Liverpool 1 - 2 Reading - - - Time's up, Rafa ?
-
predictions, comments?
Anyone watching? i am :P
Liverpool has not been great this season.. but this game is like a confident booster.. Liverpool must win!Possible XI for Liverpool: Reina(GK), Carragher(RB), Skrtel(CB), Agger(CB), Insua(LB), Aurelio(LM), Lucas(CM), Aquilani(CM), Benayoun(RM), Gerrard(CAM), Torres(ST).
-
Liverpool 1 Reading 2 (final score)....:)
-
i'm still going for a liverpool 2-0 reading score though..
whatsmore the game's at anfield.. -
anfield so what?
the problem is with the squad itself, not the location.
-
it may end up a draw. depends on the state of the pitch lar really.
-
i'm not talking about location.
i'm talking about the immense support the fans will give.
plus the familiarity of the pitch.
long, wide.. etc. -
triple post.
-
double post.
-
first 30min dominated by reading.
n'gog on for torres on 30min.
what is ben thinking?! kyut suffered a more serious tackle than torres. but torres get subbed off. -
liverpool 45min goal.
gerrard intended to cross, but luckily hit till a reading defender then deflected in goal.
lucky cross(shot). -
Originally posted by ASKL!:
i'm not talking about location.
i'm talking about the immense support the fans will give.
plus the familiarity of the pitch.
long, wide.. etc.liverpool have no advantage this days already. be it at anfield or anywhere in the world.
fans can scream, fans can shout to cheer for the team. but the major problem is still on the pitch. it's not about the fan now, it's not about being home or away now.
liverpool is close to useless.
-
Hey, I got the score correct!
-
hmm, seems they cant hang on to leads nowsaday..
-
Another bad seasion for the kop.
-
There seems to be no pride in the team anymore. Getting dumped out of the cup by lowly Reading? If i am the manager, i will make sure the team stays back for extra training sessions!
-
Originally posted by Poignant:
liverpool have no advantage this days already. be it at anfield or anywhere in the world.
fans can scream, fans can shout to cheer for the team. but the major problem is still on the pitch. it's not about the fan now, it's not about being home or away now.
liverpool is close to useless.
Well, we as fans can only cheer the team on and hope for the best. Nothing we can do... hmmm unless we live in Liverpool and we can personally go and murder the owners =x -
I am not a kop fan, but pity the team.
Being beaten by a lowly division team is hard to swallow.
Just like man u being beaten by Leeds.
Some players must be chopped and the manger must buy some young player that is hunger for success. If not, the kop will slide into relegation zone or even worst, drop out.
-
RAFA BENITEZ'S Liverpool future is hanging by a thread after their season plummeted to a new low.
His Kop clowns crashed out of the FA Cup to Championship strugglers Reading 2-1 as Shane Long struck an extra-time winner.
OUT of the Champions League, OUT of the title race, OUT of the FA Cup - and for the Anfield chief, now almost certainly OUT of time.
But Benitez said: "For three months everybody was talking about me, and it doesn't matter if you play a strong team or not.
"Lots of people have spoken about me, but I have to just keep moving forward and working hard. How do I cope with the talking and the pressure? I try to do the best I can.
"It's not the best season. Sometimes you have bad moments and sometimes better moments. At this time we have to carry on and be ready for the next game. We have to be focused."
It was Reading's first FA Cup away win over a top-flight side since 1902.
Yet amazingly, Benitez turned the spotlight onto things "he wasn't happy with in the game," rather than his own flops.
He added: "There were a lot of things I didn't like. What things?
"It's better not to say too much. A lot of things together caused this defeat, but you can't change the result.
"It was really bad. Everybody wanted to progress and we can't so we're really disappointed."
Benitez was not helped by losing Fernando Torres with a knee injury and Steven Gerrard to a tweaked hamstring by half-time.
Benitez added: "I have a big job to repair spirits before the Stoke game."
Long hopes his strike will land caretaker boss Brian McDermott the job on a permanent basis.
He said: "I'd like to think we've got him the job full time - he deserves a chance."
McDermott said: "They've told me to look after the team and that's what I'm doing.
"I'll just wait and see. I think we deserved it because we played some good stuff."
-
Oh man... I didn't know there was this match on last night... Was it on Tv last night? The first match was already very interesting and I was looking forward to the second meeting... Honestly, I wasn't expecting Reading to win when Pool took the match back to Anfield. Cos Anfield is a difficult place to win especially in cup matches...
Wasted, without the live factor and the result out, its a lot less interesting to watch the repeat...
-
Rafa is the only manager I've seen who can damage a club so badly and not get sacked.
-
feel for the liverpudians who support liverpool though
-
Liverpool 1 Reading 2 (after extra-time, score at 90 mins 1-1): Long way back for Rafa - Torres and Gerrard limp off as Reds are dumped out of Cup
Match Report:
Can't look: Liverpool sub Ngog can't believe what he's seeing
THERE is an icy blast across the country but all the heat is focused on Rafa Benitez. The Liverpool boss has run out of excuses - and now you wonder how long it will be before the club's owners run out of patience with him.
