Chelsea v Liverpool CL semi 1st Leg

Aquos76

Bellamy off and Crouch on

Pepe LeFrits

Joe Cole was bound to score sooner or later the way the first half went, he was constantly drifting into the box with nobody picking him up.

Royale with Cheese

Zzzzz

This second half's been pretty boring. Both teams playing fairly sh*te

Aquos76

The bbc online guy is at it again

A little bit testy there between Jon Obi Mikel and Xabi Alonso. Things are getting less "continental" and more domestic. More eggs and bacon than croissants and coffee

Aquos76

Kalou is on for Shevchenko

The Muppet

Aquos76 wrote:

The bbc online guy is at it again

Green is it?

CivilServant

Shevchenko anonymous again, Kalou on.

Aquos76

The Muppet wrote:

Green is it?

No, your man who does the live text on their website.

Little-Devil

Liverpool have been rubbish this evening. I think Benitez good his team selection and tatics wrong tonight. If it stays 1-0 to chelsea, i expect chelsea will will go through to the final. I could see chelsea scoring a couple of goals at Anfield easy enough. Liverpool have offered nothing up front and dont even look like scoring, very poor all round. Stephen Gerrard form continues to be rubbish this season

Aquos76

As long as it stays at 1-0 I think Liverpool have an excellent chance of going through to the final. Anfield will be buzzing for them next week and they will not be rolled over to easily. Chelsea really need a second imo.

Guy:Incognito

How come when Crouch jumps with the keeper its autmatically a free out, yet 3 Chelsea players can barrell into Reina and nothing?

mike65

Meh. Liverpool were on the back before a ball had been kicked.

Rafa better have learnt something from the paucity of attacking options when you have Zenden on the wing and two holding midfielders.

Mike.

Aquos76

So Chelsea take a very slim lead to Anfield. I wonder will those chances that Chelsea missed tonight come back to haunt them next week. Liverpool were bad tonight. Chelsea out classed them is all areas tonight and bar one shot from Gerrard, Cech had a very quite game. How Zenden managed to stay on for 90 mins is beyond me. He was useless.

It still going to be very difficult for them at Anfield, but liverpool should not be written off just yet.

joe316

crap game tbh, it was like watching two teams of 90s wimbledon playing, wacking the ball down the pitch. no free flowing football at all.

zenden was awful, how he gets in the first team i have no idea. lampard and alonso were missing for the match or giving away the ball away too cheapily.

Aquos76

joe316 wrote:

lampard and alonso were missing for the match or giving away the ball away too cheapily.

Lampard had two shots excellently saved by Reina. I though he had an ok game

Chucky the tree

Zenden needs to be taken out back and shot.

joe316

Aquos76 wrote:

Lampard had two shots excellently saved by Reina. I though he had an ok game

yeah but what else did he do? it was mikel pulling the strings in midfield, like gerrard was doing for liverpool, playing in two positions: out right and then in the center to cover for alonso

LegacyUser

Now that was a seriously **** game of football...****ing Chelsea, I just hate the way they play. I hope Liverpool win.

mada999

Alonso's form has suffered all season and it showed again tonight. Rafa's team selection was wrong...Pennant and Crouch should have started...Kuyt and Bellamy are not the best when played up front together... D

Don't know why he picked Zenden, Chelsea were very weak on the left side and he could not exploit it. I hope Rafa goes ultra-attack at Anfield, but I can't see that happening.. I thought Gerrard played ok..

Drogba played his usual game backing into defenders/falling acting hurt meh. He's a great player but he's a moaner. Shame he didn't get a yellow I wonder why Carragher did not mark him ?

Again Liverpool showed that they are not good enough against teams in the top four. Rafa needs about 4 more top quality players to mount any kind of league challenge.

I'm sorry to say it but I think it's going to be a Chelsea V Utd final, if Liverpool don't up their game 100%..

Raskolnikov

Man for man, Liverpool were completely outplayed tonight.

Zenden wasn't the only poor player for Liverpool tonight. Agger was a complete shambles in the back. Towards the end; it showed badly as he was letting Drogba's play acting to affect his game. Another player who was poor was Mascherano. He was totally unable to break up the game in the holding role. Not only that, he just didn't have the physicality to deal with Chelsea's muscle.

