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Showing posts with label Galatasaray. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Galatasaray. Show all posts
06 December 2006
05 December 2006
Liverpool 2-3 Galatasaray
I honestly don’t know how to feel after that.
Obviously, I’m disappointed in the loss. But Liverpool was second best, and I’m not entirely surprised with the result following that line-up and formation. I think many wanted to see reserves and youth players get runs out and senior players rested (I know I did), and when the squad is changed like this, in a venue like Istanbul in the Champions League to boot, these games happen.
I don’t want to take anything away from Gala; they rested players, were without Arda Turan through suspension and Sukur through injury, and could have (should have) won by more. The pick of the litter was Okan’s volleyed goal, Gala’s second, as he absolutely smacked Agger’s clearing header inside the post from 30+ yards out.
It’s not as if there weren’t positives to take away. It’s always nice to see Fowler get goals, and his two today were his first goals in the Champions League proper. The first of which he scored with his thigh, with Bellamy proving the cross from a similar position as Crouch’s goal versus Chelsea in the Community Shield. The second came after a good run (beating the defender!) and cross from Pennant. Despite the perpetual grief he gets, I thought Pennant played fairly well today. Yes, his corners frequently hit the first man (and that needs to stop), but he looked better in open play, and did most of the work for the second goal. Bellamy also put in another good game, looking industrious and running hard the entire time on the pitch.
Granted, there were negatives as well. Two of the goals were partly Liverpool’s own doing; Alonso’s misplayed pass for Gala’s first and Riise’s stumble/poor tackling on the third were errors frustrating from senior players. While it was good to see Paletta and Peltier get starts, neither had games to write home over. Paletta in particular seemed unsure of himself, especially considering his good performances in the Carling Cup. All said, the backline looked shaky and had moments of madness similar to troubles early in the season, but it’s not as worrying when it’s not the first string, or a quartet that infrequently plays together. In general, it felt like some players weren’t completely up for the game, and while it’s not completely surprising given the circumstances, it’s never heartening to see.
But at the end of the day, it still seems that this was no more than a friendly match in the middle of the season. As requested, everyone’s coming back injury-free, and Paletta, Peltier, and Guthrie (along with Miki Roque off the bench) made full debuts in European competition. The focus can be on the League for the next month (aside from the Arse League Cup match in two weeks, of course) and hopefully we shall see subsequent progress in form.
Roll on Fulham.
Obviously, I’m disappointed in the loss. But Liverpool was second best, and I’m not entirely surprised with the result following that line-up and formation. I think many wanted to see reserves and youth players get runs out and senior players rested (I know I did), and when the squad is changed like this, in a venue like Istanbul in the Champions League to boot, these games happen.
I don’t want to take anything away from Gala; they rested players, were without Arda Turan through suspension and Sukur through injury, and could have (should have) won by more. The pick of the litter was Okan’s volleyed goal, Gala’s second, as he absolutely smacked Agger’s clearing header inside the post from 30+ yards out.
It’s not as if there weren’t positives to take away. It’s always nice to see Fowler get goals, and his two today were his first goals in the Champions League proper. The first of which he scored with his thigh, with Bellamy proving the cross from a similar position as Crouch’s goal versus Chelsea in the Community Shield. The second came after a good run (beating the defender!) and cross from Pennant. Despite the perpetual grief he gets, I thought Pennant played fairly well today. Yes, his corners frequently hit the first man (and that needs to stop), but he looked better in open play, and did most of the work for the second goal. Bellamy also put in another good game, looking industrious and running hard the entire time on the pitch.
Granted, there were negatives as well. Two of the goals were partly Liverpool’s own doing; Alonso’s misplayed pass for Gala’s first and Riise’s stumble/poor tackling on the third were errors frustrating from senior players. While it was good to see Paletta and Peltier get starts, neither had games to write home over. Paletta in particular seemed unsure of himself, especially considering his good performances in the Carling Cup. All said, the backline looked shaky and had moments of madness similar to troubles early in the season, but it’s not as worrying when it’s not the first string, or a quartet that infrequently plays together. In general, it felt like some players weren’t completely up for the game, and while it’s not completely surprising given the circumstances, it’s never heartening to see.
But at the end of the day, it still seems that this was no more than a friendly match in the middle of the season. As requested, everyone’s coming back injury-free, and Paletta, Peltier, and Guthrie (along with Miki Roque off the bench) made full debuts in European competition. The focus can be on the League for the next month (aside from the Arse League Cup match in two weeks, of course) and hopefully we shall see subsequent progress in form.
