Kostas

Good result but the match was hard to watch until the goal. They probably should have had a pen and a world-class save from Cech denied them an opening goal. Luiz my MotM with Cech and Ramires (due to his part in the goal) following. A one goal lead does not guarantee us a place in the semis but Benfica were also exceptionally poor.

Not a fan of the starting line-up but it certainly shows balls. Not sure we can afford such displays in the CL. After-all "big" experience players have gotten us this far in the CL.

Congrats. Keep the things ticking as they were.

Not an original point by any means but there's just no way we'll be able to play football with him on the wing. In the match against City our left side was non-existent and Cole was basically alone versus 2 City players for the whole match. The effect that Mata's license to roam has on our on-field structure is beginning to remind me of Anelka's time at DM in 10/11 when we were the most one-sided team in the league.

As soon as Torres scores his next goal.

Journos heard ManU were about to get an experienced English midfielder with huge reputation and since one guessed Lampard they all went with it. There was never anything to the Lampard to ManU story. To live up to my sig I'd question that point. It really was a choice of midfield passenger with poaching stats and a shit midfielder. I know which one I'd rather if I wanted to create a dominating midfield.

Either he was sacked for nothing or was sacked too late. Still a major fuck-up by the club.

And I thought TX had a knack for over-dramatizing things

I'm sure even he wouldn't disagree with that. Call me crazy but I'd rather the best contributors (Killamanjaro, LDN,) kept doing what they do best (contribute to forum discussions) instead of assuming the exhausting role of moderators.

Actually it was rather sad. Despite suffering much worse defeats and turn-arounds this year I don't remember ever looking so weak when compared to the team we played.

No need to apologize as far as I'm concerned. I realize I am bound to upset someone in topics that I come across as strongly. Glad you decided to stay, a forum is nothing without its best posters and we can't afford to lose one while some garbage posters are still around and some embarrassing posters have made a comeback. Brakes from both forums and football are quite useful and normal as neither are as important as your personal life.

2 weeks too early.

I disliked how he didn't even try to catch the ball, kinda like with the Nani shot in the first ManUtd game. Due to his height I'm more worried about his effort than his positioning in such cases.

A moot point since the biggest Kalou bashers are not the unreasonable Torres fanboys. No need for that. If the tone or the content of my post offended you I do apologise.

I swear I've seen you post this well over 5 times. Do you expect a specific reaction or just post this to wind-us up?

This thread will now hit 300 pages.

Still don't see much wrong with any of Lampards quotes regarding AVB. Everything he's said reminds me of a player who want to play and the press give him the chance to express that sentiment rather than the plotting sob he's been painted by the press to be. All his bad performances under AVB could just as easily be those of a player who is past it instead of one who picks his games. My 2 cents.

He deserves what is currently the most difficult managerial job in football based on 3 games? Get real. Di Mateo is nothing more than a temporary caretaker, the quicker people realize and accept that the less cluttered this thread will be. Journos have absolutely no-one inside the club* and less than 5% of the articles being written about our future plans are anything more than fabrications, considering the Euro coming up in the summer we'll be lucky to know whose head Henrique will be asking for next season by July. *Remember the Hiddink fiasco/tale last summer? We didn't know anything until a there was a leak on Porto's side.

Hope we at least won't be denied of any penalties.

OT: In terms of results the 3-3 against ManU was a much more serious showing of our (lack of) (mental) strength than the Arsenal match, even taking into consideration the bizarre refereeing. There are games where the coach should be remembered as the one who messed up but for the 3-5 I'll always blame Malouda, Terry and Cech before AvB.

In a sense Tomo hits the nail on the head. Rafa (and plenty of managers) hides behind injury crises and claims it's his bad luck that screws up his teams, I thought only Scousers bought that. Rafa runs his players to the ground and while he is tactically astound I wouldn't let him anywhere near a group of players who are in their prime as he'll just shorten their careers. Imagine what he could do to our mix of old players and those in their early 20s. Remember how Torres was Liverpool's very own Van Persie in terms of injuries? Look at his injury record once the FSW left.

I can so easily picture this happening in RL I'm feeling guilty.

I think he looks at his best when teams sit deep and invite pressure rather than trying to dominate.

One of the main reasons I want us to move on from the like of Drogba and Lamps is so that we could collectively enjoy wins once again instead of dreading how they'll block any reform attempts, this has been going on since 09/10.

I think it does. With Real winning the league over one of the most dominating footballing sides in history it's a good time for Mourinho to renegotiate his contract and maximize his profits. The man is the best media manipulator in the football world, the last thing he means when he blatantly says he wants to return to the PL is that he intents to return to the PL. He simply realizes how much the media over here love him and overrate this league.