yes kuyt missed a few goals, but it is pre season and we played well we were far the better side even redknapp said so. his words l,pool will be very close this year they keep the ball so well. and sissoko was superb, babel looked bright torres showed some nice touches. i have complained about kuyt all last season, and if he does,t improve his finishing this season i will again.but its only a pre season game, and it was only a matter of time before we lost on pens. lets wait till the season is underway then we all can judge the players then.

Unfortunately he is showing no sign of improvement, in his previous matches he was shooting the keeper or tha bar, now he is far off target up in the air!! Who knows, may be he'll shoot towards reina in the future, anyways thats what he do almost all the time... He scored against teams like west ham and charlton only last seasons, may be this season also gonna be same.
As for sissoko, he was good for only 20 mins in the match, he runs like a blinded bull when he has the ball!!
Even last season we were keeping the ball well and creating chances, thats not something new..we need to finish the chances, and kuyt don't looks to be capable of doing that!!
James was a calamity in liverpool..and i don't think he has improved after the action involving him and Babel..yet nobody could beat him, then how do u expect our players to beat likes of Van der sar, Robinso, lehman etc...

Get over it. It was a fuckin pre-season warm up game. I was impressed with some of our play. Kewell had a couple of nice runs forward, likewise Pennant. Sissoko looked back to his best with a lot of confidence. Babel was moved around a lot and Kuyt got into good scoring position but finished poorly. Torres looked really good when he came on, just a couple of games to build up sharpness and he'll be banging them in. A good run out for the lads, no need to get injured in a game like that. Reina showed great concentration when called into action too.

HARRY KEWELL MISSED HE'S HOLIDAYS , IF I REMEMBER RIGHTLY HE SPENT ALL OF LAST YEAR INJURED ON ONE GREAT BIG HOLIDAY, ITS ABOUT TIME THIS GUY KNUCKLED DOWN AND STARTED EARNING HE'S £60,000 A WEEK WAGES. I HONESTLY BELIEVE WE SHOULD GET RID.

Let's give him a break!Let's give him another 3-4 years -he might deliver you know...

DISSAPOINTING TO SEE DIRK KUYT MISSING SO MANY CHANCES IN PRE SEASON, NO ONE CAN FAULT THE GUYS WORK RATE, I JUST WISH HE COULD LEARN TO FININSH BETTER. HE SEEMS TO AIM HE'S SHOT AT THE KEEPER , HOPEFULLY ITS A CONFIDENCE THING.

NEWSPAPERS ARE SAYING WE MIGHT GO FOR BAINES THE WIGAN FULL BACK RATHER THAN HEINZE , HE'S NOT A BAD PLAYER.

I SEE BENITEZ, LIKES HIM YES HE,S OK, BUT NOT AS GOOD AS QUARESMA. PLUS HE DIVES TO MUCH,NO IF WE BUY A WINGER IT SHOULD BE QUARESMA. AS FOR BAINES HE,S OK PLUS A LOT YOUNGER THAN HEINZE.

CANT REALLY SEE ROBBEN AS A LIVERPOOL PLAYER ALLTHOUGH I ADMIT HE IS FAIRLY GOOD , HE DIVES TOO MUCH , AND HOW CAN WE FORGET HE'S GETTING REINA SENT OFF. WHY O WHY ARN'T WE GOING OUT A BUYING QUARESMA ??? I RECKON A BID OF 15M MIGHT DO IT.

Who needs Harry Kewell II?
Robben not only plays only 6-7 good matches a season and is always on the treatment table he also is a diving cheat,a moaner and a dirty so and so....let's forget him.

kewell cant even score a penalty with japan and i can believe it

DAVID JAMES WAS CALLED DRAKULA BECAUSE HE WAS SCARED OF CROSSES NOTHING HAS CHANGED THE GUY IS STILL A CALAMITY WAITING TO HAPPEN. WE WERE CRAP TODAY , WE HAD 90?% OF THE GAME BUT COULDNT SCORE TO SAVE OUR LIVES , critical mind is right Kuyt can't score , Torres should have had a hattrick. Bring back MICHEAL OWEN A GUY WHO KNOWS WHERE THJE GOAL IS.

