Liverpool - Chelsea Before/During/After Thread

mike65

Benitez can be a bit arrogant too!

"He works hard and knows the game, but we will try to do the same. It is difficult to say if he is the best coach, he is one of the best, sure. He has a very good team, sure. But they will lose tomorrow.

"Chelsea have the most expensive team in the world and a good manager. But we have our supporters and Chelsea do not hold the balance, it is 50-50. If you look at the money they have spent on their squad, maybe Chelsea have more to lose than us.

"I do not think them winning the championship will affect them, you must say well done to their team, their manager and their supporters and then say `sorry' about the next competition because they will not win that."

Mike.

redspider

Yes, we did it.

A great result for Liverpool. Well fought and fully deserved. Its hard to believe and it will only sink in over the coming days and weeks that this is the CL final we are in now. Unbelievable.

Quick remarks:

The goal may not have been 100% over the line, no doubt someone will do the mathematical analysis on it, but when the ball is in this position it is more often than not given as a goal. I thought it was a penalty anyway, Cech didnt get the ball and got the man. He may not have got a red for it. I thought after that the Ref tried to compensate and favoured Chelsea. Chelsea were making very few real chances. Liverpool grew increasingly nervous however towards the end. I could not believe the 6 mins of added time. Dudek's save against Lampard was good. The Chelsea near miss came from a mistake by Hyppia and Dudek who both clashed. Either one could have got it. Luckily Gudjohnsen's strike missed and went straight through the 6-yard area without a touch.

Overall, Liverpool deserved the win and to go through. Its good for football as well. The football may ont have been pretty at times, but there was quality out there and the tension was gripping.

Redspider

Makaveli

Raskolnikov wrote:

This isn't going to win me many fans, but I wish these Liverpool fan boys would stop wetting themselves over Carragher. Sure, he had a good game, only because Chelsea were crap going forward.

It's got nothing to do with fan boyism. The majority of posters on this board have recognised that Carragher has had a fantastic season this season. The real stand out player for Liverpool.
And he did have a good game tonight, it wasn't just Chelsea's lack of attacking threat, he did his job very well. Any chance Chelsea got he was there to snuff it out.

Sherifu

In the words of the kaiser chiefs,
"Oh my god I can't believe it, I've never been this far away from home"
Its dreamland stuff, all the lads were fantastic.
The team that wanted it more triumphed.
Hats off to Jamie Carragher, he's really done it this season.
We'll never know about the goal but benefit of the doubt.

eirebhoy

Jimmy Jump does it again:
http://www.jimmyjump.com/ing/main.html

Lads, get a bit of bias will you. This is an Irish forum. I remember after the Man City draw when Richard Dunne and David James saved City from a pasting, everyone was saying how much Chelsea missed Robben. Tonight Chelsea missed Duff badly!!! :mad: I'm actually delighted Liverpool won. Duff has rose a few notches in terms of importance now. I mean, he has more goals/assists in the CL this season than he does starts.

BTW - Rio and Campbell have to be looking over their shoulders now with Carragher improving so rapidly. Superb player.

smuckers

Agrree with Makavelli, Carragher was in the way of every attack, and also Pool were better to the second balls.
Kezman - goodbye me ole son, Drogba- you are really testing my patience.
Tiago- my review over the season hasn't changed, too slow on the ball and shooting is woeful.

eirebhoy

Actually just reading the Celtic forum atm. I'd say Larsson would have been a star at Chelsea this season. A decent striker and they would have been unstoppable.

DamoRed

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Carragher was absolutely IMMENSE!!

I was so delighted that it was gudjonsen who was the one who missed the chance at the last minute after him goading Alonso after he was booked. The one who laughs last, laughs longest!! Bye bye eidur! Who's laughing now?


BACK WHERE WE BELONG!!!!!



Damo

jesus_thats_gre

Woop....


















Woop...













Wooooooooooooooooooooopppppp

cregser

Ardent wrote:

Well done LFC. I had heart palpitations throughout that second half. Carragher was on a different level to anyone else.

Where did 6 minutes come from?? Who was Benitez going ballistic with near the end of the game? There is a god - Mourinho got a taste of his own spoiling tactics and obviously didn't like it. Best team lost?

