Chelsea v Liverpool

S4P wrote:

borocooper wrote:

S4P wrote:Am I being a bit too bias when I say I think Ballack's red was a little harsh? Definite booking, but I seriously don't believe it was "violent conduct".

Had he been on a yellow already, I'd have said "yep, 2nd yellow deserved", but Sissoko didn't half seem fine again very quickly (complete opposite to Essien-Hamann last year, which was violent conduct imo).

I guess it evened itself out.

nah, definite red for me.

a stamp is a stamp.

It wasn't malicious imo (unlike Essien's last year).

@ obi

yeah, you probably should've had a penalty, although I think we had a good shout for one too (when Agger and Carragher crushed Robben), but a) the ref was miles away so I don't blame him and b) Robben has a reputation for trying to win free kicks and penalties

I think it was, if you're going to stamp on someone, you know what you're doing, and he knew what he was doing.

Pennant need sto up his game. I only caught the last 30 minutes, but he was the least impressive worse player on the pitch.

Obispo wrote:

Distinguished Dutchman wrote:Liverpool are not out of the race! They have a game at hand, and only lost at Stamford Bridge.

We're only 4 or 5 games in. At least wait till december for the bookies to give the title to Chelsea again ! Its far from the ideal start, but in no way a doomsday scenario.

I still don't think it's that bad. Apart from the season before last no team has ever been consistent through the season. There are bad spells. We just can't afford another one now - we had 2 last year, if we have just one this year, like Utd and Chelsea inevitably will, then we should be in contention.

Arsenal is slightly more difficult because they're further behind again, but they also have a game in hand. We may both make it tough for eachother, but I don't think teams are out of the race until christmas.

Unless Utd and Chelsea go on to win their next 7-8 games each and we and arsenal continue to lag behind, but that's doubtful. Though not impossible.

We just have to go for an unbeaten streak for the rest of the season.. Right.

Within the context of the game:

Petr Cech 8
Khalid Boulahrouz 7
Ricardo Carvalho 7
John Terry 7
Ashley Cole 5
Michael Essien 8
Claude Makelele 6
Michael Ballack 5
Frank Lampard 5
Andrei Shevchenko 5
Didier Drogba 9

Jose Reina 6
Steve Finnan 6
Daniel Agger 7
Jamie Carragher 6
Stephen Warnock 5
Jermaine Pennant 4
Steven Gerrard 5
Xabi Alonso 6
Mohamed Sissoko 6
Craig Bellamy 6
Dirk Kuyt 8

Come on guys....

Why you guys rate Liverpool so high...? Favourites fir the title with this team?????????????????????/ Only fools put Liverpool as a favourite!

they were toothless... Chelsea don't care to give Liverpool the ball they could rely on one counter attack with Drogba!

kuyt for me mised a sitter and some of his passes weren't great, 8 maybe too high

Inglorious_B wrote:

Obispo wrote:

Distinguished Dutchman wrote:Liverpool are not out of the race! They have a game at hand, and only lost at Stamford Bridge.

We're only 4 or 5 games in. At least wait till december for the bookies to give the title to Chelsea again ! Its far from the ideal start, but in no way a doomsday scenario.

I still don't think it's that bad. Apart from the season before last no team has ever been consistent through the season. There are bad spells. We just can't afford another one now - we had 2 last year, if we have just one this year, like Utd and Chelsea inevitably will, then we should be in contention.

Arsenal is slightly more difficult because they're further behind again, but they also have a game in hand. We may both make it tough for eachother, but I don't think teams are out of the race until christmas.

Unless Utd and Chelsea go on to win their next 7-8 games each and we and arsenal continue to lag behind, but that's doubtful. Though not impossible.

We just have to go for an unbeaten streak for the rest of the season.. Right.

Not really. We just can't afford another slump like we did in Jan-march last year. Which is entirely possible.

I know Utd and Chelsea fans are supremely confident at the moment and probably don't forsee a slump given the way that they're winning/grinding out results, but they almost always occur.

Have faith.

Is it me or do you wish Roy Keane would strangle Jaime and then chuck him out of the window behind them?

luisgarciahedrinkssangria wrote:kuyt for me mised a sitter and some of his passes weren't great, 8 maybe too high

I agree, he was good..but I think people are virtually sucking him off at the moment.

borocooper wrote:

luisgarciahedrinkssangria wrote:kuyt for me mised a sitter and some of his passes weren't great, 8 maybe too high

I agree, he was good..but I think people are virtually sucking him off at the moment.

He played well in first half then had a bad second.

Pennant?

When is Rafa going to realise that he isn't actually a very good player...sure he's alright, but he's hardly our best option against teams like Chelsea!

How much did Liverpool pay for Pennant? Considering Saviola would have been almost free, and that Joaquín was available (for an almost normal EPL transfer fee).

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:How much did Liverpool pay for Pennant? Considering Saviola would have been almost free, and that Joaquín was available (for an almost normal EPL transfer fee).

£8 million, 1.3 of which based on appearances.

Crouching Tiger wrote:

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:How much did Liverpool pay for Pennant? Considering Saviola would have been almost free, and that Joaquín was available (for an almost normal EPL transfer fee).

£8 million, 1.3 of which based on appearances.

That seems to be about £6 million too much. I really don't get why Rafa wanted him, he seems completely out of his depth. So many better players are available for that kind of money.

Obispo wrote:

Distinguished Dutchman wrote:Liverpool are not out of the race! They have a game at hand, and only lost at Stamford Bridge.

We're only 4 or 5 games in. At least wait till december for the bookies to give the title to Chelsea again ! Its far from the ideal start, but in no way a doomsday scenario.

