Hail Milan's Kaka and Inzaghi – but why did three Liverpool players give up?

The initial disappointment has subsided so I am writing this with a clear head. I too noticed last night on a couple of occasions what you have written about. What was going on? The urgency that is characteristic of this team was nowhere to be seen. While Liverpool were the better team we can have no grievances with Milan. They scored twice and defended impressively. Unfortunately, I think Benitez has to take the blame for this one. What was going on with the team selection? Zenden on and Gerrard up front? Crouch should have been on from the start. If we had gotten a goal or two up then why not bring on Bellamy to counter against Milan pressure? I am afraid, and this is not a knee-jerk reaction as I have said it all along, that Benitez is NOT the man for this job. Unfortunately, everyone won't realise that until we see how he blows away the transfer money on rubbish players. Voronin? Tis only the start, tis only the start. YNWA

Yeah Veronin you mention daddycuckoo, But who would have said that mascherano is or would be incredible, I really think you are talking through your back side mate.yuke! But milan where no way better than liverpool, and kaka the world wonder looked rather ordinary to say the least thanks to Mr Benitez and the pint sized Mascherano to me already a great. now to add to this we out played milan in every department where was gattuso the so called power house of europe hiding, Seedorff, I am sure he can't believe how lucky he was. And that Liverpool are no manure That for sure a walk over.. But in life as steve g said you need the luck of the green and that was deff not with us last night. Ps didn't the first milan goal via a freekick come of the hands of that bafoon inzaghi or not. Im sure if that german ref was not there the story may have been different, The germans are well knopwn bastards always where alwayz will be

he start with the right tactic no doubt but he didnt utlize the fruits of his tactic in the first halh, made mistake for not replacing alonso for zenden immediatly in second half and mascrano kept the kaka under control, good luck

Some people think that playing 4-4-2 and your favourite players is tactics? How wrong they are. If we were put into dressing room when Rafa does his tactics, you'd be amazed and stunned what is asked of the players. Tactics is not just formation but how players can exploit oppositions weaknesses. (As i have said below, i thought we'd done that in first half with players choosing the wrong option). i thought he had tactics spot on we were creating space down the flanks, what was missing was the players final ball or choosing the wrong option when they got in good positions. I do agree that Crouch should of been brought on sooner.

I thought they stopped because they were protesting offside. If they weren't, then that has got to be the first time Carra and Agger gave up on a play. And in the final! I also didn't see some of the urgency as well, win or die trying like the Chelsea game. But I don't fault Rafa, the attack was toothess as it had been all year. If Gerard had scored 20 goals this year, he would of blasted right past Dida instead of duffing it.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. We were the better team on the night but didn't have luck with us. We were the lesser team in 2005 but had some luck. That's how football goes, and why it is the best sport in the world. Rafa is great and under him the team has gotten better and will get even better still. He is definetely the man for the job. So many so-called supporters seem to forget the YNWA.

Firstly, I'm sure you are only one a few people in world who would suggest that Rafa is not the right man for this job. I find it difficult to argue that a team who controlled a talented Milan sight for most of the 90mins where wrong tactically. What it did confirm, and had been shown all season, is that we lack quality up front. With the money available to him, we can expect that to be put right. And suggesting that Rafa always buys bad is unfounded. Every manager makes mistakes in the transfer market... look at Wenger and Ferguson. But Rafa has brought in quality as well as bad... Alonso, Agger, Masch, Garcia, Pennant (had a cracking game last night). It will be an interesting summer in the transfer market. Oh and by the way, Voronin was a FREE transfer before Rafa new he had any money to spend, so its no real lose if he doesn't work out.

"We will never know what would have happened had someone raced back and knocked away that shot" I'll tell you what would have happened - none of them would have got close. Have a look at the replay (you'll find it on youtube). It took 4 seconds from when the ball left Kaka's foot to cross the line. All four defenders were roughly 25m from the goal line. They had to react, turn and sprint 25m in 4 seconds in order to stop a goal. Asafa Powell, who is the current 100m men's world record holder ran roughly the same distance in 4.1s when he broke the record (and he was facing the right way). It's disgraceful to suggest that Liverpol players didn't try. When it happened it was 80 mins into a game played in temperatures of almost 20degrees and 80% Humidity. Liverpool were the better side for the majority of the match but couldn't make that count because a lack of potency up front. Hopefully with Samuel Eto'o et al the EPL will return and we'll have more Champions League finals to enjoy, but last night was defin

Are you absolutely stark raving mad? "Gave up on the play"??? "A slow spinning grounder"??? Correct me if I'm worng, but you don't play a lot of football, do you. Utter drivel.

this has to be the dumbest article Ive ever read. Obviously you know nothing about the game or you are a 6 yr old. If you are a 6 yr old my apologies. If not then you are a moron

i assume u include didi hamann in anti german diatribe u racist pig....

