Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1
Kuyt 42, Riise o.g.95
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Pepe Reina is a line keeper.
In the fifth minute of injury time a low cross from Kalou comes over in his six yard box and it’s his ball but he doesn’t go for it. Cech would claim it, Almunia would claim it too. Most keepers would dive on that ball.
But Reina doesn’t and sub Riise had no right foot. If he’d had a right foot he would have put that ball into Row Z.
Instead, Riise ducks down and sends a bullet header past Reina to gift Chelsea an equaliser they did not deserve.
I enjoyed the first half, even though it was tactical combat rather than good football. It was a tense battle, balanced on a knife-edge, with Xabi Alonso pinging balls better than Jan Molby.
Torres was invisible for half an hour and suddenly Stevie G played him in and he took a second touch when he should have taken one and slotted it across Cech. Second touch, hit Cech, Rafa annoyed.
I’m thinking : After 65, bring Crouch on and win 2-0. Then Kuyt scrambles a goal, banging it between the legs of Cech after sloppy play by Lampard, who lost the ball to Kuyt before Mascherano miskicked a shot that broke for Kuyt to make it 1-0.
Second half, Liverpool were rolling and looked good for about 15 minutes, looked like getting the second goal. Babel was beating Paulo Ferreira for fun, so PF smacked him in the face with his arm as they went up for a ball. Then left back Fabio Aurelio was injured. He went off with a tweaked groin and Liverpool were never as dominant after that.
John Terry is managing Chelsea right now and doing it badly. He thinks the players are in charge and he thinks they are tactically astute enough to take on Rafa Benitez. They ain’t.
If I had been manager I’d have taken Drogba off after an hour, or earlier, as he was the worst player on the field.
I’m one of his biggest fans but DD was useless ! He is a great guy and a wonderful gladiator. But here he was a joke in a dire team performance. He wasn’t fit, so what we saw was a caricature of the real Drogba. Even in his diving days he was never the worst player on the pitch. If he plays like that against Manchester United on Saturday, Chelsea have no chance.But I don’t think he will start that game.They should get him fit for the second leg.
Joe Cole was hopeless, so Grant hooked him off and put Kalou on.
I really hate player-power. But at big clubs the stars diminish the authority of the manager. He should have put Kalou on for Drogba but if he’d done that JT would never speak to him again and the fans would want his blood and the media would slaughter him even more.
Grant should make them watch a DVD of that farce kick by kick and show them how wholly crap they were at Anfield. Only Cech, Carvalho and Ballack did their jobs. The rest of them stunk the place out and were very, very lucky when Riise gave them that lifeline.
Liverpool should have kept on attacking and gone for the second goal. They will never face a weaker Chelsea midfield than that. I knew Chelsea would miss Essien but I didn’t think they would miss him a much as that.
Sad to see Claude Makelele so far over the hill. He has been a holding player of genius, a black belt judo champion in football boots, a tiny assassin with a PhD in bodychecks. Maka has a vast repertoire of fouls and obstructions which are movements of seven inches and five inches.
Skrtel and Mascherano were good, Stevie G was decent, Torres showed that he is new to games of this magnitude. He will handle it better next time. He’s a helluva player and may have the last laugh at the Bridge.
Before tonight, Liverpool had played nine European semi-finals without conceding a goal at Anfield. How professional is that! Now Reina and Riise have spoiled that amazing record
If Chelsea v Man United is a draw on Saturday, Chelsea are kaput in the title race.
So they would have only Moscow to go for. JT wanted a clause in his contract that he would manage Chelsea when he retired from playing! What planet are these guys on?
Chelsea’s core fans are all geezers (apart from a few thousand doctors, lawyers, accountants and City types) and the geezers think JT is their brother. He is one of them.
To play entertaining football, Abramovich will have to sell at least six players and put a proper coach in place. JT and his gang have so far resisted Grant’s attempts to get them to play more football.
They want to win ugly, the Mourinho way. And Abramovich has found that he can pay off Jose but the stamp of the Special One still lingers on their style and their attitude.That stamp is an asset but it makes them a team the owner does not want to see. He was absent on business last night.They say he is buying a coal mine in Zimbabwe.