Liverpool v Chelsea CL semi - 2nd leg

Attractive Nun

Liverpool deserved it I think. Pretty poor standard of football over the two legs but it must be said that it was still pretty gripping stuff at Anfield. Half the Chelsea team didn't show up - Essien and Makelele were immense; Mikel, Terry and Cech were good; Drogba and Ferreira at least tried - but other than that, very poor - subs in particular had no impact. But for Liverpool, Carragher, Agger, Mascherano, Gerrard, Pennant (!), Zenden (!), Kuyt, Finnan and of course Reina all played their hearts out. Bring on a United/Pool final!

el rabitos

pool v utd would be worse than tonight as a match. who would want to be the player that makes a mistake and costs his team the win? would be cagey as hell.

some night though, be nice to see jose get the boot tomorrow.

champions league, your having a laugh? ...twice?

Dub13

Lets start the race/hunt for tickets....

smemon

You can't deny liverpool's workrate. They fought like warriers, closing down every ball.

BUT, it's a shame for football if liverpool lift another champions league playing that sort of football.

In the premiership, class rises to the top as it's over almost 40 matches. You can't win the premiership without having that x factor. Utd and Chelsea, Arsenal all have/had that in previous years.

Liverpool are a cup side indeed. They play a high tempo, highly charged match and aim to break up the play of the opposition first and foremost. Nothing wrong with that. But when in possession, they have no cutting edge.

Utd adopted liverpool's pressure game against Roma and hammered them because utd have that penetration and creativity. Liverpool played the pressure game tonight but just didn't have the killer touch. In fairness they hit the bar, had a legit goal taken off them..

But it's a sad day for football when work rate alone wins trophies. Dumphy said after the roma 7-1 match, that sort of football 'makes you happy' as a football person. You cannot say that about liverpool or indeed chelsea for that matter tonight.

Let's hope the final is won by magic, and not by tactics or solid defences.

Necronomicon

smemon wrote:

BUT, it's a shame for football if liverpool lift another champions league playing that sort of football.

Great, I can see this thread taking a sudden turn for the worse.

el rabitos

smemon wrote:

You can't deny liverpool's workrate. They fought like warriers, closing down every ball.

BUT, it's a shame for football if liverpool lift another champions league playing that sort of football.

In the premiership, class rises to the top as it's over almost 40 matches. You can't win the premiership without having that x factor. Utd and Chelsea, Arsenal all have/had that in previous years.

Liverpool are a cup side indeed. They play a high tempo, highly charged match and aim to break up the play of the opposition first and foremost. Nothing wrong with that. But when in possession, they have no cutting edge.

Utd adopted liverpool's pressure game against Roma and hammered them because utd have that penetration and creativity. Liverpool played the pressure game tonight but just didn't have the killer touch. In fairness they hit the bar, had a legit goal taken off them..

But it's a sad day for football when work rate alone wins trophies. Dumphy said after the roma 7-1 match, that sort of football 'makes you happy' as a football person. You cannot say that about liverpool or indeed chelsea for that matter tonight.

Let's hope the final is won by magic, and not by tactics or solid defences.

lol

fullstop

smemon wrote:

You can't deny liverpool's workrate. They fought like warriers, closing down every ball.

BUT, it's a shame for football if liverpool lift another champions league playing that sort of football.

In the premiership, class rises to the top as it's over almost 40 matches. You can't win the premiership without having that x factor. Utd and Chelsea, Arsenal all have/had that in previous years.

Liverpool are a cup side indeed. They play a high tempo, highly charged match and aim to break up the play of the opposition first and foremost. Nothing wrong with that. But when in possession, they have no cutting edge.

Utd adopted liverpool's pressure game against Roma and hammered them because utd have that penetration and creativity. Liverpool played the pressure game tonight but just didn't have the killer touch. In fairness they hit the bar, had a legit goal taken off them..

But it's a sad day for football when work rate alone wins trophies. Dumphy said after the roma 7-1 match, that sort of football 'makes you happy' as a football person. You cannot say that about liverpool or indeed chelsea for that matter tonight.

Let's hope the final is won by magic, and not by tactics or solid defences.

Hear ye, hear ye, smemon opens can of worms

Dcully

You can't deny liverpool's workrate. They fought like warriers, closing down every ball.

BUT, it's a shame for football if liverpool lift another champions league playing that sort of football.

In the premiership, class rises to the top as it's over almost 40 matches. You can't win the premiership without having that x factor. Utd and Chelsea, Arsenal all have/had that in previous years.

Liverpool are a cup side indeed. They play a high tempo, highly charged match and aim to break up the play of the opposition first and foremost. Nothing wrong with that. But when in possession, they have no cutting edge.

