PeteAshton

Which goes to show that not every Liverpool fan is so self-deluded and bitter - the biggest surprise is that they haven't banned him for daring to post such an honest assessment. lofty, i just PM'd jane to say my bit, and said i would go back to lurking, but couldnt say nothing here. You might not beleive this, but that post was actually written by me. The first time you have complimented me ever probably. thanks.

Jane please dont encourage him. so is anything she said wrong?

i've missed you too sweety.

the person that wrote that is an arsehole and a wind up merchant. there is no support for him in there. anyone can justify people being c**ts by finding an extreme example, but i can promise you he is not the norm, and is a symptom of the faceless internet football fan. as for supporting whoever we play, go for it, i couldnt care less. You all reckon we are sh*t, you all reckon we are a nothing force and you all reckon we're sh*t fans. yet still you find the need to hate us. says plenty that does. anyway, i'm sure you all have plenty of planning to do as visa applications are meant to be quite complex, so i'll let you get on with it. all the best for the final that couldnt be worse for a liverpool fan.

I still think you have the worst fans on the planet, and after reading some of the sh*t aimed at Lampard & his mother on some Liverfool forums (big forums with plenty of mods that let it happen), i will not be changing my opinion in a hurry. almost everything written on the forum i used about lampard was positive about him. I dont like him, and many liverpool fans dont either, but the death of his mother is not something the majority of people will ever use against him and he has been praised for the bottle he showed with the penalty.

of course you did, and of course i did, being banned twice already was enough for me. as you'll have seen, i've been away from here and not causing an trouble so i thought i'd just say something about it. as for lofty, i'm sure he'll be along soon to tell me what he thinks. i'll look forward to it.

i'm a member of that forum, and the guy is a twat. hes only a wind up merchant looking for a reaction. everything he writes is to derive a reaction. its a poor example to use for slating liverpool fans.

well done. I'm f**king gutted, as you would expect, and i dont particularly wish you well, but well done. 2 very even legs and little things made the difference. We could have won it, but we didnt so can't have any complaints. I don't like your lot all that much, but hey, its a defeat and what can we do but accept it and move on to next season.

anyone know how those rankings are compiled? It seems strange as Liverpool are above united, the champions league must have a more significant weighting than the league, but chelsea have never reached the final so the league must count for quite a lot.

do you beleive that Pauly, or is it a tinge of bitterness? In the first leg, the sending off was harsh, but before the sending off Liverpool were all over them, if anything the sending off make inter more compact and difficult to break down. The second leg was even, both teams had chances, mostly from defensive mistakes, but i cant argue with the sending off. Both were yellow card offences in europe, and i dont think anyone would have argues with that second booking if he didnt untimately get sent off for it. 2 players going in with high feet, both started about 20 yards from the ball, it was always going to be a case of whoever gets there second gets a booking. Babel was perhaps lucky to not get a second yellow for the handball, but his first yellow was laughable. The ref moved the wall back and none of them moved forward, but because the freekick hit the wall, he booked the man it hit. If Zlatan and Cruz were less selfish they both could have squared balls for open goals for their teammates. You could see, as soon as the second half started they believed they had lost.

nice swift work.

Rumours: Liverpool have been knocked out of the FA Cup at home by Barnsley..... what do you mean this isn't a rumour.

Gudjohnsen and Essien both arrested for drink driving, terry for a nighclub "assualt", Jody Morris for most crimes you can think of. glass houses and all that.

a proper team who's players get all stroppy when they are subbed. Now that is teamwork.

just something to bare in mind, Olyimpiakos have a good home record, but an abysmal awayt record in europe, so the second leg should be a formality.

just to fill in a few blanks on this one, a mate of mine gave me the lowdown on it. Liverpool have made similar donations in the past to Sunderland (waiving a fee on Stephen Wright when they got relegated), they also gave the gate receipts to another lower league club previously (cant remember who) but in this case, the club (Luton) didnt approach Liverpool, but the administrators did, and the club didnt beleive it was their business to do that. Also, the club are only in this trouble due to mismanagment and illegal payments, so they made their bed.

