CHELSEA V LIVERPOOL
Tuesday 6 December 2005 19:45

Liverpool play their final group game in the Champions League hoping to consolidate their position at the top of the table against second place Chelsea.

Both teams have already qualified for the last 16 of the competition so it will be interesting to see what sort of teams both manager's pick.

Liverpool played well in the game at Anfield that ended in a goalless draw and were unlucky not to have been given two penalties after replays proved they were stone-wall spot kicks.

The last time of the course the two sides met Chelsea won 4-1 in the Premiership clash at Anfield so the Reds will be hoping to restore some personal pride.

Chelsea 0-2 Liverpool

id love to see Liverpool winning it, but last match at Anifield 4-1

I would love to see liverpool win as well.
But i would be really happy with a draw. In my opinion we are playin them at the right time , we are doing good in the league and have won 6 in a row. We should try to continue your european form. This game wont be easy at all , but yesterday boro did well against chelsea.

My Team:
Reina
Finnan Hyypia Carra Warnock (Fantastic 4)
Gerrard Xabi Hamann Kewell
Crouch Cisse

I hope we cant battle for the 3 points although it will be very hard against a very good on-form liverpool team.

The fantastic 4 ... lets hope they dont ship 4 more

I guess it was Traore in the Chelsea match earlier but who cares as long as we win I dont care if its the fantastic 4 or anyone else ...

Even if we draw or lose no probs as finishing 1st or 2nd isnt much of a deal apart from being assured of not facing Barca...

It doesnt even matter to me if we finish 1st or 2nd , but avoiding a team which is awesome is the main reason i am desprate.

I am not so confident on this game, after the performance against Boro, I don't think we can thrash LFC. 1-1 the score.

Man, I'm so glad Chelsea killed Liverpool 4-1
I am just a Liverpool hater, and a Chelsea liker.

I don't give TWO HOOTS about the finishing position, I just want to humiliate Liverpool for bragging rights.

I really do hate Liverpool with a PASSION.

5-1 would be STUUUUUUUUUPENDOUS

Well I would say Liverpools form is more the concern rather than Chelsea's. They are playing good football and winning and when you win the confidence is always high. Chelsea I think played quite well at Boro infact if the finishing was good we could easily have had 3. The Drogba miss comes to mind instantly when Duff had one of his best moments recently.

Dont know much abt the injury to cole is he going to be out for long ?

Coz I was impressed with both Duff and Robben last match and I would love to see them both with Cole in the Gudjohnsen role.

3 of them with Crespo or Drogba would be Awesome.

That is the truth

--------------------------------------Crespo--------------------------------------------
Robben-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Duff
---------------Lampard---------------------------------Cole---------------------------
--------------------------------------Essien---------------------------------------------
Horno---------------Terry----------------------------Gallas----------------------SWP
---------------------------------------Cech---------------------------------------------

That in fact is the source of my worries, if we lack finishing on Tuesday, we will get a beating.

Well one thing I feel is that our defence looks slightly suspect against individual skills by a player. Lua Lua caused trouble as did Yakubu. Luckily Liverpool dont have a player like that but they have Crouch. Terry and Del Horno should be with him as they are the best in the air in our defence.

Players to watch out for(Chelsea) : Duff/Cole/Robben whichever 2 play.

Players to watch for (Liv): Luis Garcia dont want to see him sucking his thumb..
Crouch

I am really worried about Luis Garcia, lets hope he doesn't think he will be scoring against Chelsea any time in the future. Also, lets not forget Carragher, with his headers that goes wide from set pieces, yet appeal for penalties.

So that means u dont like chelsea that much. You are to busy in hating others.


Way to Over confident????
You gotta be realistic. They won 4-1 at anfield , but those kind of games occur very rarely.
And seriously i didnt know chelsea supporters hated liverpool so much

It is just that we play you guys way too much, and for that, you have the right to hate us with a passion. And the other thing, you are the ones who seemingly know how to contain our team.

I hate Chelsea-Liverpool games. Especially in the CL. They are so damn boring. Liverpool knows how to contain them, they play more defensive than Chelsea, it is simple. Both teams defend, and I fall asleep.

Hopefully Mourinho and Benitez try to attempt to WIN this game (now there's a thought! ).

lol i have to agree a bit on that

from lfc.tv

ALONSO OUT OF CHELSEA MATCH

Xabi Alonso will miss Tuesday's Champions League match at Chelsea as manager Rafael Benitez has decided to rest his playmaker for this particular game.
The Liverpool manager said Alonso has just returned from injury and doesn't want to risk him for a game that the Reds don't have to necessarily win as they have already qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Benitez said: "Alonso won't be in the squad for the Chelsea game. He told me he wants to play but I said no, you must rest. All players want to play.

