Liverpool - Inter (19 Feb 08)

[Luka]

The way we played the game yesterady was wrong. it wasnt the players.

I liked that conclusion, and it can make the caption of my post, actually my whole talking since the game.

So I cooled a little bit, watched besides the highlights of the tuesday game, Lyon - Man Utd, Arsenal - Milan, Celtic - Barcelona, and it is official that if anybody can find me any other team who played as tremendously, horibly, wrong away from home as we did, then...

The best way is to look at all those games, all of them. If all of you, at least watch the highlights, there is no way you would stand by Mancini defending this guy. No team, has dropped back so much as we did on tuesday. Noone, has suffered as you say this reds rush at the beginning, I won't even say that some say it is ok it lasted for whole freekin 30 minutes. Every team, was fighting for themselves, trying to go forward and to score if there was a chance from the first minute(Real scored in 7'th minute, Sevilla got a corner in 4'th etc. etc.), even if some like Milan, where playing deffensively, they still got some periods where they attacked on the opponent half playing possesion football.

Because its not, its because our midfield isnt skillfull enough to handle the constant pressure there is in away games in the CL. The players are too similar in strengh/weaknesses like ive said 10 times now.

Let me get again on this midfield issue. Let's take a look at the games with Milan from past 2 years. Just humour me for a second here:

Dec 11 2005 We won 3-2.
Possesion:
22:03 - Inter
20:07 - Milan

Shots
13(3) - Inter
7(4) - Milan

Fri, Apr 14 2006 We lost 1-0. Away
Possession:
25:00 - Milan
26:56 - Inter

Shots
7(3) - Milan
13(5) - Inter

Oct 28 2006 We won 4-3 Away
Possession:
29:11 - Milan
25:20 - Inter

Shots
12(10) - Milan
10(8) - Inter

Mar 11 2007, We won 2-1
Possession:
23:32 - Inter
22:35 - Milan

Shots:
11(5) - Inter
9(3) - Milan

Dec 23 2007, We won 2-1
Possession:
25:41 - Inter
24:11 - Milan

Shots:
11(3) - Inter
10(3) - Milan

I guess my point, and my question actually, is...

Why Milan never played against us, like they play in europe? Why they never do it, if according to you, their midfield is so much superior to ours? Why they never use their "fast passers", to outplay us like Liverpool did, if as you said, the way to keep possession is having better passers in midfield? Why it didn't happen in past 2 years? Why? What is the difference, when you play against Milan in CL, and when you play against Milan in Serie A?

Here I completely understand h2o and I agree with him ofcourse. And it is a clear evidance that you're theory is wrong. It is the evidence, that we are able to play possession football, against more techniqual teams. But the lack of those "Pirlos and Kaka's" in our team is only affecting how the team is playing on the opponents side, because there is more players from the opponents, thus making less space, and there is where you need technique, and as you say quick passers. That's why Barcelona can play great on the opponent's half, but that is not why the sides who play Barcelona, can also create a good chances, and as we've seen many times, even win. If they push back too much, like we did on tuesday, they are being pined down by Barcelona, and they are destined to lose, as we were on tuesday.

But when you want to keep possesion in your own half of the pitch, you need a strong midfield, who can fight for the ball, and you need your deffensive line be in the right place on the field, not "5" yards from the Goalkeeper as it was in the Liverpool game. We pushed to much to the back, so Liverpool could pressure us on our own half of the field, and that is why we couldn't pass the ball, because we were playing too deffensively. If we were pushed more up front, the Liverpool side couldn't close us down so effectively on our half of the pitch, because they would be afraid of us expoiting their open spaces, that were created when those players tried to close us down.

My conlusion is as follows. If we were pushed more up front, we could retain possession, it would be difficult to create as clear chances as Milan or Barcelona, or Arsenal are doing, because we lack those players you mentioned, but we would still be able to play with some ball and exchange a few passes, even in our own half, because we have top class midfielders, who are great at what they are doing, and that is fighting and hard working in the midfield.

