19 Mar 2016 10:21:43
Just something that I've been thinking about for a few years now, and feel with Dortmund on the horizon it's worth a post:
When will teams start to realise the importance of an away goal?
So often in European games the away team will sit back and look to nullify all damage rather than take the game to their opponents- United at our place a case in point- but even if their game plan comes off, they are left in trouble.
Would you take a 0-0 in Dortmund? The media would hype it up as some kind of great result but in reality if Dortmund were to score early at Anfield, as is very plausible, we'd need to score 2 without reply. A very tough ask when leaving yourselves exposed to Auba and Reus on the counter.
What's more in such cases where the home team goes 1 up early on in the second leg, it seems to put them into a false sense of security- we very, very nearly went out to Ausburg just through that! They had a very good chance late on, if I remember correctly, which would have put them through on away goals.
It's at home that a team should look to play defensively. That 2-0 at home to United was our best European result in a very long time, because it put us in a position where we could kill the game off with one mistake or moment of magic in the second leg- which is exactly what happened.
I hope we go to Dortmund and really take the game to them. We'll concede 2 or 3 but I'd genuinely rather a 3-2 loss than a 0-0 there.
For one it's not the end of the world if they nick a goal at Anfield, and for another we never seem to play well when looking to hold on to a solid, but unspectacular first leg result, Ausburg and Stoke both this season are cases in point.
19 Mar 2016 10:56:46
The thing is Dortmund don't concede goals and score plenty I would certainly take a nil nil coming back home, the only way I see us beating them is by the odd goal.
19 Mar 2016 10:58:50
On fifa, or more recently on pes, i throw everything into away leg especialli if first. Away goaks kill it! But then again it is a video and doesn't account for travel, home team attacking etc.
19 Mar 2016 11:21:40
Dortumand ll score at Anfield. The only question Could we score an away goal?
19 Mar 2016 11:27:20
Dortmund are favourites imo but are beatable as are every team . Away goals are the key in European games as they are worth two in effect .
19 Mar 2016 14:35:34
if i remember rightly liverpool always went for the away goal in the 70s and 80s at the time our manager knew the importance of the away goal, in my opinion i just think some managers from abroad have made the game into a chess game were they go out not to concede a goal instead of going out to win the game and then try to win the game at home, so they try to get a 0-0 away from home and then try to win the game at home with the fans behind them, its only my opinion i'm not saying its right or wrong, but i would prefer our team to go for the win away from home, the man utd game proved it because once we scored they needed to score 4 goals, which proves the worth of the away goal.
20 Mar 2016 05:36:17
I'm old school too and always believed that not conceding an away goal or a score of 0-0 in the first leg at home, gave you the advantage going into the second leg on the road. Same way, I feel an away goal is always crucial to score as it sets the tone for the return home leg.