so, having slept on it

[bjd]

im still obviously gutted, but i have to say im just as angry.

firstly, and for so long for me this tie was about beating liverpool. or to sum it up - revenge.

for a long time id posted about how much i wanted to do to them what they did to us in 2005.

but this morning im not gutted we lost to them again, im just gutted we lost. the opponents are irrelevant.

i guess ive learnt revenge has no place in sport, and i think its a good lesson to learn. so i congratulate liverpool. they deserved it last night anyway. i just hope their fans show some humility.

why im so angry is because we have lost 3 champions league semis in four years to teams we shouldve beaten.

2004 was a massive cock up, lets leave it at that. but last night hurts so much because we simply didnt learn from the same game, at the same stage 2 years ago. blimey, it was like watching a video tape of that match at times. sure we are tired, but they were there for the taking big time.

id love to harp on about about a g14 conspiracy. id love to moan about ghost goals. id love to moan about injuries to key players but if we had had riccy at the back or essien or ballack in midfield it wouldnt have made any difference. we would still have played the same.

im sorry but we lost this tactically, we couldve buried them last week but we chose to sit on the 1-0 and we couldve gone for them last night but tried to contain. the long ball to DD became embarrassing in the end. i wont harp on about the tactics too much or about jose too much, i guess most of it has been said already and will be repeated all through the day but i cant help but get the feeling it was a pivotal night for 'the special one' .the media are gonna have a field day and jose, im afraid you have to reap what you sow.

we've got games against arsenal and man utd in the next week and we've got to pick ourselves up.

players and fans.

[Nat]

I to am so disappointed, we really should have killed the tie of last week when had the chance and dominated creating lots chances didn't finish them off. Didn't sleep at all well last night, just frustrating and depressing to fall at the final hurdle for a 3rd time in 4 years, and to let in another goal from a soft free kick much like the 2 goals against Bolton last Saturday.

Though liked Milan to win so manu treble dreams die, I actually rather have Manu v Scouse sh*te in the final and Manu skin the smug gloating sh*ts in the final so don't have to them going on about their f**king history and now having 6 titles. Also it is one more game for Manu and might distract them from the FA Cup final a little

[bjd]

Like i just said in another thread Nat, i dont really care who wins it now.

All i know is that it should be us on the bmibaby and easyjet websites this morning.

Just like it shouldve been in 2004 and 2005.

If we had been beaten by a team who were a cut above us and if we had played to the best of our ability i wouldnt have minded.

But in so many ways last night was awful

Again.

[Tim]

Very balanced and objective view bjd, and I applaud you for that, as it is something of which I am not yet capable.

I keep hearing that f*cking refrain of 'you've got no history' in my head, and it makes me so angry that we didn't beat them. Doesn't help that every other fan at work, regardless of who they support, was apparently bleeding red last night, and are enjoying rubbing it in.

It is also my birthday today.

[Nibs]

Really don't know what to post. I sat there last night to about 12.00am just feeling totally numb. Haven't felt like this since that day back in '88 when I was sat in the members enclosure and saw us relegated to the old Div 2. NUMB.

Like BJD, having slept on it (I did eventually get to sleep after re running the game through my mind time and time again), I too feel angry. Rafa has done Jose yet again in a big game and we seem not to have learnt anything from previous mistakes. For Jose to come out and say the best team loss, well personally I am lost for words. How were we the best team? What exactly did we create? Liverpool were little better but they did hit the bar, force Cech to make saves and have a goal disallowed that we would all be up in arms about if it had been our goal. Again, how many chances did we create? We kept hearing about how this game was our biggest, most important game for years and yet we again go out with a whimper. And perhaps that is why Roman has been thinking about a possible change of coach and change of direction? All the time we are picking up 3 points week in week out and collecting a trophy or two, the style of football can get overlooked, but start losing playing that type of football and you start to think "Hang on a minute......................"

As for individual players last night, I think most of them went missing when it really mattered. Please no-one compare Lamps to Gerrard ever again because Lamps has been woeful for some time now and bar tucking his penalty away his contribution last night was little. We seem to be in the same position now with Mourinho & Lamps and Erikson and Beckham for England where no matter how badly he is playing, he won't be dropped and that is not on.

As a huge Joe Cole fan I was disappointed that he never really got going. He could have been such a threat and although some of his work was good, he was never in an area where Liverpool were threatened.

