First to comment… Yippee

Tried posting a link to rte`s analysis..but got zapped into space.

Don`t really give a shite about the manc game,the boys are just hilarious.

Gerry,

I never got a first comment before and then 2 in the last week.

As you said it’s been soem range of emotions and it will be amazing if we do it but even if we don’t the journey will have been something else and we still ahev the CL. No doubt huge progress has been made this year while Manure seem to be going the opposite way.

Too bad neil

Rebels always win!

Going to read blog now i won first comment !

Could 2 away goals be a bridge too far for Scum? Lets hope so! Well done Porto!
Strange how a 5 quid a week teenage Italian wasn’t enough to see them through this tie, huh?

I know the Chavs are a different kettle of fish now they have Hiddink, and I don’t wanna jinx us, but I kinda fancy us to wank them 3-1 tomorrow.

Scholes never learnt his lesson then. He handballed the ball at least twice! He never even got a yellow!

Did you see Ferguson, he was purple! it looked like he had been strangled, he sounded like it too!

Super stuff Gerry.

That link about the chavs fans is funny.

How sad can you get.

Note to all chavs…”YOU`LL NEVER BE LIKE LIVERPOOL SUPPORTERS” so stop trying to be.

we DO NOT want DIC involved with our club :
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

Losing 2 goals in a home leg is disastrous. I can’t help sneering at how broken down the mancs are now. The defense are really in tatters since we demolished them. And now it looks as though Jonny Evans is out to injury. I am so happy for fungus that he fiddled with the schedule. Well done, Porto.

As for Chelski, that link is hillarious. How many more years do they have to keep doing that to urge “supporters” to “support”:

“The following leaflet, distributed by a string of supporters’ groups, urges everyone to make sure we show the Scousers what a proper, West London party is all about! The leaflet can be seen, for all those who haven’t been given one HERE”

I can’t believe this is a serious explanation, I am almost laughing to tears.

But enough of the disrespect, the person to watch out for in tonight’s game is none other than Hiddink himself.
None of the chelski players worry me since they have no clue of playing with their heads as they so eloquently displayed when we completely outplayed them in the EPL this season. That means it all depends on the manager, and Hiddink is definitely one of the best around. He is the only one I am concerned with, but I have too much faith in Rafa.

1-0 will do me nicely.

Lets not jump to far ahead of ourselves lads, Chelsea will have plenty of belief, just like us. They may even have bought enough fans just for the game.
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Sad we want our budget to stretch for world class players while theirs is utilised for coaxing fans to turn up and yell.
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Chelsea will be up for this one as I believe it’s all they have left.
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Ps how bad must Villa be if Porto can give Man U a run with all their stars back. Villa never deserve to be in the CL spots. Further to this I’ve watched their last two games with interest, what has Barry got that we seen to want. He doesn’t even stand out in the Villa squad.
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I think we could do alot with Young or Walcott if we’re going into a buy british transfer window.
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Theo looks like a class winger.

Sorry lads forgot to mention, I’d love a 4-0 scoreline, spank that London Monkey.

greetings all,

another good blog Gerry, looks like I picked the best blog to get involved in!!!

mancs vs porto 2-2 eh? dont know how to take this one…on one hand it shows up IMHO, the fact that the scum have really been shown up lately for what they are……Sunday just shown up what sh*thouses villa were surrendering their lead when the scum were on the ropes but the tramp relied on a desperate measure, ie the inclusion of an untried young lad to get him out of jail……that was his plan B, what a master tactician!!! and Villa, well anyone who called MON as a replacement for Rafa in the last 18 months (you know who you are…) should now be bowing their head in shame after that performance….but of course no-one will admit to that will they…..anyways, back to the 2-2 tonight, and the old conundrum of do we want the scum to go out now, or keep the pressure on them by having them stay in the Cl till we get to face them……personally I hate them with a passion, lots of people ask why, but am not sure if I can put my finger on it, Fat Scouser in your last blog told a story that happened to him that I can really relate to, having similar experiences on a couple of occasions after visiting Manchester for a game (one of which didnt even involve the scum, mind you it was and FA cup semi final in 1977….they were still in the second division then wernt they……….oh! thats one thing you wont hear on sky very often! they were RELEGATED in 1974!) but the main thing that rankles with an arl bast**d like me is I have spent most of my life watchin the local and national news and how they re-write things………I vividly remember two days after winning our first European cup the local news (Granada) still banging on about the scums FA cup win, and playing down “the glory that was Rome” Dont get me wrong, I worked in the North west of UK for much of the last 15 yrs and most of the mancs I have come across are ok (and, strangely enough, City fans!) even met some scum fans who have been ok, (its true! honest!) giving credit where its due, so, you know, thats ok, but…………..just realised this has turned into a rant, and thats wrong……big question is, why do they sing about us EVERY game, (you know the songs , murderers, Stevie Gerrards kid, dustbins and food etc not to mention other unspeakable songs….) is it cos they have far too many tourists in their crowd (and when I say that I actually mean tourists who have read the book on the flight over from the far east for their one day at the theatre of etc etc and know to sing anti scouse songs) or is it cos after all these years they know our departure was only temporary and despite our temporary fall from grace and the leeway it gave them they STILL couldnt overtake our records……….ok, rant over, (sorry all, I cant help it!) anyways, is 2-2 a good result for us, ie another sign of their loss of form at a crucial time, keeping the pressure on them to perform in the second leg, hopefully detracting from their league form, or would the blow of going out of the CL be more beneficial to us psychologically……….giving us a clear path to the CL assuming we dump the Chavs starting tomorrow…….getting boring meeting the chavs in the CL, us wearing the “5″ patch on the left arm, while they are just getting used to being in it….. Jeez no!!! CL quarter final BRING IT ON!!!!! I will be in the Anny road upper screaming like a mad thing just like all the other CL games against them in the last 4 yrs……..CL quarter finals, pushin for the Premiership again, great days people, great days…………….

PS sorry if post is a bit of a rant but, like most recent Tuesdays been off work so been on the beer and my optimism gets me carried away….

We’re happy to have you Redboyslim and here’s an interesting article about the “Great” Moaning O’Neill http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1168321/Ash-Wednesday-Villa-good-finish-fourth-ONeill-start-manage-expectations.html

I think what more the villa case highlights more than anything else, apart from the fact that MON is a fungusface-like manager, i.e., passion with no brains, is that rotation is necessary. People want to see teams always playing the “best 11″ (a term I do not agree upon), but if you do that you’re dead when it matters. But none of the media are apologising to Rafa are they.

As far as I am concerned, Martin O’Neil can suffer all he wants and I care less– he’s already lost my respect after the Bary affair at the start of the season.

Woke up this morning to a great result by our friends at Porto. They’ve obviously been listening on Rafa’s advice, and of course, Jesuado Ferreira isn’t as inept as Moaning O’Neill. Now let’s keep our fingers crossed they’ll finish the job at their Dragon Stadium.

To michaelthomasmademecry, I’m flattered you’ve included me in your squad prediction for tonight, but I’m afraid I’ll be committing even more horrific backpasses than James Milner can ever imagine, so I think I’ll pass.

I’m going to have to go home to look up on the Rafa Godfather YouTube link, as my office blocks YouTube.

Hiddink only had since February to get along with what he’s got, Rafa had nearly five years to build an efficient machine of his own moulding. No prizes for guessing where my money’s on.

Club football does not equate to international football, where everybody has to make do with what they’ve got.

Finally, hilarious chav link there by Gerry. They don’t even know how to “support”, makes you wonder whether they’re even watching football in the first place.

Time to bring back that song again:

youtube.com/watch?v=WRzjc2N-rIU (add in www in front)
Fuck off, Chelsea FC
You ain’t got no history
5 European Cups, and 18 Leagues
That’s what we call history
(repeat many times)

Always a joy to see 40,000 people trembling the ground with such colourful language.

Er, Redboyslim, some of us here are from the “Far East” . . .

And it has never crossed me mind to sing horrendous tunes bout Munich, Mick Hucknall’s sodomising fergie songs etc when at Anfield.

Me thinks scum crowd behave like tossers . . . coz they are witless, dimwitted, ignoramous, lil shitheads (fer the most part) & has lil to do with where they come from. Rather its got to do with the team they decided to “support” . . .

ps: On second thoughts, redboyslim, if them scum fans yer refering to come from manc HQ ie SINGAPORE, then yer probably rite! (Sorry, its just Malaysian v Singapore antipathy, just couldn’t help it . . .)

pps: Fat Scouser – ye said Moyes won’t let the blushites lay down & die in the semis but later on seem to suggest that Moyes was already at the old toilet getting all comfy & receiving instructions. Hope yer rite the first time round . . .

Puchong Red,

Here’s a Singapore Red speaking (at least pple know there’re red fans in this small little island)

Anyway, I know what u mean when u refer to scum fans in my country

Morning chaps…
How sad are they? Bring your inflatables!!! Fuck me, why not bring your bucket and spade and build a few sandcastles in Stanley Park!

Said all I wanted to say about the Mancs recently, but I’ve always said this… at least they have a history, a record and a fan base that merits my hatred. Chelsea????

FFS who do they think they are. To put it into perspective, do you know who they’re real rivals are… Fulham. Yep. Fucking Fulham. Where they put free clackers on the seats for the fans to bang and try to make a bit of noise. Shameful.

As for their rivalry with us…. It’s nothing but a Sky premiereship hyped/created rivalry that doesn’t even exist. They are not our rivals. They are more of an annoyance, sort of like getting dog shit on your shoe. And they will be wiped off just as easily, especially as the Russian pay master loses more and more interest.

You know how careful I usually am. You know I always go on about tight games and respecting the opponents. I feel I should do the same for tonight, but for some reason I just have this feeling that we will absolutely tonk them tonight. In fact, I’m that sure of it, that I’m off the bookies (That man must love me) and I’m putting a fiver on 3 – 0 with Dirk Kuyt scoring at some point.

I know that’s a bit mad, but I just have this feeling that we will kill them off tonight. And you know why… Guss Hiddink.

I understand what you lads are saying… He is an excellant coach. But funny enough, that is what I think will help us. He will come to play football. He will try to attack and put us on the back foot. And that will suit us to a T. We will play it like any other European tie, and smash them on the break.

Having said that, I’ll probably be all wrong. So I’ll get me coat, but…

Redboy mate, stick the http on the front and here’s a cracker….
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFkPhus8Q-w

A few of the lads in 306 are going to try and get it going tonight. I love that song. I’d have it going at every match. But then we aren’t the Mancs… we only sing songs according to the match we are playing.

PS Puchong… no flip flopping there. Moyes will be all out to win when they meet in the semi final and he will get fergie tramp’s job when he finally throws in the bar towel.

And I don’t see how the 2 things don’t correspond.

Great Blog Gerry and I had to laugh at your link, especially the “bring your inflatable” part of the message. Yes they should bring their blow–up dolls as that is the only thing they are going to fuck. I like your score line as well, it will be a tough uncompromising encounter and a 2-0 score line will be just what the Doctor ordered.

Don’t want to gloat to much, but the 2-2 score line did bring, oh so much joy into my life, especially with the comments coming from Slur Alex, poetic justice?

I think you lads are being a bit harsh on Martin O’Neil. Villa have the smallest squad in the PL apparently. So how is he supposed to rotate? Bare in mind their season started in mid July in the intertoto cup. They are knackered! Check out the options on their bench for the manc game: Guzan, Delfouneso, Knight, Salifou, Reo-Coker, Gardner, Albrighton. He took Milner off because he was blowing out of his arse and put on Reo-Coker. The team tired in the last 15 mins and to be fair it took 2 magnificent goals to win the game for the mancs. Overall I thought the way Villa went about it was fantastic and they were unlucky not to get a result.

Porto last night were fantastic! Their number 10 was brilliant. But to compare Aston Villa to an experienced CL team that win their own league every season, a team that won their CL group that included Arsenal, a team that knocked Atletico Madrid out in the previous round…. to compare Villa to them is a tad unfair IMHO.

As for the game tonight. I have a good feeling we’ll tonk them as well. But I wary of being too cocky. Chelsea are a good team with good players and we’ve been embarrassed by worse. I’m gonna stay humble for now.

Humble is right…
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehOI3R5OdmI

You know the craic, just add the http and enjoy

Axchoice, Kopites from that island are Kopites first & foremost . . . Me’ll disregard the rest . . . he he. Glad you understand where me is coming from.

Fat Scouser, Ok. If you say so. Just really need someone to put a stop to all this quintuple nonsense. Its fooking doing me head in. To quote Col Kurtz,” . . . The horror . . . the horror . . .”

LB, Villa through away their Euro Cup tie to concentrate on the league, they just had two weeks off, and hardly anyone in the national team, let alone other teams. Can’t see how they be that knackered.
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They deserve what they get after all the shit they caused in the summer. MON should have stayed in Scotland.

Pity, we didn’t beat the Mancs @ Greyskull earlier in the season-teams would of had a go and sussed the Mancs, like Porto did.We gotta be careful not 2 give away free kicks around the box.

ok lads, hear me out. i would not want to see the scum eliminated from the champions league at this stage. reason is, it’d be better for us if fungusface still needs to juggle between europe and the prem, and that would stretch them further. elimination at this stage would see them focusing on the prem, and that might just edge us out. i got this thought from rafa’s own words, that either chelsea or us would exit from the champions league and then breathe down fungusface’s neck in the prem. so the same applies both ways.

