Posted December 10, 200717 yr since we are guaranteed top of the table to advance to knockouts and Valencia have no chance of moving on even if they beat us, the result of this match against Valencia is just about utterly meaningless to both sides. which means that we can rest our players heading into the critical Premiership match against Arsenal this Saturday, whereas l'Arse will be shooting for a victory in their CL match against Steaua Bucharest on Wednesday the 12th and will have to play most of their top men. Sidwell, Shevchenko, Pizarro, -- this match is made for each of these lads to play 90. since Essien will be still be serving his league suspension he'll probably get a run in for this match. doesn't look like Ferreira, Carvalho or Malouda will be back, though. certainly our two reserves eligible for the group stages -- Hutchison and Sawyer -- should feature. maybe Ballack could have been back for this, but remember he's not on the roster for the group stages. i'm guessing we'll see something like this: ------------Carlo----------------- Belletti---Alex---Ben Haim---Bridge -----Sidwell-------Essien---------- ---SWP--------------Kalou-------- -------Sheva-----Pizarro---------- with Lee Sawyer getting on the pitch in attack in the second half, Hutchison resting a defender. if i were in charge, the following players wouldn't see the pitch at all: Lampard, Terry, Cech, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Mikel (for fear of getting a red card for no reason), and Maka.
December 10, 200717 yr The team I'd like to see us put out: Carlo Beletti Ben Haim Alex Bridge Essien Sidwell SWP Kalou Sheva Joe Cole Subs: Hilario, Terry, Lampard, Pizarro, Maka, Sawyer, Hutchinson. A score is hard to predict, depends if we go for it or just try and cruise through the game. I'm gonna go for 0-0 or 1-0 to us.
December 10, 200717 yr I'd like to see Ballack get some time too. If I'm not mistaken, he's not eligible to play in the group stages, as he wasn't put on the players list.
December 10, 200717 yr I'd like to see Ballack get some time too. If I'm not mistaken, he's not eligible to play in the group stages, as he wasn't put on the players list. Damn it, you are right as usual.
December 10, 200717 yr I'd like to see Ballack get some time too. If I'm not mistaken, he's not eligible to play in the group stages, as he wasn't put on the players list. Makes it easier to let him go in January! BTW - anyone apart from me going to SB to get their bolox frozen off
December 10, 200717 yr Author maybe the folks at UEFA don't know what Sawyer looks like, so Ballack can shave his head or something and wear his uniform, just so that he can get a run in.
December 10, 200717 yr is just about utterly meaningless to both sides Not true, Valencia will try to win to get the third place and a UEFA cup spot, but to do so, they'll have to win and Shalke must at best tie the game against Rosenborg.
December 11, 200717 yr is just about utterly meaningless to both sides Not true, Valencia will try to win to get the third place and a UEFA cup spot, but to do so, they'll have to win and Shalke must at best tie the game against Rosenborg. Nope. Valencia can't get third. It is unfortunately an utterly meaningless game. I'll still be going though. When the draw was made this looked the pick of the ties in the group. Just goes to show how unpredictable football can be. I know people are suggesting that we play a weakened team ahead of Sunday's match but I really don't want us to lose. Our home record is something that I really cherish and I wouldn't want to see it given away. I also don't think it is actually that easy just to turn it on and off - winning is a habit and we need to keep it going. I just watched Avram's press conference on the BBC website and he looked very relaxed and was quite amusing. Looks as if he's growing in to the role which was nice to see.
December 11, 200717 yr I'd have liked Sinclair to earn his Champion League stripes in a game like this, no, pressure, result doesn't matter, go and enjoy yourself lad........But I'm not sure his loan's finished with QPR yet?!? Failing that I'd like to see what Pizzaro and Sheva look like as a front 2 for at least 1 half, we're gonna need them over the coming weeks so it's worth knowing if they can play together.