For the next leg. . .

Out: Zenden, Mascherano, Agger.
In: Kewell, Sissokko, Hyypia.

opr

We had to win one champions league with no left back now he wants us to win it with no left winger !

I have nothing but good things to say about Rafa but imo he got alot of things horribly wrong tonight.

Opr

opr

Raskolnikov wrote:

In: Kewell

OMG will people give up already :eek:

Did he save the world in a past life or something !

Opr

Raskolnikov

opr wrote:

OMG will people give up already :eek:

Did he save the world in a past life or something !

Opr

He's the best crosser Liverpool have on the left wing.

Little-Devil

haha, Jamie Redknapp and Grame Souness arguing about liverpool, Redknapp telling Souness not to insult his Intelligence over Gerrard

Orizio

Raskolnikov wrote:

Man for man, Liverpool were completely outplayed tonight.

Zenden wasn't the only poor player for Liverpool tonight. Agger was a complete shambles in the back. Towards the end; it showed badly as he was letting Drogba's play acting to affect his game. Another player who was poor was Mascherano. He was totally unable to break up the game in the holding role. Not only that, he just didn't have the physicality to deal with Chelsea's muscle.

For the next leg. . .

Out: Zenden, Mascherano, Agger.
In: Kewell, Sissokko, Hyypia.

Agger was poor tonight but Hyypia has been on his last legs for nearly two seasons.Kewell is no different then Zenden, just replacing one slow disinterested waster for another.Sissoko can't pass the ball 5 yards.No use having someone who can win the ball when he just loses it straight away.

Drop Zenden and Bellamy, keep the rest.Bring in Crouch and Gonzalez or else move Riise up.

BTW I thought Gerrard was anonymous. What game are these commentators watching?One good shot and bugger else.

scojones

Little-Devil wrote:

haha, Jamie Redknapp and Grame Souness arguing about liverpool, Redknapp telling Souness not to insult his Intelligence over Gerrard

That Redknapp is so bloody annoying. He hasn't a clue.

Mad Dog

scojones wrote:

That Redknapp is so bloody annoying. He hasn't a clue.

Just like most people who post on this soccer forum meh

opr

Raskolnikov wrote:

He's the best crosser Liverpool have on the left wing.

FFS the fat lazy C**t can hardly swing his leg never mind cross a ball , he should never wear a liverpool shirt again as far as i am concerned.

Sorry i am not going to derail this thread talking about that waster it just boils my blood that anyone who calls themselves a liverpool fan can hold on to some notion that he will ever make it as a player again.

Opr

kaimera

Arbeloa was horrible horrible disaster tonight. Gerrard should have gone RB with Pennant RW very early on. ffs.

Poor game again. Chelsea deserved the win. We offered nothing aside from Gerrads show which was an amazing ****ing save by Cech; I actually cheered the damn thing. O_o

Penalty was more ball to hand; he missed the ball and his momentum brought him around into it; he wasn't even looking at the bloody ball, ref had a clean view and waved play on.

Noticed some little spats between Xabi and Lampard I do believe, nothing spectacular. Was just wishing someone would get some emotion going and do something.

Alas.

oh, RB for Chelsea was the weak link tonight. ANYBODY but Zenden would have done

raven136

next week it will be finnan back,arbelo at left back,riise on the wing and crouch and bellamy hopefully.Gerrard was awful but its a big game so whats new,alsonso has been v poor all season.
Sissoko might be a crap passer but his hassling game sets a tempo and liverpool had no pace at all tonight.Delighted we got out of there just one down.

Forget Kewell,the worst of all modern players,gonzalez should be on the bench the noext time and possibly play pennant.

unfortunately they will have essien back:mad:

Think we can stil do it but not too confident

scojones

Mad Dog wrote:

Just like most people who post on this soccer forum meh

I'll take your word for it.

flanzer

raven136 wrote:

alsonso has been v poor all season

Very true. With the word on the street being a possible move for him to Barca, I'd say cash in now with Eto'o in return. He'd bring what Drogba brought for Chelski tonight

The Muppet

kaimera wrote:

Penalty was more ball to hand; he missed the ball and his momentum brought him around into it; he wasn't even looking at the bloody ball, ref had a clean view and waved play on.