Redneck, it’s true that every passing fixture will tire and stretch them. But what will losing do to them?
Okay, in an ideal world, they would get beat by Arsenal and Everton in the respective semi finals, on penalties, after extra time while suffering lots of injuries and red cards.

But do want to gamble on them getting through and facing us in Rome, if we get there?

For me that’s a non question anyway. I hate them winning as much as a corner. But putting aside personal feelings, this is what I think…

Their team looks like a boxer in the final round who’s just got back on his wobbly feet after taking a 9 count. One good punch could put their lights out.

A beating in the FA Cup semi final by Everton and Porto in the next leg could prove to be that KO punch.

They’ve been shocking since we mauled them. Other teams have been given the confidence and the blue print on how to beat them. They have got to go to Sunderland on Saturday. It won’t be easy. They still have to play other clubs fighting for points to stave off relegation and they have to play City and Arsenal.

There’s no guarantees in any of them games. So, why give them anything in the cups? It’s hard enough as it is. You can see that in all their faces (See the state of the tramp last night? He’d had a good few by the time he showed his smacked arse of a face). And you can hear it in all their interviews.

mr ferguson couldn’t bring himself to even speak after we beat them. So, it was left to Ryan Giggs to trot out the excuse all teams in their position would use…

“We needed that kick up the backside. It will put us back on track.”

They’ve used the same excuse after every game. Even that old twat, Bobby Charlton was dragged out the cupboard, dusted off and wheeled out to deliver the same old chestnut.

It didn’t stand up after we beat them and it’s worn thinner and got weaker every time since. Fuck them. Give them nothing.

Every game they lose will shatter their confidence more and more. Every lose will weigh heavily on their legs. Every deafet will nag away at their minds. And we could see them completely implode. How fucking funny would that be.

But at the end of the day… fuck them. It’s not about them losing their games. It’s about us winning ours. Starting in about 7 hours time!

MichaelThomas: Good coice putting me in midfield in your selection. I’d play the monster role me legs have gone to play the Stevie G role but I’ll be looking for Fat Frank tonight don’t worry about that.

FS: We have great affinity with European clubs because we always show mutual respect. In fact we are respected far more on the continent than here in our own country where we are the most successful team in the EPL. That tells me what I need to know about the British Press.

Morning all,

FS, superb video! oh, I never tire of hearing things from Istanbul, instantly brings back all the incredible memories I have…..

I think it would be better if the scum went out of the CL now, their confidence has been shattered by us and the fact that Rafas nationwide “team talk” means sides now know how to play them being dumped out of the CL by the least fancied side would be another dent in that, with only PL 6 games left to recover, Also, the thought of potentially facing them in the final is too much, not the team, playing them dosent worry me, the potential for trouble amongst the fans in a city like Rome is what worries me

Also, apologies to any Far Eastern fans on this board, no offence meant in my last post (unless you are a manc of course, in which case offence defiantely meant!)

anyways our turn tonight, and I think it will go pretty much like all the other CL games with the Chavs, (although probably with more inflatables than in previous times!!!) very tight but fancy us to take the lead to the away leg we should have done last year, when we missed a host of chances before Riises OG right at the end…..I will go for 2-0, enough to see us through…..

lads i’ve been trying to find out which of our and Chelsea players are one yellow card away from missing the next game? I think Terry is one of them? you guys know if anybody else?

YNWA

FS, do you seriously want us to believe that you have never brought an inflatable to Anfield

I agree with LB, MON is a decent manager but he did cock it up at the old toilet. Even a blind man could see that the game was getting unnecessarily stretched, from a villa point-of-view, when they were 2-1 up. Also, if they were knackered, why did he make only 1 sub. Don’t think Rafa would have made the same mistakes. If you had not noticed, that result still grates me!

As for manure staying in the CL maybe helping us, I believe that a good 5-0 tanking in Portugal would also have the desired affect. Come on Porto!

Cant agree with you redneck, if they are dumped out by Porto it would be a massive blow to their already shaky confidence. The press would have a field day, over confidence, disrespect, cracking under the pressure and not to mention the all important fact that it will make them tense and over try to put things right in the Prem a great recipe to drop more points, even better if our small neighbors dump them out of the FA cup as well, then the pressure will be really racked up and everybody and his dog will be getting on their back regarding their bottling it.

The best recipe for failure is to loose it become a habit just as quickly as wining.

FS: I want them out of any competition asap. I hate manure as a club, detest. Their shirt is like a red rag to a bull, in fact to me their shirt is just a red rag. The sooner they get knocked out the better. They are struggling so any good result could give them a bit more confidence. Let them struggle and let us win. I feel we’ll be too good for the chav’s and if we are taking our chances it should a nice 2-0.

Very pleased to learn of the 2-2 score upon waking up this morning. heck, that’s a great result to take back to Porto. And to turn this into a win at their home ground. Yeah! Good to see red whisky nose trun purple.

On to tonight’s game. 2-0 is my prediction. I will be up at 2am in my home to watch it. Yawn!

Hear hear FS, its about what we do now, the events at the theatre of shite are just an amusing sideshow (but boy are they fun to watch!) If we come out fighting like we have done and win every game then we will get the luck……fortune favours the brave….

(ok, Ill settle for draws in the second legs of the CL, as long as we have won the first leg!)

but in the meantime you are right FS, fuck them, give them nothing!

knight, that’d be 2.45am malaysian time. no gathering at the cobra?

bhavster,

Alvaro Arbeloa and Andrea Dossena will be suspended if booked.

Nicolas Anelka, Ashley Cole and John Terry will face suspension if they receive a yellow card.

When teams sit back and defend at Old Toilet we criticise them for not having a go. And then when Aston Villa has a real go throughout the match we criticise MON.

As for wanting the mancs to get knocked out against Porto – thats a no brainer for me. When the mancs play I want them to lose. Simple. If I had my way they’d be out of the CL at the group stages and lose the FA Cup 3rd round tie.

LB: I think people are just disapointed that Villa got so close but couldn’t quite get something off them. And I think you’ll be seeing a lot of this over the coming weeks. I know there’s not a soul in here who would want them to win the toss of the coin before a match, nevermind a match. But, hopefully, nerves are going to get more and more stretched as we go along – if they don’t it means we are out of it.

RBS… I completely agree mate. I would love to do them in the final. Never again would we ever have to take any shite from them. But like you, I’d hate to face their fans in a final of that size. There would literally be murder. Remember the battle of Maine Rd in the early 80′s? The FA Cup semi-final replay. That was what you call football violence. Well, it would be worse than that, and I’m getting a bit long in the tooth for chinning Mancs. And The Euro finals are my holiday. I’d hate to have it ruined by having to batter some other old fat Grandad from shitty Salford (or more likely Essex

I reckon if we met the mancs in the final, English football would recieve another Euro ban. It would be mayhem. Us, the mancs and the ultras? It doesn’t bear thinking about. Plus I feel the same as LB. I want them lose at the earlier stages possible in any competition.

Yeah your right there FS. My mates were saying the same things. That Villa had no bottle etc. If Sunderland get close to upsetting the mancs I hope we don’t start slagging off their manager. It’s our own fault if we don’t win the league.
I’m enjoying watching the mancs cack their load. Their celebrations at the end of the Villa game told a story. I reckon their arses are going. But I also feel that as the games tick away our arses will start to squeak as well. I know mine will. Watching the Fulham game in Yates by the Strand I was extremely tense and was holding my head in absolute anguish when Torres just missed the attempted diving header. That was with 7 games left. Imagine how it’ll be when there are 3 and 2 games left and we still have a chance? I’ll stock up on the Imodium.

If we played the mancs in the CL final I think all the tickets would go to ‘friends of UEFA’ with no British passport holders allowed into Italy.

LB: The mancs seem to be shaky but I don’t think they’re bottling it I just feel they can be got at if a team has a go. I’ve always felt that way and they’re worse because they have a few key players out. Of course (and saying this has made me vomit a little bit in my own mouth) they are a very good football team and are capable of scoring at any time but for me teams go to castle greyskull and are beaten before they kick a ball. Now after we destroyed them teams see how it can be done and are starting to have a go. Van der Saar is not that great a keeper, he’s a good shot stopper but anything in the air or if he’s challenged in the air he’s a flapper. I do think however if things aren’t going their way they will start to implode by arguing with ref and showing dissent as we’ve already seen. I don’t think we’ll bottle it but we might run out of games for the league this season.

FS: Taggart is a tramp alright. I would love us to win the league and Champions league, I think it would finish him off, he’d probably have a heart attack.

Great,great blog Gerry- you and the other Reds keep up the good work.I get a good laugh and the ‘chuckle muscles’ a work-out when I read all everything.Loking forward to the game and don’t worry,just enjoy the win!.

Lads i fuckin love this site. I’ve said this before but i’d just like to put it back out there. Its amazing to be able to come in here win lose or draw and find some comfort with proper liverpool supporters.

Even though people may turn on each other from time to time(albeit outta frustration) its so much better than having to go into work a listen to half witted fans that sing right off skys hymn sheet!!

I feel (like FS said) that the tide is truly turning in our favour. theres such a good buzz about the club at the minute that we can feel good times just around the corner. No club is to big to go down or implode, look at southamptons situation it feels like only yesterday they were in the top flight beaten man scum 6-3(christ i loved that!!!!) So heres to future success in abundance.

p.s I no this is coming outta left field but im just happy with our direction and heres hoping we bitch slap them blue nose,plastic flag wavin,money fuelled no history bastards.

YNWA-COME ON YOU REDMEN!!

It’s a real shame indeed that we don’t have to play the Mancs again in the Prem, it would be great to get 3 points in the bag against them again! Shit, I’m just be greedy now!

Glad you met some decent folk in Porto FS, perhaps you’ll get the chance to catch up with them in Rome!

Tonight, I feel pretty much like LB and FS, and as pointed out, if Hiddink sets the Chavs up to come out and play, we could be in for a repeat of the 4-0 against RM.

My head tells me though that we will win this one 2-1 and get a draw at the Bridge of sighs. Hold on to your hats, this great club of ours will take us to new highs, possibly even this season.

Poor Mancs, conceding 2 goals at home in a CL quarter final ater being “galvanised” by their late winner against Villa. Galvanised my arse, the twats. Agent Ciise, please step forward at 3pm this Saturday.

Like others have said, even if we finish empty handed this season I have now got renewed faith and confidence in this team, and I too feel the future is very, very bright indeed for LFC. YNWA.

Gerry, thanks for posting the Chav link, there’s nothing like a good laugh!

How sad are they? Not only don’t they have any history, they are pathetic as well.

Nice one about Terry’s family. The Tesco/M&S stores where his mother was stealing from are just around the corner from where I live.

It just goes to show, once a Chav always a chav!

LB, the problem with that villa game was, after their second goal, they didn’t go out but they didn’t defend either. They were bascially at a loss what to do. That’s when a manager has to step in. Obviously MON didn’t. It was a total muck up. They had the ability to win it, but didn’t know how to. Plus, there’s the bottle issue. I doubt milner would have been that stupid against a different team.
With Sunderland, well if they give a run I don’t think the manager would be criticised.

Hyde, I still think its overly harsh mate. I was gutted the mancs got those 2 goals but I honestly didn’t think Villa did too much wrong. I think you guys are over analysing it, expecting Villa to be perfect from 0-95 mins. Other than the 2 bits of magic to get those 2 goals I don’t remember Brad Friedel having to make any great saves. Villa were comfortable before the equaliser. But then once its 1-1 with 10 mins plus 5 mins injury time remaining. It’s not easy. How many times have we been turned over in that fashion in that stadium?

Roarin-red. Well said buddy, it is great to be a part of this site, and great to share opinions/frustrations/jubilation with other Reds.

The prospect of meeting the Mancs in Rome is a worry from the violence point of view. An absolute coctail for disaster, which, as someone else quite rightly said, would lead to us being banned from Europe. We must avoid that at all costs. So FFS, come on Porto, finish
the job off at your place.

Sorry I meant 2-2 with 10 mins and 5 mins injury time.

Sorry, I DO know there’s supposed to be a “K” in cocktail, honest!

Steve we’re pretty sure you know how to spell ‘cock’.

I don’t know why I’m so confident but I just can’t see us slipping up. There is nobody better than us when it comes to 2 legged European games or one off cup finals. And as for the league, the only danger I see is Arsenal. But even they aren’t worrying me and I reckon we will do them at Anfield.

I don’t want to seem cocky. I’m not like that and I know how it can come back and bite. So, I’m not tempting fate.

I’ll probably be bricking it by 7:30 and I’ll probably flap as much as anyone else before this mad season finishes. But for some reason, I just feel really confident that we can capture both trophies. I haven’t felt like this in years. But there again, I haven’t seen a Liverpool team play this well in the last 20 years.

The older fellas in here will remember the feeling. It wasn’t cocky big headedness. We just went into every game without nerves knowing/believing we would win and if we didn’t we’d just put it right in the next game.

I’m not going to say anything more about it right now, as I remember Gerard Houlier famously fucking it all up with his 12 games to history speech.

But here’s the run in, make of it what you will…

5 games left in CL
Chelsea home and away.
Bayern or Barca
Final: Villareal/Arsenal or Man U/Porto

Remaining league fixtures…

Liverpool v Blackburn, 15:00
Liverpool v Arsenal, 16:00
Hull v Liverpool, 15:00
Liverpool v Newcastle, 15:00
West Ham v Liverpool, 15:00
West Brom v Liverpool, 15:00
Liverpool v Tottenham, 16:00

Here’s the Mancs….

