Liverpool FC Forum

[A.B.]

If that happens (Liverpool vs Everton), then I worry that Everton being Everton will kick us off the park, that's been largely their style of play although it has proven to be a successful one last season. I hope with the new recruits David Moyes has signed and will sign, they will rely less on that kind of gameplan.

Remember we're playing in Europe where ref's wont tolerate as much physicality as there is in the Premiership, so they won't get away with things they would usually.

We can dictate the flow of the game, instead of it being a Premiership game we have the ability to keep it the way we want it. We showed that against Chelsea.

[RED ANT]

I can't see why so many people are complaining about this. If most of you had gotten your way we'd be playing Everton in a 2 legged play off for the right to play in their place.

That would have been the 3rd qualifying round right? So effectively meaning that we would have played against 2 good sides to have got to the group stages.

I know we have to play 2 extra games now but come on people if we got a team together with just members of this forum we'd beat most of those teams. 

[Ciggy]

Shelbourne now seeded, Im glad we cant play against them they played well in the last qualifiers and probably the type to knock us out.

Shels denied Liverpool meeting


June 11, 2005

eircom League champions Shelbourne cannot face Champions League holders Liverpool in next month’s first qualifying round for the 2005/06 tournament - despite the fact that the Anfield side were handed a place in the earliest possibility preliminary round draw by Uefa on Friday.

Liverpool had fought to earn the chance to defend the trophy they won in most dramatic circumstances against AC Milan last month.

Having finished fifth in the Premiership, they were in danger of being consigned to the Uefa Cup, but Uefa changed its Champions League rules to allow the Reds back in for next season.

That decision had given rise to the possibility that two-time eircom League kingpins Shels could land the most high-profile tie in Europe in mid-July.

However, Shels success in the competition last year, when they defeated KR Reykjavik and Hajduk Split before bowing out after a good performance against Deportivo La Coruna, has ensured that they, like Liverpool, are one of the 12 seeded teams for the first qualifying round draw.

The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds of the tournament takes place in Nyon, Switzerland next Friday week, June 24th.

Shels, Liverpool and 22 other sides – including Total Network Solutions from Wales and Irish League representatives Glentoran – will go into the hat for the first qualifying round draw.

Turkish side Fenerbahce benefited most from Liverpool’s inclusion in the competition, stepping up from the third qualifying round to take the place in the group stages normally given to the holders.

The full list of clubs to enter Champions League at the first qualifying round is as follows:

Seeded teams: Artmedia Bratislava (Slovakia), NK Gorica (Slovenia), Shelbourne (Republic of Ireland), Liverpool (England), Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus), Sheriff (Moldova), FC Skonto (Latvia), FC Haka (Finland), NK Zrinjski (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia), FBK Kaunas (Lithuania), FH Hafnarfjördur (Iceland).

Non-seeded teams: FK Rabotnicki (Macedonia), Dinamo Minsk (Belarus), Sliema Wanderers (Malta), FC Pyunik (Armenia), Total Network Solutions (Wales), KF Tirana (Albania), Glentoran (Northern Ireland), Levadia Tallinn (Estonia), F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg), PFC Neftchi or FK Khazar Lenkoran (Azerbaijan), HB Tórshavn (Faroe Islands), Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan),

[MilitiaRusher]

I can't see why so many people are complaining about this. If most of you had gotten your way we'd be playing Everton in a 2 legged play off for the right to play in their place.

That would have been the 3rd qualifying round right? So effectively meaning that we would have played against 2 good sides to have got to the group stages.

I know we have to play 2 extra games now but come on people if we got a team together with just members of this forum we'd beat most of those teams. 

4 more games u mean.

[MilitiaRusher]

Lets hope we draw Glentoran or TNS. No need to choke up so many airmiles...

[zarababe]

.. look at this way this will be a great money spinner for some minnow somewhere...

.. the boss and Parry are gonna be finalising there transfer targets this weekend.. and we'll defo start seeing activity.. I wonder if Biscan's services could be retained given this decision.. but mosts important is getting the right players in to begin a long campaign

[dawson99]

i dont see the prob. whats the difference between pre season friendlies and playing some team from malta?
be a good little warm up excersise for the team, so its all good if u ask me.
im just happy we are in it

[Scottbot]

i dont see the prob. whats the difference between pre season friendlies and playing some team from malta?
be a good little warm up excersise for the team, so its all good if u ask me.
im just happy we are in it

Agree with that Dawson - I'm just happy to be in the thing. We were gonna be flying half way across the world to play friendlies in Japan so a couple of trips round Europe won't kill us. As someone said earlier, i'd expect expect us to run up a big lead in the 1st legs which allow the boss to rest players in the return.

I hope we play the Super Cup but would be surprised if we put in a team for the Club Championship. UEFA must have realised our participation was unlikely the moment they decided we would be playing qualies from the 1st round on.

I imagine Rafa will be looking to bring in as many players as possible so he can deal with the fixture pile-up. Hopefully we won't experience as many injuries so the boss can rotate the squad. The youngsters will be playing the league/FA Cup games again this season.

[dawson99]

parry latest:

Parry says Reds must strengthen 
 

Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry admits the Champions League winners must strengthen their squad.
Parry said: "Wherever the best players are, we will be going. We will be looking for players of quality and players who have heart.

