Watch Liverpool

Posts Tagged ‘watch chelsea’

• ‘Disgracefully we are not depending on ourselves’
• Goalkeeper, however, encouraged by performance in Lyon

Pepe Reina has said it is ‘disgraceful’ that Liverpool no longer have their Champions League destiny in their own hands following the 1-1 draw against Lyon. The Premier League side now have to win their final two games and hope the French side take something from their game at Fiorentina.

The goalkeeper has insisted there is still hope for Liverpool to progress, but admitted it will be difficult. “No it’s not the end,” Reina told the Liverpool Echo. “We have got two games to go and disgracefully we are not depending on ourselves; we need Lyon to get something in Fiorentina. Our priority is to win our two games that remain and we will keep trying. Miracles? They happen, particularly at Liverpool.”

Reina was encouraged by Liverpool’s performance at Stade Gerland, where they conceded a late goal after dominating large parts of the game and taking the lead through Ryan Babel after 83 minutes.

“That was our best performance in the Champions League so far this season,” he said. “Even in some of our league wins, we didn’t play as well as that. We didn’t deserve anything but a win. I’m really disappointed as we were unlucky. We have got to look for the positives and that is we played well under big, big pressure. We can handle the pressure.

“We can trust in ourselves and we will turn this situation around, I am sure of that. We have got enough quality and enough character. We have to look at the big picture. The team is playing better. It hasn’t been great for clean sheets this season but I would have settled for a 5-4 win. We just have to win and make sure we get three points on Monday [against Birmingham].”

LiverpoolChampions Leagueguardian.co.uk

Liverpool are on the brink of elimination from the Champions League after conceding a close-range equaliser to the otherwise muted Argentinian Lisandro López in the last minute. The visitors, third in the group, are now five points adrift of Fiorentina immediately above them. A mere two fixtures remain for Rafael Benítez’s men.

They deserved far better last night, after dominating here. An utterly deserved victory seemed inevitable when the substitute Ryan Babel turned to drive a 30-yarder high into the net after 83 minutes. Despite the outcome, there can only be admiration for the endeavour of the visitors.

There was nothing self-pitying about the way Liverpool approached this test and the clearest chances belonged to them in the first half. The difficulties facing Benítez were made manifest by the fact that the outstanding opportunity in that spell was wasted by Andriy Voronin. Fans of the club would have been appalled yet not wholly surprised that he should fire against the goalkeeper Hugo Llloris after breaking through on to a long ball from Lucas after 28 minutes.

That had been the simplest opening, but there were others that might have been taken. Lyon had their excuses in injuries that required two substitutions before half-time, but there was a lethargy about Claude Puel’s men that had never been glimpsed during the win at Anfield.

The coach had tinkered with his selection and Liverpool’s left-back Emiliano Insúa ought to have been euphoric that Sidney Govou, his tormentor of two weeks ago, was on the bench. If anything lowered Liverpool’s spirits, it would have been their wastefulness. When Insúa’s cross broke to Fernado Torres in the 12th minute, the Spaniard directed a poor attempt against Llloris. Dirk Kuyt deserved credit minutes later for a good try that the goalkeeper tipped over the bar.

Liverpool were free of self pity despite the miseries endured of late. Benítez can find no enjoyment in this troubled Champions League campaign, but his reputation is that of a strategist and the challenge here was to think his way out of a crisis. He was bold in his use of a 4-4-2 system designed to apply pressure. Still, the handicaps borne by Liverpool should not be understated.

The news that the line-up had just a couple of alterations from the team that downed Manchester United 10 days ago would have been met with ambivalence. It meant that there was a numerical degree of continuity, but the differences were still substantial. Sotiris Kyrgiakos and Voronin came in for Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio, although not as direct replacements.

It looked more like a significant degree of disruption when it was realised that this was merely Kyrgiakos’s fifth start for the club. Voronin has appeared far more often, but seldom to the satisfaction of the supporters. The club’s plight was underlined as well by the need to resort to Jamie Carragher as a right-back.

The role is familiar to him, but those who believe his lack of pace is becoming more pronounced would not have wanted to see him there. Apart from that, he had been a major factor in the defeat of United when he challenged pugnaciously in and around the penalty area. There had, all the same, to be trust in Benítez. The manager has earned that much after ensuring that Liverpool famously survived previous scrapes in this tournament.

Any surprise here still lay with the passivity of Lyon. It brought back memories of the fact that they had looked near to defeat at Anfield until their two goals in a late spurt. It was the measure of Liverpool’s endeavour and confidence before half-time at Stade Gerland that the worth of Puel’s men was being doubted once more.

Liverpool took vast encouragement from the tentativeness of their opponents. Lyon had not resembled men inflamed by the knowledge that a win would clinch their place in the knockout phase. The visitors were galvanised by their plight.

In the second period it came virtually as a surprise when Lyon’s Michel Bastos had an opening after being picked out by the overlapping left-back Aly Cissokho, but he headed high. The onus, all the same, lay with Liverpool. With half an hour remaining the home side did start to act as if they would no longer allow their opponents to dictate the nature of the game.

There was no high excitement from them immediately, but Lyon were more vigorous and alert. A scrappy second-half was exasperating for Liverpool when a share could not be satisfactory. Despite Torres’ injury problems, Benítez was reluctant to replace such a striker at first, and Voronin made way for Babel in the first substitution for Liverpool.

The visitors were on the verge of a goal in the 69th minute. Lucas’s shot was parried by Lloris and Kuyt’s overhead kick was then cleared. Benítez’s men might have claimed a moral victory, but they had required more than that.

Champions LeagueLyonLiverpoolKevin McCarraguardian.co.uk

All the best pictures as Liverpool look for a vital away win in Lyon, while Arsenal host AZ Alkmaar