Portsmouth Away

[jackofdk]

I was quietly happy with the team selection after the initial shock. We always seem to play good in a 3-5-2 and to be fair the "reserves" could hardly be less creative going forward than the first XI anyway.

 

It worked out fine as Pompey were really bad. But then again we gave away two mega soft goals ourselves and missed the chance of the season at 0-0, so I don't think we were lucky.

[Captain]

I thought we played well and deserved to win. What more do people want?

 

We had a free-kick off the post, Babel missed the easiest chance of the game (possibly his entire career).

 

Only negative for me is that we shipped two goals.

[Anubis]

...noone will ever explain why Torres, Alonso, Kuyt and Riera never started...

Er, except when Benitez explained in interview that the decision had been taken after consultation with the backroom and medical staff?

[Anubis]

All I'll say is that this game displays the thin line between success and failure.

 

There's always a thin line between success and failure. Look at Chelsea last season. Come back from one down to win the game against the Mancs at Stamford Bridge and place themselves in the favourites chiar, then blow it in the game against Wigan.

[GJM]

The starting line up was understandable, given the state of our squad at the moment and that it came a few days after a draining and dispiriting defeat in the cup.

 

I hope (and expect) that we will never see it again, and it was a gamble, but it's not like starting with Torres, Alonso (who was carrying a knock after mid-week), and Kuyt (who has looked like he needs a break for a while now) wouldn't also have been a gamble. It would have been.

 

For the first time in a long while, I thought we saw some genuine inventiveness on the tactical front. The management team met well the challenge of dealing with a reduced playing personnel. The formation change allowed Agger (and more remarkably) Skrtel liberty to come forward and help build attacks, and allowing Benayoun to float around the front worked well, I thought. Aurelio looks like a better back up midfielder than Lucas - very good performance from him.

 

Portsmouth are a limited side, but they're not a pushover. It was a risk, but it paid off. Sure it was close at the end, but that was largely down to our continuing inability to convert easy chances - how many is that we've blown this season? I've lost count - and our defending from set-pieces was shite. We can say that Portsmouth's lapses played a role in our 3 goals, but our own lapses also played a major role in their goals, particularly the second.

 

For me there was something more worrying than our starting with N'gog (who is surely destined to have the word 'hapless' permanently pre-fixing his name), or starting with six players who have all, at various points, played in defence (irrelevant given that they 3 of them weren't doing so last night), or not having Robbie Keane to miss that sitter rather than Babel. The bigger concern than all of this was our inability, yet again, to defend a set-piece. It sems to have become almost endemic now and something needs to be done about it as it is this, as much as anything, that is threatening to put a big hole in our title challenge.

[Mr.Smoketoomuch]

I disagree slightly about our goals. Kuyt, for instance, was down to a horrendous mistake from Distin which can't be put down to a forced error. How a professional footballer, and a defender to boot, can miss an interception like that is beyond me. He wasn't even under pressure, it was laughable. Even then, I thought James should never have been beaten at his near post from that angle; decent strike as it was from Dirk.

 

The winning goal was excellently worked and very pleasing to see, but even then I thought James could/should have saved it (i'd want my 'keeper saving it) and the first goal was down to a terrible back-pass.

 

I wouldn't put it all down to luck because we did put them under pressure ina general sense throughout the game but we were very fortunate that Portsmouth assisted us in the victory, IMO.

 

I'll certainly take it though!

 

 

What about their two goals? If you are lucky when the opposition make mistakes, then Pompey were lucky twice. Especially Reina would normally do a lot better than he did on their second.

 

And why are we lucky when we win games in the closing minutes, whereas United is showing their class?

 

People also claim that if we had put out our best eleven then we would have won it easily, when there is no evidence this season to suggest that. Bar WBA and Newcastle we have not won easily against anyone this season.

 

I was not happy with the team selection, but when it pays off, I - and everyone else - got to hand it to Rafa and not write it off as "luck".

 

We were the best team and played as well as in most games this season.

[Kevin D]

On the bbc website it says "Benitez - Stands by team selection".

 

Why does he have to justify his team selection when we won?

 

With no Gerrard, Torres looking very tired midweek, he made changes, we won.

 

He shouldn't have to justify his selection.

 

Agreed. I can't believe people are suprised by the use of a back 3 to start a game(who've never played together) A LB in central midfield, two wingbacks and a kid who's never started a league game before. It beggars belief.

 

I also think it's worth making the point that we got far more men forward than we usually do. I remember an attack , in which Fabio took on the shot too early, were we had 5 men arriving in the box. What surprised me more was that this was in the first half. One of our best displays all year.

[The Acolyte]

Huh? Shearer said that Rafa initially got the team wrong, but realised it, changed it and won the game because of it. He said it was good management.

 

Hansen was a bit more negative but said that we were right in the title race.