That and the fact that he was a couple of feet outside the box is probably the reason why a penno was not given.

event

Raskolnikov wrote:

Out: Zenden, Mascherano, Agger.
In: Kewell, Sissokko, Hyypia.

genuine LOL

jesus H christ

you would play a man without a single minute of competitive football this season in Liverpools most important game of the year?

classic

quad_red

Poor game to watch. A never ending grapple rather than a match. Negative, long ball rubbish. Liverpool set out negatively from the beginning and Chelsea deserved the win, barely.

And I know we've all said it but Cech is worth is weight in goddamn gold.

Bellamy continues to disappoint. I admit, i thought his signing was gonna be a masterstroke when it happened.

Still, I don't think the tie is dead by any means. If Liverpool sneak the the first goal at Anfield....

Guy:Incognito

He should have moved Gerrard into the middle behind the front 1 or 2, dependign on what others changes would have been made had he been moved there. Thats his naturla posititon.

Seriously Rafa, if your up there, stop with the playign him out of position. Anytime he scores goals its when he is played in the middle or drifts in there, he is not a winger. Fitting him around the team instead of the other way round is stupid.

Fighting Irish

watched the match tonight, liverpool have no chance of getting through, chelsea are easily a step above them.

Lemlin

Good result for Chelski. What did people think of what Dunphy had to say before the game? I know there are endless Lampard-Gerrard discussions on here but I found his view that Lampard was the better player interesting and, to be honest, correct.

He definitely had the better of the two tonight. Liverpool weren't at the races at all and will get it very hard to score at Anfield with a full strength Chelsea defence.

Orizio

Fighting Irish wrote:

watched the match tonight, liverpool have no chance of getting through, chelsea are easily a step above them.

I still expect Liverpool to go through.They have more experience at this European level, have a home advantage and have been inconsistent all year in Europe.

Guy:Incognito

Lemlin wrote:

Good result for Chelski. What did people think of what Dunphy had to say before the game? I know there are endless Lampard-Gerrard discussions on here but I found his view that Lampard was the better player interesting and, to be honest, correct.

He definitely had the better of the two tonight. Liverpool weren't at the races at all and will get it very hard to score at Anfield with a full strength Chelsea defence.

My view is still the same as always. Gerrard is the better player but is more often than not played out of position. How often is Lampard shoved out on the right or do a stint at right full for Chelsea or England?Whereas Gerrard, for some reason known only to Rafa, is rarely played in his best posiiton. He is played out of position for England, to accomodate Lampard , yet still manages to be the better of the 2.I reckon a full season of Gerrard playing in behind the front 1/2 and it would become clear who the better player is.

Orizio

Lemlin wrote:

Good result for Chelski. What did people think of what Dunphy had to say before the game? I know there are endless Lampard-Gerrard discussions on here but I found his view that Lampard was the better player interesting and, to be honest, correct.

He definitely had the better of the two tonight. Liverpool weren't at the races at all and will get it very hard to score at Anfield with a full strength Chelsea defence.

Lampard was better then Gerrard but honestly they are, along with Carrick, the most over rated footballers in the Premiership.Hearing Giles saying Ronaldo had a worse performance then Carrick last night was particurly retarded from RTE.

Orizio

Stekelly wrote:

My view is still the same as always. Gerrard is the better player but is more often than not played out of position. How often is Lampard shoved out on the right or do a stint at right full for Chelsea or England?Whereas Gerrard, for some reason known only to Rafa, is rarely played in his best posiiton. He is played out of position for England, to accomodate Lampard , yet still manages to be the better of the 2.I reckon a full season of Gerrard playing in behind the front 1/2 and it would become clear who the better player is.

The reason seems pretty obvious - Rafa doesn't feel Gerrard is disciplined enough to play in the centre, while Mascherano,Momo and Alonso are.

Guy:Incognito

Orizio wrote:

The reason seems pretty obvious - Rafa doesn't feel Gerrard is disciplined enough to play in the centre, while Mascherano,Momo and Alonso are.

