Chelsea vs. Liverpool - CL quarterfinal discussion thread

debaser wrote:

Six wrote:I don't get why people are going on about Essien man marking a half-fit Gerrard as if it was important. Sure he couldn't inspire a comeback at 3-1 down, but who cares? The game was lost in other areas. Lucas left Alonso to do all the defensive work, which was suicidal. Our defenders were sloppy, gave the ball away way too much. The defending at set pieces was half-hearted. The whole team seemed to suffer from a mental block and were cruising after the first goal.

Chelsea were more up for it than us, they have probably been thinking about this game for weeks. Even if we were level on points i think they would still want the CL more than the EPL, especially players like Drogba. They did a 'Liverpool' to us.

Same way Gerrard got rave reviews for being given free reign to run around against Villa and scoring a hat-trick which consisted of 2 pens and a cheating FK. The game was won elsewhere

That's fair enough. Apart from the FK bit.

Six wrote:I don't get why people are going on about Essien man marking a half-fit Gerrard as if it was important.

The answer to this is fairly obvious. It's always one extreme or the other with gerrard on here (the same applies for any 'hated' / heavily debated player)

We were overrun in the area between our defence and midfield. Gerrard has no control over this. Lucas was simply way out of his depth and left carra and skrtel free to get raped.

It might have something to do with the fact that Gerrard is one of your key players and for the last few weeks we've had pundits and journalists (and even Zidane) claiming that he's the best footballer in the world right now.

Gerrard being half-fit wasn't exactly being mentioned pre-kick off either.

Nice to see the "Hiddink is a genius" bandwagon gathering some pace.

I mean, fancy putting a very athletic, world class CM/DM on a very athletic, world class AM ?!?!

What next - centre backs marking strikers ?

Full backs trying to tackle wingers ?

He's revolutionising the game !!!

He is such a genius, its a wonder that he hasn't won a major trophy for 21 years !

How many managers come to Anfield and take the battle to Liverpool ?

Yep, thought so

Axeslammer wrote:How many managers come to Anfield and take the battle to Liverpool ?

Yep, thought so

Well Hiddink is hardly the first.

Arsenal were pretty attacking when played there last year.

Can We have Bolton's goals today please and we'll do the defending.....

Nah, still IMO no chance of us getting through, we may get a goal, we may even win on the night but it would take a monumental rewrite of footballing logic for us to go through.

Luis wrote:Can We have Bolton's goals today please and we'll do the defending.....

Nah, still IMO no chance of us getting through, we may get a goal, we may even win on the night but it would take a monumental rewrite of footballing logic for us to go through.

Kinda like Istanbul over two legs instead of two halves.. the fact is Rafa and the team knows they have nothing to lose, so yea.. i wont give up

Axeslammer wrote:How many managers come to Anfield and take the battle to Liverpool ?

Yep, thought so

Zola All we got was a 0-0 draw though

Di Caniooooo! wrote:

Axeslammer wrote:How many managers come to Anfield and take the battle to Liverpool ?

Yep, thought so

Zola All we got was a 0-0 draw though

11 men behind the ball, and when West Ham got possession they just hoofed it back up the field to Reina. What are you on?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7748435.stm

a resilient defensive display from Gianfranco Zola's side.

Zola will take great heart from a point built on sound defensive organisation.

West Ham had shown little ambition

Marlo Glennfield wrote:

Di Caniooooo! wrote:

Axeslammer wrote:How many managers come to Anfield and take the battle to Liverpool ?

Yep, thought so

Zola All we got was a 0-0 draw though

11 men behind the ball, and when West Ham got possession they just hoofed it back up the field to Reina. What are you on?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7748435.stm

a resilient defensive display from Gianfranco Zola's side.

Zola will take great heart from a point built on sound defensive organisation.

West Ham had shown little ambition

Utterly pawned.