Flicked over to ITV after the final whistle and the icing on the cake was the look on Owen's face while discussing Liverpool's chances in the final. Looked like he was going to cry!

^Wot he said.

Thought it was gas the way Benitiz was absolutely livid (seemed to be telling someone to go back - trying to raise his voice over 45,000 estatic fans). Then Liverpool get a corner in injury time and the camera pans back to Rafa all relaxed - "alrite, alrite, chiam down, chiam down".

I was also glad to see Owen's expression. Although he was clearly happy for Liverpool, I felt he left us at a bad time. Even though he achieved so much for the club, I think we deserved at least another half season out of him. Seeing the jealousy/regret in his eyes, I just said 'Ha!'.

pickarooney

After Carragher's excellent preformance (I've been reading about his humongusous displays for months, but tonight was the first time I really noticed how well he played) it was class in injury time when he nicked the ball away with his head, rounded the Chelsea attacker and suddenly realised he was outside his 16-yard box, panicked and twatted the ball into the stands

Fairly poor, but enjoyable match. Really hoping PSV can pull off an upset tomorrow - Thursday and Friday are bank holidays so there should be some party in town if it happens

Shred

I have to say, after watching the post match reaction from Chelsea's players and manager they really are poor sportsmen. Mourinho "the best team lost". Terry :"we should be in the final, over the two legs we definately deserved to go through". No where the fúck does that come from 'cos they only had one decent shot on goal over the two legs from what I can remember (the free kick tonight). Having the ball from the majority of a game is all very well but you have to do something with it John :rolleyes:

DamoRed

BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!

I've just seen the headlines of tomorrow's papers on sky news and on the mirror, it says.....JOSE WAILS

Anyway, I think this 'outlaw' should be told that with such sour grapes, the end product is only whine!



Damo

kaimera

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Woop....


















Woop...













Wooooooooooooooooooooopppppp

too pumped to read thru the rest of the thread so this post will suffice for the minute

to think I missed the first 30mins due to a few *nix install issues with a usb_harddrive.

bloody brilliant display by us..all over the pitch. Cant comment much on the first half but second half showed the steel we'll need against PSV/Milan.

Carra >> dont think i need to add anything else. Immense again.

Cisse had a solid chance to put the icing on the cake but hey...I'll settle for him scoring the winner in Istanbul

good to see Kewell come on and play well.

I need to sleep on it...I'll be alert for the beraters tomorrow morning then

respect Rafa B.

cregser

Shred, I hope you're sister in law and here husband are enjoying their recent changes of loyalty

In fairness, Mourinho's gut reaction was to say that his team was the best and that only one team played football. But he checked back and said Liverpool played really well. He managed Porto last season, he CANNOT complain about the tactics used by Benitez.

Didn't hear what Terry said, but naturally he's gutted. They were supposed to do the quadruple this season! If Gudjhonson scored that volly I'd be moaning that Chelsea didn't deserve it aswell.

smuckers

I think the key was, Benetiz rested key players in last couple games and he gambled with CL and its paid off dividends.
Both games were tight, Duffer was missed, there is not really an alternative to Duff or Robben, I was suprised to see Cole go off, as he at least tried to inject some spark.
Gallas and Terry had their heads down at end of game and I feel really sorry for William especialy as I thought he has done a super job all season. Claude seemed to take it on the chin.

Ronan|Raven

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/bubblevision/Riise.jpg

A Dub in Glasgo

gimmick wrote:

^^^ The ref was rubbish, thats why. He was as poor an official i have seen since....The Shels Vs City game yesterday .

He never got hold of the game.....Baros' booking Vs Carvalhos luck at not being booked a few times being an example of the refs indecision.

Was not surprised with the performance of the ref. It was nagging me all night because I have shouted abuse at this ref before and now it clicks.... He was the referee when I was in the searing heat of Seville 2 years ago!

PiE

Ronan|Raven wrote:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/bubblevision/Riise.jpg

Hahaha 'wan!

Liverpool v Milan... my dream final, never thought I'd see it. So they'd bloody well better not feck up tomorrow night.