I hope that clears everything up, I don't know how much clearer I can put it. Just watch other teams play away and notice, how they are set up on the field. They might still lose, but they are definetly trying to create some chances in the game, and score some goals, as those are indispensable in the CL knockout stage.

ps. I congratulate to anyone who lasted so long
ps2. Inter Liverpool the first half:
Possession
Inter 36%
Liverpool 64%

Inter Liverpool the whole game:
Possession:
Inter 32%
Liverpool 68%.

 

[josipva]

that was class post Lukair, completely spot on, it is unrealistic to think that our midfield is completely clueless and lost and that we cant create anything when pressurised, i cant say anything more except that i agree with every word

 

[Azzkikr]

I dont get why you drag milan into this. You cant compare milano derbies to our CL games, it doesnt make any sense.

Milan does not put alot of pressure on the ballholder before it gets to their side of the pitch anyways. The problem always come when we get under pressure already on our own half, its blatently obvious that the midfield completely chokes then because they arent technical or quick enough to pass the ball and move forward under pressure. You talk alot about possession, and thats exactly the point, our midfielders arent technical enough to keep possession under pressure already from our own half, they choke.

Ridiculous comparison.

What i said is completely true, our midfielders are too similar. I never said they were crap, they just basicly have the same strenghs and weaknesses, which isnt good. You need different types of midfielders so you can compensate for lacking something in one area of midfield but having it in another, not 4 players who basicly have the same characteristics like we do.

Cambiasso and zanetti are good, but not good enough to carry the team under pressure, their ballcontrol and passing is simply not good enough to do so, they need more technical players around them who can keep the ball and move it forward intelligently with some vision, so the DM's can be relieved from the constant pressure that they obviously cant handle, and then be able to take part of the play again. Or else they will just run around like headless chickens, constantly conquering balls but losing it again almost immediately because there are no valid options, no players to give the ball who can relieve pressure, they only have other players who are just as bad at being under pressure, which means you get nowhere like we saw yesterday.

Benites put a perfect tactic yesterday, constant pressure on our half. Completely crippled the team.

Its good to be defensively sound, but not at the cost of making the team very unbalanced and serverly limiting way of getting the ball forward.

3 DM's and a horible stankovic is simply not good enough to get any plays going forward. It doesnt matter how good they are defensively if you lose the ball the minute they claim it like they always do when under constant pressure.

 

[Luka]

Azzkikr:

I dont get why you drag milan into this. You cant compare milano derbies to our CL games, it doesnt make any sense.

My question Azz was: when it is so obvius for you, that it only takes a high pressure on us to destroy our team, and get us as little as 40% of possesion or less, and stumble like we did on tuesday, why Ancelotti never did that in the last games against us?

 

[Sassuolu]

Well we could only play those 4 static midfielders since our offensive options Figo and Jimenez were out for the game.

I'm wondering what you guys think about us playing a 4-3-3 formation for this game? Just a wild thought that came to me Suazo, Ibra and Cruz.

 

[alvaro]

I'm wondering what you guys think about us playing a 4-3-3 formation for this game? Just a wild thought that came to me Suazo, Ibra and Cruz.

Thats one valid option, but given that Jimenez (and Figo) is fit again, we'll prolly start with 4-3-1-2. If it's still 0-0 at the end of the first half, Mancini will change into 4-3-3 when the second half starts.

 

[rockball]

Well we could only play those 4 static midfielders since our offensive options Figo and Jimenez were out for the game.

I'm wondering what you guys think about us playing a 4-3-3 formation for this game? Just a wild thought that came to me Suazo, Ibra and Cruz.

433 maybe too much for an away game.
And I don't understand why 433 with 3 strikers is more attacking than a 4312. Ok, there are more attackers, but then they don't come into picture unless your midfielders win the ball and make passes to them.

I am sick of these long balls we play. I can't recall a single decent goal score by our team in the past few months.

 

[thomas_inter]

You seem to have a hard time understand that there is a big difference between CL games and serie a games. Yes we dominated serie a, but we have been a complete failure in the CL in all of mancini's years. I refuse to believe that you are that stupid that you actually think its mere coincidence that we always get hammered and dont create a single chance in the european away games.

Because its not, its because our midfield isnt skillfull enough to handle the constant pressure there is in away games in the CL. The players are too similar in strengh/weaknesses like ive said 10 times now.

Well, how do you explain the fact that we dominated great CL-proof teams like Milan and Roma then?

