UEFA Champions & Europa League 2014-15 Season Thread

[Fernando]

First topic message reminder :

All places to talk Champions & Europa League  football for this season  

Champions League Round of 16 Draw

PSG vs Chelsea
Man City vs Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen vs Atletico Madrid
Juventus vs Dortmund
Schalke vs Real Madrid
Shaktar Donetsk vs Bayern Munich
Arsenal vs Monaco
Basel vs Porto


Arsenal - Monaco
Celtic - Inter Milan
Chelsea - PSG
Everton - Young Boys
Hull - OUT
Liverpool - OUT of CL dropped into Europa League - Besiktas
Man City - Barcelona
Man Utd - Swansea 21st February (It's about as close to European football as your getting this year) 
Tottenham - Fiorentina

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Pahahaha Rodgers

[Fernando]

We all know the scousers will score.

Put £1 on Henderson

[The Special Juan]

What a melt.

[Fernando]

30 seconds to go and Mignolet kicks into touch

[Fernando]

FT Scousers 1-1 Basel

#RestingPlayersIsGreat

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Yeah, it was the player resting that did them.

I hope they lose against United too. NOTHING is funnier than Liverpool fans in meltdown

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Maybe starting with a midfield two of Lucas and Joe Allen wasn't such a good idea

[GSC]

So Liverpool win neither of those 2 winnable games.

Taking a game off looks like a swell idea

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Well I for one am surprised Liverpool lost.

Hoping for a good atmosphere and some unspecified magic seemed like a foolproof managerial strategy to me.

[GSC]

Well I for one am surprised Liverpool lost.

I'm amazed

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Well I for one am surprised Liverpool lost.

I'm amazed

#wegoagain

[Hero]

Stevie G: We didn't go out on tonight's performance

Well if you'd won then you'd have gone through so yes you did.

[Guest]

Lol

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Lambert going off was such a weird call. He wasnt playing great, but hes their only striker.

[GSC]

They made the same mistake as Spurs.

Quantity over quality. Players of Sanchez's quality are rare, but ones of Lamberts or Lallanas aren't.

[mystiroakey]

There was no mistake paying a few mil for lambert as a no.3 striker option. There was a huge mistake paying 16 for balotteli.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Wilfried Bony sitting at Swansea baffles me. Hes better than Spurs' strikers and Liverpool's. United should be looking at him too considering the age of their strikers

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Thought Gerrard was good and generally, its a bit sad in a way, their best player over a few games. Might be that when the rest of them turn up he wont look so bad any more in the eyes of a few. Im not saying hes still got it, and hes had times where he should have been out of the team, but hes shown himself much better for the odd rest here or there

[TRUSSMAN66]

Gerrard is a true professional...Little Sterling will leave in the summer I expect for better things and Liverpool will be in the crap..

Overachieved last year and this year is a wake up call.

[lorus59]

Well I for one am surprised Liverpool lost.

Hoping for a good atmosphere and some unspecified magic seemed like a foolproof managerial strategy to me.

They didn't lose it was a 1-1 draw.

[Guest]

The quality over quantity debate is interesting but is there really only one option for a club, given the extra demands placed the next season. Spurs & Liverpool have done the same thing, so did Newcastle when they bought a load of cheap filler players. All teams going into Europa Lge struggle, look at Everton in the league now.

If Liverpool had gone the the quality way, they should of signed Bony £19m release clause back in summer, konoplyanka £15m, maybe a Tiote or Sissoko powerful house for around £10-£15m & then they still maybe would of gone for Lovren at £20m, given the limited options around for top Cb's. That's still £70 odd mil on four players going the quality route, whereas they went quantity & spent over £100+.

[Guest]

They made the same mistake as Spurs.

Quantity over quality. Players of Sanchez's quality are rare, but ones of Lamberts or Lallanas aren't.

They actually offered Barca more than Arsenal did but Sanchez chose not to go to Anfield. All well and good saying Liverpool should have bought player X Y or Z but if the player himself doesn't want the move, what are they supposed to do, kidnap him? There was even talk pre-season about how seeing that Liverpool had £65 million in the kitty they should buy Benzema. Sounds lovely but if the guy doesn't want the move, what's the alternative?

Allen is normally solid but unspectacular in midfield, last night he was absolute gash. Enrique was dreadful, Sterling seems to have lost his way completely. Henderson played out of position for lord only knows what reason. The first half performance in general was shocking and it took until the final 20 mins for the team to come to life. Basically summed up the season in a nutshell. You watch, our last ten games we will be brilliant but it'll be far too little, far too late.

Sturridge must be gutted, bust his balls last season to get us into the CL and hasn't played a single minute!!!!