Agee with you to an extent george but a forward should know how to score , all the coaching in the world won't make the slightest bit of difference. Had the Mancs played Portsmouth today they would have scored five, we had 90% of the game and wasted 10 plus sc.oring opportunities. Sometimes
you have got to critisise and our forwards let us down today - badly.

DURING THE 30 MINUTES HE WAS ON THE FIELD AGAINST PORTSMOUTH HE LOOKED PRETTY GOOD , I KNOW HE SHOULD HAVE SCORED, BUT HE CREATED HE'S OWN CHANCES AND I'M SURE HE WILL DO WELL THIS SEASON.

Creating chances is good - scoring goals is what we need and what we've been missing for some time.......
LET'S BUY ANOTHER STRIKER!

wait..

yeah mate, keep waiting, two years ago we were waiting for Crouch to score, it took him 18 match to score his first goal, last year we were waiting for Crouch, this yearwe gonna wait again for kuyt and Babel or maybe somebody else, next year gonnna be another...do u want us to wait an eternity or what??
The Switzerland matches were against easy teams, and Rafa used good squad mixed with young players, But Portsmouth is a tough opponent like those we gonna face in EPL, Its the same thing as last year finally, we gonna dominate lots of matches, creates 95% of chances, but we will not score or even worst we gonna concede...Reina did an excellent job yesterday...he was very Positive in the match, great confidence although he could not save any penalty. As a keeper he should have been irritaed with his teammates not able to score upfront, he even game an excellent ball to Torres.
El Zhar is far much better than Benayoun from what i've seen in pre season matches.
And its better we criticise now, than wait till the season starts, Rafa can still improve lots of things and see who he should play when the season starts.

criticalmind yes it took crouch i8 games to score .but this season he scored 18 goals.portsmouth are not a tough team they were crap what game were you watching. they got lucky, thats all. i have seen el zhar he is not bad but he is not ready for the first team he only scored 3 goals for the reserves.there are better yougsters than him, at l,pool berjan the young winger is just one to be honest el zhar might not even make it. as far as you keep saying rafa can improve lots of things he can and he will . how can you critise now when all they are doing s getting match fit i remeber in the 80,s l,pool use to loose all there frendlies but still won the league. and people were saying, what your saying now, they were wrong and so are you, remember bellamy you liked him i thought he was crap from day 1 and if you do a poll now guess how many will agree with you. i think you know the answer to that one. its not a sprint the league its a marathon give them the time then judge.

If we don't have real wingers, Torres or voronin will be of no use...there's a big difference between a versatile player and a real winger, rafa need to understand that, Pennant did much better job than benayoun and babel when he was played alongside voronin and crouch....benayoun or bable simply don't fit in those boots..but as rafa pretext already started flowing he said babel is tired, he played under 20 world cup etc...lets wait and see about him. Sissoko can be good at times but he need to improve his passing and stop running like a blinfolded bull who don't see other players around him!!
I was dissopointed to of that game not just coz we lost, but coz i saw a repeat of last year, dominating a game and not scoring...may be coz rafa used kuyt in the game, thats all he can do...pass the ball....and talks a lot to the press..tha asshol is saying "we need to be ruthless" in fact he is the one who missed almost all the chances, he need to improve his scoring capacity!!!!

We have enough wingers now. Left back is a critical position to fill because at the moment we don't have one. Riise is a SHIT left back... Don't argue that point, it's fact. If you watch, play and know the game then you know that Riise is a SHIT left back.

