Surely I can't be the only one

[Maldini]

Who thought tonight was nothing more than a freak result. The team we had out should have won the game. It was the better team both on paper and for most of the game on the pitch too. A combination of naive defending, awful goalkeeping and crap officials cost us a game in which neither side really impressed and either could have won.

 

It's not symptomatic of a larger problem, it was a one-off game. Rafa took a calculated risk and lost badly, nothing more.

[JonShar]

No, I'm there with you too mate. We were arguably better than them for the first half, then a freak few minutes at the end of the half killed us. We were pretty poor in the second half, but they smelled blood and rightly so. Dudek was shyte, same as Saturday, and the ref was garbage. Rafa played kids just like he has in the other league cup games.

 

You are absolutely right, but watch out for the psychos coming to tell us that Rafa is clueless, he's not the man to lead us forward, etc.

[passater]

Who thought tonight was nothing more than a freak result. The team we had out should have won the game. It was the better team both on paper and for most of the game on the pitch too. A combination of naive defending, awful goalkeeping and crap officials cost us a game in which neither side really impressed and either could have won.

 

It's not symptomatic of a larger problem, it was a one-off game. Rafa took a calculated risk and lost badly, nothing more.

Yep, spot on. Very painful and even more so for those who were there obviously, but we've got to move on.

[alias75]

thats how i saw it too, 1-4 at HT was no reflection on the balance on play, a side like Arsenal are always capable of doing that, remember the game they played earlier in the season and missed about 6 or 7 golden chances could have been 5 or 6 easily and ended up 0-0, today was the opposite of that, they scored with almost every chance they had and got a few good calls from the linesman. Our players made individual errors (again).

 

Its always hard to lose big at home but i just put it down as a freak result and hopefully it will quicken the realisation from the board that we need better players.

[Guz]

Who thought tonight was nothing more than a freak result. The team we had out should have won the game. It was the better team both on paper and for most of the game on the pitch too. A combination of naive defending, awful goalkeeping and crap officials cost us a game in which neither side really impressed and either could have won.

 

It's not symptomatic of a larger problem, it was a one-off game. Rafa took a calculated risk and lost badly, nothing more.

 

Agree with the latter point, not so the former.

 

Why should a defence consisting of Dudek, Peltier, Palleta, Hyypia and Warnock, with an imbalanced midfield and a striker coming to the end of his career be automatically expected to beat a team that has gelled and played as a unit (by and large) over the last year or so. We just got eleven players from our squad together as if everything would just come together automatically and it failed miserably.

[downunder]

Who thought tonight was nothing more than a freak result. The team we had out should have won the game. It was the better team both on paper and for most of the game on the pitch too. A combination of naive defending, awful goalkeeping and crap officials cost us a game in which neither side really impressed and either could have won.

 

It's not symptomatic of a larger problem, it was a one-off game. Rafa took a calculated risk and lost badly, nothing more.

 

my emails to a mate during the game were on those lines. I used the word freak then too. My only concern is the youngsters who played poorly don't lose their confidence.

[Maldini]

No, I'm there with you too mate. We were arguably better than them for the first half, then a freak few minutes at the end of the half killed us. We were pretty poor in the second half, but they smelled blood and rightly so. Dudek was shyte, same as Saturday, and the ref was garbage. Rafa played kids just like he has in the other league cup games.

 

You are absolutely right, but watch out for the psychos coming to tell us that Rafa is clueless, he's not the man to lead us forward, etc.

They're already out in force. I can understand their anger, it's a natural reaction to conceding six, but I think blaming the manager for everything is just an easy excuse. Tonight wasn't a normal game.

 

If you look at the goals,

 

1st - Warnock played him onside on the far side and Peltier just let him go

2nd - Great free kick, but Dudek really should have saved it

3rd - blatant foul on the keeper IMO, not noticed by any of the officials or the commentators

4th - Offside

5th - tame enough shot, keeper was slightly out of position, Paletta might have dealt with Aliadiere better out wide, Gerrard dived in too

6th - Paletta should have just cleaned house, both full backs had understandable piled forward and we were caught on the break

 

4 were because of mistakes by non-first team players and two should have been disallowed.

[JonShar]

They're already out in force. I can understand their anger, it's a natural reaction to conceding six, but I think blaming the manager for everything is just an easy excuse. Tonight wasn't a normal game.

 

If you look at the goals,

 

1st - Warnock played him onside on the far side and Peltier just let him go

2nd - Great free kick, but Dudek really should have saved it

3rd - blatant foul on the keeper IMO, not noticed by any of the officials or the commentators

4th - Offside

5th - tame enough shot, keeper was slightly out of position, Paletta might have dealt with Aliadiere better out wide, Gerrard dived in too

6th - Paletta should have just cleaned house, both full backs had understandable piled forward and we were caught on the break

 

4 were because of mistakes by non-first team players and two should have been disallowed.

 

Oh yeah, I was throwing stuff across the room while I was watching the game, but I don't blame the manager. You're spot on with the goals too, freak result.

[Maldini]

Agree with the latter point, not so the former.

 

Why should a defence consisting of Dudek, Peltier, Palleta, Hyypia and Warnock, with an imbalanced midfield and a striker coming to the end of his career be automatically expected to beat a team that has gelled and played as a unit (by and large) over the last year or so. We just got eleven players from our squad together as if everything would just come together automatically and it failed miserably.

