slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
Uthinkable. Got a feeling it will go our way this time, though, what with the second leg being at The Bridge.
Roiling football blather
- Thread starter crackerjack
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- alan smith 17 arsene the glum aesthete basic schoolboy errors benitez the sad clown borderline rivaldo shithousing bromley spiritual healer chelsea :facepalm: dracula and his war council henry does an adam smith i am a holding midfielder of your face. jumpers for goalposts lads it's tottenham large samuel ole's at the wheel serie a epic fail shearer yawn shed ted square balls the special one traffordish waving imaginary cards
IdleRich
IdleRich
What, 'cause of how tense it will be?
But if they win then it will be hard to argue that Grant hasn't done something that Mourinho didn't manage and you will be stuck with him for another year. Tough one, do you cheer for the short-term (win the game and some silverware) or do you support the team that's dumped you out twice before and hope that will lead to a long term change of direction for the club to playing lovely football and building a long term legacy?
no, because a) they're an easier team to beat than united, and b) because I don't despise them with every fibre of my being like I do united, so I can take going out to them. I think Grant will go back upstairs at the end of the year regardless of what happens, so I'm not thinking in the short and long term here.
crackerjack
Well-known member
Torres was an unused sub. I doubt the bench wore him out that badly.
Liverpool have underachieved (again) this year and I reckon the players might feel they owe Benitez something. Some Chelsea players may feel the opposite about Grant.
Dunno how much difference the running order will make - Liverpool got great away results when needed against Juve and Inter Milan and they're hardly gonna be intimidated by all the hedge fund managers and Surrey estate agents cussing them out at the Bridge.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Yeah, but if they're away they're not at home so they are losing something of an advantage. I agree in general though, I don't think going somewhere you play at least twice every year is half as intimidating as rocking up in a foreign city festooned with "welcome to hell" banners and the like.
slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
If we won the cup, Rich, you're right, we'd be stuck with Grant. But, if what the press say is true (ha-ha) he's going to have a clear-out in the Summer and buy players that will bring about his glorious vision of fantastic football winning with style...
:slanted: Some of us live in hope. No doubting, though, that he inherited a bad league position from TSO. Otherwise, if he had been in charge from the start of the season, they'd have ground out a few more 1-0 wins and be top of the league!
:slanted: Some of us live in hope. No doubting, though, that he inherited a bad league position from TSO. Otherwise, if he had been in charge from the start of the season, they'd have ground out a few more 1-0 wins and be top of the league!
IdleRich
IdleRich
I'm guessing that that's directed at the hapless John Arne Riise? I feel a bit sorry for the guy, that was a hard one to deal with and if he'd just let the ball past him and Anelka had stuck it in he would have been slated and would have ended up looking almost as much of a cock as he actually did. Still, it's never a good idea to head it in your own net.
Advantage Chelsea anyway, they were slightly the worst side from what I saw of the game but Liverpool couldn't force the crucial second goal when they were in the ascendancy and they may have paid the price.
crackerjack
Well-known member
Significantly the worst, in my biased opinion. Although they had the first 15 mins and a brief good patch when Cole went off, I can't remember Reina making a save. Like Liverpool after the 1-1 at Arsenal, they've come away knowing they've fluked it and now have aa massive advantage. Liverpool haven't scored at the Bridge in ages.
crackerjack
Well-known member
Great. Confirming the above, Rafa is taking on Wenger's role.
he's such a tit. Aurelio was down for a good three minutes when he got injured and got subbed off. Add on thirty seconds for the other subs, and at least a minute each of Drogba and Torres getting attended to when they were perfectly fine, and the ref played the right amount of time.
[edit: Not to mention the fact that the free kick they scored from wasn't a free kick - though we defended it horrifically on three occasions (Lampard letting Alonso take it quick, then getting caught in position, then Makelele's rubbish attempt to stop Kuyt, and Carragher could've easily walked for fouling Drogba when he was the last man. one of those occasions where the diver's reputation proceeds him, which is probably for the best...]
[edit: Not to mention the fact that the free kick they scored from wasn't a free kick - though we defended it horrifically on three occasions (Lampard letting Alonso take it quick, then getting caught in position, then Makelele's rubbish attempt to stop Kuyt, and Carragher could've easily walked for fouling Drogba when he was the last man. one of those occasions where the diver's reputation proceeds him, which is probably for the best...]
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IdleRich
IdleRich
Chelsea had a good spell once Cole went off, that was the last half hour or so wasn't it? Anyway, you're right that Reina didn't make (m)any saves but how many did Cech make - a few but the only significant one I can remember was from Torres in the first half.
Pathetic. Is that the best he can come up with?
Come on - it was a clear trip. The commentators suggested it wasn't a foul at the start of the second half, the replay was shown demonstrating that the ref was absolutely right - followed by an embarrassed "ahem, well, er, I think he made a lot of it".
Kuyt is a weird player, it's like he's realised he's not good enough to be on the pitch on merit so he runs twice as far as everyone else. He tackles back, wins it and then fails to get the cross in. Can't fault his effort for the goal though.
crackerjack
Well-known member
Short range block from Torres near the end. Cech tipping over from Gerrard's volley.
Liverpool had 7 attempts on target (it sez here http://www.chelsea-mad.co.uk/news/loadrprt.asp?cid=MTCH&id=389059), Chelsea had 3 - and one of those was a Liverpool player. can you recall the other 2?
IdleRich
IdleRich
I forgot the volley but I don't think that short range effort counts as significant, he didn't get any power and it was easier to save it than let it in.
I'm always as suspicious as to what counts for a shot in these things - Ballack had one where he stepped away from the defender about eight yards outside the box and tried to curl one but it was a routine stop for Reina. There was a header from fairly close range wasn't there? Can't remember who did it but it was right above Reina's head, if it had been either side I think he would have had a problem.
Special mention for that weird girlie kind of jump that Makele made when trying to clear the ball before Kuyt stuck it in the net - that was more like the way I "deal" with a high ball in the park on a Thursday evening than an internationally recognised midfield general.
crackerjack
Well-known member
He was probably still laughing at the shiteness of Mascherano's lob.
The Times is celebrating with some classic OGs.
This is the funniest
and this is pure class.
crackerjack
Well-known member
The 2nd one is like Gazza re Scotland except against his own team. The first is a defender trying to clear with an overhead kick, smackng himself in the face and the ball sdooting in.
vimothy
yurp
What a goal!