I CAN'T SAY I AGREE WITH YOU PHILK14, I STILL SAY WE NEED TO SIGN A TOP QUALITY WINGER ( THE ONES WE HAVE ARN'T GOOD ENOUGH ) , AND ALLTHOUGH RIISE MAY NOT BE THE BEST FULL BACK IN THE PREMIERSHIP, HE IS STILL A PRETTY GOOD ONE.ATTACK WISE HE IS ONE OF THE BEST , DEFENSIVELY HE IS JUST OK.
OUR DEFENSE IS THE LEAST OF OUR WORRIES AND IS PROBABLY THE BEST IN THE PREMIERSHIP, VERY WELL ORGANISED.OUR FORWARDS COULD DO WITH A QUALITY WINGMAN SUPPLYING QUALITY CROSSES AND MAKING CHANCES.

eddie888, you are right we need a top class winger, and we all know who that is. and riise might not be the best full back he is still a good player, quaresma were are you...

I AM REALLY OPTAMISTIC ABOUT OUR CHANCES THIS SEASON. WE HAVE IMPROVED THE SQUAD AND PRE SEASON HAS GONE WELL. TORRES VORININ AND BABELL LOOK CLASSY PLAYERS, LEIVA HAS THE ABILITY AND BENNYOUN MAY SUPRISE. I WISH WE COULD HAVE SIGNED A TOP CLASS WINGER, AND WAS DISSAPOINTED TO SEE GARCIA LEAVE BUT ALL IN ALL I THINK OUR TEAM HAS GREATLY IMPROVED.

If a striker can't score in games like this how can somebody expect us to believe he will score against stronger teams!!!
And what irritates me most is his comments before great matches, great comment i will score for my dad, for my mum, for my grandma...then nothing at the end...and same postmatch comment, we should be more ruthless...he is the one not scoring!!!
I could have believe u that Kuyt will score more goals than last season, but only if the Premiership had 4-5 more teams like Charlton or Watford....
Preseasons are not just made to warm up, its to change errors made in previous season and sharpenning... but it was clear that nothing had improved, form last year from that game, we keep dominating a game and could not score yet Rafa could not change anything in the game!!! Thats not something good.
I'll prefer us to win games without dominating, than to dominate a game and then lost due to missed chances like Against Blackburn, ManU, Middlesborough, Chelsea, Portsmouth etc...
Somebody said that this would have been just two point lost in the league, But remember how many points we lost last season like this!!

That's an idiotic comment. Do you think the players sat around all day doing nothing but waiting for a poxy pre-season game? No, they were getting the arses ran off them on the training pitch that very same day and the day before and would you believe that the coaches even done some fitness training (Pre-season training) with them the day after the poxy pre-season game, which in itself was just a training session. We need to get real here. If that game wasn't on the TV, none of us would be giving out at all. We would read the small collumn in the newspaper and read words like promising link up between new strike partners, good inter changing wing play by Pennant and Kewell, bustling performance by Sissoko, solid displays by Finnan and fine goalkeeping by Reina. We would read all of this and add the summaries of other match reports and say to ourselves, "Well the pre-season isn't going too bad is it". The reason why some of you don'y think these things is that you don't understand what pre-season is about or what to be looking for in a pre-season FRIENDLY. However, I don't blame fans for this frame of thought. I blame the TV networks, especially SKY, for showing these matches and building them up to be great contests. Our fitness levels are rising and we will be ready for a tough first game against Villa. A game that matters, but will not define our season.

I agree the wether was not good, they had training session before the game...But whats the use of those training session if they can't score when they get chances!!!
even youngsters like Besian, Hobbs, Peltier would have done better than kuyt with the goldent occasions he got in the preseason!!!
May be u've got plenty of money to go to asia to watch the game thats why you are not happy others are getting the chance to watch it on tv..u asswhole!! Why blame the tv networks?? Each and everybody has the right to see any liverpool match be it against a teams like wrestham or portsmouth!!
When a striker is not doing his job, anybody has the right to blame him, had he took his missed chances last seasons we could have won the title or at least be closer to ManUre..we don't want this to happen again this season, either Kuyt starts scoring or be not even on the subs Bench!!! We don't need Workhorses, we need striker capable of scoring goals!