 

[thomas_inter]

433 maybe too much for an away game.
And I don't understand why 433 with 3 strikers is more attacking than a 4312. Ok, there are more attackers, but then they don't come into picture unless your midfielders win the ball and make passes to them.

I am sick of these long balls we play. I can't recall a single decent goal score by our team in the past few months.

I totally agree, we can play so brilliant if we don't pass every ball high to the attackers.
Always when we just play football everyone says "ohh it's brilliant and aahhhh it's beautiful" but we play long balls just to much.

A long ball can be great like the one Pelé passed on Cruz during Inter-Juve Tim Cup (Or was it Juve-Inter?). But we just play them to much.

I'm really sad if I'm watching Inter and they just play long balls all the time. It's really annoying me, we can be great... Oh we can be so great...

 

[Adam]

Azzkikr:

My question Azz was: when it is so obvius for you, that it only takes a high pressure on us to destroy our team, and get us as little as 40% of possesion or less, and stumble like we did on tuesday, why Ancelotti never did that in the last games against us?

It doesn' JUST take a high pressure. Evidently it also takes a hostile crowd since the louder the crowd is the worse our players seem to do. Which is normal for any team, but NO other team plays as bad in away games as ours. Obviously some of our players don't have the mental strength for it, because if they did they wouldn't screw up as much as they did.

The Liverpool match was one bad control after another, a misplaced pass here and there and eventually a clearance. Look at every time we tried to counter or keep possession. What happened was we either took too long time to control or misplaced the pass and we lost possession or had to clear it. There's numerous examples of where we tried to counter but one of our players screwed it up. What does that tell you?

I said it before and I can say it again. When your team can't string five passes together in CL away games it's not a formation problem it's a technical one or/and a mental one.

And also you mentioned we played with a low defensive line and this is why we didn't manage to keep possession. While that is true for a large majority of the match we played our normal line in the beginning of the match and we didn't manage to do anything then either. It was only after Matrix got sent off we put a bus infront of our goal. So obviously there's gotta be something else to it. Like I said before, had not Matrix gotten sent off there is no telling how we would of performed after the inital 25. But judging by our Fener performance where we had 11 men the whole match if my memory serves me correctly, we didn't improve a great deal in the second half.

And you can't possibly think that Mancini didn't want for us to score a goal after they scored on us. This is why he made offensive changes and moved the players around. But the problem was it didn't help because our players were simply not good enough for one reason or the other.

 

[Luka]

It doesn' JUST take a high pressure. Evidently it also takes a hostile crowd since the louder the crowd is the worse our players seem to do. Which is normal for any team, but NO other team plays as bad in away games as ours. Obviously some of our players don't have the mental strength for it, because if they did they wouldn't screw up as much as they did.

XL, you and Azz try to impose Milan example is bad one, or it doesn't aply to our case, you or Azz say one sentence about it, and that's just the end of it. After that you write a whole lot of different stuff, but that example is very unconvienient so you both try to just push it on the side and forget about it as soon as posible.

It seems the reason is clear, that you can't find an answer to this problem, and that's why I stick to this example, and that's why h2o sticked to it as well. Because it is clear proof that what you and Azz are saying is wrong.

San Siro by many fans view is if not more hostile, than is at least! as same, with 85 000 fans on it's stand, while Anfield carries almost half of that with only 45,362, I don't see how it is an easy game for Inter to play in front of almost twice more Milan fans, who are our biggest aversaries in the world, not reds one.

Milan Derby are one of the kind, you can't tell me there is not much tension, as weeks before the derby the papers and people around our both clubs are being asked questions about this match. You can't tell me there is no presure before this game. We were not so long ago called that we can't win against Milan. We couldn't get up after loosing even 1 goal to them. But now we can, and many said it is because we changed our mentality. And now you say everybody was wrong, and we are still weak as we were before ?

In away games we won our last to them didn't we? And we were an equal team in the one before that.

And with so many internationals in our team, I can't honestly buy the story, our players chickens out after the game. What can Wenger say to the 24'year old avarage team of his? They are far less experienced than we are. We should be used to this stuff, we are not some primavera players, Zanetti played over 100 games in national team, Cambiasso already played in WC, Vieira won WC and Euro, Figo, Materazzi, Cordoba... We all said, those loses to Villareal and Valencia will teach our players something, and they will get used to this type of games. And I'm sorry but I'm done hearing this ridiculous explanations.

