Porto vs Liverpool (CL)

[redeagle]

Big game this. Really tough game aswell. Porto have won their last 3 games.

I expect the team that finished at pompey to line out against Porto with alonso in their somewhere.

[sean]

I expect a solid and comfortable performance from us, 2-0 in favour of the Reds. Masch and Stevie in the middle will run the show in the middle, and Torres and Kuyt will run rings around them up front.

[YNWA]

Is it on tv?

[SUPERFAN]

Is it on tv?

RTE 2 and UTV

[Yoko]

3 points and we're almost there imo! 7 points at home and 1 away win

[sean]

3 points and we're almost there imo!

Bit early to be thinking about the final already ain't it mate ;)

[AshRed]

Anyone know any good pubs around o'connell street to watch the match in tomorrow? Have my freshers ball but of course liverpool comes first.:)

[SUPERFAN]

Anyone know any good pubs around o'connell street to watch the match in tomorrow? Have my freshers ball but of course liverpool comes first.:)


this is a good spot
http://www.woolshedbaa.com/wevents.html
it's not on O Connell Street but it's not far away...

[LOU2]

the living room just opposite cathal buragh st dit is good for games

[AshRed]

this is a good spot
http://www.woolshedbaa.com/wevents.html
it's not on O Connell Street but it's not far away...
Thank you very much. even better for me as its just around the corner from were iv to meet mates later!!

[zamaguire]

I think Porto are struggling with injuries

[redeagle]

I have to go to a funeral mass so I will miss it.

[Kopite]

I expect us to be set up defensively, but then you can never 2nd guess Rafa. Its a tricky enough group i think, so no booking flights for moscow yet...

[Paul]

I expect us to be set up defensively, but then you can never 2nd guess Rafa. Its a tricky enough group i think, so no booking flights for moscow yet...

I think it's an handy group for ourselves and porto to qualify regardless of what happens tonight.

[Gerry]

Hopefully a two nil or two one win, i was reading in the paper yesterday that they have never lost a game to english oposition at home, lets hope that changes tonight !

[fitzpatrickgary]

lets hope for an away win(2,0) with no injuries hes got to start gerrard and torres

[phil]

Sissoko and J.A.R. are out. Haven't heard the team yet.

[sean]

I would expect Torres and Kuyt both to start in an attacking 4-4-2 formation.

[Malzheimer]

Have a feeling he might use Gerrard on the right and pennant on the left with Xabi and Masch in the centre. Would take a draw but I think we'll beat them 2-1, Torres to score a brace

[sean]

Have a feeling he might use Gerrard on the right and pennant on the left with Xabi and Masch in the centre. Would take a draw but I think we'll beat them 2-1, Torres to score a brace

I think Xabi limped out of training last night and is a doubt for tonight, which would leave Stevie and Masch in the middle. Hopefully anyway.

[Malzheimer]

I would definately rather see SG in the centre too. I just thought that with the threat of Quaresma, Rafa might be wary putting Jermain, Yossi or Babel on that side.

[zamaguire]

Rafa said he would aim for 12 points, 9 at home, so i think he might be thinking of a draw

[YNWA]

Anyone watching build up on rte2?

Souness just told how he took abramovich to his first game, man u v real at OT, and roman fell in love with the atmosphere and the english game, followed by 'hes not got that at chelsea'!

Too right, he fell in love with Man U firstly which is quite funny, and just love the reminder of chelsea's Amazing (with a capital 'a') support! :p

[Yoko]

Reina, Arbeloa, Finnan, Hyypia, Carragher, Babel, Pennant, Mascherano, Gerrard, Torres, Kuyt. Subs: Itandje, Agger, Lucas, Crouch, Voronin, Aurelio, Benayoun.

[RedWally]

Great goal by Kuyt. Not hard to get tickets for this game by the looks of all the empty seats!

[south]

Great goal by Kuyt. Not hard to get tickets for this game by the looks of all the empty seats!It looks like they’re taking there time to settle but hopefully they can get another one or two in the second half..kuyt took the goal well alright.

[YNWA]

I've switched half my support stance to Rosenborg!

Yeah small travelling support, and quiet!

[9Torres]

Very disappointed by the performance tonight. Can Liverpool actually pass the ball? I dont think Liverpool put 5 passes together, plus I can't remember the keeper doing a thing apart from picking the ball out of the net from Kuyt. Only one player got involved and performed, and that was the tireless Kuyt.

Disappointing.

