I’m going for 3-1 and us to go through on penalties. They also don’t have their captain, Terry so that should be more of a difference psychologically than anything else….

Win or lose tommorow, we will be up for it and there is no pressure on us

Having monster back will allow us license to attack and if we get an early goal Chelsea may suffer from nerves and anything is possible.
However like you Gerry my heart is willing but my head says that it is too big a deficit to overcome.

Chelsea will close down the space kick long balls up to the diving one and generally make it difficult for us to play our football.

A good referee would be a benefit and give us more hope but I think 3 goals at the bridge is an ask too much

All of the above being written by a man who said in the last blog that Blackburn would be a difficult game and we would struggle so good luck to us

We make enough chances to score a lot of goals and as you say Torres is up for it.Masher is back,Kuyt will surely score one,Dagger is available,so everything looks ‘red rosy’ to me.
What a season!

AGREED – IT MAY BE A BRIDGE TOO FAR!!!
BUT, WE CAN STILL BELIEVE

I’m thinking Rafa will go with three in the back and roll the dice.

I’m thinking Carra-Sami-Agger across the back. I think we need Sami’s height in there to help us deal with set pieces defensively, and it’s funny how the old man happens to put the ball in the opponent’s net every now and then.

It doesn’t take a lot to figure out that Xabi and Masch will take their normal positions in front of the defenders, but I don’t know what you do with the rest of the formation.

I’d like to see Yossi, Stevie, and Nando in the center of the formation with Kuyt out wide on the right. I don’t have a clue who to use on the left; all three of Rafa’s normal options (Fabio, Reira, and Doss) looked like shiite last week.

I don’t see Rafa trusting Babel over 90 minutes. He’s done something to get on the wrong side of Don Rafa.

It could get ugly with Chelsea carving us up on the counter attack, but I’m hoping we go after them. It’s the only option we have.

I’d give my left nut if we could find a way to get into extra time. Fingers crossed for a 1-3 in regulation, and hopefully we can find a way to grab the away goal to win it in extra time.

Good blog Gerry and I think what you said about Riera needed to be said. Not negative, just pointing out the bleedin obvious realy. He started so well, but has been quite poor of late.

Unfortunately, Babel has also looked very poor of late. He only played well in the game where Rafa threatened everyone with their CL places, but then pretty much everyone responded to that threat.

Ivan had Riera in his pocket at Anfield though, so if only for that reason, maybe Babel offers us a way through.

It is a mountain to climb for sure and for any other team it would be a bridge too far, but not so much us.

We’ll need the Chavs to play at least a bit worse than they did at Anfield and we’ll need all our lads on song… and probably need a little rub of the green.

I think an early goal (20 mins) is critical. Especially given their weekend result.
With their “defensive record at the bridge”, if we can bag that early goal, and with no JT at the back to steady the ship… we just need to get the Traveling Kop bouncing for the lads and it’ll be game on!

The only danger I see is in pushing forward as we must, we may leave ourselves exposed.

I wouldn’t say I was confident we will do it, but I do have a sneaky feeling we just might!
One way or the other, we need to acquit ourselves well and make the aggregate scoreline a bit more respectable!
COME ON YOUR REDS!

As many have noticed and is indeed the case also, Gerrard was rendered ineffectual by the man-marking of Essien in the game at Anfield.
I am wondering exactly what Rafa has in mind to set Gerrard more free in Tuesday’s game. How he plans to out-wit the Blues’ manager this time?!

I think the criticism on riera was a bit harsh, although he didnt utilise most of his chances but almost all the good chances we created came from the left an i thought he combined well with insua and they had andrews chasing shadows the whole afternoon and left blakburn overwhelmed.

looking at tonight’s game i wish benayoun and babel will be included in the starting line up today. Babel should be too fast for ivanovic and benayoun gives us plenty of flexibility and can nick the odd goal or too. he will also help if they want to man mark gerard as he can also get in the same places occupying the areas essien would have left.

i have a sneaky feeling this game will finish 4-2 with a dramatic finish that we will remember for a very long time.

Great blog Ger, I dont usually agree with everything you write but I must say every word of this one is on the money. I’ve been saying for sometime now Insuas the best fullback we’ve got and should be an automatic, he will be next year. Riera was great before christmas, pants since. As you point out he’ll be fortunate to start tomorrow. Lads, I cant believe I’m gonna say this but I think we’re gonna win this game, dont know how, but we’re going through tomorrow! YNWA.

It is all about believing, I hope the boys feel the same way as most of us here. Im sure Rafa will get them up, if not the occassions of the past week will.

My bet is on Rafa playing :

Reina
Dagger JC Sami

Arby Mash Alonso Aureliou

Gerrard
Torres Kuyt

DaGGER will be given the option to push up carrying the ball with MAsch protectig when required. The two wingbacks will be given freedom to push up aswell to attack and Kuyt will be told to chase everything down so chelsea cant easily leave their defence. Plus i think Kuyt will be handy with his head ons etc to Torres.

Nice one Gerry, agree with all in the blog, what really annoys me about Riera and Babel is that they have shown they have got what it takes to put the red shirt on earlier in their career here. It it just a loss of form? They both seem to lack a little confidence, particularly Babel, whose sheer pace and build is enough to cause problems if he just got “stuck in” Riera may be finding the intensity of the English game a bit much in his first season…..nevertheless at the business end of the season its up to the players to step up to the plate and IMHO they are. Babel just needs a few thnigs to go his way to gain confidence and Riera, well as an ex pool player said this week ( cant remember who) playing in the big games, tiredness isnt an issue if you cant
be totally up for these games lets face it you are probably in the wrong sport, and definately at the wrong club!

Right, no negativity now, i agree with LFCjmcs team, but akkas looks interesting but a bit risky but what the hell, throw everything at them and if we dont go through we will have at least restored some pride…..other teams would have thrown in the towel and put a reserve side out (ie Martin O’Neill)

So after careful consideration my prediction is 3-0 to the redmen, last goal Torres 91 minutes!!! (Yes my heart won the battle again!)

COME ON YOU REDMEN!!!!!

Well, Digger, I have to say then that I expect more from you.

The reason why I picked on a certain person’s comments is precisely because it makes no sense or is not constuctive and therefore can only be deemed anti-red.

I could “debate” every single comment that he made but each one would make a massive blog.
(We all know where the kuyt issue is going to take us!)

For instance, what was the reason for stating that Agger can play in midfield? If that was stated in the context that playing Agger in midfield would heighten our chances of getting over chelski, with just such explanation, then fair enough, we could have a “debate.” Instead, what we get is a single comment, which has no relevance or logic whatsoever with the blog or even within his own comments. It is almost as irrelevant as saying that Rooney is a great player on this blog. It is almost as unimportant as saying Manchester United won the CL before we did.

Just because I have a different opinion, doesn’t mean I call that person an anti-red. I think I have made my intentions clear enough over the course of a long period for you to know that. I almost disagree with everything you say, even more than LB, and even to the point that I can argue with you about regarding Digger as being the best winger LFC has ever had. However, although I may have called you an anti-rafa, I have never called you an anti-red have I? There’s a reason why I identified burgermen, and if you actually took the time to properly read my comments, you would have noticed that I noted that I “had refrained” from pinpointing that individual for quite some time now. And even then, I have not concluded by defintively calling him an “anti-red.” There’s a reason why I treated him differently from someone like you or LB.

In sum Diggger, your last comments even make you seem that you appreciate burgermen’s comments just because you agree on him about Kuyt. I always have a debate with you, so give me the benefit of taking note why I don’t even consider there to be a comment worthy of debate in any of Burgermen’s comments will ya mate? I am not disregarding him, I disregard his comments to be worthy of a debate.

oops, sorry about that digger and lads, I meant to post the above in the previous section. Many apologies!!!

Enough of that.

I am still pretty positive about the game tonight.

As for riera, I wouldn’t criticise him, but I found it strange why he did not take on Ivanovic last time. I am sure he is quicker than the serbian, and if he really went for it like he did in the Blackburn game, I am positive we can cover the left-side. We’ll have to see who Chelski play as a right-back.

I also believe the return of masch will help us immensely. the previous leg only highlighted his importance in our side.

BTW, what do you lads think of the context of the season if we do win this tie? Do you think we would be too knackered to sustain our challenge in the premiership? I really am not sure about this one. I am inclined to think that europe is just as important as the premiership, but with our squad in mind, I am not sure if we can manage the two games against barca and still keep winning games like the fulham one.

Regardless, we will know after tonight. Really gutted I can’t catch the game live….

Come on you reds!

Great job you got going here, Gerry! I salute you.

That’s a pretty good team you got. Although I would like to see Carra at rightback, myself, with Skrtel in the middle with Agger. Cos I think Skrtel is about 20 cm taller than Carra. With Skrtel & Agger in the middle of defence, the aerial threat that cost us goals in the first leg will be diminished, no?

I agree totally on Babel. He should start tomorrow.

Thought Yossi had a pretty good game v Blackburn. The number of times he tracked back to win the ball was great to see from someone not normally associated fer his ball-winning prowess.

So me thinks its a 3-5-2:

Pepe

Carra Hyppia Agger

Aberloa Xabi Masch Babel

Yossi

Torres

Yes, me can hear everyone screming ‘Wot!!?! No Stevie G?!!?’ . . .

But me has a sneaking suspicion Rafa is gonna throw up a surprise by NOT playing our capt given his injury. The way Rafa has been talking up Stevie’s role in the press seems (to me anyway) he is gonna do the reverse & leave him out (probably say he tweaked his muscle during warm up or something). This is to catch Chelsea off guard as they would’ve been psyching themselves up to close down Stevie & Torres. So what do they do with lil Yossi? Man mark him or leave him to his own devices . . .

That said, me thinks we’ll win, but 1-0. Sorry, but me really can’t see another miracle happening. Chelsea are not Olympiakos or a gloating AC Milan. Hope am wrong on that part but . . .

ps: Oooops, missed out on the fifth part of 3-5-2.

And believe it or not, me thinks Rafa will play Lucas in midfield as link man. Got a feeling he’ll be saving Stevie G fer rest of premier league campaign.

Well said Gerry.

Things that may motivate us:
1. We have Masch back
2. John Teary is suspended
3. Bolton scored three in Crapford Bridge with Teary in defence, so we can only imagine what will happen without him

Ok, even if (MASSIVE TOUCH WOOD) we go out, WE WILL GIVE THEM HELL BEFORE WE DO!!!

So walk on, with hope in your heart. Get the first goal and plant doubt in their minds. Better still, do it for the 96!

Logic tells you we can’t win at the Bridge but logic never seems to enter the world of football, dreams do.
.
If logic was all there was in football, Nando wouldn’t have scored his first shot against Blackburn and would have scored with his second.
.
Well that’s logic, I think we can really give it a go tomorrow. Chelsea may even be a little relaxed due to the 2 goal cushion. I always believe the worst position for a defence to be in is a two goal cushion. When it’s less you fight like cat and dog, but once it’s more you lose intensity.
.
Come on lads win or lose make it a night to remember. Maybe it could be 96-0.

Sorry mates i believe that we can do it, but i think that we won’t . 2-1 for the chavs and concentrating in PL

Come On, we’re Liverpool!! I have no doubt that we will win and qualify! 4-2 is the score that comes to mind and we’ll all be celebrating come Wednesday morning. We have done it so often before and when I think of tonight’s game, its the Olympiacos game that comes to my mind! YNWA

I think Puchong Red has a point there. I think Chelsea will be caught off-guard if Gerrard doesn’t start… If Riera does well, and Benayoun plays as usual… We might get early goals.
Remember last season when Benayoun dribbled right inside the Chelsea defense from the right wing and Torres finished with a goal.
May be it will be good if Gerrard is brought on at 65′ or such. Let us see how Rafa does it…

IMO, if StevieG is fit then he should play. When he is fully-fit and on top of his game, there is not much the other team can do to nullify him, especially when paired with Nando.

I believe that we are capable of scoring 3 at the ‘fridge’ but I am worried if we can keep them down to a single goal. Drogba will be a handful tonight and how we play him is as much a factor in the game tonight as the attacking part.

Hopefully with Masch back, he will provide a lot more protection to our backline.

I will go for us winning on penalties, since if we are going to win, we always seem to do it the most difficult way possible/imaginable.

I dont know why the press keeps on talking about Zonal Marking. Rafa once again tells what needs to be told :

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5186469,00.html

Its important we defend well. Thats the key. The better we defend the more is our chances to score. I dont know whether it will be 3-0 but i feel it will be 3-1 or 4-2.

If they score first, it will be difficult though.

Am sorry, but me thinks Hiddink is far too calm a coach to let things disintegrate into chaos. Again, love to be proven wrong but this really a mountain too high.

Am not suggesting the boys pack it in, give it a go fer sure but me just don’t think any team that could lose such a lead at home would have made it this far in the competition.

I have a feeling that we might just take this to 3-1.

And if we do indeed go to that point, we will come out winners.

Important though for us to score 1st.

I hate to piss on everyone’s chips but how are going to deal with the following:

1) The threat of Drogba
2) Chelsea’s set pieces
3) Get Gerrard into the game

To score 3 goals or more and at the same time win the match by 2 goals or more we’re going to have to be near perfect, a bit lucky and Chelsea will have to be a bit poor.

Riera could get anyway with Ivanovic. He tried to run past him 3 times and then gave up. Ivanovic is quicker and stronger. Not only that but Riera’s delivery has been poor as well so he couldn’t do a Beckham where he doesn’t beat the defender but just whips the ball in. I’d play Babel as he seems to respond in the big matches and at least has the speed.

My head tells me this is a bridge too far for us. If we go through it will be an even bigger achievement than Istanbul IMO. I just can’t see it lads.

By the way I agree that Insua is the best left back at the club. It’s a shame he can’t play tonight. Aurellio was shocking in the first leg and Dossena came on and was even worse.

I am usually an eternal optimist but unless you guys know something that I don’t, this may be a mountain too high for the boys. We’ve given ourselves far too much to do. Having said that, I’ll be over the moon if I can be proved wrong and we qualify.

@LB,Bayo

If Chelsea can concede 3 goals after going up 4-0, i dont see why we cant score 3 with say conceding 1 goal.

Agreed, they will be more cautious this time but at the same time we have Gerrad and Torres who are much bigger threat compared to Kevin Davies and Co.

Its been a while since I’ve commented! The season has already been a rollercoaster of a ride so I am optimistically expecting Liverpool to do Chelski in their own back yard. Monster Masch is the key to solidifying our MF and protecting the back 4. Ballack and Lampard will be having nightmares after tonight’s match and as for Essien he marked out an injured Gerrard who was too worried to go forwards and support Torres because of Lucas. W

ith Benayoun and hopefully a much more inspired Riera or Babel we will be causing a lot of problems.

Rest assured the outcome will be different tonight. Last week’s result was a reminder to us to not take anything for granted and the Hillsborough Anniversary and Blackburn game will do a lot to lift us tonight.

More reasons to be optimistic. Bolton’s goals spree in 9 minutes against Chelsea and what a Liverpool team can do to them in 90 minutes without John Terry.

