[Kopite]

Liverpool entertain Marseille knowing that a victory will guarantee them a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

The Reds are currently level on points with Atletico Madrid at the top of Group D and will be hoping to pick up a convincing victory to boost their chances of finishing in first place.

A Steven Gerrard brace clinched a 2-1 win at the Stade Velodrome earlier in the campaign and the Anfield faithful would be happy with a repeat of that scoreline come 10pm GMT on Wednesday.​

 

[Kopite]

another game at home this week which is a very important one to pass then insure seeing our team in the 2nd round.

i predict rafa to make 1 change on our lineup as vs fulham last saturday unless gerrard is a fully fit to play.
i.e,

--------------reina------------------
arbeloa------carra------agger------aurelio
---------------mascherano------------
kuyt-----------alonso-------------riera
--------keane---------------torres------

 

[Deo]

I think Gerrard might start this one... a win here would put us in a comfortable position, we should avoid second place or else we might face some team like Barca or Real...

 

[Liverpooldian]

keane and torres cannot play together. I'd put gerrard behind torres.

 

[Ryfa]

I really can't wait to see Gerrard and Torres play together on Wednesday. It's only after Sat i've realised how much i miss watching them play together. They really do have something special. Thank god Rafa feels the same.

 

[Kopite]

I think Gerrard might start this one...

exciting news.. hopefully he can start if this won`t risk him.

a win here would put us in a comfortable position, we should avoid second place or else we might face some team like Barca or Real...

yea i think it`s better to play against any of them in the quarter or semifinal..

 

[Kopite]

keane and torres cannot play together. I'd put gerrard behind torres.

i can say that keane start lose fans trust gradually due to his average show in general and i`m one of them! :lala:

 

[Kopite]

it seems no one care about the game here!!

 

[Kopite]

Liverpool (from): Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio, Benayoun, Babel, Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano, Lucas, Torres, Kuyt, Keane, Riera, Cavalieri, El Zhar, Dossena, Spearing..

and Gerrard is expected to start. good luck!

 

[Deo]

Reina, Arbeloa, Aurelio, Carragher, Agger, Mascherano, Alonso, Riera, Kuyt, Gerrard, Torres. Subs:

Cavalieri, Dossena, Benayoun, Lucas, Babel, Keane, Kelly.

---

Who's Kelly?

 

[arfy05]

i think he's a centre back. had to be selected due to the UEFA's stance of using more homegrown players.

 

[JohnBarnes7]

very poor performance I hope this isnt a slump:frownani:

 

[Ryfa]

Is anyone worried that going into December the number of good games we've had we can count them on one hand? Bolton, West brom, and Everton are the only games we've dominated for 90 minutes. I'm really not enjoying watching us play.

Another point, the moment we're put under any sort of pressure we start hoofing and i include Reina in that. Instead of passing it out to defence to keep possession he hoofs it upfield and Carragher isn't far behind. Tbh i really can't see us winning the title with performance like the one's we've been seeing consistently at home. Oh well we've qualified and i can only hope we improve.

Oh Mascherano was horrible today. He's had only two good performances since he's come back from his trips to wherever Argentina take him. That's against Utd and Chelsea. He really needs to improve because today he was a liablilty.

 

[arfy05]

My worries for this team escalates as we perform poorly again, yes the results are there but the performance was not and its not the first time, this has become a worrying trend especially at Anfield. Right now it is good we can manage to still win and progress, but there's a time this team needs to find its upper gears and that times has started to pass us by. If we do not raise our game I feel we will fall to regret it later on in the year.

We need a lot more conviction in our defending and especially our application in attack. There is a lack of sustained cohesive play, you'll see periods we can retain the ball and build moves well but not sustain this beyond brief spells. We need to grow into our element a lot more and play with more intensity, control and a bit more aggression. Right now quite a few players are playing badly. Mascherano is suffering a lot on the pitch, his distribution is letting him down but even his strength areas like his pressing, clean tackling and drive are diminishing. But I think the reason for this is fitness, generally the team looks a lot more tired right now and quite a few times we look like a team running on spirit and endeavour. This is not healthy, especially in such a part of the season.

Torres also epitomised out attacking play, too much hesitation and lack of application in his play. His touch at times were off and his movement and play was at times incorrect. Not the direct, swift and decisive Torres of before and I don't think its a fitness issue either, he has had quite a few games of this ilk, this season. We cannot be over reliant on him or adjust too much to facilitate his strengths, but nor should we neglect quick interplay.

The team needs to grow out of its shell and more players need to stand up and be more authoritative and not just starting XI players but also impact subs like Lucas, Yossi and Babel. So far this season has given us some opportunity we cannot live to regret not taking profit from this. We need to be more fluent in our football and start giving performances with the results. :hopeful: Don't get me wrong I still prefer results over performances, but we need to find a way to compliment both.