Does Rafa want a (risk management) job at AIG, or what?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/7996943.stm

De Guzman wrote:Does Rafa want a (risk management) job at AIG, or what?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/7996943.stm

He had a slight muscle strain which he has had a full week to rest. I'm not sure you would find any managers out there who wouldn't play gerrard tonight.

next game isn't for a week, I think if we're not ahead on the night after an hour he'll admit defeat and take him off for Babel or Keane. You could make a case for him doing the same with Torres.

Haven't got a clue about Torres fitness, but risking Stevie (certainly if he plays him where Essien will take care of him) to do the close to impossible (overturn a 1-3 home loss; I know it's happened before; Feyenoord won once 1-3 away v Stuttgart & lost 0-3 at home, but that's one for the recordbooks; Chelsea is a different cup of tea).

I'm only saying this because I'm concerned about the EPL. I want you guys to win it.

I'm dead sure their are managers, who'ld rest him.

I think psychologically, not starting Gerrard sends a message to the other players and the opposition that the tie is over and Rafa has admitted defeat, if he's going to rest Gerrard he may as well rest the whole first XI and play El Zhar and NGog. You saw with Chelsea at the weekend what a big difference psychology can make, 4-0 up they take off Lampard and Drogba, it tells the players the game is over. 10 minutes later they've conceded 3.

I'm not sure what I would do in Rafa's position, if we were playing a league game at the weekend I'd probably want to rest Gerrard, but since we're not, if he's fit enough to start then he should start.

Mind you if Chelsea would see not playing Gerrard as a message the tie is over, it might actually be a better idea (despite them being warned this weekend).

De Guzman wrote:Mind you if Chelsea would see not playing Gerrard as a message the tie is over, it might actually be a better idea (despite them being warned this weekend).

Yup, complacency is Chelsea's biggest enemy at the moment.


...and I have to admit, if Pool manage to get a goal in the first 15 minutes (which is not impossible), I'll be glued to my tv screen

Same here, if Liverpool take the lead, I'm switching over from the Barcelona game.

Best come-backs after home defeat:

Champions' Cup
1968/69, quarterf.: Ajax 1-3 Benfica
Benfica 1-3 Ajax
playoff: Ajax 3-0 Benfica (aet, in Paris)

UEFA Cup
1971/72, 1st round: Lierse SK 0-2 Leeds United
Leeds United 0-4 Lierse SK
Lierse SK win 4-2 on aggregate

Cup Winners' Cup
1984/85, 1st round: FC Metz 2-4 Barcelona
Barcelona 1-4 FC Metz [after 1-0 at 33']
Metz win 6-5 on aggregate

UEFA Cup
1988/89, 3rd round: Bayern München 0-2 Internazionale
Internazionale 1-3 Bayern München
3-3 on aggregate, Bayern München win on away goals

UEFA Cup
1996/97, 1st prel.: Sliema Wanderers 1-3 Margveti Zestafoni
Margveti Zestafoni 0-3 Sliema Wanderers
Sliema Wanderers win 4-3 on aggregate

UEFA Cup
1996/97, 3rd round: Brøndby IF 1-3 Karlsruher SC [after 0-3 at 81']
Karlsruher SC 0-5 Brøndby IF
Brøndby IF win 6-3 on aggregate

UEFA Cup
1998/99, 1st round: VfB Stuttgart 1-3 Feyenoord
Feyenoord 0-3 VfB Stuttgart
VfB Stuttgart win 4-3 on aggregate

UEFA Cup
2004/05, 2nd qual.: Rapid Wien 0-2 Rubin Kazan
Rubin Kazan 0-3 Rapid Wien
Rapid Wien win 3-2 on aggregate

UEFA Cup
2005/06, 1st round: Maccabi Petah-Tikva 0-2 Partizan Beograd
Partizan Beograd 2-5 Maccabi Petah-Tikva
Maccabi Petah-Tikva win 5-4 on aggregate

----

The ideal scenario for Pool imo is not an early goal (a wake up call), but a goal halfway the second half, 1 close to the end & one in injury time

Hang on a second, only yesterday Jewis was saying Liverpool are the only unique club who makes this great comebacks. Now im very confused

Rosicky wrote:Hang on a second, only yesterday Jewis was saying Liverpool are the only unique club who makes this great comebacks. Now im very confused

you've always been confused.