"If it was a game that we needed to win to qualify then maybe he would have played but we have already qualified."

good decision.
Momo will be back in the squad in place of Xabi tomorrow.

Kewell was took off early and so to Crouch aswell in the game vs Wigan so my likely lineup would be something like


---------------Reina-------------
Finnan---JC-------Sami---Riise

Garcia--Momo--Stevie--Kewell

--------Cisse----Crouch-------

don't want Cisse to start but i think he will because its not an important game.
resting Xabi will be great as we have a tough game vs Boro at the weekend and it wouldnt suprise me to see Hamman play instead of Garcia and put Stevie on the right in that squad too.
in his interview i jsut watched he went on about finishing top of the group, but yet he never mentioned winning once like he always does.

perhaps he will pick a defensive squad and go for the draw?..

no importance in this game apart from possibly keeping our run of 8 clean sheets in a row going, and extending it to 9, if not then its no skin of our backs as we will qualify no matter the outcome.
should make for a better game TBH as neither team are playing with pressure unlike the last 4-5 meetings, i.e Champs League Semi's, Carling Cup Finals.

I think the fact we know how to contain your team is a pathetic reason to take such a dislikening to our us. I personally never had a problem with Chelsea untill you guys got taken over by Abramovich, when you all started getting an attitude towards other teams. You cannot be respected untill you show some respect yourselves.



I am ever so sorry that we dont all play like Barcalona.

As far as tomorrows game goes, i think we have a good oppertunity to pay chelsea back for the 4-1 victory over us, both teams are already through so i think it should be an open game with both teams going for the win. And at the end of the day, if you find the game boring then turn it off.

That is absolutely baseless comment.

The reason everyone hates us after Abramovich came over is that out of the 'blue' we have suddenly become a force to reckon with and suddenly have a no. of good players and are competiting with the Arsenals , Manutds and Liverpools of the English league something which we werent able to do on a consistent level before. We were always the 4-10 sort of team in recent years and so obviously why would you have a problem ??
We played some good football when Zola was there and he was liked by all.

There is no attitude thing at all ... You would hate us even if we were the best behaved team. When Ranieri was there he was the nicest possible manager with the best possible attitude towards the other teams but we were still hated ? why the reason as stated above.

If we had won that season we would have been hated even more ...but since we didnt people thought that 'money cant buy titles' and Chelsea cant win just buy buying good players.

Next season Mourinho has come added some arrogance , we won the league looked unbeatable so the reason to hate us has tripled. But even if that hadnt happened we would still be hated.

Todda just looking in your Sig it says

Two away from 10 straight wins!!
and 8 Clean sheets..

Im not complaining

we drew with Betis 3 games ago
also we are 8 clean sheets in a row, undefeated in those 8 games and our record is
7 wins
1 draw

so maybe a little editing is in order

ALONSO OUT OF CHELSEA MATCH

Xabi Alonso will miss Tuesday's Champions League match at Chelsea as manager Rafael Benitez has decided to rest his playmaker for this particular game.
The Liverpool manager said Alonso has just returned from injury and doesn't want to risk him for a game that the Reds don't have to necessarily win as they have already qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Benitez said: "Alonso won't be in the squad for the Chelsea game. He told me he wants to play but I said no, you must rest. All players want to play.

"If it was a game that we needed to win to qualify then maybe he would have played but we have already qualified."
--------------------------- courtesy liverpoolfc.tv----------------------

This move is better for the player because he has just come from injury and this game isnt that important. But it is Chelsea vs Liverpool , Pride at stake!!!!!

that has already been posted lol, look a little upwards

donny, its not that alot of chelsea fans h8 liverpool, its just that every1 in england h8s liverpool lol. no, all he chelsea fans i know hav nothing against liverpool as a club and team, we just dont like scousers.

im going 2 the game 2moro, and never before hav i not wanted 2 go 2 a football game as much as this 1. ive got bad vibes, first of all most ST holders are not going, so a shitty atmosphere, and secondly ive been set a business exam on wednesday, leaving 2nite and tuesday night the only time i can revise, it SUCKS!!