"We need lads who are going to battle for 38 matches a season."

He added: "Our first 11 is fine, but it's when you get below that and you have to battle for points. That's where we have fallen short."

Liverpool's transfer plans will have to be brought forward after they were allowed back into the Champions League at the first qualifying round, which means their season will start on either the 12 or 13 July.

They finished fifth last season and Parry said: "At the end of the season the league table doesn't lie. We need a better squad, we need more strength and depth.

"How do you improve a team? You get better players of course."

[RED ANT]

I can't see why so many people are complaining about this. If most of you had gotten your way we'd be playing Everton in a 2 legged play off for the right to play in their place.

That would have been the 3rd qualifying round right? So effectively meaning that we would have played against 2 good sides to have got to the group stages.

I know we have to play 2 extra games now but come on people if we got a team together with just members of this forum we'd beat most of those teams. 

4 more games u mean.

Strange...?

The last time i added 2 + 2 together i got 4

The last time i took 4 away from 6 i got 2.

[7_Kewell]

dont see the prob. whats the difference between pre season friendlies and playing some team from malta?
be a good little warm up excersise for the team, so its all good if u ask me.

agree, we are hardly going to be playing the likes of AC Milan...the 3rd round might require some effort but the first 2 won't.

[stmichael]

having had the weekend to reflect about this whole issue, i'm like the majority on here who just can't be bothered whinging anymore and am just happy for us to be getting a shot at defending the trophy. at the end of the day, as incompetent as UEFA and the FA are, we should be grateful in some respects.

if you look back, when we won our first european cup, if i'm not mistaken, we beat a team called "the hurricanes" from northern ireland in the first round. the next year we stuck 10 past some random danish team, so it's not as if this is anything new to us.

we just have to get on with it.

[dward]

having had the weekend to reflect about this whole issue, i'm like the majority on here who just can't be bothered whinging anymore and am just happy for us to be getting a shot at defending the trophy. at the end of the day, as incompetent as UEFA and the FA are, we should be grateful in some respects.

if you look back, when we won our first european cup, if i'm not mistaken, we beat a team called "the hurricanes" from northern ireland in the first round. the next year we stuck 10 past some random danish team, so it's not as if this is anything new to us.

we just have to get on with it.

It's true, the rules said we shouldn't even be in it, so we should stop complaining (even thought playing against a kazahstan team in ridiculous)

I'd love if we put 10+ past the next victim

[dward]

having had the weekend to reflect about this whole issue, i'm like the majority on here who just can't be bothered whinging anymore and am just happy for us to be getting a shot at defending the trophy. at the end of the day, as incompetent as UEFA and the FA are, we should be grateful in some respects.

if you look back, when we won our first european cup, if i'm not mistaken, we beat a team called "the hurricanes" from northern ireland in the first round. the next year we stuck 10 past some random danish team, so it's not as if this is anything new to us.

we just have to get on with it.

It's true, the rules said we shouldn't even be in it, so we should stop complaining (even thought playing against a kazahstan team in ridiculous)

I'd love if we put 10+ past the next victim

I think I spelt the country name wrong

[Ace Ventura]

having had the weekend to reflect about this whole issue, i'm like the majority on here who just can't be bothered whinging anymore and am just happy for us to be getting a shot at defending the trophy. at the end of the day, as incompetent as UEFA and the FA are, we should be grateful in some respects.

if you look back, when we won our first european cup, if i'm not mistaken, we beat a team called "the hurricanes" from northern ireland in the first round. the next year we stuck 10 past some random danish team, so it's not as if this is anything new to us.

we just have to get on with it.

It's true, the rules said we shouldn't even be in it, so we should stop complaining (even thought playing against a kazahstan team in ridiculous)

I'd love if we put 10+ past the next victim

Am not moaning really as i am also grateful that we are in it, but there were no actual rules about champions NOT being in it either, an any future champions will go straight in as no1 seeds...so we have been shafted.
One thing i do want to add though is the question...once we get through round 1, will we be seeded for the next two, cos look at the list of teams we could face (admittedly they are not a.c milan) but we lost at home to sturm graz last year.
second round clubs
Trabzonspor (Turkey)
Celtic (Scotland)
RSC Anderlecht (Belgium)
FC Thun (Switzerland)
Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)
Valerenga IF (Norway)
Maccabi Haifa (Israel)
SK Rapid Vienna (Austria)
FK Partizan (Serbia & Montenegro)
CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)
Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia)
Brondby IF (Denmark)
Hadjuk Split (Croatia)
Malmo FF (Sweden)
Debreceni VSC (Hungary)
Steaua Bucharest (Rumania)

third round clubs
Villarreal CF (Spain)
Real Betis (Spain)
Manchester United (England)
Everton (England)
Internazionale (Italy)
Udinese (Italy)
Werder Bremen (Germany)
AS Monaco (France)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
Panathinaikos (Greece)
Ajax (Holland)
Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Rangers (Scotland)
Club Brugge KV (Belgium)
FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
Rosenborg BK (Norway)
Wisla Krakow (Poland)

There are some tough games in both rounds if we are not seeded. Now i know we shouldnt fear anyone being champions. But we also shouldnt take for granted that these qulifiers will be a walkover, without seeding we would be there to be shot at.