Pre Season Friendly
Wed 22nd July 2009 2pm, National Stadium, Bangkok
Xabi Alonso didn’t take part in this game (the club said ‘slight ankly injury’ – many others say he withdrew himself from selection) which saw the reds start brightly through an early Ryan Babel goal, before fading away and conceding a second half equaliser in the humidity of the National Stadium in Bangkok.
Martin Skrtel and El Zhar also left the field after picking up knocks in the game – Skrtel appeared to be clutching at his hamstring before he gingerly walked off.
One thing that definitely wasn’t missing was the support as tens of thousands of Liverpool fans turned up to support the reds.
LFC First Half: Cavalieri, Degen, Agger, Carragher, Insua, Kuyt, Babel, Lucas, Plessis, Ngog, Nemeth.
The reds started brightly, dominating all the early exchanges and in the 6th minute a long ball from Carragher landed in Babel’s path who managed to hold off the chasing centre back to slot the ball in to the net.
Nemeth saw a bit of the ball and showed some nice touches, although was over-elaborate at times.
Kuyt worked tirelessly, not bad for the birthday boy, and Lucas delivered a fantastic cross from which Ryan Babel should have done better than place the ball wide of the post.
As the first half wore on Liverpool player’s looked tired and the Thai national side gained a foothold on the game. They were handed the perfect chance with a free kick just before half time – but fired over the bar, before putting their next free kick out for a throw in.
LFC Second Half: Gulacsi (Reina 75), Kelly, San Jose, Skrtel (Dossena 55), Johnson, El Zhar (Arbeloa 57), Spearing, Babel (Riera 75), Mascherano, Pacheco (Torres 78), Voronin
Liverpool made some big changes for the second half but struggled from the outset. The game was becoming bogged down in midfield and it was made worse 10 minutes in when El Zhar attempted an acrobat overhead kick, only managing to injure himself in the process. Within a minute Skrtel went to clear a ball before clutching his leg in pain. Both players were replaced shortly after.
With just under 20 minutes remaining Thailand passed their way around the reds midfield before playing a through ball through the reds unfamiliar defensive duo to equalise.
Riera and Torres were sent on and within 30 seconds of joining the game, Nando had nearly found a reds winner. He had another opportunity later on with a diving header but in the end it was too little too late.
Liverpool move to Singapore, still without a win in pre-season.
Goals
Babel (6), Sutee (76)
Team News
LFC First Half: Cavalieri, Degen, Agger, Carragher, Insua, Kuyt, Babel, Lucas, Plessis, Ngog, Nemeth.
LFC Second Half: Gulacsi (Reina 75), Kelly, San Jose, Skrtel (Dossena 55), Johnson, El Zhar (Arbeloa 57), Spearing, Babel (Riera 75), Mascherano, Pacheco (Torres 78), Voronin
Att: 48,000
Pictures
It’s down to finances and other things!.Good and well to say that sell Dosenna,Babel and Voronin etc but we need a buyer whose willing to pay decent money!!
We simply don’t have the financial muscle required to spend £30 million on the likes of Silva or Villa.In my opinion we have too many players who don’t make an impact when needed.
Last nights fiasco was worse than the vienna game, how the hell are we going to win or even challenge for anything this term with these arseholes playing.
Ok Babel FINALLY scored but come on the guy couldn’t score in a brothel!!! as for Lucas, Dossena and Voronin being our so called second striker god f**king help us.
For god sake Rafa get rid of all the above and get two decent signings for them or we will finish out of the top four if El Nino and Stevie gets injured (or sent down for a load of jumped up charges).
We need to get out with the same old baggage and get some new faces in. Poor Houllier had s***e over the likes of Diouf but even he could do better than this current shower!!!!
not good enough
we have a small quality squad of about 14 players the rest arnt any good
Any prem team would have won all 3 games
Pride hurt Sad !
Its time Rafa played the “Spanish armada’ full tilt.What makes them so tired and protected? Its a joke.They should take a leaf out Lionel Messi’s (Barcelona)book who came back to training a week earlier in order to prepare for their upcoming tournament.If Rafa continues to pamper his Spanish players,Pool will be undercooked for the start of the season.Reyna,Vierra hardly played in Confed cup,Alonso played two games…so whats all the fuss about?There were nearly 50 000 fans who turned out to Thailand game only to see a bunch of reserves playing.Is that the way to treat fans?Its a shame.