Champions League Season 2007/2008

[IAceI]

..oh my.

[Turbo Yannis]

That was too clever

[Pesci]

Babel's run and goal was immense, as was Torres' goal. What a game. I didn't see there being 6 goals, I wouldn't have even predicted 4, but I'm happy there were so many. And obviously that we're through, but I thought we'd beat them all along if I'm honest.

Now we'll slip past Chelsea and probably fall to United in the final by a couple of goals. But eh, at least we'll be there again.

[Hobo]

I love Ryan Babel sooooo much.

Replace the b's in your username with an m.

It's guy love

[Baddar]

..oh my.

Well, I was going to reply, but it probably would've contained equal to or less than the amount of words you said.

That's shit, nabeel. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[nabeel]

..oh my.

Well, I was going to reply, but it probably would've contained equal to or less than the amount of words you said.

That's shit, nabeel. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Blame Platini and the fucking ref.

Seriously, that was not at all personal or aimed with derogatory purposes. My bad.

Edited April 8, 2008 by nabeel

[Baddar]

..oh my.

Well, I was going to reply, but it probably would've contained equal to or less than the amount of words you said.

That's shit, nabeel. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Blame Platini and the fucking ref.

Seriously, that was only not at all personal or aimed with derogatory purposes. My bad.

Why are you blaming the referee? If Toure wasn't such a clumsy twat (someone use that earlier? ) they wouldn't have conceded the penalty.

[TMM]

Fucking hell. Theo's run was immense and to concede a debatable penalty a minute later is so fucking annoying. It probably was a penalty, but it could've gone either way. Not stone-wall like Kuyt's on Hleb, but God going from absolute elation to utter heartbreak is just not fair.

Congratulations Liverpool...now beat Chelsea, please. Then play Barcelona in the final, because if you get Man Utd you'll lose and we can't have Man Utd winning the Champions League, and you might, might win against Barca.

[Scott McFly]

...did that interviewer just say "thank you Ian" to Rafa Benitez?

[IAceI]

I think the referee had a great game, and it's only unbalanced by the fact that a perfectly legitimate penalty in the first leg wasn't given. However the referee from this game can hardly use that as a reason not to give the penalty himself.

Liverpool weren't convincing in the slightest. Arsenal were much better in the first leg, and it was all pretty tight in the second leg. Walcott's run was immense, and I was saying at half time that as soon as he came on it would all change. It was left late but he came on and made a brilliant run, only for it to be nullified by an otherwise clumsy Toure. Either foul him outside the box, or don't foul him at all - but it was just daft what he done.

It was a decent game. Arsenal don't deserve to be out, but they had to play Liverpool and that's the way it goes. In a perfect world Arsenal would have gotten Fernabache or Schalke, hell, I'd back them to take Barcelona. But whenever you play a team from your own country you can kiss goodbye to form and anything like that, and it just depends who plays best on the day.

I can see Chelsea vs. Liverpool being dull, but the focus is going to be on the possible Man Utd vs. Barcelona tie assuming they both get through. Man Utd looked great, Barcelona looked lethargic against a good Schalke side.

[Hobo]

Ha! Liam Brady got the hump on RTE's coverage when Eamon Dunphy made fun of the way Wenger was on the sidelines as he compared him to John Cleese.

[therockbox]

Calmed down a bit now, that was amazing. If you made a graph of my emotions throughout the 90 minutes it would just be a line curving up and down all the way across.

Sami Hyypia is an absolute legend, without him this season would've been even more fucked up than it has been and I was made up to see him score.

Bring on Chelsea.

[Guest Kou]

All I have to say is Lollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Arsenal.

[Liam]

So does that mean if Liverpool get to the Champions League final again, thier fans, players and board will accept another season of mediocrity in the league?

Because thats what usually happens, isn't it?

I don't want to piss on your brigade, but I did hate the fact that Liverpool won, more because of the whole set-up of it all than anything. The fact is that you've been a far off fourth best in England for the last few years, so I find it hard to take a trip to the Champions League final 'seriously', firstly due to the inevitable fact that Liverpool will already be effectively out of the title race by March/April time, so have nothing else to play for....and secondly.....you generally finish fourth the year before to qualify. The last ones more of a personal issue, as I don't agree with the large number of non 'champion' teams in the Champions League.

Admittedly, the Champions League is a pretty nice fall back when you've struggled in the league

Although some of the same things can be levied at Arsenal, they don't usually seem to harp on about European success as much >_>

Edited April 9, 2008 by rvdwannabe

[Pesci]

So does that mean if Liverpool get to the Champions League final again, thier fans, players and board will accept another season of mediocrity in the league?

Because thats what usually happens, isn't it?

