Todays Prem League Games (will include scores)

mike65

Aston Villa vs Bolton - Away win
Blackburn vs Man City - Draw
C Palace vs Liverpool - Away Win
Chelsea vs Fulham Home - Home Win
Everton vs Birmingham - Draw
Middlesbro vs West Brom - Away Win
Norwich vs Charlton - Home Win

Love to see Emile stick one past Martin with 30 seconds on the clock to win but alas....

Mike.

smuckers

Aston Villa vs Bolton - 1-2
Blackburn vs Man City - 3-1
C Palace vs Liverpool - 1-1
Chelsea vs Fulham Home - 1-0
Everton vs Birmingham - 2-2
Middlesbro vs West Brom - 2-1
Norwich vs Charlton - 2-0

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mike65 wrote:

Love to see Emile stick one past Martin with 30 seconds on the clock to win but alas....

Mike.

Well....not 30 seconds left.

kano476

City to beat blackburn and palacew to snatch the draw at home. scummy everton will beat birmingham.

PHB

Fulham pulled one level. It's been a nice open game.

Third_Echelon

Aston Villa vs Bolton -> Away win
Blackburn vs Man City -> Home win
C Palace vs Liverpool -> Away Win
Chelsea vs Fulham -> Home Win
Everton vs Birmingham -> Home Win
Middlesbro vs West Brom - > Home Win
Norwich vs Charlton -> Draw

Badabing

Palace and bolton to win

Guy:Incognito

Interesting tactics from Mourinho, Duff playing left full with Robben on in front of him.

Guy:Incognito

Everton losing 1 -0 to Birmingham, g'wan the brum do us a favour.

mike65 wrote:

Love to see Emile stick one past Martin with 30 seconds on the clock to win but alas....

Mike.

I assume 5 mins in will do you just the same?

uberwolf

seansouth wrote:

Well....not 30 seconds left.

with 20 to go Birmingham are still in the ascendancy.

Possession:
Everton 47%
Birmingham 53%

Shots:
Everton 7
Birmingham 9

Corners:
Everton 5
Birmingham 5

Fouls:
Everton 14
Birmingham 16

Bookings:
Everton 1
Birmingham 2
_______

won't count my chickens but this would be a great result for LFC. Nice fillup before they kick off. I really fancy them for todays game - despite Palace being impressive, though Alonso will be on the bench. Johnson will score today, especially with liverpool apparently being interested.

edit: just saw this

Steven Gerrard returns to the Liverpool side for this afternoon's clash with Crystal Palace, but both Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia miss out.
Alonso is rested after playing three games in a week while Garcia is out with a minor injury.

Anthony Le Tallec and John Welsh play from the start as Rafa Benitez also recalls Maurico Pellegrino as he makes four changes from the side which won at Portsmouth.

The Liverpool team for today's game is:

Dudek
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Pellegrino
Traore
Gerrard
Welsh
Le Tallec
Baros
Morientes

mayordenis

Ferguson the ****

Shred

Ferguson scores to make it Everton 1 Birmingham 1

mike65

=========Dudek
Carragher=Hyypia=Pellegrino=Traore
Finnan====Gerrard====Welsh
=========Le Tallec
===========Baros
============Morientes

eh?

Mike.

Guy:Incognito

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhgh crap **** ****.

Shred

Personally I would have preferred if Alonso was on the bench just in case and also started with Biscan..however

Shred

And it finishes 1 all between Everton & Birmingham

C'mon the 'pool, don't slip up again :mad:

uberwolf

mike65 wrote:

=========Dudek
Carragher=Hyypia=Pellegrino=Traore
Finnan====Gerrard====Welsh
=========Le Tallec
===========Baros
============Morientes

eh?

Mike.

He's going to continue with the three man central defence experiment and Traore and finnan tucking in when it's a defence I'd say. I haven't liked this look. Pellegrino may be in there for distribution sake more than anything else -in Alonso's absence. sweeper.

You may also see le tallec and baros playing wider than normal.
Welsh might be a better partner for Gerrard, he's not an attacking player (Biscan is believe it or not ), and Biscan seems intimidated/inhibited with Gerrard - forced into playing a game not natural to him.