As for those saying that remaining in the competition will tire us out, there is not long to go until the season is over now. Players will have more drive and purpose if they can play against the likes of Barcelona and success breeds success. When the team is on a high, tiredness will be the last thing on their minds. With injuries to Torres and Gerrard you can argue that they’ve had their rest.

Anyway I cannot wait for the game now!! A possibility of a Double is still possible.

Somnath, Chelsea went 4-0 up and relaxed, they took off Drogba and Lampard and mentally had the cigar out thats why Bolton got those goals in 8 minutes. I think it’s a wake up call for them. I doubt they’ll be as sloppy against us.

Winning 3-1 is not impossible but its one hell of a tough ask.

A possibility of a double is still on the cards!

Lads for some reason like some of you something in my waters is telling me where gonna get through. Trust me i’m not just saying this because should we pull it off i can say i told ya so. Its just a gut feeling. Maybe deep down i think it is to much to ask but when we went 1-3 down last week i wasn’t even annoyed,because if anyone can do it its us!!!

4-1 YNWA

Somnath07in

Believe me when I say that I’ll be break-dancing all the way to work tomorrow if we manage to pull this off but I guess I’m just listening to my head as opposed to my heart.

You’re right that Stevie and Torres are a formidable threat to any defence and I hope they rip the Chelsea defence to shreds today but the other players will have to perform beyond their wildest dreams as well.

Riera (if he plays) will have to make himself visible on the pitch and our midfielders will have to ensure that the Chelsea midfielders don’t get the freedom of the City of London.

It’s difficult, yes, but I guess we have to keep believing. I do not think it is a cliche when people say that if there’s a team that can get three past chelski at stamford bridge, it is us.

As LB says, I am worried about who is going to play left back. Fabio and Doss were totatl shambles in the first leg. We could play Arbie there and put carra at right-back with agger and skrtel in the centre. I actually rate carra’s crosses. However, I feel that it is going to be fabio again– dossena has always been way too dodgy in defense.

As for results, I will be content if the lads give the best they can. I am quite sure every single one of them are aware how much it means for the 96 to go out all max.

Really looking forward to this match.

I’d rather play Agger at centre back as Drogba gives Skrtel nightmares. 3 at the back would be interesting.

Carra, Hyypia, Agger

@Bayo

Regarding the break dancing part. Same here Bayo. You know what i think Riera might not start tonight. I have a feeling that Yossi will play in his place.

I know it is quite difficult to go there and win this tie but as i wrote earlier, if Bolton can score 3, we can certainly go there and score. I agree with LB who said that Chelsea already won the match by that time on saturday but believe me teams of such stature will never tolerate conceding goals specially at home. So even though it didnt hurt them, a 4-3 scoreline was not expected.

Yes they will be more cautious but that is always the case with teams facing Torres and Gerrad and yet they concede. So i think its not gonna be a easy contest for them.

Carvalho will play in place of JT i think. He is a good defender. He has to play poorly tonight. Alex is not that much of a worry as he is not technically as sound as the portugese.

Essien has to be kept quiet today. He was the fulcrum of their attacks that night. Lampard and Drogba will be automatically cut to size if Essien is kept quiet.

I am going for a 3-1 scoreline. Anybody’s match after that.

In RAfa we trust

come on redmen, YNWA

Hiddink:

“Going 4-0 up against Bolton and then conceding as we did was like an alarm clock ringing for this upcoming game,”

“We should have controlled the last part of the game. We can concede one, but that one alarm bell should be enough.

“We’ve prepared very seriously for Liverpool. A lot of people have said that if you win an away game in Europe like we did, then you won’t have any concerns for the second leg. But we’re not thinking like that.

“Liverpool are a very good team who play beautiful football and we’re very aware of that. There is no reason to have complacency against any team, but especially Liverpool with what they have done in the past.”

Gerry, good blog, full of positives as always.
I too feel there is a now a great spring in our step, a strong desire in the whole team to win with a three goal margin and greater confidence due to 6 factors:

1-3, as per Kinny Riddle (No 17)
4.our four goal scores against Real Madrid, the Mancs and lately against Rovers. We can do it again.
5.Torres in super hot form and vowing for revenge
6. Rafa drilling the team not to concede goals from set pieces

It’s 2.40am to see the macth here in Malaysia. And Cobra Club opens yet again for us to have an atmosphere to cherish.

So here’s to a win for us with a 3-1 scoreline and to nick it at extra time. I wanna see John Teary in tears again. Yeaah.

and seriously as we have nothing to lose we can play 3-5-2 with Benayoun as extra creative buddy of Stevie G!

LB just because Hiddink has said that doesnt mean the players can do the same thing. Remember United after losing 1-4, they lost again the next game after saying “this is a wake up call”.

Sure he has prepared, and maybe he has gone a more cautios lineup/tactic which might work in our favour if we score 1 first.

You’re right there Akka, but I think Hiddink has a lot of respect for us which was why I feel Chelsea were so up for the first leg. I doubt they will have the deck chairs out tonight so we’ll have to have a lot of luck and an awesome performance. A dodgy penalty for us and red card for them would help or maybe an own goal or big f*ck up by one of their defenders or something.

We might aswell get beat 10 – 1 as 3 – 2. So, fuck it. Go for it from the off.

Just found out I’m going to be a grandad again in November. Absolutely made up. Another little red and a trip to Barcelona would just round it all off.

I haven’t being in over the last week as we had the birth of our 2nd child last Monday, she is wearing her Torres – You’ll never crawl alone bib already!

I havn’t read any comments in the last two blogs, but going back to the game last Wednesday, we were 2nd best for the most part.

We were out-taught on the night and Mash was a huge loss, ok we conceeded from 2 corners, but the zonal marking debate annoyed me, you’s swear we are the only team in football history to conceed from corners.
The fans on the night deserve special praise.

Anyway, It wouldn’t shock if we got ourselves back into the tie, but it is a tall order. If we score in the first half then it would be game on, and if they score, it won’t change the fact we still need three goals.

I suspect 3-5-2 tonight
I have my doubts but I’m off down the bookies to put a couple of my hard earned pounds on us to go through at 10-1

Even Guus Hiddink could not prevent Chelsea from loosing against Spurs. Could he?

Yes they are cautious, they are up for the game. They have world class players. But so are we isnt it? We are up for the game.

Liverpool will win the match tonight.3-1 to us after 90 minutes. After that we will do the same to them what they did last year at the Bridge scoring the most important goal in extra time.

Hi Gerry,

This is my first post on this blog. I have been reading your Blogs for a long time now and really enjoy them.

With regards to tonights game. I have faith that the guys can pull this of. Im goin for a 4-2 scoreline.

having Maschs back will be a huge boost for the team, as i feel that they can play more freely knowing that hes there as cover for the defence as apposed to Lucas.

With regards to Essien man marking Gerrard tonight, i think that Rafa should start him on the right wing with Kuyt behind Torres. The 2 of them can alternate as the game goes on, Essien is most certainly going to stick to Gerrard like a fly stuck to shit and with him drifting out wide now and then should open up some space in the middle for one of our other player to take advantage. Not sure if this makes sense to you, i know im pulling at straws here but its worth a try.

Anyway good luck to the guys tonite, lets hope yourll cream Chelski.

corklfc congratulatons on the new edition. pass on a well done for the missus from TIA. Fat scouser congratulations also (that kid probably knows more about football already than the 76,000 that go to old trafford each week)

Hopefully the lads will give ya even more to celebrate tonight. YNWA

Corklfc and FS, congratulations for you guys being father and granddad respectively. Am sure the fledgelings are in good hands… Just see to it that they support the true Reds .

I am with roarin-red here. Even when we lost 3-1 at Anfield, i never felt we were out of it. Even now, as i am typing, i am feeling something positive about this game. I am going for a 4-1 win. Same as the Mancs.

Win or lose, we will have the advantage. If we lose, we can concentrate on PL and this might be the turning point for us. If we win, nuf said. Confidence can do wonders.
Keep the faith.
YNWA

@ Abhiram

Where r u from mate?

I join in the congratulations to FS and Corky. I hope tonight’s results top it off as well.

BTW, has everyone seen the PFA shortlist– it is absolutely disgusting, regardless of when the shortlist was made. FFS, if winkerwanker is in there, why the hell is not Fat lamps in there? And rafael da silva in the young player short list?? Granted he was good, but this list looks as though they were made in October or something.

God, this is even worse than some of the previous selections.

Yeah Hyde. Ireland of ManCity does not come into the picture..Insua for us was another contender for Young player of the year.

Hyde they cast the voting in February which is why the PFA is usually a poor reflection on who was the best player in the entire season. Chelsea were shite in February, so were Arsenal, we hit a bad patch and the mancs were walking away with everything. So there you go…. However some you’d think one or two Aston Villa or Everton players would have got a look in.

Somnath, how many games did Insua play while votes were being cast? 5 at the most? I must admit Rafael as a contender is a bit of a joke.

Its disgusting to see Rafael in the list. Insua has played more games than him now and has played better than most. It amazes me how Alonso is not in that list. He’s been one of our best players this year. Consistent at that.. This PFA is a joke.

Somnath, i am from India. What about u?

Edwin van der Sar’s inclusion is ridiculous. I dont care if they broke the cleansheet record. I don’t remember too many world class saves. Most matches he had fuck all to do because teams were too scared to attack them. Ahh fuck it anyway.

Let the mancs have the carling cup and PFA awards, the votes taking place before the business end of the season is a bit of a joke though. Giggs plays one game in three FFS.

Congrats to both corklfc and FS for gaining a new member in their families. And what better way to celebrate than with a miracle?

(And what odds are you guys going to name the kids “Hope” or “Miracle” or something like that when it does happen? )

Now that the whole world’s written us off, we have nothing to lose, really. The game against Arsenal won’t be a week away, so I’d say, go for it. A full attacking formation. As FS say, we may lose 1-10, or we may win 4-1, but the boys gotta show heart and show these Chavs that this is Liverpool they’re dealing with, not some cheap Scum.

LB, february is it? Then, all the more weird cos you’d think they would look at least the past 6 months up until that time to vote. Van der sar, as you say, is laughable, giggs, off-putting and rafael, comical. Who the hell comes up with this so-called list. It goes to show that footballers are most certainly thick if they get swayed by the results around vote casting time.

I really hope the mancs cock it up tomorrow, and also on the weekend.

Really off-putting to have seen that list on the eve of Hillsborough.

You want a miracle? I’ll give you a miracle.

Chelsea 0 Liverpool 3 (Carragher, Mascherano and Ngog).

Perhaps I shouldn’t drink so much but it is my birthday.

MTMMC

Does anyone know why the votes are cast in Feb and not at the end of the season?

Well they like to have the ceremony in mid-early May and apparently it takes ages to get all the votes in, arranged and counted up etc. Not sure why it takes 3 months but there you go.

Thanks, LB.

Well, casting the votes in Feb is like deciding the Man of the Match in the 60th minute because someone needs time to count the votes.

Silly, silly, silly!

I admit I am no fan of Kuyt- still I do not agree on his goals return to be such a scandal. It’s decent to me but I have my reservations bout Kuyt and this is not the time for it.

I would like to see us play with a 3 man central defence. We have more to gain from this. Agger should play his role as a defender who is good on the ball and let out world class midfielder’s run the midfield.

I do not agree STevie G should NOT start. How can anyone agree to that? Stevie G is adaptable and can play in most positions. If at all, he should be played where he is effective, not left on the bench as a surprise tactical move against a team that beat us 3-1 a week before. To outsmart Hiddink, Rafa can choose to play Stevie G further away from Essien, either
1- nearer to central midfield (but that would cramp up the midfield if we have ALonso AND Monster).
2- Tell Stevie to play the wing
3- Allow STevie G to stick closer to the side and play criss crossing both wingers when attacking RIera/ Babel can cut in and STevie G goes out wide on the left..or BEnnayoun/Nabil cutting in Stevie G goes out right… whichever way Stevie G needs to play and play a yard or two away from Essien. This was how Damien DUff and Arjen RObben played to good effect a time back.

WIth JT out and Carvalho still coming to terms with form and fitness, Torres and Babel should be able to tear apart Chelshit’s defence. This attack is with pace, height and strength. WIth ALonso, Stevie G, BEnnayoun’s creativity and thru balls, we can put these two at the end of our plays.

WIth Agger and Hyypia providing the extra height and shots for set pieces, we should be able to get a goal or two from the set pieces.

The bridge can come crumbling down.

Liverpool 4 – Chelshit – 1
Bennayoun 8th, Torres 17th, Babel 44th and Hyypia 78th
Chelshit’s goal will come from JT… 99th

Hyde for the day thats in it we’ll agree to differ and leave it at that. Anyone got a link to those player of the year lists? Im starting to get a little tense now but got the good news that the boss is leaving at 12 today so operation ‘digger-sneaking-off-early-to-watch-the-reds’ is affirmative, i repeat, affirmative. Woohoo! P.s congrats corky and fatty!

Digger, that came across like a Homer J Simpson “Whoohoo!!”

Knight wants to see JT cry but he isn’t playing he’s suspended and there won’t be able t oscore the scant consolation in the 99th minute satyromaniaman. (9 mins injury time??)

How about this team gentlemen…

Reina
Arbie Carra Agger Aurelio
Gerrard Alonso Masch Benayoun
Torres Babel

Benny, Stevie and Babel can rotate positions all night long.

Yeah LB- 99th min JT scores for Chelshit… hell.. tonight is the night of impossibles.

JT would be soooo pissed he’d get on the pitch after the match ends and kicks the ball into the net out of frustration.

That’s spooky Gerry. 2-4 on the night is the exact score that I have been predicting at work. Most people have laughed at me at my prediction, but I really believe it. We could get through 0-3, 1-4 or whatever, but it’s interesting that you have also gone for 2-4. Perhaps we are the only two who think that will be the score. Destiny will decide. Ever since we lost the 1st leg, I have felt we would get through. I still feel it. I still believe it. The scoreline of 2-4 came to me on Sunday. Gerry, if we are right, the other lads will all be asking us for next weeks lottery numbers!

I also wondered if Rafa would be keeping Babel fresh for this game, as I feel he will have a major part to play tonight.

Oh, and the score of the quarter-final second leg against London opposition last season?……….. 4-2 to Liverpool.

We can do this.

digger, sure mate, nothing’s changed has it LoL!?
Lucky bastard, being able to get off work early! It’s 23:30 over here and I am still stuck. Plus, I can’t catch the game live. I leave you and the other lads to woohoo it for me mate.

LB, although I agree to your set up, the 4-4-2 just does not seem to get the best out of stevie. I have a slight dreaded feeling that we might see something like this:

Pepe
Arby, carra, dagger, aurelio
//////////masch
///////Xabi
Kuyt////SG//////Dossena
///////Nando

And then get babel and benny on as subs.

However, a 4-4-2 that might release stevie could be:
GK and DF being the same, and then

/////////Masch
/Kuyt/////////////Riera
/////////SG
///Babel///////Nando

in a diamond-like shape.

