AntM

You're missing the point. The point was that West Ham, an unfancied team, took us as close as you could get. Why would Chelsea going out automatically mean that the Mancs will win the cup? Blackburn or Spurs would give them more than a game. And, if Chelsea make it to the final and play like this, the Mancs will bloody well win. The introduction of Mido seems to have screwed Spurs up....

Spurs' backbone looking pretty damn spinal to me at the moment. Has anyone got a clue what is going through Mourinho's mind at the moment? Tactically??

And I can see Chelsea letting more in. However, that wasn't my point. If the Mancs make the final then why wouldn't the opposition raise their game?? You make it sound like a foregone conclusion and I'm willing to bet that you had your head in your hands with a minute to go in last year's final....

I'm a bit surprised at that statement, Bran. First, the Mancs have a depeleted forward line and there is absolutely no guarantee that they will get past Boro. Secondly, the final is a one-off (standard cliches apply) and I can see a team like Spurs or Blackburn rising up to their cup history and winning the thing. Why not?

One of the better observations in this thread... probably because it matches my own thoughts... If you have a dart at them early and try to knock the stuffing out of them (like Chelsea or Juventus) then the amount of effort expended will always come back and get you in the second half (like Juventus came back and got an away goal) because you can't match the effort, physically or mentally. In the event that we don't get a goal in the first 30 minutes, it makes the second half a bit more daunting, especially when we're playing the current champions of Europe (who passed the ball around thoughtfully pretty much all game). It's not as if it was AFC Bournemouth we were playing... and we got through. Brilliantly. Anyone who can't recognise the effort involved or the commitment and the sheer brilliance of the achievement shouldn't be watching football

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Makes a change from reading the usual rubbish! http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/02/...s_right_to.html

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The funniest thing about that is that Rafa tries to redeem himself by trying to do a few keepy-uppies and screws that up as well and then just waves his hand at it all...

No worries... I'll let you know if we move on from the Duke, but that'll be my first port of call. See you later.

I guess it all depends on what you expect the Academy to be doing. If you think it should be finding and developing world beaters like Gerrard and Owen then it's clearly failing. However, players like Gerrard are rare so I'm not sure that is what the Academy should be doing. If the Academy is there to produce good professional footballers, who may or may not make the grade at Liverpool, then it's doing ok. The list of players that Will put up suggests that the players are coming through and are worth a first team run out. If they aren't good enough, say like Warnock, then they are sold on and we make money on them. If you accept that Liverpool FC are a top European side (as opposed to a top British club) then what do you need to set in place in order to secure the best talent? I can only see that the Arsenal model is the correct one to pursue.

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