I still don't think it's that bad. Apart from the season before last no team has ever been consistent through the season. There are bad spells. We just can't afford another one now - we had 2 last year, if we have just one this year, like Utd and Chelsea inevitably will, then we should be in contention.

Arsenal is slightly more difficult because they're further behind again, but they also have a game in hand. We may both make it tough for eachother, but I don't think teams are out of the race until christmas.

Unless Utd and Chelsea go on to win their next 7-8 games each and we and arsenal continue to lag behind, but that's doubtful. Though not impossible.

Doubtful indeed. ManU's chronocally coping with injuries, and - despite results - Chelsea still hasn't really jelled with its new players. Mourinho himself hasn't figured out the best squad yet.
ManU always find hurdles & injuries (or both), and Chelsea has lost its "sheen of invincibility" at the end of last season.
Add to that the thougher opponents and the rise in quality from the other teams in the prem. Its a complete different game this year IMO.

Even if they went on an 8 game winning streak, they'd still have to drop points. IMHO ManU has started their winning streak already... they'll have to face thougher opponents somewhere along the line.

ManU - Played 4 12 points
Chelsea - Played 5 - 12 points
...
Liverpool - Played 4 - 4 points.

PLease stop it guys!!!!!

Liverpool are no title favourites so don't talk about that then!!!!! It will only dissapoint you guys!

O yeah, Whoever put up that link, thanks.

By the way, Mourinho reckons Ballack's red was deserved.

Ballack also went into the Liverpool dressing room and apologised at full time apparently (I don't know if JM made him do this or not)

following his 50th minute dismissal for a late challenge on Mohamed Sissoko, a repentant Michael Ballack waited outside the Liverpool dressing room to apologise to the Malian midfielder.

“It was a bad situation for me, I came in a bit late and I didn’t want to injure him. I have just seen him now and I have said sorry,” announced the 30-year-old Germany captain, adding:

“It is my first straight red card in my career.”

“I said sorry to him, it was no problem, I like him in the game. There was a situation in the first-half where I thought he had a foul for a second yellow card and I said to him then, slowly, slowly.

“It looked bad on TV and all I can say is sorry.”

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His manager José Mourinho explained that as it was Ballack’s first straight red card in a long career, he was not angry with the midfielder.

“The rules are very clear, and the red card is a deserved red card. Ballack arrives late, the ball is not there any more and he stamped on Sissoko.”

José reflected on how the situation might have been different had Sissoko received, in Mourinho’s opinion, a deserved second yellow card in first-half stoppage time from referee Mike Riley.

“First-half was a 50-50 game, very tight, no space to play, not many chances and an incredible goal. But there was an incident that could kill the game: if Sissoko sees the second yellow card, the game is over with Chelsea leading 1-0 and playing with one player more.”

“Forty-five minutes is a long, long time to play with ten men. It was time to win, not to play beautiful football, not to score three or four goals, it was time to get the three points.

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http://www.chelseafc.com/article.asp?hlid=416584&title=Reaction:+Ballack+apologises+all+round&nav=news

Obispo wrote:Gerrard wastes an opportunity to square it to Kuyt.

Does he have any vision at all if it isn't over 40+ yards?

Finesse, or lack of?

Pierre Littbarski wrote:Can't believe someone thought Gerrard played well.

Kuyt was very good.


Richard Keys is now telling us that Drogba's "good when he doesn't have time to think".

Why don't you just come out and admit that you and your cronies got it wrong and that he's world class you stunted little ape.

TeamSpirit wrote:

Pierre Littbarski wrote:Can't believe someone thought Gerrard played well.

Kuyt was very good.


Richard Keys is now telling us that Drogba's "good when he doesn't have time to think".

Why don't you just come out and admit that you and your cronies got it wrong and that he's world class you stunted little ape.

Although got to disagree- he's far too inconsistent to be World Class- moments of genius interspersed with an innate inability to control the ball is not World Class

Are you Talking about Gerrard or Drogba?

If Gerrard is World-Class than so is the Drog.

The Real White Pele wrote:

TeamSpirit wrote:

Pierre Littbarski wrote:Can't believe someone thought Gerrard played well.

Kuyt was very good.


Richard Keys is now telling us that Drogba's "good when he doesn't have time to think".

Why don't you just come out and admit that you and your cronies got it wrong and that he's world class you stunted little ape.

Although got to disagree- he's far too inconsistent to be World Class- moments of genius interspersed with an innate inability to control the ball is not World Class

If Drogba's not world class, imo there are very few world class players on the planet then.

The only thing which Drogba ever lacked was goals (oh and he was diving about a lot). Since our fans started to get on his case about diving, (and you could tell that really upset him) he hasn't dived once (for us anyway, I don't know about Ivory Coast), and has also started to turn in lots of goals.

Pace, power, defensively awesome, able to go past players, and win free kicks in dangerous areas ('cause of his sheer presence), as well as now finding the back of the net on a regular basis (ok, it's early into the season), imo how can he not be world class, with all these attributes?

where do you even start with that game...

I hate chelsea. so incredibly lucky

only one team tried to play football today

COTR wrote:where do you even start with that game...

I hate chelsea. so incredibly lucky

only one team tried to play football today

yep.......arsenal

COTR wrote:where do you even start with that game...

I hate chelsea. so incredibly lucky

only one team tried to play football today

Agreed entirely.

Drogba completely ruined the day

A goal like that can't be classed as luck... unless you mean Chelsea are lucky to have The DROG, which they damn well are. There's nothing as a forward which he can't do... I seriously mean that.

TeamSpirit wrote:A goal like that can't be classed as luck... unless you mean Chelsea are lucky to have The DROG, which they damn well are. There's nothing as a forward which he can't do... I seriously mean that.

£24million is starting to look quite a nice deal. (So is Essien's deal, although he wasn't so effective today)