Dingatron

wood u belive it? 20 Years coming! I can't belive it. :eek: what a result. Deserved. YES! THE BEST TEAM WON.

ianomccabe

dat was the most unbelievable experience of my life :eek:

LegacyUser

kaimera wrote:

too pumped to read thru the rest of the thread so this post will suffice for the minute

to think I missed the first 30mins due to a few *nix install issues with a usb_harddrive.

bloody brilliant display by us..all over the pitch. Cant comment much on the first half but second half showed the steel we'll need against PSV/Milan.

Carra >> dont think i need to add anything else. Immense again.

Cisse had a solid chance to put the icing on the cake but hey...I'll settle for him scoring the winner in Istanbul

good to see Kewell come on and play well.

I need to sleep on it...I'll be alert for the beraters tomorrow morning then

respect Rafa B.

You were fixing a usb harddrive when your team were playing a huge match on tv!? :eek:

Dingatron

Stay tuned. Bit more to do!

Memnoch

the football over the two legs wasn't as entertaining as i'd have hoped, (i wanted more goals) nevertheless, well played to both teams and congratulations to liverpool for a hard earned and well fought victory. I'll be cheering them versus AC now because they are the underdogs that keep defying their critics and detracters!

Shred

cregser wrote:

Shred, I hope you're sister in law and her husband are enjoying their recent changes of loyalty

So do I my friend, so do I

Lex Luthor

Great result if not a great match but delighted for players like Carra who deserved it more than anyone.

I almost had a 'Solksjaer' flashback to the 99 FA Cup Semi Final when the Ice Man had that shot in the dying seconds.

Lex Luthor

anybody have a link to download Gerry & The Pacemakers 'You'll Never Walk Alone'
I want to play it in work here for all the begrudging Man U & Chelsea Fans

~Rebel~

~Rebel~ wrote:

Leaving work now so no more comments till tomor when hopefully they'll be LIVERPOOL MILAN FINAL HERE WE COME!!

LIVERPOOL MILAN FINAL HERE WE COME!!

TheMonster

Memnoch wrote:

the football over the two legs wasn't as entertaining as i'd have hoped, (i wanted more goals) nevertheless, well played to both teams and congratulations to liverpool for a hard earned and well fought victory. I'll be cheering them versus AC now because they are the underdogs that keep defying their critics and detracters!

Talk about stating the obvious - The football was abysmal - its a sad reflection on European football when a team employing those type of tactics can get to the final of its premier competion. Football used to be an entertaining game but Liverpools performances in the 2nd leg versus Juve and in both matches against Chelsea have brought the game to a new low. Score early 10 men behind the ball and kick it as far up the pitch as possible, if its lands within 10 feet of a teammate that was a bonus. Chelseas lack of Duff and the lack of fitness of Robben ensured they played into Liverpools hands.

Still not sure whether it was a goal or not, not sure where all the Liverpools fans are going with their Czech would have been sent off had it not gone in. AFAIK once he allowed Garcia play on and have a shot he couldn't have awarded a penalty regardless of whether a goal was scored.

The happiest team in Europe after last nights game will be Milan - they migt have been worried by Chelsea but not by Liverpool who play a poor mans version of their own game: i.e. go ahead and defend, the difference being they defend by keeping the ball and not giving it back to the opposition.

Delighted for Stve Finnan though, getting a chance to play in the final. Di d anyone else think he was very lucky not to be booked in the first half for a stamp down the side of Coles leg, Baros was booked jsut after for an lesser offence.


What the hell is the fasciantion with Liverpool fans with "The Fields of Athenry" What relevance is it to them. Are they relocating the stadium or something? :rolleyes:

krinpit

TheMonster wrote:

What the hell is the fasciantion with Liverpool fans with "The Fields of Athenry" What relevance is it to them. Are they relocating the stadium or something? :rolleyes:

It's "Low lie the fields of Anfield Road". Yes, seriously

Ardent

Take it wrote:

Nah drop kewell put riise there and traore left back we need riise in the mid and traore does the job when its asked of him.
Kewell will offer us nothing hes just to damn lazy!!

You were right about the team selection. Are you Rafa's right hand man?

