still without the influential steven gerrard due to groin injury, poulsen who couldn't make it because the missus is in labor and suarez who is cup tied, joe cole however was included in the squad together with four stars of monday's fa youth cup victorious team. the game ended in a stalemate as liverpool didn't really managed to get a grip on a chill night at prague.
johnson who has been playing magnificently as a left-back in recent weeks was installed at his right-back position by the gaffer and danny wilson got the nod to start at left-back. he did reasonable well although it'll be more encouraging if he could have gone up further often in the game.
maybe it's because of the freezing night or the long journey to prague and the fact that sparta is fresh with no league games prior to this match, liverpool never really got it going. ngog was leaving wanted at times, getting isolated up-front. it took the reds 29 minutes before they could really had a try at sparta's goal.
johnson had a steady and good game. he was involved in most of liverpool's attacks down the right and defended well. he's playing much better since kenny took over and switched him to left-back.
lucas gave a solid performance in the middle with his calm movement and passing of the ball. his is improving more and more as a player and this is good for liverpool football club. maybe we didn't really managed to see meireles in a more advance position as we liked but everything went well for the team. i'm sure he was pleased with his performance.
joe cole came on later replacing the injured aurelio. he would think that he was not performing up to his own standards. the boss however had a different view. he just came back from a knee injury. and he has been unlucky with injuries and the red card since he joined the club in the summer. slowly, i believe kenny will absorb joe cole into the team as the season goes to the final third. and he believes cole will be an asset to liverpool.
in games like this how i wish liverpool could have genuine wide players, wingers to be exact. sparta managed to make them play very narrow and even if they tried it was difficult as the players that liverpool have are not genuine wide players or wingers. past players like steve mcmanaman or john barnes would have managed to do something because they will pull the opponents and this will leave space in the middle for the strikers or midfielders to seize on the opportunity.
i believe as long as dalglish stays as manager of liverpool football club we will be seeing genuine wingers coming into the squad. well the soonest will be in the summer.
playing the 2nd leg at anfield liverpool are considered to be able to complete the job by beating sparta and proceed to the next round of 16. at home, anfield , the home fans and it's one of those nights where liverpool always come out on top. no doubt about that .. YNWA !!
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