Shanklyanfield

So you are on about Nando making a challenge last season for someone else to score as your best defence of Nando! I refer the honourable Gentelman to a more recent derby game where Cisse actually scored!

Cisse had a bad game there admittidly but Nando hadn't gone 14 games without a goal and wasn't that also the game that Nando totally missed the ball twice while he was in the 18 yard box! Wow Nando challenged an opposing player and I just can't ever dream of Nando scoring in a red shirt!

Not sure if sky only had there mics down by the City fans but that's all I could hear singing!

And Nando??????????????????

Forget other leagues and past histroy please tell me in what repsect is Nando a better player than Cisse in the Prem because it certainly isn't goalscoring. Nando's first touch is that bad his 2nd touch is a tackle and it certainly isn't in assists either because Nando has hardly set-up any goals this season! Nando has been shocking for the last 14 games yet Cisse hasn't been given a chance and I'm not a Cisse fan but his is being treated unfairly when you look at Nando's performances!

Reina - 7 - he gives the defense much more confidence with his positioning and his quick feet attacking the ball as a sweper Back 4 - 8 - Solid game again from the back 4 with an assured game Agger! Kewell - 7.5 - Good game - great finish although I thought he took 1 touch too many! Alonso - 8 - for carrying on while he was still bleeding! Hamann - 6.5 - Gave the ball away a few times today very unlike him! Gerrard 8 - Great performance from the captain in his rightful position in the centre - let's hope he stays there! Kromkamp - 7 - Nothing spectacular buthing nothing wrong and some nice touches on a few occasions! Crouch - 8 - Fantastic back-heel that nearly went it, unlucky with the header and the half-volley and held-up play well Nando - 4 - Sorry but his time is up as a starter - it's 14 games without a goal and he's not even a threat, had a good chance after being put through by Hamann and hit it softer than my 10 week old son would have! Time to be dropped! Overall - 7 - Very dissapointed we didn't hit 3 or 4 past city today, even before Barton got sent off they where there for the taking but once again we fail to put a game to bed!

Have to agree, I am by no way Cisse's biggest fan but how Rafa persists with Nando is really starting to baffle me as I think it did with 44,000+ at Anfield today! Cisse hasn't been great and his performance at United was shocking but once again Nando was very poor, he had one chance which was slower than a back-pass to James yet he stayed on the pitch for 90 minutes! I heard it was 14 games without a goal and you've said 12 but either way it doesn't really matter as that is a shocking stat for a striker especially as IHO he doesn't offer a lot else either, he is knocked off the ball too easily, his control is poor and on the rare occasion he gets into a dangerous position he fluffs it! Cisse must be sitting on the bench wondering what he's got to do! He has scored 12 goals in 22 starts (20 off the bench - 44 total) yet Nando has scored 6 goals in 24 starts (9 off the bench - 33 in total) he's scored half the goals in more starts and hardly offers anything else to the team! I am getting slightly worried that Rafa is getting slightly biased in his selection of Nando, he has been very poor recently yet he starts every game and very rarely get's taken off! Cisse must have felt even worse today when against 10 men @ Anfield and only with a 1-0 lead we take Crouch off and bring Garcia on ahead of him!

Good luck Momo lad, hope everything is better soon you've been playing well lately!

20 years ago we won it 4 times in 8 years! it's as if you are comparing todays team to the team of 20 years ago! Benfica are not currently top of their league they are currently 4th and the rumour was that if they lost tonight and again on the weekend against Porto then Koeman would have been sacked, so not a team in great form! We where poor tonight and the strikers didn't have one decent cross, through ball too feed off and their keeper didn't make a save and tonight in the 1st half they where very poor! But I still think we will win 3-0 at Anfield in the return leg, but if we had shown a bit more aggresion this tie could have been over and done with!

What like a few of the fans who actually walked out and went back to istanbul then? This is a forum we are not at the ground if you can't see we where poor tonight then good luck to you. Where in any of the posts does it say that Rafa isn't a great manager? All it says is that he (in some people's opinions) got it wrong tonight but he will become a Liverpool legend! Sorry Super Fan!

What is this bolllocks with crap spouted about the original post?? He makes some good points: 1) Garcia was crap and should have been taken off very early. 2) Why was fowler taken off when he can't play against City. 3) If anyone can prove to me that there isn't a lack of co-ertion between midfield and up-front and we lack creativity at times then please do! As I've posted in other threads we've struggled recently to get a crucial second goal or even score at all. It's a valid point! 4) All he's talking about is tonight where we didn't have 1 shot that keeper had to make a save from! 5) He says he believes in Rafa but he got it wrong tonight, well f*** me, for saying he believes the manager didn't approach the game the right way in 1 game in a whole season! 6) I agree I thought befica where there for the taking and if we'd have had a proper go at them tonight especially first half we could have won the game comfortably!

Have to agree as I said earlier in the thread the biggest worry for me is the lack of link between midfield and attack especially without Gerrard in the middle. We've bossed teams possesion wise, the Mancs twice, Arsenal, Chelsea Birmingham but we've either only scored one goal or not scored at all despite the possesion. It's the final third and tonight was really evident, Robbie and Nando fed off scraps, long balls all night and that is no service to those type of strikers.

Reina 7 Finnan 8 Carra 9 - MOTM Sami 6 Riise 8 The Midfield = 5 as there service was very poor to the front two. Garcia = 4 Shocking and I don't know how he stayed on the pitch Fowler and Nando = 6 - both worked their backsides off but got no service!

