Benitez gets it wrong, but its Mourinho who appears most upset!
Liverpool were woeful last night. Couldn’t string a pass together until the second half, kept giving possession away and when going forward looked about as dangerous as the Andrex puppy, but at the end of the day it was Mourinho who was complaining about the scoreline rather than Benitez.
Mourinho declared that Chelsea were once again denied a penalty. Well there is doubt about whether it was in the box, but it was a clear handball and the officials were probably the only people in the ground who missed it. The reality is that Mourinho doesn’t really care whether it was a penalty or not, he knows its too late to change that decision, so he’s trying to influence the next one.
Like Sir Alex Ferguson, and even Neil Warnock, Jose knows the power of suggestion, so if he keeps shouting for a penalty long enough, then sooner or later he’ll get one, whether deserved or otherwise.
As for Benitez - I really didn’t understand his game plan at all, and neither it seems did his team. He suggested that he was going to treat it as a European game rather than a Premiership game, but how many European games do you see the ball being lumped up the field and by-passing the midfield. Come to that how many Premiership games do you see that in now?
Liverpool’s problems appeared to be mainly down to Rafa’s desire not to concede a goal, so he played two “defensive” midfielders in front of the defence and Liverpool just didn’t look comfortable with it. Rather than play the ball through the defence and then through midfield they were just getting rid and giving the ball back to Chelsea, and almost willing them to try to break them down.
It seems that Rafa had decided to “park the bus” in front of their goal, but Drogba managed to move it and allow Joe Cole to sneak in and give Chelsea a one goal lead going into the return leg.
Whether it was all the hype surrounding the game that unsettled Rafa and Liverpool or whether it was just that Chelsea were too good for them, where Liverpool had, in previous Champions League game managed to shut up shop against their opposition and use the full advantage of the home leg to their advantage, last night they seemed a pale imitation of the team we know they can be.
Perhaps it would have been far better had Rafa set up his team to play their usual flowing football and look to get that vital away goal than to sit back and try to play for the draw.
It is not yet lost for Liverpool, they know the effect that a Champions League game at Anfield can have on their fans, and the roar from the Kop can be deafening and intimidating for visiting teams, but they know that Chelsea will be hard to break down, and in Drogba Chelsea have what Liverpool still lack, a truly world class striker who can take (or make) chances against the best defences in the world.
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5 opinions for Benitez gets it wrong, but its Mourinho who appears most upset!
the famous gcp
Apr 26, 2007 at 11:27 am
I’m so sick of hearing about the Liverpool support being an extra man. It’s total boll*cks. They are there week in and week out and once again are struggling to even qualify for next years champions league campaign. The suppport is nothing like people suggest. I have been there many times with Chelsea and their support never really kicks in to gear until they are winning. I was at the game last night and there support in the last 20 minutes was non existent. As for the game, Jose got it spot on once again - with Essien and Ballack hopefully back for the 2nd leg and no away goals conceded, Chelsea surely have one foot in Athens. I am positive Chelsea will score at Anfield, leaving the scousers to somehow score three at least to go through. As for the atmosphere last night, i thought it was class. There are sections of the ground (filled with the prawn sandwich brigade) that refuse to sing up for the boys, but that unfortunately has come with our success. Chelsea’s support was always different class when we were (apparently) sh*t and last night i left the ground with a sense of pride. It’s good to be a Chelsea boy at the moment and absolutely no-one can take the smile of our faces. Whatever happens next Tuesday, Wembley awaits. Carefree!
Sack the Juggler
Apr 26, 2007 at 12:23 pm
GCP - always enjoyed the banter with the Chelsea fans, and I agree that Anfield can be as quite as a grave sometimes, but you can bet that the old loudspeaker system will be cranking up the volume trying the get the kop to start singing before the game so the players come out to a rousing reception.
Still think that Chelsea will be too strong for Liverpool, and Reina’s comments about Chelsea tiring seem to ignore the fact that Ballack and Essein will be back and they’ll be even stronger.
Would like Mikel start in the second leg, but I suspect that Ballack will start in his stead.
charltonfan
Apr 26, 2007 at 12:50 pm
‘As for the game, Jose got it spot on once again - with Essien and Ballack hopefully back for the 2nd leg and no away goals conceded, Chelsea surely have one foot in Athens.’
Yep, I agree. European football is all about not conceding away goals. Even taking a 0-0 draw at home puts you in a slighter advantage, needing only a score draw. Liverpool will have to defend out of their skins and score twice. Chelsea have been completely efficient and ruthless in their football, I simply can’t see Liverpool going through. Maybe it’s Chelsea’s year, as much as I dislike them, and would prefer Liverpool in the final.
The away goals rule is one of those rules I think UEFA have got absolutely right. It sure beats penalties and encourages teams to go out to score away from home.
gerry
Apr 26, 2007 at 3:51 pm
AS a neutral supporter, chelsea remind me of
wimbledon, nothing but longs balls to john Fash-
Drogba, Liverpool did not help, for their inept performance
Ivor
Apr 27, 2007 at 3:28 am
What Mourinho does best is pack his gagged, pampered players in cotton woolies and keep the focus on himself. I saw this when the team visited Chicago last Summer, and a few of the journos had a go at Terry and Lamps about their post 9/11 drunken reverie and various bits of bad behaviour involving insulting, pissing and spewing over a group of Yank tourists in London. “Absurd!” Mourinho said, as a bunch of ex-SAS thugs closed ranks around theteam’s tiny English contingent. “Their only crime was offend the British press by making jokes about Rainieri. Everybody jokes about Rainieri except the British press who love him like a mistress.” He avoids the rapier by being very quick with the extemporaneous verbiage does our raincoated Portagee. Maybe they’re not scoring goals and outclassing everybody this year, but Mourinho will obfuscate the issue like a brilliant politician. The rant about penalties was really hilarious. A foul that didn’t even happen in the penalty area should have been a penalty? He’s dead funny is our José. Cristiano Ronaldo knows he gets away with murder, does he? My wife says that the real problem is that Didi Drogba always looks like an angry troll. So, all that happens is that Drogba is an angry troll who dives. Cristiano is handsome. Must be that, right? Still, Massimo Oddo was booting lumps out of him trying to slow him down, and the ref didn’t give him a Dickey bird. Chelsea are victims, you see? Which allows Mourinho, when his boys don’t clinch the quadruple, to pout, sing ‘Nelly the Elephant’ like a Portuguese-accented ingenue, and say it was all a conspiracy.
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