Tyler

we are due to lose one soon if it goes to penalties i think this is chelsea's year

if it stays 0-0 united will be nervous at home barca can't defend but could be v dangerous on break henry should start away leg. he looks wound up since he came on

dunno about that - he seemed to hit ball square on his head put it this way if an attacker scored that goal it would be some header/some goal to direct it the way he did

yeah we dropped off their midfield in last 20 minutes and they had more room not sure if that was due to alonso tiring, human nature to drop back when goal up or rafa instructions to try and hit them on the break wonder if we could see gerrard alonso and masch in midfield next week at some point we looked really good when we were pressing their midfield in second half (first 25 mins of it) and they couldn't keep the ball babel torres and crouch up front

even with heading it he was still unlucky it went in 9 out of 10 times it wouldn't if he had swung his right leg at it it might still have gone in spin on the ball didn't help him ball was whipped in, it was a good cross and nobody expected him to be able to get cross in i can't believe we have a 26 page thread on this

Looks like same team next week based on these comments from Rafa -------------------------------------- Rafael Benitez insists that he is unlikely to ditch his trusted Liverpool system with their Champions League dreams hanging by a thread. The Spaniard has produced plenty of surprise decisions in vital European ties in the past but after watching how Chelsea set-out to stifle Steven Gerrard and isolate Fernando Torres in Tuesday's semi-final first leg, Benitez will still have plenty to think about ahead of next Wednesday's second clash. But he remains defiant. "It is not about tactics or changing our system, it is about taking the chances we create. "Chelsea don't lose at Stamford Bridge, but there's a time for everything. We can change history," he said. Chelsea went away from Anfield with a vital away goal in a 1-1 draw, caused by a 95th minute own goal from substitute John Arne Riise. The Norwegian will almost certainly now be on from the start at Stamford Bridge, with Fabio Aurelio out for a fortnight with an abductor muscle injury that saw him carried off in the first-leg. In the last-16 clashes with Inter Milan, Benitez used Brazilian youngster Lucas in both legs. And after the quarter-final first-leg with Arsenal, Peter Crouch was a shock inclusion in the successful second game. But Benitez says: "People may say I should change the system to give them something else to think about. But we created four very clear chances in the first-leg, which is high for one of these games against Chelsea. "Torres had two chances, Gerrard one, and Chelsea hardly had any, and we were winning until the last seconds. We know we can do it. "We know that at Stamford Bridge it will be very difficult. A tough game, as always there, with little between the sides again. "We know we have not scored in a game at Chelsea under my management, and we know they have such a good record there. "They also have a very long unbeaten run on their own ground, but there is a time for everything, maybe we can change the history of these matches by winning and scoring at Stamford Bridge." Gerrard had to contend with the attention of Claude Makelele in the first-leg, but Chelsea will also be expected to change their side with Michael Essien back from suspension. Liverpool, incidentally, managed to get through the first-leg without Gerrard and Jamie Carragher suffering bookings that would have ruled them out next week. Now the pair will walk a tight-rope and the fear of a caution that could rob them of a final place. Benitez is determined to be positive, despite the anguish of such a late equaliser, six seconds beyond the four extra minutes signalled for added time. He said: "Stamford Bridge is a difficult stadium for everyone. Nobody has won there for two years and we know it will be difficult. "This is the Champions League and we are very capable of scoring and winning at Stamford Bridge. "It has been a long time since they lost at home, but someone has to do it soon and we want it to be us. "Somebody has to win the match, there is no point in going there for a draw. We will be prepared for winning and that is a massive difference to the preparation for the game. "In normal circumstances a draw would be a good result, but we know that will not be good enough this time. We have to win and we know we can. "On our day we can beat anyone, we can score goals against any team, anywhere. "It is not a question of changing the system, we will analyse this. But in this type of game it is more about how the players cope. "Against Chelsea you cannot play wide because they are very strong there. You cannot play too deep because they can create many chances against you that way. It is all about keeping a balance. "But we have confidence that we can create history by winning there. They have lost only once at home for over four years (against Barcelona, February 2006). Well, all these things must come to an end. "Someone will win there, and we intend that it is us who upsets their record."

