Liverpool V Chelsea - First Leg

[Eddie.]

Chelsea will need an away goal tonight in my opinion in order to have a good chance of advancing at Stamford Bridge next Tuesday. This season Liverpool have comprehensively outplayed Chelsea and recorded two victories. So much so that Chelsea have barely had a shot on target over both PL matches.

For the first time in our long list of CL fixtures Liverpool are now the better football side. They are clearly playing better then Chelsea and deserve to go into the tie as favourites. In recent weeks they have put the cleaners though United, Madrid and Villa. However as we know in cup football the best side does not always win the competition and small details can decide who will advance.

Chelsea have had a long list of near misses in this competition. Obviously we blew a great chance to win the 2008 CL, and I don't think the road to the final will be any easier this season. For Mine Chelsea are slightly weaker then anytime over the past 5 seasons, and sides such as Barcelona, United, and Liverpool are better chances of winning it this season.

However under Hiddink I have some restored faith. I think the players have found some confidecne however i am still worried about the front 3 and parts of central midfield. Drogba has never managed a period of fitness this season and again comes back after injury. Malouda and Kalou are always ineffective in big games. Ballack and Deco has been huge dissapointments against Big 4 opposition. That leaves the mercurial likes of Lampard and Essien as players that have the heart and the energy to perform well at Anfield.

Liverpool have been all over Chelsea in the last 4 or Anfield battles. Their pressure on the ball has been relentless and Chelsea's languid midfielders have sturggled to keep up. I think their won't be many goals, and im tipping 1-0 to Liverpool.

Kickoff 4.45am

 

[The Tank]

I highly doubt we'll win today but I'm praying! C'mon you Blues!!!! Lamps to score a Brace!!!

 

[Jimbo]

Chelsea will need an away goal tonight in my opinion in order to have a good chance of advancing at Stamford Bridge next Tuesday.

Well, we have one

1-1 would do very nicely, thank you...

 

[Eddie.]

Well thats our best 45 minutes at Anfield in a long, ling time. I thought we had the better of the chances. Dorgba has missed 2 extremely guilt edged chances, not good enough from him. ATleast he is up for it though.

THis is the most confident I have seen Chelsea going forward for a while. We still look dodgy at the back with John Terry looking a yard off the pace at times. Ivanovich is a very under rated player, I would play with ahead of Bosingwa all the time, regardless of the goal.

I would love to see Essien released a bit higher up the pitch late in the game. He could be the man to grab another late goal and perhaps a win or a share of the spoils.

Even a 2-1 loss is not a bad result.

 

[Jimbo]

Even a 2-1 loss is not a bad result.

How would a 2-1 win grab you?

That extra goal will be really useful next week with Terry out

 

[abpanther]

3-1 now, LIverpool in all sorts

 

[weasel]

Liverpool shouldn't bother with the second leg. They should focus now on just snatching the EPL title away from the world's greatest evil. It's not like they'd get past Barca anyway.

Spoken by weasel for the Man Poo To Fail On All Three Fronts Party.

 

[Ice Ice Brady]

How f**king good is it to beat Liverpool, especially when the fans have gotten all cocky.

God this feels good, even more so that i had $200 on them at 3.20.

f**k you liverpool and f**k you liverpool fans.

To Chelsea, well bloody done. Lets do it again, at home.

 

[Eddie.]

What an imperious performance by Chelsea. Will mean nothing if we don't shut the door firm at Stamford Bridge. Im not going to go celebrating yet but im thrilled at the nature of the performance.

Guss Hiddink you are a genius. This was an ageing side playing without purpose, motivation or tempo six weeks ago. Tonights performance was a masterclass and could of easily ended 4 or 5 goals to 1. Hiddink took the game to Liverpool and tonight they couldn't live with us. THey looked shellshocked that last 20 minutes.

Michael Essien is such a dynamic player. His energy and drive has bought so much back tot his Chelsea side. florent Malouda played perhaps his best game in a CHelsea shirt, so often legless, he was very good tonight. And Ivanovich, ive liked the look of him defensively for a while. But they were 2 expert headers. Drogba has the desire back. Hiddink is obviously a master coach.

Anyway a great result to take back home. However with Terry out the tie is still alive and we must snuff Liverpool out at home.

 

[The Tank]

Awesome!!! Just f**king awesome!!! Still wary of them in the second leg but FMD that was a wonderful win!!!

 

[hybrid_tiger]

I have long said that Essien is the best DM in the world, closely followed by De Rossi

The job he did on Gerrard tonight was absolutely fantastic. There aren't two many DMs these days who are as competent attacking as they are defending, most of the rest of them are just destroyers.

 

[Eskimo Sharkie]

Shows how much we've missed him this season. Even the much maligned Malouda had a good game. Drogba should have scored a couple more as well. Looking good for a semi-final date against Barca - that first half of theirs was brilliant and they seem to be the team to beat this campaign.

 

[Syko]

drogba is a f**king idiot and needs to go

top win

 

[Syko]

2nd leg

Kalou was having a shocker, glad he was subbed.

players looking nervous on the ball. half time couldnt of come any sooner, hiddink needs to settle them the f**k down

 

[Eddie.]

Syko, Hiddink doesn't need to calm them down, he needs to wake them out of their slumber and tell them to push up the pitch and take the game to Liverpool.

We are 2-0 down and lucky not to be 4-0 down. They were rightly booed off Stamford Bridge at halftime for a disgraceful First Half performance. He just sat back and gave Liverpool all the time on the ball in the world. He deserve exactly what we got.

HIddink made a mistake if he told them to sit as deep as they did. Really was inviting trouble. Although he has realised his error and is now trying to react.

Take nothing away from Liverpool they have been excellent. If they play that way in the Second Half they will be through.

 

[Jimbo]

Breathing a little easier now...

 

[Locky24]

How good was alex's strike?

Then to cap it of we have super frank score 2 goals


CHELSEA!

 

[skeepe]

Great effort to score 4 at Stamford Bridge, shame about conceding just as many. Amazing game, makes you wonder what might have been if we had played better at home.

Only thing detracting from the match was Drogba's histrionics. I swear if he was going for the record number of dives in a match he fit bloody close. The "man" is a pissweak human being, nothing but a disgraceful cheat.

 

[Syko]

Skeepe I agree with you about him diving, but the man had an outstanding second half.

Hiddink is god, he woke them up/settle them down and it was good enough

 

[Jason Maher]

Drogba is the only player who could beat Christiano Ronaldo at diving.