Kalou looked totally out of his depth last night and should have come off during the 90 minutes. Why leave it so late to bring on Robben & SWP when we needed a goal and others were clearly not in the game? I thought Maka and Mikel both had fairly decent games, but in areas where Liverpool were more than happy for them to have the ball.

The one time we threatened, was when Essien drove forward with the ball and SWP put in a cross for Drogba. Have to say Drogba battled well but Carragher was immense for them and totally outplayed him. And sorry to see DD back to the antics again. Pitiful.

Today has been unbearable at work and this is gonna hurt for some weeks to come. I am sure most of our players hurt as well but then they do have between ?50k and ?120k a week to help soften the blow.

Oh and Happy Birthday Tim. What a Bummer.

[Butch]

Happy Birthday, Tim. Forget about the loss. It's just a sport (said through clenched teeth) .

Cheers,

Butch

[bjd]

Yeah happy birthday mate. hope last nights events dont ruin your day too much.

[RedRobMol]

Firstly happy birthday Tim, and i mean that.

Secondly it is surprising and enjoyable to read some properly balanced views. There is little worse that gloating, and so i probably will do well to stay away from here for a week or so as some of the things i would like to say may well be seen as gloating, however i just wanted to say hard luck and i hope you can somehow manage to pick up in the league and stop them c**ts, however unlikely it is now.

I thought we played well last night, although it was torture to watch, and i agree with most of what you say about your own side. Essien proved late on how much of a threat he could have been in midfield and why losing carvalho was such a massive help to us. I do think Jose let you down last night, as much with his comments after the game as his tactics during, however i can understand why he has said what he has, trying to get your players, and you lot, back up for the remaining games and the cup final which is now a must win in reality.

Anyway, good luck for the rest of the season. And i am pleased i have managed to bite my tongue.

[abramovich]

I've slept on it and it didn't help.

I'm still mad at how we played and how we lost. This was supposed to be our year in Europe, i thought we finally learned from past mistakes and do it right this time.

Happy birthday Tim.

[Tim]

Cheers one and all,

ain't much to celebrate though, I have to say!

Just keep thinking how happy I'd be right now if we'd managed to make it through.

[The Brit]

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

[Tea Bar Boy]

Firstly happy birthday Tim, and i mean that.

Secondly it is surprising and enjoyable to read some properly balanced views. There is little worse that gloating, and so i probably will do well to stay away from here for a week or so as some of the things i would like to say may well be seen as gloating, however i just wanted to say hard luck and i hope you can somehow manage to pick up in the league and stop them c***s, however unlikely it is now.

I thought we played well last night, although it was torture to watch, and i agree with most of what you say about your own side. Essien proved late on how much of a threat he could have been in midfield and why losing carvalho was such a massive help to us. I do think Jose let you down last night, as much with his comments after the game as his tactics during, however i can understand why he has said what he has, trying to get your players, and you lot, back up for the remaining games and the cup final which is now a must win in reality.

Anyway, good luck for the rest of the season. And i am pleased i have managed to bite my tongue.

Cheers Rob for being kind to us today ! shame you have some right tools on other boards (but we have a few aswell) still enjoy Athens and send us all a postcard ( just don't put Wish You Were Here you cheeky f*cker )

[Tea Bar Boy]

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

and it could get worse losing to Le Arse and Man Utd in the next week .............................

F*ck it if you can't take the defeats you can't enjoy the victorys so when Terry lifts the FA Cup at Wembley it is going to be the best feeling ever !

[Lofty]

Oh I can take the defeats all right. I've been a Chelsea supporter for long enough to see far more than my fair share of downs. As defeats go however, last night's was massive. This morning I feel drained, more than anything, and the living room door isn't on the floor any more, but balanced against the frame so people can get in out of the living room. But anyway. Last night hit me a lot harder than say, losing 7-1 at Wolves, or 1-0 at Crewe in the League cup, for instance. Expectations are higher, emotions run deeper; Come Saturday I'll be well up for the game at the new library. but for the next couple of days or so, I reserve the right to be a miserable depressing old git.

[Tea Bar Boy]

I know Lofty it still hurts on a par with the Boro play off relegation .

Still had an email this morning confirming the charter plane me and Just had an option on has gone down in price ..........................

[Dorset]

Another forgettable European night at Anfield, at the end of which lessons must be learnt and I?ll start with the coldest, harshest truth to emerge from two hours football against the Peoples Champions. It?s not what we want to hear, but the current Chelsea squad has not evolved into the great team we?d all hoped to see by the end of this season. In short, we are no better than Liverpool and because they have a serial shootout specialist in Reina they will always have one hell of a cushion to fall back on in CL games decided on penalties.

