Sport Liverpool Football Club

[Commander Jameson]

Hope there is a separate draw for the semis.

[rjpageuk]

Arsenal were the team I wanted us to draw least

It is good we are away first though.

[ras el hanout]

Fenerbahce Chelsea

[larrydavidsanger]

Shit! Arsenal are probably my most feared with Man U

[Commander Jameson]

Damn. Home in the semi-final first leg.

Against winner of Fen vs Che.

[ras el hanout]

Liverpool chelsea semi

Barca Manu semi

[MDK]

I see the semis as:

Arsenal v Chelsea

Man Utd v Barca

Sorry Liverpool.

[ras el hanout]

I see the semis as:

Arsenal v Chelsea

Man Utd v Barca

Sorry Liverpool.

That's okay, Murdock, as far as I know UEFA don't include your opinion the the match results.

[Beertiger]

It'll be the third time Chelsea get knocked out by Liverpool in the semi.

[MDK]

That's okay, Murdock, as far as I know UEFA don't include your opinion the the match results.

What, you don't fancy playing Arsenal then?

If it's a proper game of football, as opposed to a Chelsea style stalemate, then Arsenal have the edge, I would say. Some great midfield encounters to look forward to, Fabergas/Flamini against Gerrerd/(Alonso?)/Mascherano.

Edit: so there's a repeat Premier League tie in between, it will be a borefest won't it. But that means... Liverpool vs. Chelsea. AGAIN.

[Kelthink]

Should be a good 'un. We're finding our stride (finally) and I'm still uncertain Arsenal have enough of a squad to go the whole mile. I don't think they can do both the league and the European Cup, so they'll need some prioritising.

[ras el hanout]

What, you don't fancy playing Arsenal then?

If it's a proper game of football, as opposed to a Chelsea style stalemate, then Arsenal have the edge, I would say. Some great midfield encounters to look forward to, Fabergas/Flamini against Gerrerd/(Alonso?)/Mascherano.

Barcelona play pretty good football and we did for them.

[Warszawa]

If we get past Arsenal (and it's a big, big 'if' as it's a bad clash of styles for us), Chelsea will be massive, massive favourites to beat us this time around - It's just impossible for me to see us beating them again in a semi, particularly with the Anfield tie being first. You're not going to beat that sort of team four times out of four in cup competition, not a chance.

[rjpageuk]

Some interesting fixtures coming up in the league/cup now:

23/03 Chelsea v Arsenal

23/03 Man Utd v Liverpool

01/04 Liverpool v Arsenal

05/04 Arsenal v Liverpool

08/04 Arsenal v Liverpool

13/04 Man Utd v Arsenal

22/04 Chelsea v Liverpool / Arsenal

26/04 Chelsea v Man Utd

29/04 Liverpool / Arsenal v Chelsea

(Two of these assume Chelsea beat Fenerbahce!)

[Kelthink]

If we get past Arsenal (and it's a big, big 'if' as it's a bad clash of styles for us), Chelsea will be massive, massive favourites to beat us this time around - It's just impossible for me to see us beating them again in a semi, particularly with the Anfield tie being first. You're not going to beat that sort of team four times out of four in cup competition, not a chance.

Yeah, especially since they have a worse manager now. Huh?

[larrydavidsanger]

Aye, now that I've had time to think about it, I'm not as worried about Arsenal, as Kelthink says I think Man U have the only squad capable of throwing everything at both competitions. We've done reasonably well against them in the league and now we've found a formation that suits us coupled with our Champions League form, I reckon we'll have a good chance.

[Warszawa]

Yeah, especially since they have a worse manager now. Huh?

Those sort of things work in funny ways. I don't think the manager would influence the Chelsea players bitter about losing to us in three cup competitions in three years one way or the other. It would be by a country mile the biggest game in their history (again!) but this time they have the added advantage of playing away first.

[ras el hanout]

Those sort of things work in funny ways. I don't think the manager would influence the Chelsea players bitter about losing to us in three cup competitions in three years one way or the other. It would be by a country mile the biggest game in their history (again!) but this time they have the added advantage of playing away first.

Chelsea have to get there first. Not a certainty.

[MDK]

Barcelona play pretty good football and we did for them.

Arsenal have a better passing game and Liverpool's fluency against continental sides seems to elude them playing English teams, so I'm not too confident of that.

[Chewylegs]

Bit gutted by the draw and in particular the fact we could play two english teams before even getting to the final. We can beat anyone in this competition though and I always say you have to beat the best to deserve winning the thing.

