Player ratings

[Cisse]

Reina 7

Finnan 7

Carra 8

Sami 7. F'' up for the goal though

JAR 8 . Best defensive game ever ?

 

Kewell 5

Garcia 4

Xabi 6

Didi 5

God 5

Mori 6

 

We shouldn't have lost this game. Beside the goal which was a give away we were seldom threatened.

[Guest TheFooFighter]

Finnan and Carra 8 the rest 5

[jfogarty]

Reina 7

Finnan 7

Carra 8

Sami 7. F'' up for the goal though

JAR 8 . Best defensive game ever ?

 

Kewell 5

Garcia 4

Xabi 6

Didi 5

God 5

Mori 6

 

We shouldn't have lost this game. Beside the goal which was a give away we were seldom threatened.

 

Finnan 7. Is that a joke?

[Jay M]

I thought Finnan was MOM for us to be honest. He was outstanding as usual.

[Guest Red Mist]

Everybody besides the defence were mediocre. Must improve a dozen times if we are to overturn this deficit.

[chrisbonnie]

Finnan was easily man of the match for us, in fairness, our whole defence played well, plus Xabi, the rest where still in the hotel rooms ordering x-rated movies on their plasmas

[Redwire]

Finnan MOM, Cara & JAR next, struggling after that.

[anny road]

we defended fine apart from the goal

 

Reina 6

Finnan 7

Sami 7

Carra 7

Riise 6

Garcia 4

Xabi 5

Momo 5

Kewell 5

Mori 5

Fowler 5

[Shanklyanfield]

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!

[Guest JV]

Agree with Anny

Edited February 21, 2006 by JV

[Earl Hafler]

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!

 

Rafa rates him and he's a goal threat even when playing s**t like tonight.

 

The service for the front two, especially from outwide, was poor and the main problem with only Didi and Xabi in the middle is that their defensive instincts are greater than their attacking instincts. With Morientes and Fowler both liking to drop deep you need midfielders to commit themselves and get past the front two.

[Reggie]

Garcia was terrible. So frustrating when he keeps giving the ball away.

 

Kewell was dreadful second half too. The passing second half all round was shocking.

 

Back four and Reina played well. Xabi and Moro worked hard.

 

Losing Sissoko seemed to change the game, he was winning alot of ball before he went off.

[Kite]

Finnan was easily man of the match for us, in fairness, our whole defence played well, plus Xabi, the rest where still in the hotel rooms ordering x-rated movies on their plasmas

Agree, defence was essentially excellent with Finnan being the outstanding one tonight. Garcia looked like he hadn't played in ages, everything about his game was off. Very surprised Rafa left him on, he was offering us nothing and carrying a yellow card too. Kewell and Hamann surprisingly poor after many a good game recently. Fowler looked a bit out of depth at that level (for the moment anyhow).

[Redwire]

Losing Sissoko seemed to change the game, he was winning alot of ball before he went off.

 

Agreed. He was what we needed to provide the dynamism our midfield lacked. I think we would have been much more productive had he stayed on, though obviously, we will never know.

Edited February 22, 2006 by Redwire

[McBain]

Reina - 6

Finnan - 7

Carra - 7

Hyypia - 7

Riise - 7

Alonso - 6

Sissoko - 6

Hamann - 5

Garcia - 3

Kewell - 4

Fowler - 4

Morientes - 5

 

Garcia is amazing. Everytime I think i've seen his worst performance he outdoes himself. And Kewell wasn't far behind.

[Guest RedDwarf]

Finnan and Carra 8 the rest 5

 

Is the correct answer. Although I'd give Morientes and Garcia 3.

[Tyler]

I thought Finnan was outstanding but he seemed to be the one who lost the runner for their goal.

 

Not a huge criticism as it was a very well worked free kick and an excellent run from their player

 

Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition

 

Morientes showed tonight some of the class that we know he has but is getting the ball too deep to cause real damage.

 

Good performance without creating any real chances but you will take that on the road

 

We went for the win over there and tried to finish it off but couldn't and then fell for a sucker punch

 

Need to get at them in Anfield and defend our champions crown. Will be another nerve wracking night but that is the beauty of European competition.

[Guest Red & Green]

Sami 7. F'' up for the goal though

 

Finnan f**ked up for the goal not Sami. He was probably our best player besides.

[Earl Hafler]

Rafa had planned for that set piece, he said so last night. So why would he have only Finnan marking Luisao, their tallest player and most dangerous threat in the air ? Hyypia was marking him and fell over. Finnan might have been told to mark goal side of him but it was difficult to tell.

[12twelve]

The positioning of our defenders during that set piece was curious to say the least. Hyypia surely can't mark two players at once...

[Beardsley]

Sami 7. F'' up for the goal though

 

Finnan f**ked up for the goal not Sami. He was probably our best player besides.

 

 

Think you are wrong here. Look at it again. Sami is positioning himself far too deep. Luisao starts his run long before the free kick is taken. If Sami had positioned himself better, Luisao would have been offside by a mile.

[Stevie H]

Sami 7. F'' up for the goal though

 

Finnan f**ked up for the goal not Sami. He was probably our best player besides.

 

not true at all.

 

the ref, then sami, f***ed up for their goal.

[Paul B]

The main problem, particularly second half, was the gulf between midfield and the two (sometimes one) striker(s). This meant we had no weight of numbers when the increasingly innefective Morientes in particular but also Fowler and then Cisse, had the ball. No-one rushed forward to help them despite pinging good balls forward to them most of the night. I can tell you that certainly won't happen at Anfield though and we should have enough to go on to the next round.

[Beardsley]

not true at all.

 

the ref, then sami, f***ed up for their goal.

 

 

You're right, Stevie. It p***ed me off how the Benfica players constantly dived when they got to a good freekick position. And the ref fell for it more than once. I'm afraid it's gonna get worse at Anfield, where Benfica will do anything to ruin the game.

[Stevie H]

You're right, Stevie. It p***ed me off how the Benfica players constantly dived when they got to a good freekick position. And the ref fell for it more than once. I'm afraid it's gonna get worse at Anfield, where Benfica will do anything to ruin the game.

 

they can try. it's up to us as the home team to dictate the tempo.