Royals V Liverpool Match Thread

[glosson]

Torres was the typical spanish footballer. Fall at every touch until both defenders are booked. All his goals came from poor defending, than from brilliant striking.

Idiot.

yeah, me too.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

What a difference in Lita tonight.

He concentrated on playing football and looked 10 times the player he has previously this season.

I disagree with the Lita love-fest.

Yes, he stayed on his feet. But I still thought he did f*ck all.

Hey ho, wouldn't be a fun spectator sport if we all saw it the same way!!

Quite happy with the performance today. If we'd had Kits and Doyle I think we could have had them (or at least made it closer)

[Yorkshire Royal]

GREAT PERFORMANCE FROM PLAYERS LIKE HALLS, BIKEY AND DELLA!!

shorey looked much improved as did fae..

thats more like it..all positives!!

Spot on.

[Wycombe Royal]

Torres was the typical spanish footballer. Fall at every touch until both defenders are booked. All his goals came from poor defending, than from brilliant striking.

Idiot.

Don't be so polite. Calling him an idiot is far too nice after that stupid post.

[RoyalBlue]

F**king twat Benitez needs to learn the laws of the game. There was absolutely no way that Lita can have been regarded as active/interfering with play when Halls scored!

Even the first one was debatable. Ref was behind Convey and like the camera could see that Lita wasn't in the keeper's line of sight. The lino's view also confirmed that Lita didn't prevent the keeper from diving and, even if he had, he wouldn't have got anywhere near the ball.

If they want to whinge at all, they should whinge at those who keep messing around with the law/guidance relating to offside.

[papereyes]

Torres was the typical spanish footballer. Fall at every touch until both defenders are booked. All his goals came from poor defending, than from brilliant striking.

Idiot.

I was trying to remember his goals and then remembered quite how elegant that first one was.

OK, Fae loses the ball, but its around the halfway line. Now, freeze frame. Torres has already started moving for the pass, getting enough ahead and infront of Duberry that when the ball is played and Torres sprints, Duberry's never, ever going to get near him.

It didn't have to be spectacular, it didn't have to be special. All the work was done off the ball where most fans wouldn't be looking.

Second was a good finish. Harper not quite tracking back.

Third. Well timed run. A Fed didn't exactly hinder him. Come out and stay coming. Don't stop, shuffle then fall on your arse.

[Royal Rother]

I thought Torres was the fairest playing Spaniard forward I have seen... Pure class...

Agreed. A wonderful performance from him; so so so refreshing that despite the battering he never moaned, never feigned injury and was an absolute credit to his profession. And what a player!

[g]

Torres was the typical spanish footballer. Fall at every touch until both defenders are booked. All his goals came from poor defending, than from brilliant striking.

Agree completely. For some reason, it follows the language. The South American players are just as bad, if not worse, about diving. They're absolutely shameless about their theatrics and nothing makes me angrier in football. I love it when refs book those cheating tits.

Indeed. If Bikey was sent off for elbowing Torres in the head we would be saying something else. The ref was consistant and let the game flow. He was effective in not giving in the diving and handbags, but ineffective in being proactive in stopping the diving and petty whinging.

[Platypuss]

What a difference in Lita tonight.

He concentrated on playing football and looked 10 times the player he has previously this season.

I disagree with the Lita love-fest.

Yes, he stayed on his feet. But I still thought he did f*ck all.

How would you rate his performance in comparison with Long's?

[papereyes]

I thought Torres was the fairest playing Spaniard forward I have seen... Pure class...

Agreed. A wonderful performance from him; so so so refreshing that despite the battering he never moaned, never feigned injury and was an absolute credit to his profession. And what a player!

Not *quite* true.

One or two more Latin phrases and gestures in there.

[Yorkshire Royal]

A Fed didn't exactly hinder him. Come out and stay coming. Don't stop, shuffle then fall on your arse

Agree. Looked very much like a reserve goalie there...

Another thing.. Long was so far out of his depth...

[Royal Rother]

What a difference in Lita tonight.

He concentrated on playing football and looked 10 times the player he has previously this season.

I disagree with the Lita love-fest.

Yes, he stayed on his feet. But I still thought he did f*ck all.

Hey ho, wouldn't be a fun spectator sport if we all saw it the same way!!

Being 10 times the player he has been for the rest of the season doesn't mean he was great. Just a damn sight better than he has been!!

[John Madejski's Wallet]

What a difference in Lita tonight.

He concentrated on playing football and looked 10 times the player he has previously this season.

I disagree with the Lita love-fest.

Yes, he stayed on his feet. But I still thought he did f*ck all.

How would you rate his performance in comparison with Long's?

Both piss poor.

As I said, with Kits AND Doyle I feel confident we could have done a lot better

[RoyalBlue]

What a difference in Lita tonight.

He concentrated on playing football and looked 10 times the player he has previously this season.

I disagree with the Lita love-fest.

Yes, he stayed on his feet. But I still thought he did f*ck all.

Hey ho, wouldn't be a fun spectator sport if we all saw it the same way!!

