Scottbot wrote:That was a tough one to swallow, I don't think i've ever felt so confident going into a Champions League game with Chelsea (i'm normally racked with nerves). When we got the early goal I really fancied we could do some serious damage but you have to take your hat off to Chelsea, they were excellent, they did to us what we do to so many other teams away from home in Europe. I'd agree with the notion we didn't know whether to 'stick or twist', we sat back a bit and Chelsea simply took all the initiative, I was desperate to get to half-time 1-0 for a good ten minutes leading up to their goal and unfortunately the entire Anfield crowd seemed to feel the same way. That's the first time i've ever been to Anfield for a big European game and NOT come back completely bursting with pride for our fans, there wasn't the usual passion, furvour and sheer noise of previous fixtures so we didn't really help the lads as we ususally doAs for individual players last night, the phone-ins on the way home were full of the usual 'blame Lucas' calls but from where I was sitting he had a solid game, was he that bad?
A couple of things stood out for me. 1- It's the first time (since we sold Keane) that we've really been caught out with only having one quality striker on the books. We really could have done with a Crouch (or another target-man) at 60 minutes today, we could have dropped Gerrard into midfield (away from Essien's shadow) and gone two-up-top. 2- As well as Arbeloa and Aurelio have played this season, they both showed their limitations (going forward) yesterday, we will need to upgrade at one of the full-back slots (right-back makes the most sense) over the summer.
It wasn't to be last night but I guess the Champions League final won't be able to ruin my wedding now! 3 points at Blackburn with the mancs dropping points at Sunderland could be just the tonic to wash this result down with though.
Good post Superdawg!