Liverpool FC Forum

[Kash_Mountain]

I get a canny feeling that Mwanck Utd will not win the league and will be dumped out by Barca on Tuesday.

[The Manhattan Project]

When Fernando is warming down after knocking them out of Europe, nay one will tell him to move.

All the Chavsea groundstaff can do is sit there and watch with awe.

[Bad Bob]

Then when they got their pen Drogba was less than keen it seems.

It may have had something to do with Ballack picking the ball up and anchoring himself to the spot as soon as the ref blew his whistle.  He had the ball in a death-grip the whole time the Mancs were arguing the call.  No way was he letting Drogba take it off him!

[SundanceKid]

Well why can't we win it?

-We scored in our last 6 or 7 away games in CL.
-They haven't [virtually] scored on our best 11 this season.
-Torres hasn't played at Stamford yet! After trying to break through Chelsea's defense for the first time, he finally got what he wanted after only 15 minutes! Gerrard was constantly saying that Torres could take this match up for us.
-Kuyt has also been on goal streak.

I feel very confident about this upcoming match. I even put up Torres and Kuyt as my two front men for my UEFA fantasy football team

[Owzat]

I hope Rafa doesn't muck about with the team too much, certainly stick with the formation and just Torres up front. I'm glad Crouch scored yesterday, gives him a bit of confidence if he needs to come off the bench, but I think Chelsea might just prove harder to score against.

I do wonder if we shouldn't keep the same midfield and attack but give Skrtel a game off. He was culpable for both goals yesterday, ball-watching and letting his marker slip away for their first and doing what I said we needed to cut out - needlessly conceding a set-piece.

[Owzat]

I'll just copy this out of the less relevant thread into this one :

Liverpool have now drawn EIGHT games 2-2 under Rafa, I had a look at the results next game for any omens :-

HOME NEXT GAME

D0-0 vs Chelsea (Champions League)
W5-2 vs Havant & W (FA Cup)

AWAY NEXT GAME

W5-3 vs Luton (FA Cup)
W2-1 vs bitters (Premiership)
W1-0 vs Deportivo (Champions League)
W2-1 vs Portsmouth (Premiership)

NEUTRAL NEXT GAME

L1-2 vs AC Milan (Champions League Final)

So if you want an omen, Liverpool have won every away game under Rafa which followed a 2-2 draw. Obviously the eighth 2-2 draw hasn't had a result after it yet, for anyone wondering why there are eight draws and seven subsequent results

[NANNY RED]

Best laugh ive had all weekend  

John Terry takes a pop at the Kop
By Paul Smith 27/04/2008


Chelsea captain John Terry has lit the touch paper on a potentially explosive Champions League semi-final showdown with Liverpool on Wednesday by taking a swipe at the Anfield supporters.

In his programme notes for yesterday's clash with Manchester United, Terry slated the treatment he and his team-mates suffered at the hands of the home fans on Merseyside last week.

And he called on his own supporters to retaliate and dish out much the same to the Liverpool players.

Terry wrote: "I've got to say that the stick us players took from their fans was horrible. But I'm sure every Chelsea fan will give it back to them.


"We've heard about their fans around the last two semi-finals and how the second leg at Anfield is to their advantage.

"Well, I'll tell you what I think. Our fans are just as great as theirs when the game's a big one.

"And I know you'll put them under immense pressure.

I know you'll be as loud as you can. Chelsea expects and I know you'll deliver for

[RedBlood]

Best laugh ive had all weekend  

John Terry takes a pop at the Kop
By Paul Smith 27/04/2008


Chelsea captain John Terry has lit the touch paper on a potentially explosive Champions League semi-final showdown with Liverpool on Wednesday by taking a swipe at the Anfield supporters.

In his programme notes for yesterday's clash with Manchester United, Terry slated the treatment he and his team-mates suffered at the hands of the home fans on Merseyside last week.

And he called on his own supporters to retaliate and dish out much the same to the Liverpool players.

Terry wrote: "I've got to say that the stick us players took from their fans was horrible. But I'm sure every Chelsea fan will give it back to them.


"We've heard about their fans around the last two semi-finals and how the second leg at Anfield is to their advantage.

"Well, I'll tell you what I think. Our fans are just as great as theirs when the game's a big one.

"And I know you'll put them under immense pressure.