 

Doesn't take much to piss people off.

 

Maybe I was comparing it to if the Mancs had done something similar, they'd be creaming their pans over that! I didn't hear Shearer as I go temporarily deaf whenever he opens his mouth!

[INTORRESTING]

cant believe the chelsea fans, they have no divine right to win anything. They were nothing before the Russian came and all of a sudden they expect to win everything and it is so spoilt. What about fans who support teams that never win.

 

Unfortunately we are exactly the same. Booing at Fulham and worse than that booing at west ham after going top made me sick. I couldnt believe what i was hearing and i walked away from the ground quite sad.

 

Some fans are acting like spoilt kids. Just think without Rafa united could be equalling our cl tally this year too. The man gets us into a position to challenge and people call for his head, we are top of the fucking league.

 

People have to look at our progress in context and forget about united as unless gerrard and torres catch fire united will equal our record and probably overtake it. Rafa has put some of our best ever points on the board and still people are not happy.

 

Fans these days would have sacked shanks, fergie in his early years and wenger.

 

It seems we have overtaken arsenal and chelsea, are challenging united and are favourites against madrid and one of the very best in europe.

 

We need perspective and need to realise our best may not be good enough as the lot at the top have a properly run club and a manager who is backed and has been charge over two decades

[stringvest]

I really enjoyed yesterday's game - it was massively better as a spectacle than some of the drivel served up this year. That, plus the last gasp win, all made for a special day out.

[DJLJ]

What about their two goals? If you are lucky when the opposition make mistakes, then Pompey were lucky twice. Especially Reina would normally do a lot better than he did on their second.

 

And why are we lucky when we win games in the closing minutes, whereas United is showing their class?

 

People also claim that if we had put out our best eleven then we would have won it easily, when there is no evidence this season to suggest that. Bar WBA and Newcastle we have not won easily against anyone this season.

 

I was not happy with the team selection, but when it pays off, I - and everyone else - got to hand it to Rafa and not write it off as "luck".

 

We were the best team and played as well as in most games this season.

 

The header was bad from Reina, however I wouldn't class it as luck. The amount of free headers we have given away in and around the 6 yard box, totally free aswell, is criminal.

[KopOut]

This is going to sound very depressing and negative..... but we are going to lose. I'm certain of this.

 

oh dear. You're in a bad space aren't you?

[KopOut]

People have to look at our progress in context and forget about united as unless gerrard and torres catch fire united will equal our record and probably overtake it. Rafa has put some of our best ever points on the board and still people are not happy.

 

Fans these days would have sacked shanks, fergie in his early years and wenger.

It seems we have overtaken arsenal and chelsea, are challenging united and are favourites against madrid and one of the very best in europe.

 

We need perspective and need to realise our best may not be good enough as the lot at the top have a properly run club and a manager who is backed and has been charge over two decades

 

Not sure if the 'fans' can sack the manager, but I see your point. Today's footy fans seem to want instant success, but I suspect that may have always been the case. Our club, is not necesserily blessed for having a rich history of acheiving managers. Why? because expectations are higher at Liverpool than most other clubs. I'd go so far as to say it is demanded by many.

 

We're favourites against Real? I'm glad somebody told me, cos i had no idea.

 

Finally, I'm reserving judgement on Rafa until the end of the season. There's a long way to go.

 

He is in his 5th year. Houlier got us 2nd place in his 5th year I believe (?) The obvious retort would be 'Houlier? yeah, btu he lost the plot & he bought too much shit' - well rafa has bought and sold shit too by the looks, and we may well finish 2nd this season.

[Thants]

Anyone got a link to the highlights? pm if you'd prefer.

[KopOut]

The bigger concern ..... was our inability, yet again, to defend a set-piece. It sems to have become almost endemic now and something needs to be done about it as it is this, as much as anything, that is threatening to put a big hole in our title challenge.

 

Agreed. We're a leaky bucket

 

We've had zonal defence now for 5 yrs, I think we've adapted, and this looks more to me like the effects of a longterm injury problem - 1st Agger, then Skrrtle. Both players are returning to the game with loss of confidence and still gaining fitness.

 

Can't remember the last time we had a steady back-four.

[gkmacca]

A decent corrective here from our agent at The Times:

 

There is method in Rafael Benitez’s madness at Liverpool | Premier League - Times Online

 

 

 

From The Times, February 9, 2009

 

There is method in Rafael Benitez’s madness at Liverpool

Portsmouth 2 Liverpool 3

 

Alyson Rudd at Fratton Park

 

Jaws fell on floors, mischievous eyes glistened; Liverpool’s line-up was evidence that, yes, Rafael Benítez is, as the Manchester United fans sing, cracking up. But there is real method in the Spaniard’s so-called madness. Rarely has a manager appeared so calm and relaxed after returning to the top of the Barclays Premier League courtesy of a stoppage-time winner.