I agree the away game draws some tension to the players, but if it does, it is coaches job to loose them up, I didn't see any tension in any other team in the last round of CL who would be so frightned by the away crowd they wouldn't be able to kick 3 passe all together.

The question was very simple. Why Milan in last games never put high pressure on us? If it is so obvious, why they never were able to do it? Why they never got like 60% of possesion when playing against us? Going with Azz theory they should got even more possesion then Liverpool, as they are more techniqual team than they are.

If our players are unable to pass the ball when being pressured on our half, it should be as clear as sky to Ancelotti. Well?

 

[Adam]

XL, you and Azz try to impose Milan example is bad one, or it doesn't aply to our case, you or Azz say one sentence about it, and that's just the end of it. After that you write a whole lot of different stuff, but that example is very unconvienient so you both try to just push it on the side and forget about it as soon as posible.

Tbh, I haven't got a fckin clue what you're talking about. And if you seriously think I would say something that I couldn't back up then you have totally misjudged me. I only said Milans midfield is way better then ours and gave arguments as to why. I think basicly it's a universal fact that they are and I believe I already proved why that is.

It seems the reason is clear, that you can't find an answer to this problem, and that's why I stick to this example, and that's why h2o sticked to it as well. Because it is clear proof that what you and Azz are saying is wrong.

You want me to answer why Ancelotti doesn't play with a high defensive line against us? He does and he did on numerous occasions. Things like that change during a match and coaches alter their defensive lines depending on how the match is going and what stage of the match it is. For Instance if you're in the last 10-15 minutes it's natural for any team to play low. If you're 2-0 down it's normal to play with a high defensive line and allow your players to pressure your opponents.

San Siro by many fans view is if not more hostile, than is at least! as same, with 85 000 fans on it's stand, while Anfield carries almost half of that with only 45,362, I don't see how it is an easy game for Inter to play in front of almost twice more Milan fans, who are our biggest aversaries in the world, not reds one.

Milan Derby are one of the kind, you can't tell me there is not much tension, as weeks before the derby the papers and people around our both clubs are being asked questions about this match. You can't tell me there is no presure before this game. We were not so long ago called that we can't win against Milan. We couldn't get up after loosing even 1 goal to them. But now we can, and many said it is because we changed our mentality. And now you say everybody was wrong, and we are still weak as we were before ?

In away games we won our last to them didn't we? And we were an equal team in the one before that.

Yeah well, playing in the derby certainly puts a lot of pressure on the players. The expectation from fans basicly decide if they can hold their heads up walking around town that week, but when it all comes down to it it's still on home ground with a lot of home fans cheering for us, and it's Italian fans booing us. It's not a bunch of Turks or Englishmen who literally spew hate on our players for 90 minutes. It certainly is by far the most important Serie A match of the season but in the end it's just three points. If you lose both matches in the CL then that's it, there's no next match, there's next year.

The pressure in an CL quarterfinal away compared to a derby is completely different, especially if you have already played a bunch of derbies and gotten used to it.

And with so many internationals in our team, I can't honestly buy the story, our players chickens out after the game. What can Wenger say to the 24'year old avarage team of his? They are far less experienced than we are. We should be used to this stuff, we are not some primavera players, Zanetti played over 100 years in national team, Cambiasso already played in WC, Vieira won WC and Euro, Figo, Materazzi, Cordoba...

I agree the away game draws some tension to the players, but if it does, it is coaches job to loose them up, I didn't see any tension in any other team in the last round of CL who would be so frightned by the away crowd they wouldn't be able to kick 3 passe all together.

Well, I already explained this many times, and I also asked questions which you never seem to be able to answer. It's simple, when you're not skillfull enough to pass at a high tempo when faced with a team that is putting you under pressure, you become nervous and combined with the pressure of the home fans it becomes even harder to play well. It's simple logics. When doing something you feel even a little insecure about, it's ten times harder to do it well if you have a person screaming and taunting you about it. Even a team like Parma managed to pressure us high and as a result(combined with many other factors) they got us to play the way they wanted.