Such expertise means very little over 38 games in the Premiership and it shouldn?t have been a factor last night, although I still can?t make up my mind whether we got our tactics wrong or fatigue led to us play the way we did for the majority of the contest. I?m referring, of course, to what appears to be our ever growing reliance on the long ball to Drogba, a far from creative element that?s crept more and more into our play and lends itself to direct comparison with the way Liverpool use Crouch.

We are seeing Didier struggling under pressure to take the ball on his chest so regularly nowadays it?s become both predictable and monotonous. How often was this plan productive? It wasn?t. Indeed, we were only ever a danger when playing constructively from front to back and also in extra time when Robben and SWP belatedly got to the dead ball line and delivered telling crosses. More of the same, much earlier, would surely have got us the vital away goal we needed, but it appears that, having seen an awful lot of the Luddite long ball game used earlier against Bolton, we failed to learn this simple lesson - don?t compromise a 4-3-3 in this way. It?s soul destroying enough seeing it flogged to death in a 4-4-2 - just ask Sheva.

Other lessons to be learnt fall into the category of chickens coming home to roost, namely a woeful lack of foresight over getting in a quality central defender, not helped by Jose?s continual mistrust of Boula?s ability and, we are told, arguments within the camp over Alex?s perceived suitability. Rightly or wrongly, nothing was done, whereupon Riccy gets crocked and the Bison gets tethered to a defensive post. Not good and undoubtedly avoidable, although now is not the time to apportion blame between supposedly warring parties. The FA Cup is the last piece of silverware within our grasp and I?d like us to grace the final with an attacking display that matches our opponents. Mirroring the opposition should be the aim on this big occasion, whereas such a policy should never have been considered against the Scousers last night.

[Gem]

As soon as it went to penalties it was as good as over. When was the last time we won on penalties? I remember Ipswitch in the 95/96 season I think... ol Hitchy in goal

And WHY let someone who hasn't been fit for a lot of the season and who usually favours placement over power AND someone who was on the bench for 90+ take a penalty?

It can still be a Historic season for us... winning the last, and then the first FA cup at Wembeley... but we're gonna have to shoot at goal, not just pass it around. If a game was won by how many passes you string together without going forward - we'd win it all for sure.

[Fansince65]

Pretty much everything has been said already about last night so I wont add anymore gnashing of the teeth ,wringing of the wrist type stuff, but would like to add this.

Lice

Infected

Vermin

Ethnically

Retarded

Pikeies

Organically

Oppressed

Life form

.............Have a nice day!!!!!!!!!

PS: this doesn.t include RedRob, he's ok !!

[Lofty]

He's as over-sensitive as the rest of them:

See this thread

And if he doesn't accept that I wasn't talking about literal murder, then fine. F*ck him.

EDIT: RedRobMol misunderstood what I was getting at, so I unreservedly retract the above comment.

[Fansince65]

See what you mean Lofty! touchy little git, aint he ?

[ColeMan]

All I kept thinking was "when the hell are we going to go for it, bloody hell ,we've been through this same crap in 3 semis now". At some time you would have thought we would throw caution to the wind, but no, lets sit back, invite them on to us and hope to snatch one on the break. Why were we playing 4-3-3 when all we did was give the ball to Petr to lump forward to Drogs, surely the diamond suits that much better. I dont like to say it but we were wrong tactically last night, Jose blew it big time.

P**sed off is putting it mildly.

[Jack]

Ok, I've slept on it, too, and I ain't as angry as some. I'm very, very pissed off, like most of us are, and to be honest I could do with going out in the group stages every year rather than go through all this pain again, but that's why we're all here. The twats who couldn't stand the agony of the 80's and went off to 'support' Manyoo and the others are welcome to it, we don't give a f**k whoever you may be. Sport is about winning and losing and sometimes you find out more about yourself in defeat than in victory. I feel a little heartbroken today, but I know I'll feel better by the weekend and be right up for the challenge on Sunday, and the following wednesday, and for the rest of my life.

Good times, bad times...

(Led Zep freaks can sing the rest to themselves).

[Guest]

you know i had my share,when my woman left home for a brown eyed man,still dont seem to care.

[Sofa Manager]

*Taram tatatam tatcham*

(best guitar sound description you ever "heard")