OK DIRK HASN'T HAD THE BEST OF PRE SEASONS MISSING A FEW CHANCES, BUT SINCE SIGNING FOR LIVERPOOL , HE HASNT DONR THAT BADLY. WITH CONFIDENCE AND LUCK IN FRONT OF GOAL HE CAN EASILY SCORE 20 PLUS THIS SEASON. GIVE THE GUY A CHANCE.

Critical.. I wasn't replying to your comment that time so don't take it too personal. Less of the asshole..... we don't want slagging matches goin' on. Your comment has some good points in it in fact. As far as watching pre-season friendlies, no I didn't go to Asia and I'm not loaded (yet). I don't see the point in loosing the rag over a game thats just used to build up the players fitness. Traditionaly Liverpool always come out with poor pre season results, I'm talkin about in the 70's and 80's when we were winning everything. So I think it better to just have a relaxing summer talking about the new players and the hopes for next season and let Rafa worry about the fitness training and the training matches against Portsmouth.

Sorry for the harshness...just hope Rafa knows what he is doing and get us the trophy in the right manner and unexpectedly as it hapenned for the Champions league.
Its was coz i like that at least now we are getting all the match which was not the case few years ago, thought u were criticeising this fact.
Lets see what happens in Rotterdam, hope we get more clinical in front of the goal. I know its just preseason..but its also a preview of the full season that we see on the fields.
Get the demolition motion on u Reds!!:)

I agree with criticalmind.Season after season we have been talking of the team's great tactics,teamplay ,improvements in certain areas,great defending,most of the possesion,bla ,bla ,bla.What worries me most that every season there are at least 6-8 games where against very average teams we look completely lost,and waste any good goalscoring chances we manage to create.We either lose or draw these games and -the season is gone.Unless we change our mentality,get more focussed,
and our strikers do something about it(a goal or two here and there would be nice),then we are going to suffer a lot during the season.So the final word is with the strikers......

TO A DEGREE I AGREE WITH iskikian
SCORING GOALS WILL DETERMINE OUR SEASON. LAST YEAR WE DIDNT SCORE ENOUGH WE WERE 40 SHORT OF MAN U.
OUR DEFENCE IS SOLID , OUR MIDFIELD NEED TO GET MORE GOALS AS DO OUR STRIKERS. ONLY THEN WILL WE HAVE ANY HOPE OF WINNING THE PREMIERSHIP.

yes eddie888, your right goals win games, only so long as you don,t let to many in. the word is consistency. that is what we need,i think this season will be one to remeber. if we win every game 1/0 we will win the prem its points we need goals are a bounus.anyway its time we all stoped this slagging off players. and now is the time to give the mighty reds are surrport.

Iskikian ........ It was your comment I was replying to earlier. The players are not fresh after training that day and the rest.

By the way I wasn't calling you and idiot. I was saying your comment about players being fit and fresh was.

WELL philk14,IF A PLAYER IS NOT CONSIDERED FIT AND FRESH AFTER A SUMMER BREAK ,PRE-SEASON TRAINNING ANG PLAYING BRIEFLY IN A FEW FRIENDLY MATCHES,WHEN IS HE.....MID-SEASON OR END OF SEASON......

You really haven't got a clue have you. Did you ever play football, at any level? Even amatuer is quite competitive these days and requires a certain level of fitness. Like any player the professional footballer does nothing for a month and a half after the seasons end.

They go on holidays, drink and eat what they want and come back relaxed and rested (I guess you could call that fresh if it pleases you). But to say that they are FIT, to a professional standard, is completely wrong. They do of course have a certain level of fitness, a natural fitness which comes from years of a career in football (Most players have been told what to eat from the age of 9).

