Reds Lacklustre In Turkey Friendly

Dalglish perhaps felt his side could have performed better...

Daglish's side fell to a 3-0 defeat in the humid Turkish capital tonight. The 90 minutes were certainly no delight for Liverpool and despite substitutions, the Reds struggled from the onset to threaten Galatasaray.

Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson were left out of the trip to Istanbul but keeper Doni got another chance to show what he can do between the sticks. A mixed line up saw the likes of Joe Cole and Philip Degen in midfield, Flanagan and Kyrgiakos in defence and Andy Carroll chosen to start up front.

Galatasaray didn't take long at all to make clear their intentions, to the soundtrack of a raucous new home stadium the boys from Turkey were nearly off the mark in less than a minute courtesy of Milan Baros.

And it eventually fell to the ex Liverpool man to deliver the first blow. Some poor Liverpool defending after Kelly and Kyrgiakos were dragged out of position meant the Czech could put a neat little chance past Doni.

Liverpool appeared unable to complete collections of passes let alone attack with real danger, it was slow for the away side and chances were focused on unsuccessful crosses which even with gallant efforts from Carroll could not be converted.

Galatasaray scored their second just before half time. Once again Milan Baros found himself in enough space to put his close range header into the back of the net.

Brad Jones, Alberto Aquilani and Dirk Kuyt were brought on in the second half. Immediately i think the work rate we know and love from Dirk Kuyt added a major difference and so too the skill and vision of Aquilani.

Stronger in the second half Liverpool managed to get the upper hand over the home side in terms of possession but attacks on goal were still sparse. An Andy Carrol effort from inside the box was perhaps the most promising but Liverpool could not get on the score sheet.

It was left to striker Elmander to finish off the game for Galatasaray after he netted a fantastic volley to take their tally to three.

With Valerenga up next in Oslo it is sure to be a solemn occasion after the terrible events in Norway. After this Liverpool welcome Valencia to Anfield and then the season gets under way.