LFC 0 Blackburn 0

This was a very poor match between two very poor sides. One trying to qualify for the champions league whilst the other is trying not be relegated.
You would have thought this was 2 teams fighting relegation by the standard of play. Blackburn will undoubtedly consider this a point gained for us it was 2 lost.

There were a number of players who put in excellent performances for the Reds. Warnock never put a foot wrong and looks more assured with every game he plays. Pellegrino, standing in for Hyppia gave what must be his best performance in a red shirt. He has now played 4 times for the reds and never been on the winning side. Still in the other 3 we got beat so things are getting better from his point of view. Whilst never really looking in any danger in this match, a match we controlled for long periods we never penetrated the Blackburn defence. We were woefully inept up front to a man without exception. How Raffa must have been wishing he had a striker on the bench to replace either Baros who squandered endless opportunities when given the ball in threatening positions. Or Morientes who whilst not as wasteful as Baros did nothing of note either.

We started brightly enough. Zipping the ball around with some slick, pacey pass and move football that did demonstrate the gulf between the respective sides positions in the table. No real threat however came out of it. Second half Smicer who was largely anonymous in the first 45 was replaced by Riise. This immediately raised the tempo of the game and left you wondering why he hadn't started. Just to give you an idea as to how bad we were up front during the second half the Blackburn keeper did not have to make one save!
Not a header or a shot on target!

Notes;
Dudek 7 a very safe secure performance he sniffed out danger on at least two occasions with excellent interventions.
Finnan 5 solid performance.
Carragher 5 again solid,
Pellegrino 7 best to date won many balls cut out everything that came near him and arguably had our 2 best attempts on goal.
Warnock 7 very creditable performance this kid just keeps getting better.

Smicer 2 ,
Hamman 5 showed very little of note,
Gerrard 4 some usual bursts of energy but went missing for prolonged periods when he was really needed. played far too deep even when we were not under any pressure.
Garcia 7 the only midfield/forward who really tried to be positive, often found himself with no support.

Baros 2 if anyone will give us five million for him we should snap their hands off.
Morientes 4 tried hard but saw very little of the ball, and when he did he couldn't control it.

Subs

Riise 45 mins 7 should have been on from the start.
Biscan 5 for Baros 75 mins should probably have started with him in place of Baros.

We have it all to do now, David Moyes must have enjoyed watching this from the stands.

benitez a mis hyypia et riise sur le banc bizarre!!

dudek a assure donc mais baros argggggg

quand a smicer et nunez il serait plus que temps qu'ils se bougent

Sami has been suffering from a stomach bug which is why he was on the bench and would only have played in an emergency.

Leaving Riise on the bench is a little difficult to understand. If it was for a rest I don't know why as he is one of the fittest players in the side.

And when he did come he nmade a real difference

shanks,je ne suis pas d'accord avec toi!!!
je n'ai pas vu le match mais vu les notes que tu donnes aux milieux de terrain,ni baros ni morientes ne peuvent avoir de ballons.
baros et morientes sont des dieux du football à mes yeux,ce soir on a été piss poor au milieu de terrain donc on ne peut pas prétendre gagner quoique ce soit dans ces conditions!!!!

Quoi qu'il en soit, même si on bat les bluenoses dimanche, ça va être très compliqué de les rattraper...

Well Autumn

That is exactly the problem Baros saw plenty of the ball and squanderd possesion every time. In the case of Morientes did not see as much of the ball but when he did his control let him down every time. In a match like this where you are having to scrap for the ball when your forwards get the ball they 1, must retain possession and 2 must be tactically aware of where your fellow players are. Our forwars failed miserably on both counts here.

In brief this sort of performance is quite simply not good enough. I am not going to make excuses for players who really should do better. We dominated possesion of the ball for long periods but did not make any good use of this possesion. Blackburn will probably never get another point so easily.