It is an attacking line up. Some experienced CD - which can hopefully shepard Johnson around the place - though Pellegrino will do something stupid again

mike65

Finnished 1-1.

The subs bench - Carson Riise Ciise Biscan Potter

I'd defo had Biscan on from start (cant belive I said that!)

Chelsea romping home now.

Mike.

Drag00n79

Everton draw with Birmingham. I'll settle for that

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uberwolf wrote:

He's going to continue with the three man central defence experiment and Traore and finnan tucking in when it's a defence I'd say. I haven't liked this look. Pellegrino may be in there for distribution sake more than anything else -in Alonso's absence. sweeper.

Kind of like the way Ferguson was accomodating Larry White a few years back.

It's a fool's game trying to accomodate a player, especially one so slow in a position like Centre Half.

Töpher

If anyone can post a stream to the Villa - BOlton game I will be eternally grateful!

smuckers

A nice open game at the bridge, super goal by Cole, unfortunately he got a knock after and had to go off, Duffer's confidence is back again.
Sloppy goal, thought Carvallho should have dealt with it.

Cianan2

Chelsea game was good. Duff was sh1te in my opinion,should've kept Huth on. Great save by Cech at the end for the freekick.

PHB

Duff was ****e? He played in a full back position in somewhere he has never done before, and he dealt with all the passes and runs coming his way, what more do you want? Oh ok, how about setting up the goal :rolleyes:

Third_Echelon

Not the worst result for everton. A win would have been great, but every point counts at this stage..

2 more points to guarantee UEFA cup.

9 more to guarentee CL. Liverpool's max from 4 games remaining is 12 points. We need 9 points from the remaining 4 games if liverpool win all 4 games to beat them by 1 point... but they have to play arsenal as do everton, so it looks like an interesting run in....

just hope palace do the business today for us *prays to god, allah, buddha*

looks good anyway. pellegrinio, welsh and le tic tac have started for liverpool....

Third_Echelon

.... and now baros after 1 min looks like he's crocked himself... :eek:

Aquos76

Boro 1 West Brom 0

Aquos76

Boro 2 West Brom 0 Howler by the westbrom keeper

Aquos76

palace 1 liverpool 0 Johnson

Aquos76

boro 3 WestBrom 0

PHB

West Brom really ****ed up, they had a chance to cement their place in the premiershipi with a point today

G'wan the palace, if Bolton can pull it back i'll be chuffed
At this rate, all Everton need to do is to complete the four games to get into the CL

Kulgan

Rubbish first half from Liverpool


Why Benitez has started playing this 5 man def i don't know

Why he is playing scrubs in a must win game i don't know

mike65

There's a paper to be written on why Pool are at thier worst against bad opposition. Shocking game, Rafa must change the formation with a goal conceded.

Mike.

Aquos76

PHB wrote:

G'wan the palace, if Bolton can pull it back i'll be chuffed

They have done, through Gary Speed

mike65

I now conceed 4th place to Everton. Rafa clearly has something to learn about playing scruffy teams in the Prem. Wing backs are so 1995 and cos it clearly did'nt work when change was required too much had to be done to get 4-4-2.

Still I dont think this game/performance has anything to do with Champions League football. That'll be a different game entirely.

Mike.

Third_Echelon

Things are definietly looking rosy red for everton now... 7 points from 4 games needed if liverpool pick up 9 points from the remaining 3 games...

Today's result is the nail in the coffin i think, unless something drastically goes wrong..

knobbles

Third_Echelon wrote:

Things are definietly looking rosy red for everton now... 7 points from 4 games needed if liverpool pick up 9 points from the remaining 3 games...

...even better, just 6 points needed from 4 games to guarantee 4th

4 Everton 34 58
5 Liverpool 35 54...max 63
6 Bolton 35 54....max63

...and that with arsenal-pool and bolton-chelsea to come,
i think 4 points will be enough but the'll really have to scrap for them...

Fulham v Everton
Everton v Newcastle
Arsenal v Everton
Bolton v Everton

Aquos76

Well everton should have 4 points from there next two games, a draw with Fulham and they will beat Newcastle. Atleast a draw also from Arsenal as they will have their minds on FA Cup. Arsenal will be out for revenge against Liverpool over that 93 min goal by mellor. So at that stage it may come down to everton v Bolton with everton needing a draw, but thats only if Bolton manage to beat Chelsea.