Come off it - even the Liverpool fan boys on the commentary team were praising Lita's play. His problem today was that until Kitson came on he had no effective partner at front. Created a great opening in the second half for Fae after a great turn in the area but Fae messed it up when, rather than shooting, he completely overhit a pass to Halls outside him.

[RoyalBlue]

Torres was the typical spanish footballer. Fall at every touch until both defenders are booked. All his goals came from poor defending, than from brilliant striking.

Idiot.

I was trying to remember his goals and then remembered quite how elegant that first one was.

OK, Fae loses the ball, but its around the halfway line. Now, freeze frame. Torres has already started moving for the pass, getting enough ahead and infront of Duberry that when the ball is played and Torres sprints, Duberry's never, ever going to get near him.

It didn't have to be spectacular, it didn't have to be special. All the work was done off the ball where most fans wouldn't be looking.

Second was a good finish. Harper not quite tracking back.

Third. Well timed run. A Fed didn't exactly hinder him. Come out and stay coming. Don't stop, shuffle then fall on your arse.

Don't think you'd find many goalkeeping coaches saying that! It's usually a lot easier for the forward when a keeper commits to coming early. As it was, by closing the angle, standing big and holding him up (he wasn't a million miles away from getting the ball with his right foot btw) he almost bought enough time for one of our defenders to get back and get a last ditch challenge in.

Also stood big in the first half and came out on top when their player looked favourite to score.

[Platypuss]

What a difference in Lita tonight.

He concentrated on playing football and looked 10 times the player he has previously this season.

I disagree with the Lita love-fest.

Yes, he stayed on his feet. But I still thought he did f*ck all.

How would you rate his performance in comparison with Long's?

Both piss poor.

As I said, with Kits AND Doyle I feel confident we could have done a lot better

Any two from Kitson, Doyle and Lita would have done a lot better.

[papereyes]

Torres was the typical spanish footballer. Fall at every touch until both defenders are booked. All his goals came from poor defending, than from brilliant striking.

Idiot.

I was trying to remember his goals and then remembered quite how elegant that first one was.

OK, Fae loses the ball, but its around the halfway line. Now, freeze frame. Torres has already started moving for the pass, getting enough ahead and infront of Duberry that when the ball is played and Torres sprints, Duberry's never, ever going to get near him.

It didn't have to be spectacular, it didn't have to be special. All the work was done off the ball where most fans wouldn't be looking.

Second was a good finish. Harper not quite tracking back.

Third. Well timed run. A Fed didn't exactly hinder him. Come out and stay coming. Don't stop, shuffle then fall on your arse.

Don't think you'd find many goalkeeping coaches saying that!

What A Fed did just looked wrong to me. If you're going to come out, you narrow the angle and try to smother the ball - what he did to Torres in the first half when Torres darted through the gap.

For the third, he came out, got caught in two minds and started shuffling backwards.

[southbank1871]

For all his effort, Long is looking a mile off the pace at the moment. Lita did pretty well tonight I thought with limited service or support. When he had the opportunity, he generally held the ball up pretty well and laid off some nice passes. Also created a couple of opportunities for himself out of not a lot. The overhead kick effort was sublime.

Thought Convey looked lively, particularly in the first half and should start on Saturday. Felt Fae and Harper did well in centre midfield in the first half, but there was just too much space in there for Liverpool in the second half.

Granted, we're not going to come up against Torres every week, but although individually our defence looked OK, as a unit we looked pretty terrible. Sonko can't come back soon enough for me.

[Yorkshire Royal]

You have to just hope that Sonko hasn't lost a yard of pace due to his injury. The defence looks lethargic..

I never knew Halls could cross like that though... Gives an extra option on the right I suppose.. Apart from Long, and Fae in the 2nd half (perhaps) I am really quite encourage by that performance..

[RoyalBlue]

Torres was the typical spanish footballer. Fall at every touch until both defenders are booked. All his goals came from poor defending, than from brilliant striking.

Idiot.

I was trying to remember his goals and then remembered quite how elegant that first one was.

OK, Fae loses the ball, but its around the halfway line. Now, freeze frame. Torres has already started moving for the pass, getting enough ahead and infront of Duberry that when the ball is played and Torres sprints, Duberry's never, ever going to get near him.

It didn't have to be spectacular, it didn't have to be special. All the work was done off the ball where most fans wouldn't be looking.

Second was a good finish. Harper not quite tracking back.

Third. Well timed run. A Fed didn't exactly hinder him. Come out and stay coming. Don't stop, shuffle then fall on your arse.

Don't think you'd find many goalkeeping coaches saying that!

What A Fed did just looked wrong to me. If you're going to come out, you narrow the angle and try to smother the ball - what he did to Torres in the first half when Torres darted through the gap.

For the third, he came out, got caught in two minds and started shuffling backwards.

Don't recall him starting to shuffle backwards at all and, the way I saw it, got his angles dead right. Had he committed fully and come racing out, Torres would have made him look far more stupid in the way that Stack did when he came flying out in our cup game at Highbury.