Ratings - Liverpool vs Ateltico Madrid

[Frogfish]

As always - 1st half / 2nd half ratings.

Reina - 6 & 6 - one save of note but otherwise a spectator (watching or picking the ball out of the net having had no chance) / 2nd half hardly touched the ball.
Insua - 6 & 7 - looked confident throughout and put in some excellent crosses.
Ayala - 4 & 6 - out of his depth and basic errors. Improved in the 2nd half as his nerves settled.
San Jose - 4 & 3 - see above. It is only fair to say that two teenagers against Aguero & Forlan is killing us though. / Oh dear - he seemed terrified whenever the ball came his way.
Johnson - 7 & 7.5 - looks one of our best players on the pitch / he is fast and covers a lot of ground. Excellent going forward - I'm excited to see him in Red this coming season.
Masherano - 5 & 6.5 - not involved. Needs to get fit otherwise he is bypassed. / Improved greatly in the 2nd half and went forward more than we are used to. Contrary to popular opinion on here I think he can play that role well - he plays more advanced when in Argentina's colours.
Lucas - 5 & 7 - anonymous, if he is playing in Xabi's position then he needs to get much more involved. / Much improved, and very well taken goal. Looked far more like the player we want him to be, moving forward, probing and creative.
Benayoun - 7 & 6 - twinkle toes, they can't get hold of him but his final ball needs to be better / off the pace in the 2nd half.
Kuyt - 5 & 5 - off the pace, early season Dirk. Ditto 2nd half until subbed.
Gerrard - 6.5 & 7 - not quite clicked either with Torres or by himself / made things tick once he dropped deeper.
Torres - 7 & 7.5 - he looks only a tad off the pace / sharpness. Looks very close. Has them worried every time he has the ball. / More support required as he looks ready for the season's opener. He is going to be a monster this year. Get your money on him now for top EPL Scorer.

Kelly - 6 - looks like good squad cover.
N'Gog - 5- last season I thought he looked like he had something about him - it didn't look like it in this cameo. Horrendous miss from an excellent chance to equalise. Needs to be calmer in critical situations.

Overall the defeat didn't bother me too much - it was entirely due to playing two very young inexperienced CBs and I'm confident we would have won this match comfortably had we have a normal CB pairing. We dominated possession and considering this was really 3 or 4 players short of our 'first team' then they did OK.

 

[Roger REDerer]

Insua - I'm fairly confident about him filling in the leftback slot whenever required. He's dependable and plays solidly. He kinda reminds me of Warnock. Safe, solid but nothing spectacular.

San Jose & Ayala - If these are the type of youth players Rafa sees as potential future players, then frankly, I'm filled with nothing but pessimism. Totally and utterly out of their depth. Not even remotely close to the standards required.

Kelly - I like this lad. He doesn't take shit and doesn't give a toss who he's up against. He has that steely determined look in his eyes and I like these sort of players. If skill deserts you, you can always rely on your grit to save your life and Kelly's that sort of player.

Mascher - Rusty and needs at least 5-10 games to get his arse into top gear.

Lucas - He's ok for a backup CM but he's deffo no Alonso's stopgap. While he's improved, but both of them are still miles apart in terms of skills, class and what they both offer to the team respectively. So all hope lies on Aqualani now. Today's showing demonstrates how much we will miss Alonso. We lacked that fluidity in midfield and interchanging of passes between players running off each other and Alonso's usually the master for that sort of stuff.

Gerrard - Still rely a lot of him. If him and Torres are screwed, so are we. Simple as.

Yossi - Will be a useful squad player for this season. No doubt bout that.

Ngog - Pace and that's about it really. Nemeth and Pacheco should be ahead of him.

Johnson - Already he has shown he will contribute a lot to our right hand flank, in terms of attacking. Dynamic and pacy, he will be a good RWB. Defensive-wise, he's improved a lot since his Chavski days but still too early to judge, so verdict's still out.

Conclusion = All in all, it was a good workout for the lads but we're definitely nowhere near top gear and we need to be out of the blocks FAST once the season kicks off. I'm not exactly filled with confidence for nxt week's game against Spurs. Torres still looks he needs a few more games under his belt, still look a bit rusty. And frankly speaking, we don't really have a reliable backup striker after Torres. I'm quite worried for this season tbh. Definitely need another striker and am starting to think not getting Owen in might become a bad decision, however vile he is.

 

[Stulikesdrums]

It's a pre season game which is predominately for fine tuning fitness and what not.
Why are all our pre season games taken so seriously?

 

[Frogfish]

[quote author=Stu link=topic=35134.msg921241#msg921241 date=1249758360]
It's a pre season game which is predominately for fine tuning fitness and what not.
Why are all our pre season games taken so seriously?
[/quote]

I think it was just this one that, because the season kicks off next week, is taken as more of a barometer of where we are in terms of fitness and a system. And maybe because we all love LFC so much too ?

 

[Delinquent]

[quote author=Roger REDerer link=topic=35134.msg921199#msg921199 date=1249749156]
Insua - I'm fairly confident about him filling in the leftback slot whenever required. He's dependable and plays solidly. He kinda reminds me of Warnock. Safe, solid but nothing spectacular.

San Jose & Ayala - If these are the type of youth players Rafa sees as potential future players, then frankly, I'm filled with nothing but pessimism. Totally and utterly out of their depth. Not even remotely close to the standards required.

Kelly - I like this lad. He doesn't take shit and doesn't give a toss who he's up against. He has that steely determined look in his eyes and I like these sort of players. If skill deserts you, you can always rely on your grit to save your life and Kelly's that sort of player.

Mascher - Rusty and needs at least 5-10 games to get his arse into top gear.

Lucas - He's ok for a backup CM but he's deffo no Alonso's stopgap. While he's improved, but both of them are still miles apart in terms of skills, class and what they both offer to the team respectively. So all hope lies on Aqualani now. Today's showing demonstrates how much we will miss Alonso. We lacked that fluidity in midfield and interchanging of passes between players running off each other and Alonso's usually the master for that sort of stuff.

Gerrard - Still rely a lot of him. If him and Torres are screwed, so are we. Simple as.

Yossi - Will be a useful squad player for this season. No doubt bout that.

Ngog - Pace and that's about it really. Nemeth and Pacheco should be ahead of him.

Johnson - Already he has shown he will contribute a lot to our right hand flank, in terms of attacking. Dynamic and pacy, he will be a good RWB. Defensive-wise, he's improved a lot since his Chavski days but still too early to judge, so verdict's still out.

Conclusion = All in all, it was a good workout for the lads but we're definitely nowhere near top gear and we need to be out of the blocks FAST once the season kicks off. I'm not exactly filled with confidence for nxt week's game against Spurs. Torres still looks he needs a few more games under his belt, still look a bit rusty. And frankly speaking, we don't really have a reliable backup striker after Torres. I'm quite worried for this season tbh. Definitely need another striker and am starting to think not getting Owen in might become a bad decision, however vile he is.
[/quote]

WOW. That's a remarkably balanced post Roger. On the whole, I agree.

*takes a note of the time and date*

 

[cochyn]

[quote author=Delinquent link=topic=35134.msg921260#msg921260 date=1249760235]

WOW. That's a remarkably balanced post Roger. On the whole, I agree.

*takes a note of the time and date*
[/quote]

Just as shocked as you are!!!