So on that complete turn about, we can turn over Arsenal, followed by Chelsea and dick Barce in the final!

[Chewylegs]

Not that us real Liverpool fans don't know this already but its worth reading just to prove that the media and the Rafa haters really don't know what they are talking about. I for one am fed up of telling friends, hearing commentators use it to batter Benitez time and time again.

Rafa Benitez has to be the only manager in England who can dump the Italian champions out of the Champions League - on their own turf - and get criticised for doing so.

Liverpool moved ominously into the last eight of the Champions League for the third time in four years on Tuesday, yet despite a European record that Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger dream about, Benitez instantly faced scarcely-veiled criticism.

It surrounded Fernando Torres, who had just leathered in his 26th goal of a wonderful season, justifying a huge Benitez gamble in spending £20.1 million on the Spanish superstar, who had scored just 14 goals the previous season for Atletico.

Liverpool had just beaten Inter, and looked comfortable doing so, so what could Benitez expect as his first question?

This is what he got: "Fernando Torres is in wonderful form, but should he have played more games at the start of the season, and can Liverpool fans expect to see him play every game until the rest of the season?" Or words to that effect.

Now I won't mention names, but anybody watching coverage of the game on TV will know who I mean when I then turn to an even worse comment: "How many goals could Torres have scored had he not been in and out of the team all season? Wouldn't Liverpool fans swap the Champions League for the league?"

More criticism of Rafa's 'rotation policy', where apparently he has dropped Fernando Torres more times than Paul Robinson drops footballs.

So here is a fact for all those who bang on with this 'if only Torres had played more games' nonsense.

Of the Premier League games that Torres has been fit for this season, he has been rested only twice, the last of which came six months ago. The only other game he came off the bench for was on his return from injury against Fulham. A game he scored in and Liverpool won.

Cristiano Ronaldo meanwhile, has been rested three times, and United lost one of those games away at Bolton.

Liverpool aren't trailing United because Torres missed two games, they are trailing because they are not good enough over the course of the season - yet.

The two games Torres was rested for came just two weeks before he picked up a thigh injury that saw him miss over a month of the season. Maybe Rafa knew something.

After all, Frank Rijkaard suffered similar criticism for resting Lionel Messi, right before the Argentine also suffered a muscular injury.

As crazy as it sounds, maybe Rafa knows more than these clueless pundits who continue to use magnificent victories like Tuesday night to bash the Liverpool boss.

I wouldn't bet against him having a second European Cup in his locker to prove it in May.

[V3zna]

Wake me up next season. The draw against Arsenal and potential draw against Chelsea makes me Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[Chewylegs]

That's the sign of a man who is a bit worried! I think the Arsenal match will be entertaining. The Chelsea games the last few seasons ain't been that bad, we've dominated most of them (in the cup)

[ras el hanout]

Not that us real Liverpool fans don't know this already but its worth reading just to prove that the media and the Rafa haters really don't know what they are talking about. I for one am fed up of telling friends, hearing commentators use it to batter Benitez time and time again.

As a fake Liverpool fan I never used Torres as the reason why Benitez fucked up this season.

[Chewylegs]

Did I say that was directed at you?

[tenrou]

The last few liverpool games I've seen have been some of the most consistent that I've seen all season.

I think Benitez has finally got something with this 4-2-3-1 formation and he's finally noticed that Babel on the left wing is a real handful when he's running at defenders.

It's not like we're suddenly world beaters but I feel like we're beginning to make the progress that's been expected all season.

Unfortunately I think the Arsenal game will be a washout and we'll play to counter-attack but in all honesty it seems to be the way to play Arsenal. You're unlikely to put 2-3 by them so shut up shop and play for the single goal.

[kimble]

I am sure one day soon Babel is going to get the confidence to just knock the ball past a defender and run. He still has a tendency to slow down as he reaches the defender rather than just using his pace. When he realises what he can do he will be extremely dangerous. You can see in his face he needs a bit more confidence.

[Guest]

COME ON!

Arsenal 2-1

Chelsea 1-0

Man U 3-1

UCL IS OURS AGAIN.

Totally confident, can't wait. No chance against us in Europe that lot.

[Guest]

COME ON! Is no one else dead excited? What a run in!!

[V3zna]

COME ON! Is no one else dead excited? What a run in!!

No. It's a really dull draw and the thought of facing Premier League opposition in every match remaining in European competition fills me full of apathy. It's the Champions League / European Cup and we are playing teams we play every season anyway. Yawn.