Thursday, March 10, 2005

Match Report 050309 at Bayer 04 Leverkusen: Thanks Rafa

3-1 and it is a really good result. In particular we have to thank Rafa - not just for his excellent strategy but also for his decision to hang out with the away fans the night before, no matter whether it is an intended trip or just a fluke. It really shows how much he cares for the fans, and how much the fans love him. And it also boast our morale. What's more, this was the place 3 years ago that saw the beginning of decline of the Houllier era. So the demon has finally been broken.

From the start we were not prepared to sit back and defend our 2 goal lead, and it finally paid off in 28 minutes. And Garcia scored another in 32 minutes and the game was almost over. After Baros finally scored his 2nd in 2005 Rafa even has the luxury to substitute Hamann (no more nightmare this time!) and the ever-present Carragher to avoid them picking any yellow card and miss the next game. It is really one of the best performance this season.

Player Rating:
Dudek: 6.5 Barely any thing to do especially in 1H.
Finnan: 6.5 Solid display despite not too spectacular.
Carragher: 6.5 Good defending but Rafa need to take him off (1st time in the season!) to protect him from getting extra yellow card.
Hyypia: 6.5 Not much to do.
Warnock: 7.5 Another good display for the youngster. Young player of the year for us.
Garcia: 9 2 goals scored in 4 minutes and send us through. He seems to play much better in European game. Perhaps the game suits his style better.
Hamann: 7 Solid, and Rafa also need to take him off to avoid getting yellow card.
Biscan: 7.5 An assist and a solid display.
Riise: 6.5 Nice display from the iron man.
Gerrard: 7.5 Nice assist and almost scored a thunder.
Baros: 7.5 Works much harder than the Newcastle game. This is the Milan we wanna see.

Substitutions:
Smicer: 6 Tried too hard and had a few unnecessary shots that he should instead pass to another teammate.
Welsh: 6.5 Solid display from the youngster who took Carra's place in defense.
Nunez: 6 A solid substitution display.

Rafa: 9 Excellent game plan include the pub visit.

Leverkusen: 6 They played poorly, but credit to their kindness to the Liverpool team and supporters. They even played YNWA after the game!

Man of the match: Garcia. Scored 2 and could have been even more.

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