I'm not sure whether I should try to watch this match again, the final score almost says it all though it could have been worse for the French side. Toulouse sort of dug their own grave from the get-go by coming out with all guns blazing. That's not how you're going to beat Liverpool, even a weakened squad, all it's gonna do is wear yourself out and that's exactly what happened.
That's not to say we didn't make mistakes, because we did, but once we felt they were wounded, we pounced on them like a pack of wolves on a limping sheep. I would have to say Hyypia's goal in the opening minutes of the first half was probably where Toulouse started thinking about waving the white flag, because after that our boys started salivating.
I'm still going to stick with Arbeloa as Man of the Match, though I feel Kuyt will probably get the accolade on the official site. Arbeloa put on a flawless performance and was not only superb defensively, but he was a catalyst a lot of the times on the attack. Kuyt definitely deserves recognition for his two goal and one assist performance. I was especially happy to see him get the first one as he seemed to have the luck of a leper beforehand. It was a nice one-two with Babel, whom he's appeared to have formed a nice attacking relationship. The second in the 75th minute on a through ball from Benayoun was just icing on the cake.
Leto failed to put in a memorable performance as he needs to exert himself more on attack if he wants a regular spot at least for cup ties. Babel was a great example as he came more inside instead of sitting out on the flank and pretty much forced them to give him the ball. Leto has to learn to do this and command the ball more as he seemed content with not being much of a gear in the attack engine. Leiva came on as a sub as well and was pretty solid on both ends. He almost scored on a put back right outside the box which would have been almost too magical for the Brazilian wonder kid.
As for the rest of the squad, Hyypia really stepped it up in the second half. I'm sure his class header goal had something to do with it, but he seemed rejuvenated and ran up and down the field like a young fawn after. Everybody else put in solid performances, though Sissoko and Agger started to look a little ragged and hence, were substituted. I'm going to say something here that you may never read again and say Crouch played good as well. There I said it, though he should have probably had at least another goal. The big difference between this performance and past ones was he didn't hold on to the ball as long as he has in the past. Go figure.
Yossi probably deserves some special recognition as well as his effort was tireless and he assisted on Hyypia's header goal and Kuyt's second. For a guy who was said to have complained about lack of playing time, he certainly showed he should be playing more. After today, I'm sure Benitez will at least think about using him more in League play, but there are just so many spots.
The best part about this match is that our defense didn't have to over exert itself though that didn't appear to stop Arbeloa, who I suspect might get a rest for Derby County on Saturday. I still think we need to sign either a right or centre back though. We'll also have Pennant, Alonso, Voronin, Torres, and a relatively fresh Babel, Finnan, and Lucas Leiva, if needs be. Still this was a solid thrashing and should give all our boys even more confidence as we head into the group stages.