Positives and negatives

For me there was a lot to take from the game on Tuesday, sure we didnt win but some of the reaction has been as though we were travelling to Bolton and Real Madrid. I'm sure the team never set, or expected to lose, but equally there are very few teams currently or ever that could live with this Real team on their own patch.

They created more chances, but they always were likely to. They have a squad of experienced stars, were at home and in excellent form. But we were not dominated. Our midfield aquitted themselves extremely well and although Madrid had chances few of them were clear cut.

So I'll start with the positives. Moreno was the standout performer for me. He loses his concentration from time to time at the back but for his age is an excellent player and excelled yesterday against the strongest attack he is likely to face in his entire career. The 'reserves' played very well. They retained possesion well and played as a team. Something distinctly lacking in recent weeks. Rather than individuals trying to be the hero the players showed confidence and belief not just in their own abilities but in that of their team mates. They were happy to knock it about and build play, the movement between passes was also very good. The selection on the whole for me was mostly justified. The one change, in hindsight, for me would have been to see Henderson in for Allen who was pretty poor and seems to have slipped back to his early 2013/14 season form. In fact all the players brought in played better than the man they replaced from Saturdays match. And finally the manager appeared to have learned a valuable lesson since the first game against Madrid. Tactically he got it just about right.

The negatives. We lost the game being the biggest point. Despite his efforts up front Borini lacked a bit of vision and flair. There were a couple of times when a quick ball was on and he just didnt see it at all, and the attack broke down. We still look blunt up front and I cant see any of the players available changing that at the weekend.

The media reaction has been ranging from over top to completely farcial. I can understand people being disappointed not to see the so called bigger names in the side but honestly did any of them deserve to keep their place after the past couple of games? I dont think they did. I have seen a report condeming the performance (evidently based only on the selection and not the actual match) in lacking intensity because Liverpool selected no Englishmen. This was then quoted on the BBC report. So thats two sports editors that in their eagerness to get in on the frenzy of ridiculous criticism managed to miss that Lallana is English, and I'm pretty sure there isnt a huge amount of difference in the style of Welsh footballers either.

For me the manager took a gamble, I was happy to run with it. More of the same was definitely NOT what we needed and was not working. One of my biggest criticisms of him this season was his unwillingness to change things like he would last season when things were not working. It has presented some challenges for the weekend and any one of Lucas, Can, Manquillo and Toure could consider themselves extremely unfortunate not to start on Saturday.