1-0 and we were really lucky to win the game. Standard Liege played very well and Reina was at his best to keep us in the game. It was not until the 118th minute that Kuyt received a great crossing from Babel that ruled out the penalty shootout. In all it was a very poor performance and we were lucky to go through.
Is the problem due to formation? To cope with Keane and due to absense of Mascherano, Rafa needed to change from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2, but it was very clear that we lack wide players. It was not until El Zhar came on that we have more attacks from the side, and Babel was virtually anonymous before the winning cross. Now that Stevie G need to have an operation, Rafa may still need to play 4-4-2, but the next two games are going to be very tough. More works need to be done by Rafa in the next fortnight.
Players Rating:
Reina: 8.5 Another on fire performance.
Arbeloa: 6 Poor performance.
Carragher: 6.5 Solid performance.
Skrtel: 6.5 Solid but not impressive.
Aurelio: 7 Willing to go forward and was one of the better player.
Kuyt: 7.5 Worked hard and at the end he sent us through. But he is not a wide player and lack pace.
Gerrard: 6.5 Affected by injury.
Alonso: 6 Not much contribution.
Benayoun: 5.5 Anonymous.
Keane: 6 Still couldn't gel into the team yet.
Torres: 6 Not many chances.
Substitutions:
Babel: 6.5 Largely anonymous before his terrific cross.
El Zhar: 7 Came on and provided us the much needed width.
Plessis: 6 Time killer.
Rafa: 6.5 Would be disappointed about the performance, and he now has another big problem to solve as Gerrard will be out for 10-15 days.
Standard Liege: 7 Would count themselves unlucky not to go through.
Player of the Match: Reina. 12 million saves.
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