him in this thread.

If you don't like reading them, then don't you fucking whopper.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Hansern link=topic=39611.msg1080803#msg1080803 date=1270186242]
What could cost us the game was the ref.
The red card is a scandal in itself, but the real icing on the cake, is that the ref gives Luisao two yellow cards. One for the tackle and one for the push on Babel. Tv footage clearly shows this, but he didnt send him off. That my friends, is a fucking outragues scandal.
[/quote]

Did he dish out a 2nd yellow just prior to the Babel red, or was that his yellow for the Torres tackle?

 

[spider-Neil]

ref definately shows luiso(sp) two yellows. I bet when he is brought to task he will claim he showed him the yellow and then showed him the yellow again to make sure he understood he got a yellow. cunt!

the two penalty decisions were correct though and with jamie almost dislocating the guys arm we were lucky not to give away a third.

 

[Oncy]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=39611.msg1080849#msg1080849 date=1270198474]
[quote author=Hansern link=topic=39611.msg1080803#msg1080803 date=1270186242]
What could cost us the game was the ref.
The red card is a scandal in itself, but the real icing on the cake, is that the ref gives Luisao two yellow cards. One for the tackle and one for the push on Babel. Tv footage clearly shows this, but he didnt send him off. That my friends, is a fucking outragues scandal.
[/quote]

Did he dish out a 2nd yellow just prior to the Babel red, or was that his yellow for the Torres tackle?
[/quote]He showed the yellow but Luisao was in the middle of barneying with Babel. Once they stopped he re-showed him the yellow and redded Babel.
Im starting to think we are Sheffield United with all the fucking crying our fans are doing.

 

[spider-Neil]

incompetent fucker. he should be barred from reffing again

 

[red_maradona]

although the babel red was probably justified I gotta say I loved his attitude of going in to remonstrate over the torres foul, he was the first lfc player there and it took a while for the others to get there - at one point he was surrounded by around 3/4 benica players - this bodes well for his attitude and challenging the perception that he doesn't give a monkeys.

 

[Jürgen4PM]

[quote author=the count link=topic=39611.msg1080817#msg1080817 date=1270193902]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=39611.msg1080787#msg1080787 date=1270170840]


- And finally, yet more frustration from Torres. Seriously - what does he have to be annoyed about? I don't get it. Moaning, falling, diving, bitching, lying, and then missing a sitter with 10 minutes to go. He fucked me off royally tonight.

- What else?

EDIT: Oh, and Di Maria is the meeting. He won't be there next season anyway.
[/quote]

Come on Ryan. Fernando was getting hacked to bits constantly, predominently by the same couple of players, without getting feck all protection from the ref. He had plenty to moan about in my book.

[/quote]

I could understand it if he started to whinge after taking a kicking for most of the game, but he was having hissy fits early in the first half.

 

[SaintGeorge67]

Fernando can do what he wants. He is beautiful.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=39611.msg1080860#msg1080860 date=1270198952]
[quote author=the count link=topic=39611.msg1080817#msg1080817 date=1270193902]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=39611.msg1080787#msg1080787 date=1270170840]


- And finally, yet more frustration from Torres. Seriously - what does he have to be annoyed about? I don't get it. Moaning, falling, diving, bitching, lying, and then missing a sitter with 10 minutes to go. He fucked me off royally tonight.

- What else?

EDIT: Oh, and Di Maria is the meeting. He won't be there next season anyway.
[/quote]

Come on Ryan. Fernando was getting hacked to bits constantly, predominently by the same couple of players, without getting feck all protection from the ref. He had plenty to moan about in my book.

[/quote]

I could understand it if he started to whinge after taking a kicking for most of the game, but he was having hissy fits early in the first half.
[/quote]

Correct. His attitude was shite early on for no real reason.

And as for "hacked to bits" - Well he was on the end of one bad tackle, the rest was him launching himself to the ground under any touch. He's a diver and we all know it.

 

[Oncy]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=39611.msg1080864#msg1080864 date=1270199176]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=39611.msg1080860#msg1080860 date=1270198952]
[quote author=the count link=topic=39611.msg1080817#msg1080817 date=1270193902]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=39611.msg1080787#msg1080787 date=1270170840]


- And finally, yet more frustration from Torres. Seriously - what does he have to be annoyed about? I don't get it. Moaning, falling, diving, bitching, lying, and then missing a sitter with 10 minutes to go. He fucked me off royally tonight.

- What else?

EDIT: Oh, and Di Maria is the meeting. He won't be there next season anyway.
[/quote]

Come on Ryan. Fernando was getting hacked to bits constantly, predominently by the same couple of players, without getting feck all protection from the ref. He had plenty to moan about in my book.

[/quote]

I could understand it if he started to whinge after taking a kicking for most of the game, but he was having hissy fits early in the first half.
[/quote]

Correct. His attitude was shite early on for no real reason.

And as for "hacked to bits" - Well he was on the end of one bad tackle, the rest was him launching himself to the ground under any touch. He's a diver and we all know it.
[/quote]I agree. He's a diving pussy.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Herr Onceared link=topic=39611.msg1080866#msg1080866 date=1270199252]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=39611.msg1080864#msg1080864 date=1270199176]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=39611.msg1080860#msg1080860 date=1270198952]
[quote author=the count link=topic=39611.msg1080817#msg1080817 date=1270193902]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=39611.msg1080787#msg1080787 date=1270170840]


- And finally, yet more frustration from Torres. Seriously - what does he have to be annoyed about? I don't get it. Moaning, falling, diving, bitching, lying, and then missing a sitter with 10 minutes to go. He fucked me off royally tonight.

- What else?

EDIT: Oh, and Di Maria is the meeting. He won't be there next season anyway.
[/quote]

Come on Ryan. Fernando was getting hacked to bits constantly, predominently by the same couple of players, without getting feck all protection from the ref. He had plenty to moan about in my book.

[/quote]

I could understand it if he started to whinge after taking a kicking for most of the game, but he was having hissy fits early in the first half.
[/quote]

Correct. His attitude was shite early on for no real reason.

And as for "hacked to bits" - Well he was on the end of one bad tackle, the rest was him launching himself to the ground under any touch. He's a diver and we all know it.
[/quote]I agree. He's a diving pussy.
[/quote]

Look, I'm not getting fucking moral about it, cos every striker does it, so fine no probs. But let's not pretend he was getting "hacked to bits" cos he wasn't. By the end the ref had stopped falling for it too.