This is not so much the fault of our players because they're great in their own way. The problem is they are too similar and while we may have a team for Serie A it just doesn't work in Europe. I don't know of any other team that plays so many players out of position with as many defensive players in midfield as we do.

The question was very simple. Why Milan in last games never put high pressure on us? If it is so obvious, why they never were able to do it? Why they never got like 60% of possesion when playing against us? Going with Azz theory they should got even more possesion then Liverpool, as they are more techniqual team than they are.

Well I don't know what Azzkirs theory is. You're gonna have to ask him about that. I doubt he means it is the sole reason for our performances on the European stage which you are implying.

If our players are unable to pass the ball when being pressured on our half, it should be as clear as sky to Ancelotti. Well?

I don't think anyone has said that is the sole reason. Infact I find it funny that you haven't gathered that from my posts yet as I have mentioned it about five times now. And you never seem to answer those part of my posts.

Tbh I'm tired of this discussion because you never seem to get there are numerous factors that needs to be taken into consideration, all of which are important. Instead you want to believe that basicly the problem is because Mancini wants to defend. Even if we play a 433 at the Meazza and our players get played off the park and loose, neither of which I think will happen btw, you will still say Mancini wanted to defend because you're so sure that is the problem, even though there's just so many things saying differently.

I can hear it now Lukair. You'll go: What is the point in playing with three strikers if you're just gonna defend?

Sooner or later you're gonna have to come to terms with reality that maybe our players are played out of position, too similar in qualities and while having learned to dominate Serie A stlll don't have quite what it takes to dominate the CL.

 

[Luka]

XL, I am not sure if you are aware of what we are discusing with Azz.

Tbh, I haven't got a fckin clue what you're talking about. And if you seriously think I would say something that I couldn't back up then you have totally misjudged me.

I've said, I asked one question to Azz, and he, and then you cut in, answer it with 1 sentence and left it be, followed by 20 or so other sentences about some other problems that I didn't ask about. My last posts are only about our midfield not able to whistand some possession when it comes to difficult CL games, as Azz was suggesting.

You want me to answer why Ancelotti doesn't play with a high defensive line against us?

No. The question was, in short, why the games against Milan(away) doesn't look, like our 30 minutes against Liverpool? If he would pressure us up field, if he would play high deffensive line, we shouldn't be able to be an equal rival to the milanese side, because as Azz was implying, we don't have players to do so.

Things like that change during a match and coaches alter their defensive lines depending on how the match is going and what stage of the match it is. For Instance if you're in the last 10-15 minutes it's natural for any team to play low. If you're 2-0 down it's normal to play with a high defensive line and allow your players to pressure your opponents.

I am well aware of that.

Yeah well, playing in the derby certainly puts a lot of pressure on the players. The expectation from fans basicly decide if they can hold their heads up walking around town that week, but when it all comes down to it it's still on home ground with a lot of home fans cheering for us, and it's Italian fans booing us.

So it's like "documentalists" making a point with 4 arguments pro, and 1 argument that is not so good to the theory. They first tell those 4 arguments, and when they come to the last one, they say: "well, there is this but, we can't take it into acount because..." and here put some silly excusse.

It's on "home" ground only because of the name of the stadium. When the whistle starts it's 75 000 of milanese fans or so. How can you make it like an ordinary game? Milanese fans as I said are the biggest aversaries to us, and we are to them us well. It's not like we're playing Catania. What about all the insults, all the chants?

It certainly is by far the most important Serie A match of the season but in the end it's just three points. If you lose both matches in the CL then that's it, there's no next match, there's next year.

Ok, so we're talking about some mental problem of our players, who are more experienced than Arsenal side with their average of 24 years, where many of them have at most like 10 international games if any ?

The pressure in an CL quarterfinal away compared to a derby is completely different, especially if you have already played a bunch of derbies and gotten used to it.

Ok... so how many more years those players will have to play in your opinion, till they will be able to get on the field and actually play some ball? Like what, 5, 10 years or so? Now... Porto with Mouhrinho goes to the final and win the competition, As Monaco with Deshampes goes to the final. Greece wins the Euro. How come they didn't have to play those big games for 5 or more straight years untill they wouldn't have to let the opposing team have 60% of possession or so ?