LizardKing

TheMonster wrote:

What the hell is the fasciantion with Liverpool fans with "The Fields of Athenry" What relevance is it to them. Are they relocating the stadium or something? :rolleyes:

Liverpool have very close ties with Celtic F.C ( not sure why / how they came about ) because of these close ties they started to share football anthems , thats why you'll hear "You'll never walk alone" sung by Celtic fans and "The fields of Athenry (or Anfield)" sung by the Pool fans ...

Also

Great Result for pool ... Should be close final ... Cisse to score the Winner

Ardent

TheMonster wrote:

...The football was abysmal - its a sad reflection on European football when a team employing those type of tactics can get to the final of its premier competion...

Remember FC Porto last season?

...Score early 10 men behind the ball and kick it as far up the pitch as possible...

You must have enjoyed watching Chelsea all season long so.

Sure the football wasn't pretty but Benitez got his tactics spot on over the two legs - Chelsea prefer to do what we did to them last night, they don't like to chase a game and they're pretty toothless going forward without Robben and Duff. Once we got the early goal last night, the writing was on the wall.

kaimera

cheesedude wrote:

You were fixing a usb harddrive when your team were playing a huge match on tv!? :eek:

thats beside the point but yes.

cournioni

Well done to Liverpool. They done well. Have to say it was a great game to watch even though it was ten men behind the ball from Liverpool for the guts of 80 mins. What the hell are they feeding Carragher? He was a rock.

Come on Meeelan!

~Rebel~

limerick_man wrote:

That was stupid... a goal shouldnt be awarded just because the ref dosent wnt to make a hard decision!

Even if Cech was sent off wwe still have cudcini another world class goaly!

Yes admittedly would have had cudicini to replace, but surely you'd prefer to lose the goal then have a peno against and be down to 10 men with a new keeper who hasn't played since the cup defeat to newcastle i think...

TheMonster

These tactics will only work if Liverpool score the first goal. If they don't then they haven't a prayer.

sharkman

Carragher was animal !


Well done The Pool .

yom 1

Ardent wrote:

Once we got the early goal last night, the writing was on the wall.

Glad someone could be so calm last night
I was a nervous wreck.
I had images of chelsea scoring a late goal and when i saw 6Mins (what the fcuk was that about) I thought we were goin to be short on luck again against chelsea but thankfully we held on.

Carragher was outstanding simple as that
Finnan had a super game I thought - keeping joe cole out of the game and then reducing robben's influence to just one decent cross

I also thought that cisse did very well when he came on considering he was the only pool player in the chelsea half for most of the last 25 mins and he could have nicked a goal.

All in all I am absolutely ecstatic about the result and hopefully one more solid display over 90 mins in the champions league and we will be the European Champions

IN RAFA WE TRUST

redspider

Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea (agg: 1-0)

Wow, Liverpool did it. A great result. Well fought and fully deserved. Its hard to believe and it will only sink in properly over the coming days and weeks that this is the CL final we are in now. Unbelievable really. Its not the best Liverpool team, thats for sure. But in terms of achievement for given capability, these players have clearly been achievers.

The game was hard fought, and there were some key incidents. The teams lined out as follows:

Jerzy Dudek Petr Cech
Djimi Traore William Gallas
Jamie Carragher Ricardo Carvalho
Sami Hyypia John Terry
Steve Finnan Geremi
John Arne Riise Joe Cole
Igor Biscan Frank Lampard
Steven Gerrard Claude Makelele
Dietmar Hamann Tiago Mendes
Luis Garcia Didier Drogba
Milan Baros Eidur Gudjohnsen

The subs that came on were as follows:
Cisse (Baros 59) Kewell (Hamann 73) Nunez (Garcia 84)
Robben (Tiago 68) Kezman (Cole 68) Huth (Geremi 76)


Liverpool played in their strong 4-2-3-1 formation. The 2 were Hamann and Biscan. Gerrard played up quite forward. Baros the sole striker and Garcia and Riise going up and down the flanks.

