ethicalstrategy

I'll be giving them applause. If you win the league you deserve it. Once the whistle goes then it's back to business as usual! Doing it for your lot would be a different story! Luckily I don't think we will have to worry about that for sometime - if ever

Please not Defoe. No to Owen as well. Not that I don't rate him, but I don't think he would fit in well with the rest of our team. At the moment, if we did want to play 2 up and Sheva was on his way out then I think Tevez would work well with Drogs. He has had a year to settle in and looks pretty good to me.

You must have missed him doing almost exactly the same thing just a little earlier in the half against Adebeyour! Luckily JT got there to clear before he could hack him down. You would have thought he might have learned from that.

Yep, I'm looking forward to applauding them on then being the first team to beat the new champions. As Jose said, they may have the most points but they aren't better than we are. Bring 'em on!

We would have said no thanks - you saw why last week!

Too many draws at home. Aston Villa, Reading, Fulham, Bolton. Last season we won 18 and drew 1 game at home. This season we have drawn 5 at home. That's 8 points less. If we had won 4 of those 5 then we would be 1 point ahead now. Why didn't we win those matches? A combination of all the things people have already said. But the main factor has been injuries.

I have 2 tickets for tomorrow night if anyone is interested. Conditions: You need to be able to either collect them off me before hand (I live in Reading) or meet me somewhere near to the ground before the match tomorrow. A couple of things you should know: The tickets were given to my father by the club as compensation for messing him around on something. They are marked as complimentary. They are also marked with the original date of the match, Sunday 15th April 2007 but come with a compliment slip from the club confirming that they are valid for tomorrow night. The tickets are East Lower North Family Gate 6 Row L Seats 0101 & 0102 I am looking for what I believe is the normal face value of the tickets, ?43 each. I stand to be corrected if this is not the normal price. If you are interested and are happy with the above then PM me and we can sort out the details. Cheers Paul

Liam, I think you'll find in that picture, Tiger is actually trying to take the jacket off the other guy...

My point was that I don't think Woods is always gracious in defeat. I'm not saying never, but generally I don't see it. Some of his Ryder Cup antics towards his own playing partners for example.

Interesting. I thought they played much the same in the first leg until Gattuso went off. It was only then that they lost control of midfield. My bet is that Benitez will strangle the life out of the game and hope to nick it 1-0 or on penalties. I'm not expecting him to make the same mistake that he did in the first half last time but I think Milan will be ready for it too. I think it will be a very tactical match and unfortunately, I think Liverpool have every chance.

Anyone notice how old red nose rolled out exactly the same stuff as Jose last night. Playing a team only in one comp, rested players, injuries, architect of own downfall giving away silly goals etc etc. All followed by Keys saying "and very gracious in defeat" Bollocks Bollocks Bollocks

What's your problem? I'm not sure holding Tiger Woods up as a good loser helps your arguement much. There's someone who would trample his own granny if it would help him win. He may be the world's best golfer but he's an obnoxious little twat.

Just got through on the net after 25 mins. Hopefully you won't have a problem. Judging from the time of your post you probably have got them already! Good luck to everyone else.

Err, the last and only penalty shootout we've had since Cech has been here was against Charlton last year in the Carling Cup. Charlton scored all 5 of their penalties and we lost and guess who was in goal? Yep. It was Carlo. Come on. Get a grip man

Absolutely right! I haven't been near a radio, TV or newspaper since 10.30 last night and it is goingto stay that way for sometime. The only safe places are the official site and here.

+1 for that. It seems his teenage son was on board too. Tragic.

No worries mate, plenty of room at mine, and the beers are cold. I can't drink any as I have work straight after! You're too kind!

What really gets me is this crap being spouted about how they can turn us over 2-0 or 3-0. Of course it's possible, but how often do we a) lose at all lose by more than 1 goal c) concede 3 goals (oh, and how often do we fail to score?) I know we did lose there 2-0 in the league but there were a lot of circumstances surrounding that with injuries and the in fighting going on. I think it is just about the only score that would take Liverpool through. I can't see 3-1 or 4-2. I could see 1-0 and penalties but if it comes to that I will be so far under the sofa that I'll end up in Australia!

Yep, I'm bricking it big time! I can handle losing in the CL semi final, I could have handled going out to Valencia in the last round, I could probably even handle losing the final, but no way can I handle losing to Liverpool at Anfield - that would be one step too far. They are unbearable enough as it is - I can't even think about what they would be like if they did turn us over. Come on boys - defeat is just not an option!

It's the usual press bollocks. I was watching the interview last night with Gabby Logan - it was very relaxed and informal. He said that he did want to be a manager when he packed in and that he would be taking his coaching badges. I took what he said about his contract to mean that he wanted something in there which would give him the opportunity to stay at Chelsea for the rest of his playing career and then go into the management side with them after that. I don't think he meant that he was looking for a clause that would make him first team manager when he retired I see that there is also a piece claiming that he is calling for Beckham to be in the England squad - actually, he said that he would still have him in the squad if it was up to him but that it was McLaren's choice as he was manager. It hardly constitues a "call" for Beckham!

I'm in the West Lower and I can tell you that the Shed 50 made a huge difference. It was easy to pick you out and it certainly created a very good atmosphere even allowing for the fact we didn't win. It may not have shown, but I would say that there were definitely more people than usual on their feet and singing in my area and I think you lot helped with that. Nice one.

The atmosphere wasn't at all flat. I can't make the comparison with Anfield because I haven't been there for a big match. I have been to matches at the bridge where the atmosphere was better - the FA Cup match against Spurs springs to mind as does the win against Barca a couple of years ago - but as has been mentioned those games where much more exciting in footballing terms and they were sudden death. On wednesday there was plenty of support from around the ground but at the end I felt satisfaction in a job well done, but not elation because we are only half way there. If we had played at Anfield and the 2nd leg had been at the Bridge then I think the excitement would have been greater. Anyway, let's wait and see how good the atmosphere is at Anfield if you are losing 1-0 with 30 mins to go

I'm gonna stick up for Sheva! He didn't have a good game - no arguments there. But, he played left in a front three and that just isn't where we are going to get the best from him. The miss against Blackburn aside, his problem is not that he is missing chances, but that he isn't getting any. He clearly isn't a winger in the Robben mould or a tricky dribbler like Joey. On the other hand he does finish well if put through in the box and he can create some space and get off a good shot - see Spurs in FA Cup. His better performances have come when he is playing up front in a two. So his mark was justified but I do think it is a bit unfair on him from an individual standpoint - he is playing where Jose wants him to for the benefit of the team. Why Jose thinks it is a good place to play him I don't know!

I have to say that Paulo worries me a lot. I get to see him at first hand in the first half and he always looks dodgy. Yesterday Zenden had a huge amount of space and we were fortunate that he doesn't have much pace. If that had been Ronaldo then we would have been in serious trouble. I'm not saying that he does nothing well, but I always feel we are vulnerable. Diarra can look vulnerable too on occassion, but at least he gives us something extra on the ball and going forward.

I was in my usual seat in the west lower and I would say that it was a lot more vocal there than normal. I don't have much voice left at all today. I do agree that there are a lot of people there without a true Chelsea allegience. My parents were away and there seats were taken by a russian couple who looked like they were going on to the theatre afterwards Overall I thought the atmosphere was good last night.