I’m disappointed with this article and the apparent lack of appreciation for the finer details of teh game. Inzaghi is one of those players who rival fans love to hate. The reason for this hatred, as ever, is because he’s very good at what he does. He’s been scoring goals consistently at the highest level for 10 years. My point? Even taking into consideration the fact that the ball and run were perfectly weighted and timed to coincide with the nearest defenders creeping the opposite direction (it wasn’t the centre backs who Inzaghi took his line from, but the Riise), once the trap was sprung they knew that it was a goal. Had it been anyone other than Inzaghi, Kaka or Seedorf, they may have made an effort on the odd-chance, but only the uneducated would have though that the move would end in anything other than triumph. Therefore, rather than giving up, I’d argue that they knew they were beat. What we never seem to see in these situations (i.e. Kaka with the ball 'between the lines') is one defen

With regards to yesterdays game, Liverpool were clearly the better team and deserved more from the match. Rafa's tactics were spot on from the offset as his 4-5-1 formation meant that our midfield was on top and winning the battle. The plan was clear..dont allow AC space to play and get them on the counter and hopefully snatch a goal. This was the case as mascherano had a stormer and kept kaka in his pocket...only once i remember kaka being given the space to shoot...and that was only an inch. The game plan went down the drain as soon as inzaghi deflected in pirlo's poor freekick. This good fortune was liverpools downfall. Rafa stuck to the same formation after the break in hope we cud still snatch a goal whilst still keeping kaka and co quiet. Gerrard should have hit his one on one across the keeper with his left foot. However time was running out and rafa had to act upon this...he did so by taking off of defensive mid mascherano instead of xabi alonso who is more of a playmaker/defensive mid. Clearly the w

I too thought it was strange that the Liverpool defenders didn't try & get back, there was an air of inevitability amoungst them. Reading the piece by Barnes the King, I agree that they couldn't have done much about the goal. However, until it went in they didn't know how this would unfold! What if the shot had properly scuffed and rolled over a lot slower than it did? I don't think they gave up as much as just frooze,like they couldn't quite grasp what was happening, especially seen as AC had very little chances prior to this. This moment however, should not even have mattered. We were by far the better team, but just seemed sluggish in attack at times. Not actually slow as such, but slow minded and lacking ideas. Zenden didn't help this, nor did Kuyt. He cannot hold onto the ball and with Gerrard not being able to completely abandon the midfield and join him, meant that the ball kept pinging back, much as it has all season. In the 2nd half we needed the skill and hold-up play of Crouch, the pace menace o

I am just wondering why Rafa's so keen on Zenden. He should never have started at the first place. Mark Gonzalez would have been a better option. Our attacks were mostly from the right(jermaine pennant). To me that is why we lost.

I've seen the replay over and over again, and I still feel thee D had a shot at getting to the ball before it crossed the line. As for there only being 4 seconds, check out the video, as the shot took 4 s but if you count Inzaghi handling the ball it is well around 6-7 s.

KUYT AS A LONE STRIKER WAS APSOLUTELY DEFENSIVE FROM THE WORD GO. WHEN U PICK PENNANT IN THE SIDE U MUST GO WITH CROUCH.IT WOULD HAVE MEANT V HAD THE OPTION OF LONG BALL THEY NEEDED 2 HAVE 8 LEAST 2 DEFENDERS AROUND CROUCH. THEY HAVE A SLOW DIFFENCE. 2CE THEY WERE FOUND WANTING WITH GREAT CHANCES 2 POOL. BUT V LACKED THE PACE 2 EXPLOIT IT. KUYT IS JUST NOT A PLAYER 2 PLAY AS A LONE STRIKER. SORRY RAFA U GOT IT WRONG ATTAKINGLY.

why did Rafa not play Crouch from the start, Zenden is a waste of space, the gerrard behind the ineffective Kuyt was a joke

He was spot on. He could not do better. BUT he needs better player. Better fighters than the present team.

I thought Rafa's tactics were spot on until we went a goal behind. Rafa seems to have more difficulty successfully changing tactics when things go wrong

who wrote the article. You ARE a cretin.

I firmly believe that the manager's decision to persist with Bolo Zenden was a critical error of judgement.He should have included Craig Bellamy, who has pace and can dribble.Bolo Zenden hardly gave any decent crosses and was a poor tackler.

As a Milan fan, I'm just glad that a certain Craig Bellamy never got onto the pitch. His pace would have scared me. Maldini and Nesta as good as they are would not have liked to have had Bellamy running at them. I also think taking Mascherano off was a big mistake. He'd done a pretty good job on Kaka.

im a milan fan and watched the other nights champ league final like all of you with dissapointment. however i am getting very frustrated at hearing how liverpool outplayed milan (which maybe the did) and moreso how rafa benitez tactics were spot on! to begin with the liverpool players looked sharper and fresher than the milan players so if liverpool had played their normal formation they would have had a better chance. instead rafas only thoughts were on stopping milan get a goal, which you cant really do given the individual talent in the team. by playing such a disruptive formation and trying to keep the game at 0-0 or at most going for a 1-0 win they caused the game to be a stalemate and the slight edge in quality milan have shone through. the result has nothing to do with luck, nothing to do with liverpool not having a top notch striker (crouch's record is pretty impressive) and is solely down to rafas negative tactics to disrupt the game which worked very effectively!