Sunderland v Man Utd, 15:00
Man Utd v Portsmouth, 20:00
Man Utd v Tottenham, 15:00
Middlesbrough v Man Utd, 15:00
Man Utd v Man City, 15:00
Man Utd v Arsenal, 15:00
Hull v Man Utd, 16:00
Wigan v Man Utd, – dated changed due to FA Cup.

I remember the Houllier speech. “These are not ‘must win’ games, these are ‘will win’ games!!” Then we got slaughtered in Basel.

FS,

I’m also feeling the same way too! You’re right that it’s been a really long time since we saw our team play in this manner.

Remember the double season when we just came back and took the League away from the Bitters? They were also leading with about 5 games to go, I think…

LB I think it was the fashion of villas defeat that killed us. The defensive naivety, the keeper standing 6 yards off his line for the first and third goal, the stupidity of milner, it all added up to a perfect storm of fuck ups for utd to capitalize on. I was furious on sunday. Its taken me 3 days and Porto to get over it! Anyway on to tonight, I’m going with 2-0. Dirk in the first half and Nando to catch them on the break in the 2nd. Come on lads!

lads i love the confidence in here but am now getting scared we are jinxing it big time!! so I have to un-jinx this blog by saying that Hiddink and Chelsea are going to be super tough to beat, i hope we can, and i’ll take any sort of win.

come on you REDS!!!
YNWA

Honestly guys I just don’t get this dilemma some people are having about the mancs in the CL. If they win at Porto and stay in it, it might well boost them for their league games and if they get knocked it might totally shatter their already fragile confidence. Equally the reverse could be true in both instances, you can never really tell.
So I think the best rule of thumb is to remember that the mancs are a bunch of cunts and any defeat they suffer, whether it be in the CL or a game of tiddlywinks, is good news for us.

A lot of football to be played yet.

A question for you Fat Scouser and all other lads i suppose but since he`s been arond since the shankly years i`d like to hear his take on this.I know others have been around that long and longer(jack hill) so i would like to hear all thoughts.

Reading the interview with Xabi Alonso and Jan Molby,Jan said if we go on to win th league it will be the biggest day in the history of liverpool football club.

IMO that was a pretty strong statement from jan considering what the club has achieved.

To me it would be,but i`m only 30 and Istanbul was the greatest night of my life,but i was only 11 when we won it last.

Thoughts lads?

The thought of meeting the mancs in the CL final is to much not only will there be murder there but in the uk an ireland to. I’ve had this coversation with manc mates an trust me reguardless of how much they try to look down there filthy noses at us they to are shitting themselves!!!

However its only a matter of time before we meet them around this stage we cant keep getting chelsea,an even losing at quarters against them would be terrible. Well we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

My predicitions on here have been shite to date my heart is saying 2-0 but im gonna go for 1-0 an heres a surprise lucas to score….. i’ll take it!!

Spot on Gerry old bean! Lets hope they get battered at Porto, the team first on the pitch and then their fans as they come out the ground.(only joking about the fans bit, err I think)

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha is right gerry is fucking right!!

timmy that is a bold statement from jan, an like you im hitting 30 in a few months. istanbul was without doubt the greatest night of my life. Though because the mancs have won so many leagues and english teams are dominating CL to me it would be the greatest day in our clubs history because we would be a team that dominated an era in football then went into the wilderness only to emerge as the best again, therefore becoming without doubt the best club ever…….. and who could argue with that.

I’m sure we will win the champions league again because in my eyes its just the FA cup of europe(im not saying its as easy to win) though over the next five seasons i can see us being in atleast two more finals.

Timmytorres: I’ve been around since the Paisley days. I think Jan means 19 years is a long time so the celebrations are going to make Istanbul look like a tea party. In the Shankly and Paisley era as FS says we just expected to win, not in a big headed way but we had so much quality and confidence. I’ve been at Anfield plenty of times were we were losing 0-1 we’d get the equalizer with 10 mins to go and we would have the opposing team hemmed in they wouldn’t even get out of the 18 yard box never mind their half. The whole ground would be chanting Attack Attack Attack Attack Attack and we’d always get the winner. We’re so close to those days again. don’t get me wrong any other team would kill for our record over the last 10 years, it’s just that LFc aspire to so much more. We want to dominate again and it’s so close now we can smell it.

I would be inclined to agree with Jan Timmy. If you had told me in 1990 that we wouldent win the league again for nearly 20yrs I’d have keeled over from laughing. Well almost 20yrs on I’m not that easily amused little boy anymore and I’m certainly not laughing. It is truly stunning that such a length of time has elapsed since our last title and given the circumstances this yr – the bastards potentially equalling our once unassailable record – I would say yes, it could very well be our biggest day – if wewin

Yes timmy, as Digger just alluded to, winning #19 will mean as mmuch to us old farts who’ve experienced winning the league as it will to those whipper-snappers among us who haven’t.
Too much time in the wilderness.
You only have to look at the celebrations over the CL win… for most of us, old and young, it was the Ultimate moment in a Reds Fan’s career, no matter what else you’ve experienced!

I also agree with LB, I find people’s opinions of the Villa loss very interesting. What I saw was a team making the mistake of trying to go for the 3rd goal and getting caught with too many men upfield.
They had a handful of opportunities to go 3-1 that withered due to very poor final balls.
My feeling wa that VIlla had handled Scum well up until the Milner substitution, and then seemed to lose their shape.

But whatever, 2 away goals is a big ask, even for the mighty world beaters and it will pile on the pressure. The fractures in the squad are already apparent and their savoir of last season and this, Winker, is already taking daggers in the back for his “lack of effort”!!
(like they wouldn’t be battling it out for a UEFA spot with Everton if it wasn’t for his goals! Priceless)

I hope we not only beat the Chavs but knock the stuffing out of them as well.
I just can’t forget that banner…

Two Away goals would hurt ManUre nicely but I fear refreeing decisions going against Porto’s way…

The team news is as expected.

Reina
Arbeloa Skrtel Carra Aurellio
Lucas Alonso
Kuyt Gerrard Riera
Torres

I’m nervous. These games can’t be enjoyed unless your 3-0 after 20 mins.

KDLL, I was about to post exactly the same thing.

I was pretty confident today, but it slowly seeped away.

YNWA

Its the story of our season lads. Even during the desperate months of painful draws.

Get an early goal and run out 3-1 winners. Struggle for that goal and grab a late 1-0 winner.
But I fancy us to get that early goal and watch the belief flow… we’ll take a 3-1 win to the Bridge.

I’d take a 1-0 or a 0-0 I’d bite your hand off for 2-0 and I’d walk a million miles for one of your goals Kenny!

TORRES.!!!!!!!! 6TH MIN….

Come on you beauties…….

What the FUCK is Aurellio doing!!??!??

GOAL GOAL GOAL

let the bounce begin.

I hope you are right FS!

I take it you are watching live LB.

BTW, what balls does pepe have

The atmosphere is absolutely brilliant!
Attack! Attack! Attack!
Keep it going you redmen!

Sorry to be negative lads but Aurellio is looking dodgy

LB. yes he just gave away a very dangerous free-kick.

Is Insua on the bench???

need to be careful here.

Chelsea look like they could get nick one. We will have the legs in the last 20 minutes if needs be.

Aurelio is having a friggin Nightmare!!!!!

Skrtel is having a very very bad game….
He is the ticking time bomb

Carra looks nervous too. Maybe its the Drogba affect.

Right, how do we get Gerrard into the game?

I’d take Lucas off, put Gerrard deeper and put Benny behind Torres.

1-1
Header from a corner.
Drogba is such a physical presence, he just knows how to use his body to shield a defender.
Half-time

Kuyt had a great chance just after they scored.
Torres look like he is up for it, he has Terry and Alex scared to death..

Come Lads..lets get a t least one more at the Kop end.

LB. that’s not a bad idea , mate.
Benny could feed off Torres..

I dunno LB, I agree SG needs to get a bit more involved (if you look, almost every time Lucas has had the ball, he’s been asking SG to drop deeper)
But I don’t think I’d make that sub, since Aurellio is not at his best, Skrtel is looking abit dodgy and Riera is having a fuckin MARE!
I think a left side sub is what’s needed first.

Fuckin great game so far though. should be 3-3.
I was dead confident up ntil about 30 seconds before kick-off and then my bottle just went!!

I calmed down after the goal, (we had 75% possession up until the 30th minute) but then we started to let them play a bit.

Still fancy us, but we have to impose ourselves and get a goal to calm things down.

pretty fair scoreline at half-time. Can Chelsea keep it up for the entire 90 minutes?

But it’s true that we need to get SG more involved.

Well I suppose we have to be happy with that first half, lucky afterall now to be 2-1 down. How many goals have conceded from corners or similar set pieces this year? Very poor. We need to wake up bigtime and start playing like we mean it. But most importantly we must not concede again. A 2nd goal could be fatal. Come on lads!

Or Benny for Riera?

Yeah and that Kuyt chance Redscouse, came about when the ball squirreled free to him… after Torres was just scythed down from behind on the edge of the box. referee took no action. Horrendous tackle!

Two of the league’s (if not the world’s) best strikers. Torres scored brilliantly. Could have had another beauty after robbing Lampard. Drogba, as much as I hate the guy, is such a handful! He is seriously giving Carra and Skrtel heavy duty trouble. Lucas I think is not doing very well in the midfield and Riera reminds me more and more of Luis Garcia. Moments of brilliance with more moments of madness! I think Babel would be more reliable on the left side, and Benny coming on for Lucas.
Ok, we have lost the goal. Now just gotta get the win… no matter what. Come on boys!!

Aitch.. you are right.
Ballack is getting away with murder, he should have been carded by now.

Ok Second half about to kick off.

YNWA.

To be honest I don’t think that Rafa will be happy with our 1st half performance.

We shall see what happens in the 2nd half.

Rafa please get Aurellio off!

I am a big fan of Aurelio but he is not having a good day – like a few others I should add.

The two B’s may well prove to be the difference.

Me and Aitch were talkng about corners a while ago. Now that last Gerrard corner was no worse than the chelsea corner that lead to the goal. Difference was what?

what’s happening????

3-1 to Chelski..
we are a shambles.

nick a goal back and we are still in it. Keep the faith.

Well I warned about the cocky talk earlier

To be fair, this is the way Chelsea are supposed to be playing. They have practically every player over 20million in cost and add to that a great manager in Hiddink, that is your result. Coupled with the fact that some of our players have had terrible terrible days. Aurelio let Drogba right past for that third goal and has had a bad day throughout.
I don’t know why, I should be feeling much worse but I’m not. Maybe if the team were playing well and losing I would feel like crap but poor play from different areas and Chelsea’s excellent play has kinda dulled the pain I think.
PS Lucas has been practically invisible. Do we miss Masch or what?

Gerrard’s been invisible mate.

Gerrard is Playing?????

Lucas is still OK.

The most awful player is Gerrard.. totally nullified by Essien and totally uneffective at all.

While Skrtel in Defense is close in second place..and having a massive nightmare against Drogba

Aurelio is also having a horrible game

I wonder if will Chelsea make a 1-3 t-shirt like the one we made when we thrashed Scum at Old toilet?

C’mon guys, Gerrard has not been terrible. He hasn’t been dynamite but he hasn’t been terrible. If you can designate one player to shadow Gerrard and still have massive quality to do the rest we can’t complain about that. This match has shown the difference between having money to burn and not. We have good players in many areas and they have great players in many areas. When a player like Ballack who hasn’t done much since joining Chelsea can get paid more than Gerrard or Torres then what do you expect. I think Rafa should get a lot of credit for getting us this far and to be above a team like Chelsea in the league with a team half the value of Chelsea’s.
Get us one more goal boys!

they’ve whacked us 4-1 at anfield before and they didn’t do it

That said, I still think they can pull a Man U and go to Stamford Bridge and do something. Chelsea will be without their captain so that should help a teensy bit….i hope.

Idhawan.
When you are being talked about as the best player in the World, you can’t let one man mark you out of the game.

it’s just a bad game today. dunno what to say. i’m just too stunned to see them play so badly

Guess we’ll concentrate on the league now.

Gerrard in this game actually reminds me when he was marked by a young Anderson from the Scums…where he was totally useless

I think it is game over for us…. because I don’t think we can score 3 at Stamford bridge..

but then again,

we did not defeat Scum in Old toilet 4-1 before..

Keep the faith!

Good point, but i believe it was Chelsea’s whole team that pretty much nullified ours. They just had it on the day and we didn’t. At least we know we have to go for broke in the second leg.

Too many players had off nights..
I still fancy our chances at Stamford Bridge.

I don’t think we will play that badly again this season.

It’s a funny old game isn’t it?

I’m off to Liverpool Tomorrow. I will take my boots with me just in case.
I scored 29 goals one season in Southern Ca,
Aitch, what do you think????

When we went 1-0 up so early , I thought we would run amok.

That first goal so late in the first half
seemed to really wake chelski up.
But having said that I thought we would come out
in the Second Half and just batter them , especially as we were attacking the Kop end.
Why wasn’t Masher playing tonight?

Wow, I’m quite amazed myself to say that the Chavs were actually the better team today. Credit to them. In contrast, completely unacceptable performance by the team, with the exception of maybe Torres.

Looks like the focus is on the league now, a position which we couldn’t afford in April last year, where it was Champions League or nothing. At least Ferguscum would be gutted knowing that we’ll now be going at them all the way.