December 11, 200717 yr is just about utterly meaningless to both sides Not true, Valencia will try to win to get the third place and a UEFA cup spot, but to do so, they'll have to win and Shalke must at best tie the game against Rosenborg. Nope. Valencia can't get third. It is unfortunately an utterly meaningless game. I'll still be going though. When the draw was made this looked the pick of the ties in the group. Just goes to show how unpredictable football can be. I know people are suggesting that we play a weakened team ahead of Sunday's match but I really don't want us to lose. Our home record is something that I really cherish and I wouldn't want to see it given away. I also don't think it is actually that easy just to turn it on and off - winning is a habit and we need to keep it going. I just watched Avram's press conference on the BBC website and he looked very relaxed and was quite amusing. Looks as if he's growing in to the role which was nice to see. Valencia have 4points and Schalke have 5, or is that incorrect?
December 11, 200717 yr Chelsea 11 points Rosenborg 7 points Schalke 5 points Valencia 4 points Chelsea are through, doesn't matter if they win, draw or lose. Rosenborg are through as long as they don't lose to Schalke. Schalke have to win to make it through. Valencia can't make it through but if they win against Chelsea and Schalke doesn't win against Rosenborg then Valencia will be third and get a place in the UEFA Cup. Think this is right.
December 11, 200717 yr Valencia have 4points and Schalke have 5, or is that incorrect? Sorry. My mistake. Valencia can't qualify for the next stage. If they beat us and Schalke draw or lose to Rosenborg then they can finish third. I would expect Schalke to win though.
December 11, 200717 yr Author I'd have liked Sinclair to earn his Champion League stripes in a game like this, no, pressure, result doesn't matter, go and enjoy yourself lad........But I'm not sure his loan's finished with QPR yet?!? Sinclair couldn't play for this match even if he wasn't loaned out, because he wasn't placed on the group stage roster. Wasn't necessarily a lack of foresight; the club issued a statement back in September noting how they couldn't squeeze him into the list, and noting how he was ineligible for the "reserve" B list because he had been loaned out last season.
December 11, 200717 yr Cech and Ferreira return, but no sign of Ballack or Malouda. 1 Petr Cech 20 Paulo Ferreira 33 Tal Ben-Haim 26 John Terry © 18 Wayne Bridge 24 Shaun Wright-Phillips 5 Michael Essien 8 Frank Lampard 7 Andriy Shevchenko 14 Claudio Pizarro 21 Salomon Kalou Subs: Carlo Cudicini, Alex, Wayne Bridge, Juliano Belletti, Claude Makelele, Steve Sidwell, John Mikel Obi, Joe Cole.
December 11, 200717 yr That's the most attacking oriented formation i've seen in a long time. Essien and Lamps in the middle,SWP and Kalou on the wings and Sheva-Pizza upfront. Looks like Grant is trying to be more adventurous, makes sense, since the result means nothing to us. I'm surprised he didn't rest JT and Lamps,though.
December 11, 200717 yr Author Cech and Ferreira return, but no sign of Ballack or Malouda. Ballack couldn't play in this match, Alan, as he's not on our group stage CL roster. Looks like Grant is trying to be more adventurous, makes sense, since the result means nothing to us. I'm surprised he didn't rest JT and Lamps,though. Agreed, not only to rest them in anticipation of the Arsenal match, but because of fear of injury (moreso for JT than Lamps).
December 11, 200717 yr Cech and Ferreira return, but no sign of Ballack or Malouda. Ballack couldn't play in this match, Alan, as he's not on our group stage CL roster. Forgot
December 11, 200717 yr can't we add ballack to the roster in january or something like that? btw-gerrard just got a penalty and scored---SUPRISE!
December 11, 200717 yr L*verpool 2 nil up already. Torres with a great run and shot for the second. B*llocks b*llocks b*llocks.
December 11, 200717 yr i will admit Torres is shot was nice, but i hate the commentators. Praised gerrard for the last five minutes, uggh hate espn! how we doing against valencia?
December 11, 200717 yr btw-gerrard just got a penalty and scored---SUPRISE! Apparently his first shot was saved, but he scored from the rebound.
December 11, 200717 yr Apparently his first shot was saved, but he scored from the rebound. yeah, the goalkeeper dove to the right and put his right hand up, deflecting the shot. But then it bounced up to gerrard who just slid it in.....