Roll on Fulham.
04 December 2006
Liverpool at Galatasaray 12.05.2006
2:45pm. Available in the US on Setanta Sports.
Galatasaray is currently 2nd in the Turkish league
Champions League Group Stage results:
Liverpool: 2-0 PSV (h); 3-0 Bordeaux (h); 1-0 Bordeaux (a); 3-2 Galatasaray (h); 0-0 PSV (a)
Galatasaray: 1-3 Bordeaux (a); 0-2 PSV (a); 1-2 PSV (h); 2-3 Liverpool (a); 0-0 Bordeaux (h)
Goal scorers (Europe):
Liverpool: Crouch 5; Garcia 3; Gerrard 2; Bellamy, Gonzalez 1
Galatasaray: Ilic, Karan, Turan 2; Inamoto, Sabri, Sas, Sukur 1
European History:
Liverpool: European Cup/Champions League 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005; UEFA Cup 1973, 1976, 2001; UEFA Super Cup 1977, 2001, 2005
Galatasaray: UEFA Cup 2000; UEFA Super Cup 2000
Referee: Olegário Benquerença (POR)
Key players for Gala:
Umit Karan: With Hasan Sukur likely out due to a cracked rib, Turkish international Karan will be the most dangerous striker. Karan was a key part in Gala’s near comeback at Anfield in September, scoring the two second-half goals from headers. He has 7 goals in the Turkish league this year.
Rigobert Song: The former Leeds defender also happened to make 33 appearances for Liverpool from 1999 to 2000. He and Sabri Sarıoglu are the only players to have played every minute of Gala’s Champions League campaign.
Sasa Ilic: Much of Gala’s offense will go through Ilic, an attacking central midfielder with an eye for goal (8 goals in the league, Gala's top scorer), and a member of the Serbian national team.
My guess of a lineup:
Dudek
Peltier, Paletta, Agger, Riise
Pennant, Guthrie, Alonso, Garcia
Fowler, Crouch
Having already qualified first in the group, there’s a lot less pressure going into this game, and it shows in the squad selection. It's nice to see so many youth players chosen: Stephen Darby, David Martin, Paul Anderson, and Miki Roque, in addition to Paletta, Peltier and Guthrie. In addition, Gerrard, Finnan, Reina and Hyypia haven’t made the trip.
I’m a bit surprised Gerrard was left out. Liverpool certainly could do with resting a few players, Stevie included, but with the team light in central midfield, and Alonso just returning from injury, I would have thought that Xabi would be the one staying home.
I hope to see as many youth players feature as possible. Playing in the Champions League, in Istanbul of all places, would be some way to make a debut, and I don’t believe that any of the youth players mentioned have gotten a run out in Europe. We’ve seen Paletta, Peltier, and Guthrie in the Carling Cup and league, but I hope that Paul Anderson features as well. There’s been a lot of hype around him in the reserves, and he scored a lovely goal in pre-season, but from what I’ve read, he hasn’t played as well this year as last.
All four strikers are in the team. I imagine Fowler will captain the squad, as Carragher will probably be on the bench, but who will partner him seems less certain. My guess, and it’s no more than that, is it will be Crouch, simply because he didn’t play on Saturday, but I haven’t seen any news on the back problem that ruled him out against Wigan.
Everyone comes home without injuries (knocking on wood furiously), and the youth players play (and don’t look out of depth), and this game has to be considered a success. It’s a credit to the team, and the hard work over the past 5 games in Europe that they’re in this position.
Galatasaray is currently 2nd in the Turkish league
Champions League Group Stage results:
Liverpool: 2-0 PSV (h); 3-0 Bordeaux (h); 1-0 Bordeaux (a); 3-2 Galatasaray (h); 0-0 PSV (a)
Galatasaray: 1-3 Bordeaux (a); 0-2 PSV (a); 1-2 PSV (h); 2-3 Liverpool (a); 0-0 Bordeaux (h)
Goal scorers (Europe):
Liverpool: Crouch 5; Garcia 3; Gerrard 2; Bellamy, Gonzalez 1
Galatasaray: Ilic, Karan, Turan 2; Inamoto, Sabri, Sas, Sukur 1
European History:
Liverpool: European Cup/Champions League 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005; UEFA Cup 1973, 1976, 2001; UEFA Super Cup 1977, 2001, 2005
Galatasaray: UEFA Cup 2000; UEFA Super Cup 2000
Referee: Olegário Benquerença (POR)
Key players for Gala:
Umit Karan: With Hasan Sukur likely out due to a cracked rib, Turkish international Karan will be the most dangerous striker. Karan was a key part in Gala’s near comeback at Anfield in September, scoring the two second-half goals from headers. He has 7 goals in the Turkish league this year.