Steve, have you gone to the bookies with your thoughts?

Somehow, my comments have been erased, but what I said was:

Digger, of course mate, some things never change! And I envy you for being able to leave work early. I am pissed off that I am still at office when it is 23:44 now.

And I also would want to feel that LB’s set-up would work fine, but I think Stevie needs to be behind torres to fully see him be effective.

But if we are to have a 4-4-2 set-up, I think the midfield and strikers could be set up in a diamond shape:

………Masch
Kuyt……………Riera
………SG
…..Babel…..Nando

Steve’s scoreline prediction would be a dream.

No bookies LB, if I did that it wouldn’t happen, so I’m staying well away from Paddy Power and co.

Congratulations on the news of the November arrival FS. I’m sure you have bought him/her a nice new redshirt already!

Oh sod it, I can’t work on a day like this, I am heading home!

But, I can’t catch the game live so I will leave it to digger and the rest of you lucky lads to “woohoo” it for me!

GET STUCK IN THERE LADS!!

Way to go Corkie ! Another rebel is born.
You too FS – Top news delighted that you’re gonna be a mellow Granda !! I don’t think so …
Footie comments later.

Thanks for the best wishes lads,

I have a 4yr old already, and he was naming her Steve Gerrard Gerrard for the first fews day, it was going to be Torres if it was a boy!
She is currently sleeping under a This is Anfield sign!

Jesus Christ i leave for a couple of days,come back and there`s babies all over the place!

Congrats to you Corkie good to see another addition to the red family,and a rebel to boot.

Congrats to you too fat man great news.

Haven`t got a chance to read all comments yet,but i just want to say if we score an early goal tonight we`ve a great chance.

Thats all of my expert analysis.

My thoughts go out to the 96 their familys ana friends too.

You`ll nevr walk alone.

Jft96.

Congrats Corkie and FS on the news of two new arrivals to the Red ranks, let’s hope we’ll all have something else to celebrate tonight.BELIEVE.

BTW,Gerry

Who won the last competition?

Thanks for the well wishes lads. And congrats to you Corkie lad. Just popped in to say this… I’ve just had a phone call off a mate. He said to me… “I’m dead confident we can do this. I honestly think we will get through. I don’t know why.”

I had to tell him it was probably the 25 pints of Stella he’d had. Well, even he couldn’t down that amount, but it won’t be that far off. Anyway, the only people giving us any hope…. drunks, nutters and the faithfuls. Just the way I like it. You watch them shite themselves if we get an early one. 3 – 2 and it doesn’t seem such a mountain, eh.

A Bridge too far?!……Never say never! You got a f’ing quality team there and I hope you wipe the floor with them. Good luck lads!

Stevo (Newcastle Fan)

Right Footie now,

For me we are in a no-lose situation tonight. No-one expects “realistically” that it’s gonna get turned. Chelsea 13 supporters confidently expect a re-run of Anfield I’m sure. That’s the way with fans. Short term memories and high expectations. If we could get a goal up anytime in the first hour for me it will start to make them sweat. One more goal and it will be panic cos just the same way that Chelsea demoralised L’pool last week it can turn the other way this week. It is possible. Actually in a weird way even if we concede a goal it doesn’t hugely matter cos we have to score at least 3 in any case.

Now which way is Rafa gonna play it ? All cards on the table and go for it for the first hour ? Or hold back Stevie and hope his presence can help sow more confidence if we are in with a shout with 30 to go ?

I’d go for it from the start myself but i ain’t Rafa.

As I say nothing to lose … and fame to gain.

It certainly is a Homer J. like ‘woohoo!’ LB! When I heard the boss (read Mr. Burns) was leaving early my plan kicked into overdrive. Digger will be missing from sector 7G very shortly!

I’m thinking Rafa might look at bringing Stevie on around the hour mark as a sub. Wait for some fatigue to set in on the pitch and bring Stevie in with fresh legs once the game has “slowed down” a bit to help deal with his injury.

I don’t see a clean sheet in our future, but I think we can do it.

As FS said, “drunks, nutters and the faithfuls”. Throw in the kids and some old folks, and you’ve got my kind of people.

BELIEVE!

Whilst I have to admit to being less optimistic than the posters above, I do believe that if we score in the first half, it will set pulses racing and create anxiety in the Chelski team. This could then set in motion a chain of events whereby not only do we start to believe and pressure Chelsea, but they could actually contribute to their own downfall. Like I said a long shot but a first half goal would certainly put the cat among the pigeons.
I believe we will win. But by how much?

The game starts at 2.45am over here, I know I’m supposed to get some sleep before that, but I’m too nervous.

I can feel the vibes everytime something is about to happen, this is it. I don’t know why, and I’m not even alcoholic like FS’s mate.

If the voting was done in February then how in the fuck do Steven Ireland and Tim Cahil not get a mention. They were lighting shit up for their sides! Cahil especially.
Xabi likewise was instrumental in every goal we scored. As was Murphy for Fulham.

I sorta get the Giggs nomination… (he’ll win it just coz his days are numbered) and maybe even Vidic (though as rightly pointed out 2 sendings off and numerous yellows?) prior to the slump, but the rest of them???
How the fuck do you nominate Ronaldo when he hadn’t even played half the fuckin games between August and January?????

A total joke!

Anyway. They’ll look to keep us quiet for the first 10-15, which is fine, but if we bag one on 20, its game on!

They were all at 100% at Anfield and we had players all over the park at 70% or less. We just need a slight reversal of that and its anyone’s game.

I read a piece this morning that referenced our clawing 3 back in Istanbul with the statement “Chelsea are a better team than that Milan team.”
REALLY? SERIOUSLY?

You gotta love revisionist history.
If the Chavs are thinking and believing that, (and we can only hope) then we WILL get our 3 goals tonight!

Gerrards out!!

It just got harder, but maybe it will throw Chelsea off their stride

No point crying over spoilt milk now. If the gods are against us on Stevie’s condition, so be it, but we will STILL give the Chavs hell!

There can be no regrets now. In fact, might as well let the Chavs think they’ve won already, if you know what I mean.

I think we’ll give it a good go tonight but Stevie G being out is a disaster. I can’t see us over turning 3-1. I’ve now jinxed the chav’s.

Everyone will have to be on the top of their game and the chav’s have a game like we did last week.

If Torres is on fire I mean against Real Madrid on fire then we stand a chance.

Have you guys seen the team? It really will be a miracle of epic proportions if we get anything.

The Reds XI in full is: Reina, Aurelio, Arbeloa, Skrtel, Carragher, Kuyt, Lucas, Alonso, Mascherano, Benayoun, Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Dossena, Hyypia, Agger, Riera, Babel, Ngog.

No Gerrard in the squad. Did he aggravate the injury? He was training yesterday.

That team looks like one that is trying to protect a lead not get goals.

I wonder if Rafa may have known that Stevie wouldn’t play but has been playing it up all week to throw Hiddinks tactics off

Something is not right. He travelled and trained so must have got injured in training.

Thats an excellent point 5yr. Lads I know this is gonna cause consternation but i’ve never been one to hold my tongue in here(!) so here goes; dagger should be in that team somewhere, especially in light of the Gerrard situation. I hope to fowler I’m wrong but I just cant see what Lucas is going to offer us going forward and in a winner takes all scenario like tonight I would bring all my power to bear. Lucas, imo, does not fall into that bracket. Anyway, nuff said, lets go reds! Do us proud lads!

I dont know about throwing off Chav tactics, more like give them a lift. Imagine being a Chelsea player in the dressing room. “No Gerrard?? Nice one ”

The pre-match hype is astounding!
Apparently we shouldn’t have even bothered turning up.

SG… no SG… doesn’t matter. We are NOT a 2 man team…
COME ON YOU REDS!

Any more positivity LB and i thought ud be on drugs :p

Lets show them we dont need SG. Lets fucking do them

Would have prefered to see babel in instead of lucas in 4-4-2.

Shit happens!

C`mon the reds!

I think Rafa knew Stevie wouldn’t play all along, but wanted to keep the Chelshits on their toes and at the same time hope that the last min news throws them into a false sense of security.

3-1 at the bridge would be a hell of a result even if we were winning 3-1. But we will know in 2 hours or so. Still crossing my fingers…. if we get an early goal…

I am Jack’s Raging Heart Attack.

We go the 20 minute goal we needed.

Chelsea were believing their own hype, coz they didn’t start to play until we got the 2nd.

Apparently though… Chelsea won 3-1 at Anfield not because of our mistakes, but because they were clearly the superior team.
We are winning 2-0 now because of all the Chelsea mistakes!

HMMMMMM………………?

COME ON YOU REDS! (seriously though, my fuckin heart is beating like a muthafucka!)

2-0 at the half. I can’t friggin’ breathe right now but the boys still have some work left. We need one more, and then it will truly be game on.

Even if we concede boys, not much changes. We needed to score 3 before the match begin. I said I’d give my left nut to get to extra time, and I stand by that.

Win or lose I love this ‘effin team. Such grit, character and determination.

Pre-Match Interviewer: Do you believe in miracles?
Rafa: I believe in my team.

BELIEVE

FAR CANAL!!!….

Digger how about a half-time apology for Lucas?

(sorry mate gotta call you on it. He’s playing well.)

strap yourselves in.

Belieeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvveeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another chance straight after half-time… they are completely rattled !

shit

omg reina

Crap goal … Reina own goal for me. But no matter we gotta get another one anyway.
1-2

Babel next on???

just shat meself

2-2
Damn

Game over….

I just smashed my TV….

Sloppy defending, lack of focus and another one that Reina could have saved. A nightmare 15 minutes. Who’s gonna stand up now ?

2-2

A bridge too far….

So near, yet so far….
We scored from their mistakes… and now they scored through ours

We can still do it, just hold on to the ball and play on the ground, they are nothing at the back.

reira in

Bold substitution – Mascher off, Riera on. Could be 4-2 / 2-4 !!!

monster out???

Game over …. gave it to ‘em

I am proud of the lads tonight. Hopefully we can win the league.

wow, what a turnaround. 3 goals in the second half to concede is not good enough, regardless of how they come.

the third was disgraceful play from aurelio, i have to say. poor ball gives it away in his own half, then he just strolls back and watches his man kick it in the net…no urgency to get back and defend.

unacceptable, really. still, we gave it a go, and ever since the second, it seems we have lost the belief.

YNWA

Torres out
Ngog in
Surrendered

3-3 !

3 – 3

3-4 ! Kuyt

please … please .. please

4 -3
COMMON

I believe

Babel on arbeloa off … we’ve got 3 defenders left .. there will another goal

i beleive …
that i’ll get an infarct

4-4

Game over~

A great liverpool side today lads

we gave it our all and thats all you can ask for from the guys

Even Lucas scored today..

^^

A great comeback, marred by a silly mistake by Reina, which allowed Chavs into the game..

Disappointed

Well, it wasn’t meant to be but the lads did us mighty proud tonight! YNWA

1. A rare mistake by Reina handed them this match.
2. I hate Dog-bra
3. Come on now Porto!!

we did give it our all. very disappointing to give up so many goals in the second half.

i have no respect for drogba as a player. he might be world class in quality, but he has no class as a person. throwing himself around the pitch like a rag doll the entire match.

in the second half its like they were playing under mourinho again, with long balls up to drogba, malouda, and ballack who would just dive on the floor if there was a liverpool player within 2 yards of them. rubbish.

YNWA. we gave it our all.

Great display by the boys tonight, without our “talisman” as the press love to state. The defense fell apart in the second half, but that’s bound to happen when you’re pressing forward. The boys were knackered at the end, but they never quit.

We lost the tie, I’m truly gutted, but so proud of the boys. Six games to go, focus on the league.

we could have had 5 goals in the first half…if the first half only had like 5 or 10 more minutes, we would have wrapped up the game. they looked in shambles.

We should have won this one …. a mad bad 15 minutes at the start of the second half I reckon.
Bloody great heart though.

…Now we can focus on the premier league

What can I say? Without Gerrard and managed to score 4 against those fucking Chavs.

Even Rafa seemed to have half given-up when he took away Masch and Torres, and yet they still managed 2 more, but the team was really stretched thin, and to be fair to Rafa, the Premier League does seem like the more realistic option then before Lucas’s deflection.

This is but a Pyrhhic victory for Chavski, now that Bolton and us have exposed their defensive frailties, Barca will no doubt exploit it to the max.

One more thing, COME ON PORTO! At least make my week better by knocking the Scum out. (Mr Ferguscum will actually be scared shit silly that we still had our heads high despite going out. Now we’re gonna go all out in the League. )

You have to say the referee was shockingly bad. Granted he was a help in us getting our first two, but after that, every 50/50 decision went to the Chavs.

The number of times their players backed into ours, then got the call, was ridiculous!

Our defense which has been so strong for several seasons now, is so shakey?
But I’ll tell you what. I’m proud of all of them.

As far as confidence goes, I know they’ll all be disappointed, but I hope that once they’ve had a chance to calm down, Rafa will tell them it was as good as a win.
Remarkable fight back…. TWICE!!!!!!

And the travelling Kop rightly singing them off at the end! Its great to be a red… even though we went out, we went out with Pride in-tact!

Aitch, I think the players will be really hurting but in terms of confidence they’ll be fine. They know they played great and showed tremendous spirit!! I’m proud of them. If we show that kind of quality and spirit in the remaining six games I think we’ll get maximum points.

Rafa looked like he was seething!!

Yeah LB, I saw that… and he looked like he was givin Hiddink an earful, as they shook hands… what do you reckon that was about?

C’mon we can’t really blame Reina for that goal. Skrtel didn’t block Drogba out and he got a deflection.
Well done boys… you did us proud today.

What a game! Ah well,it was not to be,Chelsea had the luck via the silly goal Reina gave away and Lampard’s hit both posts before going in.
The team did themselves proud right to the end!
Let’s hope that Lady Luck helps us in the Premiership title.

I dont know what to say. Once again this team of ours has left me speechless. All I can say is I’m so proud of them all and proud to call myself a red. We gave it our all and then some and just fell short. Fantastic team, fantastic heart, fantastic display. Who could ask for more? YNWA.

Aitch, I think Rafa was upset with all the free kicks Chelsea got. But to be fair to him, he’s gutted and hurting and wanted to vent. By the time he did the interview he calmed down.

The reason I was never confident of going through is that I always thought we’d concede goals tonight. Our defenders just do not have an answers when Drogba is in top form. Carra and Skrtel are at a loss to know what on earth to do with him.

LB

My guess is he was pissed about drogba’s theatrics
in injury time and hiddink wasting time with the
substitution

Show that spirit in our remaining games and its 18 points no problem.

Where do I start? Incredible game. The Referee was not biased but he was pathetic! Drogba was getting free kicks all night for backing and throwing himself on the floor. He is a top quality player but he is an absolute disgrace and everything I despise in a player. The fourth came after we were denied a blatant free kick. Our 2nd was a defo peno and credit to the ref for giving a peno when most other refs just ignore that sort of challenge in the box. Drogba at the end went down and wouldn’t get up wasted about a minute of the injury time and then they made a sub which wasted the other 30 secs. Then all the chav’s start waving their plastic flags they were given. I would be ashamed to call myself a Chavski fan what a joke.