Utd adopted liverpool's pressure game against Roma and hammered them because utd have that penetration and creativity. Liverpool played the pressure game tonight but just didn't have the killer touch. In fairness they hit the bar, had a legit goal taken off them..

But it's a sad day for football when work rate alone wins trophies. Dumphy said after the roma 7-1 match, that sort of football 'makes you happy' as a football person. You cannot say that about liverpool or indeed chelsea for that matter tonight.

Let's hope the final is won by magic, and not by tactics or solid defences.

Jesus Dunphy i didnt know you posted on boards.

Oriel

\o/

DaBreno

Unbeliveable. Fair play to our incredible manager, the best signing since Kenny Daglish. He had Mourihno in his pocket. Again. Delighted to say he may just have retired the Mouth.

Mourinho was terrible tonight. He sat on his hands and looked sullen for 120 minutes. He had no notion how to change things. All he could do was rant helplessly at his expensive players. By contrast, our manager was always animated, always on the touchline, shouting, gesticulating and calling the shots. Our players took their lead and inspiration from him. He is a tactical grand master, always knows how to set his team up, how to change things and when , and how to correct his mistakes.

We didnt have the benefit of £350million but we do have the best tactician and coach in Europe. I love you Rafa!! Keep on rockin the free world.

growler

gutted

ronbyrne2005

Well done Liverpool. Not great to watch the Pool but very effective. We'd all like to see winning teams play stylish brazillianesque football but winning is most important for most fans. Of course if the beauty disappears from footie then the fans will flock away from it.

RasTa

They do play like a Jack Charlton managed Irish team(chelsea)

GuanYin

I'll ban the first person who tries to turn this in to a united/pool pissing contest.

This thread is about the match.

darkskol

Such a tense match that was, im still physically exhausted, come on the Pool!!

Orizio

smuckers wrote:

Congrats Liverpool from a very disgruntled CFC fan. You wanted it more, offensively were were piss.
Maka Mikel Essien Cech, Terry heads up high, the rest hang ur heads in shame, especially Lampard (who looks exhausted) and the two Coles.

Makalele was a shambles.He would have been responsible for Kuyt's disallowed goal as he lost possessin.

Mascherano was the best player on the pitch imo.Kuyt a close second.Pennant,Essien and Agger were exceptional as well.

Attractive Nun

^?

Makelele was the only Chelsea player trying to get hold of the ball and play it like an actual footballer.

Chardee MacDennis

how come masch couldnt make a 5 yard pass byt was pinging 40 yard balls all round the pitch?

BaZmO*

DaBreno wrote:

He is a tactical grand master, always knows how to set his team up, how to change things and when , and how to correct his mistakes.

That may be the case in the Champion's League but he can't do it in the Premiership and imo I don't think he ever will but I'm sure Liverpool fans won't be worrying about that too much. Two Champions League finals in 3 years, fairplay!

Mourinho before the Penalties were taken looked like a man that had given up. Isn't it ironic that the 2 players that were bought to help him win the Champions League may have ended up costing him the trophy and his job.

el rabitos

Call_me_al wrote:

how come masch couldnt make a 5 yard pass byt was pinging 40 yard balls all round the pitch?

cos chelsea closed down pretty much any space pool had alot of the time. it was tight stuff. macheranos fittness levels were impressive, he started pretty bad, but he was immence come the end. kuyt was a warrior, love to see the stats for how much ground he covered.

Raskolnikov

DaBreno wrote:

Mourinho was terrible tonight.

Yep, usually he'd be scribbling notes and stood up for the match barking orders. Instead, he just seemed to sit there looking rather nonchalant. I get the feeling that the disarray in the Chelsea camp was the downfall of the team tonight. Shevchenko deciding to go on strike. Ballack fecking off to Germany for an operation without the clubs permission. Abrahamovich probably breathing down his neck.

Since events on Saturday; Mourinho has looked like a man who knows that his game is up at Chelsea. It's a sad end to his Chelsea career because he's been a brilliant manager. Even this season, he's had to contend with players that he didn't want (Ballack and Shevchenko) and was barred from entering the January transfer market to shore up the injury rocked defence.

besty

Mascherano was awesome despite some wayward short passing

Orizio

Attractive Nun wrote:

^?

Makelele was the only Chelsea player trying to get hold of the ball and play it like an actual footballer.

He could barely pass the ball 5 yards.He might have been channeling the spirit of Momo Sissoko or something because he continously gave away the ball.

Fighting Irish

DaBreno wrote:

Unbeliveable. Fair play to our incredible manager, the best signing since Kenny Daglish. He had Mourihno in his pocket. Again. Delighted to say he may just have retired the Mouth.

Mourinho was terrible tonight. He sat on his hands and looked sullen for 120 minutes. He had no notion how to change things. All he could do was rant helplessly at his expensive players. By contrast, our manager was always animated, always on the touchline, shouting, gesticulating and calling the shots. Our players took their lead and inspiration from him. He is a tactical grand master, always knows how to set his team up, how to change things and when , and how to correct his mistakes.

