The Prague Saga

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Sparta Prague 0 Liverpool 0
Liverpool 1 Sparta Prague 0

Two games, 180 odd minutes of football and the whole shebang is decided with a single goal five minutes before the end of the second game. Dirk Kuyt’s 85th minute winning goal was a long time in coming but was the sweeter for coming at a time when it would have been difficult for Sparta to get the goal that would have put them in the next round of the competition.

To be honest they didn’t look like scoring in either of the matches so you could be quietly confident that if we did manage to break the deadlock then we could probably prevail and win the tie. The first game was nothing to write home about with neither team seeming to want to actually win the game, which was odd considering if we had scored it would have counted for double in the event of a draw in the second leg.
Not even Sparta seemed to want to take the bull by the horns in the first game either; it was highly forgettable all round.

In the second leg we went out knowing that we couldn’t afford to let Sparta score and that we had to get a goal if we didn’t want the match to ultimately go to penalties. The second leg was a much better, faster paced game than the first had been with both teams actually making the effort to try and go forward and make an impact on the match. We came close a couple of times in the first half but to no avail and the first half ended still at stalemate.

To be honest it was the same old story for much of the second half, and I was convinced that this match would have to be decided by penalties, but then Dirk Kuyt stepped up to the plate and score the goal which would turn out to be the winning goal.

We could have added another couple of goals before the end of the match with Joe Cole having a shot snatched from him by David NGog and then Cole going through himself unmarked but neither of them ended up in the back of the net unfortunately and we had to keep hold of our slim lead till the final whistle, which we were able to do, and take our place in the last 16 of the Europa League, ever closer to winning the trophy for the fifth time in its history.

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15 Comments

  1. Nice article. But we have won the Europa league 3 times(most by any team!) and this will be the fourth!! YNWA

  2. Any win by the Reds is great. Having said that Ngog, Poulson Cole are not good enough to wear the RED OF POOL.
    We can and will improve.

    By the article says we have won it 4 times, YNWA1892 says 3 times, which is it?

    Walk on KK & the lads

  3. Hgog tried but just hasn’t got it. At least Carroll wil be fit and elegable for the next game.
    You can’t fault Kuyt. That contract must be nearer

  4. At this stage of the competition the important is getting to the next round. Again I say, mission accomplished. From now on though, we start to encounter the real contenders for the honours so we do need to field the strongest side.
    Liverpool need to build a squad capable of fielding a fearsome 11 in each an every game!
    Let’s hope the Gods hand us a reasonable opponent in the next round.

  5. I think to say Cole isn’t fit to wear the shirt is a tad unfair. This was his first 90 in god knows how long. He needs game time and will be a decent asset. Poulsen though… woeful, Jay should have started, 100% effort

  6. Poulsen actually did alright, and so did Cole who put alot of effort into that game. Ngog though… Iv been trying to back the lad but most strikers would have netted the 6 or 7 chances he had… We need a better / alternative backup for when Suarez and Caroll arn’t playing. YNWA

  7. kuyt,cole,poulsen and ngog are shite not good enough get rid the only one who tries is kuyt but i’m afraid that’s not enough bought as prolific marksman his first touch is awful hence his second is a tackle and he run’s like he has a parachute tied to his back cash in on the lot and buy two decent attacking wide men to feed a fit carroll

  8. feel bad for ngog in a way cos i think bein nandos backup was a big ask for a guy who hardly played for his previous club anyway. Its a massive step up. Think he would benefit going on loan at least for next season to a team where he would play every week. He missed some good opportunities, snatched a few shots- but at least he was gettin into the right areas to get the chances. Really finding poulsen ponderous and uninspiring in our midfield, but him and lucas do have the ugly job of breaking up play, which gives this impression. Desperately missing a good passer of the ball there. Again lack of width- wingers. The squad is doing well though with what we have. Unbeaten in 7? Kuyt for all his flaws, scores an important goal again. Good on him.. Keep it up lfc!

  9. i would prefer king kenny play kuyt either on the left wing or a lone striker because of his never die attittude many players in the team would adopt this style and work their socks off when being played.if kelly is fit and strong play him right back and play Glen johnson right wing,play wilson right back he does play like Daniel agger and would be a good crosser of the ball into the box especially when carrol is fit Danny could be delivering ball to him on left and kelly on right.i hope to see the back of poulsen come the end of the season then we go for Charlie Adam we should not allow Spurs to get him,Ngog aint good enough maybe loaned out and Cole needs to step up no more panting like a christmas Chicken lol

  10. Ngog does not deserved a starting lineup place in such kind of match and we were lucky that the opposition was not able to scored. He got enough opportunities to prove himself up to now but I just feeled he lacks concentration and his shooting skills is not what one should expect from an LFC striker.
    If we look at Wilson and spearing who did not have enough matches under their belts but who still works hards when they got their chances and at least contribute something to the match.

  11. barry mc. I don’t usually make such comments, but I sincerely do hope you know that commas and fullstops exist! If you had to read that in one breathe you’d end up on a life support machine….! :-)

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