The second leg is only playing for pride now, so try and minimize damage and get as many goals as possible, who knows, something might happen.

Redscouse, Masch’s suspended for today after the yellow card against Real Madrid.

Well I got the scoreline right didn’t I? (Unfortunately the wrong way round tough)
Can’t see us winning 3-0 at their place.

I dunno about Olt Toilet, but if you wanted to see a team looking shakey and rattled, you didn’t have to look any further than Anfield tonight. The players did know it was April 8th and NOT January 8th didn’t they?

That was a horrible performance. How the fuck do you go 1-0 up and have 75& of the possession for the first 30 minutes and get THAT result?

So many mistakes and poor performances all over the park today. Very disappointing.
I’m not blaming him, but Rafa should realy have made a triple sub right before the 3rd goal, coz we’d lost control and you could see it coming.
Needed either Agger or Hyppia on for Skrtel, who was getting absolutely roasted.
Get Insua and Dosser on for Aurellio & Riera who were both playing schoolboy stuff.

Ahh well… time to tot out the old chestnut… “now we can concentrate on the Prem challenge”… sigh!)

Wow. When we’re bad we’re really bad! No point complaining really. Got what we deserved. Second best all over the pitch all night. To be truthful we’re fortunate it wasnt 4 or 5. Drogba could have had a hatrick. They were up for it, we…we….eh I dont know what we were! Anyway, best to put this behind us I guess. Well done chavs, ye battered us, bring on blackburn

Well we now need 3 with a potential to concede 1. The positive (if any, and i am clucthing to straws), is that we have to go all out attack and the formation and game plan will reflect that from the start.

Our basics tonight were shocking, especially from the Skrtel, Aurellio and a few others. Dodgy passing (led to turning the ball over), dodgy clearances.

Can i put some food for thought? Do you reckon Skrtel and JC were cautios (and gave drogba alot of space) because they were avoiding conceding a free kick from Drogbas diving?

Red, I think you’re a bastard coz you beat my best by 3 goals (I bagged 26 one season. But were you a striker? I was a 32 year old midfielder, playing in an open league againstmostly 18028s. I was always the oldest git on the field… a Ref actually told me once I had “no business still playing with these kids”… so I scored 1 and made 2 to win the game… any chance that trumps you?)

The best team won tonight. Full stop.

Away to bed now with my nice French wife. Silver lining and all that.

er… that was suppoesed to say 18 to 28 year olds… but whatever… like that story makes any of us feel better after that shambolic display!

Akka – Carra and Skrtel always shit themselves when up against Drogba! He gives the pair of them a nightmare!! The few times he’s been kept quiet is when Agger has played.

Hiddink got his tactics spot on. Marked Gerrard out of the game and we missed Masch badly!

By the way, I totally agree with those who point out that the Chelsea squad, man-for-man cost many times more than ours.
As Digger said, we were 2nd best (from 20/25minutes, to the end of the game) and the Chavs realy wanted it… but still, when you make the sort of schoolboy errors all over the park that we did today, the opposition doesn’t really need to be all that good.

Aurellio an riera where our downfall tonight. However i thought chelsea were well worth there win and because they played so well i’m not taken this one so bad. They picked up EVERY and i mean EVERY second ball also the breaks went there way. so it wasn’t meant to be.

It is only half time and we’ll just half to wait and see. My concern is how will we react against blackburn…….it better be with all guns blazing.

off to bed seen enough for tonight.

YNWA

Aitch that defeat had nothing to do with the cost of the respective squads bro. They just wanted it more. They outplayed us, out fought us, out everythinged us. We defended like frightened schoolgirls tonight! I’m sorry bro but I just dont want to hear the usual excuses, ‘they’ve more money’ etc. They had more of something alright: desire. As roarin red points out we were 2nd to every ball, 2nd best everywhere really to be honest. We’re lucky it wasnt 4 or 5. Cech dident make a save in 2nd half til 91st min

I agree Chelski played well and deserved their victory. Even Rafa said it after the post match interview, unlike some old fart who had said “the best team lost”.

I’m so glad that many of our fans in Kopblog here acknowledge a good win, which is why I still support the Reds…

I wonder would the team i picked at end of last blog have done better.

I think you completely misread my post, or at any rate my intention Digger.

You simply cannot deny the price per player value of the Chav squad… but YES, that had nothing to do with today’s result.

Had our lot played like they did against Real or Scum, we’d have waltzed this game.
We got the early goal, had the lions share of possesion and Chelsea’s 3 early chances came as a result of our defenders gifting them the ball.

Pepe stood up and negated those chances, insuring that we were dominating and in control at the 25th minute… but those early chances should have rung the alarm bells (they did for me) but we didn’t respond with any urgency and in my opinion took our foot off the gas.
We just kept giving the ball away, failed to defend set pieces and let them back into the game.

Once back in it, they smelled blood, and our overall performance went into the toilet.

Strangely enough, I’m not even angry, just realy fuckin frustrated, coz we are so much better than we showed today!

I’m not denying the price of chelseas players or the monetary value of their squad Aitch, just pointing out that it had nothing to do with that defeat. I know its tempting to clutch at excuses but I hope we dont because the cold hard reality is they played us off Anfield tonight. And I dont know what game you were watching Aitch(!) cos there aint no way no how we were dominating the game at the 25th min, we were lucky not to be 2-1 down by then. And their intensity and harrassment forced those 3 errors mate

We played poorly tonight and thats probably the best they’ve played all season
after they scored just before half time i thought its going to be a tough second
half. ( if you score just before half time you usually go on to win )
I felt SG had half a eye on lucas’s defensive role and couldn’t get fully into
attack mode. Was their 3rd offside ? Should Torres have had a pen ?
We suffered earlier in the season from set pieces and it returned tonight
Positives Monster will be back for the second half and so will Gerrard as
a consequence ,Their Captain and heart of defence will not be playing
Arsey Hole will be scared of a second yellow so if we need to score 3 goals
then that will be the game to score them in.
Basically its half time and we need 3 goals, remind you of anything lad’s ?
YNWA

Alright, anyone for a bit of dark humour to lift the mood? Afterall what can you do at a time like this except laugh at?! So what about Dossers cameo? I’m not having a go, this is in the interest of levity. The chap compiled his own bloopers video in 15mins! The poor hoor couldent control his breathing never mind a football tonight! And what about Pepe saving his ass from that header?! Surely that would have been up there with Whelans chip as one of the greatest (worst?!) reds o.g’s ever?!

Digg, we obviously watched 2 different matches then
I agree we were lucky not to be 2-1 down, but in both instances the defender dwelled on the ball, first Fabio, then Ninja.
Both were very guilty of lax defending tonight. It doesn’t matter how well you play, if you go shooting yourself in the foot like that. Those were schoolboy mistakes by us, not Chelsea dominance.

But at that point we had 75% of possession and it wasn’t all the usual, pass it back to Ninja/Carra/Pepe stuff, though I still think we do far too much of that crap… coz none of them are “playmakers” so it would be best if we tried to limit their posession stats.

Mind you, if we could defend a fuckin corner, we wouldn’t be a half-bad team!

Were him and Babel competing to see who could get the most hits on youtube?
Coz Babel’s cameo was rather embarrassing also!

Digger i felt he knew what he was doing, it just came with a bit more pace
Thought JAR would have taught him though.
Notice how the fans stayed till the end,loved pointing that out to Manc fans .
Anybody see J Teary moaning about fellow professionals surrounding the
ref and asking for a yellow card , F*cking hypocrite coming from him of all
people the pr*ck.
Anyway Blackburn next and we need to concentrate on that and not
what the Scum are doing .

YNWA

I think its also worth pointing out that when we beat Scum 4-1, we made a number of errors in defense that day too.
They had a few corners, Winker had 3 free kicks, and one sitter in the box, and Tevez had at least 2 very good opportunities… difference, they didn’t put them away.

In that game, we took our chances and the Mancs fell apart.

In this game, Chelsea took their chances… and unfortunately we fell apart.

Fair play to Rafa, just saw his post game interview, very gracious in defeat. What a cunt Terry is, he’s pissing and moaning at Stevie, on national t.v mind, that he and Liverpool players were trying to get him booked. Go and fuck yourself ya piece of shit. Hope Stevie comes out swinging and defends himself and his team-mates. What abou dudjohnson getting xabi booked a few yrs ago, plank breaking xabis ankle, assasins horror tackle on didi, tiagos handball etc etc. Fuck off Terry you bitch.

LB, Iknow how to spell “Fanny” as well.

I was playing 5-a-side tonight, and was devastated to come off the court tonight to discover the result at Anfield, really shocked.

April 8th is a bad day for me for personal reasons, but this tie is not over yet, not by a long shot, we can still do it.

Remember Istanbul, remember Old Trafford on 14th March? 1-4. We Can do it have faith lads.

We need to bounce back against Blackburn big time.
YNWA.

By the way, my team won 12-9 at 5-a-side, I scored the first goal of the night, just like Torres!

Aitch, yes I was played as a striker,
I really was a midfielder, but the Team only had a couple of young lads who played up front
But no experience, I was 28 and English and so they gave me the job.
I never scored a hatrick for them, best was two’s

Then I got moved back to Centre back as I got older.

Kinny , I should have know that about Masher. thanks for the info.

It’ was good to see Rafa give credit to Chelski,
That’s what’s class about Liverpool F.C
we appreciate good football.

Glad Terry won’t be around next week.
What a prick he really is.
He and Ferdinand are the main reason I won’t watch England play.

I do think Agger should play next week, he’s not afraid of Drogbreath
Also I said Aurelio had a bad night, but in retrospect, I think he wasn’t getting any support from Riera.

I just got an e-mail from my mate, who was at the Game and he said that the Crowd just didn’t seem to be in it?
Anyone else who was there care to comment?

One last thing, can the players please keep their mouth shut until after the game.
I just feel it does the Team no good for them to give the opposition stuff to stick up on the Dressing Room wall.

Off to pack me bags for the trip to Liverpool.
See you all on the Kop….

I wasn’t all that confident going into the game – and thinking about it – we were not the underdog for a change. There wasn’t the usual build-up that we normally we with these games, and i just got the feeling that we were a bit too cocky.

I hate this cliche, as it’s a wiser-after-the-event sort: we scored too early. Hi guys, haven’t been in for a while. I sense that Hiddink was doing his homework for a while; he had us sussed. Xabi and Pepe were our main contributors tonight. Torres did give Terry a lot of grief, but not enough. Riera’s lack of pace was fairly obvious tonight. Aurelio looked rusty, and not with-it. Gerrard didn’t get a sniff the whole night, but not his fault as he stuck to the game-plan.

The one knee-jerk that I will allow myself is the overwhelming feeling is that we need to secure Agger, as an imperative. Skrtel had a mare by his standards, and but for Jamie Carragher’s of the line clearance, it would defo have been 4 against us.

Big-up for our Pepe for taking one in the nuts for the cause. I’ll echo some of what has been said – no complaints about the result, the best team won.

After the first Chelsea goal, I said to my mate, “I betcha, betcha Ronnie Whelan (RTE-2, Ireland) has a go at the zonal-marking”. And then the second Chelsea goal went in. And guess what! It was the first words out of his trap. On this occasion, we just weren’t organized – especially for the second. To criticize the zonal-marking only after conceding is false logic. “Look see. I told you the zonal-marking is a load of bollocks.” Well if we were to apply the same logic, we would have to look at *all* the set-pieces we have had to defend. At what rate of contrition would it have to be, for it to be obvious that it wasn’t working. One goal conceded in 4 set-pieces? One in nine maybe? One in twenty? I don’t know what it is, so I can’t put you out of your misery, but you see the point. When *we* score from a set piece, is it brought up that *man-marking* isn’t working for the opposition? Is it fuck! We have the third best defense in the league. So that means that there are 17 teams who have conceded more than us. Should this mean that we dispense with zonal-marking?

Now I know that that doesn’t take into account the amount of set-pieces that each team had had to defend, but it does show that we’re not doing *that* much wrong.

For me, it doesn’t matter which system you use. It basically comes down to how good you are, and how organized you are. Good luck to Chelsea for their win.

Definately need to secure Agger as pointed out. Skrtel looks dodgy on the ball and usually takes an extra second to make his mind up causing players to close him down or close his options down. Agger is so calm on the ball, and not only that, he can actually effectively use it.

Ill predict Rafa will start with JC and Agger in the PL and then the same for the chelsea clash. If we need 3 goals i think we need Agger to provide another avenue to bring the ball forward.

I dont know whether its zonal marking, man marking, women marking or the fact that we are just FUCKEN ATROCIOUS at defending set pieces but something has to be done. Clearly whatever we’re doing, or not doing as it appears to be, it aint working. We just dont seem to win headers at set pieces. Defensively or offensively. Its something that needs major addressing in the off-season. I agree with Akka, Skertl needs to sit a few, lad is clearly rattled at the moment. Dagger needs to start Saturday.

Many people commented on how poor Real, Man U etc were but not many commented on how we actually made them look poor rather than they being poor. Today it happened to us. Our passing etc were sloppy due to the heavy pressure they were applying and real high up the pitch.
Of course if we were on a bit of form today we could also have exposed their being so open throughout the field but it was not to be.
It was nice to hear the fans singing the anthem at the end of the game… still supporting the boys all the way. Well done!