We didnt have the benefit of £350million but we do have the best tactician and coach in Europe. I love you Rafa!! Keep on rockin the free world.

He must not have a great memory cos he forgot about the premiership

joe316

fair play to liverpool, not pretty but very very effective football but against chelsea it really is the only way to play is to muscle them out. chelsea didnt deserve to go through.

i thought pennant had his best game in a liverpool jersey and the pools domination seemed to stop when he was taken off. masch and alonso werent the best and agger is still very unexperienced as seen on his travels up the pitch only to lose it and chelsea get a chance but he will improve.

tbh nobody on the chelsea team impressed terry was good, and drogs had to feed off scraps but my god is he strong the defenders were bouncing off him at some stages.

Orizio

Call_me_al wrote:

how come masch couldnt make a 5 yard pass byt was pinging 40 yard balls all round the pitch?

When the game opened up and those around him were tired he ran the game imo.His fitness levels were incredible.

RE*AC*TOR

Well, great result, deserved victory for Liverpool, we created enough clear chance to have won it outright.

Mascherano Man of The Match.

I feel sorry for some of the Chelsea players, but not for Mourinho. He has never conducted himself with any dignity or humility.

I hope Milan do the job tomorrow, because I don't think I could handle a Liverpool Vs ManU final.

Peace out!

\o/

Ardent

smemon wrote:

BUT, it's a shame for football if liverpool lift another champions league playing that sort of football.

Get real would ya? Surely you've been watching Chelsea long enough now to know that any team trying to playing attractive football against them is going to get beat. You have to fight fire with fire sometimes you know...

Raskolnikov

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Mascherano Man of The Match.

He gave Chelsea their best chance of the match.

For me, Carragher was the man of the match. I thought he was a rock; snuffed out the few half chances that Chelsea had.

smemon

ronbyrne2005 wrote:

Of course if the beauty disappears from footie then the fans will flock away from it.

My point exactly. In the short term, it's great for fans.. but you soon get fed up of it and neutrals turn against you. Fans demand wins, but once they start winning, they demand style.

Liverpool can't step it up that extra notch imo. So although they might nick wins and the odd cup here and there, they'll never be a an all-round powerhouse competing for everything. The fact they rested everyone at the weekend, to focus on the champions league tells it's own story.

A crack at a champions league win is obviously more important than 3rd place in the league. But you must ask yourself why are liverpool 3rd in the league if they are the best side in europe. That's my point.

Oriel

After the last 2 months, and I can safely say - sell Zenden!

Call Me Jimmy

If it's a Liverpool - Man Utd final then the losing fans should just kill themselves at the final whistle, life isn't going to be too great after that...

PHB

What a boring match, really.
Both teams didn't want to win it in the end. Liverpool were happy with the draw to go to penos, and while half of Chelsea's squad wanted to win, I'm pretty sure the other half wanted to lose :P

Shocking football. Those two teams personify that type of football, hustle bustle, little skill, well worked goal on the free kick, etc. etc. etc.
Liverpool deserved it in the end, because Rafa was tactically superior to Mourinho, but overall, it was a pretty boring match. Disappointing to see in a CL semi-final, but the final should be better.
Both Milan and United are attacking teams, so at least there will be some attacking in the final.

p.pete

smemon wrote:

But you must ask yourself why are liverpool 3rd in the league if they are the best side in europe. That's my point.

Your point is a question?

PiE

Yea clearly Rafa should have risked his first choice team to secure a meaningless 3rd instead of using them to secure a place in the CL final.

Psi, you were about 10 posts too late with your threat.

kaimera

Nuff said. Roll on AC again.

cardshark202

Another snooze-fest. Both teams were terrible. If it was possible we could make it the third place play off and make tomorrow nights match the final.
All I hope now is that we put Milan to the sword tomorrow night then give Pool a footballing lesson in Athens. It will be good for football anyway.

kaimera

I can't understand how anyone thought it was a poor game :rolleyes:

Oh wait now I get it..

mike65

Utd fans are permenantly bored by any other EPL team.

Mike.

cardshark202

mike65 wrote:

Utd fans are permenantly bored by any other ELP team.

Mike.

Actually I think Utd fans are permanently bored by boring teams. We are used to attacking football and end to end stuff.

Dub13

cardshark202 wrote:

then give Pool a footballing lesson in Athens.

Kingp35

mike65 wrote:

Utd fans are permenantly bored by any other EPL team.

Mike.

Im no Man U fan and I thought it was an awful game of football. Very boring with little or no skill on show.

mike65

Thanks for the spelling bee.

That was not boring unless you have no heart.

