CL: Besiktas 2-1 Liverpool (24.10.07)

[Mighty T.A.L.]

Fernando Torres out of Liverpool trip to Turkey

Liverpool head into their crucial Champions League contest with Besiktas without top scorer Fernando Torres who has been forced to withdraw from the squad.

Torres was expected to recover from the thigh injury which ruled him out of Saturday's Merseyside derby, but tomorrow night's match has come too soon for the Spaniard.


Fernando Torres

Liverpool know that defeat in Istanbul will make qualifying for the knockout stages an uphill task after only picking up one point from their opening two encounters in Group A.

Their opponents are bottom of the group after losing their two matches, but Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano has stressed the importance of getting their European venture back on track.

"From now on every game is a final at least in the group stages," Mascherano said.

"We have to get three points, we have no other option. With the defeat to Marseille we've made things difficult for ourselves, but a win on Wednesday would go a long way to putting our destiny back in our own hands.

"We'll certainly be going into the game with a lot of desire and a lot of will to win."

Xabi Alonso could return in midfield for Rafa Benitez's side after recovering from a metatarsal problem which has kept him sidelined since mid-September.

The Spanish midfielder has echoed Mascherano's sentiments in their need to collect three points in Turkey and ranked it as more important than their win over Everton at the weekend.

"It's absolutely a must-win game. It is massive because if we are to recover and get in the top two of the group, we have to win this match," Alonso said.

"It's very important, probably even more important than the three points on Saturday."

Provisional squad: Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise, Benayoun, Gerrard, Mascherano, Sissoko, Alonso, Pennant, Crouch, Voronin, Kuyt, Babel, Lucas, Hobbs, Itandje.

Source: Telegraph newspaper online

[lionel]

its a tough match and if they don't win they're in deep trouble. and without torres its going to be much tougher.

will benayoun start? (he's better when he gets in as a sub though)

will be very interesting to watch tonight!

[Mighty T.A.L.]

The game is tomorrow. Hard to tell if Benayoun will play. I hope so because I think he's good at defending aswell. He could start on the left wing. Besiktas is considered as the weakest team in the group and this is a match Liverpool must win since they now have to win away since they lost to Marseille at home. Good to have Alonso back! He is more important for the team then I thought. Liverpool have struggled without him.

[robinho]

it's loss for Liverpool they will be in a big trouble if they don't win this game

[Buddha14]

And guess what they lost. they've fucked it up again

[Mighty T.A.L.]

What've happen to the team? The team spirit is gone. Nothing left. Gerrard tried to take some responsible but he was all alone.

[dukeofdavinci]

crap.practically cant care less what the dippers do in cl but rafa better not screw up wth arsenal the one match i would like to see they win.

[Dellas]

Originally Posted by dukeofdavinci

crap.practically cant care less what the dippers do in cl but rafa better not screw up wth arsenal the one match i would like to see they win.

at least van persie is out as well as torres so hopefully that will balance out. hopefully liverpool can come back from this loss...and maybe Hyypia will be benched.

[lionel]

amazing result.

liverpool-arsenal...liverpool lose and we can say they are in crisis. and I don't see arsenal losing.

[Mighty T.A.L.]

Hyypia is the only option when Agger is injured.

[NJ10]

Piss poor. Absolutely piss poor.

No composure, no quality, no confidence, no passing, no control, nothing. Waste of fucking time, money and effort.

Kuyt & Voronin just aint good enough to be centre forwards for this club, I know they work hard and put the effort in but fucking hell so would I, doesnt mean I'm good enough. Crouch sits there on the bench waiting for a chance when those two bumble round pitch after pitch, miscontrolling the ball, giving the ball away, missing chances, it aint good enough. Playing Babel & Pennant in the same team showed that Rafa didnt trust his strikers to get the goals, I personally would like to see Babel tried out top so we could use his pace. He looks a bit one dimensional on the left, cutting inside, although i thought he did ok yesterday. Pennant was back to his bad old self, no quality and a bad attitude. Gerrard was pissing me off trying his 50 yard passes constantly, i dont know what he thinks he is but he needs to sort it out. That said, he was our only goal threat, and took his goal superbly, hope that is the start of some better form for him. Hyypia is a massive problem for us, we cant have Agger back soon enough. Hyypia not only lacks (or has no) pace, he also doesnt react quick enough to danger and his distribution is getting worse by the week. You can tell that the rest of the back four doesnt trust him, Finnan has been off colour of late and i think Hyypia's presence has a lot to do with it.

We have a mountain to climb now thats for sure, but we've done it before. Should have Torres back next time, and hopefully Agger & Xabi. The rest of them need to have a look at themselves.

Not one of my best European trips!

[henry14]

Shocking, frustrating and lack of confidence result that Liverpool was defeated in ECC against mid-level team in Europe.
All of us, worldwide fans, are hopefully to resume.

[Mighty T.A.L.]

What I like to see for a change is that Rafa takes some responsibillity for Liverpool's weak performances instead of telling people how unlucky they are. Liverpool haven't perform well since the period they beat teams like Toulose and Derby...