OK people time for predictions

[Kopite]

Well - i was close!

 

I still think Josemi had a half decent game.

 

I agree Fink.

[LiverpoolFreak]

Momo man of the match for liverpool.... im going to be very harsh here but Nando and Cisse suck!

We had so many shots it wasnt funny we need some shooting practice!However most shot were from outside the box and the services to the strikers was very very poor!

Good to see Pongolle on at the end and the winner for predictions is Fink as he was the closest!

Another below par performace and the boo boys are out again!

[Moo]

I agree, Josemi played well indeed.

 

I am furious with that display tonight though.

Potter was on the pitch for 45 minutes more than he should have been.

And I can't think of a more abject performance from a Liverpool player than Morientes' tonight.

[Paul]

Thank fuck for that! Why did they just seem to give up in the second half? They really let us off the hook. I know we kept the ball better, but even so, they seemed to really fade.

 

Big Mo looked good again and I'm gutted he didn't score in front of The Kop, but Nando looks like he's really low on concentration, not to mention confidence. He gave it away cheaply, looked leaden-footed and got easily knocked off the ball. He's clearly class, as the little glimpses of his touch and vision show, but he doesn't look right at all.

 

Overall, I'm glad we're through, and it was nice that The Pong got a farewell appearance in - if not a goal.

[Naz17]

Fucks sake we still are yet to play decently. Glimpses in the second half but overall another shocking performance. Without Sissoko, we looked like a nothing team. How many times do we wanna play possession football between the centre backs before piling it 60 yards to no avail! Just fucking poor, we need to get our acts together seriously. Don't even look half the team we were last season.

[LiverpoolFreak]

I dont know if im being fickle but tonight performace really made me sick. Last year there were only 3 performances that made me as sick as tonight performance. Away to Borough, Away to Birmingham and Away to Southampton! Do you guys sort of have an idea why rumours are around about Rafa wanting to get rid of Cisse. I am going to say this and i hope to be proved wrong but Nando has been a major flop. With all the hype surrounding him it was one hell of a flop!

[Dirk]

Tonight's performance made me sick too.

[Fink]

Nando looks ..err heavy and slow in mind and body.

 

Definately needs to step it up.

 

Momo is looking like the finished article already!

[LiverpoolFreak]

yeah Momo looks good!unlucky with the cross bar! his going to get sent off soon LOL

[Paul]

Nando looks ..err heavy and slow in mind and body.

 

Definately needs to step it up.

Yep. It's very strange because he's obviously very talented.

[Naz17]

Deffo Moro has not lived up to the hype at all. He looks sluggish on the ball, the only time he looks like making a contribution is when he's going for a header. Very very poor, definitely has been a let down.

[MLB]

I thought we'd lose once I saw the teamsheet to be honest, but we played a lot better than I thought we would given the personnel. The only players to come out of it with any credit were Sissoko (who faded a bit in the second half), Cisse and Riise. Josemi was better than expected. The rest were either average or poor - especially Potter who has still not done a single thing to impress me in a Liverpool shirt. I don't even think he'll be better in the middle, to be honest. Oh, and Warnock still needs to work on his positional play, because he doesn't have the pace that Djimi has to correct his own mistakes.

[Paul]

Agree on Warnock and almost agree on Potter, who I think does have an eye for a pass - even if they don't always come off. I think tonight confirmed how much the defence relies on Carra's very vocal leadership; they were all over the place in terms of working together as a unit.

[Ian Cooper]

We were embarassing tonight, can't think of reasons to defend us against tomorrow's papers and critics - we were bad.

 

As I'm always one to pick out the good points Momo was once again a force in his own right, his touch lets him down and his vision for that clinical pass isn't there but I admire how he breaks down the play and loves a tackle.

 

Suicide midfield when you've got Hamann and Momo there, massive lack of creativity. Bit harsh criticism on Moro and Cisse, the support was hardly on a plate and they often dropped very deep to find it.

[Vincent Vega]

The omens are good, 2 goal away win v Graz and 1-0 defeat at home, 2 goal away win v Sofia and 1-0 defeat at home both in the CL 3rd qualifying round = repeat of Istanbul May 2005 in Paris in May 2006.

[Paul]

The omens are good, 2 goal away win v Graz and 1-0 defeat at home, 2 goal away win v Sofia and 1-0 defeat at home both in the CL 3rd qualifying round = repeat of Istanbul May 2005 in Paris in May 2006.

Woo-hoo! Number six, here we come!!! (Gotta love using science for predicting the future).

[andyfm]

I'm going to go against the flow and say I thought Cisse was poor and showed exactly why Rafa may not be keen on him.

 

He never came short to give the midfield an option, hardly ever chased back or ran down a defender. He seemed to play a way that suited him rather than the team, staying on the shoulder of the last defender (or beyond it) no matter what.

 

He also took his eye off the ball and play plenty of times, leading to the comic situation where the ball did not reach him so he threw his hands in the air to complain to the universe, meaning he was offside when Nando got the ball to him second attempt.

 

I thought Nando got in the right place for the team and just looked weak/slow and very low on confidence. I can't decide which is the main problem. Get him on the testosterone and weights!

 

Sissoko was excellent and I can see why Rafa screwed up his budget to get him. Warnock played well apart from his continual ballwatching. If that can be coached out of him, he will be a very good left back. Josemi was much better once he stopped diving in inappropriately.