Thats why I said in behind the front 1/2 not in the middle of the park.He's not that kind of player. His form there cant be disputed , he scores goal playign through the middle, anyone can see his best position in bombing through and supporting the strikers.He feeds off lose balls, gets shots in and scores goals.

I would like to see Alonso and Mascherano in the midlle with Gerrard between them and a striker, with two actual wingers playign aswell.

Orizio

Stekelly wrote:

Thats why I said in behind the front 1/2 not in the middle of the park.He's not that kind of player. His form there cant be disputed , he scores goal playign through the middle, anyone can see his best position in bombing through and supporting the strikers.He feeds off lose balls, gets shots in and scores goals.

I would like to see Alonso and Mascherano in the midlle with Gerrard between them and a striker, with two actual wingers playign aswell.

Ah sorry didn't quite read your post properly. I would personally prefer Kuyt and Crouch up front though, with Gerrard in the center with Alonso.Too offensive a team layout for Rafa however hence the playing of Gerrard completely out of position.

raven136

Giles opinion on both lampard and gerrard is more interesting than the other twi's.
Neither player can control a game,pass regularly and consistently and neither tracks back enough or has the football brain to run a game.Both players are the best two in the world(possibly)with the ball dropping twenty yards from goal and needing to be hit.
Also they are really infuriating with their desire for hollywood passes.
Its obvious rafa doesnt trust Gerrard to run his team,his ears and eyes on the pitch is Alsonso(despite a terrible season).
At Valencia it was Baraja and Albelda he trusted and to compensate for Gerrard not doing what rafa wants and needs him to do he has to play to very defensive midfielders,which in turn hurts Liverpool.

In simple terms Gerrard cant read a game or pass like Alsonso and cant tackle or have to energy of Sissoko/Mascherano.He scores important goals but should do more,his goal ratio this season for a "world class" player is average to say the least.Both Lampard and Ronaldo have more and both Kaka and Scholes showed the other night exactly what the modern midfielder should do.

Once again a big game came and went and despite a great shot Steven Gerrard flattered to decieve.There is a danger of him becoming the master of rising to the small occasion

Lemlin

Stekelly wrote:

Thats why I said in behind the front 1/2 not in the middle of the park.He's not that kind of player. His form there cant be disputed , he scores goal playign through the middle, anyone can see his best position in bombing through and supporting the strikers.He feeds off lose balls, gets shots in and scores goals.

I would like to see Alonso and Mascherano in the midlle with Gerrard between them and a striker, with two actual wingers playign aswell.

Lampard is better at doing that than Gerrard though. He is the better box to box midfielder and anyone I know who has seen him live at a game says that you don't see half the work he does on TV.

Guy:Incognito

raven136 wrote:

Giles opinion on both lampard and gerrard is more interesting than the other twi's.
Neither player can control a game,pass regularly and consistently and neither tracks back enough or has the football brain to run a game.Both players are the best two in the world(possibly)with the ball dropping twenty yards from goal and needing to be hit.
Also they are really infuriating with their desire for hollywood passes.
Its obvious rafa doesnt trust Gerrard to run his team,his ears and eyes on the pitch is Alsonso(despite a terrible season).
At Valencia it was Baraja and Albelda he trusted and to compensate for Gerrard not doing what rafa wants and needs him to do he has to play to very defensive midfielders,which in turn hurts Liverpool.

In simple terms Gerrard cant read a game or pass like Alsonso and cant tackle or have to energy of Sissoko/Mascherano.He scores important goals but should do more,his goal ratio this season for a "world class" player is average to say the least.Both Lampard and Ronaldo have more and both Kaka and Scholes showed the other night exactly what the modern midfielder should do.

Once again a big game came and went and despite a great shot Steven Gerrard flattered to decieve.There is a danger of him becoming the master of rising to the small occasion

Just on those two points , first Gerrard runs for the full 90 mins as much as any player I've seen. 2nd. how many games have Lamppard or Ronaldo been played in crappy positions they arent suited to? Mourinho builds his team to compensate and suit Lampard to get the best out of him and thus he scores goals, Liverpool need exactly that yet Rafa does the opposite with Gerrard. the mind boggles as to what Rafa is at TBh. Anny other manager would have Gerrard doing what Lampard is doing (bar maybe SGE or Steve McLaren )

PHB

Gerrard doesn't have the brain to play as an AMC. If he does, the only way Liverpool will score, is because of him. He can't play the simple pass out to the full back or whatever, and wrecks the whole teams attack, which is why Rafa plays him right wing.