[Guest]

The quality over quantity debate is interesting but is there really only one option for a club, given the extra demands placed the next season. Spurs & Liverpool have done the same thing, so did Newcastle when they bought a load of cheap filler players. All teams going into Europa Lge struggle, look at Everton in the league now.

If Liverpool had gone the the quality way, they should of signed Bony £19m release clause back in summer, konoplyanka £15m, maybe a Tiote or Sissoko powerful house for around £10-£15m & then they still maybe would of gone for Lovren at £20m, given the limited options around for top Cb's. That's still £70 odd mil on four players going the quality route, whereas they went quantity & spent over £100+.

Exactly what I'm talking about in my last post, they offered the club money for him, but the kid didn't want to come as he liked the idea of living in London instead. Why would we want Tiote? He's done little since scoring that screamer against Arsenal a couple of seasons back except commit ridiculously unnecessary fouls and we already have enough players doing that already

[GSC]

They made the same mistake as Spurs.

Quantity over quality. Players of Sanchez's quality are rare, but ones of Lamberts or Lallanas aren't.

They actually offered Barca more than Arsenal did but Sanchez chose not to go to Anfield. All well and good saying Liverpool should have bought player X Y or Z but if the player himself doesn't want the move, what are they supposed to do, kidnap him? There was even talk pre-season about how seeing that Liverpool had £65 million in the kitty they should buy Benzema. Sounds lovely but if the guy doesn't want the move, what's the alternative?

Allen is normally solid but unspectacular in midfield, last night he was absolute gash. Enrique was dreadful, Sterling seems to have lost his way completely. Henderson played out of position for lord only knows what reason. The first half performance in general was shocking and it took until the final 20 mins for the team to come to life. Basically summed up the season in a nutshell. You watch, our last ten games we will be brilliant but it'll be far too little, far too late.

Sturridge must gutted, bust his balls last season to get us into the CL and hasn't played a single minute!!!!

Meant Suarez >_>

Sanchez was one mind, the rest were all B rank players

[Stella]

Lovren was highly rated by most when at the saints, now he's struggling, he's seen as a bad buy. Easy from our computers

[GSC]

Even so, its hardly a statement signing. They missed on Sanchez and went onto sign a load of players not in the top bracket.

Spurs showed the folly of that strategy

[Guest]

Sterling has gone off the boil because he's been found out & people now know his strengths & weaknesses. It's great when you first burst onto the scene as an unknown but that doesn't last long. All his strengths & weaknesses are known now. Like a tennis player who bursts onto the scene, then after a while he's found out to have a weak backhand, so the opposition focus on it. Media hyped sterling so much, it was inevitable a drop off in performance was around that corner, especially now Suarez/Sturridge are gone & all the pressure is now on him.

[GSC]

Or because Suarez and Sturridge aren't there and teams can afford to prioritise stopping him.

[liverbnz]

Or because Suarez and Sturridge aren't there and teams can afford to prioritise stopping him.

That's essentially it. Sterling is more or less all on his own and I dont think the teams setup is suiting him too much - lack of pace in and around him.

No one has been 'found out', not Rodgers, not Sterling. Well maybe Liverpool's decisions makers re transfers have as buying Balotelli as 2nd striker when your first choice is likley to miss 1/3 to 1/2 of the season is the mistake that has cost Liverpool dearly.

[Guest]

Or because Suarez and Sturridge aren't there and teams can afford to prioritise stopping him.

That's essentially it. Sterling is more or less all on his own and I dont think the teams setup is suiting him too much - lack of pace in and around him.

No one has been 'found out', not Rodgers, not Sterling. Well maybe Liverpool's decisions makers re transfers have as buying Balotelli as 2nd striker when your first choice is likley to miss 1/3 to 1/2 of the season is the mistake that has cost Liverpool dearly.

Unless they had a crystal ball and knew Sturridge would definitely be injured then they haven't been found out either. They took a gamble on Mario and up to now it hasn't paid off. Maybe it will maybe it won't but given the performance last season, our failure to replicate even 50% of that seems to be being blamed on everything from Rodgers being out of his depth to the length of grass on the pitch to Balotelli being a loose cannon and waste of effort.

[GSC]

It was hardly foreshadowing to assume Sturridge would miss time

[Guest]

How much game time did he miss through injury last season compared to let's say, Wilshire?

[liverbnz]

How much game time did he miss through injury last season compared to let's say, Wilshire?

Not the point. Wilshire is irrelevant, as is last season. Over his career on average he misses up to 1/3 of the season, which I'm sure Liverpool would have been well aware of. They failed to prepare for it and we are now suffering badly.