If you are gonna analyze our defending, you don’t just include the goals conceded, you include how many times the opposition win the ball, but don’t stick it away.
And that’s a lot. We are generally cack at defending set pieces.

hiddink did his homework. He saw how many opportunities we conceded against Scum and Villa, despite ehte scoreline, noted that when we beat them, we nullified their left and right back by pressing down the wings, and shoved Essien, Lumpy and Ballcocks up through the middle, and pressed us their.

We can analyze what went wrong, and we probably should so it doesn’t happen again… games like this turn on a dime… but nice that within that context Rafa and others can admit that simply put, the better team won.

Just got back from the game after a few extra beers to numb the pain…….well, what can I add to the above? Chavs were better in all departments, even a little less cheating than we are used to seeing. I have always been a Rafa supporter and will continue to be so, despite being frustrated at times with a few of his decisions, (he is, after all at the helm of HMS redmen!) but I have to say I think he was outsmarted by Hiddink tonight.
Chavs played higher up the pitch than usual (note Terry constantly urging the defence forward) and the early goal took the urgency for us to press them back away. Thus our posession could be fairly easily nullified in and around the centre circle.This also meant they could play in the hole left by monsters absence, where Lucas was struggling to adapt (this was where most of Chavs football was played). Additionally, they were tight and compact on the rare occasions we edged into danger areas. This coupled with Gerrard getting stuck in Essiens pocket and too many reds having an off day (to say the least in some cases!) and the fact that the Chavs were so much more up for it. No cockiness there, unlike perhaps some of our lads, who either looked a bit tired (Carragher) looked like they were beginning to believe their own hype (Aurelio) or just had a stinker on the night (Arbeloa, Skrtl, Reiera) Rafa was slow to pick up on this and make changes and as a result we continued to make unforced errors, surrendering possesion cheaply and mislacing passes (Lucas should have come off after 30 mins, my mate disagreed with me on this on the basis that it would have made him look like a scapegoat and dented his confidence, but I say it would have let him know he cannot rest on his laurels after a good couple of games. I though he was another beginning to believe his own hype) Most disappointingly of all, no-one seemed anywhere near as up for it as the Chavs were…..

Which brings me to the crowd………boy were the Chavs up for it! 30 mins or so before ko a huge group of chavs marched up Anfield road singing their nausiating “one man went to mow…..bullshit, nevertheless it was a show of strength I had not seen from them before (and I have been present at all the CL games against them and a good few of the league games since they became a “big” club) It even got a bit tense outside the Anny Road, with a few shovings and yells going on around by the Away fans end.

Prior to the game we had had a really good craic, lovely sunny evening and boy how we laughed on the way over about the “inflatables” website, with suggestions that they should produce a Frank Lampard “mitchelin man” inflatable, but it would have probably looked thinner than the real thing! if it was life size it would not have fitted through the turnstyles!! All agreed the patheticness of the Chavs support and their ability to put a show on (the one big banner with “pride of London” on it? is that what they aspire to? Apparently the club even paid for that banner….sad)
This was re-inforced following the walk through Stanley Park in the lovely late spring sunshine (my son sets his calender by the Champions League, from the post holiday summer pre-season freindly feel of the qualifiers through the dark december nights of the group stages to the spring sunshine of the quarter and semi finals). After our customary walk round the ground,where the atmosphere was strangely muted (we put this down to Chav fatigue, playing them so often) we stopped outside the Anny Road, witnessed the above, and then, to much hilarity noticed some people moving amongst the Chav fans with black bin liners handing out FREE scarves!! yes, the blue and white bar scarves you may have seen in abundance on TV or from your part of the ground were handed out free just outside the ground!!!! (we sit above the away fans in the Anny Road, adult and child concession seats so cant see the away fans and I cant bring myself to watch it yet on TV, maybe tomorrow) They really know how to put a show on!!! I asked one of the bin bag carriers if I was eligable for a free scarf but he told me to “f**k off Scarse Ca*t you’ll only burn it” would I really?!!!! charming young man though!! ( was going to see if he offered me one then say no thanks!)

Once inside the ground the kop banners were impressive as ever, but I thought there was a sense of overconfidence around….even Torres goal was almost expected…are we taking this for granted? I thought……when the tide started turning toward the Chavs the response from some people, only a few mind, was swift and vindictive……..for the record, will the prick who sat in Anfield Road upper block 222, row 13, seat 29, please NEVER go to Anfield again? you dont belong there, try The shack the other side of the park, bitterness is popular there….this prick spent 75 minutes moaning and moaning about everything, from Lucas being shit, to zonal marking being shit, to the grass being shit (I kid you not!) at one point, he even said Torres was shit! couldnt stay quiet then, After 10 minutes arguing with him ( and getting support from some around me) I though “fuck him, Im here to support the redmen”, so went back to the game.
Who on gods good earth goes through all the rigarmarole of getting tickets, pays £40 (at least) for them then spends the whole time slagging off all and sundry on the pitch? Why dosent he go to the pub and spend it on ale (which would probably be shit!) anywhere but in the face of people trying to get behind the team…More worryingly he had a young lad with him (it was the adult and child section remember?) and this poor kid will grow up thinking this is how you support the reds, by moaning and slagging them off….excuse me, this is a Champions League quarter final….. the vast majority of football fans in Europe would give their right arm to go to a European game let alone one of this magnitude…..AGAIN, (ask any fan of Watford, Walsall, Coventry City, to name a few of many) our team has a realistic chance of winning the premiership yet this is what people do? My mates who sit in the kop had disturbingly similar stories to tell when we met up afterwards….one in particular was a whopper who called all game for Babel to come on and replace Lucas, yet when it happened, just after Babels first touch same individual shouted “youre Shit Babel”….words fail me…….Thats the problem, some of our fanbase think we have some divine right to success and style, and that atmospheres create themselves, I dont have to contribute……I recall a conversation in the wee small hours in Istanbul over a glass or 3 of raki after that fateful night, where we discussed how all of us arl bastards who were young scallies in the 80s took it all for granted, and never thought it would leave, and 20 years later in Istanbul how we had missed those wonderful nights cos they did leave us…….this sprung to mind tonight, how we take it all for granted till its gone…bit negative that, the great days, I believe, are just around the corner again, but lets not take it for granted…..we did tonight and now there will be no Roman Holiday for us…..but then again, we are Liverpool, and it aint over till the fat Chav midfielder sings…..

Sorry about the long blog but had to get tonights disappointment off my chest, If its any consolation I feel better for it….when it comes to the Redmen I wear my heart on my sleeve……

PS well done Chelsea you outplayed us tonight, you nouveau riche, classless chav cockney bastards!!! Hope you have all kept your free scarves to wave at the Barca fans when they demolish you in the semis……

Redboyslim. I enjoyed your comments, you make
some sounds points. Us auld fellas did see the glory days of Liverpool , and probably did take it for granted.
I never thought it would come to an end like it did in the 90′s

Standing on the Kop on a Saturday afternoon was the highlight of my week.
But with a few new signings I think those days are about to return,

Would it have been a smart move to drop Stevie G
back to centre midfield and play Benny Onion behind Torres in the second half?
Which might have got him away from Essien?

Games not over yet , Lads.
Masher back and maybe Dagger.
Insua at left back.
We have to go fight for it, we get an early goal and who knows what can happen.

How do we deal with Essien man marking Stevie G?

How do we contain Drogba?

These are some of the issues we need to deal with if we want to avoid doing a Sporting Lisbon, nevermind a repeat of Istanbul heroics . . .

ps: Aitch, you make a very good point bout scum missing a host of opportunities in that game. They were wasteful & we put away our chances.

Looks like we have been found out as well. Now, as the cliche goes, is how we respond.

Christ what an atrocious performance.

Credit to Chelsea and to Hiddink – they smashed us today. When we had the ball, Essien was never more than 2 yards from Gerrard… it’s a bit disappointing to see that we had no way to adjust to that. Unfortunately Rafa is still a bit stubborn and rarely (never?) makes early changes when things aren’t working. Not blaming him for the result, that was just an observation.

We definitely missed Masch too – the back 4 had virtually no protection, and got carved up. It’s sad to point out, but I watched Lucas a lot and unfortunately as the game went on, our boys were less and less willing to pass to him – not coz he was having a particular stinker, but it just looked to me like no one trusted him with the ball. You could see us changing our passing moves once they saw the next pass would go to Lucas… the poor lad was running around midfield at times wondering where he should be, sometimes getting in Xabi’s way, I really think he looked lost. Again, not blaming him for the loss, just another observation. It was death by 1000 cuts tonight… most of the team had stinkers and evidence suggests that Hiddink won the tactical battle too.

Torres was definitely up for it tonight, but without service from Gerrard he really was very isolated. Again, credit to Hiddink on that one.

Aye, FS. “Chav fatigue”, that must explain why the Kop was more subdued than previous UCL encoutners with those bastards. If we meet them once every five years, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but meeting them every year for five years means even the Kop gets sick of at the sight of them.

At least I can take solace that YNWA is still being defiantly sung at the end, and Anfield is hardly empty, compared to Old Crapford after we destroyed them 1-4. That’s why we’re Liverpool fans.

For now, we will have to pick ourselves up and take care of Blackburn and Mark Hughes of the Ferguscum Old Boys Network.

Then we’ll ponder about the option of either going all out against the Chavs and try to redeem our pride at the very least, or fielding younger players and give them experience.

I would pick the former option, as the next game will be a week later at home to Arsenal, since we don’t have FA Cup commitment, that’ll give the boys plenty of rest before the Arsenal game, who in turn will be knackered by their FA Cup clash with the Chavs.

Maybe it’s because this year we still have a realistic chance at the league in April, the first time in a very long time, that I don’t feel that bad losing in the Champions League for once. Granted, this was the worst Champions League display in Anfield since the 1-0 defeat to Marseille in October 2007.

Refusing to give in to too much negativity, I really hope this game serves as a good kick up the backside to remind the boys that nothing has been won yet, as well as to galvanize them much like the defeat to Middlesboring did.

Kenny Riddle, you mean Fat Sam on Sat rite (& not Mark Hughes of the fergie old boys club).

Blackburn’s gonna be a tough, physical encounter. Just wondering if Rafa will ring the changes fer sat or give some of the lads a chance to redeem themselves?

That said, the argument over Lucas should be done & dusted now. He just doesn’t fit into this team.

Hi lads!

Aurelio,Riera played below par. Gerrard was well marked. Alonso was not at his best. I think it would be fair to say that Chelsea were the better team.

Probably after all those magnificient results, this blip was coming. Its a bit unfortunate that this blip might cost us the Champions league. To score 3 goals at Chelsea will be very difficult but i am not loosing hope.

More important than this is our next game now. Be rest assured that Blackburn will feel that they have a chance. We need to win and win well.
Insua needs to come back.

Get the win against Blackburn and then who knows? This has been a season in which we have got some great results. The best record against the big four. So just keep the hope alive. I think we can score 2 goals. It all depends on when we get that 2nd goal next tuesday night.

Well we were well and truly bitch slapped last night. I cannot remember the last time we were so comprehensively outplayed. Well done to Hiddink and Cheslea they got it right on the night and wanted it more than us. That really stuck in my throat to actually say that, but truth is what it is. Terry Paign, ex English and South Hampton player, commentating over here had the best quip of the night. He said the Chelsea players would have to be body searched when they left Anfield to see which one had Gerrard in his pocket.

Says it all really, Aurelio had a mare of epic proportions and Carra and Skertal are decidedly dodgy without Masch in front of them. Reira was nullified and so was Kuyt so the out let to the wings was non existent. I did not think Lucas and Alonso had a bad game but the options and movement in front of them limited there own options. Cheslea did what we normally do and closed us down quickly. Gifting them two goals from corners did not help. We created enough of our own chances but were second best on the night in terms of our defensive or lack of it.

Rafa would have learnt a painful lesson and will not make the same mistake, unfortunately I think it is too late to salvage this one. We might have been able to claw 2 goals back but 3 is a very big ask.

Puchong, stop misspelling my name. We already have a Kenny here, no need to confuse us.

Thanks anyway, I got a bit confused, as I always associate Blackburn with Hughes, since it was he who introduced the “violent approach”. Ince’s spell was too brief that I hardly have any impression of their changed style, if any. Though Fat Sam once again fits the “violent approach” tag of Blackburn well.

Keith, your dead right there. We got a backhanded pimp slap! Once Chelsea settled they were all over us like white on rice. If Torres was on their team it would have been a cricket score. Drogba squandered a number of sitters.

Our defending from set pieces was fucking poor. I wasn’t happy with the way Alonso just got brushed aside by Ivanovic. By the time he got to the flight of the ball there was nothing anyone else could do about it. We were all over the place for their second goal. The 3rd goal was a brilliant passing move that cut us a part.

We missed Masch badly. Chavs were able to press high up the pitch and play football in between our defence and midfield too easily. Lucas and Alonso couldn’t win a tackle for love nor money.

Our left side was non existent. Riera couldn’t get a sniff against Ivanovic and Aurelio went back to his form of 2007.

Skrtel and Carra were getting terrorised by Drogba.

Gerrard is probably still in Essien’s pocket. The tight upper-front jeans pocket.

Torres was well up for it, as was Arbeloa and Kuyt. No complaints with those 3.

Pepe didn’t have a prayer for any of the goals and if it wasn’t for him we’d have got the Sporting Lisbon treatment.

I thought Rafa could have done more to get Gerrard free. Maybe swap positions with Kuyt for a while or bring on Benny earlier and move the players around like I mentioned during the match.