i think ref makes the easier decision players shielding ball out of play often do the same and no foul is given not sure if intention is relevant in this context easier i also hate when commentators say "he had his eyes on the ball" when someone swings an elbow/leads with an arm humans have peripheral vision and can see what they are doing in most of these situations

i don't think that would have been a free in the league. terry stood his ground and reina was trying to push past him didn't matter as ball was cleared anyway before whistle

the penalising Terry for a foul on Reina (Even though Drogba didn't put the loose ball in, and the ball was cleared anyway!) we were a bit fortunate that a foul was given there apart from that decisions favoured them especially the 2 cole fouls on kuyt what really annoyed me though was they constantly led with their arms and battered torres and got away with it will need a strong ref at stamford bridge otherwise torres will be kicked off the park terry is reverting to type and is a nasty player - the knee into torres is best example of this. we need to exploit cech's vulnerability on crosses next week

bring next weeks squad away to spain for some sun and karaoke kids can play birmingham seriously - rest the 13/14 we expect to play next wednesday they shouldn't even travel we are going to have to work and run and work and run some more next wednesday i think we can still go through and always thought we would need to score down there difference og makes is that if we scored one down there game was as good as over but now we will probably have to score two still - we're in with a good shout of third european cup final in four years so its not all too bad at least we have a chance to make up for yesterday would have been galling to concede a goal like last night and not have a chance of redemption

they got out of jail tonight should have lost 2-0 but got a 1-1 draw but do they think they have job done. our disappointment tonight will be a big motivating factor next week when we have time to clear our heads. we have chance to respond and i think we will work on our set pieces and get crouch in there - cech has lost his nerve

what about carra own goal in fa cup final - that was him trying to clear with his right when should have used his left own goals are often poor decision making. i accept he f*cked up and is one footed but surely coaches at the club had a duty to coach that out of him he has been a great servant to the club i said i would love him to play next week and score the winner i stand by that. power of redemption.

have stopped listening to houghton its too painful beglin is not as negative maybe and this is being kind they over compensate to avoid accusations of bias??

yeah its annoying because on another night torres would have scored three last minute goals always cause over reaction focus on positives. that was a great performance babel and skrtel will be big players for us

you'd swear he did it on f*cking purpose the stick he gets on here is a disgrace. opposition players are not slaughtered as much as him. if you think he is that bad then you mustn't rate rafa who picks him i hope he plays next week and scores the winner kuyt and riise are the whipping boys. if carra scored that og nothing would be said but people would be castigating whoever allowed the cross cross was whipped in, he made wrong decision, he is very one footed but jesus some of the criticism is over the top we're all disappointed but i bet he is more so.

Assuming United are waiting for winner of our second leg, how much of a factor will this be in our game or does it just affect the supporters?

i really think alonso was back to kind of player we remember for up to about 70th minute - i thought he tired from then on (maybe new baby is keeping him up ) and lucas might have come in skrtel performance was really positive. i think a skrtel-agger partnership next year would revolutionise how we play as both can play/pick a pass but are excellent defenders torres was kicked around and looked tired near the end. think he might need some support next week. play crouch to give them something to worry about. play pennant to make cole defend a bit more

they are not the team they were under mourinho. don't have the organisation, character or cohesiveness. their defence is weaker mainly because cech has lost his nerve (he came for one ball legs first when he should have dived on it) however they do have good players - carvahlo is one of best defenders in europe, drogba is dangerous, kalou looks a player. they also have a great home record and will be difficult to beat but tonight was the first time i remember us dominating them - they looked beaten. rafa confuses me sometimes in that it looked like alonso was tired but no sign of lucas, babel was doing well and was taken off and benayoun offered nothing torres also looked shattered at the end - he was kicked around freak goal at the end which is deflating but we're still in it. very much so

i think its the timing of the goal that is causing so much negativity. obv a one goal lead and clean sheet would have been better we now need to score down there. these things happen in football and who knows what second leg will bring its half time and we have every right to be confident. it will be tough but so will a final against united or barca (more so united though) i am getting married next thursday. i could be over the moon or depressed (missus has warned me already!!)

i think every team is guilty of it to an extent when u are chasing a goal or a game the shackles come off, play more adventurous passes, players take a risk, nothing to lose etc when a goal up, ten minutes to go, tendency is to tighten up, drop off. we had them on the ropes for first half of second half and could have scored. then we dropped back a bit, defended a bit deeper and they had more room think alonso ran out of steam a bit at the end but was back to approaching his best for 60/65 minutes

fair point i thought he did really well tonight. he has bags of ability once he realises he has beating of most full backs and demands the ball i will be happier what about gerrard and masch in the centre, crouch up front with torres and babel and pennant pn the wings?

wonder if babel would be more effective as a sub in this game. but not sure who comes in if he doesn't start - benayoun doesn't have physical presence for this

ballack clearly moved arm to ball - "slow motion did him no favours" as if it shows a different incident his arm moved to the ball in normal motion too still i don't blame ref for tonight we had chances to kill them off

ballack tripped torres for free before our goal beglin can't see the foul????