Rigobert Song: The former Leeds defender also happened to make 33 appearances for Liverpool from 1999 to 2000. He and Sabri Sarıoglu are the only players to have played every minute of Gala’s Champions League campaign.
Sasa Ilic: Much of Gala’s offense will go through Ilic, an attacking central midfielder with an eye for goal (8 goals in the league, Gala's top scorer), and a member of the Serbian national team.
My guess of a lineup:
Dudek
Peltier, Paletta, Agger, Riise
Pennant, Guthrie, Alonso, Garcia
Fowler, Crouch
Having already qualified first in the group, there’s a lot less pressure going into this game, and it shows in the squad selection. It's nice to see so many youth players chosen: Stephen Darby, David Martin, Paul Anderson, and Miki Roque, in addition to Paletta, Peltier and Guthrie. In addition, Gerrard, Finnan, Reina and Hyypia haven’t made the trip.
I’m a bit surprised Gerrard was left out. Liverpool certainly could do with resting a few players, Stevie included, but with the team light in central midfield, and Alonso just returning from injury, I would have thought that Xabi would be the one staying home.
I hope to see as many youth players feature as possible. Playing in the Champions League, in Istanbul of all places, would be some way to make a debut, and I don’t believe that any of the youth players mentioned have gotten a run out in Europe. We’ve seen Paletta, Peltier, and Guthrie in the Carling Cup and league, but I hope that Paul Anderson features as well. There’s been a lot of hype around him in the reserves, and he scored a lovely goal in pre-season, but from what I’ve read, he hasn’t played as well this year as last.
All four strikers are in the team. I imagine Fowler will captain the squad, as Carragher will probably be on the bench, but who will partner him seems less certain. My guess, and it’s no more than that, is it will be Crouch, simply because he didn’t play on Saturday, but I haven’t seen any news on the back problem that ruled him out against Wigan.
Everyone comes home without injuries (knocking on wood furiously), and the youth players play (and don’t look out of depth), and this game has to be considered a success. It’s a credit to the team, and the hard work over the past 5 games in Europe that they’re in this position.
27 September 2006
Liverpool 3-2 Galatasaray
Hmm. Well, it was an eventful game, to say the least.
Liverpool came out on fire. Galatasaray was hesitant, and possibly awed as the fans were in excellent voice. Liverpool had a corner within a minute, three or four good attempts at goal in the first five minutes, and two goals in the back of the net by 15 minutes. Both Crouch and Garcia’s goals were well taken, with good build-up from Aurelio and Pennant respectively, but I believe it was Gerrard marauding forward from the center of midfield, drawing defenders, which allowed Liverpool so much space.
But after going up two, Liverpool seemed to be happy to sit on their two goals, and stopped pushing forward as hard. They created a couple of chances in the rest of the half, but did not have the impetus they started with, and Galatasaray grew into the game. Galatasaray made two changes at the half, bringing on two strikers for a midfielder and defender, but they weren’t immediately effective. Liverpool came out much like they did in the first half, and scored after seven minutes through Crouch’s absolutely picture perfect bicycle kick. Seriously, he’s tried similar shots before, but I did not think he had that goal in him. Liverpool has really been putting in some wonder strikes lately.
And then, once again, Liverpool seemed happy with their lead. They again took their foot off of the gas, and invited Galatasaray onto them. And within 10 minutes, Galatasaray had pulled the score to 3-2 through two excellent headers by substitute Umit Karan. The first goal allowed Gala back into the game, and was down to lazy defending. The ball should have been cleared before it came to Arda on the wing, who crossed it in perfectly to Karan.
But Liverpool was resolute, and defended adequately for the rest of the game. They held on under severe pressure, and that in and of itself is an accomplishment. But it should have never come to that point. 3-0 at home in the second half is done and dusted. While it’s great they held on, it’s embarrassing it came to last-ditch defending.