dont get me wrong loz, nasty tackle, cant argue with the sending off, but the contact was minimal at most. He might have eventually caught his ankle or his heel, but his studs and boots missed Mikels legs completely. Pete I agree with you about the actual contact made during the challenge. If anything Crouch should have been sent off for making an ass of himself with such an embarassing challenge. The American commentators on Fox News over here in USA were laughing at Crouch repeatedly over his lanky lunge. From what I could see Mikel just stayed down but I didn't have the opportunity to see the incident live so I assume I missed the theatrics afterwards. Of course nobody wants to see that either but it is unfortunately part and parcel of the modern game. From Chelsea's point of view I'd rather see Mikel stay down than turn around and try to punch Crouch (as he has been guilty of in the past). But if he wasn't injured of course he should get up and walk off to let the ref sort it out. I think the original point made in this thread though was to criticise Rafa over his attempt to defend a mindless challenge. Contact or not it was stupid and reckless and did not need a defence. I wish managers would be more willing to criticise their players when they commit bad challenges or argue with the ref. Maybe then the players wouldn't think they were above the law and refuse to leave the pitch or argue with the ref over decisions quite as often. That goes for our bunch too by the way. When was the last time a player was docked wages for discipline? i agree with pretty much all of that.

dont get me wrong loz, nasty tackle, cant argue with the sending off, but the contact was minimal at most. He might have eventually caught his ankle or his heel, but his studs and boots missed Mikels legs completely.

tackle was easily worthy of a red card for the intent, but lets not go overboard. He didnt make any contact and he's not a nasty player with previous. It was a sign of a player out of form and low on confidence getting himself wound up. Also, just read that link and it doesnt seem that Rafa actually defends the tackle, just says he's seen worse, and he's right. IF he'd made contact then fair enough for the castigation, but as he actually didnt, it looks a lot lot worse than it actually was, especially when replayed in slow motion. Thought Mikel went over the top with his theatrics after as well, rolling around like he's been shot, the card was given instantly so he should have just got straight up. Look at the way Elano (was it?) reacted to Zokora's foul in the spuds semi, i'd prefer a player to be like that.

chelsea 3 - 1

not sure why there is the request to replace drogba with a drogba. Drogba is very much a unique striker, and is pretty much a symbol of Jose's reign. He fitted the system perfectly, whether that was the intention or whether the system was amde to fit him i am not sure, however there is far more than one way to skin a cat. With Crespo chelsea had one of the best strikers in the world, he didnt fit into the system or the plans and so looked to be a flop, but had Drogba not arrived, and ranieri moved on, I am sure he would have been a success in the right system with the right players around him. Similarly another top striker could do the same. If it is only the short term that you are talking about, it may be short sighted to buy a Drog-a-like as he options are limited, but buying a truly individual striker will mean changes to a system that suits the man perfectly. On a long term basis though, the player to be brought in should be brought in based on their talents as a striker, not on their comparison to a player they may well replace. I think January will be a huge sign of how much Avram is willing to move away from the 'dark ages' of Mourinho and into his new light years of beautiful football entertaining the masses.

thats a great analysis and i think those questions you ask at the end are very significant. It all comes down to whether or not any of the remaining big guns get injured. A loss of Lampard and Terry for instance would be devastating in that period, but if they stay fit then they are all (cup matches aside) very winnable games. If somewhere near maximum league points can be taken during this time and players come back unharmed, a title assault is definately a strong posibility.

i dont know the answer, but my guess would be David James. He saved a fair few for liverpool and villa and has been around for longer than most goalies in the league.

2-0 is fine as long as it is obvious that the foot was taken off the pedal at 2. any struggle to win this game will be a shock. these are sh*te and so a big win is easily on the cards. personally i am expecting 4-0.