tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33779660.post6379225645235649195..comments2023-12-22T01:47:49.178-05:00Comments on oh you beauty: Liverpool 0-3 Real Madridnatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10043601945557998732noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33779660.post-75717587296777602852014-10-23T10:14:34.439-04:002014-10-23T10:14:34.439-04:00We should send John Harkes to Wynalda's house ...We should send John Harkes to Wynalda's house to talk some sense into him. Hollywood will get things straightened out in a hurry. And Eric will get to renew old friendships. It's a win-win-win. Yeah.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33779660.post-66475025740650581762014-10-23T10:03:31.874-04:002014-10-23T10:03:31.874-04:00Just rewatched that first 20 minutes. It was some ...Just rewatched that first 20 minutes. It was some our best playing all season. Intense, pressing, intelligent running off the ball. We were easily the better team. Stevie had a good dipping shot that troubled Casillas. He also had a corner that came within inches of going over Casillas' head directly into goal. Iker's losing it. Got under the ball and just luckily got his palm to it to keep it out. But, you could see that our intensity was starting to fall off as Real came back into the game. We needed to test Casillas more, obviously.<br /><br />Then that goal happened. Nice goal from Real created by Ronaldo. He dishes the ball to James and darts into the penalty area for the return pass. Rodriguez had Gerrard and Allen 2 yards in front of him and both marking him closely. But he was able to deliver that defense splitting pass. Lovren was standing 3 yards behind Gerrard and Allen and was not needed AT ALL to press James. His eyes were glued to the ball on James feet, as often happens, and he was completely oblivious to Ronaldo's run. A blind man would have noticed that Ronaldo was running behind the defense and he needed to track that run. If he would have been aware of Ronaldo's run, he could EASILY have tracked him and prevented the goal. Still, it was a nice goal created by James and CR.<br /><br />The 2nd and 3rd goals were gifts. Not marking Benzema in the box. Who would have thought.<br /><br />I'd take that first 20 minutes every time. It's just a matter of whether we can keep it up for 90 (we can't) or we can get an early goal and then defend. We could have. Sterling had the ball in dangerous positions a couple of times that were promising. Balo should have played Raheem in on the left early in the game.<br /><br />Can somebody stick a sock in Eric Wynalda's mouth? It would be a vast improvement. Pepe tapped Balo on the back and asked to swap shirts. He initiated it and took Mario by surprise. And truthfully, the way things have been going for Mario lately, he must have been more shocked than surprised. At least he didn't offer to autograph it for him. Mario and Sterling up top had some good moments during that first 20 minutes. If only we could have got 1.<br /><br />Not so much looking forward to the game next week at the Bernabeu in front of 85,454 Madridista's. At least it will be after our leetle Luis teaches them a leetle lesson this weekend.<br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33779660.post-10504629307491372212014-10-23T01:19:39.204-04:002014-10-23T01:19:39.204-04:00As far as I can recall, this season almost every g...As far as I can recall, this season almost every goal conceded has been from a standard collective set piece defence cock up or a Lovren mistake.<br /><br />The two parts of our team that are having the biggest detrimental effect on our play at the moment (in my opinion), are Lovren and Balotelli. I truly hope they can sort it out because they are both easy to like and seem pretty genuine in their excitement at being at Liverpool (as well as being potentially incredible players), but holy jesus, they have a way to go.amtoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647292961397221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33779660.post-19399691419270288442014-10-23T01:13:32.323-04:002014-10-23T01:13:32.323-04:00You reckon Nate? Gerrard and Moreno were both wit...You reckon Nate? Gerrard and Moreno were both within about 2 - 4 metres of James and in front of Lovren who was about 5 - 10 away. He should not have come out and by doing so left a massive gap, which Skrtel couldn't close because he was directly in front of Benzema. I know that it is in vogue at the moment to criticise Lovren (because frankly he has been poor since the great start against Dortmund) and I don't want to criticise just for the sake of criticising, but if he doesn't move forward and break the line, he cuts out the ball (if it's played) and Ronaldo doesn't score.<br /><br />Source: http://gfycat.com/UnluckyEnchantedAfricanparadiseflycatcheramtoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647292961397221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33779660.post-6281837444394963292014-10-22T22:34:06.579-04:002014-10-22T22:34:06.579-04:00No mention of Balotelli shirt-swap controversy?!? ...No mention of Balotelli shirt-swap controversy?!? I was told to be angry about this by Wynalda and various British media!!! He said "stupid is as stupid does" applied. What hard-hitting in-depth analysis from FOX!! Clearly why LFC lost. Point being: Thank you, Nate for real, honest analysis as usual & as always, eff you FOX. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33779660.post-76681359694412728492014-10-22T21:27:59.898-04:002014-10-22T21:27:59.898-04:00Honestly, we were never going to win this game. Th...Honestly, we were never going to win this game. This was a reward for the team that qualified, as evidenced by the lineup. To be fair we played really well at times and fairly well throughout against the best team on the planet. I don't have any regrets about our performance.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06763688794839372863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33779660.post-82465798497936577292014-10-22T20:14:00.603-04:002014-10-22T20:14:00.603-04:00Could he have defended it better? Yeah, probably. ...Could he have defended it better? Yeah, probably. Did he make a clear mistake, did he do something that 95% of other center-backs wouldn't have? Not really. Someone had to try to close down James, Moreno didn't make the move so Lovren did, Skrtel was there as the covering defender. Most times, he would have still cut out the pass, but James' pass was too good to block.natehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10043601945557998732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33779660.post-62482108826176234942014-10-22T18:37:41.823-04:002014-10-22T18:37:41.823-04:00Nate - do you not think that Lovren was at least a...Nate - do you not think that Lovren was at least a little at fault for the first goal? He moved up and left to track James who was already covered by two Liverpool players. Skrtel was tracking Benzema and so was unable to move across and so it left a big gap for Ronaldo to run into, which he obviously did. Great finish but I think Lovren is at least partly culpable there.amtoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647292961397221noreply@blogger.com