I don't want to piss on your brigade, but I did hate the fact that Liverpool won, more because of the whole set-up of it all than anything. The fact is that you've been a far off fourth best in England for the last few years, so I find it hard to take a trip to the Champions League final 'seriously', firstly due to the inevitable fact that Liverpool will already be effectively out of the title race by March/April time, so have nothing else to play for....and secondly.....you generally finish fourth the year before to qualify. The last ones more of a personal issue, as I don't agree with the large number of non 'champion' teams in the Champions League.

Admittedly, the Champions League is a pretty nice fall back when you've struggled in the league

Although some of the same things can be levied at Arsenal, they don't usually seem to harp on about European success as much >_>

We finished third last year, and third the year before, which I think when coupled with FA Cup and Champions League success compared with Arsenal's... well yeah. I think that makes us the third best. I think the win was a lot more important to Arsenal really being that finishing 3rd in the league and winning nothing for the fourth (or is it only the third?) year running isn't anything to shout about.

So yeah, I see your point, but I think this season in the league aside, we're now the better team than Arsenal. When Adebayor realises he's not actually that good next season, we'll have no problem finishing above them.

As far as Chelsea and Man United are concerned, we've only just developed the financial weight to compete with them and contrary to some beliefs we haven't really got the depth to match them. We're definitely on the rise anyway.

[pigeon]

You'd find it hard to take a third champions league final in four years seriously?

[therockbox]

Although some of the same things can be levied at Arsenal, they don't usually seem to harp on about European success as much >_>

Because they haven't had any.

So does that mean if Liverpool get to the Champions League final again, thier fans, players and board will accept another season of mediocrity in the league?

I'd hardly say we've ever been mediocre in the league under Rafa, we've been no worse than under Houllier and have been steadily improving season on season. It's difficult to judge this season as well without taking into account what happened between H&G, that derailed us at a time when we were in the middle of our best start to a Premiership campaign.

I don't want to piss on your brigade, but I did hate the fact that Liverpool won, more because of the whole set-up of it all than anything. The fact is that you've been a far off fourth best in England for the last few years,

We've finished above Arsenal for the last two, whilst having impressive runs in the Champions League.

so I find it hard to take a trip to the Champions League final 'seriously', firstly due to the inevitable fact that Liverpool will already be effectively out of the title race by March/April time, so have nothing else to play for

We're not equipped to challenge for the title over the course of a 38-game season, and even if we were when you've got the owners telling Rafa he'll be sacked if he doesn't get out of the CL group stages - which happened before Marseille, which is why Gerrard/Torres were brought off against Reading - it becomes even pretty much impossible.

secondly.....you generally finish fourth the year before to qualify.

The last three years we've qualified by winning it and finishing third in the league.

The last ones more of a personal issue, as I don't agree with the large number of non 'champion' teams in the Champions League.

It's hardly our fault that UEFA have given the tournament certain rules, is it? Besides, you say you have an issue with 'a large number' of non-champion teams, but what's the difference between having a second placed team qualifying and a third placed team qualifying? Neither of them are champions.

[The Quasi Juice]

In the end the Champions League is where the supposed best teams in Europe clash and where by far the most money is made so Liverpool have simply been doing amazing the last couple of years under Rafa.

[IAceI]

..oh my.

[Liam]

You'd find it hard to take a third champions league final in four years seriously?

Considering you can't perform on a 38 week basis, are out of the title chase by March most seasons, and can focus on the Champions League, then I don't think its as big a deal as it could be. If Arsenal had beaten you, or if Chelsea knock you out in the Semi's, you will end up taking very little from the season. It becomes an 'all eggs in one basket' type scenario.

They are a far off fourth this season, have drifted around the 3rd, 4th and 5th position over the past years, and domestic success should surely take precedent over European....surely? I mean, the Champions League is big, has a lot of money, yadda yadda yadda, but if I was a fan of one of the big four, I'd take a Premiership win over the Champions League, personally. Unless, like Man United or Chelsea, you recently have won it, in which case then challenging for both Premiership and Champions League becomes the next feasible option.

The Champions League victory should have been used as a springboard to get things right in the league, and yeah, Liverpool are making progress, but there is little that suggests to me that they'll be up there and challenging for the title next season. And if they are, it'd be interesting to see how well they subsequently do in Europe.

Don't get me wrong, Liverpool have done well, it just beggars belief that they don't do much of note in the Premiership. And that Liverpool fans will seemingly settle for European success when you haven't won the Premiership/First Division since 1990.

EDIT: Was just going to mention, that most of this is just a personal view of things, so will be different looking in then for those who are fans.

I feel like I should be adding a 'congratulations for getting to the semi's' somewhere in here, but I wouldn't want it to sound sarcastic >_>

Edited April 10, 2008 by rvdwannabe