I know you'll be as loud as you can. Chelsea expects and I know you'll deliver for

he sounds like a desperate man trying to create the same atmosphere at stamford bridge as the has been at anfield by lying to his own fans and telling them their great 

[RedBlood]

anyway i reckon well go through 1-0 and it will be el nino that breaks the pretenders hearts

[Toffeehater]

Reina

Carra       Skrtel      Hypia   Riise


              Masch     Alonso
Kuyt                               Babel

                Gerrard

                 Torres

Guess that will be the team with carragher back to the right and hypia recalled back into the squad , not gonna predict the score incase i jinx it

[Toffeehater]

Best laugh ive had all weekend  

John Terry takes a pop at the Kop
By Paul Smith 27/04/2008


Chelsea captain John Terry has lit the touch paper on a potentially explosive Champions League semi-final showdown with Liverpool on Wednesday by taking a swipe at the Anfield supporters.

In his programme notes for yesterday's clash with Manchester United, Terry slated the treatment he and his team-mates suffered at the hands of the home fans on Merseyside last week.

And he called on his own supporters to retaliate and dish out much the same to the Liverpool players.

Terry wrote: "I've got to say that the stick us players took from their fans was horrible. But I'm sure every Chelsea fan will give it back to them.


"We've heard about their fans around the last two semi-finals and how the second leg at Anfield is to their advantage.

"Well, I'll tell you what I think. Our fans are just as great as theirs when the game's a big one.

"And I know you'll put them under immense pressure.

I know you'll be as loud as you can. Chelsea expects and I know you'll deliver for

Plastic fans with their plastic flags turns terry on

[NANNY RED]

Sorry for theivin but this one was nicked of Rawk


In typical Rafa fashion

This week Liverpool, driven by a powerful sense of injustice over the antics of the Chelsea striker, fancy their chances as underdogs to reach their third Champions League final in four years. Duncan Castles reports
If nursing a sense of injustice can help a club into a Champions League final then Liverpool should start embroidering the jerseys for their third in four years. If you judged Chelsea to be a tad fortunate to escape Anfield with a 1-1 draw or were unimpressed by Austrian referee Konrad Plautz's handling of Didier Drogba, Liverpool would like you to multiply those thoughts by 10.

Take Ryan Babel's reaction to the injury-time moment of idiocy with which John Arne Riise transmuted an almost stereotypically efficient Liverpool performance into Chelsea's away-goal advantage. The Dutch winger strode across the technical area to his countryman Henk ten Cate, Chelsea's assistant coach. 'I told him that they are lucky,' said Babel. 'He didn't agree - but then he never agrees.'

Ten Cate would doubtless dispute Rafa Benítez's re-assessment of the first leg. Reviewing the game on video and sleeping on the result had done nought to temper his anger towards Plautz: 'We knew before: six games, just one victory for the home team. Now seven.' As for Drogba, Benítez labelled him a diver in every way possible without using football's taboo word. 'Drogba was given seven fouls and Fernando Torres three. Torres has bruises all around his body. From the first minute I was disappointed by the performance of the referee.

'With Drogba it's important to have a good referee. You can't do anything [to stop him going down], but I will say it because it was so clear. He is amazing because he is massive [yet he goes down]. It's very impressive. I have a lot of clips of him from over the years and he surprises me. After four years I expected it. It's very impressive.'

This may sound like trash-talking bravado from Liverpool, who have yet to register a goal at Stamford Bridge under Benítez's stewardship and who have enjoyed their own share of luck in big Champions League matches in recent years. But this Liverpool side are structured, settled and confident.  Since February's home victory over Internazionale there have been consistent three-point Premier League hauls; Arsenal have been thrice out-thought and eventually eliminated from this competition and now Chelsea have been outplayed on home turf. The sole defeat - away to Manchester United - was cheekily explained away by Javier Mascherano's ref-rage red card.

Less than six months ago Steven Gerrard was filling the pages of the club magazine with carefully phrased doubt over Benítez's championship-winning credentials: now there is a new unanimity of belief in their ability to better England's best. 'If they didn't have Petr Cech in goal then we might already be through,' was Gerrard's analysis of an evening on which the Czech goalkeeper had been Chelsea's best player.

'It is the game of the year for us,' said Dirk Kuyt, the one man to find a way past Cech. 'We have a strong belief we can do something out there. We know we haven't scored there for a long time, but we also know we can score anywhere.' Babel argued that 'this Liverpool is a different team than the Liverpool of other years' - to his manager's approval.