Mike.

kaimera

Actually I think Utd fans are permanently bored by boring teams. We are used to attacking football and end to end stuff.

Like the first leg with AC right? :rolleyes:

cardshark202

mike65 wrote:

Thanks for the spelling bee.

That was not boring unless you have no heart.

Mike.

Well you could say it was 'intensive', 'tactical' and 'engrossing'; but really it just wasn't enjoyable at all unless you are a pool or chelsea fan. I respect teams that play sexy football. Teams like Utd, Arsenal, Barca, Real, even Milan to some extent. Liverpool are a very poor team, who just put in 'heroic' performances in the CL. When they won the CL, it reminded me of Greece winning the euros. This is all imo though I guess.

smemon

p.pete wrote:

Your point is a question?

The question is a rhetorical one. The answer is that the best side in europe should be able to win their own domestic league or at least challenge for it.

Liverpool have yet to do that and i doubt anyone would give them a chance at topping chelsea or utd next year, even if they win the champions league.

I'm not trying to kick-start an all out war, it's my opinion and thankfully a few others are starting to agree.

Over the two legs, you cannot tell me Liverpool are favourites to win the champions league. The favourites will be Milan or Utd, simply because they deserve that tag for the manner in which they have played.

Style, penetration, class, open football are how those two sides play. Neutrals prefer that. Football people prefer that. It is better for the game to play that way.. as ultimately it attracts players, it attracts audiences which pull in advertsing revenue, which fund clubs..

You need work-rate. But at this level you *should* also need a bit of magic to win a match. I didn't see that tonight or over the two legs. It was tactics that won it.

Tactics should only get you so far.. not to finals and trophies.. but then again, look at Greece in the euro's. Work-rate is sometimes rewarded at this level, but it shouldn't be unless it's combined with intelligence imo.

PiE

Liverpool and Chelsea fans generally aren't overly concerned with Utd fans enjoying themselves.

If you can't admit that 2005 was one of the greatest finals ever, you really should stop watching football.

Edit: "Tactics should only get you so far.. not to finals and trophies"

Bravo smemon, you've truly outdone yourself this time.

redzerdrog

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz bull****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

copacetic

smemon wrote:

The question is a rhetorical one. The answer is that the best side in europe should be able to win their own domestic league or at least challenge for it.

Liverpool have yet to do that and i doubt anyone would give them a chance at topping chelsea or utd next year, even if they win the champions league.

I'm not trying to kick-start an all out war, it's my opinion and thankfully a few others are starting to agree.

Over the two legs, you cannot tell me Liverpool are favourites to win the champions league. The favourites will be Milan or Utd, simply because they deserve that tag for the manner in which they have played.

Style, penetration, class, open football are how those two sides play. Neutrals prefer that. Football people prefer that. It is better for the game to play that way.. as ultimately it attracts players, it attracts audiences which pull in advertsing revenue, which fund clubs..

You need work-rate. But at this level you *should* also need a bit of magic to win a match. I didn't see that tonight or over the two legs. It was tactics that won it.

Tactics should only get you so far.. not to finals and trophies.. but then again, look at Greece in the euro's. Work-rate is sometimes rewarded at this level, but it shouldn't be unless it's combined with intelligence imo.

actually at the moment liverpool are favourites to win. check any bookies.

your points are all about how great milan and utd are but the first leg was full of terrible defending and schoolboy errors. I'm not that impressed by such 'beautiful' football. It was a question of whose defense was worse than the others not who had the better attack. There was no 'magic' there was just crap defending.

ideally there would be a middle ground between tonights display of defending and a more free flowing game, but watching utds defenders falling over themselves to let kaka score didn't make me think 'oh this is what the beautiful game is all about' There was no 'style' or 'class' involved.

el rabitos

smemon wrote:

The question is a rhetorical one. The answer is that the best side in europe should be able to win their own domestic league or at least challenge for it.

Liverpool have yet to do that and i doubt anyone would give them a chance at topping chelsea or utd next year, even if they win the champions league.

I'm not trying to kick-start an all out war, it's my opinion and thankfully a few others are starting to agree.

Over the two legs, you cannot tell me Liverpool are favourites to win the champions league. The favourites will be Milan or Utd, simply because they deserve that tag for the manner in which they have played.

Style, penetration, class, open football are how those two sides play. Neutrals prefer that. Football people prefer that. It is better for the game to play that way.. as ultimately it attracts players, it attracts audiences which pull in advertsing revenue, which fund clubs..

You need work-rate. But at this level you *should* also need a bit of magic to win a match. I didn't see that tonight or over the two legs. It was tactics that won it.

Tactics should only get you so far.. not to finals and trophies.. but then again, look at Greece in the euro's. Work-rate is sometimes rewarded at this level, but it shouldn't be unless it's combined with intelligence imo.

tactics should not win trophies? holy jaysus.