 

[Nitemare]

Nando looks nowhere near 100% yet, i think that if we play him in a system we used last year, our attack will look much sharper then with Keane on the field as well, as Kuyt is in good form and with Stevie and Riera playing fairly consistently, we would look much more dangerous then with Keane up from who is more then a liability

 

[Kopite]

1st of all i want to congratulate all liverpool fans.

honestly the most important thing out of this game were the 3 pts at home and to prove our dominating on marseille in last 2 or 3 seasons.
then to insure our qualifying to he 2nd round of the ucl.

liverpool started the game very well and immense impact of gerrard was shown.. the reds was more dangerous side in the 1st half, more ball possession and more available chances too while marseille`s best names were taiwo and ben arfa easily, the left side flank of them was dynamo to build their attacks during the game. on the other hand, riera and aurelio were abit our lower player on the pitch in 1st half although they led 3 or 4 attacks.

in the 2nd half marseille was a bit better team, they got some real chances to equalise (niang alone had 4 chances). they made some pressing on our defense till the end of the game. riera, aurlio, kuyt and yossi didn`t impress me.

 

[Kopite]

Is anyone worried that going into December the number of good games we've had we can count them on one hand? Bolton, West brom, and Everton are the only games we've dominated for 90 minutes. I'm really not enjoying watching us play.

i would agree with ya in what you said.
we sometimes look only to win and nothing else in the games at home, that has been proved in many games this season. i know we aren`t interesting side to watch in some games, but in many games we look only for the points more than the exciting performance.. i think chelski did win the league title while they play ugly football. so sometimes fans should decide what they exactly want.

Another point, the moment we're put under any sort of pressure we start hoofing and i include Reina in that. Instead of passing it out to defence to keep possession he hoofs it upfield and Carragher isn't far behind. Tbh i really can't see us winning the title with performance like the one's we've been seeing consistently at home. Oh well we've qualified and i can only hope we improve.

i think this depends on reina`s control skills on the ball when he becomes under such pressure by any opponent`s player. yea hopefully we improve in coming weeks.

Oh Mascherano was horrible today. He's had only two good performances since he's come back from his trips to wherever Argentina take him. That's against Utd and Chelsea. He really needs to improve because today he was a liablilty

completely agreed. he was hesitating in his passes and made many mistakes.. look at how he tackled valbuena, it was really tough and he might be sent off by the referee due to this foul, honestly.

 

[Kopite]

My worries for this team escalates as we perform poorly again, yes the results are there but the performance was not and its not the first time, this has become a worrying trend especially at Anfield. Right now it is good we can manage to still win and progress, but there's a time this team needs to find its upper gears and that times has started to pass us by. If we do not raise our game I feel we will fall to regret it later on in the year.

We need a lot more conviction in our defending and especially our application in attack. There is a lack of sustained cohesive play, you'll see periods we can retain the ball and build moves well but not sustain this beyond brief spells. We need to grow into our element a lot more and play with more intensity, control and a bit more aggression. Right now quite a few players are playing badly. Mascherano is suffering a lot on the pitch, his distribution is letting him down but even his strength areas like his pressing, clean tackling and drive are diminishing. But I think the reason for this is fitness, generally the team looks a lot more tired right now and quite a few times we look like a team running on spirit and endeavour. This is not healthy, especially in such a part of the season.

Torres also epitomised out attacking play, too much hesitation and lack of application in his play. His touch at times were off and his movement and play was at times incorrect. Not the direct, swift and decisive Torres of before and I don't think its a fitness issue either, he has had quite a few games of this ilk, this season. We cannot be over reliant on him or adjust too much to facilitate his strengths, but nor should we neglect quick interplay.

The team needs to grow out of its shell and more players need to stand up and be more authoritative and not just starting XI players but also impact subs like Lucas, Yossi and Babel. So far this season has given us some opportunity we cannot live to regret not taking profit from this. We need to be more fluent in our football and start giving performances with the results. :hopeful: Don't get me wrong I still prefer results over performances, but we need to find a way to compliment both.

:thmbup:
an immense post which covers liverpool`s condition yesterday vs marseille and in recent few games.

 

[Liverpooldian]

Now that 3 points is in the bag, i would not mind second place as we seem to do well against better teams that finished first. Only time we had a spanking was when we finished first and lost to benfica.

Watching last nite game... well... other fans have already sum it up. It was painful to watch. Very painful :wth:

 

[Kopite]

highlights.. Gerrard`s goal. :musik:
included Mascherano`s tackling Valbuena.:wth:

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