'After four years and three times in the semi-finals and twice in the final in Europe we have a big name again, and the top players want to come here,' said Benítez in a message with as much relevance to the club's warring owners as to their Champions League campaign. 'I received some messages from the Spanish press and they told me that in the semi-finals we were the best of the four teams. The players know we are contenders and they know we have good players and can beat anyone. I think we are different now.

'I feel positive. In some sports the best team always wins, but in football you never know. But we were much better than them. I think they need to attack. You know what it is like with supporters, when you are waiting and playing counter-attack at home, and you concede a goal and lose ... supporters will kill you.'

While Avram Grant is perhaps the only man who would argue that Chelsea are a more powerful, effective or better prepared outfit than the one that narrowly ceded two previous Champions League semi-finals to Liverpool, all parties concur that a Benítez side with Torres at the point of its attack is a considerable step up on earlier incarnations.

'They are a stronger team this year and I think that's mainly down to the one man,' said Chelsea's Frank Lampard after the Anfield game. 'Torres is an absolutely fantastic, world-class goalscorer, and that's something they've been crying out.'

Yet Torres, as much as Cech and Riise, was responsible for Tuesday ending in stalemate instead of a decisive Liverpool win. Though the intelligence and pace of the young Spaniard's running was a constant problem for John Terry, when twice propelled free on Cech he failed to apply a top marksman's finish. Torres's first season in English football has been remarkable, but there is still promise that requires fulfilment. Of his 30 goals this campaign, only seven have come away from home - and three of those were in the League Cup at Reading. Delivering Benítez's first Stamford Bridge goal would underpin his manager's message that 'Torres is very strong, mentally, don't worry'.

Torres's performance is less of a concern to Liverpool than Drogba's is to Chelsea. Few within the Chelsea camp were more angered by the manner of José Mourinho's dismissal than the Ivorian, and the season of a footballer who could have been voted England's finest last year has reflected that discontent ever since.

From October to November Drogba reprised his best form, scoring eight times in eight matches. Then came further knee trouble and a fight with Chelsea to be operated on in time to captain Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations. On his return from Ghana, the physical problems returned, the goals dried up and Drogba's desire to exit Stamford Bridge became increasingly manifest.

Benítez, though, still recognises the African's ability to perform majestically when the moment takes him - and unhinge defences with a 'studied' application of physique. Hence the propaganda campaign of this week. 'We've played against Chelsea 15 games and every time I have collected some clips of Drogba,' Benitez explained. 'I have shown them to some of the players. I think that [Martin] Skrtel and Carra [Jamie Carragher] were really good against him the other day, the only problem was the referee was giving fouls. And it was not the same with Torres.'

Also noted was the anti-Drogba strategy employed by Roberto Ayala in Benítez's final game as Valencia coach - the 2004 Uefa Cup final against Marseille. The Argentina defender applied a quick, hard kick to the striker. 'With Ayala you don't need to say anything. He knew what to do,' said Benítez.

All this talk of luck and malpractice does Chelsea a disservice, especially on the evidence of yesterday's performance in the 2-1 defeat of Manchester United at Stamford Bridge which will put them in good heart for the run-in. If ever a club deserved a stroke of Anfield fortune it was Chelsea, who had succumbed to Luis García's infamous 'ghost goal' in 2005 and José Reina's penalty shoot-out excellence two years later. Moreover, the fact that they will go into May still in contention for the two main prizes is a testament to the qualities of a group who have spent most of the season working under a manager for whom they have limited respect.

So far only Tal Ben-Haim has publicly spoken out against Grant, saying of his former national team coach: 'I knew that nothing good would come with Grant as Chelsea coach.' The defender was told to train with the reserves, only for the punishment to be rescinded.

On Wednesday at least, though, the Israeli will benefit from the resilience of the squad he inherited from Mourinho, the self-belief his predecessor instilled in them, and the fundamentals of playing shape and style that Steve Clarke has worked to preserve on the training ground. That may well prove enough to take Chelsea to the Champions League final that eluded Mourinho in his three years at the Bridge. If it does the lucky one will be Avram Grant.


Raffa telling it straight imo . 