Our biggest problem and it's not just tonight is the link between midfield and attack. We struggled to get a second against Birmingham and it cost us, we only just scored the winner against Arsenal, we should have been 2 or 3 up against the Mancs at Old Toilet and we should have been more than 1-0 up against them at Anfield but again it was a nervy last 5 mins. We can't put teams to bed and for me the biggest problem is the link between attack and defence, tonight Robbie and Nando had absolutely nothing to feed off, yes we dominated possesion as we have done in previous games but there is that lack of penetration in the last 3rd again that we are lacking. Tonight wasn't about missed opportunites because we simply didn't create any for Robbie, Nando or Cisse. Rafa's subs at times (this is the only problem I've got with Rafa) make me wonder! How Garcia stayed on the pitch I really don't know, I don't know if the early yellow affected him but he was shocking tonight, every time he got the ball he gave it away! Why take Robbie off (this isn't a pro-Robbie post before ayone jumps on it) when he can't play on Sunday I don't know. We should have brought Cisse on for Garcia and maybe later on brought Crouch on for Nando (as Nando can play sunday).

I was replying to a post about Robbie and just stated he needed time? I then made a seperate point stating that Nando's form is worrying me? So I can't say that Nando's form over the past 12 months is worrying because Robbie is back at the club and where in the post did I say Nando should be dropped for Robbie? I'm glad Robbie signing (or any other striker we might have singed) might be putting pressure on the other strikers because at the moment they need more than a bit of pressure they need a bomb up there backsides because 12 goals in the Prem from 3 strikers in 24 games simply isn't good enough for LFC (nothing to do with Robbie!). Quite a few people have said they would have kept Pongo as he would probably could do a better job than most of our strikers at the moment, it's just called looking at the squad and saying it as you see it!

but Garcia is not a poacher! we've got enough players who can play the 'second striker' role like Nando, Kewell, Crouch, Garcia etc... and Garcia will rarely be on the end of a cross on the six yard line! We've missed Garcia recently but not as a striker!

and in 30 minutes of football he has actually put the ball into the net with a great finish but it was offiside. I can't beleive that after 30 minutes of football people are having a go at Robbie! Fowler isn't the player that is worrying me, it's Nando, I was over the moon when he signed but he looks, slow, lethargic, poor control and doesn't look like he knows where the net is. We've given him time to settle, injuries etc... but over 12 months on and he still looks like the un-fit player who hadn't played for 6 months when he first arrived. He's obviously got ability but I just don't think he will ever make it in the Prem!

Totally agree without Gerrard in the middle, the centre is far too static and don't support the strikers enough. I just hope now that when Stevie comes back, Rafa doesn't put him back on the right, Rafa should leave Cisse on the right and play Stevie with Alonso. He is one of the best Centre midfielders in the world but is being wasted on the right. At the time I thought it made sense that until we got someone in to play RM it would be ok to play Stevie on the right beacuse we are strong in the Centre of Midfield, but it's been proven that without Stevie in the middle we are missing an attacking option in the centre of midfield.

Probably because Nando and Crouch hardly ever take a gamble on a ball into the box. The usually both just stand around the 18 yard box and very rarely actually attack a ball in the 6 yard box. Half the time Nando is playing in midfield, so even if crouch does win a knock-on Nando is rarely there to win the second ball. IMHO we should never play Nando and Crouch together as they are both too static, don't have pace and neither seem to have that 'finisher' instinct. It should be either Nando or Crouch with either Folwer or Cisse. The other problem is that we missed Gerrard in the middle and have done in quite a few games recently. Alonso as good as he is will not score many goals from open play because he doesn't make runs from deep, he prefers to sit deep and distribute the ball. Momo as much as he runs around and nobody can fault his work ethic again he isn't a player who will get you 8 or 10 goals running from midfield!

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Absolute legend and a great bloke! Met him at Anfield in the Executive Club a couple of years ago when we played and lost 1-0 to Ipswich (Marcus Stewart goal) and he was with Gary Gillespie. Both of them stopped to talk to us for about 20 minutes about the old teams, how the new team was doing etc.... When I asked him who he was supporting tonight, he just smiled and said "Don't ask a stupid question, Liverpool of course"

Robbie Fowler......................... oh wait he's back isn't he Seriously, Molby - used to love watching him play and as good as Xabi and Stevie G are Molby was the best passer of a ball I've ever seen. Barnes as well - when in full flight he was unstopable.

I have to agree. Pongo done brilliantly against Olympiakos and Luton and helped save both games but apart from that he really hasn't offered us that much. I like Pongo as a player and out of him and ALT I think he will be the one who makes it if either of them do, but..... He has hardly featured this season and when he has, apart from the Luton game he hasn't really shone. He is young and talented so hopefully he'll make it in the long term. The deal makes sense to me, he probably wasn't going to play much this season becuase a lot of the time he hasn't even been on the bench. So like he has with Mellor, Rafa has loaned him to a Premiership club where he will play a lot more than he will at Anfield and we'll get to see how they cope in the Prem instead of the Reserves. You never know we might actually have inserted a clause in the loan deal that let's us recall him at any time, so if we do get injuries, loss-of-form etc.. we can recall him!

It's being repeated on Sky Sports News at 8:30pm tonight for those who missed it (like me!).

I know but it's the badges you are paying for really and if like last time they sell out then it will be money well spent!