The game got off to a flyer. Liverpool went at Chelsea looking for a goal from the off. This was the right attitude to have. It promised to be an explosive half. An outside foot chink over through-ball from Gerrard onto a running Baros found him in the box with a rushing out Cech to beat. He knocked it over him but got clattered and clearly fouled in the process. Penalty was the claim, but Garcia managed to follow up and knock the ball goalwards off Terry. In slow-mo it could be seen that the ball went over the line, judging by the foot of Gallas who cleared it. But whether the ball was 100% over the line is unclear. No doubt someone will do the mathematical analysis on it, but when the ball is in this position it is more often than not given as a goal. Technology in time will solve this. I and most thought it was a penalty anyway, Cech didnt get the ball and got the man. He may not have got a red card for it though due to other defenders running back. But overall, Chelsea fans cant quibble that between one incident or the other Liverpool should have either had a goal or a penalty, and possibly Cech sent-off.

I thought that after this incident the ref tried to compensate and clearly favoured Chelsea. Chelsea were making very few real chances however. Liverpool kept up some attacks for the first 20 mins and the play was quite open but became more defensive oriented from then on.

Hamann, who was back after injury, performed very well in his circumstances. Doing what he does best, getting in the way, and on occasion making the odd foray forward. I thought Gerrard was flustered in the first half and gave a lot of the ball away. He was poor really, a trait that has come into his game on far too many occasions of late. Clearly he cant play with a level head with Chelsea around, given the will-he-go, wont-he-go situation and his constant calls for Liverpool not being good enough for him. Gerrard did improve however as the game went on, and had his best spell in the last 20 mins.

I was completely surprised by the performance though of Garcia, and that was a positive surprise. I have been on his back after his performances in other games, for performing ok in short spurts, but being a poor percentage player. I have been one of his critics. However, tonight he had the bit between his teeth and he really performed well, getting the ball back, harassing well, making lots of interceptions and doing quite a reasonable job protecting and helping Finnan. OK, he wasnt perfect in his defensive duties, but he was much better. And going forward, his passing attempts seemed to come off a lot more. He didn’t give the ball away as much. A much improved performance from Garcia in my opinion, and one that greatly helped the performance.

Carragher was unbelieveable and very solid. He mopped up whenever the ball was near him and covered as usual the other defenders. Hyppia was solid too. Traore was his ragged self, all legs, but no-one could get past him on the night. Biscan was quite good throughout. However, as Liverpool grew increasingly nervous towards the end, Biscan and many other players could not keep possession. Baros had done quite well and helped make the goal. It was a good swap though to bring in Cisse for him, and with 30 mins left, a good decision by Benitez. Kewell came on for Hamann who was clearly tiring as gaps were appearing in front of the back four, not my first choice but it was either him or Smicer. Kewell did ok, but lost the ball on several occasions in the closing minutes, although he did his best to eat up some time. Nunez was poor as usual.

Chelsea’s chances were few. They couldn’t unlock the Liverpool defence and formation. The ref gave them some opportunities to do so, such as giving them free kicks in several dangerous positions under dubious circumstances. Clearly psychological balancing going on in his mind. Dudek's save from one of those free kicks from Lampard was good and important. Drogba had wasted one free kick before that. That was the only save Dudek had to make, although his services were called on several times.

I could not believe the 6 mins of added time. Where this came from is unknown. The 4th official clearly doing some balancing of his own or else a typo on the display.

I thought before that match that Liverpool would make at least one blunder which could make or break the game. And it came right at the death. The Chelsea chance, the best for them in the game, came from a mistake by Hyppia and Dudek who both clashed when going for the same ball. Either player could have got it. Both went for it, collided and missed it and the ball fell to Gudjohnsen on the right corner of the 6-yard area. Luckily, quite luckily, Gudjohnsen's strike missed the target, to the left, and went straight through the 6-yard area without a touch from any player. Any leg could have put it in but it sailed on through. Liverpool did have 3 defenders on the line and the angle was acute, but this was a 50% chance of scoring.

That Chelsea near-miss was so so close BUT it would have been a complete travesty if it would have gone in. Liverpool's nervousness affected them badly in the last few minutes and mistakes crept into their game, rather than the guile and agility of Chelsea beating them. It would have been a case of Liverpool crumbling under mental pressure and poor concentration.

