Liverpool FC Forum

[GOAT]

We have never been in this sort of postion going in to the second leg before (in the last 4 or so seasons anyways) so it will be interesting how we approach the game. Would be amazing to go theres and actually win the tie. One still dares to dream.

Thought someone had robbed my account then when I saw Alonso14 haha I used to have an account called ALONSO_14

[Thingy]

We didnt turn up. Chelsea's performance was top notch. Our best player was shackled by there best player. We didnt have much passion. They where first to every ball.  Summed up there really. I cant be bothered going on, because im absolutely dejected.

[Greavesie]

Well that didnt quite work out did it?

To cap it all I got home tonight and the wife said 'sorry I've bashed your car'. 

great evening for you then mate...

[Madmax]

We all can cling on to some minute amount of hope but realistically scoring 3 goals and not conceding any at stamford bridge is a big ask. Maybe we could score three but i sure chelsea will score aswel. They just ripped us apart and at time i was thinking this could easily end up a huge embarassment like 5-1 or something.

At the bridge its going to be really difficult we must keep it tight at the back and attack like feck.. Miracles are possible but time will tell just to hard to see us going through now..

We just lacked any goal threat our passing was poor, chelsea cut off majority of our play and tore us apart in mid..  If macha played i think it would have been a different game..

I have got some hope but im clinging on to premiership glory now. Pray we win something this season.

[red37]

This thread has taken some heavy editing to remove comments that are offensive and derogatory. So apologies in advance to anyone who has had their input deleted in the course of tidying up.

More posts than should have been necessary had to be erased however, due to members persisting in quoting these characters at every turn. It is extremely difficult to bite your tongue and remain composed, i both know and understand that - believe me. Try to refrain though from giving extra exposure to them wherever possible......and report it to a mod ....when they logon!

Peace

[JoeTerp]

In truth,

to be honest,

I felt a lot worse after the Wigan away game

i thought, scoring early made our tempo slow down, instinctively,

which played right into chelski's hands, all our best play comes from our high tempo style.

Mashcerano was badly missed

Our left side was poor

Essien is a v.good player

an early goal in the second leg and it will deffo be game on.

I wonder if the early goal for us ended up hurting us.

I think if it would have lead to a 2nd early goal then it certainly would have helped.

Right after the goal we had a couple chances and I can distinctly remember one passage of play when we retained the ball really well and although weren't advancing it much we were really patient in our passing and build up (it was mostly on our right with Kuyt, Arbeloa, Skrtel, Lucas and Alonso) and then we switched it Riera and it just looked like we were in total control of the match and I felt pretty confident we would see it out. 

But clearly something happened out there and that all went away. They ended up dominating the open play and we lost focus on set pieces.

I think its possible that had the game been scoreless for a while we would have remained sharper, but again that is just pure speculation and I probably don't even believe it myself (but I wont disagree with anyone that shares this viewpoint)

[Espionage]

Did not show up tonight. Aurellio was woeful and Gerrard was marked out of the game. Not really many positives to take...

Then again we did just beat Man U 4-1 away, that scoreline would do nicely next tuesday night.

[Lando_Griffin]

We were second best - no two ways about it.

I could sit here and moan about Malouda being offside when he crossed for Dragbar's goal.

I could sit here and moan that we should have had a penalty when Cole tried to rape Torres in the box.

I could sit here and moan that Chelsea are a dirty bunch of b*stards.

But I won't.

Because we were f*cking sh*t anyway.

[tonyeh]

Anyway .................back to the game.

Sometimes you just have to hold up your hands and admit we were beaten by the far better team on the night after a bright start.

This was quite posssibly the first time we have played them in the CL where we were marginal favourites but on the night Chelsea were immense and even their fringe players (Malouda, Kalou etc  ...) had very good games but in Michael Essien they possessed the best player on the pitch by a mile. He nullified Gerrard, hardly missed a pass all night and gave as good a performance as I've seen from an away team player at Anfield for a long long time.

And all the time whilst Chelsea were playing at the top of their game many of our lesser players were off theirs. Arbeloa, Riera, Lucas (again), Dossena, Babel and Skirtel were all found wanting at this highest level.

It's a big ask to overturn such a deficit and I'm not sure we can do it especially if Chelsea play anywhere near the level they played at tonight

Essien is very good at what he does, as he showed tonight but even so its seemed a lot of players just didnt have the pace to keep up with chelsea. As much as the fitness of the united players is catching up with them, it would appear the same is happening to us. Who knows how much that game against fulham took it out of the players? Its a tricky one for rafa now against blackburn. Does he play his first team or rotate for the return against chelsea?

Blackburn are scrapping for every pt they can get so don't expect them to be easy at all on Saturday.........

Early K.O. as well and like you said a few players didn't appear to have the legs tonight.

I don't think Benitez will struggle tactically on Saturday but can you imagine the uproar if he "rests" a few key players and we don't win ! 