This was as bad as it gets in a shocker of a season in which the Reds have been bundled out of the Champions League and plummeted out of contention in the Premier League title race.
The FA Cup was the only domestic trophy Liverpool had left to fight for and that has gone too - after Championship strugglers Reading came to town and performed magnificently.
The Kop are turning on their manager for the first time. They have been incredibly loyal to the Spanish boss but this was just too much.
Seeing the Royals, who are fighting against relegation to League One, taking the game to them at Anfield and dominating was embarrassing. They were unlucky not to win the first game at the Madejski Stadium and Shane Long's extra-time clincher was just reward for their efforts.
What a boost this will be to caretaker-boss Brian McDermott, who must surely get the job full-time now. Manchester United's loss to Leeds at Old Trafford was a sensational cup upset - but Liverpool's defeat was much more significant. Legends like Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush sat ashen-faced in the directors' box, contemplating how it has come to this.
This was the strongest team Rafa had available, apart from resting keeper Pepe Reina for Diego Cavalieri. And from the moment the Italian punched away Gylfi Sigurdsson's early free-kick, it was clear Reading were not going to roll over.
McDermott's marauders should have been ahead when Simon Church, scorer in the first game, easily beat the flat-footed Daniel Agger and his low cross was an absolute belter.
Jamie Carragher did not know whether to stick or twist and ended up letting the ball go - much to the surprise of Grzegorz Raziak who shinned the ball wide from four yards.
Soon after, livewire Jobi McAnuff sprinted away after a Liverpool corner was cleared and his cross was begging Church to head home. Church launched himself forward six yards out but totally failed to connect and Liverpool escaped again.
The Reds announced the acquisition of Argy attacking midfielder Maxi Rodriguez on a 3½-year contract before kick-off and he was introduced to the crowd. He must have wished he had only signed in pencil and that he could rub his name out after this shambles.
Liverpool's cause was not helped by losing Torres before the half-hour. The Spaniard was clattered early on by Reading centre-back Matthew Mills, twisting his knee in the process, and never properly recovered. Yet his team-mates forced a goal just before the break, although it was a move which summed up their performance - scruffy.
Steven Gerrard burst into the box, took a return from David Ngog, and then side-footed a cross which went in off the unfortunate Ryan Bertrand. However, Gerrard felt a twinge to his hamstring and did not return for the second half.
Reading seemed destined to finish the night as plucky losers as skipper Ivar Ingimarsson put a great headed chance wide from four yards. Then with 10 minutes left McAnuff made a sensational 60-yard run into the penalty area and was faced with a one-on-one against Cavalieri. Had he scored it would have been one of the greatest FA Cup goals of all-time but he shot agonisingly wide.
Sigurdssson was also denied by Cavalieri but, in the final minute, substitute Long was clipped by Yossi Benayoun and ref Phil Dowd pointed to the spot. Up stepped Sigurdsson, who calmly despatched his spot-kick to take the game into extra-time.
The Royals tails were up and they were not interested in holding out for penalties. And as the clock ticked over to the 100th minute, a sensational run down the right by Brynjar Gunnarsson opened up the Liverpool defence and his cross was perfect for Long who glanced home a header.
The dream was well and truly on for Reading and the nightmare was becoming a reality for Liverpool. There was brief hope when Benayoun broke through with only Adam Federici to beat but the keeper stayed strong and got down to save.
Reading have suffered since relegation so it was only right that they milked a famous moment of triumph. As for Liverpool, the recriminations are going to be hard and long. Rafa surely cannot survive much longer.
-
all liverpool players are hopeless except Gerrard and Torres, and both are now constantly injured which makes them off form.
-
i was getting fustrated as i watch the first half. carragher is mistake prone. agger and the fullbacks kept going up leaving much space behind them..
lucas did venture into the 6yard box, but only once. better if he can do that more often.
benayoun loses the ball to easily. gerrard crosses to nowhere, torres got down too easily. kyut runs around like an idiot. aquilani passes, but the passes eventually get back to the opposition. cav was lucky this match is not a 5-1.
10mins into the second half.. i couldn't watch anymore, decided to off the tv and get to bed. liverpool was awful. i thought they were like childs vs adults. -
Maybe Liverpool too used to saving strength and leg for the next game for spurs that they have turned jelly.
Now, they have become jelly all the time.
Can some one at Anfield write to Guiness Books of Record 2010 for the manager that survived the sack after failing badly in every area and losing most games ?
Can some one emailed Ah Ben wifey to inform Ah Ben that he is really bad and should go back to sunny spain ?
It is not the skills that is lacking, it is the heart and spirit that are frozen or reported MC since start of the season.