Overall, Liverpool deserved the win and to go through. Its good for football as well. Granted, it wasnt a multi-goal thriller, indeed Liverpool have lost many such thrillers in the past, even a recent 3-2 against Chelsea in the League Cup final. But this was a different game. The football may not have been pretty at times, but there was quality out there in terms of dogged defending, great efforts and concentration, etc, and the tension was gripping. But the real win for football was that it shows that money cannot guarantee success, at least not in all matches. It can buy a team that will challenge, and which can win most trophies. Especially leagues. Indeed, in some seasons money may win all trophies available, and who knows, maybe Chelsea will win 3 or 4 trophies next season. But money cannot guarantee success. And that is a win for football and for all clubs. Even the Arsenal's and the Man U's of this world will be happy to see Liverpool go through and not Chelsea.

The stats were:

Liverpool - statistic – Chelsea
4 Shots on Target 1
1 Shots off Target 6
2 Blocked Shots 5
2 Corners 4
14 Fouls 12
1 Offsides 3
1 Yellow Cards 0
0 Red Cards 0
67.6 Passing Success 74.5
65 Tackles 65
53.8 Tackles Success 44.6
40.7 Possession 59.3
42.7 Territorial Advantage 57.3


So, now onto the final in a months time. Most likely against AC Milan. A final can be a different type of match. No doubt Milan could play their usual style and rely on a Shevcenko-type of finish, in a match of few chances. A lot will depend on the approach Liverpool take. If they take it easy and play the “Italian way”, it could play right into the hands of Milan. If they adopt the high tempo approach from the start, they could get a goal in the first half. That is the approach I’d prefer.

Liverpool have a chance of winning it, as anything can happen in a final. Sure even Porto won it last year, Greece won Euro2004 so Liverpool have nothing to fear. I hope they can put in a good performance whatever the outcome. So far its been an amazing roller-coaster ride, with the contrast of the CL and the league. Lets hope it can end on a high.

Redspider

RE*AC*TOR

Wow, great result. Very good defensive performance from nearly everyone. Carragher, Finnan even Traore was solid. A number of things I noticed... Baros did fairly much nothing last night, even with his current fitness Cisse looked a lot better when he came on - I'm not sure what is wrong with Baros, he's lost all semblance of form. Gerrard looked a lot more convincing after Kewell came on and he dropped back - this is probably more due to the nature of the match though. Kewell himself was good when he came on [shock horror].

I thought Mourinho was going to be gracious after he shook all the Liverpool players hands and applauded the crowd, but his post-match interview dissuaded me. Oh well, might as well have someone to dislike.

Jamie Carragher deserved MOTM. Its a pity he isn't Irish.

A Dub in Glasgo

Lex Luthor wrote:

anybody have a link to download Gerry & The Pacemakers 'You'll Never Walk Alone'
I want to play it in work here for all the begrudging Man U & Chelsea Fans

Not quite what you are looking for but a good rendition

Ardent

yom 1 wrote:

Glad someone could be so calm last night
I was a nervous wreck.
I had images of chelsea scoring a late goal and when i saw 6Mins (what the fcuk was that about) I thought we were goin to be short on luck again against chelsea but thankfully we held on.

Carragher was outstanding simple as that
Finnan had a super game I thought - keeping joe cole out of the game and then reducing robben's influence to just one decent cross

I also thought that cisse did very well when he came on considering he was the only pool player in the chelsea half for most of the last 25 mins and he could have nicked a goal.

All in all I am absolutely ecstatic about the result and hopefully one more solid display over 90 mins in the champions league and we will be the European Champions

IN RAFA WE TRUST

Believe me, I wasn't calm at all! I had visions of a typical, poxy deflected goal by Joe Cole at any second. I just figured our best chance of beating Chelsea was if we made them come out and have to play.

Lex Luthor

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

Not quite what you are looking for but a good rendition

that'll do nicely...thanks

~Rebel~

TheMonster wrote:

Talk about stating the obvious - The football was abysmal - its a sad reflection on European football when a team employing those type of tactics can get to the final of its premier competion. Football used to be an entertaining game but Liverpools performances in the 2nd leg versus Juve and in both matches against Chelsea have brought the game to a new low. Score early 10 men behind the ball and kick it as far up the pitch as possible, if its lands within 10 feet of a teammate that was a bonus. Chelseas lack of Duff and the lack of fitness of Robben ensured they played into Liverpools hands.