Just seen the goals again …. aaaaaaaagggghhhh … defensive suicide … the only decent goal that Chelsea got was the last one. Damn, damn ,damn. We should have done them. I’d say Benitez will have kittens when he sees the tape of this one.
LB …great spirit fair enough, and it was tremendous to see how they (mostly) played with their heads as well as their hearts but we have to have focus. Lack of mental concentration and focus lost us this one. I am sick and proud at the same time.
I also agree with Aitch above the Ref was a fussy F**ker who bought all Of Drogba & Co gamesmanship .. every small decision went the Home sides way.
Drogba … what can you say. He is a monster of a player and a conniving, sly cheat at the same time.

The boys done us proud tonight.We had them on the ropes at 2-0 did anyone hear beglin tonight?What a twat.He said he`d love to know what hiddink said at half time because chelsea csme out different team.Like fuck they did,we were on top early on seond half and they never looked like scoring.Only a stroke of good fortune which i blame skrtel as well as reina for,lifted them.

Rant over,good fight by the lads,our thought go to the 96 for tommorow.

Jft96

It’s hard to criticise the team but I think Agger would have been a better bet against Dogbreath than Skyrtl he kept him quiet the last time and scored a beauty. I don’t think you can criticise too much. The first goal was poor defending all round. First to let anelka get the cross in, then for Dogbreath to get ahead of the defender and third for Reina to pick this moment to throw it into his net. Their 2nd was a tremendous unstoppable free kick, well it was stopable in that it shouldn’t have been given but you can’t blame the defence it was a rocket. their 3rd was when we chasing the game and their fourth was after we should have a had a free kick which was given.

what makes me sick is Torres gets penalised for every time for exactly what Dogbreath does on every single challenge.

With Drogba ts gamesmanship, he knows his team are good for set pieces, so the cunt goes down easily time and time again, backing into defenders sll night long. He either wins free kicks or he shows strength, spins off the centre back and shoots at goal or creates a chance. He’s a constant threat and in my opinion was the difference between the sides over the 2 legs.

Reina did fuck up for the first goal and although most reds feel he is the best keeper in the world I have the opinion that he is prone to mess ups in the big games. That goal lifted Chelsea at a time where I couldn’t see where they would get a goal.

not given i mean

Plastic fans with their plastic little flags … Booed their own team off at half-time. A contrived “team spirit” with Didier “all heart” Drogba at the helm. Pathetic little classless club.

I can’t agree with that LB about Reina. He messes up in the big games? What like this one anymore you can think of? I do agree though it lifted the chav’s when we were right on top. I never see dogbreath show his strength and spin off I only see him throw himself on the ground every single time! he is top class I have to admit it but what a wanker!

Right I’m gone. Sorry for hogging the blog. All the typing in the world ain’t gonna change the result.

Disgusting display of plastic flags if I ever saw one. They’re all the fucking same and lacking in originality.

I’m not saying we can’t beat him, if Gerrard was fit, we’d definitely had a chance, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved that we did the league double over them Chavs before Hiddink came, and that he is only a temporary manager for the Chavs.

The new guy after him will still need time to instill his own ideas, no matter how many roubles the Russian gangster pours in, whereas Rafa will have 5 years to mould a squad of his own.

dougle you are spot on old bean, they are a sad excuse for a club, no class at all. Plastics flags? what a bunch of sad losers. They did the business at Anfield that’s what did us and you have to say they were the better team at anfield which is really frustrating as any sort of draw apart from 5-5 would have seen us through.

Hiddink is a ‘genius’ at half time he told his players to just start flopping all over the place. that referee was a joke…………a real joke

Maybe it’s not just the players who’ve gained a valuable lesson, perhaps Rafa might too.

In the past, it’s not hard to guess when he’ll make his subs. Usually beginning at 60-65 mins, and then gradually introducing the other two depending on how the game goes, but very rarely before the 60 minute mark. But that is when the game is under control, and we all know how much of a control freak Rafa likes to be. (That’s supposed to be a compliment, don’t get me wrong. )

But what if things don’t go as plan? Look at Hiddink, after Xabi made it 2-0, he quickly introduced Anelka, and gradually Anelka contributed to Dogbreath’s lucky goal and they managed to stop their rot.

Kinny: that result over us at Anfield was a one off. They did us and played out of their skins and we had Gerrard and Torres carrying injuries which helped them. Torres was also carrying an injury and we didn’t have Stevie G in the 2nd leg. The fact that tosser Terry wasn’t playing to me made no difference as I think he is well overrated. He is brave and will put his head in but he gets skinned on a regular basis.

Kinny Anelka was annoymous mate. Drogba was the difference. Anelka put the ball in but can you honestly say you could see any danger? Dogbreath got his toe on it and Reina threw it in. We went in 2-0 andthey were rattled.

Aye, Kenny. I shall be looking forward to seeing them get grilled by Barca. They’re simply unstoppable.

Ideal final would be Barca vs Porto/Villarreal.

Idon’t mind Hiddink as a bloke. At least he has a bit of class and dignity about him. I can’t see the chav’s getting past barca. their defence is shaky and chech is a shadow of his former glory. they will not play as well as they did in the first leg against us and barca will not play as badly as we did in the first game. I would like to see Villareal win the champions league. I do not want any English team to win it. I know I’m bitter but who cares?

I hate to see players throwing themselves on the floor. The only other English club who has the same dignity as us is Arsenal. I never see their players throwing themselves on the floor like the chav’s or the dirty mancs.

Fuck it! I’ve got to say that Reina’s howler WAS the turning point IMO.

It bouyed Chelsea just at the time they most needed it and with us two goals to the good, the next goal was always going to be mega important.

I was disappointed not to see Agger start, and would like to have seen Babel brought on earlier.

I thought we defended poorly at times tonight and it cost us two 2 extra goals, Reina’s howler and Lampards first goal, for which I think Skrtel could of done better.

I am also prouder than ever to be a Red though, we just never know when we are beaten, we never give up.

If there is any justice we will win the Prem now, and if we don’t I know we will all be totally gutted. We will all have great hopes for next season though. Well done Redmen, you went down fighting and we love you for that. YNWA.

of the “big four” I mean.

I don’t hate Hiddink as well, just as I don’t hate Scolari, they’re with the wrong club, as far as I see it. I’ve got Korean mates who still worship him to this day (though they don’t give a shit about European football).

Technically, he can run as President of South Korea, since he is an honorary citizen. Who knows, perhaps his tactics might just be the missing ingredient to solve the recent North Korea missile crisis? lol

Before we put our sights back on the Premier League, just one more word from this bitter Red: It’s only on loan, next year we’ll bring it back home and make it six.

What’s really annoying is I think we would have knocked Barca out. We would have been to canny for them but I fancy with the 2nd leg at Anfield. Ah well let’s hope we can go all the way in the league. We are fighters though and that is the way a Liverpool team should be.

Great game, apart from the score. Overall, we deserved to win this one, and over 2 legs you could toss a coin.

Drogba is still the best diver since Greg Lube-anus.

The guys should be proud that that game will be talked about for many years,
I hope Chelsea go on and win it, so that we can say we could have gone all the way if we only we had a bit more luck.

LB Renia did fuck up, but all Liverpool great goalkeepers fucked up once in a while. Brucey.. Hell… Calamity James played for us how many years ago… and he is now in the England goals, he must be about 65 now…

The good thing from this game is that the Arse aer now scratching their heads saying “Fuck… they are going to kick us off the pitch”….

It was an epic game 4-4 what it shows is we are far from the cautious team critics would have you believe. Rafa has put this team together and I fully belive we will win the league next season because I think the mancs will just about stay the distance this season as the games are running out.

drogba makes me sick. its so frustrating to see these tremendous players like he and ronaldo act like spoiled children on the pitch and playing the game dishonestly.

oh and aitch, like LB, i think rafa was giving hiddink an earful about the conning of the referee that his side did the entire second half. playing for nothing but free kicks around the box.

i couldnt believe drogba was writhing in agony off the pitch within 5 minutes, and then rolled himself back onto the pitch so play could be stopped. absolutely disgraceful. i’m sorry, but with the diving and fake injuries, the game is becoming a mockery because taggart and others come out and say “star players must be protected.”

anyways, i’m getting into a rant. i was just so pissed to see drogba and co diving around like fish out of water the entire second half. my five year old daughter asked why the big man with the funny hair on chelsea was hurt on the ground when he hadn’t even been touched at the 90th minute or whenever it was at the end of the game (and i hadn’t even said anything about it myself!).

YNWA

steve the red, not going to doubt you, but to put it in perspective, Rafa is improving the squad year by year, as many have observed, while the Scum are just stagnant.

So even if they did eek out, it will be but a Pyrhhic victory for them, because they will be scarred by that demolition in Old Crapford, knowing we’re getting better and better, no matter how many millions they spend, Rafa can still make a more efficient machine at a fraction of their spending.

Kenny, spot on about Arsenal. They do play “honourably”. Most of the non-Liverpool football mates I get along best are Arsenal supporters really, since we do share a common hatred of the Scum and Chavs.

So I guess the only other English team I wouldn’t mind winning it would be them. Though they’ll be our opponents next week, and all that gets thrown out of the window for 90 minutes at least.

Coyar are you sure you want the chav’s to go on and win it? I like being able to sing that they have no history. They next to manure are lacking class and dignity but as FS says at least the mancs have history and tradition.

A special mention for the travelling KOP.They were once again first class.

On the contrary,the classless Chavs disgarced themselves.Booing their side off at half-time they pull out their free plastic flags and wave them at the finish.

Pityful.

Not sour greapes but i hope,for the sake of the game of football,that Barcelona go on to win the Champions League.

The chav’s played like wimbledon and the ref bought it every single time dogbreath threw himself on the deck. If i was Carra i would have “looking” for him so the next time he writhed around in agony it would have been for real. What a faggot!

I don’t care who wins as long as the mancs, chavs and arse don’t win. If it has to be an English club then let it be the arse.

So proud of all the players and effort tonight.

Still in the back of mind was the PL and I still think we can win it and 2 tough games against Barca would test our panel and jepordise our PL chances.

Who wants Porto to win ? Surely we want Manure to have as many tough games as possible so let them get beatan in the semis or even better the final.

Neil i can understand the mancs playing more games in the CL will be an advantage but i think if they`re knocked out it will destroy their belife.
If thet win it could be the kick up the backside to see them over the finish line.

So i do want them to go out.As kenny said i hate seeing them win the toss.

Maybe tonights result happened for a reason,and we`ll go on to lift number 19.

Jft96

One has to wonder if a defeat in Porto followed by a defeat to Everton, would be enough to rock the Scum just enough for us to take it?

More games = stretching them
Two defeats = no “unprecedented Quadruple” and surely bigtime psych damage?

We truly are THE MIGHTY REDS… 1-3 down and playing against 12 men in the 2nd half! Fcukin priceless regardless of the result.

On a personal note:-
The good news… my heart rate is finally back to normal.
The bad news… my post-match stomach acid is off the charts!

can i just say that it is absolute bollocks that alonso is not in the short list for pfa player of the year.

another positive from today’s match… at least kuyt remembered how to score a header from 4 yards out! : )

aint seen comments,however drogba made that goal wasn’t as lucky as it first seemed. we gave a great account of ourselves, the turning point was one fine detail, before chelsea scored for there first we should have had a corner after that bastard cole headed out didnt get it……….. as rafa says small detail.

we live to fight another day,league time boys league time. my thoughts are with the famlies of the 96 now. YNWA

Fantastic game to watch…

So impressed by the team – they just never gave up…esp. Kuyt – thats why he should always be there…the lad just never gives up…thats what you want in your team…someone who doesnt know when hes beaten…

Lucas had a great game…maybe he really needs to play in a more advanced role…

Oh…well…if it means we win the league then I dont care…

I’m back ! Too adrenalised to sleep at the moment. Alec, Kuyt had a fine game for me. Intelligent and a very good touch and skill, his run to knock in that header was perfect.

Now that I reflect on it I think it’s no harm (going forward) that we ended the game without Mascher, Torres & Stevie and yet we were looking like we could score with every attack. It should give the non-star players .. Ngog, Benny O, Riera, Lucas, Kuyt even more reason to believe in themselves and , as has been said, maybe give us all and Rafa something else positive to focus on.

Good night to all. Ultimately it was a wonderful rollercoaster of a game. Thanks to the boys on the pitch, the Reds at the game and all of us hypertensive scribes and watchers.

Tomorrow is another day. Soccer pales beside it.

gutted, absolutely gutted about the result, especially after the first half……….since I have used alcohol to numb the pain (AGAIN!) I will just list my points as follows………….

1. really, really proud of the redmen, they went and fought and didnt lie down….
2. Drogba is a horrible, cheatin TWAT…..
3. Hiddink the “master tactician” his idea was to use cheatin twat to get as many free kicks around the box as he could (and, unfortunately it worked..
4. The turning point was Reinas error….the first major error he has made in 3.5 yrs at the club so all is forgiven big fella…..
5. Commentator on ITV in England saying ” they dont need to be given plastic flags by the club, they bring their own flags” about the travelling reds……..
6. being one goal away from the impossible not once, but TWICE………
7. reading all the comments from all you redmen all over the world sounding just like how I feel, makes me proud to be a red…….
8. FS becoming a grandad and corklfc becoming a dad……good work fellas………I have just got my 10 yo son a puppy cos he has been pining for one and his bro is now 17 and doing his own thing, and FFS it feels like a new baby in the house, all that cleaning up Sh*te and gettin bitten for my efforts! so I can relate (sort of!) just make sure they become part of the red family…..I will with the dog!
9.The Premiership……Bring it on!
10. if we end up with nothing, its still been a great season, and we are on the brink of being a real force again for years to come…..
11. 20 long years and still no justice for the 96…….

YNWA

My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the people who lost their lives twenty years ago today.

Justice for the 96

YNWA

Apparently Hiddink said to Dutch TV, “Rafa said Chelsea won it because of the referee.”

So what? What are they going to say? They asked the referee not to book any of their players before the first leg. So there’s nothing they can say. Cheating bastards.

I don’t know what’s worse… The club, it’s fans, it’s players. They’re all fucking woeful. Dropba epitomises them. Great footballer with a wealth of talent rolling around and squealing like a stuck pig when he hasn’t been touched. Disgrace.

Once we got the penalty the referee gave them practically everything. Can’t say he was intimidated by their pathetic fans. They should rename that ground The Cuckoo Clock. The fuckers pop out when there’s a goal and then pop right back in. Shameful.

As for Pepe… fuck me lads, how can you say anything bad about the man. I love him. He’s nuts and he loves LFC/Us. But besides that, the lad is brilliant and well on his way to becoming our greatest ever keeper. I’ve seen them all since Tommy Lawrence and I think Pepe is only marginally behind Ray Clemence. And time will put him ahead.

He’ll win the Golden Gloves for the 4th season the bounce this year. He’s the best keeper in this country by light years, and it’s beyond me how anyone can fault him.

