Liverpool 2-1 Lucerne

Cavalieri
Degen Carragher Agger Insua
Benayoun Lucas Plessis Leto
Voronin Pacheco

Subs:
Skrtel for Agger 46’
Babel for Benayoun 46’
Hyypia for Carragher 46’
Darby for Degen 46’
Aurelio for Leto 55’
Spearing for Plessis 62’
Mascherano for Pacheco 77’
Kuyt for Insua 80’

Goals:
Lucas 10’
Gavranovic 12’
Voronin 36’

I wanted to post about the Lucerne friendly. Even though I didn’t see it live, I planned on downloading the torrent and getting a review up late last night or today.

But I either kicked someone’s dog or was a bad boy when downloading a torrent in the past, because my connection keeps getting refused. I swear, I try to be good and seed…

So yeah, all I saw was LFC.tv’s 15-minute highlights, and that’s nowhere near enough to write a full review.

But I still have a couple of things to say after watching said highlights and reading all the same reviews you have. And I need to get content up any time the mood strikes me.

• I was impressed they managed to get a full 15 minutes. From what I read, it was typical pre-season, even with Liverpool having a few good chances to score more. Although the highlights did have about 30 seconds of back passes.

• But there were highlights. Voronin’s chipped goal (such a tough skill) seems to have more people talking, but my favorite moment was Pacheco’s reverse throughball that led to Lucas’ opener. There was next to no space to make the pass and Pacheco barely had a look up, but he couldn’t have played a better ball.

Of course I remember Besian Idrijaz’s hat trick against Wrexham just over a year ago. But Idrijaz never looked as consistent or talented as Pacheco. And he’s only 17. Awesome.

• It was good to see the Lucas/Plessis pairing again, and even better to see how often Lucas got forward, scoring within ten minutes.

• Yes, Degen was at fault for Liverpool’s equalizer. He was paying zero attention to the Lucerne player at the far post, and the resulting knockdown led to Gavranovic’s goal. That cannot continue. But yeah, ‘it’s preseason’ and all that.

• I also was worried by a couple of Insua missteps. If two made the “highlights,” I’m afraid to ask how many more occurred. Of course, if it was any other player, I wouldn’t be so concerned; I just expect far too much from Insua. I have since his first start against Pompey.

• Evidently Kuyt joined the squad yesterday and still asked to play. Yet another reason I’m so quick to defend him. Similar goes for Babel, who was out for less time than expected after tearing ankle ligaments on May 31. Pity he’s been called up for the Olympics (just like Lucas and Mascherano).

• And finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how delighted I was to hear “The Final Countdown” after each goal. If that song doesn’t make you smile, you either have a heart of stone or seriously need to watch some Arrested Development.

The Wisla Krakow friendly is Saturday at 12pm. If there's no streams and you've got no other way to see it, it'll be delayed on Setanta at 8pm.