Our passing from the back today

[Guest Anders Honoré]

was great. Good to see our defenders showing some patience on the ball and willingness to keep it on the deck without stopping our play either, even when under some heavy pressure like Bordeaux put them under early in the second half.

 

more of that, please.

[Nerik]

The best passing move from the back started with Hyypia's back pass to Reina, Reina's forward pass to Alonso, a 1-2 with Momo and off we went...........

[Rimbeux]

It is it that the premiership is that mich faster, that there is that much more pressure on the ball, or that the players expect it to be?

[Walrus]

It is it that the premiership is that mich faster, that there is that much more pressure on the ball, or that the players expect it to be?

I saw an interview with Sami after the match, where he implied that the reason for our poor start in the Prem compared to the CL is pretty much down to the fact that the way the opposition play in the CL simply suits us a lot better.

[Coyler]

If every opposition played like those chancers last night we'd pass it like the '80s every game.

[Leo No.8]

We had spells last night when our tempo reminded me of Rafa's Valencia which came to Anfield and took us apart, and in fairness Sissoko who is often criticised for his passing was often involved in the best of the one-two's, playing the ball first time and moving. Gerrard was also involved in most of it.

 

We also had spells when our passing was absolutely dreadful though, particularly the first 15 minutes of the second half. You can see there is a lot more fluency there at times now, but Rafa needs to stick with a similar team without making too many changes and the good spells will become more frequent.

 

What I did like was that we mixed up the short passing and build-up with some early balls into the box. We do need to maintain a variation, particularly when we have two excellent headers and retainers on the ball in Kuyt and Crouch up front; the early cross shouldn't always be discounted even though we all enjoy the nice give and go stuff.

[Valleys Red]

Couldn't work out why Pepe seemed to be aiming his goal kicks towards Garcia on the left wing though...