Liverpool FC Forum

by **mike72** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:43 pm

Congratulations to all the lads in the squad, you did us proud. There may be some players who haven't done themselves justice in a red shirt and may well be on their way at the end of the season, but you can't fault their commitment...you only get a result like that when the whole squad pulls together...we couldn't have carried 1 bad performance last night, and we didn't. Well done to everbody!

by **The_Rock** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:52 pm

yeah....great performance from the team. I just could not concerntrate at work today....If you look at rafa's record, he had always won something in the 1st season of each club he has been.

This is just my view, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise that we did not win the league cup..... Cos i think rafa's record of winning in his 1st season will continue

with us winning the champions league.

by **stmichael** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 4:17 pm

I'd like to take my hat off to Mr Biscan. Igor pal, I never ever thought you were capable of a performance that good, and that assured. In my favour, not a lot you've done over the past 2/3 years would have given me such grounds for optimism, but you dispelled the myth that you had to be carried. Last night, you did more than add to our performance, you were a solid candidate for man of the match.

Picking a 'best' player out of 14 heroic performances though would be unjust. We barely put a foot wrong all night. It wasn;t a case of Juve 'not showing up' or 'going through the motions' - they were hassled, nullified, and outthought for 90 solid minutes. if anybody epitomised that better than our two centre halfs, then I ddn't see them. Rocks the pair of 'em. A special mention too for Steve Finnan; having to cope with the rotating Del Piero & Nedved, and worry about the wonderful attacking threat that was Zambrotta, Finnan never once looked out of place. I'd dare say aside Carra now, he's one of the first names on our teamsheet. I've said it before, but he could be our Denis Irwin.

We are now 270 minutes away from being officially The Best Team In Europe. Not that daunting really? Well, we're gonna have to beat Europe's two best teams to do it, as it's likely we'd have to play AC Milan in the final should we get there. To do that we're gonna have to crank our level up a notch or two. We beat Bayer Leverkusen with two professional, powerful performances. And dispatched the mighty Juventus with two results as joyous as I care to remember. Well to 'do' Chelsea we'll have to raise our level yet again. We'll have to be a step better than we've ever been before under this manager. Is that impossible?

To get one over on Italy's finest with the collection of mismatched, injured, unfit, and 2nd choice team he did, Rafa deserve's adulation. Why is it impossible to think that we can't give England's best team a game with a fit and available Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Didi Hammann, Djibril Cisse, and dare I say it Harry Kewell? On form, that's 5 starters in your Liverpool team. Au contraire, it's Chelsea who should be worried about us.

That Jamie Carragher and a few others have been quick to accredit last night's victory to Rafa and his tactical prowess is a testament to the abilities Benitez evidently has as a coach and a manager. Let's get this into perspective straight away, statements like - 'Juve didn't turn up' & 'they went through the motions' are doing a discredit to what WE did. That they didn't go through was because they were stopped, outfought and outthought from first minute to last. They should have no excuses, we were the better side.

By glancing through the media and listening to ahem 'reasoned' judges such as Mr Lawrenson, you'd think we were there to poke fun at. Does us being in the semi finals epitomise any lack of quality in Europe right now? Well, we haven't done it the easy way. Last year's runners up. Last year's semi fanalists. Two teams that saw fit to thump Real Madrid, and one of them joint top of Serie A, a dozen odd points ahead of 3rd pace - we've knocked out them all. We're there on merit.

I'd like to offer praise to Juventus too. I read comments today from both Fabio Capello and Del Piero which gave our victory even greater significance. They were gracious and defeat and acknowledging in the side that we are. It makes it even more significant when you hear the world's best players and coaches extolling our virtues yet further.

If we win this glorious competition, we'll have done it the proper hard way. But you wouldnt want it any other way. My nails are f*cking bitten off me from last night. I remember speaking to a few of my freinds on the phone just after the final whistle, exchanging profanities, and shouts of glory. I 'talked' to one good friend at home for 4 minutes, but I came off the phone not knowing one word he said. That's what it's all about. For the depression that this season's brought with injuries, investment, board rumblings, and the speculation over our captain leaving - we now have something to genuinely cheer about. And it feels great.

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Congratulations to all the players in the squad

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