 

I think our team was as cohesive or moreso than Arsenal's. Dudek, Warnock, Hyypia, Gerrard and to a lesser extent Fowler and Bellamy have all played together regularly. Arsenal have played young teams alright, but it hasn't always been the same young team.

 

Andy Gray was a disgrace tonight while I'm on the subject. He kept praising Wenger for having faith in youth and slating us for playing a weakened team (he wasn't the only one either). Arsenal were a unit who have gelled by playing together over the league cup campaign and we were a random assortment of players. Neither was true.

[Nebraska Red]

Oh yeah, I was throwing stuff across the room while I was watching the game, but I don't blame the manager. You're spot on with the goals too, freak result.

 

I was wearing headphones as my wife was on the other PC next to me trying to work.

 

She told me to give up as my language gave her no chance of a peaceful work environment.

 

After the 5th and 6th , i was laughing hysterically which worried her even more than the swearing.

 

i blame the manager for only 1 thing, playing Dudek. After Saturday he shud not have played, if he would not play Reina, he could have put that kid Martin in goal.

[JonShar]

I was wearing headphones as my wife was on the other PC next to me trying to work.

 

She told me to give up as my language gave her no chance of a peaceful work environment.

 

After the 5th and 6th , i was laughing hysterically which worried her even more than the swearing.

 

i blame the manager for only 1 thing, playing Dudek. After Saturday he shud not have played, if he would not play Reina, he could have put that kid Martin in goal.

 

The laughing hysterically thing is funny, I was doing the same thing. I had a mate over watching the game with me, it was his first football game...I think he was quite shocked at my language and frequent object throwing. He swore that if he ever heard an American say "Soccer is boring" again he'd explain his first experience.

[downunder]

I was wearing headphones as my wife was on the other PC next to me trying to work.

 

She told me to give up as my language gave her no chance of a peaceful work environment.

 

After the 5th and 6th , i was laughing hysterically which worried her even more than the swearing.

 

i blame the manager for only 1 thing, playing Dudek. After Saturday he shud not have played, if he would not play Reina, he could have put that kid Martin in goal.

 

NR can you email me, I have something to ask you.

 

Cheers

[Nebraska Red]

The laughing hysterically thing is funny, I was doing the same thing. I had a mate over watching the game with me, it was his first football game...I think he was quite shocked at my language and frequent object throwing. He swore that if he ever heard an American say "Soccer is boring" again he'd explain his first experience.

 

the big bonus for us is that we will not get any cr@p off people tomorrow.

 

i will get a few emails from friends back in England, but they are too tight to actually call me up and give me grief over the phone.

 

nowt in the local papers about the game and no awful radio shows predicting doom and gloom for Liverpool in the coming weeks.

 

it's all Huskers all the time around here.

[Guz]

4 were because of mistakes

 

The sort of mistakes that have littered our season to date (almost exclusively away from home till the last few days) and that started during pre-season, which is the biggest worry for me.

[Nebraska Red]

NR can you email me, I have something to ask you.

 

Cheers

 

 

sent through your profile email addy.

[JonShar]

the big bonus for us is that we will not get any cr@p off people tomorrow.

 

i will get a few emails from friends back in England, but they are too tight to actually call me up and give me grief over the phone.

 

nowt in the local papers about the game and no awful radio shows predicting doom and gloom for Liverpool in the coming weeks.

 

it's all Huskers all the time around here.

 

That is definitely worth living in the States for!

[downunder]

sent through your profile email addy.

 

got it, cheers.

[Nebraska Red]

That is definitely worth living in the States for!

 

along with cheap gas, good food and Disney theme parks.

[JonShar]

along with cheap gas, good food and Disney theme parks.

 

Don't let Mike see that!

[fyds]

Who thought tonight was nothing more than a freak result. The team we had out should have won the game. It was the better team both on paper and for most of the game on the pitch too. A combination of naive defending, awful goalkeeping and crap officials cost us a game in which neither side really impressed and either could have won.

 

It's not symptomatic of a larger problem, it was a one-off game. Rafa took a calculated risk and lost badly, nothing more.

 

Spot on Paul. We dominated both games and lost heavily - far heavier than play or possesion or even attempts on goal would normally suggest. There were mistakes from our second stringers and some shabby officialdom. Shows lightning can strike twice, though i suspect a few of the kids and the Dude were nervous enough going into this after saturday.

 

I'm more concerned about Luis and Speedy than tonight's result.

[SkippyjonJones]

and Disney theme parks.

 

get the f*** out

[JonShar]

get the f*** out

 

Told ya NR.

[Dule]

That whole backline should be pissed off, no joke, that is the only reason our team lost so badly tonight.

[R A Softlad]

Who thought tonight was nothing more than a freak result. The team we had out should have won the game. It was the better team both on paper and for most of the game on the pitch too. A combination of naive defending, awful goalkeeping and crap officials cost us a game in which neither side really impressed and either could have won.

 

It's not symptomatic of a larger problem, it was a one-off game. Rafa took a calculated risk and lost badly, nothing more.

 

[Zoob]

I'm pretty much in agreement with this thread. As usual, there's some pretty scary knee jerking going on.

 

Our back 4 + Dudek were all over the place tonight; Arsenal didn't even have to do much to score, our defending was so bad. And the ref / linesmen were just terrible. When your defending is so bad to begin with, wrong decision after wrong decision just rubs salt into the wound.

 

 

But our defence at home this season - just 3 goals conceded in the league - speaks for itself. I'm pretty sure defensively, that's the best record in England; hopefully it will stay that way after Mancs, Chelsea and a*** visit again