Strong advantage Chelsea, no away goal, can't see Liverpool beating them 2-0, think Chelsea will get through on an away goal.

raven136

Who cares how much long he runs for.he could run for 30 yards with the ball and then waste it all with a "ambitious" pass and the whole move breaks down.You dont need to track every blade of grass to be a great midfielder and run 5 km a match.
He has played centre midfield and it has never worked against the big teams,its all right"being the man" against pompey but what about when paul scholes makes a fool of you at old trafford?

Also his best perfromance and seasons goals have come from being on the right.Maybe if Stevie Me put less effort into telling everyone that centre midfield is his best position and put more effort then liverpool might beat a big team one day

redspider

Well, not a good night from a Liverpool perspective. Like others here, I was particularly dissapointed with the selection, but not only that, the application that the players put in, and the shape that they played, the moves they tried, etc, - they were not creating any real threats. Chelsea only created a handful of chances, thats true, but Liverpool's were just a couple.

Going forward, Zenden saw a lot of the ball, too much, but Riise didnt link up well with him and Zenden's end product crossing to Bellamy and Kuyt was never going to work. Alonso and Mascherano were too similar, and Gerrard was too isolated on the right. At times, Liverpool struggled to pass the ball around.

Bringing on Crouch was the right idea, but Gonzalez should have also been brought on, and Gerrard moved to the centre.

> Rafa completly screwed-up his formation/selection

I agree, but I also think the players didnt do things perhaps they way he wanted them to do. Liverpool were geared up for breakway football but Chelsea stayed deep and never gave them a chance. Bellamy didnt get a sniff and was completely ineffective. That doesnt mean h'e a bad player though, just the wrong tool for the job.

Ironically, Chelsea's goal came on the break, after Liverpool showed a spell of dominance (in possesion anyway, they had a lot of it), and it was a sort of sucker punch. Drogba got by the less experienced Agger and Joe Cole sucked Arbeloa in, and scored easily.

Overall though, 1-0 was probably a fair result on the game, and indeed Liverpool can consider themselves better off not to have lost another one.

But here is something to ponder. This tie is not over. Rafa can and does learn. I have no doubt he will play a different team. Zenden was a 'Kewell in the final' type of moment. The players will respond, and the gap is a mere one goal. This is the achilles heel of Chelsea in Europe. They nearly got caught out by Valencia but for a last gasp winner by Essien. In this tie with Liverpool, a 1-0 would be equivalent to 3 pts in the league, a grinding out of another result. But this is a 180 min match. The gap is just 1, and Chelsea should have been pushing for a 2nd, much harder than they were. Instead, they were concentrating nearly 100% on holding onto the 1-0 lead, and just hoping for a 2nd goal.

Stekelly wrote:

He should have moved Gerrard into the middle behind the front 1 or 2, dependign on what others changes would have been made had he been moved there. Thats his naturla posititon.

I agree, and I think there will be a lot of people calling for that formation from within the camp as well.

I expect Liverpool to be something like this in the 2nd tie:

---

Reina

---

Finnan - Carra - Agger - Riise
---- Alonso --- Mascherano ---
Pennant --- Gerrard --- Gonzalez

---

Crouch

---

Mind you, that could have too many wide-men and not enough finishers, such as a Kuyt, and therein lies the dillema. Maybe play Bellamy on a wide position.

The tie is not over, but it is advantage Chelsea. A lot will depend on who is played where in the next match, and then, if Liverpool can break Chelsea down. I think that if Chelsea did get the first goal, and away goal, I could not see Liverpool coming back and getting 3. That said, if Liverpool do get a goal, and in these tight games a goal can come from a dead-ball situation or anything, it will be game on.

Liverpool are not out of it by any shape of the imagination. We need to dust ourselves down, and give it one more go. It is doable.

Redspider