The Brit

of course this kind of comment is fine in the media's eyes as he's responding to jose...problem is the tw*t forgets that the money invested by roman has also won us two premierships, something liverpool have yet to do since it began in 92 http://sport.independent.co.uk/football ... 504585.ece

yes their chances are a fact but they came against the run of play...after they scored liverpool went back to their usual tactic against us which is sit back and hit us on the counter...that's why it was hard for us to create chances, while easier for them to break quickly...eg kuyt's offside goal...it came from them harrying maka into a rare mistake, someone took a shot from 30 yards and kuyt followed up...hardly an example of them being the better side...the two other chances came from rare breaks on the flanks and a deep cross against our carvalho-less defence...I agree we didn't create enough with the possession we had (you missed out carragher's near own goal, when he had to make an interception in front of drogba), but I thought we looked the more likely side...although we huffed and puffed...remember it was their players going down with cramp cos they were running after our players to stop the passing/trying to get the ball...kuyt was deployed more as a striker to harry our midfielders when we had possession rather than as an attacker...I hate to keep referring to the crowd, but if liverpool were on top why were they the silent ones biting their finger nails while you can hear chelsea fans singing how quiet it was at anfield...as for the start we made, it's standard practice for away ties to try and quieten crowd etc...problem was just as we came out of this period and time to assert ourselves they scored...i'm sure jose planned for the fact we might concede, but he wouldn't have expected it when it happened, from their first shot on goal...the balance of the tie which was going our way suddenly swung and to be fair liverpool are very good at defending... thinking about it though, i want to move on now...we lost, we're out...time to focus on the next challenge...the arse

praise be to espn classic...showing rerun of 1970 Fa Cup final and replay...for a club with no history it's amazing that chelsea should take part in the most watched cup final ever (28million tuned in)

Gullit, I think one of your arguements is way too reliant on this 70 per cent stat you keep referring to. I'm not being biased here, but the simple fact was that pool had created nothing in that 20 minutes...we looked v comfy and their crowd was getting quiet...it was unrealistic to think we'd go for it at the start and while we obviously wanted more of the ball than we had, I think that stat doesn't say anything about the quality of possession thney had which was virtually nil...the first thing cech had to do was pick the ball out of his net from that free kick...until that free kick it was the perfect start and then our gameplan went out the window...if you think pool made a good start, then what does it say about the start we made last week when we had the possession but at least three good chances before cole scored

I doubt fergie will get the same level of criticism as jose, despite the fact his team were stuffed tonight

I have looked quickly at our fixtures this season and must concede that while we have obviously had two good results in a row I can't say i've seen two good performances 'over 90 minutes' in a row...but while there is room for improvement, I still think the level of your criticism has been ott

I know where you're coming from gullit, but i also think you are maybe going somewhat overboard...I think Chelsea don't play to their full potential overall...they should pass the ball more, drogba's presence has become an obsession, but the team still plays good football...it's maybe more of a continental game, possession football at times rather than pacy attacks of utd...as for last time we played great two games in a row I will have to have a think, which is not a concession of defeat!

glad you agree with me gem...the journos are so f**king lazy...all they talked pre-match was how scared we were of anfield crowd and then today it was all this bullsh*t about another great atmosphere etc...it's so quiet, it's so quiet, it's so quiet at anfield sang the chelsea boys...that was the reality

G4 do you ever wonder if our squad could have been better off playing AC Milan style of football? I thought when Jose first arrived, he was very much influenced by italian footballing style. Outclassed mancs tonight, no doubt about it. Kaka,Gattuso and Seedorf were immense. I will answer this one...yes...we play better footy against euro opposition...our performances against valencia and barcelona were our best of the season...liverpool bring out the worst in us, that's what they're good at...oops, i misread the question...i thought it was would we have played better against milan...my answer is still yes

In all fairness they did just that in the final against Bayern. However this game they were totally outclassed, so fat chance of that happening. I feel strangely a little better from yesterday after seeing Man U go out as well. As they say, misery loves company utd were outclassed in 99 too, just scored two late jammy goals

if we'd played like that we would have been absolutely hammered...the media was so desperate for a utd-liverpool love in...i hope milan now f*ckin ruin it for their glorious all things scouse bulls*it too

gray was so biased for long periods, but even he couldn't will utd into the final

oh can I just say that atmosphere in san siro was truly great unlike the myth of anfield last night, which was quiet for long periods

gem, you do know that applies for champs league only, therefore first group game next season

