Liverpool FC Forum

by **drummerphil** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 4:01 pm

Agree Rock,but wouldnt it be great to take 3 league points off them

by **66-1120597113** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:30 pm

I would love to see Raffa play a 4-4-2 on Wednesday! But i doubt very much that he will. The reason being that if we get at them,yes we may well rattle them and maybe score an early goal which would be great,but Raffa is im sure weary of how good they are on the break!It would be hard to crawl back if they score 1st and i think to win any of these 2 games we must score 1st!
The only reason i think he may play a 4-4-2 and go all guns blazing is the fact that we are good enough to take 9 points from our 3 remaining games that dont feature Chelsea!
Personally id love to see a 4-4-2 as i think its best to get at them,lets face it 2 inferior teams than us in Villa and Wigan came close!
Cant wait its gonna be so interesting to see what Raffa comes up with,he had us all scratching our heads in Betis,but then the whole midfield had played in Spain so it was logic,and it worked!!
Lets hope its Jose scratching his head on Wedneday night!!

by **A.B.** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 11:36 pm

If we play 4-4-2 then we will lose the battle in midfield. Whilst Alonso and Gerrard are superb they need another midfielder to take on the likes of Lampard,Makalele and now Essien. It's hard enough to play against three central midfielders but even more so when you're up against that kind of quality.

by **A.B.** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 2:40 am

Here's what some Chelski fans had to say about this game:

[From BigSoccer.com]

"Ok, I shall stick me neck out on this one and say 3-1 to the Chelsea in the euro game with Essien and the young Shaun having blinders and the hubcaps crumbling. Just a feeling. We’ve had enough of these 0-0’s and 1-0’s with the mickey mousers and I think Jose might just have something up his sleevey for this one. I’m also thinking we’ll have some wide players and Crespo up front "

"Essien Vs. Gerrard is the key to this one and my money is on Essien taking Gerrard to the cleaners

Also, want to see how the hubcaps deal with Robben, Duff and Shaun."

by **Lando_Griffin** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:09 am

I want 6 points from these two games. That'd really feck Moris off!

by **66-1112520797** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:33 am

One of the key battles to this game will be whether we can keep Robben and Duff at bay .
Or whoever they play out wide,I hope the arrogant one will start with Drogba upfront and not Crespo .
They had him in there pockets last year and he is an easier player to mark out of rhe game.

Through the middle we are as strong as them its just in our wide areas that we have a noticable weak link.For these positions I would play Garcia wide right and Riise left to add some steal to the left flank.
Therefor the onus we be on Garcia to miss place six passes then do a magic trick on the seveth to help unlock there defence.
Crouch up front just simply because he will make more of a nuisance of himself than Nando or Cisse will plus he is pretty good at holding the ball up for other s to support.

I would like to see US WIN both of these games .Maybe then can we pick up a draw down at there hovel in the away fixture of the CL.Same can also apply for our away prem match.

You never know beat these turds and it just might kick start our season

by **Chelsea forever.** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:38 am

^^

I dont think Robben will play as he is injured and currently under observation, so its Duff and Phillips or Cole.

And yes Drogba will start for sure, if he doesnt then Jose has some weird strategy in mind with Crespo upfront and i will be eager to see how he makes it work.

by **Red Red Tom** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:17 am

A.B. wrote:If we play 4-4-2 then we will lose the battle in midfield. Whilst Alonso and Gerrard are superb they need another midfielder to take on the likes of Lampard,Makalele and now Essien. It's hard enough to play against three central midfielders but even more so when you're up against that kind of quality.

I completely disagree that we can't match them man for man in the middle. Gerrard IS better than Lampard, and Alonso is better than Lampard. So of the four in the middle of the park, we have the best two. Even Chelsea fans would probably agree that Stevie is better than Lampard and Alonso is at least better than Makalele. If the game was played with 6 midfielders across the middle then maybe that strength in depth would count for something - but at the end of the day they only send 11 players onto the pitch, and at Anfield we have the 12 man... Sissoko never lets anybody down if Rafa wants to play 3 in the middle, but my gut feeling would be to go with Didi as well and maybe play a diamond. Hamman completely stopped them in the semi. You got the impression that him and Carra had been watching Gandalf before the game - Hamman says 'You shall not pass.' And they didn't.

-----------Reina

Finnan Carra Sami Warnock

-----------Momo
-------Didi---Alonso
----------Gerrard

----Garcia

-----------Striker.

However I expect Rafa to play with Just Gerrard and Alonso in the middle, sticking Zenden on the left and possibly Cisse on the right wing. Del Horno is an awesome left back so we might have to try something different. Garcia could then be given a free role to play off one of the big men.