Edit: I'm not blaming Balotelli here btw. I think he is very capable, moreso than he's showing. He just does not fit on his own up front for Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool.

[GSC]

He didn't miss as much time as another injury prone player that one time.

Nothing to worry about

[Guest]

How much game time did he miss through injury last season compared to let's say, Wilshire?

Not the point. Wilshire is irrelevant, as is last season. Over his career on average he misses up to 1/3 of the season, which I'm sure Liverpool would have been well aware of. They failed to prepare for it and we are now suffering badly.

Last season isn't irrelevant at all. Last season we played a system that got the best out of our strikers. Now, we're suffering because we don't know how to play to get the best out of the strikers we do have.

Balotelli, Lambert and Borini all play better when they are paired up yet time and again Rodgers has played one up top with an extra man in midfield (to protect out shaky defence no doubt) but has failed to play wide men with the instruction to get the ball into the six yard box at every available opportunity for them to poach. Lambert simply doesn't have the pace to run at defenders with the ball. Balotelli doesn't have the necessary ball control or awareness to pick a final pass. Now we have Gerrard playing in an attacking midfield role more and more because we don't have an alternative. Henderson is neither one thing or the other and it might be time to look at that as an alternative is purchasing one in January. They system employed has our front men dropping too far back looking for the ball and, as a result, we look like Man Utd last season when Rooney could be seen collecting the ball from the centre backs and passing it upfield to...oh hang on Wayne, that should be you up there shouldn't it?

Bottom line, the team need to pull their socks up

[liverbnz]

I meant last season was irrelevant when assessing Sturridge propensity to get injured, although he suffered quite a few muscle injuries so it wasn't as if played a full season.

Gerrard is playing the attacking midfield role because he was getting completely overrun in his position of last season, hence Lucas returning to make us more solid.

I would also say Balotelli's ball control is almost immaculate when he's paying attention. His and Liverpool's problem is that he doesn't make many runs, so Gerrard, Coutinho et al turn around and see nothing in front of them instead of static red jerseys.

I do agree that we need to abandon this 'keep it solid for 60 minutes' policy which seems to have come about after the QPR mess that we were so lucky to come out of. Until Sturridge returns either play someone with Lambert/Balotelli (not Borini), and move Gerrard back and accept he'll get overrun at times or drop the forwards and play a front 4 of Gerrard/Coutinho, Lallana, Sterling and Markovic. Gerrard and Balotelli/Lambert in the front 4 is far far too slow.

[Fernando]

Chelsea XI: Cech (c), Azpilicueta, Zouma, Cahill, Filipe Luis, Mikel, Matic, Schurrle, Fabregas, Salah, Diego Costa.

Sporting Lisbon XI: Patrício, Maurício, Oliveira, Silva, Esgaio, Carvalho, Mário, Silva, Slimani, Capel, Carrillo


Roma starting XI: De Sanctis, Yanga-Mbiwa, Nainggolan, Ljajic, Totti, Maicon, Pjanic, Keita, Holebas, Gervinho, Manolas

City XI: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Mangala, Clichy, Fernandinho, Fernando, Navas, Nasri, Milner, Dzeko

[Mad for Chelsea]

silly challenge, stonewall penalty. Fabregas puts it away easily, Chelsea with the early lead.

[Mad for Chelsea]

Schurrle, lovely strike. 2-0

[Fernando]

In good news for Citeh it's Bayern 1-0 CSKA. Just need to beat Roma now...

[Mad for Chelsea]

or even a score draw... need to score though.

[monty junior]

Gervinho really is a fantastic dribbler but he must infuriate team mate's with his insistence on playing with his head down, no wonder he didn't do well at Arsenal who don't play the way Roma do.

[Fernando]

Gervinho & Rudi Garcia = Tank
Gervinho & Other managers = Bebe Sr

[Mad for Chelsea]

Mikel scores

there's one for the scrapbook (ok he was about six inches out, but...)

Chelsea 3-1 Sporting.

[Mad for Chelsea]

what a strike that is from Nasri!

[Fernando]

Citeh 1-0 - Nasri

[TRUSSMAN66]

Proud of the boys..with half a team as well...

Wow the Champions league is great this year...Utd don't know what they are missing !!

[Fernando]

2-0 - Zabaleta

[mystiroakey]

Decent considering you missed your best 3 players today. But hart he been MOTM.

[monty junior]

Well if nothing else City are clinical, they've had maybe 3/4 chances in this match scored 2, had 3 versus Bayern and scored all. Still think they will be out next round but did what they had to do tonight, Roma have been ruined by Bayern. No confidence.

[Sponsored content]