For the Blackburn game I’d introduce some players to the bench. Skrtel, Aurelio, Riera, Lucas need to be sat in the dugout on Saturday.

If the lads were feeling cocky it’s been slapped out of them now. We got played off the fucking park!

I think its the 2nd half we got outplayed. And it was looking bad once they scored that 2nd goal and quickly got the 3rd goal too. Otherwise even if we were bad, we were not being totally outplayed. I dont agree with that.

It was due to individual mistakes 2 of their 3 goals came.

I with LB on this one, we were played off the park, well and proper. If Rafa taught everyone how to play against the manure, then Hiddink may have just done the same thing with Liverpool. Luckily, not all (any) teams have an Essien type midfielder.

The only two things that I can take from this match is that 1. we are ‘only’ beat 3-1 and 2. it has given the lads a good kick up the backside.

Anyway, what is done is done. We need a reaction against Blackburn and get back to winning ways. All is not lost yet.

The individual mistakes came from corners that came from pressure that came from them being better than us all over the park Somnath! I know its hard to accept but not one red, with the exception of Reina, was better than their opposing counterpart. We were 2nd best everywhere, as a result we were soundly beaten and fortunate it wasnt more. Thats the definition of outplayed mate. Cech dident have a save to make in the 2nd half til Xabis shot in the 91st min, tells you all you need to know really.

Guys i think we are going overboard with this ‘Outplayed’ thing.

@ LB & Lurgankop

Torres was close to scoring on two occasions. Kuyt came close. We had more possession. We as a team were not outplayed. The moment we conceded the goals( two individual mistakes), our energy levels dropped. From that point things started to look back. The game was unusually open and both the teams were getting chances.

We were the poorer side of the two after the goals. Before that even they looked vulnerable when we were attacking.

@Diggerno.10

Well..certianly it is difficult to take this defeat coz i didnt get the chance to see Barcelona win 3-1 back in 2001 and yesterday for the 1st time for a long long period we were beaten with a score like that.

But no Diggerno, its my opinion that the goals(Away Goals in particular) started to play in our minds and thats where we could not restored normal service after their 1st goal.

And the bloody reporter at Independent says that our achievment in Europe is actually an ‘OverAchievment’.

Somnath, I standby what I said above – in my eyes we were played off the park.

Even when we were 1-0 up I was worried – see my post #78. Chelsea had their game-plan and it worked to perfection – pretty much like ours did at the old toilet.

For me it is no disgrace. Chelsea have great individual players and hiddink managed to get them to perform as a team. We had a bad day at the office – shit happens.

It’s time to take it on the chin, learn from it and move on.

Also, I think that it is clear that their focus is on winning the CL.

Rafa’s 1st visit to Grayskull saw us concede 2 Silvestre goals from corners-ditto last night.In mycommnent 24, and my comment in the previous blog, I said that we needed Agger instead of Lucas, his height would of been a big help.Insua is our best left back and aurelio our best left mid.Riera is no better than Smicer.Chelsea seemed to play 6 across midfield and we could create very little.If we don’t beat Blackburn-season over.Would Rafa’s Valencia side been good enough to win the prem?.When SG is of his game-the others rarely step up.88 points will win us the prem-the rest have a lot of cup games and Cl to worry about.3-2 would of given us a chance.

I think once Torres scored the team thought it would be a cake walk. This was sumed up when Aurelio was dwelling on the ball thinking he had all day to think about what he’d like for supper that evening before considering passing it to a team mate. I was foaming at the mouth with fury at his sloppiness. In the 2nd half I was pleading with Rafa to sub him. Can’t always wait until 65 mins to make a sub. If someone is having a MARE they need taking off especially when its a defender.

We need to beat Blackburn. We play before the mancs again so its absolutely imperitive we get 3 points. By hook or by crook.

I might as well way into this debate, I watched most of the game, well I watched while we were 1-0 up then went for a shit, come back to 1-1. So although I missed that bit I saw the majority.
.
I personally thought the first half we were playing well. second half we were second rate.
.
I think some players had off days but one player had a very very flat day. Stevie G was pancake flat. My opinion is he was either injured or sick.
.
However if he was injured he wouldn’t have lasted the distance, so I think he was just sick. Many saying he was kept quiet by Essien but that’s just shit, Essien spent most of his game outside our box. Not chasing SG. SG had no thrust and thats what was missing from our little part of the the footballing world.
.
SG is famous for penetration and thrust, today he had neither, thats why I think he was sick.
.
Long and winding road it may be, it’s only half time, anything can happen. Lets get on with Blackburn for the weekend.

Gaz I think SG was sick due to the close confines of Essien’s inside pocket. When he went to the toilet at halftime Essien was sharing his urinal. In fact I reckon Essien was tucked up in bed between Stevie and Alex last night. Anyone seen that Paddy Power advert with Carlton Palmer in the bath? I bet Stevie’s having nightmares like that only it’s Essien who is in the tub with him.

youtube.com/watch?v=_qsLvBkNvHo

So it was you gazman who caused all this!

Everyone knows that the opposition always score when you go to the bog!

Hang your head in shame

Yes beating Blackburn is important. It was always important irrepsective of yesterdays result.

@Lurgankop

The winner will be from our side of the draw. I always felt it would be anyone out of us,chavs or Barca.

I still have hope for the 2nd leg.

The way Barca tore Bayern apart… I think and hope they win it now. I’m assuming we will be going out of course.

LB I think what surpressed Rafa from making an early change was he dident know who to take off!! He could have removed any of Lucas, Aurelio, Skertl, Kyut, Riera at HALFTIME! How the latter made it back to the pitch for the 2nd half is amazing, he was shocking. But I dont want to be too hard on individuals cos collectively they all phoned it in last night. Even the 2 subs looked like they were asleep! Cant blame Rafa really, he cant sub ten of em!

@ somnath

I wouldn’t discount the Arse but I would agree that the winner would most likely come from our half of the draw.

My preference would be Barca, just because they play some excellent footy and that Messi guy is, I can quite confidently say, world-class.

Lets hope we can handle Benny McArthy and Jason Roberts on Saturday. Fat Sam Allerdyce would have been licking his lips at those set pieces we conceded from. Unlike Chelsea though they shouldn’t get too many corners and free kicks near our goal.

They’ll probably park the bus right in front of their goal.

Lads click on that youtube link man!

Very very very drunk. Haven’t read blog or comments just wanted to show me face. But with company so I ca’nt stay. Will be back later though

Keep up the good work FS.

BTW, sponged of work today cause I couldn’t face going into those, let’s say, rival supporters.

A few beers in and everything seems better.

LB, if i’m not mistaken, i believe jason roberts is out this weekend through injury.

I just have a question for all..

Has it happened ever in our history of playing at Anfield that the visiting team has played so well that the home supporters have applauded during the match? Or say applauding a particular opponent player?

Something like Ronaldinho getting applauds from Real Madrid fans when Barca humbled them 3-0.

Just wanted to know.

I am pretty sure that Rafa’s Valencia team was applauded on leaving the pitch after they annihilated us but I am not sure about during the match.

Anyone remember the 5-0 drubbing by Ajax many years ago,in the mist? The Reds bounced back and it was just a one-off. I hope that the Chelski game is one of those,although Hiddink is a tactitian in the Rafa mould.
So in the words of the song “Que sera”,move on and get the Premiership Title!!! – I could not believe the score but in the cold light of day,and it is cold here with snow on the ground.
Saturday will tell us if the team has fallen apart or not.
Those that go to Chelsea next week for the 2nd game ,please support THE team and chant “ISTAMBUL”.

It seems Gerrard ankle was not ok. Hope its not too serious. We cannot afford to loose him.

Thanks for the information Lurgankop.

Don’t be fretting about the second leg. Chelsea scored 3 times at Anfield, so we can score 3 times at SB. It is NOT over.

We need to throw caution to the wind though, there is no other choice. 4-4-2 with Torres and Babel up front together from the off is the only way to do it IMHO. Terry won’t be there for them. He is the cornerstone of their defence and we must make the most of his absence and go for it from the off. April 14th needs to be like March 14th was, winning by a three goal margin in the back yard of another top four team. Chin up lads, we can do it!

Masch and Agger would be definite starters for me also, first let’s make Blackburn pay and then start thinking about mission possible! YNWA.

Sometimes one has to hold his hands up and admit his team were beaten by the better team.This was certainly the case last night.

I won`t begin the blame game with any particular players.We win as a team and lose as a team.We`re all in this together.

Time to put it behind the game behind them now and attend to the matter at hand,Blackburn saturday.

I`d like to see a bit of freshness put into the team on saturday with the introduction of Insua,babel,masch and benny from the start.

Let Blackburn feel the backlash and lets head down to stamford fridge on tuesday and have a go.Thats all we can ask of them as supporters,have a go.

If and when we do go out,at least we`ll have 100% concentration on the league.

It`s a big ask of our squad to compete to the end on both fronts.

Chin up lads,keep the optimism and keep shouting for the redmen to the end.

Credit to the Chavs, they deserved everything they got last night and Hiddick should get top marks for putting Essien on Gerrard and making the game 10v10.

The scary news is that Gerrard is getting a scan on his groin; that could pose a long term issue for us. If there’s a problem, it puts him out for Sat. and possibly Tuesday night at the Bridge.

Call me a glutton for punishment, but I watched the game again last night to try and get a little more objective look. I don’t think we played that poorly, we created a lot of good chances in the first half. After we went two down, you could see the energy level drop.

Yes our defense was shocking, and we desperately missed Masch, but in re-watching the game, things could have been different. If Nando chips the ball in over Cech around the 23 minute mark, it’s 2-0 to us and we win at a canter.

Right after Chelsea equalized, Petr Cech made a top notch save on Dirk Kuyt. Scoring within a minute of conceding would have put them right back on their heels.

And before you throw it out there, yes Drogba should have scored a few more himself. My point is we could have put it to bed quite early, but we didn’t take our chances and it came back to bite us.

Here’s what we need to do at the Bridge:
3-0 to advance, 3-1 to get to extra time, or score 4 with a two goal differential. Those are our options to get through.

It’s Istanbul time and things aren’t over just yet. Might be time for Rafa to trot out the 3-5-2 again (just like bringing on Didi) and have a go at them. Play Skrtel-Carra-Agger across the back and go from there. If we lose 3-2, I can stomach that a lot more than a dull 1-0 loss with the ressies playing.

I don’t want to see us field an under strength squad to “focus on the league.” First we need to take care of business this weekend against Blackburn. That’s the most important thing we need to do.

We play Chelsea on Tuesday night, and then we have one full week until we play Arsenal on the 21st.

That’s plenty of time for our boys to recoup, and the Arse will have a tough FA Cup match against Chelsea on the weekend.

To quote the famous Animal House line:
“Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”

BELIEVE boys, YNWA!

Ivcjmac,I think it was the japs who bombed pearl harbour

Bad news about SG,hope it ain`t too serious.

Hiddink did a great job. Well prepared and thourough too. He seems gracious in victory and defeat, not like some other managers.

Essien made a massive difference to Chelski.

We sorely missed Masch who would have filled the gap in which most of Chelski’s dangerous play occurred.

I wasn;t at the game but I thought our crowd was quiet at crucial times when we need to be more defiant. Although great to hear YNWA at the end from a still full house.

Finally, I saw the match on Sly sports and whilst the result upset me, I have to say that Andy Gray really annoyed me. He hates us so much! He was revelling in our misery. I’d love to shove that mic right up his blue-nosed *rse. Do you think he’s got a chip on his shoulder about being the second best Scottish pundit on tv?

Roll on Blackbruise on Sat. Forget what Scum are doing. Focus focus focus!

Well I’ll tell you what, if our players had kept their heads as well as the lads in here have done, we’d have kept the scoreline respectable yesterday.
It would have been easy to go off on players after that game, but most people have resisted and kudos to you all for that.
Restores my faith in Kopblog and the general IQ of its faithful!

There is no doubt that Chelsea were just the better team on the day. We got well and truly schooled and they deserved the result.

But an analytical view of what could have been done differently is what will help us in subsequent games. (not like we have any influence, but I’m sure Rafa is doing the same thing.)

I think some posters are being harsh on Lucas (though certainly not as much as in the past.) The lad did well in the first half and his game didn’t deteriorate until all around him did.
Someone suggested he didn’t put in a single tackle all match??? You were obviously watching the Barca game, coz Lucas got stuck in and put some great tackles in on both Lumpy and Bollocks, the problem was, he was double teamed by them for most of the game and got stripped of the ball as soon as he won it.

There were many instances of Lucas having the ball, looking up for the pass, and waving his arms at players coz they were not moving into space and giving him options.

I think if we want to faily rate the players performances, you have to do it in two halves, coz this was a game of them.

We tried to play a slow, deliberate passing game after we went 1-0 up and they didn’t give us time on the ball. Too big a part of that for us, is having Alonso and Lucas both dropping deep and interchanging passes with the back 4. If we aren’t pressed, it allows us to control the game…. problem was, Chelsea weren’t having any of it and pressed us and we got caught out.

I’m not taking anything away from them. They deserved that result, but as someone else pointed out earlier, in the first half, that game could have gone either way. The 2nd half was all Chelsea.

… oh… I forgot to add at the end of that… BASTARDS

Hello lads, couldn’t watch the game live so I kept me mouth shut until I had actually watched it.

Firstly, you have to congratulate Chelski, they played very well. And of course, you only have to admire the skills of Hiddink who can revitalise a team in such a short space of time.