One thing is for sure, and that is that whoever Rafa picks will be the right choice. He hasn't made too many bad calls yet. Unless Kewell is fit...?

by **red or dead** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 3:39 pm

renia
finnan carra hyypia traore

garcia sissoko alonso rissie

gerrard

crouch
thats my team for wednesday but after the betis game anything is possible.

by **The_Rock** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 3:54 pm

Lando_Griffin wrote:I want 6 points from these two games. That'd really feck Moris off!

Guess moro & rafa have heard your request

Beginning to like the way moro talks the talk .... (look below at bold)

1)Moro

http://www.eatsleepsport.com/news_de....t_id=44

Morientes Blues blast Tue, Sep 27 2005 15:13

Fernando Morientes has laid down the gauntlet ahead of Wednesday's clash by claiming Chelsea won't even make the knockout stages.

Morientes was unable to play in Liverpool's 1-0 aggregate success over Chelsea at the semi-final stage last season as he was cup-tied but he has backed his team to emerge victorious again.

The Spanish striker has been injured of late and is doubtful for the encounter but he believes that Liverpool have the beating of the Premiership champions.

He said: "We've got them sussed. If I was a betting man I'd tip us and Real Betis to go through - and not Chelsea."

"We were accused of being lucky in the semi-final.

"Yet Chelsea did not score in either leg and that tells you a lot about the good work done by Rafa Benitez. It was a perfectly-planned match.

"We have a great chance of beating them again - not because we are European champions but because we know how to play Chelsea."

2) Rafa

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liv....ge.html

Benitez wants Chelsea double Sep 27 2005

By Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo

RAFA BENITEZ today insisted the gap between Euro rivals Liverpool and Chelsea isn't as wide as the Premiership table suggests.

Liverpool's hopes of taking the title from Stamford Bridge this season appears little more than a dream on the evidence of the first few weeks. In Europe, however, it's a different story.

The pair meet in the Champions League with the Reds confident of repeating their legendary semi-final win.

And Benitez sees this week's double-header as the ideal opportunity for his side to underline both their Euro and domestic credentials.

"I don't believe the gap between Chelsea and us is as big as the Premiership table shows," insisted Benitez today.

"We have played fewer games than everyone else and we have shown we are improving. We're also going to be closer to Arsenal and Manchester United. It's true we need to improve more, but we've shown we can beat the top teams.

"A lot of people are talking about the games we've drawn, but last year we lost those games. I'd prefer to think positively because our results show we are stronger. We must have confidence in ourselves.

"Chelsea have won all their league games so far, but the gap between us in points does not reflect the difference in the teams because we have played less games.

"We beat them last season and we're confident we can do so again. I'm preparing this game in the knowledge they're a better side than last year, but we are better, too."

One problem for the Liverpool boss remains his lack of attacking options. Fernando Morientes won't be ready to make the squad.

"Morientes felt something in his hamstring yesterday so he won't be fit," said Benitez. "It's a precaution, but it's a pity because we were thinking about him for this game."

After the events of last May, Liverpool may have a psychological edge going into tomorrow's clash. But Benitez believes the semi-final result will have no bearing on this fixture.

"I'm not thinking about the last game," he said.

"It's different because of the group situation. Both sides know if they lose it's not the end of their competition. "We always want to win, but we must also recognise the quality of the opponent and the situation of the group."

Meanwhile, Harry Kewell could make his Liverpool comeback in reserve action against Leeds at Wrexham tonight (7.00pm).

"I hope Harry will be fit to play. I need to check today before we make a decision," said Benitez.

by **Benitez No1** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:07 pm

I think we are worrying to much about Chelsea rather that what we can do, we need a big game out of our full backs, because its the only way Chelsea attack.

The first chance we get the fullback need to go straight through there winger to say you not getting past me.

Carragher did it when he played right back against Duff when he was playing for blackburn and by the 2nd half Souness took him off.

by **The_Rock** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:19 pm

Actually in most of the games we played chelsea last season our fullbacks did very well against robben & duff (which resulted in them being substituted.....)

The fact is that we really battered chelsea in the 2 league games last season.... we were unlucky to lose to them.

The only time chelsea dominated us was in the league cup final.

Rafa knows what's he doing ...... (unless he puts in josemi for finnan again

).

by **Benitez No1** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:23 pm

How good would it be to see stevie G score then to run to the chelsea fans pointing to the 5 time CL badge on his arm.

BRING IT ON :laugh:

by **drummerphil** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:24 pm

I agree Rock,we were very unlucky to lose the league games last season,infact even Chelsea themselves would admit the toughest games they had last season were against us

by **hawkmoon269** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:33 pm

drummerphil wrote:I agree Rock,we were very unlucky to lose the league games last season,infact even Chelsea themselves would admit the toughest games they had last season were against us

We were robbed! And they have the cheek to tell us they were robbed in the CL - b0ll0cks

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