Look almost cerrtain so that Everton will grab forth place, but whether that will get them into the CL is the million dollor question. Can Liverpool actually win this CL?

PHB

I think thats a major assumption and I don't think Liverpool will get the spot if they win the CL. That said, I don't think they'll win it anyway so

yop

Well done the Eagles, beat an a brutal Liverpool team, how they are in the CL semi is beyond me!
Looks like Everton could now make it, hats off to them. So Pool have now to win the CL to get into it next year, can see them taking Chelsea but not sure about Milan, interesting times ahead

Third_Echelon

PHB wrote:

I think thats a major assumption and I don't think Liverpool will get the spot if they win the CL. That said, I don't think they'll win it anyway so

True... I could imagine some sort of court case if liverpool do win the CL and are given the spot by the FA...

ButcherOfNog

the liverpool squad needs a serious overhaul, none of the players brought in today are anywhere near the required standard. everton have 4th place now.

Aquos76

ButcherOfNog wrote:

the liverpool squad needs a serious overhaul, none of the players brought in today are anywhere near the required standard. everton have 4th place now.

Not quite true, Alonso is an excellent signing and I wonder how different things might be now, had he not gotten injured on New years day against Chelsea

Kulgan

Eh Alonso didn't play today

Shred

4th place is now Everton's, I had thought so since Wednesday's results anyway but the draw earlier gave me some hope. Liverpool were brutal today and I'm sick of teams like palace beating them this season (no offense like) :mad:

Regardless of what happens from here on in and as much as it pains me to say it, Everton deserve 4th place...

Thanx 4 The Fish

Do you know how the CL places are allocated TE ?

There is nothing in the rules that says the four that go through must be the top four in the league. Would love it if it were to happen that Liverpool were out of the CL spots (as they have become known) and Uefa requested that as CL winners , they were given a CL place.

Everton would have no grounds to take the FA to court. But since that is never going to happen (Liverpool will never beat Juventus) what's the difference.

PHB

Everton do have grounds to take it to court actually Thanx 4 the Fish.
Rules can be created through precedent in the UK, without any specific rule being set out, especially since this situation has never happened before

Aquos76

Kulgan wrote:

Eh Alonso didn't play today

Yes I know that, I misread the post. I thought he was referring to the players brought in since the start of the season. Sorry my mistake

Third_Echelon

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote:

Do you know how the CL places are allocated TE ?

There is nothing in the rules that says the four that go through must be the top four in the league. Would love it if it were to happen that Liverpool were out of the CL spots (as they have become known) and Uefa requested that as CL winners , they were given a CL place.

Everton would have no grounds to take the FA to court. But since that is never going to happen (Liverpool will never beat Juventus) what's the difference.

I'm well aware of how the allocation works. The FA have set a precident by awarding the 4th champions league spot to the team that finishes 4th in the league. Why should it be any different?

Just imagine this scenario for a second:

-> Liverpool win champions league
-> Liverpool are relegated to division 1

Who deserves to progress to the champions league next year from the premiership?

The clearly better team who finished 4th or the Division 1 side who were relegated?

Just playing devils advocate here, but you can see where I'm coming from.

By finishing 4th last year Everton would have qualified for the CL. Why not this year (if liverpool win CL)?

If the powers that be at Liverpool if this situation did arise should have some sense of morality and concede their claim to the CL spot, as after all it was their fault that Everton could not play in the European cup on two occasions during the 80's with probably the best team in europe at the time.
Some might say that things might be very different for Everton today if they had played in the European cup those 2 years????

Lineker stays? Win European Cup? A very differnet 90's for Everton.....

Liverpool; Pay your dues if the situation arises.

That will be all.... Big Brother has spoken

Thanx 4 The Fish

Awwww, must be awful to have no european glory because some English fans rioted twenty years ago and did not give ye the chance to be embarassed in European competition. Ye've had nothing, ye'll get nothing.

Ipswich, first division side, Uefa cup, surely they did not deserve that .....

Now big brother has spoken. (<--- Does this mean that it is supposed to have been a joke ?)

redspider

I watched this game in full on RTE2, every excruciating kick of it.