 

Early days, squad not yet complete. Now that we are in the CL, maybe some more money will be available for the 2 or 3 signings we are expecting for CB and RM.

 

We got through and rested a few key players. Job done no matter how painfully.

[Nick Leeson]

I don't think Rafa actually intended to lose tonight but he certainly won't be disappointed. For the few breaks CSKA made they never looked like getting the 3 they needed to go through. To be honest, I didn't mind tonight's game as we came out of it with what was most important. A route through and no injuries.

 

Cisse made some good moves tonight and played some great balls outside when the ball was played to him. He seemed to have good awareness of the players around him. Don't think he did enough to put himself in Rafa's list of irreplacables but that was more to do with the lack of service he received than his own performance, I reckon.

 

Warnock looked crappy for the second game running but apart from that I don't think anything was worth noting. What more could be expected from a midfield made up of 2 defensive midfielders, a full-back and a teenager who doesn't even seem like that much of a prospect?

 

Like I said, I can accept tonight's performance and result as the only thing to really play for was avoiding a heavy defeat. I don't think putting on a show will ever be on Rafa's agenda. That's got to be taken for granted from now on as we'll only ever do enough for what's needed at the time.

 

I'm starting to believe, if not hope, that we can't use these matches of lesser importance as any kind of sign of our progression. I don't even think Friday will be a benchmark. The league has to be though.

 

We really can't keep on playing the system we are in the league with the current squad. They're just not creative enough. The system we're trying to use depends on players who are comfortable on the ball and clever in distribution. We simply don't have enough of them. Until replacements are found I'm not sure what the answer is.

 

I would have liked to have seen a 4-3-3 with Cisse, Nando and Baros playing ahead of Xabi, Stevie and Momo but that's not going to happen now. I actually think the variety we would have had up front would have given us some real options and at least made us threatening until we can find the wingers we need.

[MLB]

How anyone can criticise Cisse and defend Nando tonight is beyond me. If there was any kind of obvious plan that he wasn't sticking to then fair enough, but it didn't seem to me like there was one. He was the only one of the two strikers who made the ball stick, and the only player on the pitch apart from Riise who looked like scoring.

[Nick Leeson]

If there wasn't a notion floating around that Rafa didn't fancy Cisse then the majority of people slagging Cisse off wouldn't say fuck all. Has Cisse even started 10 games in a row for us yet? I can see he's made a few cock ups and he likes a whinge but I haven't seen any games where he's had loads of chances and missed them.

 

I think all of our forwards, over the past 3 years have had a raw deal as we haven't had the wide players to create enough chances for them. All people remember is how many they scored though.

 

Solving the right wing problem would mean so much to us right now. Our defense wouldn't get moaned about so much as we'd score more and the occasional blip wouldn't be so important.

 

Fuck, even Harry Kewell might improve as there wouldn't be so much need for him to do something useful if there was any chance of something happening on the other side.

 

We really should beg borrow or steal what ever it takes to secure a quality player for the right side. A fucking lot depends on it and the rewards could put us right back where we need to be.

[MLB]

^^^ truth.

[andyfm]

How anyone can criticise Cisse and defend Nando tonight is beyond me. If there was any kind of obvious plan that he wasn't sticking to then fair enough, but it didn't seem to me like there was one. He was the only one of the two strikers who made the ball stick, and the only player on the pitch apart from Riise who looked like scoring.

 

Easy. I am trying to analyse it the same way Rafa perhaps would given his preferred syle of play at Valencia. No matter whether we feel Cisse was effective or not tonight, he is unlikely to be the lone striker unless he changes his game.

 

For the type of striker he is, I still like to see much more workrate. Rush would come short even as the main goalscorer, he would chase down everything and everyone. And he never waved his hands in the air when the game was still going on. I hate that, as it shows a lack of concentration.

 

It's interesting that you mention Riise, because I don't think Rafa rates him either. Not a left back and not the greatest crosser from the wing.

 

I like both players, but I doubt Rafa would buy either of them. And he definitely has a pretty good track record.

[andyfm]

If there wasn't a notion floating around that Rafa didn't fancy Cisse then the majority of people slagging Cisse off wouldn't say fuck all. Has Cisse even started 10 games in a row for us yet? I can see he's made a few cock ups and he likes a whinge but I haven't seen any games where he's had loads of chances and missed them.

 

I think all of our forwards, over the past 3 years have had a raw deal as we haven't had the wide players to create enough chances for them. All people remember is how many they scored though.

 

Solving the right wing problem would mean so much to us right now. Our defense wouldn't get moaned about so much as we'd score more and the occasional blip wouldn't be so important.

 

Fuck, even Harry Kewell might improve as there wouldn't be so much need for him to do something useful if there was any chance of something happening on the other side.

 

We really should beg borrow or steal what ever it takes to secure a quality player for the right side. A fucking lot depends on it and the rewards could put us right back where we need to be.

 

I agree we haven't seen a lot of Cisse, but I am not sure from what I have seen whether he is the type of striker who will thrive on crosses. Only time will tell.

[Nick Leeson]

Maybe not crosses but how many decent through balls do we see these days? Or balls played at pace across the face of the goal(technically a cross I know, but I don't think that was what you were talking about)?

 

There's more service that could be provided to our forwards than crosses, it just seems that there's not much happaening at all from our midfield in an attacking sense.

[Hermes]

Morientes is the white Heskey. Every challenge sees him face down in the grass.