Secondly, I don’t think we were “outplayed” as some say. At least in the first half, I think we played very well. The side that capitalised on the mistakes usually win in these close encounters, and Chelski were more up to it on the night. Torres had at least 2 other opportunities to score, I remember the chance Kuyt had in the first half 30 seconds or so after Ivanovic’s equaliser. If those had gone it, it could have been a different story. I am not making any excuses, but it is not as if we didn’t create any chances or didn’t have a sniff on goal. Our defense was not very good, granted (and I can actually pin-point 2 individuals that caused that), and Chelski played well and truly to their potential. But I hardly call it a “bitch-slapping.”

Thirdly, is it really true that we are not good at defending set-pieces? Does somebody have any stats on this point? I am not being sarcastic, it is just a simple question, but I do not think our rate of conceding from set-play is that bad. We are so sound defensively from open-play, that the majority of our concession may have been from set-plays; however, I doubt that that the number of goals conceded from set-plays is any worse than that of the mancs or chelski. Also, some seem to think that our set-up for defending set-pieces is a simple zonal-marking system, but I very much doubt it. To identify its essence, we need to ask Rafa (which he will never reveal, mind!), but I seriously feel that it is a mixture of man-marking and zonal. It is definitely a system resulting from a ton of analysis by Rafa, so I doubt the system itself is flawed. It is how we can execute it, and against Chelski, we didn’t perform it well. But you also have to give credit to Chelski, because they worked it very well.

Finally, maybe it is just me, but I still feel that the tie is not over yet. I am not quite so gutted with this result. It is going to be hard to turn this arouned, but it is not as if chelski nullified us, so if the lads are really up for it, then I feel that we can at least go in for extra time. However, my only worry is that since we are still in the title race, some of our key players will be too focused on that to play with any high motivitation in the second-leg. They may have already given up the tie, and started focusing on the premier league.

Whether or not it is going to be a good result for us if we bow out of the CL so early is a really difficult question in my view. But then again, we definitely do not have a squad as big as the mancs or chelski, so I guess we cannot go for the two big ones at the same time.

I’m suffering from a terrible hangover so sorry lads, but I just can’t work me way through all the comments.

But I do remember that night in the mist against Ajax that Jack has mentioned. They were a great side and really taught us a lesson that night. It showed us what we needed to do to compete in Europe, but I was too young to really understand that. I was just broken hearted after it. I think I was in the Boy’s Pen, but I might have just graduated to The Kop. But I remember visibility was that bad, you could just about see the half way line. And from the Kop/Pen end we chanted into the mist… “Annie Road, Annie Road what’s the score. Annie Road what’s the score?”

After the 3rd goal they chanted back “You don’t want to know.” We was a funny crowd back in them days. And we didn’t recover too badly from that mauling either.

I suppose it’s on to Blackburn now. And, let’s hope, unlike our neighbours down the East Lancs Rd, this proves to be a kick up the arse and our season get’s back on track pronto. Blackburn will play the only way Fat Head Allardyce knows how to play…. direct, long ball, big bombs to heads from all over the pitch, especially at set pieces. So, we can’t defend like that again. Nevermind Zonal or man to marking. It’s not worth the time to argue it. We just need someone to take resposibility and get a head on it… Hyppia?

Stevie G’s knock is a bit worrying and I think Torres is still feeling one too. But whatever players we use, they should be good enough and we need to get back on track asap. Don’t think Blackburn will be easy though. They’ve took 11 out of their last 18 points and I think the last time they lost was when they played Man U. I haven’t checked but they near stole that one. And, if I remember rightly, they would have got a result only the referee disallowed a perfectly legitimate goal by Santa Cruz for offside.

So, it’s not a case of just turning up and getting the points.

Which sadly, I thought it was against Chelsea. You lads all know how nervous I am before any game and always play down any thoughts of easy wins. But on Wednesday, I feel into a trap. I wasn’t cocky. I just felt like I always used to in the glory days… I thought whatever they did wouldn’t matter as we would just be too good for them.

I’m not saying the player’s felt like that. I think the defeat was mainly down to a few things… Hiddink came with a plan. They were good enough to carry it out. We had no answer to it because Gerrard was carrying a knock and Essien was great on the night. In fact, the whole Chelsea team were better than they have been in a couple of seasons. And too many of our lads had an off night.

These things won’t all happen again next week. We shouldn’t just give up on it and go for the league. The best way to get over any defeat is to win and especially to win against a team that has recently thumped you. I know we will be risking injury and might even be doing it on a lost cause. But weigh that risk up by what a win and advancing in the CL would do for us? Imagine the lad’s confidence and what it could do for the rest of our season if the impossible happened?
And remember… we do have a track record of making the impossible happen.

Besides, this club of ours isn’t about throwing in towels. Throwing it in wouldn’t guarantee a league title. We have no choice. We have to go into every game as if it’s a cup final and throw everything we’ve got at winning them all.

If we go one up, it won’t look like to big of a mountain. And have you seen the latest… the tramp wants to win 2 more European cups before retiring. We have to stop that desperate bitter man from getting on our perch, and leave him in the retirment home for old drunks…. miserable, bitter and broken.

I can be an evil old bastard some times.

That’s not being evil, FS. It’s called being responsible to bring justice on someone that has been too bitter against us. It’s called vindication. How I wish that to happen.

Hi all!

Andy Gray in his article talks about Zonal Marking and describes it as a flawed system. I need not say this but Liverpool fans there have responded aptly and proved him wrong with some very good facts(Reina-Golden Gloves, Our Defensive record etc).

But the question which i have is in some games where your most tried system of zonal marking is going wrong(Eg: Chelsea game), is it sometimes better to change to an alternate plan? Something like switching to a Man Marking Defensive strategy during corners?

Again when Gerrard(As everyone has agreed)was kept silent in that position, what chances did rafa had to say take lucas out and put gerrard in central midfield.

What i am trying to say is we all know that our strategies are great and not many times, opponents unlock us but sometimes is it not better to have a plan B and put it in place and see how it’s working?

Ferguson can dream about winning CL twice in 3 years.

Do we risk gerrard tomorrow?

ps: KINNY Riddle – sorry fer misspelling yer pseudonym.

It wasn’t down to zonal marking…. we were just crap at defending set pieces on the night. Skrtel had a nightmare. But it wasn’t just his fault too many lads had an off night.

As for Gerrard…
1: He was carrying a knock.
2: Essien is a fantastic footballer and great athelte.

But not other teams have anyone as good as him to do that job and keep Garrard quiet. And the niggling groin injury was just as much to blame. Had he been 100% it wouldn’t have worked out like that. Essien will still have done a good job, but Gerrard would have escaped him a few times and things might have been different.

On top of them things, it wasn’t just them 2 factors that caused it…
The wingers pushed our fullbacks back – the way ours have in the past when we have beaten them.
So, the fullbacks couldn’t even get the ball forward, nevermind get up and support.

Also Drogba was immense. He defended brilliantly from the front and that meant we had to go long far too often.

Add that to no Mascherano, Lucas having a nightmare, and the Gerrard/Essien situation, it meant we left Torres up front alone. Which, in turn let their 2 centre backs to defend him as a pair. And with Riera and Kuyt having bad nights and being pressed back by their fullbacks, we couldn’t get wide and behind them and Chelsea comfortably kept us far too narrow. Which meant, Lampard played with far too much freedom. It could have been a lot worse, and we could have even give up a few more goals.

This won’t be the case at their gaff. A lot of people think we need an early goal. It would be nice but I don’t think it’s essential. This is still do-able. And I could go on about why, but we have a game on Saturday. That’s the important thing now.

Fat Head Alardyce has called Rafa a moaner, said he just likes to whinge and does it far to much. We all know Fat Head is The Tramp’s arse licker in chief. He’s probably just doing it with one eye on the tramp’s job. The demented fucker. He’s got no chance. But he’s got every chance of winding up our players that will be seething after Wednesday anyway. So, thanks Fat Sam and even mr. ferguson. You’ve just done Rafa’s next 2 team talks for him.

@FS

Yes you are right regarding what went wrong that day and that led me to ask my question at #195.

I felt that we took Lucas and Riera off a bit late. Just for a change Gerrard could have shifted to that central midfield and see how things work. Riera was neatly marked by Ivanovic, probably Babel would have tested him with his pace.

Conceding 2 goals one after another did the damage. Still i think Gerrard’s position could have been changed to see the impact.

Somnath, I went to watch the match with my brother. He’s an Evertonian, but he’s from my generation. Blue or Red – we stick together. One of the old school. He used to also work and live in Earls Court, very near the Chelsea ground and he ended up hating them. So, he was on our side anway. After about 20 minutes he said… “You could be in trouble here. Gerrard’s getting bossed out of it. You need to shake it up. Get him off, or out wide and get Bennayoun on. You need to start creating more.”

He also said, our fullbacks had to force it but weren’t getting enough help from Riera and Kuyt. I respect our kid’s views. He knows his football, and I couldn’t say he was wrong. In fact, I think he was spot on.

But, far more importantly, Rafa knows better than any of us. I bet he’s planning like a mad man from the final whistle. I think he will have thought of little else. In fact, I can just see him, cheating his daughter’s at a game of draughts or something and seething at this result.

But I don’t think he would have taken his eye’s off the ball for tomorrow’s game. And, as I said, let’s hope this just proves to be one of them freak blips and it will spur us on for the rest of the season.

RAFAEL BENITEZ must decide whether to gamble on Steven Gerrard’s fitness for tomorrow’s crucial Premier League clash with Blackburn Rovers.

The Liverpool skipper underwent a scan yesterday on a groin problem that hampered his performance in the shock 3-1 Champions League quarter-final first leg defeat at home to Chelsea on Wednesday.

Results have shown the 28-year-old has suffered a small strain to his adductor muscle, with discussions due to take place this morning among the club’s medical staff on how best to manage the injury.

Gerrard has not been ruled out of any games, and could yet lead the team out at Anfield tomorrow with Liverpool hoping to temporarily move back to the top of the table with victory over Blackburn.

But the likelihood is the midfielder would then be absent for the return leg against Chelsea next Tuesday.

“Steven was not 100%, you could see that,” said Liverpool manager Benitez of Gerrard’s performance on Wednesday. “It was the same for Fernando Torres, you could see that they were a little tired, not as sharp as before.

“But they have been playing well and we felt it was okay to use them both in this game.

“But credit to Chelsea, they were always controlling Steven and making it difficult for him to play. He was not as mobile as normally.”

Gerrard was sidelined in February with a hamstring injury sustained in the FA Cup trilogy with Everton, and has also suffered previous groin problems this term. He sustained an ankle injury during last weekend’s win over Fulham that forced his precautionary substitution, but Benitez added: “The injury he had on Saturday was not the problem, his ankle was okay.”

FS yes i totally agree with you on Rafa knowledge and his planning for tmrw’s game. My views are the same like your brother. Although watching a match in tv is nothing compared to watching it from the stadium a lot of people will agree that Gerrard’s position could have switched to make it more difficult for Chelsea to mark him.

The injury Gerrard has was a big factor like you said. I certainly dont think we were outplayed. Even we could have scored 3 goals inspite of having most of our players off color.

I just wonder what would have happened had Rafa changed things a bit before the damage. I have real hope us turning this tie around.

I’d be tempted to put Gerrard on the bench against Blackburn and pray we can beat them without him. Seems to me that Gerrard is struggling to play 2 games a week at his maximum at the moment. Maybe bring him on after 60 mins if things are not going well.

Reina
Arbeloa Carra Agger Insua
Benny Alonso Masch Babel
Kuyt Torres

Good call LB FOR 2moros team selection-maybe Babel on the right and Aurelio on the left.The latter has never been good defencively.Agger would of given a lot more V the Chavs-height and an ability to bring the ball out from defence.We could play him 2moro-Carra and Skrt looked shattered.We should forget about the Cl-a Barca V Arse final seems probable.A 3rd season without a trophy would be a big let down.90 points will be the min needed to win the Prem next season-let’s do it while we are in with a great chance.No more Lucas or Riera.

LB, good line-up but I think that Carra looked fucked on Wednesday.

It would be a bit risky but I would still be tempted to go for Skrtel and Dagger as the CB combination. I think that the blackburn game is one were we could maybe do without Carra’s excellent organisational skills and give him a bit of R&R before the chav re-match.

We can always bring SG on if needs be.

Centre backs do less running than the other players besides I thought Skrtel looked worse than Carra the other night.

In 1977 we won the league, we won the European Cup, and we got beaten in the FA Cup final just 4 days before playing the European in Rome. We only used 14 players – yes, just 14 – all that season.

I know times have changed. That’s not me point.

The thing is…. this is how it is at the business end of a season. It’s been so long that most of us have forgotten how it goes. But many players will be very fatigued (Kuyt, Riera Wednesday) and some will have to play while carrying injuries. It’s just the way it is.

When we got beat in the FA Cup Final of 77, it was from a very jammy goal that came very late on. McCarri hitting a hopeful shot that Tommy Smith only managed to deflect onto Greenhof’s chest. It would have been saved no problem by Clemence, and it hit Greenhoff – he didn’t do it on purpose. It was just one of them flukes.

The lads looked absolutely shattered and deflated. We all worried how they would react. Thousands of us set off straight from Wembley for Rome. It used to be a 3 day trek by boat, train and bus back then. It was a horrible journey. And most of the talk was about wether we could recover in time physically and mentally.