Well, I already explained this many times, and I also asked questions which you never seem to be able to answer.

That's because I wanted to hear from Azz, I can't sit on this forum answering to everybody, especialy when answering takes time. I have a life you know

It's simple, when you're not skillfull enough to pass at a high tempo when faced with a team that is putting you under pressure, you become nervous and combined with the pressure of the home fans it becomes even harder to play well. It's simple logics. When doing something you feel even a little insecure about, it's ten times harder to do it well if you have a person screaming and taunting you about it. Even a team like Parma managed to pressure us high and as a result(combined with many other factors) they got us to play the way they wanted.

This is not so much the fault of our players because they're great in their own way. The problem is they are too similar and while we may have a team for Serie A it just doesn't work in Europe. I don't know of any other team that plays so many players out of position with as many defensive players in midfield as we do.

Same example. Milan away. We were an equal rival for past couple of years. Why we could be

Well I don't know what Azzkirs theory is. You're gonna have to ask him about that. I doubt he means it is the sole reason for our performances on the European stage which you are implying.

I don't have to ask him, because we were talking all wednesday about it. And yes, that is exactly what he is implying.

In answer to a part saying our midfield is capable: (while Azz saying otherwise)

"They obviously arent, or else we wouldnt still a be complete joke in the CL despite mancini's 4 years of dominating serie a and in every single year doing horible away performances in europe due to a below average midfield."

I don't think anyone has said that is the sole reason. Infact I find it funny that you haven't gathered that from my posts yet as I have mentioned it about five times now. And you never seem to answer those part of my posts.

That's because I was waiting for Azz to reply.

Tbh I'm tired of this discussion because you never seem to get there are numerous factors that needs to be taken into consideration, all of which are important. Instead you want to believe that basicly the problem is because Mancini wants to defend.

Villareal, Valencia, Liverpool. I don't know how many games it needs for more people to see it.

Even if we play a 433 at the Meazza and our players get played off the park and loose, neither of which I think will happen btw, you will still say Mancini wanted to defend because you're so sure that is the problem, even though there's just so many things saying differently.

Absolutely not. I said all the time, and I hope perfectly clear every time, this isue is only due to the important away games in CL, not games at home, which are handled a lot better. See Valencia game that we lost, and in fact we should win with at least 1 goal margin, the same goes with Villareal game. And if you'll go to the Inter - Liverpool thread, you'll see that I'm saying this time it's different, because we play return leg at home. It still will be incredibly hard to proceed, but it's deffinetly advantage to us.

I can hear it now Lukair. You'll go: What is the point in playing with three strikers if you're just gonna defend?

If you're gonna deffend it's no point of playing even with 2 strikers. Your point ?

Sooner or later you're gonna have to come to terms with reality that maybe our players are played out of position, too similar in qualities and while having learned to dominate Serie A stlll don't have quite what it takes to dominate the CL.

I never said, I expect our players to dominate a game, and by dominate I mean the way Barcelona was playing 2 years ago for example. If we would play against Barcelona, even in the way I would expect us to play, I still am sure that Barcelona would have more possession than us, and probably even at our turf. All I'm saying is that it's imposible for a team like inter to play for 30 minutes in the game creating absolutely nothin, 0 shots, 40% of possession or less, and absolutely no game plan, whatsoever. This is absolutely out of the question. We are not a Barcelona, but we are not some bottom Serie A side either. We are the champions of Inter and I can't believe people are deffending our performance, the performance of the italian champions, that we showed in the first half of this game, having 36% of possession of the ball and if my memory is correct 1 shot off goal.

 

[marc]

i think the biggest mistake your manager can make for the 2nd leg is
to play 4-3-3. It would suit Liverpool,our midfield are very capable of breakaway goals,and with Gerrard and Masch in the centre Torres will get plenty of passes.
Also remember that if Kuyt plays, he acts a an extra midfield,coming back to help and break up any plans to build from the midfield. And with Nando's speed it will be hard for Inter to stop his runs.

