We were garbage, you're right. N'Gog was well out of his depth, as was Kuyt. I thought our only dangerous player was Gerrard, but what can you do when it's one vs four/five players every time? Not much support and the manager's tactics were wrong. We never really had a go at them, we never put their defence or midfield under much pressure, we never put their inexperienced 'keeper under any kind of pressure and we very rarely exploited the vast amounts of space behind their defence. Pretty appalling from both sides, really.

I'm also surprised that Channel 5 are so positive, I know Atletico are notorious for their poor defending, but they shutout Valencia and I'm pretty sure N'Gog, Kuyt and Benayoun should be a stroll in the park for them in comparison.

Are they showing the return leg? If so, I'd imagine they're pretty keen on people tuning in to watch the second game.

Yeah, they are, but usually the press with our results is very negative, as you'd expect. Generally they pile on the pressure, but they were talking this up as though it was a top result for us, as though we got the job done and we're now favourites, I found it a little strange.

Shocking game all around but I will take that result!!

Paddy Evra wrote:Grimsby fan shows his true feelings. Brilliant. Tells it exactly how it is to be a fan.

Paddy Evra wrote:Grimsby fan shows his true feelings. Brilliant. Tells it exactly how it is to be a fan.

I must watch i completely different game to you mate, honestly i'm one of N'gogs biggest haters but i thourght he led the line very well tonight (especially early on) he held the ball up easily. Gerrard on the other hand needs to take his head out of his but hole because he is clearly not interested this season. Where is the Gerrard that used to put 50/50 tackles in that used to be border line red card ? wheres that Gerrard gone does shows a bit of magic in the final third ? He is quite frankly useless at the minute.

I do agree on Dirk Kuyt.

The thing with Liverpool is that we have 'ZERO' pace in our team. From our centre backs to our strikers (albeit Fernando) we run around like sloths. Dissapointing yet again but was expected.

Nah, I thought N'Gog was terrible. We made quite a lot of balls over their defence (mostly aimless), but he was so slow, he was never sharp enough to punish them. The closest they came to being stretched was when Benayoun ran through the middle, which shows how ineffective N'Gog was. N'Gog's touch, lack of speed and strength meant he couldn't influence the tie. I like him, but he was well out of his depth. Gerrard was our only player making decent passes and at least causing them slight problems, nobody played well tonight, but Gerrard easily the best attacking player, regardless of how close he came to a red (if that's a measurement for quality and passion, like).

The thing with Gerrard now, and many don't seem to be able to come to grips with this, is he isn't a midfielder anymore, he now plays far more advanced, his game is now about scoring goals/creating chances in the final third, Rafa persists with this absolutely woeful midfield. Mascherano is a monster, he can keep possession well but he has his limitations, Lucas produces one good pass per month, other than that he's a passenger. Aquilani has looked pretty sharp when he's come in and he's had far more influence than Lucas, but Rafa persists with playing it safe, it's the same with Dirk, he won't bring him off because he's his 'safe' player, he always works hard so why bring him off? He doesn't need to create or offer any kind of threat to the opposition, he just has to chase lost causes.

This season has been a tiring one and I've held back from going full throttle in my criticism of Benitez and the side, but it really is indefensible. I could go on all night about the negatives to this season and they still persist, I have no faith in us improving this year because the same mistakes have happened every season under Benitez, even last year in our best season under him, it was the same old root to our problems and nothing's change, it will never change until he changes, but he's the most stubborn person in the world and he'd probably rather walk than change his philosophy.

I hate coming in heavy on Benitez, but he really has little to defend himself, the owners excuse only holds so much ground, especially after his very public feud over his new contract and what powers were available to him.

If we don't go through this tie, then I really couldn't care less what happens to him, change will be needed but I can't see us moving forward with the others so far ahead, it's gloomy times ahead, especially if we keep most of the current crop here, which looks likely as some of our worst performers seem to be part of the squad 'core'.

I must say i'm a big fan of Lucas and i can tell he's got a class player inside him ready to burst out. He needs a manager to get that out of him. He is not a holding midfielder in memory of man, yet Rafa persists with it to suit our defensive ways. There was a number of times tonight Lucas made a great ball over the top, had we had a great striker with pace them balls would turn into chances. He also created that chance for Gerrard with a great thru ball.

I'm not even going to mention my thoughts on Rafa all i'll say is that i agree with you.

Also like to add that Jurado was a absolute disgrace tonight.

Hamburg vs Liverpool final with Liverpool to win for me.

If Liverpool do win the Europa it'll be bizare that a team can manage to lose 6 games in Europe and still manage to lift a trophy.