Fuck me he nearly got a hand on the second, and any touch on that would have deflected it like a cruis missile. It travelled 31 yards at 58 mph. Most keepers would have been rooted to the spot.

As for the first… watch it again. Pepe was in perfect position. Skrtle should have got it away. But look at the nick Dropba got on it. It was really quite something. It was no fluke. He got the perfect touch, directed it into the tiniest of areas, the only area it could go in from. And it went at Pepe with such pace that all he could do was try and get something on it. He did. It could have bounced out just as easily as it bounced in. Desperately unlucky and not the howler I first thought it was.

Also it was Alonso who was at fault for Fatty’s post bouncer. But it’s very hard to citicise Xabi as he was great all night, and he was off balance when he made the mistake. But he did gave the ball directly to Lampost and then he didn’t chase him back. Probably fatigue, and I doubt you’ll see anything similar again.

Oh well, hope Porto and Everton batter the Mancs while we have a nice rest. Hope Villareal do Arsenal and then Chelsea and Arsenal kick the shite out of one another. It would be good to see their legs and confidences getting knocked to fuck while we rest ours.

And we’ve got a weeks rest now, with six cup finals after that. And Rafa will have the lads right for it mentally and physically. He will have them seething over this result. The medical and coaching staff will have them firing on all cylinders. With a fully fit squad we could well take maximum points. And who knows, there could still be a sting in the tail of this strange strange season.

overall i am very happy with everyone’s performance in the match, but i must say that i was very disappointed with their third (i think it was)…aurelio was dribbling the ball out of the back, made a weak pass and it was picked off. from there, instead of hustling back to get on his man, he just strolled back and lampard (whom he should have been marking) was wide open to meet the cross and score. watch the replay.

actually, it sounds like what FS was talking about and i’m wondering if you are referring to the same thing. it was aurelio, not xabi.

YNWA

FS … we have to analyze what went on… as Rafa will do.

I don’t reckon anyone was being too critical of Pepe, or anyone else.

Pepe is the MAN, but he was NOT perfectly positioned for the 1st goal. There was a big gap between him and his near post… a simple No-No for any keeper, but having said that, as you rightly pointed out, Dogbreath got a perfect touch on it… and shit happens.
I personally blame that goal on Aurellio, who should have stood in front of Anelka, but instead gave him all the wing to run down!

….there again, don’t misunderstand me… its not criticism, just analysis. We wouldn’t have got the first if Aurellio hadn’t thought he was Gary Mac for a minute!

Well the lads did what I wanted for the game, threw everything at them, that’s what I wanted to see.
.
Well done lads.
.
I hope Rafa didn’t say anything to Hiddink at the end, it was just the way it’s meant to be. Only need to be gracious after the game.
.
8 goals in 1 game at the bridge.

Gave it everything, all we could ask fer.

Me was right bout Rafa leaving Stevie G out!

Anyway, our thoughts are with the families of those who lost loved ones 20 years ago. YNWA.

ps: Many congrats to Cork & Fat Scouser!

Well!

What a match. Scoring 4 goals is one thing we all predicted and thought that it is possible. But i am sure none of us thought that we will concede 4 goals. So in 2 games against chelsea we conceded 7 goals and in 3 matches(including Blackburn) we scored 9 goals!

Surely, Aurelio could not do his defensive job in the 2nd half. But going forward he was great and what a good goal from the free kick.

As today is a day of mourning and rememberance for all of Liverpool, i wont make any negative comment about our match last night. All i can say that after yesterday’s heroics it would be injustice to us if we dont win the league this season.

We have time and again proved that we can beat our title rivals(Domestic and Europe)fair n sqaure. What more do we need to do to win a title? I just pray to the almighty that we get some luck(ManU dropping points) and win the League. We really deserve it. We really do.

YNWA.

as we have conceded 7 matches it is high time to bring Agger back in the starting 11..

great match, proud to be a red fan, absolutely gutted..definitely next 6 matches are cup finals..justice will be to bring the prem back to anfield

dogbra is shit of a player..what a cheat!..messi, iniesta, eto’o should make these bastards ashamed..come on barca now.

YNWA

sorry – 7 goals in last 3 matches i meant

Cuckoo Clock…

Classic….

It was great to watch the match. Everyone put their heart into the game. I think Aurelio’s first goal was really done so beautiflly. No one expected it, least of all Petr Cech. Hahaha. I was laughing myself silly on that goal. And good to see Alonso striking that goal.
Pepe Reina is not to be faulted for that own goal. Like FS said, it was going at speed and difficult to hanlde. Could have gone either in or out. Just unfortunate. But our third was also of good fortune. Lucas’s shot went in off a deflection.
Many times, the referee did not give a yellow to Chelki players, despite their clear fouls. Worse person was Drogba. he can’t pass as being an actor. It was so clearly he was rolling and in pain just to get one of our players fouled..Dirty bastard.

Anyway, very proud of the team despite the 4-4 draw.

To all the Reds smiling at us from Heaven above – RIP. You’ll Never Walk Alone

I’ve just come back to work from a long weekend.
I’ve read the blogs, but not caught up on all the comments yet.

Just to let you know Fat Scouser.
I met up with your mate Jock on Saturday and watched the Blackburn game.

Was absolutely made up to get a ticket.
I’m 30 this year – and this was my first trip to Anfield.

What a game to watch too – we were sat right by the corner flag in the lower Centenery stand.
Torres’s volley was a beauty – and he came right up to us after he belted that one in.

Just want to say Thanks for helping to sort it all out.

YNWA

At half time we should of brought Agger on for Benayoun which would of allowed our full backs to get forward more and put in more crosses which Cech wouldn’t of been able to handle.The score might have finished 5-2 to us.Full credit to Kuyt and Lucas for their goals.and to Rafa for not playing S G.Agger played well @ the weekend and his reward was to be dropped!.Our defence crumbled @ the Bridge last season and we should of been better prepared for their onslaught.A change in our formation would of given us an edge over the Chavs.

I never comment on anything LFC on April 15th. There’s things I don’t want to say. But I just looked in and I had to say this…
Burgerman, you really should stick to flipping them quater pounders and asking your punters would they like fries with that.

Reddragon, glad you enjoyed it.

See you tomorrow.

I work as a chemical engineer and gave up eating burgers a long time ago.So FS,what line of work do you earn your living by?.

Burgerman,

This ain`t the day for it man,i think FS was saying that with tounge in cheek i don`t think he really belies you flip burgers for a living.As a chemical engineer though you must be some bit intelligent,so let it be and let comments in here be well wishers for the familys of the 96.

You`ll never walk alone.

Jft96.

@Abhiram

I am from India too. Bangalore to be precise. I wanted to know about the existence of LFC fan clubs across the country. You aware of any? Where in India u r from?

@Burgerman
Going by your comment, i guess you are suggesting a 3-5-2 formation after halftime. I think at that position any manager will think why should we change when things going so well?

Aurelio was the weak link but then he was great with his attacking play. Skertel you could argue could have replaced with Agger to counter Drogba but he too came up with some brilliant tackles. Honestly i dont think we can point fingers at any of our players. They played great. How many teams scored 4 goals at the bridge?

As i said earlier, it would be injustice if we dont win silverware this season. Its been one hell of a season for us.

I do understand your point but in matches like last nights you just cannot point to any mistakes.It was destined that we would come agonisingly close to winning and yet not go through.

Lets accept that and move on.

For those abroad fans who would like to know how Hillsborough exactly happened, please visit :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7992845.stm

@Burgerman

Let us not talk about any negative things today. I know Agger would have been good but so were the 11 players who played yesterday. Lets just forget it today.

We have other days to discuss and dissect our match at the Bridge.

I was @ Hillsbrough (in the main stand) on that dreadful , dreadful day.Enough said.

I can’t improve on the comments above but I will say that last night proved beyond doubt, to me, that the reds are not only coming up the hill but they are pretty much on top of it.

A perfect tribute for today and one that makes me proud to be a red.

YNWA

JFT96

Didn’t go through all the comments but Which of the liverpool goals was the best.

I reckon the one from Aurelio was a beauty. No one saw that coming

BTW, congrats to corky and FS.

Pepe our Hero!!

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_headline=pepe-reina-liverpool-played-for-the-hillsborough-96%26method=full%26objectid=23391907%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

timmytorres i second that (posting # 215).

timmytorres i second that (posting # 215).

it’s not about what you do for a living. it’s about what kind of man you are.

RIP to the 96.

And what a fantastic match last nite. I am sure all of them were watching the game with pride from above.

I have really nothing to criticise about the match. If anything, a team that can score 4 goals against chelsea at stamford bridge, in a quarter-final european match, really shouldn’t be allowed to bow out. In that sense, everything was really decided in the first leg. That 3-1 loss was just too much in retrospect. Lesson learned.

Now we can focus on the Premiership, and also hope to see the mancs battered tomorrow and on the weekend. That would shut up the quintuple nonsense. And if you are talking about divers, I have to say winkerwanker is just as about. Just so many things to hate about that club.

The better team got knocked out.

Anyways, the stupid history channel i subscribed to isn’t showing the Hillsborough Disaster programme….

But if anyone out there who was affected by it directly or indirectly, my prayers are with you.JUSTICE FOR THE 96.

YNWA.

out of respect, as timmy and FS have said, it would be nice if all the comments on the blog today were directed towards memorials and tributes to the 96.

there are more important things today to remember than last night’s match.

YNWA

Is there a web site where we can see the memorial?

RIP the 96

Yes Pete, the official Liverpool FC site

YOu can also watch it on the BBC sports website.
I am doing just that. great thing, the internet.

RIP to the 96. i am so proud of the redmen for their performance last night.

Yeah I was aware of official site but can’t access it at the moment. BBC is perfect, thanks lads

YNWA, RIP and Justice to the 96.

Sometimes Google and Wikipedia does yield some interesting side stories concerning Hillsborough.

youtube.com/watch?v=5ZrVfMRyoE0

This is in April 19th 1989, 4 days after the disaster. The European Cup Semi-Final between AC Milan and Real Madrid.

6 minutes after the game started, the ref blew to stop the match for one minute to pay tribute to the 96 that lost their lives, while the AC Milan fans in San Siro could be heard singing YNWA in respect to the victims.

I now have a newfound respect for AC Milan fans.

Hyde, how do you manage to watch the video on the BBC website when it says I can’t watch it outside the UK?

Never mind, I found the right link now.

Just watched the Memorial for the 96. The bond the Fans have with this great club are like Steel and will never be broken.

RIP to the 96

You will never walk alone

great vid Kinny

YNWA

sorry kinny, was too engrossed in the service to catch your comment. Dunno, wasn’t aware fo that. strangely enough, have been able to watch it right thru, but it has just ended. I am glad, so sad I couldn’t be there to pay my respects though.

Hiya Lads

The memorial game at Celtic Park is one that I will never forget. I remember 15th April 1989 like a Celtic cup final win a memory so fresh that it seems like only yesterday it happened.

RIP The 96. Let’s all hope for justice.

YNWA

http://www.oleole.com/blogs/thelordofthewing/posts/justice-for-the-96

i would just likke to pay my respects to the 96 i may not support liverpool but tragedy such as the 96 who died at hillsborough put in to context that there are more important things than football

unfortunately i was at hillsborough i was 39 years old at the time and i shed tears that day and i shed tears on this day every year since, but i tell this i would not want to support any other team in the world other than lfc its the greatest team in the world. it was great that the lads did us all proud last night and would be special for those who watch from a havenly place, keep on fight for their justice and if youa=see any one reading that shite paper the sun explain to them why they should consider reading a different paper. i would not even use it as toilet paper. the 96 you are in may thoughts every day.

never to be forgoten ynwa

what happened guys? No activity today.

Think everyone is pissed-off at the manure scoreline last night. I am like most of you and detest them even winning a throw-in but this could give us the opportunity to catch them in the league.

They will have now have three hard games against the Arse and if we do the Arse on Saturday, it will set things up very nicely.

I think that it was FS who predicted that the weekend we play against wet spam, the 9th may, would prove to be the decisive one and it now looks to be a very good shout.

somnath, i think most of us, myself included, had our minds on other things besides football yesterday. i’m sure today will pick up on activity here in kopblog.

on that note, i will get it started. this weekends match against arsenal is going to be a huge match. arsenal, as some have said before, really could have the biggest influence on who wins the title. they still have to play us, the mancs, and chelski. but we are going to need to be at the top of our game. they are a team with a tremendous amount of pace all over the park, and now that there top strikers are back in full fitness, our defense is going to have to be strong.

we are playing well, but we must focus and give it our all. alonso could be pivotal in this game, in my opinion, with his ability to dictate the pace of the game. as long as he and mascherano can run the midfield, we will be able to play our game.

one game at a time, my friends.

YNWA

BTW, I hope arse does a number on the manure and they then get stuffed in the final by barca.

We win the league and Everton the FA cup and all of Liverpool city is happy.

Ferguson retires, cause he realises he will not get on the perch. Gollum takes over, fucks it up and UTD implode.

You read it here first

Agreed Alec – on all fronts. The one good thing for us is that The Arsenal play Chelsea in a Cup Semi-Final this weekend I think so we get to play them on Tuesday. I don’t think we will be a huge priority for Arsenal now. They have a big lead over Villa and Everton for 4th spot. That said the pressure being off them gives them licence to play as they want, and they can play. Gonna be interesting as to what kind of team Wenger puts out against us then.
I think in some ways this will be the hardest game we have left to play. Football-wise Arsenal are as good as they come. I just wonder about the intensity level on their part as against when we play relegation teams like Hull and West Brom.

Yesterday was very emotional I think for any of us who tuned in to what was happening in Liverpool. God it must be so difficult for people to put to some sort of rest.

I know where you coming from alec, dougle. I was just trying to lighten the mood a bit.

I apologise if I caused any offense.

Watched the service yesterday,it was fitting.Great turn out too.The culture secetary got ripped and too right.The families need answers and justice.I hope they get it.They deserve it.

On to footie and i suppose the only thing we have to fight for is the holy grail.The one advantage from the mancs winning last night is they`ll have 2 tough games against an in-form Arse.

At least we only have 6 games to play,tops.The mancs could have 11,hopefully 10.

Well lads good day to one an all. I no i wanted man scum to get a fixture pile up and hoping them goin through would do that, however i fuckin hate to see them win!!!! thats it full stop.

You can bet your house on it there tails will be well up now after faggot boy scores “greatest goal the world will ever see” they’ll be spouting all the shit in the world about rio being back and being there rock.

The thing is the shit patch they are going through cant last forever,so i’m just hoping it wont have a reverse effect and spur them on.

My worry is that although arsenal may be tired when they play us they will be on cloud nine after result in champions league then when they win on sunday that confidence will carry through so we’ll need to be at our very best.

The scum fucks however get to play them when they’ll be either out of champions and secure in forth or in it an resting players and we really need arsenal to get points of them coz rest of there fixture they dont need to play well to win. Christ they really are the lowest of the low.