sitting deep and using a counter attack! oh dear! a counter attack typically suggests waiting untill your opposition is high up the pitch and with players positioned to attack, leaving holes in their defence- often holes between midfield and defence and large spaces behind fullbacks who have pushed up. a counter attack would exploit these holes by working the ball at pace (something we now rarely ever do- our football is pretty much one paced) into those areas- to get running at the central defendera and/or behind the fullbacks. what we did was let liverpool come onto us and instead of exploiting the holes, we longed it up to drogba, in area where liverpool have no-one out of position. it defies belief that anyone can think jose's (lack of) tactics were "not bad". they were horrible. liverpool played 4 in midfield, compared to our 5 (which is what it was without the ball) and had 70% posession. an outnumbered midfield containing top player like bolo "couldn't get into the pre: roman chelsea side" zenden and jermain "I only look good against my old mate ashley" pennant had 70% posession over a midfield including kalou, joe cole, lampard, mikel and makelele... that's an astonishing stat. we improved posession wise after half time because it would have been literally impossible not to, we did however remain toothless. I think you have had your head in the sand if you haven't felt, heard or even read the discontent regarding our tactics and our football, and it's never enough to watch a game where the better side, in a leading position, manages to not go through and say no, we wouldn't. well, the people who say mourinho's a genius for figuring out how to beat watford away, would, but they always do. he has had difficulties with the board- granted, but it doesn't really affect our tactics or our football. the difficulties weren't there last season, and the quality of the football was already on the slide (we were lucky to be in a sitation where all of our challengers weren't ready to challenge for the title). and as for the squad? that's his making. he wanted a smaller squad, and now, he can't trust players he has signed, making our squad even smaller. he was, in the summer, in a position no other manager in the world was- spend what you like on who you like, and make the squad as you choose. Spot on, G4. didn't notice you complaining about the standard of our footy when we stuffed west ham 4-1 two weeks ago or when we outplayed valencia on their own pitch which had many on here proclaiming it was the best performance under jose

not sure where g4 got his possession info from, well the first 20 mins but the final stats had a final count of 54 inour favour so considering utd had more of the ball at the start shows how much more we must have had to get it back in our favour by the end...and as i keep saying in that first 20, pool didn't create a thing...by the way you do know we lost the tie on penalties don't you, not the stuffing utd are getting right now...having said that, my ratings were ott and I say deduct a point off everyone and that should be about right

utd outplayed and outclassed...how sweet it is...i'm hoping this will hurt and affect them on saturday...they have been demolished, humiliated...made to look third rate...if we get criticised for the way we played last night then heaven help utd, they have been pi*s poor...have to say milan top class and showed how short we are too...if only we had a player like kaka, he was everywhere, and got his team playing footy of the highest standard...now go beat the scousers like you should have done two years ago

we wouldn't have won the premiership though

as so many people seem to be falling over themselves to criticise jose and chelsea's display last night I wondered if people had the choice, who would they prefer, jose or benitez in charge...there were some chelsea fans on chelsea tv last night suggesting benitez was the better manager and had jose's number, which quite amusingly had tommy langley getting red faced and swearing under his breath...so, what say you? Jose may have made some mistakes but I pick him every time.

it's good to read a chelsea fan and a writer offering a bit of perspective...too many doom-mongers on here at the moment

the thing that made me laugh about what jose said is that it's true...he said pool have only played for one competition this season - fact...benitez picked weakened sides in both domestic cup comps and has rotated players in the prem cos he kenw they couldn't win that...he said they're just a good cup team - fact - pool haven't come close to winning league since 1990, but have won a few cups. he may ahve upset people when he said a big club goes for everything thus giving the press licence to say jose said pool aren't a big club, but if you're not going to try to win the prem or other cups then what's the point?

just about to post this story myself...just gives another example of why liverpool is truly home to the scum of the earth

horrible, just horrible...rip

I still think people are so disappointed by our exit they have lost a grip on the match...pool's chances came against the run of play, I thought they were awful and can only think of a few players that had a good game...yes we may not have had loads who had a good game either, but people are making out we were outplayed or something...like i said elsewhere, if that was the case how come you heard 'it's so quiet at anfield' from our fans for large parts of the second half/extra time

I have slept on it and woke feeling as depressed as i did last night...jose will have to work miracles to make sure we don't lose every game between now and the end of the season because the dressing room must be as low as ever...the one positive I can think of is that the club and jose will have to think about new strategies/players for next season...it hurts that all our fight and strength of character over the last few months could only be rewarded with the carling cup