I hope Skrtel stands all over the Bas.tard

[Dundalk]

Best laugh ive had all weekend  

John Terry takes a pop at the Kop
By Paul Smith 27/04/2008


Chelsea captain John Terry has lit the touch paper on a potentially explosive Champions League semi-final showdown with Liverpool on Wednesday by taking a swipe at the Anfield supporters.

In his programme notes for yesterday's clash with Manchester United, Terry slated the treatment he and his team-mates suffered at the hands of the home fans on Merseyside last week.

And he called on his own supporters to retaliate and dish out much the same to the Liverpool players.

Terry wrote: "I've got to say that the stick us players took from their fans was horrible. But I'm sure every Chelsea fan will give it back to them.


"We've heard about their fans around the last two semi-finals and how the second leg at Anfield is to their advantage.

"Well, I'll tell you what I think. Our fans are just as great as theirs when the game's a big one.

"And I know you'll put them under immense pressure.

I know you'll be as loud as you can. Chelsea expects and I know you'll deliver for

 

[Thingy]

Team will be as it has been for months id imagine, just who plays right back and left back up for debate. Terry psyching the rent boys up haha what a joke. Plastic flags are really gunna put the s.hits up our players arent they

[NANNY RED]

What a great read


From The Sunday TimesApril 27, 2008

Why I was glad Ronaldo missed that penalty

Rod Liddle

I’ve tried to remember if there was some occurrence over the past two or three years that gave me more intense pleasure than Ronaldo missing that penalty against Barcelona on Wednesday night.

The birth of my daughter? The look of pleasure on the faces of my children when they awake to their presents on Christmas Day? Nope - nowhere near. This, you might argue, is the statement of a bitter and pathetic little man - but then “we are what we are”, as the Labour MP Ron Davies announced shortly after he’d been espied interfering with badgers in a wood near the M4 a few years back. Ronaldo’s faux-nonchalant, side-footed slice of a spot-kick provoked me to open a bottle of champagne I’d bought when Ashley Cole was caught out with some slapper a month or so ago, but in my euphoria had entirely forgotten about and left at the back of the fridge.

I was so happy I even thought about buying some Pringles and asking the neighbours round. And there was still plenty in the bottle to toast Cristiano’s fall-down-like-a-great-big-girlie-in-the-penalty-area routine half an hour later. If you were a referee, would you ever give Ronaldo a penalty, unless you actually saw the gun taken out of the holster and pointed at his head? As Sir Alex Ferguson has frequently pointed out, his little Portuguese moppet is often denied decisions which should rightly have gone his way; such was the case, I would reckon, against Barcelona (although in the good old days it would have been an indirect free kick at best).

There is, however, a perfectly logical reason for referees always to grin broadly and wave play to continue when Ronaldo collapses – he is known to have cheated, once or twice, so why take the risk of giving him a decision? The cheating stuff, Sir Alex, is not something we’ve all imagined out of a born antipathy to the man, even if, like me, we do have a born antipathy to the man. We’ve all seen it, and taken note, especially the refs.

There was a bit of fun to be had with poor John Arne Riise, too, and that fabulous diving, bullet-headed own goal, which immediately recalled to mind defenders of the calibre of Glenn Keeley. The pleasure here, however, was mediated by the fact that it meant Chelsea have a slightly better chance of progressing against Liverpool, an eventuality which, of course, nobody wants, least of all the TV companies.

Avram Grant’s Chelsea have become as dour as George Graham’s Arsenal and Don Revie’s Leeds and yet without either of those two sides’ defining, overwhelming competence. Grant’s appointment was supposedly intended to herald a new era of flamboyant attacking football – which indeed it did, for about a week and a half. More recently, though, they have become a luxury Taste The Difference version of Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers, all sharp elbows and carefully marshalled grit and with their own pouting, diving, sulky moppet up front in Didier Drogba. Referees are beginning to learn never to give him a penalty, either. Most neutrals, I suspect, hope that Liverpool prevail in the second leg; certainly I do, if only for their dignified and stoical fans and likeable manager. The Scousers have done themselves a lot of credit this season, lining up foursquare behind Rafa Benitez even when they were struggling to overcome Havant and Waterlooville and losing to the likes of Barnsley. They seem to have a sense of perspective and dignity on Merseyside, something which appears wholly absent among the arriviste legions at Stamford Bridge, who throw a hissy fit when the team drops a point at home, or against those perpetually deluded monkeys at St James’ Park.