As a Liverpool fan I am very disappointed, as our race for 4th is disappearing before our eyes and has now, to all intents and purposes, failed. OK, I can understand that Benitez may have had an eye on the match on Wed and may have wanted to rest players, etc, but the choices he made today were not good for Liverpool football club and not a sign of a good manager.

The blame doesn’t rest with him fully of course, the players must also be called into question, some more than others. But Benitez was asking for trouble by sending out such a weak formation and then by making dodgy substitutions. I just don’t feel he is doing enough with the material that he has. Granted, he could do with a better squad, but every manager should try and do as much as they can with the players that they have. Lets be honest – Palace are crap and were crap. If Liverpool cant beat a team that at the start of the match is joint bottom (and towards the end of the season at that, ie: no blip) of the table, then they really are a poor team.

The Liverpool team was as follows: Dudek, Carragher, Hyypia, Pellegrino (Riise 54), Finnan, Welsh, Gerrard, Traore (Cisse 69), Le Tallec, Morientes, Baros (Potter 37).

Pellegrino should not be in the Liverpool team, full stop. Benitez picking him to play is a mistake for me. Traore is weak enough as a full-back as it is without them both playing beside each other. Welsh was just not at the races at all today in midfield. Stevie G showed glimpses of play, but by the end had given up, and Carra had to do the driving. Jamie managed to create two chances for himself, a pity that he does not have the capability to shoot, but that is not expected from him. Le Tallec seemed to be completely out of his depth today, not able to keep possession at all and make any half-decent passes. Baros was lack-lustre as there seemed to be a gulf between the midfield and the attack, and his combination play with Morientes, who is at the sunset of his career, was non-existent. Morientes may get the odd goal but he is not a world beater. Hyppia is too slow and this showed against Johnson. Dudek couldn’t be faulted for the goal.

I have a big problem with Benitez’s approach to this game. This was a game that Liverpool HAD to win to keep the pressure on Everton, remember, we are 4 pts BEHIND Everton, NOT ahead. This was NOT a game to experiment with some young players, at least not unless all other options have been tried. This is not the Carling Cup (or indeed the FA Cup, another story and another disaster).

Bringing on Potter on the 37th minute was a bad mistake by Benitez. He should have at that stage brought on Riise, and then maybe Biscan. But the mistakes were already made with the starting line-up. I don’t know why he adopts these tactics, start with a weak formation and hope for the win and rest players. Is it not better to go out, get the lead, then take the players off in the second half and give the “first team” the “rest” they need?

Look at Chelsea for example, they have the league title more or less wrapped up, yet they put out their key players against Fulham, the likes of Cech, Terry, Lampard, Duff, Drogba, Gudjohnsen, etc. They didnt need to do that. With their large squad, they could have easily rested 6 players. But footballers don’t need physical rests usually, mental rests perhaps. And for Liverpool, they need to win games, it was not a time for resting players, even with a big game 4 days later. I put a lot of the blame at Benitez’s feet.

I think that after today, the chances are now really gone for 4th. And things don’t bode well for the CL for Liverpool. Chelsea have been able to scrape by Liverpool this season in other matches, and I have a funny feeling that they will win over the two legs against Liverpool. In fact, my hunch is that Chelsea will do even better in these matches than in the others, where at times they seemed to underperform against Liverpool. Liverpool could bounce back, but if they do get past Chelsea, it will be the scalp of the season. Getting past AC Milan (expected in the final) would be another joint scalp of the season. I just cant see it happening I’m afraid.

And that will be Liverpool’s season. A nice run in the CL, a nice money earner, some reasonable performances, but generally passage against weaker opposition (Leverkusen were poor, Juventus tactically got it wrong, went for the 1-0 sneak win, but failed, barely). Liverpool’s best period of the season was the 1st half of the 1st leg against Juventus. If only they could play like that in every game, but they cant.

Like last season, a terrible run in the premiership, even worse, as failure to reach 4th is a “sacking offence”. Houllier got 4th last season yet was sacked. Benitez, as its looking now, wont get 4th. As its his first season, he will get a reprieve, BUT, this is failure in my books. Houllier will most likely have a wide smile this evening. Gerard’s agent will be preparing documents for his sale. Radio Merseyside callers are livid ….

Redspider