Liverpool FC Forum

by **Sean** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:09 pm

A few thoughts on last night.....

I was switching between TV3 and Sky Sports news after last nights game. Hats off to Thommo. He went crazy after the final whistle. He showed no envy of the new regime but his love for the club was obvious. He made an interesting comment....He said that if Liverpool win the champions league, it won't be a big deal if they miss out on qualification next year.

I tend to agree. If we win the champions league, I'm sure Benitez will still relish trying to bring the UEFA cup back to anfield and also he will be able to focus on the premiership. I know we will miss out on the big bucks but after qualifying for the 2005 final and hopefully winning it we have made enough to compensate for missing out next year. Also, consider that if we sell Biscan and Traore on the summer we could get £5 million each for them. Last summer we couldn't give them away.

Also, I'm sick of people commenting that it will be a joke if the winners of the champions league do not make the top three or four in their domestic competition. This is not a new phenomenon. I'm convinced that alot of followers of the game today honestly believe that football was only invented in 1992 with the birth of the premiership, the champions league and sky sports.

Indeed when Liverpool beat Real Madrid in 1981 we finished fifth in the old first division (Villa won the league). When Dalglish, Hansen and Souness danced around Paris that night with the cup they were hailed as kings of europe. Nobody gave a thought to their league position. Forest won the european cup in '79 and '80 when we won the league in both years. The roles were reversed in '78. Villa won the european cup in '82 when Liverpool and Ipswich were first and second.

Last night was a victory for Liverpool's values over Chelsea's easy money. In fact I honestly believe that Liverpool saved english football last night because we have shown every club in the England that there is an alternative route to success. If Chelsea had won the champions league the message would have been simple...."Find a Billionaire". However, after watching Jamie Carraghers display last night hopefully club chairmen will see the importance of nurturing local talent through club academys.

As an Irish man I was proud of Steve Finnans performance. After years of watching him play brilliantly for Ireland I always felt it would have been premature selling him last summer. He is now looking like the best Liverpool right back since Phil Neal.

In 1977 Liverpool broke the Dutch and German stranglehold on the european cup. It inspired a decade of dominance by english clubs in europe. If we are successful in Istanbul I genuinely believe it can be the launch pad for another successful era for premiership teams in europe.

Finally, for years we have listened to Fergie and to a lesser extent Wenger explain that it takes years for premiership teams to adapt to the european game before hoping to be successful in the champions league. Now we know that they were speaking nonsense and simply trying to justify their annual defeats. In particular, in the mid '90's after United were thumped by Barcelona and Juventus Fergie justified it by explaining that it was part of the learning process. At the time we accepted this. Now we know he was talking through his a*r*s*e. Fergie couldn't motivate Cantona (apparently he was a genius) to play even one inspirational game in europe. Yet Rafa Benitez has brought us through to the final after knocking out two of the favourites with Biscan and Troare playing crucial roles.

We are 90 minutes away from our fifth european cup triumph. Thank you Mr. Benitez.

by **haps** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:20 pm

I'm glad you raise the point of Fergie and Wenger's continuous moaning and excuse-making regarding this tournament. I too was thinking of 'Sir' Alex and his f*cking learning curve in Europe while watching Rafa talk after the game last night. Wenger is almost worse with his ****** about the tournament not being set up to benefit the so called best teams. Absolute cr*p the lot of it. Excuses excuses excuses for failure. What Benitez has achieved with a (relatively) thin squad, in bringing the best out of a few dubious players and inspiring the rocks of the team, is amazing! Absolutely remarkable. The man is a genius and his pedigree and quality as a tactician and man-manager is shining through. The prospect of a wholly-built Benitez squad over the next few seasons is very exciting. I'm in heaven today. My voice is gone but I just keep thinking to myself - Liverpool are in the Champions League Final!!!

by **PhiLFC** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:23 pm

Sean wrote:... I'm convinced that alot of followers of the game today honestly believe that football was only invented in 1992 with the birth of the premiership, the champions league and sky sports.

absolutely spot on... :buttrock

Unfortunately that's also about the time Manure became a dominant force in the English game. They'll swear blind that we've won fook all because we haven't won the "premier league" or the "champions league". Try telling that to Forest fans :buttrock

by **PhiLFC** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:25 pm

A superb post BTW Sean :bowdown

by **Big Niall** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:26 pm

In the nineties you had the foreigner rule so Manu sometimes couldn't play schmeichel, also they had more english?Irish?welsh players while today's teams are mostly from Europe.

Also - an error in original post - Euro champs automatically qualifed to defend their cup no matter where they came in the league, hence why the issue of your league place was not as important.

I think we really need the money to be in it next year, I mean who has watched newcastle/boro etc in Uefa cup. Its rubbish.

by **Sean** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:32 pm

Big Niall. You miss my point. Supporters of opposing clubs are undermining our achievement of qualifying for the final even though we will probabaly only finish fifth in the domestic league. This is regardless of whether we automatically qualified for next years tournament as champions.

Also, Fergie and Wenger were making excuses for European defeats long after the foreigner rule was abolished.

by **Big Niall** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:36 pm

Sorry dude - thought you meant that it wasn't important whether we were in next years CL if we won this one.

by **PhiLFC** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:49 pm

If we win the CL, UEFA will make their decision on what is best for business... the holders rightfully defending their title or the bluenoses. Which team would Sky prefer?

by **7_Kewell** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:51 pm

How can we not be in it? How could the FA choose Everton? Imahine if Everton do a Newcastle and lose in the play off round? How awful would that be, both teams out and nothing to show......basically i think the FA will have to choose us (if we win) because we would be the best option to represent the Premiership

by **JC_81** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:58 pm

Great post.

Agree with all of that. Especially the passion shown by phil thompson, that was great to see.

And also being irish myself, I am really happy for finnan, he has been top notch this season.

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