Can hardly blame the pool for defending after going ahead. already showed in carling cup and last week they could hold off chelsea (barring gerrard gettin another freak og) so they're hardly gonna open themselves up to a simple counter attack as chelsea can't do a whole lot under other circumstances as they showed. they're far better on counter and attacking space.

TheMonster wrote:

Still not sure whether it was a goal or not, not sure where all the Liverpools fans are going with their Czech would have been sent off had it not gone in. AFAIK once he allowed Garcia play on and have a shot he couldn't have awarded a penalty regardless of whether a goal was scored.

The ref is fully allowed to see how the advantage progresses and then to call it back for the free (or in this case peno) if their is no advantage, and obviously anything barring a goal wouldn't have been advantage over peno. So ya he could still have given peno and sending off (or yellow or whatever).

[/QUOTE]

TheMonster wrote:

These tactics will only work if Liverpool score the first goal. If they don't then they haven't a prayer.

Didn't do that at olympiakos, leverkusen, juve first leg - again obviously gonna try and keep clean sheet in 2nd leg cause thru again. Basically i think liverpool and rafa have proven they can vary their style of play based on the opponant. Thats why Rafa is the best manager in european compitition.

redspider

TheMonster wrote:

The football was abysmal ... Liverpools performances ... have brought the game to a new low. Score early 10 men behind the ball and kick it as far up the pitch as possible.

not sure where all the Liverpools fans are going with their Czech would have been sent off had it not gone in. AFAIK once he allowed Garcia play on and have a shot he couldn't have awarded a penalty regardless of whether a goal was scored.

The happiest team in Europe after last nights game will be Milan - they migt have been worried by Chelsea but not by Liverpool who play a poor mans version of their own game

Delighted for Stve Finnan though. Did anyone else think he was very lucky not to be booked. Baros was booked jsut after for an lesser offence.

I realise that many people after the match have sour grapes, etc, including Mourinho who realised in the press area that he is really out of the CL - sheet. Liverpool fans should not look through rose-coloured specs, but likewise those detractors need to base their opinions on facts.

The football was not abysmal. It was a close tense match, with BOTH sides fielding strong defensive formations. Chelsea are not the Brazil that you seem to imply. Look at their back four. All four would be happy playing as central defenders. Also look at Makelele, another player who would be comfortable in central defence. Mourinho's tactics are to build a formation with defence first, attack second. This is what has won them so much success in the premiership. Remember, they have had loads of 1-0 victories and have let in so few goals, nearly a record. Yet, you say the game was abysmal. It was a battle between two sides who were concentrating on not letting a goal in yet trying to sneak one where possible. Chelsea needed a goal to win. Liverpool needed a goal to win. Becuase the goal came early on, after 4 mins, the match changed into a Chelsea "chasing" the game. Yet, they didnt have the flair of players to do so. Geremi, Gallas just aint Roberto Carlos or a Cafu, imo, or anything near like a Riise or even Finnan for that matter. They are better in defensive duties that Traore.


> Score early 10 men behind the ball and kick it as far up the pitch as possible.

Liverpool did not do this no more than Chelsea do. Its a part of the game of both teams. If you dont have the ball, players track back. BOTH teams were playing with a single striker, Baros and Drogba. Chelsea have deployed this all season, so in this game Cole and Gudjohnsen were tracking back at every opportunity. Chelsea do not play a classic 4-3-3 but they play something like a 4-1-4-1 when they dont have the ball and a 4-1-2-3 when they do have the ball.

In terms of the sending off, yes, Cech could have been sent off and a penalty given if Garcia's goal wasnt given. Its called the advantage rule. The ref could have seen the Cech challenge as a penalty, saw the play continue and allowed the goal to stand. However, at that point he should have given a red card in retrospect for the foul if he thought it was a foul. Or at least a yellow.

The Ref wasnt the best imo. He favoured Chelsea for the match thereafter. For example, Lampard falls on the ball and handles it. Thats a yellow card. He didnt give it.


I dont think Milan will be that happy. Liverpool have taken many scalps and have been shown a team that are hard to beat. Liverpool will be the underdogs and Milan the favourites. Against Chelsea it would have been closer and Milan's style would have probably been allowed to play.