 

Benítez opted to start with a three-man defence and with Fabio Aurélio, his reliable full back, in central midfield. Those who wish to argue the case that Benítez has lost the plot would point out that Aurélio had never played in central midfield in the Premier League before and that he discovered he was about to do so on the morning of the match on Saturday. Those who suspect that Benítez may be on the verge of guiding Liverpool to their first Premier League title could counter that the Brazil international regularly played in central midfield for Valencia, under the management of Benítez, and, crucially, that against Portsmouth he was composed and effective.

 

There was more to the switch in formation than mere tactics. Benítez had to find a way to accommodate those players who were least tired and, in doing so, he also put pressure on his team to win. Even the least perceptive of players would know that to lose with key players rested and a new formation prompts a more vicious kind of criticism.

 

“We knew that with the changes Rafa made, if we lost here today, there could be a lot of things in the press and people talking,” Aurélio said. “So I think it was really important to win to keep the good mentality and keep pushing forward to the next games.”

 

Liverpool may have left it late, but there was something inevitable about their victory. It was not, as the pundits on Setanta Sports maintained, a lucky win. Benítez knew that Fernando Torres was tired and did not have an effective 90 minutes in him, so putting him on the substitutes’ bench was not a mistake; it was common sense.

 

“I thought we could win the game with the players who were on the pitch,” Benítez said. “At the end, we had some players who were very tired, especially Álvaro Arbeloa, he was very, very tired. David Ngog was also tired and I think he felt something, so I thought OK, I must change something.

 

“After we conceded a goal, I thought we needed more quality on the park so I brought on Xabi Alonso, and the last one was because we needed to win the game.”

 

And win the game Torres did, with a strong and serene header that was the perfect denouement for a second half that had been breathtaking.

 

Portsmouth took the lead twice. David Nugent is fast becoming a favourite on the South Coast after having been marginalised under Harry Redknapp and he calmly beat José Manuel Reina, which should surely secure him a first-choice start as striker under Tony Adams.

 

“I’ll do everything I can to keep Pompey up — I’m sure we’ve got the quality and I’ll score a few more and win a few more games,” Nugent said.

 

But while Portsmouth are dangerous going forward, defensively they make too many errors. Liverpool’s first equaliser came after David James was forced to handle a clumsy back-pass from Peter Crouch and Sylvain Distin’s timing was horribly askew to allow Dirk Kuyt to fire in the second.

 

Liverpool made defensive mistakes of their own and the team’s emphasis on zonal marking was again criticised after Hermann Hreidarsson was allowed space to meet Nadir Belhadj’s free kick. Benítez, though, argued that no matter what marking system is used, goals will always be conceded throughout the Premier League at set-pieces.

 

“It is easy to blame a player for a goal and say, ‘It is his fault.’ I prefer the responsibility to be with the whole team,” Benítez said.

 

There were rumblings that Adams would be sacked if his side did not show signs of improvement against Liverpool, but it would be a public relations gaffe to let Adams go for failing to beat a side who are genuine title contenders. The Portsmouth players had spent Thursday at a spa, relaxing and building camaraderie, the fans remained loyal after the final whistle and as Distin made his way through the car park, a supporter sympathetically shouted: ‘Hang in there, Sylvain’.

 

Both Distin and Crouch apologised to their team-mates for their individual errors.

 

“I was really prepared for the rotation of their squad,” Adams said, but he had no means of dealing with the tricky trinity of Alonso, Kuyt and Torres when they came off the Liverpool bench.

 

“It’s football. It’s fantastic. Unfortunately, the result is not fantastic,” Adams said. And Benítez would probably agree; this was not fantastic fare, it was the product of rational planning and proof that the title race will be electric.

[gkmacca]

Adams has been sacked, according to some reports, said on MOTD tonight. No surprise there.

[Section_31]

Not sure if the 'fans' can sack the manager, but I see your point. Today's footy fans seem to want instant success, but I suspect that may have always been the case. Our club, is not necesserily blessed for having a rich history of acheiving managers. Why? because expectations are higher at Liverpool than most other clubs. I'd go so far as to say it is demanded by many.

 

We're favourites against Real? I'm glad somebody told me, cos i had no idea.

 

Finally, I'm reserving judgement on Rafa until the end of the season. There's a long way to go.

 

He is in his 5th year. Houlier got us 2nd place in his 5th year I believe (?) The obvious retort would be 'Houlier? yeah, btu he lost the plot & he bought too much shit' - well rafa has bought and sold shit too by the looks, and we may well finish 2nd this season.

 

I think the fans are always given a healthy push by the media though, who are constantly striving to create their next 'issue' to fill space and air time.

 

The plebs don't know what they want, they're told. In that sense, football is no different than politics.