Gerry, new blog if you will, fill me with some postives coz i’m on a mini downer. YNWA

TYPO: “if” they win……….. christ dont let that be a omen:(

Timmy, what part of Ireland do you come from?

I`m from Cork Lurgan.The city,i ain`t no woolyback like dougle and corkie

I should be over in Killarney pretty soon. Maybe there is a chance we could meet up – I don’t think that you would want to come to Kerry

Nothing to appologise about Lurgan mate. I don’t go to memorials. I never comment. No RIPs. Nothing. And I lost 2 very close friends. It’s just my way of dealing with things.

At the moment I’m sending booklets to local MPs… “The Hillsborough Football Disaster. Context and Consequences.”

There’s a lot of us helping out and covering every MP in the country and placing them in libraries throughout the country for people to read. And that’s the only reason I am mentioning it in here. You can access it on the web. Just tap this into your searchbar…
The Hillsborough Football Disaster. Context and Consequences.

There’s lots of links. It’s only a 10/20 minute read, but all the relevant information is in there.

Can’t wait for Tuesday now. It will do everyone good to get back to the football.

Would love to Lurgan,Killarneys only down the road.Maybe the other lads wouldn`t mind meeting for a game or something.I owe ya a pint anyway.

Once i`m not caught with work(i work evey second weekend) or family duties(3 young kids) we could meet for a bevvie or 20!

only a pint – you’re a cheeky fucker

Anyway, I will confirm the dates and see what we can do.

Mornin lads, I thought it was a beautiful and very moving memorial yesterday. The unity and solidarity during the collective demand for justice particularly so. Not that I’m ever not proud to be a red but I was bursting with pride tuesday and I must say I swelled with pride and emotion again yesterday. The strength and dignity of Liverpool and its people on such a heartbreaking anniversary made me realise again how proud I am to be a part of a family that is spread worldwide and yet we are one; liverpool.

I watched the entire memorial service on TV yesterday, and I was very glad I did. Fields of Anfield road being sung by the crowd was very moving and of course YNWA with Gerry Marsden leading.

The crowd sent out another message for justice for the 96. The fight will go on.

Man.U players all wore black arm bands last night to remember Hillsborough. Did Arsenal’s players wear them? I haven’t heard anyone saying that they did.

Man.U going through could well be a blessing in disguise for us, let’s hope so.

Six matches left, 3 at Anfield, 3 away.

If we can pick up 18 more points we must have have a real chance.

Afternoon all, lovely day here in England, its been a sad and emotional few days, Gerry, time for a new blog! upwards and onwards. Arsenal next. Only good thing about the CL results on Wed was more tough games for the scum. They should know each other pretty well by the time they meet in the Premiership, a draw methinks?

Steve, the arse did wear them, so did Villareal, according to the BBC website

Yesterday was indeed a sad day for all. Apart from the Conservative Party who
choose to demand a inquiry into a proposed smear campaign on some of their
MPs .This coming from those who helped create the biggest smear campaign
ever against decent football fans 20 years ago,goes to show some people have no shame.
Back to the Chelsh*t game i felt the ref came out for the second half a different
person and Chelsh*t only plan was to cheat Dogbreath been the main culprit
with his persistent diving to win free kicks something he is World famous for
but the ref bought it time and time again or was it Abramovich who bought it ?
all this on the eve of the anniversary of Hillsbrough it goes to show some
people have no shame.

Justice for the 96 YNWA

This is going to be the eventual website for Hillsborough Context and Consequences….
ww.hfdinfo.com

Stick a w on the front. It’s only just been put on the web, so it’s a bit rough right now. But it is a work in progress, so it will get better visually and you can view all the info in there.

No problem Lurgan.

Redboyslim, thanks for the info, pleased to hear that. It sounds like it was a request from EUFA for teams playing in the CL on Wednesday night to wear black armbands. That’s good.

Your point about Arsenal playing Man.U in the PL after the two CL games is a good one, and could well be a draw. An Arsenal victory would be perfect.

Redboy I hope your right and it is a draw but what if Arsenal eliminate utd in the c.l? There is no way on Fowlers green earth utd would lose or draw that league clash. I just couldent see it. I think at best its a double edge sword for us. We can only hope I suppose. Rome, drogba is a fucken disgrace to himself, his club and football. There are only 2 players I actually wish ill will on, ya know ‘i hope you are injured you cunt! cry wolf now!’ and drogba is one. The other I’m sure you can guess!

The other one is not Igor Biscan is it Digger?

I thought he was on about john o`Shea

We know you mean ladyboy Digger whose even worse than Dogbreath .
YNWA

Sorry to bring up distastful news but did anyone see that prick Itanje at the service yesterday messing and laughing during the song.He was trying to get Plessis involved but you could see he didn`t want to know.

I didn`t actually see it myself but it was brought to my attention on another site.http://www.irishkop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8956

The prat should be f**ked out the door first thing.

I say let carra and StevieG spend 15 minutes in a room with him. Maybe then the stupid wanker will understand how to behave on occasions like this.

And the winner is: Rome77! Silver goes to Timmy and bringing up the rear is LondonBarnes! Lol!

I thought the speech givien by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool was very very moving and quite powerful at the same time. I felt immense pride as he spoke.

I felt immense pride during the Chelski game as well. In particular Alonso who I thought was a class apart. I can’t believe I wanted rid of him during the summer. Overall our team’s refusal to be beaten, the iron will and defiance…. was quite something. Even losing 7-5 on aggregate with 20 seconds of stoppage time remaining the players were still going for it and rushing with urgency to take corners and free kicks.

I’ve never been more proud to be an LFC supporter than over the last few days.

Tony Barret, Liverpool Echo:

Benitez has hinted that Liverpool could yet reignite their interest in David Silva after confirming the Reds did make a move for the Valencia man last month.

As revealed in the ECHO, Liverpool chief scout Eduardo Macia held tentative discussions with officials from Valencia only for the plug to be pulled on the potential deal before too much progress had been made.

Benitez has now confirmed that Macia did hold talks in Valencia but that they came to nothing because a senior figure at the La Liga club was “talking too much”.

The Reds boss reiterated that Silva is not now a Liverpool target but added intriguingly that this was the club’s position “at this moment”.

Benitez said: “We were in Valencia – our chief scout, Eduardo, was in Valencia and he was talking with different people from the club – and someone was talking too much. So, at this moment, Silva is not a target.

“So, we are, at this moment, just concentrating on the players that we have.

“And if we are going to look for someone we will not announce it to the press; we will try to do it properly and secretly.”

Barret is just re-hashing this. Not being a smart arse, but you should all take a look at it. Very interesting….
://www.guillembalague.com/interview_desp.php?titulo=Rafa%20Benitez%20on%20Signings,%20Silva%20and%20Scouse&id=61

Just stick the http on the front.

And nobody seems to have bothered with this from me last comments either…
ww.hfdinfo.com

Sorry, if I’m sounding like a school teacher. I don’t mean it that way. But you really should read that.

Stick a w on the front. It’ll only take you a few minutes to get through it. It’s all the relevant points condensced into a quick simple read. Hope is forcing enough people in power to read it, will eventually force/shame them into giving the families some peace… An open public inquiry, with all the relevant and hidden information becoming public – in other words, The Truth.

Word is that Babel and Dossena will both be sold this summer to help raise funds for a new player or players.

Assuming this were to be true, how much do you think we could get for Babel? 10mil? 12mil?
And Dossena 4mil? 5mil?

17mil for both.

Add another 5mil to that and we would be in a position to bid for Silva, but let’s not forget we would still need a couple of other players besides.

Will read that FS,defo.Have to head into work there now,so i`ll catch up with it over the weekend.I spotted it when i was browsing through rawk the other day too.

Babel done an interview where he said he’s ready to leave. Think we’d be lucky to get 8 million for him.

I hope Dosenna stays. If Babel had his mentality, he could be a world beater

Ya agree FS,his value has gone way down.Now that he publicly desires to leave,(what a time of the season to come out with this BTW,talkng about selfish)coupled with his dip in form(which the media will blame Rafa for of course)his price will drop dramaticly.

Although we should hope Newcastle stay up,they`d be stupid enough to pay over the odds for him!

Not a bad shout on the Barcodes Timmy. But I think Ryan will want to go abroad. To give the lad his due, it stems from some article he done in Holland. It wasn’t meant for here. But how daft is he too think it won’t get out. Unless that was his intention all along.

What happened was Oliver Kay got a grip of it and then he started adding names that Rafa would clear out. Dosenna was one of them.

I suppose it’s a shame. Ryan has the qualities to be special, but he doesn’t seem to want to work on it. So, I’m not really that arsed. It’s not as if we are losing an untouchable.

I would be sorry to see Dosenna go though. The lad is finally adjusting. He’s put in some very decent shifts for us lately, and I think he could really come good. He’s certainly not going to fail for a want of trying. As I say, it’s a shame Babel never had his attitude and really tried to force his way into the side. But I don’t blame the lad for wanting to leave so he can play regularily somewhere else. You can’t knock a player for that.

LB, yes, the speeches at the end were quite inspirational..after an emotional afternoon they meant we walked out the ground full of pride and optimism. Dont know if it came across on the tv, but during the service there was a thunderstorm over the ground with some rain, and leaving the main stand at the end we walked into a lovely warm spring day (all that was missing was the sweet silver song of a lark….)

steve the red dont forget we might get five million for voronin if we are lucky that would help the cause.

FS, I had already accessed that site you referred to a couple of days ago, but when I looked at it, I initially thought it was a bogus site or something, such was the incompleteness of it all.

But now I understand it to be a work in progress as you say, so will intend to visit it on a regular basis.

As for the silva story, I am sort of enjoying it. I just love the way rafa is telling the people at valencia not to fuck with him by trying to hype the price up LoL! Hopefully, we will be seeing him in a red shirt come pre-season.

I also agree with LB on the speech made by the Mayor. I thought it excellently summed up the feelings of the liverpool supporters. Great even more so since it was broadcast worldwide. For all its evil, it is times like this that I thank the internet, never did I imagine that I could watch such an important event in the far east, let alone live.

I am a bit wary about the game against the gunners. They have really missed Fabregas, and now he is starting to get back to full fitness. I think he is the one to watch. Also, we have to bear in mind that Arshavin does not have to play any european games, so will be charged up for games in the premiership, especially against us an the mancs. Hopefully, we can contain him on Tuesday, and see him devastate rio cokehead.
Ordinarily, a draw would be acceptable, but we really need to keep on pressuring the mancs.

Oh I forgot about babel. If that is what he really feels, then he can sod off, we don’t need players that are not desperate to play for us. He has hardly done it for us anyway. I was initially dead excited when we first signed him, but since then, he has gone downhill for me. It is not as if he will get an automatic start in any of the super top sides anyway with his current form, so good luck to him if he does leave.

I dont know why Ryan wants to leave when he can clearly improve a lot and contribute so much. Also i dont think it will be good to us as i clearly see him as one of our emerging stars in the next few seasons. As correctly poined out, Ryan is not doing enough. If Lucas can keep winning first team places, there is no way why Babel cant do the same. He has to show it to Benitez that he deserves to be the 1st choice.

In a nutshell: He should learn from Dirk.

The focus now will shift to Arsene-Fergusson rivalry as the papers suggest. If Arsenal go to the final of FA cup, that means 4 meetings in 1 month. So expect the media to be busy with them.

I am worried about our match against the Gunners.It is clearly our toughest test among all the remaining matches. They are playing well. But if we manage to win that, the pressure will shift to ManUTD.

Ronaldo’s goal against Porto was a great one and lets face it. But that should not have guaranteed them the match. It was because of Porto’s bad play that they won.

As it stands, ManUTD are on course to win 5. We are on course to defy them and win the league. Frankly speaking in terms of confidence ManUTD will have it back after Porto match. But i still expect them to drop points. Can we win all our matches? Thats the big question.

Everyone as FS has posted in #275 please visit:
ww.hfdinfo.com

Id like to think i am pretty educated on the tragedy, but this explains alot more. FS i felt ill reading through that document. Not only about the result of the tragedy, but how LFC and their fans and families were treated (most laying the blame on the fans etc).

Morning Lads.

Akka I’m glad you and Hyde took the time to look at that. It’s something every Liverpool fan should read. So lads, go take a look…
ww.hfdinfo.com

Just add a w to the front. All Member’s of Parliment will be recieving it in booklet form. I very much doubt the authorities will ever allow it, but the idea is to make them finally have an open public inquiry with all the facts and hidden documents brought into the open.

It’s not much too ask for. It’s all the families have ever wanted. But as I say, I doubt they will ever get the truth into the open. We live in hope.

Onto funnier/happier things….
Davey Moyes has had a go at The FA for naming Mike Riley as the referee for their semi-final against the Mancs. He’s openly called Riley a Man U fan and said he has given dodgey decisions to the Mancs when they have played Everton before.

Of course The FA have defended Riley and won’t change him as the ref. But I bet he’ll think twice about anymore dodgey decisions. Nice one Golum (Moyes). Let’s hope other bosses grow the same bollacks before the season finishes….

Rafa’s Rant, my arse. Get in there Don Rafael. Have another dig before it’s over. Pile the pressure on The Tramp. Old drunken legs buckle the quickest.

FS, I read the booklet from that link and a couple of days before that I was reading this site .contrast.org/hillsborough (stick the 3 ws in front).

As for Babel, I thought it only a matter of time before he made noises about leaving. He’s hardly been getting a kick and hasn’t even been included on the bench in a few matches. Riera has been poor since January, Keane was sold, Torres has been injured…. and Babel still hasn’t really featured. So from his point of view I can see why he thinks he’ll never get regular action and therefore wants to leave. It’s world cup next yeat as well so bare that in mind. I think we should sell both Babel and Dossena, hopefully we can put some money on top and get Silva.

Oh and I think if Agger is left on the bench of our remaining big matches such as Arsenal next tuesday and others that could decide the title – he’ll be off as well.

LB, I don’t really read about Hillsborough. I don’t even like saying this, but I lost a couple of loved ones. And when you’ve lived through it, it becomes too depressing. See, even that sounds preachy and sanctimonious. (If that’s the right word). So, I generally steer clear of it.

But I mentioned that site for a couple of reasons…. 1. It’s a very short read, but very clear, with all the information in there. So, I think all LFC supporters should know these facts. The other reason why I mentioned it is… like I said earlier, this booklet is going to be given to every MP in the country, so that they know all the facts and hopefully it will shove their consciences into asking for a open/public inquiry.

England is supposed to be a free democratic country, where people have a right to justice. But the biggest ever public tragedy (Nevermind just sporting tragedy) in this country has been covered up by the authorities, aided and abetted by lies from the country’s media. It would be a terrible scandal in a tin-pot dictatorship nevermind here.

Anyway, onto other things…
First I’d clear out is Intandje. See that prick at the memorial service. I think that should be grounds enough to sack him. Because he isn’t willingly going to go. He’d much rather sit on his arse and pick up 20 grand courtesy of people who’s fallen he couldn’t even honour. Prick of the first degree.