[Kopite]

Poor display but they dug it out well and that point cold be very valuable in the long run. Im a little dissappointed but this was not Derby we are playing here....Roll on Sat.

[SUPERFAN]

worst Performance of the Season so far.....
where's the Team that Played Chelsea off the Park?
the only 2 Players that Earned their Wages there Tonight were Masch and Kuyt.
how slow was Sami for the Pen?
welcome to the Champions League Nando!

[Jockser]

good result, shocking football
without sami we would have lost (the assist and line clearance)

[YNWA]

Anyone else worried about all these penalties???

[Garrett]

Hi

In months to come, we'll look back at this result and think we did relatively well .... truth is, we got out of jail tonight imho.

- Away from home, playing like that we would have been punished badly by a stronger team.

- The system didn't work and Rafa should have changed it, prior to Penant being sent off imho (namely, the two wingers alongside Gerard & Masch needed to be changed, perhaps taking Masc hoff early when we saw we were not performing well enough in midfield).

- Kuyt was excellent, aside from his goal which was very much appreciated under the circumstances. His work rate continues to ensure he'll get a lot of respect while with us and ensures he deserves a first team spot with goals almost an extra.

- Penant was slopping throughout imho, sadly Torres was not performing anywhere near his best

- Stevie G had flashes of greatness, but I think found himself almost watching Masch too much at times, rather than focusing on his own game more. Babel was fine overall, but probably would have shined more, if Penant had been better on the opposite side etc.

- In general, our defenders were good, with Sami having a couple of excellent moments (although once or twice I felt he went too far forward, given he's slowing down with age etc).

- Pepe almost drew a curse out of me at one point when he came out and didn't clear the ball fully, though a mix of his quick movement almost defender like and support from fellow reds in defence quickly got my forgiveness again.

Overall, with 10 men and a less than perfect performance we were lucky tonight and return home with a draw and an away goal .... but we really must do better ( & pray, the recent years tradition of a dodgy September / October period is not about to fall upon us ! )

[The Kopfather]

Tough game but should have done better, a lot better. Not a good performance but thankfully porto lack the quality up front. A moment of stupidity from pennant.
A fair result considering

[James]

Fine result woeful display.

There was no urgency from midfield and the full backs offered the wingers little support. Gerrard was obviously exhausted after his 20mins on Saturday afternoon as was invisible and Masherano couldn't pass the ball for the first hour. The only reason we got the point was due to the work ethic of some players which was flawless. The first 10mins was shocking and I have to say fair play to Sami as once he settled I thought he did pretty well.

Torres and Babel looked like they wanted to do it all on their own at times but it just didn't happen for them. Kuyt was magnificent, his best display for some time. A minute before Pennant saw red I knew he was going for an early bath as he gave away a braindead free kick on the touchline which was about his 5th since getting booked, he'll need to cut that out or Babel/Benni will take his place on the right.

Bring on Brum.

[Kopite]

after performances like that i cannot wait till the next game(which i happed to be going too :)) we will just have to be positive and see the draw in the circumstances that we got it, tricky away tie, 10 men etc

See Cisse scored for Marsaille too

[wickla_mucker]

so dissappointed by that game tonight!
easily the most negative and error strewn this season (early as it is)

wouldnt blame reina for the pen - hyypia was like a truck trying to turn! although he made up for it later in the game

i thought finnan started awfully but regained composure and had a decent enough game

carra - no need to say how good he was

how anonymous was gerrard throughout?

mascherano is taking time to get going... a great defensive mid but sometimes lacks creativity?

thought babel did ok and kuyt and torres were good enough!

was surprised though that rafa didnt try and bring leiva on for kuyt and push gerrard out onto the wing when we were down to 10!

at the end of the day tho i guess a point hard won away from home is decent enough - and in the group stages that was our toughest game imho....

look forward to seeing Cisse back at Anfield :P

[phil]

I agree with all points made but, at the end of the day, we got ourselves an away point and that's all that counts.

[YNWA]

how anonymous was gerrard throughout?

Don't know why he wasn't taken off, don't know why more subs were not made too...

[south]

Don't know why he wasn't taken off, don't know why more subs were not made too...
I have to agree with that, i thought they all looked tired or not bothered at times. one of the worst displays of passing by a Liverpool team that I’ve seen in a long time, but at least we came away with something. Bring on the next game against Birmingham sure we might see another goal fest and all will be forgotten .

