The reds celebrate the winning goal in Hungary.
Liverpool saw out a 1-0 victory in Hungary in a game that started brightly.
Agger, with his head bandaged heavily, returned to the reds defence and Carragher returned to centre-back. Glen Johnson returned to the right back slot. Aurelio started the match on the left wing.
Early pressure from Liverpool resulted in a corner which eventually Jamie Carragher headed in to the six yard box. David N’gog got the angled touch which sent the ball in to the corner of the net. Liverpool fans may have felt a whitewash coming on. Indeed, the reds had total domination in the first half and plenty of possession, but a combination of a couple of decent saves and some
Dirk Kuyt and David N’gog both had great opportunities to increase the lead.
The second half was much more laboured. The reds still had the lions share of possession but could not fashion the second goal. As the half wore on Debrecen gained slightly in confidence and did force a solid save out of Pepe Reina who had little to do overall.
The final whistle went and the reds had done their job and the players gathered round to watch the final moments of the Fiorentina – Lyon game. In the dying moments Lyon forced a fine save but it was in vain as the French side were defeated 1-0, ensuring Liverpool’s exit.
The reds now go in to the Europa League, a modified version of the UEFA Cup which the reds lifted in the glorious 2001 year. Liverpool’s two late defensive switch-offs against Lyon home and away are the reason behind this season’s Champions League exit. They will need to correct that for Sunday when the Merseyside Derby comes around.
Post Match Comments
Rafael Benitez:
“It was our own fault in the end, the late goals we have conceded along the way have cost us.
“We have been so good in the last few years that maybe people think it is easy to qualify in all competitions.
“We have to be disappointed, we knew we had to win and we did that. You cannot change what happened in Florence but at least we did our job.”
“You have a budget at the beginning of the season and it assumes that we have qualified for the group stages of the Champions League. We did this.
“Two or three more games maybe, in terms of money, won’t make such a big difference.
“The main thing for us is to finish in the top four and to be in the Champions League group stages again next year.”
Stats
Possession: 64%
Shots: 15 (7 on target) [Debrecen – 5 (2 on target)]
Corners: 12 [Debrecen – 3]
Teams
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Insua, Carragher, Aurelio (Dossena 89), Leiva, Mascherano, Kuyt, Gerrard (Aquilani 90+1), N’gog (Benayoun 77)
Unused subs: Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Skrtel, Spearing
Goals: Ngog 4
Ref: Kuipers
Att: 41,500
Our Man of the Match
The reds played decent without playing outstanding. We’ve gone for Mascherano.
That was another poor preformance despite Gerrard trying to talk it up in his post match interview.Fiorentina and Lyon scored for fun against the very same opposition where as we struggled in the last third like we usually do,much posession but no killer instinct or penetration!.How i wish that we’d play at a higher tempo trying to get a few early goals like Man Utd do before taking our foot of the gas instead our style is predictable,outdated and even incredibly boring at times.
As for Aquilani i already feel that Rafa doesn’t know what to do with him!.For him to play either Mascherano or Lucas need to make way but our manager seems unwilling to do this.I can understand him playing two holding midfielders against top quality opposition which Debrecen are not so they should be fearing us!.I was expecting Aquilani to come on seeing he needs match time instead Rafa throws on Dossena!
N’gog may develope but we need greater firepower upfront so still can’t understand why Keane was sold without Rafa signing a replacement for it’s here where we are most vulnerable.Eliminated from the Carling cup,Champions league and struggling in the Premiership with no money i really fear the worst now,i sense that we’re on a permanent downer here and see little reason to be optimistic.We’ve an incredibly negative manager who the club can’t afford to sack and owners who couldn’t care less how the fans feel .
Well why didnt you just say that Ian rather than being daft and putting something that people can misunderstand. Alao i did say if its meant seriously.
We need to see more of Aquillani before being judged, He IS a good team player. I we lose on Sunday then Rafa really needs to consider his options, I know we all blame Hicks and Gillett but a lot of the responsibility has to boil down to Rafa as he is the one that bought “so called” quality players in ie Bable, Voronin, Keane*(great business but Excellent Player) etc etc. Yes Hicks and Gillett should also realise that LFC are not happy and sell up BUT ONLY to someone with LFC blood running through their veins.
We need to get back to winning ways and scoring goals and fast, Lets have Ruud on a free from Real till the end of season at least he knows where the goal is.
Stevie G must be going MAD
LFC 4 Ever
Two words….”Rafa Out”..!
Its clearly far too early to comment on Aquilani, thats a ridiculous comment if thats meant seriously. Rafa needs to get him on the pitch, why’s he holding back? He must be at least close to full fitness by now. He cant be any worse than Lucas has been for us! He’s a class act, why do we need 2 defensive midfielders? There’s a back 4 and only 1 up front, you do the maths! Lucas out, Aquilani in, more of an attacking threat, he can definately score a few goals.
If you read my comment properly It screams sarcasm, I was stateing that in thirty seconds he did more than most of team had managed throughout the game…. how demoralising must that be for a player to be brought on with seconds left in the game….. its just taking the pish Rafa. If it was 0-0 and was the last corner of the match I could see a reason for putting on a player like Crouch, but that is the only instance I can think of bringing a player on with seconds remaining (excluding an injury)
the biggest problem with LFC is we have no strength&quality in depth&its showing in the last 2months,when gerrard&torres have hardly played&its a proven fact that if gerrard&torres are not 100% fit we struggle to win games.its now time for new investors to come in&for those yanks to sell up,its time to get investors who would put the interest of the future of LFC first¬ load the club with debts&fill their pockets with all the profits,we needd to offload atleast about 6players&replace them with quality players,getting rid of the coach would just add to the problems we have,if every player puts 110% in every game we could still salvage something from this season,the season ends in may thats 6months of football left!!
So what’s now!!! Do you think we can still win any cup this year? BPL is still our dream…….far, far, far away. Please let any others team win the BPL, not the MU peacock…. Sad Liverpool supporter ………
Aquilani, what a waste of money, only made 1 good run cutting though their defence all the time he was on…….. all thirty seconds of it