"Possibilities" is a word Benitez loves to use but I suggest he thinks on another word "probability" and picks a team that wins Saturday and puts some pressure on the Mancs cos the CL is gone .............IMHO

Pains me to admit it but yeah maybe it's time to just concentrate on strong finish in the league and be prepared if utd slip up.

I hope some of the lesser players are replaced in the Summer. Tonight was a bitter pill for me to swallow. I just hope the team bounces back on the weekend. It must be hard to motivate your team after that kin of match, especially as we have been playing so well.

Pains me too Bav and it was tough to take.

I honestly thought we were on to a winner tonight in the first ten minutes.

Football's a bitch   

[red_guy]

The defense was awful. Really poor game for Skrtel and Aurelio. People would blame the gaffer, the zonal marking system etc but fact is that we lose focus after the the early goal. We keep making the same mistake with set pieces, it  became a routine mistake. We never learn ..... and we let them play...... the fault is ours.

[KOPMATT]

We were second best - no two ways about it.

I could sit here and moan about Malouda being offside when he crossed for Dragbar's goal.

I could sit here and moan that we should have had a penalty when Cole tried to rape Torres in the box.

I could sit here and moan that Chelsea are a dirty bunch of b*stards.

But I won't.

Because we were f*cking sh*t anyway.

Tep nice one Lando.
I just got in from driving back home, long old drive with a result like that.

[ConnO'var]

We were second best - no two ways about it.

I could sit here and moan about Malouda being offside when he crossed for Dragbar's goal.

I could sit here and moan that we should have had a penalty when Cole tried to rape Torres in the box.

I could sit here and moan that Chelsea are a dirty bunch of b*stards.

But I won't.

Because we were f*cking sh*t anyway.

Summed up succintly and accurately.
Agree 100%.

Would add that the tactics weren't the best today and we missed Mascherano badly. Still hope though..... we just need to get 3 goals at Stamford bridge..... Tall order but not impossible.

I normally would say that the CL is not my first priority but the manner of the defeat was hard to take so I'd want a fighting response from the team in the reverse fixture.

Time to re-group and move on.

[Bad Bob]

Too many lads went off the boil at the same time tonight and we paid a heavy price for it.  Aurelio, Skrtel and Riera were the obvious choices but no one was really at the races.  Essien kept Gerrard very quiet, Torres was isolated, Carra looked nervy, Alonso ran hot and cold with his distribution...the list goes on.  I wonder if the early goal got us caught between two stalls?  At times it looked like we didn't know whether to shut up shop or press on and try and kill the tie.  In the end we did neither and were punished for it.  I can't see us turning them over 3-0 on their patch but, of course, stranger things have happened when we're involved in the Champions League.  Fair play to Chelsea, though, our goal fired them up and they put us to the sword, no question.  Let's just hope we don't let this derail our league form.

[maypaxvobiscum]

wake me up this cant be real

[Bam]

Hats off to Chelsea.

I don't think we were as 'shi.te' as some people have suggested the game was very open which was entertaining enough. We came out of the traps pretty well with high tempo; the only thing about playing hig tempo football which I advocated before hand is ... Playing against another English side who are equal to desire, determination, stamina and quality football to boot. We blew Madrid out of the water with this, and it is a great game to possess when playing continental sides.But Chelsea for all their credit were equal to it.

I have to agree with Angy Gray in that he suggested Liverpool after scoring their first goal didnt really know to 'stick or bust'. It is hard to execute a gameplan in a match of such magnitude after you score the first goal. What does the manager want first and foremost and second are the team able to carry out his instructions? We did sit back and invite pressure onto us and I think that was a natural element after scoring but it did look as though we were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea in implementing a definate decision gameplan to take.

In this time Chelsea showed nerve and character and they were able to build up a head of steam, with some decent football. The warning signs were there with Drogba's two missed sitters. The game was stretched yet we were not able (as we usually do) press and close down the oppositions space, because IMO our lads didnt know whether to go hell for leather or shut up shop.

Personally I wish Mascha had came on he would of been the type of player to close down space with high energy and tackling. He would of covered Ballack and Lampard much better and prevent them the room and time to make something happen.

As it stands though they scored from two set-pieces, zonal marking has never really been an issue for us and has served us well. But that Ivanvic's movenment for the first goal IMO would of worked had the player been man-marked. His movenment was good and Alonso tried to stick with him  like a man to man marker. I think Skertel was caught ball watching a tad which has been mentioned on here before, and maybe he could of attack the ball in flight.

As for the second goal well, you still see many set-pieces scored in the prem when man-marking is deployed and this looked no different to the regularties witnessed elsewhere around England every weekend. Ball watching an not picking up the man making the run into the box is dangerous no w\matter which style of marking is used.

It is a MASSIVE hurdle now, maybe it is fate telling us to concerntrate on the league