Babel: as I said before, shame the lad didn’t buckle down and try to force himself into the team. But you can’t knock the lad for wanting first team football. And, like Crouch before him, if the only way he can get it is by leaving, well, fair play to him. Now it’s time to say, thank you and goodbye, and just a question of how much we can get for him.

Deegen: Should be put in the nearest available packing case, wrapped in bubble wrap and shipped out immeadiately with a big FRAGILE GOODS sticker on it.

Vronin: tatty bye. Hopefully for 5 mill.

Agger: Like everyone else, I want the lad to stay. But if he doesn’t, the team will survive and I will trust Rafa on that decision. Again, if he decides to leave, it’s just a question of how much can we get.

I also think we could see a few of the reserves go. That won’t burst the coffers though.

Dosenna: I think writing that lad off would be a bad mistake. I’m not saying he’ll ever set the world on fire. But he’s definetly a good lad to have in the squad.

I can’t think of any one else of the top of me head. But anyway, it’s then down to how much we can get from transfers and what we can get out of H&G. But there’s still a few more important things to worry about before that…. Roll on Tuesday. Can’t wait to get it back on.

Starting in 2000 the winning points totals in the Prem have been:91, 80, 87, 83 , 90, 95, 91, 89, 87.We can finish on 88 and the team with the best GD has always won the title.

@LB

I dont agree. Cant let Babel and Dossena go.

@FS

Agger is one whom we should be desparate to keep. You said team will survive. Team will survive even without Torres isnt it? I think Agger is that much important to us. Carragher is getting older with each season. Agger is a must keep.

FS, you dont sound preachy at all. I can understand why maybe you dont want to re-live the pain of the tragedy. Especially as you lost love ones. The booklet is excellent, thorough and easy to read so good luck with that project. I’ve already emailed the link to a number of people.

As for possible player sales. Only area I disagree is Degen and Dossena. Purely because we have 3 left backs and 2 right backs. If we sell Degen and keep Dossena we’ll have 1 right back and 3 left backs. Which probably means we’ll have to spend money on a right back. Unless Rafa promotes Stephen Darby which I think is doubtful considering the lad has hardly made the first team squad in the Premier League. I’m assuming our transfer budget is going to be very tight so I’d rather the dough was spent in an attacking area.

We could get a decent amount for Voronin, Babel and Dossena. £17m perhaps? Plus money we got for Robbie Keane (I’m assuming that’s going back into the transfer kitty as it was used to buy Keane in the first place). So in total a possible £30m to spend?

I wonder how much Glen Johnson and Kranjker would go for if Pompey get relegated…..?

somnath07in, let me know why you don’t think we can let Babel and Dossena go?

My argument is they hardly get into the team as it is and when they do they look like players who could be upgraded!
We have 2 left backs performing better than Dossena so I doubt we’d miss him. And Babel hardly gets a sniff. When he does get a sniff he’s looking more and more poor – proving he’s not the type that will improve when left out and told to work hard in training.

Burgerman if we get 88 points and still don’t win the league we’ll just have to hold our hands up. I certainly thought that an 88 points total would be enough to win the title this year and to be honest at the start of the season I didn’t think we’d get anywhere near that total.

My head says will draw one of our remaining games. So I hope there are a couple of slip ups in store for the mancs.

Arsenal (h)
Hull (a)
Newcastle (h)
West Ham (a)
West Brom (a)
Spurs (h)

Main concerns for me are Arsenal, Hull and West Ham. Arsenal for obvious reasons, Hull becasue they are fighting for their lives and West Ham because we always have a hard time down there and they are in very good form under Zola.

We could maybe really crank up the goal difference in the Newcastle and West Brom games….

If Agger leaves we will have to buy 2 centre-halves-Hyypia and Carra are the wrong side of 30.Ideally, players who can play right back as well-like Markus Babbel.We are well covered on the left.Well done to the Youth team 3-0 V Brum.”Ferry cross the Mersey ” should have been re-released.

@LB

Babel and Dossena cant leave because you are allowing them to leave based on the hope that we will be getting Silva. I dont see it working like that.
Babel for one is going to improve and i am sure about that. Dossena’s first season mate. He will settle and we will need him.
Aurelio’s defending we have seen and Insua wont play every game for us even next season.
More importantly we will be needing reinforcements in our defense if Dossena is sold. Remember Agger is already a tricky case for us. Priority should be to keep all our defenders and invest for 2 attacking players.

@Burgerman

Agger should be kept.No doubt about that. We dont want to spend money on defenders this summer.So i agree with you.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5199709,00.html

Check Big Sam’s comment. Absolute disgrace.

Sam Allardyce says Rafa humiliated us. I saw the gesture which Rafa made after the second goal. I dont know why Sam has started this when he clearly knows that he tried to take advantage of our loss at Chelsea by launching a verbal onslaught against Rafa.

On the match day, we showed them where they stand. I am sure Fergusson has some role to play in this latest development.

Fat Sam has been joined by Fungus!

ww.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1171246/Fergie-declares-war-Rafa-United-boss-Sir-Alex-slams-title-rival-Benitez-showing-contempt-Big-Sam-demeaning-Everton.html?ITO=1490

Fat Sam video

ww.setanta.com//uk/Videos/football/2009/04/17/Allardyce-incensed-by-Rafas-gestures-video/

Funny how Fungus finds his voice after they have a lucky result.

Also sad that Fungus has to team up with his fellow Manure supporters and create lies as he is unable to fight his own battles.

@Scouse by blood

Fungus is desparate to win 5. He publicly plays down it but deep down he wants it badly. He has realized that Liverpool and Arsenal will be even better next season.

Who is Sam to start attacking Rafa i dont know. His team was pathetic on that day. He should better watch out his own a** and keep his team off relegation.

looks like Itanje is in hot water…

liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2009/04/17/itandje-s-hillsborough-storm-100252-23408154/

I disagree with you about our left back situation Somnath. In reality Dossena was a luxury we dident need and couldent afford in the first place (in the sense that that money would’ve been better spent elsewhere). We had Aurelio and Insua had played the last 3 or 4 games of the previous seasons so clearly he was in Rafas plans. As it stands now Insua has out-done himself and will be our starting LB next season. Aurelio is his and Rieras cover. Tell me why we need Dossena again?

Allardyshit’s comment is pathetic. I am really, really pissed off.

First and foremost, I don’t know where he is getting the impression that Rafa gestured that the game was over!?!?
I also remember watching that reaction very clearly because it is unusual for rafa to make any kind of reaction towards a goal. I clearly remember rafa also making a circle with both his hands before the sideways movement, so it is clear that he was trying to say something about the ball in context. How can that be read to mean the game was over??

Secondly, rafa is too much of a perfectionist to think that a tie would be over in the first half with just 2 goals. He would not have been thinking the match was over by then.

Thirdly, despite the fact that rafa does hate the fat moaner, he is too much of a gentleman to act that way directly.

It just does not make sense.

In sum, it is a sore losers comment of the highest degree, and to think that fungusface also butts in is incredulous. We should sue both of them for defamation. Both managers are a disgrace to the premiership. At least with fungusface he has the record, but allardyshit is a nobody. Get a life you wanker.

My take on Fergie’s rant is that he’s cracking up. Really! He’s now resorted to direct personal attacks, reminding me of Maureen’s “voyeurism” remark against Whiner a few years back. So much for the master of mind games to get caught up in his own games.

I think no 19 is coming….

@Diggerno

You think defensively Aurelio can do the job? I dont think so. Also why should we sell a player whom we have acquired just one season ago? I dont see any logic in that.

Yes Itanje should be expelled. A player who does not know how to behave himself on such a occasion will never understand the meaning of playing for Liverpool.

Somnath, we sold Keane after 6 months…..

Fungas’ latest rant reminds me of Keegan in 1996. What a cunt-hole. I wonder how Rafa will respond….

@LB

So was that wise? First buying him and then selling him? Cmmon LB, thats not an ideal thing to do with any player.
We all know the board and rick parry were to blame for it but the bottomline is that was a poor piece of business.
Then why should we repeat the same with Dossena, specially when he is not making any sounds against being a squad player?

So applying your logic Somnath let me ask you this; should we have sold Keane in January?! 1 season has nothing to do with it. What are we gonna do with him next year? Pay him 40 or 50k a week to be 3rd choice LB behind Insua and Fabio? Do I think Aurelio can do a job defensively? Do you think Dossena can do a better one?! Did you watch his first 6mths?! And its a moot point anyway – Insua does a better job than both. Combined!. I repeat, tell me why we need Dossena again?

If Babel leaves, Dossena will be used as a back up for Riera. You can already see Rafa flirting with that idea, plus we all agree he gives us something going forward.

The logic in selling Dossena after only one season is that there are 2 better players in his position. There is no need for 3 left backs, and the money can go towards improving other areas of the squad.

Ferguson said: “There is one thing about the arrogance he has shown, but the thing you can’t forgive is his contempt to Sam Allardyce last week when Liverpool scored their second goal.

“Did you see it? He gestured to suggest that the game was finished. Absolute contempt. I don’t think Sam Allardyce deserved that, a guy who has worked so hard for the LMA (League Managers Association).

“He didn’t deserve that. Having had to play with a weakened team, he didn’t deserve to get that kind of contempt.

“I don’t think any other Liverpool manager would have done that. It was beyond the pale.”

Allardyce also hit out at Benitez, accusing the Spaniard of being “disrespectful” for what he claims was a “humiliating” gesture.

For total clarity, Allardyce has reviewed footage of the incident several times after initially witnessing it following Liverpool’s second goal of a 4-0 victory at Anfield last Saturday.

Although Benitez is well-known for his hand signals from the technical area, Allardyce insists the gesticulations following Fernando Torres’ 33rd-minute header were directed towards him and his team.

Allardyce’s understanding is that Benitez crossed his arms over dismissively as if to suggest ‘that’s it, game over, job done’.

The Rovers manager also believes Benitez showed a further lack of respect by not showing up in his own office for a post-match drink, leaving Allardyce seeking an explanation.

“I think if everybody has a look back at his gestures you will see them as pretty dismissive to me and the Blackburn Rovers team as a whole,” fumed Allardyce.

“I was hugely disappointed by those gestures. I think they were disrespectful and quite humiliating. Having looked at them again this week, I think I’m right and everybody will see why I’m complaining.

“The feeling was that he had written us off. It was open arms and then a crossover of the arms as if to suggest that was it.

“I admit it was a hard game, a difficult game for us, and we were well beaten by an outstanding Liverpool side. But in terms of respect, you don’t expect those sort of things to happen in a game of football. I was very, very upset by it.

“The game is hard enough as it is without a fellow manager doing what seemed to be an undermining gesture. I then waited to have a word with him after the game in his room, but as usual and unfortunately, he didn’t turn up.

“Not explaining himself by not turning up in his office really shows what he is like. The only people I saw were Sammy Lee and a few of the staff, but he never showed his face. That was just as disappointing as the gesture, and it typifies the man.”

There has never been any love lost between the two men in the past, with Allardyce’s outburst merely serving to add fuel to the fire.

Allardyce has made no attempt to contact Benitez this week to try and clarify the matter, insisting: “Why should I?

“If he can’t come into his own room and have a drink with his fellow manager, why would I want to pick up the phone and speak to him?

“I gave him the opportunity by being courteous enough after being beaten 4-0 to go and have a drink in his room.

“There was no need for those sorts of gestures, and my opinion as to whether I’m right is obviously going to be speculated upon by other people, but I think I’m right.

“He would have had the opportunity to have explained himself if he had turned up in his room, but didn’t, so that’s why I’m talking about it today.

“It’s in the past now and I’ll move on, but I just want to make everybody aware of what I consider to be a lack of respect for me, the Blackburn Rovers players and the football club as a whole.”

With United up against Liverpool’s Merseyside rivals Everton on Sunday, Ferguson admits that even David Moyes’s team have been forced to endure the ‘arrogance’ of Benitez.

He said: “Irrespective of what Rafa Benitez says, Everton are a big club. He called them a small club, which just points to his arrogance.

“David Moyes is building a big club with a young squad that will get better. He has a good variety there, so I think he has done a great job.

“We are facing a very hungry team on Sunday because David has to win a trophy and I know he is feeling that way.

“This is a big opportunity for him, so we know what we are up against.”

fungus face is actually getting his mates to help him out to unsettle Rafa. that is desperate stuff. and the irony of it all – the man who has accussed managers, players, referees, media, even his own fans when things havent gone his way is teaching us the meaning of respect. F*ck off fungus! and take your pet walrus with you.

i feel like i am in the twilight zone with this stuff. i got on the web and searched our news and its all this stuff about rafa being disrespectful to fat sam?! ferguson backing it up and claiming rafa is arrogant and contemptuous?!

wow, what a world.

f*** em both. and neil warnock.

LB, no’s 310 and 315, my points exactly. I think its pretty clear the chap should and will be moved on. Its a move that makes us stronger by adding funds to better other areas of the team and thats all that matters. The team. Left back? We’re covered. Right midfield, back up right back? Not so much. Allardyce is a cunt. Another prick I hope is relegated. And I hope Moyes does the mancs on Sunday. Fair fucks to him for his comments on reilly. Must confess my respect for Moyes has really grown this yr.

Fungus Video

ww.setanta.com//uk/Videos/football/2009/04/17/Ferguson-deepens-divide-with-Benitez-video/

Fungas is mucking up his pants big time and the bastard might just have a stroke/heart attack if we beat Arsenal on Tuesday.

As for Fat Sam, he’s always had a problem with foreign managers at big clubs.

Good point about Voronin Jim. If we get anything at all for him it will be a real bonus, as we didn’t pay a bean for him. £5m would be a great result.

What a fucking retard Ferguscum has become. He’s certainly shitting his pants, because he KNOWS Liverpool is getting under his skin for the first time in 19 years, and he’s desperately throwing EVERYTHING from the book of dirty tricks in an attempt to throw Rafa off, though Rafa’s a bigger man than that.

LET ME TELL YOU THIS, YOU FUCKING CUNT, YOU ARE LEAST QUALIFIED TO CALL RAFA ARROGANT WHEN YOU YOURSELF PLEDGED TO “KNOCK LIVERPOOL OFF THEIR FUCKING PERCH”.

As for Fat Sam, well, who gives a fuck about what managers from Small Clubs say?

Just come home and read all the comments. Must say, this Allardyce & Ferguson stuff has really cheered me up. And trying to drag Moyes in (Not a mention of Moye’s Riley comments) is brilliant.

Can’t think of the best way to picture them… The Chuckle Brothers is first that springs to mind. But a tag team in American spandex Wrestlers gear and gimp masks would be good.

Gerry organise a prize for the best scenario and name for the Gang of 2.

Off out again now, so I’ll read all the reports and watch the videos when I get home. I really do need a good laugh.

As for Dosenna lads, as I said… out of all the likely suspects to leave, he’s the one I’d keep.

Of course Agger would be the choice, but I don’t think we have any choice in the matter. The ball’s firmly in his court. And, judging from noises he’s making, I think he’s getting ready to pick it up and walk off like a petulant spoiled kid.