Without ALonso we're going to get beat.

i don't think we will win this one but a solid draw should be absolutely possible.
this could boost our confidence nicely .
it does not matter too much who wins the group as there will be waiting many tough opponents in any case so we should firstly concentrate on performing well, getting a good result.
if we win the group then it would make it all look better from our point tho but actually this does not matter too much.

2-1 Chelsea is my prediction...Wahey I'm going as well so Drogba should score as he tends to do when I'm there. Robben, if he plays like he did on saturday, shuld have no problem with Finnan, very tough game though.

Finnans been the best rightback in the league this season mate, no biased bullshit there. He has been ourstanding lately and the fact Robben is very in and out at the minute means it won't be a forgone conclusion that Robben will come out on top. Add to that Gerrard has been playing on the right and supports Finnan defending and I think Robben will have a tough time.

Looking forward to see how Terry and Carvalho do against Crouch and Moro or should I say vice versa. Our strikers have been looking better as a pair of late and I think the combination has enough about it to give Chelsea problems

I havent seen any mistakes from Gallas/Ferreira on the right either so I think they are right up there for the best RB of the season spot.

Gallas has looked very poor IMO, not because he's made mistakes hes just wasted on the Right or Left... Mourinho needs to realise Terry and Gallas are his best two CB's, why he plays Carvalho is beyond me.
its nearly as bad as us choosing Josemi over Finnan.

looking forward to a pressure-free game, might make for quite the specticle.

English Champions hosting European Champions.

doesn't get much bigger

I say this in every thread for the games between Liverpool and Chelsea, but the 1st goal is all important. The first goal virtually decides the games when you look back at results over the last season and a bit.

If Liverpool get it, we sit back and counter Chelsea, the same if Chelsea get it.

It should be an exciting game and something will happen, it always does, hopefully both teams play a good game and the best team on the night wins

Yeah, Liverpool's defence is friggin solid at the moment. I would bet against a high scoring game, because a game which ends 4-3 or 3-2 means a lot of defensive errors, and I just don't see that happening. What I do see is a score of 2-0, or a 2-1 somewhere in the mix. Liverpool can get complacent at times, and Crouch will be a threat.

Having no Alonso for Liverpool is great for us. His long passes are phenomenal, but so are Gerrard's. So that is one blip off of our minds. Should be a nice game, I hope there is a lot of action in the first half, since that is the only half I will be able to watch tomorrow.

Well its the two teams with the best defences in England right now so that kind of goes without saying. Hyypia has transformed since getting stuffed by Drogba at Anfield, and like other people have said, Finnan is probably the best RB's in the league right now.

Im expecting another boring 0-0 draw or something similiar. I think either team could just squeak out a win too. maybe 1-0. I just don't want to get beat. Top of the group, Rangers or Artmedia in the knockout stages, that sounds peachy.

This is the team i'd like to see play:


-------------------Reina-----------------
Finnan----Hyypia----Carra----Warnock
Garcia----Gerrard----Sissoko----Kewell
--------------Moro----Crouch------------


The back four pretty much is a certainty however Rafa prefer Riise over Warnock due to his expierience. For the midfield, Garcia, Gerrard and Sissoko are all definite starters for this one in my opinion. If Harry doesnt play, then maybe Riise will go left mid with Warnock at left back. Or possibly Garcia could play on the left with Gerrard on the right with Hamman and Sissoko in the middle. However we seem to lack creativety when its just Hamman and Sissoko in the middle so I think we need Gerrard in there with Sissoko for this one. Moro and Crouch played well together on Saturday and I think that has earnt them both another start for this one.

My Sixth Sense is sayin it will be a nil nil draw yet again

Well that is a silly comparison. Gallas and Carvalho are easily in the top 10 defenders in the world and Josemi well the less said the better.

So Carvalho playing is understandable though I personally would love to see Gallas.

Also Gallas has been good on the right if you have seen any matches when he has played on the right . You must be confusing with when he plays on the left. On the right he has been awesome .. He has got forward about the same as Ferreira .. defended as well as Ferreira and provided excellent cover tucking in the centre when Carvalho goes wandering off his position marking some player..

Also on the right he has been quite comfortable crossing it in. On the left he struggles coz he cant get in crosses with his left foot.

As far as the match goes donny I can put my money on it not being a 0-0

Hey do u wanna watch the game together?

I might be studying so I told you that not sure abt watching the game together.