[paddypower111]

bad proformnce i expcted us to come flying out of the traps but it was qiuet the oppisate. pennant what a plonker i had a feeling he was going to get sent of the way he was going into tackles. he,s useless anyway i hope rafa drops him and sells him of in janaury cause im sick shitttt of him. kyut done 10 times better than him in the 20 mins he was on the right. and rafa should pick him on the right and verronin and torres up front in future at least kyut would give 100% and put in alot more crosses in to the 2 strikers. any way im sick of pennant just not good enough

[edcarroll02]

I thought the whole team just looked completely wrecked, i've never seen them pass the ball so badly and it appears that after spending so much money builiding up the team we're going to kick long balls over the top, if were to get the most out of Torres and Kuyt they need the ball at their feet! None of the defenders were willing to take the ball and try and play it up the field and even the usual reliable Gerrard was making simple passing errors.
But this was the toughest tie in our group and we've come away with a point so hopefully we can put this behind us and pick up where we we're before the international break.

[syngerdub]

I agree with most points made already: Kuyt was MOTM, Pennant stupid, Babel indifferent, Torres disappointing, and Gerrard was suprisingly quiet.

However, I think we need to give some credit to the opposition. They really passed the ball well, as good as I've seen many a European match. And they really fought for every ball, and closed down the opposition almost like a British team.

A point is a decent result, in what should be our most difficult group game.

[jaws2]

Poorest I've seen us play in a while, never seemed to get going at all. Gerrard was anonymous, Babel and Torres hardly got a kick and even Masch gave the ball away with some sloppy passes. Still even though we never looked like winning the game a point is a good result away from home in Europe. If we win all of our home games, which we should do, we'll more than likely top the group.

[davidsatelle100]

a good result overall, but a really really bad performance. Hypia has just lost something and is a danger to have defending against the top teams. Masch was having a nightmare all night and apart from Kuyt there was nobody really doing anything for us going forward.

A good point away from home, but we need to improve

[liverbird!!]

With all due respect, a draw away from home is a good result. Considering all the travel the players have been through in the last couple of weeks not bad i would say.

Altho Pennant is a plonker!!

[Terry Conlon]

Nightmare performance, a draw is a good result away from home especially when we give a pen away so early. That doesnt excuse the fact that the passing was none existant, unless it was straight to a porto player. Need to pull our socks up for saturday. Kuyt made me proud last, even when he has'nt got the ball he works his socks off!

[fitzpatrickgary]

was not a good display at all although pennant s red card did us no favours the last too games we played have not been great kuyt was our best player all night his tracking back after the sending off was brilliant

[megager]

Happy with that. A draw in the most difficult tie in the group. We will win our home games, so we will have at least 10 points, which is usually enough to qualify

[sean]

I would have been happy with a point before hand, and I'm happy with a point now. That was always going to be the most difficult group game and I'm fully confident we'll top the group.

[Gerrard85]

very disappointed with the performance but we dug deep after pennants stupid sending off and getting a point was an excellant result considering our start and first half performance. masher is one of my favourite players at liverpool and have him on the back of my jersey but his passing on tues was bloody terrible! stevie was quiet and babel and pennant poor. the front two worked their socks off as always but got no good ball and finnan had a very unusual bad nite. having said that though, if we can go to a tough place like porto playing that poorly and still coming away with something, we shud make it through the group quiet comfortably. as for pennant, he needs to grow up and stop putting in stupid challenges and giving refs grief when he's in the wrong. still havent warmed to him yet like most others. if he wants to mature into a top class footballer he needs to sort out his attitude.

[yodabenitez]

I've seen the remarks that SF had a poor game on Wednesday on this and other threads. I can't agree with that and I'm wondering why people think he had a poor game?

I don't recall, other than one 'missed tackle' & DK's covering tackle late on that he was troubled in any way. He covered for Penant who played like a headless chicken, he was one of the few who passed the ball reliably if not spectacularly and, in a difficult away game, he made a number of positive attacking moves down his side.

Overall I thought he and Kuyt were by some distance our best players.

[Kopite]

I think the fact that he got his first clearence blocked in the first minute which presented a chance to porto... is playing on peoples minds. I would suggest that it wasnt his best ever game but its a testament to steve's consistancey that when he dropped from an 7/8 out of 10 week in week out to perhaps a 6/10 the other night, people suggest he had a bad game. Hes Mr Dependant and the best right back in the prem for me. ...Particuarly as our favorite manc right Back Glenda Nev is out injured for the past 7 years..:D