> Liverpool who play a poor mans version of their own game
The game could have been different for example say if Liverpool didnt score early but had to keep the pressure on Chelsea for most of the 1st half. Goals change games. Just because Liverpool went ahead, dont blame them. If Chelsea would have gone ahead they would have done the exact same thing and just hope to get a goal on the break from Robben, Drogba, Cole, etc.

> Delighted for Stve Finnan though. Did anyone else think he was very lucky not to be booked. Baros was booked jsut after for an lesser offence.

Yes, I was also delighted for Finnan. He didnt get caught out at all, and played very well cutting out the Chelsea threat completely. He works well with Carragher and this is the position that I have said all season long that he should have been played in (some of you may remember the Finnan v Josemi debate early in the season). I cant recall him causing a bookable offence. He fouled on a couple of occasions.

In terms of Baros's foul, that was a Ref "mental compensation". It clearly did not deserve a yellow and Garcia got clattered several times. Put it this way, if Baros's tackle got a yellow, then Cech's foul on Baros should have been a red.

Redspider

Dont be at yourself

Woohoo!

Those 6 minutes added time were among the worst of my life!

As for Chelsea playing bad (and Juventus playing bad, and Leverkusen playing bad...), I think it must be accepted that Liverpool made them look bad, and didn't allow them to play as they can. Nothing can be taken away from Liverpool for how they played yesterday: they were the better team by some stretch on the night.

Rafa Benitez is fast becoming an anfield legend. Here's hoping he approaches the final like he has when his team has been written off in almost every single CL game they've played this year.

Last week, Milan showed that they can be rattled and that they can be beaten, and that was at the San Siro. Bring on Istanbul!

Take it

Italian teams do it and its class its sytle its great defending

Chelsea done it at the start of the premiership as well with how many 1-0 wins, they sat back against Munich and went on the counter attack

Liverpool do it and its terrible football, they sat back and went on counter attacks they produced 4 shots on target to chelseas one (which was also outside the box from a set piece) i think rafa got it right with no duff or roben crowd out Lampard and they dont know what to do, they produced nothing! very rarely over the 180 minutes opening up Liverpool, Chelsea were brought down to playing long ball tactics this is a team worth £500m, Go ahead say Liverpool played a boring game fact is we scored they couldn't. i fell that even if the goal was not given then the peno not give or cech sent off Liverpool still could have scored!! But goal or no goal, (it was still a peno) Jose said before the match if Liverpool score one we will score two, egg on face, comes to mind.

All in all well done Rafa tactically that was amazing and lets hope he is knows what to do against Milan

And yes i am Rafas right hand man

GWAN the pool

galwaydude

too right, liverpool deserved it in the end.Hopefully now they can give it their best shot in the final.At least alonso will be back for that and cisse should start as will have a few more games under his belt.
At least now with liverpool in the final it will give us a chance to get some good players in for the summer and i doubt gerrard will leave now.
It was the best night for a liverpool supporter in 20 years.

redspider

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Baros did fairly much nothing last night, even with his current fitness Cisse looked a lot better when he came on - I'm not sure what is wrong with Baros, he's lost all semblance of form.

I think its unfair to compare them direct as soonafter Cisse came on, Chelsea changed their tactics with Robben and Kezman on. This left Cisse with much more room than Baros had in his 60-mins, as he was crowded out by Terry, Carvalho and the attentions of Geremi and Gallas with Makalele in front. Its little wonder that he couldnt break through.

It was good to see Cisse playing up the middle, but Chelsea moved their full-backs up the park, to support Robben and Kezman on the flanks. Makelele also pushed up leaving Cisse with just Carvalho and Terry to contend with. In fact ,I would be as bold to say that had Baros as much room, he may have even done better. I think Cisse is better in situations with more defenders as he has more of a physical presence.

Overall I think both players did their jobs well given the circumstances around them. Baros of course still has his "head down" problem and Cisse probably still has lack of deft finishing capability. This Liverpool team is not a team made up of 11 super talented individuals. But in terms of team performance, work rate, etc, they are up there with the others.

Redspider