Bernd? Burnt.

[Jim©]

Leno was a fault for the Liverpool goal irrespective of the deflection. I was right behind it in the Hammy End and thought so at the time. That is also the general consensus in the media. Judging by his body language I'd say he thought so too.

Don't get me wrong, Leno has been magnificent for us overall and I'm fully behind him but that's not the first goal he should have saved in recent weeks. Take a look at Bournemouth's first goal. If anything that mistake was even worse.

I started a new thread the other week saying that he was getting beaten by too many shots from outside the area and there were an unusually high amount of mistakes.
I was rounded upon by quite a few who told me I was being out of order, but it hampered us last night without a doubt.

[Fulham1959]

Tete would have won that header.

My cat would have made that save.

Far too often, I find myself wondering if and why Leno is a top-flight keeper. Too often, a ball that seemingly every other #1 parries wide slips through his mitts, and he either reacts too slowly or does not communicate fast enough with his centerbacks.

Castagne. Why? I honestly cannot figure out why he is and has been the choice over Tete, barring the latter's injury spell. He is short, slow, and offers nothing offensively.

How can an individual who has done nothing but kick a ball around for twenty-odd years be totally incapable of kicking it with both feet? For all of Robinson's speed and work rate, his peg right leg is a constant handicap.

For all of his industry in the second half, Paulinha was hideous. The first half was perhaps his worst in a Fulham kit, one in which he did not complete a pass to a player in white, let alone the set-piece miss.

As a team, the most pathetic constant was the inability to move the ball through the middle third. From all four backliners, clearance headers and unchallenged advance passes were simple giveaways, over and over again.

And for all of that piss-poor play and lack of engagement in the first half, this leg was a draw. Imagine if Tete and Wilson had started and if JP had played his usual.

Ridiculous, wise-after-the-event comments.  You must lead a perfect life yourself.

[Drewry66]

As an ex goalkeeper the double deflection made it tricky. In the split second he he thinks the ball is coming quicker than it is and because of the lack of pace it visibly dips before it hits his hand. Don't get me wrong...he should have saved it and he more than anyone knows that but those kind of deflections at close range can be tricky.

He made an absolutely brilliant save second half at full stretch.

The guy is top 3 in the league and prob the best keeper we have had since van der sar. The stats show this as do most people's eyes. The Liverpool goals were all unsaveable by any keeper. There have been one or two others recently that he will feel he should have saved but none are absolute howlers. Like everyone else keepers hit patches of good form and others where they are slightly off it. Last season he was pretty much impeccable and not sure I really remember a single mistake. Even Allison makes howlers sometimes. Even slightly off it I'd rather have Leno in goal than most keepers in this league. He is class and will get full form back soon. We are lucky to have him.

[sarnian]

As an ex goalkeeper the double deflection made it tricky. In the split second he he thinks the ball is coming quicker than it is and because of the lack of pace it visibly dips before it hits his hand. Don't get me wrong...he should have saved it and he more than anyone knows that but those kind of deflections at close range can be tricky.

He made an absolutely brilliant save second half at full stretch.

The guy is top 3 in the league and prob the best keeper we have had since van der sar. The stats show this as do most people's eyes. The Liverpool goals were all unsaveable by any keeper. There have been one or two others recently that he will feel he should have saved but none are absolute howlers. Like everyone else keepers hit patches of good form and others where they are slightly off it. Even slightly off it I'd rather have him in goal than most keepers in this league. He is class and will get form back soon. We are lucky to have him.

Agree 100%. The deflection from Diaz unto the defender then back unto Diaz took the pace off the ball.  Yes Leno will be disappointed but these things happen.

[Chrisjo]

If you look at the replay in slow motion Bernd had actually moved slightly in the other direction in anticipation of the initial shot before it was deflected twice so he had to adjust in a split second which made the save that little bit more difficult. He was unlucky in my opinion.

[nwg]

Tell you what, UK divs: you excuse me for autocorrect changing the spelling of JP's last name, and I will not hack through your bastardization of English grammar (which you all supposedly 'created'), misspellings (should 'of'?...nice), and numbingly blind counterarguments.

It is hilarious that the lot of you believe that your birth post code entitles you to knowledge.

The save was a training-ground exercise - and yes, Leno's reaction told the tale.

[Lighthouse]

Well to be boring and state what I say every time. Every goal we score is brilliant even if it is a flukey own goal. Every goal we concede is somebodies mistake. The mistake was the full back for not cutting out the ball and then allowing the Liverpool player to have a free run. But would any other defender have done better? Who knows? The keeper was beaten but could have done better.

It is simply a fact that this is a live sport and not a computer game. Mistakes are made. Was our coach to biome for some odd subs. Was the African Cup to blame for the scheduling of taking three players away from us. We are constantly looking to blame someone. We ourselves in everyday life are made to feel guilty if something goes wrong or we make a mistake. Sometimes the mistake is made long before the incident occurs.

Let's try and stop trying to find someone to blame all the time without looking at the whole picture.

[Andy S]

Having to stand for over two hours meant that it wasn't only the players who finished up with tired legs last night. It's pre al-Fayed days since I last had to do that and then we had crush barriers to lean against. Could we have had a bit of luck and scored another goal to put us level and give us another 30 Minutes of added time? From my standing position I'm glad we didn't

[The Rock]

I wonder if his 28 previous posts were as upbeat as this one.

Liverpool are 5 points clear the top of the League with 1 loss in 21 games and probably one of the top 3 teams in the world at the moment. I thought we came pretty close over the two legs, and perhaps maybe they are a better side on most days.

[bog]

If this has not already been mentioned I would like to point out that but for Bernd's brilliant save near the end up at Anfield the tie would have been over already.

[LC]

My thoughts are, Tete wouldn't have gone for the header, he would have been on the attackers first touch and took the ball, which is what Castagne should have done. I mentioned in a previous post that I rate Castagne and think he could play further forward, I like both Tete and Castagne but Tete is the better defender.

The ball took a deflection on the way through so I'm not blaming Leno, but having said that I was expecting him to save it

[ffcthereligion]

Feel the OP's pain even if I disagree with the majority of their point. Let's not hammer others just because we respond differently to a disappointing night

[WindyCity]

Pretty silly from the OP.

BUT, I will say this.  Leno should have done much much better on the goal allowed.  Sorry, but that just isn't top flight quality.  I'm not a particular fan of Leno, but I will always give credit when due, he has had a few very good games, mostly from last seasons' campaign, for which I had given credit.  But I just don't think he's a very good keeper.  Probably average to above average.  But certainly not in the 'great' or 'elite' category.  JMHO  Feel free to have a go......

[Twig]

Gave up when I started reading your criticism of some bloke called Paulinha. Who the hell is he? Stupid post.

[horse1031]

I don't understand everyone blaming Leno for not saving that one.  It took 2 deflections!  2! and then came at him with tremendous pace.  Could he have saved it....yes, was it a mistake not to.  Well, no.

[blingo]

Haven't we all got PhD's in hindsight.

[Holders]

Tell you what, UK divs: you excuse me for autocorrect changing the spelling of JP's last name, and I will not hack through your bastardization of English grammar (which you all supposedly 'created'), misspellings (should 'of'?...nice), and numbingly blind counterarguments.

It is hilarious that the lot of you believe that your birth post code entitles you to knowledge.

The save was a training-ground exercise - and yes, Leno's reaction told the tale.

QED!