Mourinho plays down Liverpool tie

From BBC.com



Chelsea boss Mourinho insists he will take greater pleasure in beating Wigan at the weekend than beating Liverpool in their Champions League game.
With both sides through to the last 16, Mourinho said: "I would prefer to beat Wigan than Liverpool, because to be first or second has no consequences.

"Beating Wigan means three more points in the direction of the Premiership.

"In the Premiership the best team wins. In the Champions League, you need luck so not always the best team wins."

Mourinho added: "Liverpool had luck against Chelsea by scoring that goal in the semi-final last year.

"In the group phases, the best team goes through because if you make a mistake in the six matches, you don't die - you have a chance to get points in the other matches.

"Knockout stage is more difficult to control your destiny. I cannot say Chelsea are the best team in Europe at the moment and I can't say any other team is either.

"There is a group of six, seven, eight strong teams with the conditions to win the competition. But I would not swap my squad."



Benitez takes pressure off Reds

From BBC.com



Rafael Benitez has played down the importance of Liverpool's Champions League encounter with Chelsea.
Both sides have already qualified for the next stage, although a draw would see Liverpool finish top of Group G.

"My idea is to win every game we play and we will do our best but for us this is without pressure," the Liverpool boss told the club website.

"We would like to finish first in the group but this is not the most important game of the season for us."

The first group game between the two sides was a cagey 0-0 draw at Anfield but Chelsea followed that up with a 4-1 win in the Premiership.

However, Benitez said his side would not be on a revenge mission on Tuesday.

"The last game was not good for us but we matched them before and played at a very good level," he said.

"All I am thinking about is my team and three more points."


******************************************************


I think it will be very defensive game, not more then two goals. Alonso is rested and there is my team:

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

Finnan----Caragher----Hyypia----Warnock

Gerrard----Sissoko----Hamman----Risse

----------Cisse-----------Crouch--------

Sub.
-Dudek
-Traore
-Josemi
-Garcia
-Kewell
-Morientes
-Pongole

Spot on by JM .. beat Wigan and then draw with Arsenal and we would have one hand on the premiership trophy

Just had a look as to what are the possible opp. if we finish 1st the only real threats would be :

Bayern/Juve
Real Madrid
Milan ( If Schalke cause an upset !! )


Finishing 1st would be a big boost as against the other teams I am sure Chelsea will fancy a win. Though having said that I am pretty sure if we do come 1st I still expect to get one of the 3 mentioned above

I don't think you got it all right! If Schalke beat Milan Schalke finishes first but that doesn't mean Milan is 2nd. If PSV beat Fenerbahce at home they are 2nd no mather what the result in Milan. If Milan loses to Schalke and PSV draw with Fenerbahce it is bye bye AC Milan!!

Milan 8 points
Schalke 8 points
PSV 7 points
Fenerbahce 4 points

Oh yes .. completely forgot that Milan had lost to PSV.
Anyways then I dont expect Milan to slip up .... they will win and finish 1st then

Though both managers claim that the PL is more important than today´s game I think whatever the outcome is tonight will be (psychologically?) important. For us it would be more than satisfying if we could beat or at least make a draw vs Chelsky. The Blues couldn´t beat us in the CL so far, and I really hope that it will continue to be so.
I´m well aware that it´ll be pretty hard to get over Chelsea in Stamford Bridge, but Liverpool are better than last year-everything is possible
Y.N.W.A.

JM is a smart guy, he is playing down the tie so fans don't get to overconfident with their expectations. He is preparing us for a possible loss or a draw. Legend.

I like that team mate. It is defensively solid with Gerrard and Riise being able to help out the fullbacks as well as 2 ball winners in the centre of midfield. We can use a more direct approach with Crouch's height and also look for Cisse's pace to push Chelsea's defence deep because Cisse would beat Terry or Carvalho in a race.

Chelsea fans, is Makelele playing? What will be your probable lineup tonight?

the last CL meetin between the European Champs and the English Champions was zzzzzz inducing..
lets hope this time around with nothing except 1st and 2nd spots to play for we get to see a good match... a good game even with only one goal in it will do it for me.. hope Crespo and Crouch start..

Makalele is definately out!

Probable line-up will be:

-------------------------Cech-----------------------------

----Farreira-----Gallas------Terry------Del Horno-----

-----Essien---------Lampard----------Gudjohnsen-----

-----Cole--------Drogba/Crespo------Robben---------

^This is a freaking deadly formation.

Rumours are floating about that Carson will play instead of Reina. Ive also heard on SSN that Crespo, Makalle will not play.