[Baz1969]

Listen, I'm as dubious about Rafa as the next man (unless the next man's you, obviously), but how can it be luck if the substitutes he sent on changed the game? He made the decisions that proved decisive. I would never have picked that side and I don't want to see it again, but your description of the result as lucky makes no sense. He made the decision to send on two of the three players who scored. Furthermore, I imagine it was him who decided that Aurelio would take the free kicks, too. I wouldn't mind if we'd been shit all game, but we hadn't; we had loads of possession and some great movement with not much up front. The additions of Kuyt and Torres changed things quite clearly. Luck is own goals or bad refereeing decisions or wild deflections - not three great goals.

 

Quite obviously the selection was one he felt he had to make with Lucas and Gerrard out and having played for two hours on Wednesday night. He wouldn't have made it otherwise, in my opinion, as he's rotated less this season and never done anything as remotely unexpected before (and that's saying something where this manager is concerned).

 

It was three points and we're top; move on, mate.

 

Rafa got lucky and his stupid team selections and suspect tactics are going to catch up with him sooner rather than later and they will be his downfall. Are you saying he planned for Torres to score the winner in practically the last second of the game? Had we lost he would have defended his team selection on the basis that his players were tired. Bollocks to tiredness. It was fuckin Pompey for Christs sake. Kill the bastards and then make subs.

 

Its irrelevant now cos we won the game but if he tries something similiar against City or Boro we will drop points and then he'll throw out yet another completly illogical reason/excuse. Every game is must win and we must therefore play our strongest eleven and forget about tiredness. At least then he wont get the usual dogs abuse for his team selection if we drop points. Its not fuckin rocket science.

[Catch22]

Rafa got lucky and his stupid team selections and suspect tactics are going to catch up with him sooner rather than later and they will be his downfall. Are you saying he planned for Torres to score the winner in practically the last second of the game? Had we lost he would have defended his team selection on the basis that his players were tired. Bollocks to tiredness. It was fuckin Pompey for Christs sake. Kill the bastards and then make subs.

 

Its irrelevant now cos we won the game but if he tries something similiar against City or Boro we will drop points and then he'll throw out yet another completly illogical reason/excuse. Every game is must win and we must therefore play our strongest eleven and forget about tiredness. At least then he wont get the usual dogs abuse for his team selection if we drop points. Its not fuckin rocket science.

 

"Bollocks to tiredness"

Wonder if you would have this attitude if you were getting into a plane/bus/train/taxi & the pilot/driver had been doing his job for 24 straight hours?

 

Would we be better off if 'Nando had played more this season?

Yes but he was injured because he played tired late last season but bollocks to tiredness after all?

 

We were in a terrible situation whcih Rafa gambled his way out of.

We were very lucky in doing so.

 

But the reason we were in the situation is he had listened to the fans & played strong sides in the FACup.

[Baz1969]

"Bollocks to tiredness"

Wonder if you would have this attitude if you were getting into a plane/bus/train/taxi & the pilot/driver had been doing his job for 24 straight hours?

 

Would we be better off if 'Nando had played more this season?

Yes but he was injured because he played tired late last season but bollocks to tiredness after all?

 

We were in a terrible situation whcih Rafa gambled his way out of.

We were very lucky in doing so.

 

But the reason we were in the situation is he had listened to the fans & played strong sides in the FACup.

 

Bollocks to tiredness. Torres is the only one I'd have considered giving a rest cos he's just back from long lay off but I would have started him.

[Catch22]

Bollocks to tiredness. Torres is the only one I'd have considered giving a rest cos he's just back from long lay off but I would have started him.

 

 

You do realise that tiredness causes injuries don't you?

 

Or would you just say "Bollocks to a muscle tear" if one had occured?

[hamstrung]

Bollocks to tiredness. Torres is the only one I'd have considered giving a rest cos he's just back from long lay off but I would have started him.

 

Often in life, I find myself thinking "what would Baz1969 do?" and then take the opposite path. Your posts on the match thread are all the evidence needed.

 

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=1544292#post1544292

 

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=1544187#post1544187

[OmarVizquel]

Bollocks to tiredness. Torres is the only one I'd have considered giving a rest cos he's just back from long lay off but I would have started him.

 

I've never heard so much about "tiredness" before this season. These are world-class athletes. They are required to run about 6 miles every week or so and get paid a fortune every month for it. Get on the damn pitch.

 

Except Torres. He can do whatever he wants.

[stringvest]

Benitez was justified in his 'wacky' selection on Saturday. For whatever reason, our players seem a lot more susceptibile to tiredness than other teams. That's a different discussion though. If we have tired players, we need to give them a rest. I actually enjoyed the game - it was a bit mad, and variety is the spice of life. The peripheral players did really well, and the team seemed to play with a bit more freedom.

 

I thought Crouchy did well - always used the ball well, and made 2 assists!