Luis listed several epic comebacks against big opposition in recent seasons, as there have been several great comebacks Guzman listed, no side features more than once.

De Guzman wrote:Haven't got a clue about Torres fitness, but risking Stevie (certainly if he plays him where Essien will take care of him) to do the close to impossible (overturn a 1-3 home loss; I know it's happened before; Feyenoord won once 1-3 away v Stuttgart & lost 0-3 at home, but that's one for the recordbooks; Chelsea is a different cup of tea).

I'm only saying this because I'm concerned about the EPL. I want you guys to win it.

I'm dead sure their are managers, who'ld rest him.

The hope is that essien will not sacrifice his usual game as much as he did in the first match to merely follow gerrard around the pitch. He may do, but I'm hoping gerrard has a little bit more space.

We are far better set up to counter attack in this match with mascherano on the pitch so theoretically torres and gerrard may have more space to operate in

I would like to see rafa start yossi and babel on the wings, just to offer a different threat to what chelsea will be expecting. Ivanovic had riera in his pocket because riera had no pace to get round him so at least babel offers a guaranteed, if inconsistent threat.

I certainly think it's well within our capabilites to score 3 goals on any ground, it's just more likely that chelsea will thrive with us going at them.


............................Reina

Arbeloa.......Carra.........Agger.........Aurelio

.................Masch.......Alonso
.....Yossi.............Gerrard..........Babel
..........................Torres


This is our best hope tonight imo. If / when he picks skrtel, kuyt and riera instead it will make the team more solid but takes away the chances of getting 3 goals.

Coater, has Kuyt raped and murdered a member of Rafa's family and I haven't heard about it? I don't see him being left out of the starting XI otherwise.

Marlo Glennfield wrote:Coater, has Kuyt raped and murdered a member of Rafa's family and I haven't heard about it? I don't see him being left out of the starting XI otherwise.

I like kuyt, but yossi just gives me more confidence in terms of opening up chelsea's defence and finishing off a chance. Kuyt missing that great chance just after the first Ivanovic goal is typical of his finishing. It would have changed the match completely if he had finished it. I just think yossi will provide a better chance of getting the three goals.

Kuyt's game is all about giving torres and gerrard the platform to do what they do, but yossi also works hard and gives a little bit extra to the attack. I also think we need to do something a little different to what they are expecting. Kuyt was one of our best players in the first leg and I don't think there is any chance that rafa won't play him, it's just what I'm hoping. You never know with Rafa (although you do when it comes to kuyt).

I'd play Insua over Aurellio COTR. We are much more attacking with him in the side and his crossing can cause real danger for a makeshift Chelsea side.

Fuck Babel off as well. Kuyt thrives in these games, get him on the right, Yossi on the left, Gerrard in the centre in front of Alonso and Masch.

COTR wrote:
We are far better set up to counter attack in this match with mascherano on the pitch so theoretically torres and gerrard may have more space to operate in

You're trailing 3-0, but thank god : you're good on the counter attack !


....what do you expect Chelsea to do in this leg ?!

Hopefully Bolton's comeback will be a wake-up call to the players.

-----------------Cech
Ivanovic--Carvalho--Alex--A Cole
----------------Essien
------------Ballack--Lampard
Kalou--------Drogba-----Malouda

That team should be experienced enough not to panic if we go a goal (or 2) down.

Does my head in how sky sports aren't even mentioning this game, it's a CL quarter between two english sides, it may not be on sky and it may not be close but fuck me to talk more about Arsenal which is tomorrow is low even for sky!

Luis wrote:Does my head in how sky sports aren't even mentioning this game, it's a CL quarter between two english sides, it may not be on sky and it may not be close but fuck me to talk more about Arsenal which is tomorrow is low even for sky!

They probably would if something was still riding on it.