Chelsea 3 Liverpool 2 - CL SF 2nd Leg (Apr 29 2008)

[TLW]

Chelsea 3 LIVERPOOL 2

Report by Mark Ingram at Stamford Bridge

Scorer(s) – Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel Half Time - 1-0 Venue - Stamford Bridge Date - Wed 29 April 2008 Star Man – Javier Mascherano

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a horrible, empty, season-over type feeling this morning. Things didn’t quite go our way and in the end the efforts of the lads weren’t quite enough to overcome Chelsea on their own patch. There’s no major bitterness, nor overwhelming sense of unjust, but there’s a massive amount of disappointment.

Some people will argue that we should have got the Hyppia penalty, some will argue that Kalou was offside others will argue that the Essien goal should have stood. None of that matters now because they’re through, we’re out, and we have to take it on the chin.

Credit has to go to the away support, who were absolutely marvellous throughout the game, especially after Torres scored. Those that left halfway through extra time should maybe have a word with themselves, but as far as offering genuine support for the cause – the fans were superb.

It was a game of three halves.

The first half was Chelsea’s, they dominated possession and had the monopoly of chances with everyone’s favourite Ivorian converting pressure into a lead. Reina wasn’t covering his near post as well as he should, and his parry should have been a lot wider but it was a smart finish from Drogba, proving he’s not just a cheat but a decent front man when he puts his mind to it.

He’s had quite a turnaround in a week has Drogba. I watched the home leg in a pub full of Chelsea fans, all of which (in the classy way that they do) spouted loads of negativity towards their own club, and were particularly venomous towards Drogba. Even his own supporters think he’s a cheat and are looking forward to replacing him when he goes to join Mourinho at Inter in the summer. I wonder what they’re fickle little confused minds are thinking now? I wonder if they still want him to do one?

Drogba had been fully shackled until Skrtel went off. He ran free from then on. Hyypia, and to a lesser extent, Carragher, have struggled with Drogba in the past but Skrtel has had the better of him. Skrtel’s injury was therefore a major turning point in the game; their goal came very soon after. Sami has been great for the club but he’s just never been up to the Drogba job when it’s been asked of him.

The second half was very much Liverpool’s but not as much as it should have been. Benayoun brilliantly set up Torres who put his finish away in typically lethal fashion. It was Game On then in a very big way, and that was when Crouch should have appeared. Benitez played it cautiously though and saved a sub for the impending extra time rather than trying to capitalise on the momentum.

The final whistle came, the momentum was lost, and as soon as the third half started, all hell broke loose. The incredibly brilliant and bizarrely undervalued Essien scored but was then denied by the gutsy lino who rightfully flagged for offside. Anyone trying to argue otherwise is clearly insane – in the six yard box but somehow not interfering? I don’t think so.

The ref then appeased the seething chavs by giving them a penalty for a clumsy Hyypia challenge and up stepped Frank Lampard. It would be hugely distasteful to slate him as I would normally considering the circumstances but at the same time I’m not about to contribute to the jizz-fest the press have created over him this week. Full marks to him for sending Reina the wrong way, though, it certainly showed guts.

The tie was decided minutes later with Drogba’s second of the night but what made it so very much worse was the sight of Torres leaving the field before the re-start. At the time, no one even considered it may be due to an injury, everyone was completely shocked at this apparently insane substitution.

The decision to remove Torres when we needed to score twice upset a lot of people. He’s on record saying that he had a hamstring twinge but at the time that wasn’t evident and seeing him leave the field was a bigger blow than the goal itself. All the belief in the fans disappeared with that substitution, along with a lot of the fans themselves, and you could tell a lot of the players lost hope too.

Benitez himself was a bit hamstrung in his use of substitutes due to the early withdrawal of Skrtel, but bringing off Torres looked very much like a concession.

Benitez hasn’t covered himself in glory much this last two weeks. His rantings before the game at Drogba were in some ways substantiated but what he said about the ref was just tempting fate and reminded me more of Mourinho than Benitez. I can’t help but thinking that the many ties we’ve had with Chelsea in the last four years have rubbed off on Benitez and he’s acquired a few of Mourinho’s traits.

Mind games before big games like this are dangerous roads to go down and this time round they’ve worked against Benitez. I’m not saying that what he said wasn’t factually correct because in the main he was spot on, but the effect these things have make a significant difference and he set himself up for a fall here.

I used to admire the way Benitez let the other managers play their mind games by themselves; he just ignored them and focused on his own team’s preparation. Nowadays however, he’s been drawn into them and he’s beginning to look foolish like Mourinho often did. This time round Grant took the stance of the 2005 Rafa and he came through it with as much credit as Rafa did back then.

I’m not trying to call for Rafa’s head, but these are things that are definitely worth airing. The 2005 effect was so big that it was always going to bide him a few years if things went disastrously wrong, well he’s entering into his last year of grace for me. I actually agree with Hicks on Rafa – give him one more year to show some significant progress then make a call this time next year.

All in all there’s no major fall out in the end of year report, as far as the team and manager goes;

1) We were in the fight for the league for a month longer than previously and we’ve had another great European Cup run which will leave memories in many fans heads for years to come.

2) We’ve signed the best striker in the world.

3) We’ve got two of the best central midfielders in the world.

4) We’ve got Agger and Skrtel for years to come and Carra & Sami to nurture them.

5) We’ve got a brilliant goal keeper, he’s not the best in the world but he’s nearly there.

6) We’ve got a total of four world class players. We need five or six to win the league so Rafa’s got some serious marketing to do this summer. Or Babel, Agger & Skrtel have got some serious improving to do

7) We’ve got 6-8 fringe players that we could do with hanging on to, assuming of course they accept their roles and are happy to perform them going forward.

The major problem, as we all know, is what’s going on upstairs. If this can get sorted in the summer, we’ve got a chance at progress, otherwise, who knows what could happen to the club.

Star man, for me, was Mascherano. I often find myself just watching him rather than the ball in pure astonishment at how much ground her covers. Fair play to Babel for his goal too, it made things very interesting for three minutes.

May 21st is going to be painful to watch. Roll on next season.


Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Skrtel (Hyypia), Riise; Mascherano, Alonso; Kuyt, Gerrard, Benayoun (Pennant); Torres (Babel):