While it feels like I’m criticizing the team’s performance, I was mostly pleased with the players. What more can you say about Crouchy; he scored two great goals after being on the bench for four games, looking like he hasn’t missed a beat. His pairing with Kuyt concerns me though. I was afraid they’d play too similar a role, and Kuyt seemed to be forced out onto the wing too often, and much was less effective than he had been recently. It’s going to be interesting to see how Rafa juggles them.
Garcia was very good offensively today; when he plays, Liverpool always looks more likely to score. But he is also infuriating. His defense today was particularly atrocious. Aurelio is not familiar enough with the team to be forced to cover for Garcia going too far forward, cutting inside, and not dropping back to defend. Garcia’s ball-watching on defense almost led to two goals in the first half. But, boy was he influential on attack. And that’s what you get with little Luis.
Liverpool did and didn’t miss Sissoko today. Gerrard is such an excellent midfielder when he plays centrally, and he was fantastic yet again this game even though he missed an excellent chance in the second half. But when Liverpool did sit back and let Galatasaray play, they certainly missed Sissoko. If Momo was in there breaking up play, Gala would have never gotten two goals back. But I don’t know if Liverpool would have gotten three either.
I hope Rafa is getting answers to his queries, because while the past three games have been very promising with three straight wins, I only see more questions and possibilities for the rest of the season. I really am curious to see the line-up he’s going to settle on, and it feels like he’s getting closer to that point.
Liverpool came out on fire. Galatasaray was hesitant, and possibly awed as the fans were in excellent voice. Liverpool had a corner within a minute, three or four good attempts at goal in the first five minutes, and two goals in the back of the net by 15 minutes. Both Crouch and Garcia’s goals were well taken, with good build-up from Aurelio and Pennant respectively, but I believe it was Gerrard marauding forward from the center of midfield, drawing defenders, which allowed Liverpool so much space.
But after going up two, Liverpool seemed to be happy to sit on their two goals, and stopped pushing forward as hard. They created a couple of chances in the rest of the half, but did not have the impetus they started with, and Galatasaray grew into the game. Galatasaray made two changes at the half, bringing on two strikers for a midfielder and defender, but they weren’t immediately effective. Liverpool came out much like they did in the first half, and scored after seven minutes through Crouch’s absolutely picture perfect bicycle kick. Seriously, he’s tried similar shots before, but I did not think he had that goal in him. Liverpool has really been putting in some wonder strikes lately.
And then, once again, Liverpool seemed happy with their lead. They again took their foot off of the gas, and invited Galatasaray onto them. And within 10 minutes, Galatasaray had pulled the score to 3-2 through two excellent headers by substitute Umit Karan. The first goal allowed Gala back into the game, and was down to lazy defending. The ball should have been cleared before it came to Arda on the wing, who crossed it in perfectly to Karan.
But Liverpool was resolute, and defended adequately for the rest of the game. They held on under severe pressure, and that in and of itself is an accomplishment. But it should have never come to that point. 3-0 at home in the second half is done and dusted. While it’s great they held on, it’s embarrassing it came to last-ditch defending.
While it feels like I’m criticizing the team’s performance, I was mostly pleased with the players. What more can you say about Crouchy; he scored two great goals after being on the bench for four games, looking like he hasn’t missed a beat. His pairing with Kuyt concerns me though. I was afraid they’d play too similar a role, and Kuyt seemed to be forced out onto the wing too often, and much was less effective than he had been recently. It’s going to be interesting to see how Rafa juggles them.
Garcia was very good offensively today; when he plays, Liverpool always looks more likely to score. But he is also infuriating. His defense today was particularly atrocious. Aurelio is not familiar enough with the team to be forced to cover for Garcia going too far forward, cutting inside, and not dropping back to defend. Garcia’s ball-watching on defense almost led to two goals in the first half. But, boy was he influential on attack. And that’s what you get with little Luis.
Liverpool did and didn’t miss Sissoko today. Gerrard is such an excellent midfielder when he plays centrally, and he was fantastic yet again this game even though he missed an excellent chance in the second half. But when Liverpool did sit back and let Galatasaray play, they certainly missed Sissoko. If Momo was in there breaking up play, Gala would have never gotten two goals back. But I don’t know if Liverpool would have gotten three either.
I hope Rafa is getting answers to his queries, because while the past three games have been very promising with three straight wins, I only see more questions and possibilities for the rest of the season. I really am curious to see the line-up he’s going to settle on, and it feels like he’s getting closer to that point.
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