Pool 2, Marseille 1.

The lads open up CL play with a nice away win at Marseille. Marseille -- the same folks who beat us last year at Anfield 1-0 but then got steamrolled 4-0 in the return match. The French club played an open, aggressive game; they've got a bunch of very short, very fast players (Valbuena and Kone, in particular) who were great penetrators and legitimately fun to watch. The Reds' defense was a bit slipshod, particularly our backline organization, which was really poor. The lads were fortunate to hold Marseille to one goal. Reina had to make several outstanding saves.

Gerrard's long distance goal was a brilliant shot, curving across the mouth of the goal opposite to the direction at which he was running at the ball. A nice piece of skill. For my money, Babel was Liverpool's best player today. His incursion into the box was what led to the penalty (taken by Gerrard) that won the match, and all game he was a force. He needs a bit more refinement -- my criticism of him has been that he's picked up sloppy habits from being so dominant in the youth leagues -- but he is a sizzling talent.

FF