But this natural fitness is not enough for competitive games. I'm not arguing your point about Kuyt or any other striker being able to finish, it should be instinct by now. But just consider the fact that pre-season games are really just training sessions and on top of that the lads would have been doing shuttle sprints, circuit training, long distance runs, lifting weights and much much more during the hours leading up to this game and the days before.

This is not the normal routine during the actual season where players have a light session the day before a game and are mostly resting on the morning of that game.

So you see, how can you be FRESH after a gruelling 2 hour session the same day as a friendly.
The players are only human and are not fully FIT but are getting fit and when the first game comes around in 8 or 9 days we should see the benefits of all of this.

They are doing all of this for your entertainment. I think watching pre-season friendlies and worrying about them is ridiculous. Because if that stresses you out then you'll be locked up in a straight jacket by May '08.

SO YOU THINK YOU ARE THE ONLY POOR SOUL WHO UNDERSTANDS SOCCER AND FITNESS HA?OK
I'M A MEDICAL DOCTOR .I WAS THE GOALKEEPER OF MY UNIVERSITY TEAM FOR YEARS AND STILL PLAY SOCCER AT THE AGE OF 44.I HAVE SUPPORTED LIVERPOOL FOR 34 YEARS.I HAVE DONE A LOT OF RESEARCH ABOUT ATHLETICS , SPORTS TRAINNING ,FITNESS ,DIET..ETC.
SO YOU THINK AFTER 3 WEEKS OF PRE-SEASON TRAINNING AND 4 FRIENDLY MATCHES THE PLAYERS ARE STILL OUT OF SHAPE ,AND YOU THINK ON THAT SAME MATCHDAY ,RAFA MADE THE PLAYERS WHO WERE GOING TO TAKE PART,WORK VERY HARD FOR 2 HOURS AND THEN PLAY....ARE YOU SERIOUS SON?DON,T FORGET THAT DURING THAT MATCH KUYT WAS RUNNING LIKE A CRAZY HORSE ,HE WAS FIT ALRIGHT-HE JUST COULD NOT SHOOT WITH PRECISION..... SO HOW MANY MORE MONTHS OF TRAINNING DO THE PLAYERS -AND KUYT IN PARTICULAR -NEED TO BE MATCH- FIT AND PRODUCTIVE?
WHAT MY POINT IS -I WISH HE PROVES ME WRONG-HE IS A HARD WORKING WORKHORSE ,BUT WITHOUT A REAL GOALSCORER BESIDE HIM ,HIS END-PRODUCT WILL BE VERY POOR.AND WE'LL END UP IN 3-4TH PLACE.

I ADMIT I GAVE DIRK A BIT OF STICK RE MISSING A NUMBER OF GOALSCORING OPPORTUNITIES IN PRE SEASON. BUT I LIKE THE GUY, HE ALLWAYS GIVES 100% EFFORT AND DIDNT DO BADLY IN HE'S FIRST SEASON AT THE CLUB. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM IN A MORE ADVANCED FORWARD POSITION AND BELIEVE HE CAN SCORE 20 + GOALS THIS YEAR. ALL IN ALL THE GUY IS A FAIRLY GOOD PLAYER.

Athletico was almost about to sign Quaresma, but due to liverpool interest the player did not wanted to sign there, so they got Simao...the really have build a super team, With great strikers like forlan and wingers like Luis garcia, reyes, simao...they'll be up there to compete with REal Madrid for sure, coz REal has only stars not right man in the right boots!
We could have got simao, we could have got alves, we could have got mancini, we could have got Quaresma...BUT unfortunately thats not the case,its Rafa or the yanks who decides...may be simply money was not enough, i've been saying this lots of time...just look at our spendings, we are still going for cheaper options.

Was really shocked to see Simao go there. I've always liked Reyes, from his Seville, but feel he acted a bit childish at Arsenal and showed them a lot of disrespect. Do we really want a player like that? See how he gets on at Atletico and if his attitude changes, then try get him. He is after all still young.