Come to think of it, our Daniel’s comments are getting nearly as funny as the Chuckle Brothers. I honestly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the last one. The lad really needs to get his act together. And at the end of the day, I will trust Rafa on the matter.

As for Dosenna, I can’t believe you are ready to just toss him aside. The lad’s well worth keeping for another season.

Yep. Got it….
Big Alex and his poodle, Wee Sam, as Mexican Wrestlers…. Dos Desperadoes!

Taty bye for now

A longer version of Fungus cracking

ttp://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-GB&vid=09a23f5a-db3f-4082-904f-fc642fe44859&from=homepage_picks

Just add an h

Lads does anyone know the official story on the Agger situation? We all know that Rafa has praised and courted him publicly and that Agger was a little discourteous to say the least. But behind all this, when was the last time Agger was offered a new contract? Why wasnt it signed? Has he been offered a new one? If not why not? Im not fully understanding this mexican standoff, little help here please?!

Slur Alex and Fat Sam…..Asterix and Obelix

Regarding the fungus and fat sam,

How can two managers who have been around for so long interpret what Rafa’s hand gestures are trying to mean? I mean, are they body language experts or what? I think Rafa was trying to convey to the players regarding their positioning, and when Torres scored, he probably gestured to say forget what i said, its a goal.

I think fat sam is a sore loser, and fungus was smoking pot during the press conference.

Taggarts comments are nothing but desperation.Using other premier league managers for back up says it all.

Master of the mind games……me bolix.

Unfortunately, goal difference won’t matter a jot if we don’t have enough points!

They need to draw two,if we win the six our goal difference should be better than theirs.

Long way to go yet chaps,one game at a time.

Lads this is what they want everyone talking about rafa an liverpool just before the arsenal game where he is desperate for us to drop points. It is sad an scraping the barrell with mind games, but if we go on and win against arsenal they’ll both look like complete fools!!!

Must be a first bringing cockhead sam on board to try an stir it up, but in the end its really just a big compilment to us:D

This really is a two edged sword for us its gonna kill if we just miss out on the title this season at the same time think about winding up filth supporters about their managers antics.

If you wanna see the “disrespectful gesture” aimed at big Sam, go here and scroll down a little;
remove the 4 periods http….://forums.thisisanfield.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29525

I just can’t see it. I do remember the moment only because Rafa smiled and it seemed he was instructing them but they scored anyway. But the other thing is that I thought this was after the first goal.

There is a name for this phenomena: pareidolia. Seeing or hearing messages that you *want* to see/hear, that aren’t really noticeable to most. Like seeing Jesus on toast, or “glory to Satan” on a Led Zep song played backwards.

This is what has gotten hold of old Ferg.

If you think back, The Tramp’s arse licker in chief, Fat Head, had a pop at Rafa before they came to Anfield. We twatted them 4 – 0. The Tramp came on the telly and said Liverpool/Rafa were arrogant and they had no right – as they beat a sadly depleted Blackburn team.

Obviously, the two of them have got together for a bit of mutual masturbation and turpentine drinking, and probably sniffed a bit of glue an all, to come up with this fantastic master plan….
“Mam! Mam! Mam, it’s not fair the nasty Spanish man folded his arms!”

FFS. a blind man on a fast horse can see they have coluded all fucking week. The Tramp’s press conference was before Fat Head’s. Mind games. HA! If minds were dynamite they haven’t got enough between them to blow their fucking hats off.

It was only last week The Tramp said he needed Frued to understand what he said. So, has he spent the week reading up Spanish Body Language For Dummies.

Fuck me. He must know how pathetic and stupid he looks. Other managers do, no small thanks to Rafa for that. Now I want to see the media grow a pair and stop printing the same old “Mind Games” cack and turn on the drunken aul bum. And mark me words… that’s just a few defeats away.

I’m telling you lads… the tide isn’t turning. It’s well and truly turned and The Tramp is up to his neck in it. And The Tramp’s pets aren’t going to save him.

Yes. I know… one game at a time. There’s a long way to go. We could end up with nothing. They could win the lot, etc, etc, etc. Even so, I would bet my bottom lip, nevermind dollar, that we will soon be back on our perch.

PS… Where’s Keith?
He must be loving this.

Oh and I nearly forgot about this one from just last week….
The Tramp…. “But the interesting thing as far as Rafa Benítez is concerned is that he’s got a European tie [against Chelsea] and he’s talking about Alex Ferguson. Fantastic – I didn’t know I was that important.”

Oh please, please, please someone in the press attack this hypocritcal aul drunkard. FFS someone have the bollacks to say, The emperor has no clothes.

Well what the fuck Billy Bunter and tghe snake are going on about is down to the fact the fat by as done fuck all, and whiskey nosed twat knows is rien is about to end any time now, remember brian clough he used to tryand play mind games against Lfc, well that again was because he was worried about us, he also liked a drink and in the end it caught up with him, but that said he was a great manager.but when it started to go wrong for him his fans turned on him. and that is what worries the snake man. we are now becoming a real big threat, and knows with a few more class players and another couple of good strikers hes in the shit from more time than not.

I doubt any press will have the bollocks to say anything against Fungas until the mancs lose a few games. If they lose to Everton or stumble against Pompey and we beat the Arse then one or 2 journos might grow a pair.

Just heard Tony Cascarino on Today FM commenting on the latest ferguson antics .. “It’s because he’s worried about Liverpool”. Full stop.

Lurgankop and TimmyTorres let me know where and when ye are planning a meet-up. I may be a (temporary) Whollyback but give me enough time and I’ll point my Donkey in the dirction of Killarney and kick his Ass till we get there. I’m afraid Corkie is knee-deep in nappies and unlikely to get a free-pass this time … Mind you my own Little rebelette is also in nappies so I’ll have to do a bit of brownie point gathering too.

I just heard on 5live that although LFC have not responded publically, it is under stood that Rafa has laughed off the comments by Fungus and Fat Sam which he clearly sees as collusion.

That is the best policy, say nothing and laugh, only comment when they lose to Everton, the silence will be unbearable.

Music to the ears to hear fat sam and slur alex go at it like a bunch of school kids. I agree with the above, the only thing that it does prove is that Sir fuckface is worried about the resurgent reds.

Long may it continue.

Dougle, Timmy, I plan arrive in Killarney on Saturday the 23rd May and leave the following Saturday. Will let you know when it is confirmed.

I think that maybe the CL final is on that week but I am not sure if I could bare to watch it – will wait to see who is in the final I suppose.

I totally agree with you Scouse by blood, if Rafa says fuck all now he will have Fergie very, very worried indeed. Rafa may feel that he needs to defend his name publicly, other wise the press scum will view it as a an admission of guilt, but he can still do that without Fergie thinking he is taking any bait.

Behave lads. You honestly, think Rafa doesn’t know what to do. Don’t think he needs any advice of us mugs, eh.

Mind you, maybe he should say nothing and just show this little clip at his press conference…

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YKPi3SvKIc

Hand gestures at the opposing manager. Oh yes, something definetely beyond the pail and something The CLassy Tramp would never do, eh?

The soft twat. It’s so transparent what he’s trying to do. It’s sort of sad actually. Remember when you could suddenly do things better than your dad, or watching some great athelete or entertainer go down, or watching some gre…. Nah. Scrap that. Nothing sad about it. I am going to enjoy every moment of this nasty horrible aul bastards demise. And it’ll be fucking great if he goes really punchy and won’t pack in when the going’s good. You watch how his great fans at Old Toilet and his friends in the media dive on him like a pack of wolves. Oh well, live by the bottle, die by the…

I just watched that youtube clip FS. It would be hilarious if Rafa brought that clip in with him on a little monitor. Big smile on his face…

“Hello, before we start I’d like to show you this!”
“So what do you think?”

LB Mate, thankfully we might haven’t to wait for them defeats after all…

Scott Murray
Friday 17 April 2009
guardian.co.uk

MISS! MISS! HE DID A FUNNY FACE!!!
If you managed a football team, and they traipsed back into the dressing room after 90 minutes of futile toil during which they didn’t get a single kick, losing 4-0, and you’d picked Christopher Samba up front as your lone striker, what would be your overriding emotion? Embarrassment, perhaps? Or the sort of total and utter humiliation that makes a man knock back a litre of Juniper Surprise, then book a Special Calming Treatment at the Eternal Spa? Hmm. But however hard the defeat would hit you, surely your tipping point would have nothing whatsoever to do with a slightly overweight gentleman standing in your approximate environs, crossing and uncrossing his arms. You would surely still retain at least one sliver of dignity and self-respect, a sliver which ensured you’d not be unduly affected by something as trivial as that? Right?

Sadly that’s not the case with this poor petal: Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce has admitted today to being on the end of a “humiliating” gesture by Rafael Benitez at Anfield last weekend. When Fernando Torres scored Liverpool’s second goal after 33 minutes, Benitez got up off the bench and gesticulated to his team. “It was open arms and then a crossover of the arms,” explained Sensitive Sam, before going on to do the hitchhike, the watusi, and the mashed potato. “It was as if to suggest that was it,” added Allardyce, who was so offended he voluntarily went to Benitez’s office after the game to swill his booze.
But even free pop didn’t please Sensitive Sam. Not only was Rafa’s Rioja slightly below room temperature, triggering a slightly unpleasant tingle in his teeth, but the Liverpool manager also failed to turn up in person. “Not explaining himself by not turning up in his office really shows what he is like,” said Allardyce, who is 54 years of age. “The only people I saw were Sammy Lee and a few of the staff, but he never showed his face. That was just as disappointing as the gesture, and it typifies the man.”

In total agreement is Mr. Ferguson, who ahead of Manchester United’s FA Cup final with Everton, piped up: “Everton are a big club, not a small one which Benitez arrogantly said. But arrogance is one thing. You cannot forgive contempt, which is what he showed Sam Allardyce last weekend.” It’s very honourable of Fergie to stick up loyally for his pal Sensitive Sam in this spat – although it does seem strange that he did it before Allardyce had actually said anything today. Almost as if they’d decided to launch a pincer movement on Benitez while chatting over the phone last night. Ferguson, incidentally, is 67.

Mind you, I shouldn’t be jumping up and down, rubbing me hands together and giggling like a schoolgirl. FS is 52. HA!

Just thought of something LB…
Even better if Rafa walked into the press conference, showed that clip, stood up, said fuck all, did that little gesture that has upset them so much, and walked out without saying a word.

I read that article FS. Made me laugh. And I agree with you regarding Rafa and that clip. He should do just that! I’d love it.

Nasty Rafa picking on the master of mind games Sam Allardyce.
Then the old drunk sticking his red nose in talking about respect
your right lads it is a joke.
One thing Moyes likes to tell everyone is Everton are a small club / squad and
cant afford big players just like MON at Villa. But now Whiskeybreath is bigging
them up trying the old ( My enemies enemy is my friend ) bullsh*t 2 days after
the memorial which Moyes attended, and somewhat unites the 2 clubs.
He really doesn’t want them doing us any favours ie injuries from a physical
game or listening to any advice that Rafa might have given
prognosis:
Sam” You dont know what your doing”
Fergie “Your cracking up “and your scared of both teams.

PS Did anyone see the the Fellini montage MOTD did showing
his use of his elbows and how they should all be Red cards .
Q He’s been doing it all season so why choose now?
A Because Everton play Scum next game and getting him sent off will be
top priority for Scum .
YNWA

Why would we spend 10 minutes or our life worrying about Sam relegation zone Alladice (whatever).
.
He hasn’t and couldn’t stand in the same room as Rafa. How he’s a respected league manager is beyond comprehension. Don’t waste one word, question when he was un-employed how many teams offered him positions, not even one from the championship. He is all shite, piss and wind. However keeps the boo boys at bay over in Blackburn.
.
As for the tramp if he keeps promoting shit managers then he may well stay top of the pile. It’s not worth responding to him either.
.
Is Mr B arrogant, I think he is but that’s his style, he doesn’t really do much when he standing by the pitch, almost motionless at times. However I did see him do the arm waving thing, it was highlighted by the fact he was smiling, even the commentators noticed that. He never seems to do anything but write in his book.
.
I wish someone would come out with a bunch of pictures of Ferguson doing his utter comtempt moments. I know he had some.

Maybe just one or two Gaz….
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YKPi3SvKIc

stick an h on the front of that.

Oh well, I’m off to bed. But I came into say, I’ve just been reading through tomorrow’s papers, cheering meself up at the tramp’s expense. I went through them all, so I can’t remember where it was or put up a link.
But here’s a cracker….
In one of them it said, they asked the tramp about Moyes calling Mike Riley a Utd fan. The tramp answered…
“Oh someone’s just winding Davey up.”

I kid you not…. “Oh someone’s just winding Davey up.”

All he was short of was calling him Wee Davey and ruffling his hair. The transparent aul twat. I’m going to love and I mean love, really love, watching every moment of his fall.

Oh well, nighty night.

King Kenny in Benitez talks

Apr 18 2009 by Andy Kelly, Liverpool Echo

KENNY Dalglish is set for a sensational return to Liverpool Football Club.

Reds boss Rafa Benitez wants his legendary predecessor as a key new part of his backroom staff and moves are already afoot to create a position for Dalglish.

Benitez has raised the matter with American club owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett and would like to tie up a deal at the earliest possible opportunity.

The ECHO understands preliminary talks have already taken place between Benitez and Dalglish and although nothing has been finalised the discussions are believed to have gone well.

Benitez would like to give Dalglish a roving role which would see the 58-year-old divide his time between the Academy in Kirkby, Melwood and Anfield but with a particular emphasis on an advisorial role on youth development.

The Liverpool manager recently ordered a review of the Academy which is being headed up by former chief scout Frank McParland as he seeks to ensure more young players of potential first team standard are produced than is currently the case.

Should Dalglish be recruited it would provide a shot in the arm for the Academy which has come in for plenty of criticism in recent years.

Dalglish has not been employed in a senior football role since leaving his position as director of football at Celtic in July 2000.

The Kop hero has been linked with several managerial jobs since then but his strong links with Merseyside and his charity work on behalf of his wife’s Marina Dalglish Appeal have meant he has not been enticed into taking employment at any of the clubs which have shown an interest in acquiring his services.

But the lure of Liverpool would be strong for Dalglish who served the club as both player and manager from 1977 until 1991.

When he quit Anfield in February 1991 saying he needed to take a break from football the shockwaves reverberated throughout the sport with Liverpool fans being distraught at the loss of the man they refer to as “King Kenny”.

He later admitted his regret that he was not offered a return to Liverpool in the immediate aftermath of his sudden departure but 18 years later he could now finally be given the opportunity to reignite his love affair with the club he joined from Celtic.

It is now up to Hicks and Gillett to approve the proposed move and should this happen it would require only the agreement of personal terms for Dalglish to complete a sensational return to Anfield.

Charles Itandje has been suspended by the club. Now we need to finish the job and get him out of there completely.

The man is a disgrace to himself, the club and the fans!

Having Kenny involved in the club in any capacity would be a great move. The man is class.

Hicks and Gillet would rubber stamp it because they know it would be a big hit with the supporters, and they might get some good feeling coming their way for it.