 

[Azzkikr]

You want me to tell you why a certain manager does other things in serie a games when we face them, who would i know? But i dont see how that in any way is comparable to how a top teams from different countries plays against us in the CL. Its common knowlegde that italian teams arent exactly known for being teams who keeps the pressure up high on the pitch, but rather only in their own half, its been like that forever in italy and both milan and inter plays this way.

I dont really understand what you are disagreeing about lukair. The fact that our midfielders are way to similar in strengh/weaknesses and arent technical enough? I think thats quiet evident, even when looking at our serie A performances.

Most of our goals come through either 1. individual brilliance or 2. coincidental goals earned by superior physique from our squad. Not all goals, but most of them are. How many goals have we made the last two season, from brilliant combination play between the midfielders and the forwards? Close to none, how many class assists comes from our midfielders? Close to none. Looking at our game, does any of our midfielders ever manage to pull of something unexpected or draw alot of attention to them to make free space? No we dont. The midfield is build too defensively, they arent good enough going forward and at the same time not technical or fast enough to distribute the ball effectively under constant pressure either.

Thats fine for serie most of the time, because their ability is still better than 95% of the teams we face and our physique is alot better. But in the CL, its obviously not enough. You cant 4 players in midfield who all choke under pressure, lacks pace, passing ability and ability to move ball forward with the team and then expect do well in the CL, its simply too easy for the opposition to get the ball from such a midfield.

 

[kylan05]

Oh my... what we need to do is get Mancini an English tutor & drag him down this forum.

I went from dissapointed, angry, confused, and finally, understood. I think

May I gather a conclusion of what went wrong?
I partially agree w/ Azzkikr & XL that we did play 4 midfields with similarity of strengths & weeknesses. So then it came down to Helal & Lukair's conclusion, that made the way we played the game was wrong. So I hate to say this it probably did go down to Mancini's fault (tactic & choice of players). But we had not much choices with the injury & red card. What had happened if there were no both incidents, it'd probably ended 0-0.

Bottom line? Great posts, guys :star: :star: :star:
Made it more difficult for me to choose whom to vote for interview

 

[irishwhisper]

The majority of yas are grand but some of yous on here really need to take a long hard look at yourselves, this tie is far far from over and yous want to throw in the towel already like a coward! Inter are a world class side and on their day can destroy anyone!! Alot of yas are getting on the teams back but why?? Ok yas might not agree with Mancinis tactics but why blame the players on that? Until Materazzi got sent off Liverpool didnt come close to scoring and they had very few proper chances too until the last 5 minutes.

Inter were robbed a poor referee and yous are getting on the players backs. Inters players are very proud to be playing at such a fantastic club and I guarantee you this they WILL NOT go down without a fight, they will fight and battle in the name of FC Internazionale Milano and I honestly believe they will do the club proud and go through with a famous victory!

NON MOLLARE MAI!
FORZA INTERNAZIONALE!!!

 

[rockball]

We are sure the team will put up a great fight in the second leg...but then we have seen a lot of these fighting and great spirited matches in the past. However, the ultimate outcome has been our failure to go through for various reasons. And thats what I am afraid of now. Like I said earlier, I can bet my house that we will totally dominate them, win 3-1 and not go through.

 

[nutcracker]

Remember we will have 1 more defender - crowd. And it will be stronger than Liverpools one at Anfield.

 

[ataturk5]

bitterness

I was in Liverpool the last few nights and decided to take in the Liverpool v Barnsley match while I was there,delighted I did cos I got to see the murderers being embarassed! Liverpool were absolutely awful and Gerrard wasnt up to much when he came on. He is not to be feared, hes the most overrated player in the world!

Seriously though as long as Mancini isnt stupid playing very defensive cos yas are away yas have nothing to fear, Liverpool are a fairly crap team with a crap manager. And someone said that Anfield is a 'scary' stadium in this thread??? Eh the atmosphere at Anfield is non-existent most of the time, Liverpool fans are shite! Sure the Barnsley fans were even ripping the piss out of them yesterday.

If both teams play to the best of their ability then that means an easy Inter victory on aggregate!

well you seem a nice lad ! the atmosphere was muted against barnsley due to the ongoing protests, you know nothing of lpool or what happened to bring about the heysel disaster,which i was unfortunate enuf to be at, why dont you tell the truth that you are abitter and twisted man utd fan?