Well, we all know what happened. But you know what… some of that victory was down to pure effort and determination. Watch Keegan’s run when Vogt’s pulled him down for the penalty. KK had played practically every game that season. He was absolutely shattered. But he put that much effort into that one run, that Vogt’s (One of the all time great defenders/holding midfield palyers) had no choice but to pull him down. 99% persperation, 1% insperation, as they say.

Well, it might be 32 years ago, but the same thing needs to happen now. Whoever plays tomorrow must put this defeat out their minds and press on. Blackburn will be determined to turn this into a dog-fight. We have to be up to it, and that little 1% of insperation will be enough to drag us through.

As for the return leg, that will have to wait.

Could not agree with more with FS.

I fell SG should play. Probably he would want to play more than anyone else and put the last game behind him. He would surely like to score and revitalize his confidence.

All those players who didnt play well will be like wounded tigers who would like to set the record straight. I think its worth starting with Gerrard(Coz we simply dont have a replacement for him). Lucas,Riera,Skrtel are all replacable by able players. But Gerrard and Torres dont have replacements.

If gerrard is in a condition to play then no point keeping him on the bench. You dont keep your best players on the bench at the business end of the season. Each match is a cup final now.

Sorry..i meant Could not agree more with FS.

Some team news on the blackburn side.

Jason Roberts ruled out.Santa cruz doubtful.

That would give us an advantage if Santa cruz weren`t playing,he be our biggest threat.

We should have enough in the locker with or with out SG to take the 3 points IMO.

I hope he does play though.Leave him at home for tuesday,and give him a 10 day rest to be ready in time for the Arse.

I`m not conceding our CL hopes but i`d prefer he`d play tomorrow and rest and be right for Arse than play against Chavs and aggrivate the groin with less time to recover.

Boy oh boy – I love reading all the comments,at least I get the truth as you see it,not some newspaper scibe whose writing as just a joke to sell papers-keep it up guys.
Puchong Red,be thankful that you didn’t miss-spell the name as, “Jimmy”.
FS,don’t leave again, and your brother as pretty wise considering he’s a Bluenose.
LondonBarnes,fancy having to live in the midst of all those plonkers.
RafasBeard, I like the name “Blackbruise” for to-morrow’s oppenents.
Let’s hope they win and ManUre don’t.
Toodle Pip for now everyone and don’t hard boil all your Easter eggs.

@JackHill

Why you didnt take my name in your list of wise men ? Not fair.

On a more serious note, you raised a very important point of ManU dropping points. All of us want that too. Let’s see what happens. Ferdinand and Evans out of the starting line up.

I would rest Gerrard, but think Torres should play. Kuyt behind Torres, and bable on the right.

As for Rafa planning for the return, I am sure he will be. It has been quite some time now since I last saw him so pissed off with the 2 soft goals we conceded. He was seething, I tell you. But as FS says, I am also very definitely sure that he is only taking it a game at a time. Blackburn is the priority for now. You can only plan a strategy when you know who is playing, and at this stage, injuries and fatigue are going to decide who will be playing on the give match day.

Hyde,

If stevie were to be rested for tomorrow i think benny should play behind torres.I think he would be better there than Kuyt.

Kuyt is a lot more effective on the right than in the middle IMO.

I`d also like to see Babel included.

Carra says that the game against Blackburn is the biggest league game of his career. Maybe Gerrard feels the same. If so he’ll be telling Rafa that he’s fit and bloody well playing. Will then be up to the manager as to what way to go.

I hope the lads fly out of the traps again. If we score early I can see us winning no problem. But the longer it goes without any goals the more nervous Anfield will be.

Thank you very much Mr. Hill, Sir. It’s a shame young blues and reds have gone the way they have. It’s not them all. Some still have our old values. But it’s a shame to see some hating one another instead of supporting one another. Sadly, a sign of the times we live in.

As for disappearing, it’s aswell that I did. Talk of blue, you can imagine the sort of language I’d have been tossing about if I’d stayed.

But I always meant to come back. I only left because of all the negativity and anti-Rafa sentiment. I couldn’t take anymore, and I would have got abusive had I stayed. But I knew it would turn round as soon as The Boss got the team firing again.

And as I can see from the comments after Wednesday, people are holding on to that faith. Imagine if that defeat would have happened in the early stages of the competition. This place would have gone into meltdown, but the reaction just tells me that the team is on track as people haven’t got suicidal after one bad result.

And who knows, we may well end up with nothing. I will be gutted if that happens, but I won’t be despondant. I think most people in here can see the real progress we have made this season and are happy with that. And just a couple of wise buys in the summer should make sure we are in there challenging again next season, hopefully with a very nice outcome on the trophy front.

LB: Hopefully from now until the end – every game will become the most important for the players and us. There’s a possible 11 cup finals stil to play. There’s nobody as good as preserving players as Rafa. Training will only consist of one/two touch 5 a-sides to keep the tempo up, and I should imagine a lot of set piece defending excersises. Other than that there’s not much more the coaching staff can do. It’ll be lots of stretching, massages, rest and praying no one gets crocked.

Talking about crocked…

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has not recovered from his groin injury and misses out again.

This will not be an easy game for the mancs, so the more problems the better. Over to you agent cisse – hope he can stay on-side!

i know that jason roberts is out and santa claus is dodgy, but anyone know about pederson? he has been out for a while, but i heard he might be back for blackburn this weekend. he can be dangerous from set pieces, so we will have to watch for that…not to mention their ability in the air: nelsen, ooijer, santa (if fit)…they do have some decent players. we really have to be on top form and quickly dispell their belief that we are beatable after they saw us on wednesday.

you know they will be kicking the s*** out of torres and gerrard (should he play)

The nature of Gerrard’s injury suggests that he won’t play against Blackburn, but with treatment may be in the frame for the second leg on Tuesday.

We all obvioiusly hope he can play in every game, but we have to think about his effectiveness with this injury for tomorrow.

I want to see Babel get a start tomorrow, and watch us take the game to Blackburn from the off.

On Tuesday, Rafa must suprise Hiddink by selecting a line up that Hiddink is not expecting. Our club never does anything the easy way, and this second leg is made for us. I know it’s Blackburn first, but I am feeling really confident about turning this tie around. We can do it.

I have just read that Stevie is in the squad for tomorrow. Of course that doesen’t mean he will start or play any part at all.

This is a challenge to the rest to show they can secure these 3 points without Stevie.

They’ll make a last minute decision on Gerrard. Questions will be how effective he can be in the game against Blackburn and what is the risk of the injury getting a lot worse if he does play.

I’m not really worrying about the Chelsea game because I really think the tie has gone.

We all think the tie has gone mate, but you don’t give in. We can’t. Same with injured players now, some will have to play even carrying a knock. It’s the business end. We have to put everything into every game, cross all extremities, and say a little prayer.

We can go into the second leg on top of the table and that would really bolster the lads. Most of us in here have played. You know even tired sore legs feel a little lighter when you are winning.

As Lurgan kop says, Utd have big problems in defence. They’ve been out of the spotlight a little due to our thumping, but they are not out of the woods yet. With a bit more luck, effort, belief and faith, Porto could have really beaten them up.

They was cack all over the pitch, but the defence is realy ragged right now. And not only is Feridnand still out, Johnny Evans has joined him. That means they’ll probably have to use Neville again. His legs have gone. Cisse can indeed damage them down the flanks. Also is Kenwright Jones fit? He’s no Torres. But he’s big and strong, quite quick and a handful. He could cause them some right problems through the middle. And seeing how much they need points they could well go for this and play a similar game to the ones that have been causing them problems since we beat them.

We could well be playing Chelsea when leading the league by 2 points. That will scare the shit out of United and send the others a message.

As for the European, that’s still in our hands. Okay. We’ve got a mountain to climb. But we don’t need anyone to slip up or do us favours. Peg one goal back and that mountain won’t seem so big.

3 points against Blackburn and I’ll be happy. If we can restore a bit of pride at Chelsea that’ll do me too. I’m not giving up on that one but as its such a tall order my mind is more focused on the league run in now. Anything other than CL elimination will be a bonus.

LB, there’s only one alternative to CL elimination, and that’s making it through to the Semi’s!!!

After watching the game again last night i noticed with a bit of luck it could
have been different .A lot of the errors were unforced ie ball not bouncing
for us or slipping off the top of the boot we had 2 penalty shouts 30&90 mins
for handball and clearly 1 for a foul on Torres and Malouda was offside for the
third. J Teary could easily been booked on 47 mins for fouling Torres and
kicking out at Kuyt as he was running past on 70 mins along with other
numerous fouls on Torres one which Aurelio got booked 5 seconds later .
And he complains about 1 yellow the c*nt he should have been off.
While we may think SG was marked out of the game the same could be said
for Essien and Fat Frank as they contributed little going forward so whose
pocket was they in. As others have said we could have been 3-1 up at half
time with a bit of luck .
YNWA

Rome,

I know all thats true but not everything goes our way in a game.It`s only clutching at straws picking out moments when it could have swinged the match our way.

We weren`t unlucky and the chavs weren`t lucky,they were just better over 90 mins,simple as that.

We take it and move on.

i know i dont get to comment as much as i would like but i always try to catch up withall your comments. this is the best fan site i have found, and like some of you go back to when shankly started to gain momentum and put the club on its way as a force.and i think that raffa is going to do the same and take the club forward but in a more modern way and leave a legacy of a similar hilt. i also agree with timmytorres give the chavs credit that they got it right on the night. and give the bastards a hard time on tuesday. thats the way i have seen us deal with things over the years during the best times and the hard times. thats what sets us red apart from the supporters of the manc scum.raffa is the best manager we could have ask for at this moment in time and the guy loves the club and will do every thing in is power to make us the best that he can. if all our players give us the same commitment then we will soon be what we all know we are the greatest team and with teh best fans through out the world.

ynwa

timmy, I don’t think rome is saying that the Chavs didn’t deserve the victory. I just think all this “they domminated us” is a bit wide of the mark.

The first half was a pretty even contest.. a really terrific game of footy between two top teams. It could have easily been 3-1 either way or 3-3 at half time.

The 2nd half was a different story though wasn’t it?

The point in such an analysis is simply, we go to the Bridge and get a goal on 10 minutes like we did at Anfield … how many Chav sphincters are gonna snap shut thinking, holy fuck, they’re not gonna do an AC Milan to us are they?

We may all like to have a go at John Terry, but he is the glue in that back 4 and they won’t have him there to calm things down.

Such a scenario is just what the doctor ordered to cue the bouncing travelling Kop and put yet another miracle comeback on the cards!

Is it the mother of all uphill battles? YES
Are we the one team that could do it! HELL YES!

In the meantime, restoring usual service with a 4-1 drubbing of Blackburn would be a nice tonic. (though given my last attempt at predicting a scoreline, I should probably just shut the fuck up

Timmy i have moved on and accepted the result but Luck does play its part
for Ninja to go to clear it and have the ball spin off the top of his foot and give
away a corner, which leads to a goal,was unlucky for us and lucky for them.
So if we get a bit of luck next week,you never know we might just turn it around.
This mountain can be moved.
YNWA

Jim,

hear hear…..aitch, love the comment…thats what makes us different, aybody else in our position and it would be “game well and truly over” (copyright Andy “prick” Gray) but over the years, and especially this season what makes us special is the fact that we have done the impossible!!! too many times to make it what other fans like to believe, flukey, IMHO, it comes from belief and commitment and pride from the fans right through to the players and beyond. This was typified in Istanbul but witnessed many other times. I wont list them here but I am sure you all have your favourite one beside Istanbul, mine is the 1976 Uefa cup final first leg, Where as a 14 yo on the kop (allowed to go with just my mates to a night game for the first time, with my dad in another part of the kop having made his way there with his mates…Woo hoo! grown up!)
All we knew about the opposition was that we knew very little, FC Brugge, cant be that bad to be in the Final, and Belgium is near Holland and they have been pretty awesome lately, so that cant be bad and they wear one of those fancy adidas kits that only european sides wear with the 3 stripes on sleeves and shorts and round the socks (kids obsessions with footy kits is nothing new!). Half time and the reds had barely got going, with Brugge scoring two excellent away goals, one a screamer from< i think, the famous De Cubber?! that gave Clem no chance…..hmmm, trophy fading fast. The Kop was absolutely packed, on a hot May evening (that year was the famous Indian summer year) and John Mac and me sat on the barrier behind us to cool down.
Then, and for the only time since, we discussed leaving at half time……shameful, we were both upset, with our youthful optimism well deflated, So glad we didnt!! three goals in the second half, (Ray Kennedy played a blinder and scored the first of the three that all came in a blistering 5 minutes!) and buzzin again!!! two away goals? so what, we were unstoppable!! Keegan in the second leg, and the rest is history!!!
While I,m doing dodgy quotes, “I would love it, just love it” if something similar happens next Tuesday, but theres Fathead Sams yard-dogs to deal with first……TBO, I agree with FS on here, that if we end up empty handed this year I will be satisfied at the progression made, but it aint over yet, not by a long way!

Im inclined to agree with Aitch (shock!), I think if we get a goal in the first 20mins the chavs may shit their load. Is a 3-0 win possible? Yes. Is it likely? No. But if we dont get the early goal and the psychological boost that brings to us and the terror it’ll bring to the chavs then the game will just peter out. Relentless all-consuming seek and destroy football from the off is the only way through for us. We must strike fear in their hearts from the first moment.