chelsea league cup semi final first leg thread

[Paco]

Pretty even in semi finals or quarter finals. We usually win when 2nd leg is at anfield. They usually go through when it goes back to Stamford Bridge.

 

have to buck the trend here to get to final.

[xerxes]

Maureen will put out a weakened side and we will win comfortably.

[Jhinge Machha]

just hope sterling has his shooting boots on. need to take our chances

[ZonkoVille77]

One for the crowd to really play a part. If the keystone cops defence turns up we'll be tonked. I'll go out on a limb here and say we'll sneak a draw.

[Mark M]

Maureen will put out a weakened side and we will win comfortably.

he won't. Not a chance he'll have full strength team out.

[Tyler Durden]

There is no scenario where I can see Rodgers outwitting Mourihno to get the win so I'll go for a draw. I'll gladly look foolish if we now win.

[Fi!]

With a full strength team, I could see us getting a draw or even sneaking a win.

 

But I am expecting Rodgers to focus more on the league or Europa for the CL slot next season thus rotating quite a bit. I don't think I will be expecting much or anything from this.

[Anubis]

I'd say this is our first major test of whether the re-jigged system can take us where we want to be. 

[Frankenhooker]

Rodgers will play a full strength side, its a semi-final. If anything, he could rest a few against Bolton.

 

We haven't got a league game until the 31st.

[Josef Svejk]

I'm predicting a 1-1 draw tonight followed by a 3-0 defeat in London.

[Moctezuma]

A certain degree of negativity on this thread but it's understanable given the draw esp. with us playing away in the second leg. Sometimes playing Chelsea feels like playing against a wall of money. I just hope that regardless of the results over these two legs and against Bolton we don't lose the momentum we've been building recently.

 

Tatically it's difficult to know how to approach this one should we stick with the 3-4-3 that has been getting reasonable results or try and beef-up defensively?

 

Given their huge physical size it may be difficult to not select with that in mind which is why I wouldn't be suprised if we see Balotelli up front (regardless of his poor form and lack of tactical nous) and Can put into the midfield alongside Henderson and Lucas. With Gerrard to try and sit on Matic for at least the first half.

[an tha]

Fuck it, we are gonna twat these... might only be the league cup but it's similar to when we played Man City in semi last time we won it, nobody expected us to beat them. Fucking hate these horrible twats and it's about time we showed up against them again.

[s(k)aturation]

I expect us to take a lead to Stamford Bridge.

[Dr Nowt]

I'd prefer to take a bicycle chain or a hammer, but whatever you can get your hands on really.

[El Dangerous]

Leaked team has Gary Goals set to make his debut. Game on bitches!

[Jairzinho]

Expecting to lose this by at least four clear goals, and possibly a few that are less clear.

[s(k)aturation]

I'd prefer to take a bicycle chain or a hammer, but whatever you can get your hands on really.

 

Sorry, Liz, I meant to write "a lead pipe" of course.

[RoboRiise]

Read Maureen's comments in the Mirror yesterday.  "Gerrard, tried to sign him, good red, blah blah, Luis Garcia, goal that never was."  I love that it still burns him so, I hope we twat them 4-0 and every single one of them bounces down off the crossbar and back out.  Horrible fucking flange that he is.

[bouncebrigade]

We'll huff and puff at the start, which is when we'll need to score because once the game settles down and our initial early intensity wanes (as it inevitably will), then their quality will shine through.

 

Hard to call a score.

 

Heart says 2-1 to us, head says 1-1.

[bouncebrigade]

Read Maureen's comments in the Mirror yesterday.  "Gerrard, tried to sign him, good red, blah blah, Luis Garcia, goal that never was."  I love that it still burns him so, I hope we twat them 4-0 and every single one of them bounces down off the crossbar and back out.  Horrible fucking flange that he is.

 

Why does nobody ever say to him that Cech would have been sent off, we'd have a penalty and they'd have to play 85 minutes with ten men and no world class goalkeeper?

 

Oh I know, because he's the new Ferguson and we can't question his line of reasoning.  The fucking quilt.

[JermainePennant]

It's the Liverpool way to beat our rivals in the fixtures no one will care about in a month or two, we've done that a lot in poor seasons in the past and I expect the same from this semi final.

 

On morinhos comments I don't know if he is showing a bit of class for once or highlighting the song he knows will get sung to get in Gerard's head, I'm leaning towards the latter.

 

Beating Chelsea's always nice but I'm still waitin for the big fixture where we can really hurt them and get some revenge for last season.

[magicrat]

It's the Liverpool way to beat our rivals in the fixtures no one will care about in a month or two, we've done that a lot in poor seasons in the past and I expect the same from this semi final.

 

On morinhos comments I don't know if he is showing a bit of class for once or highlighting the song he knows will get sung to get in Gerard's head, I'm leaning towards the latter.

 

Beating Chelsea's always nice but I'm still waitin for the big fixture where we can really hurt them and get some revenge for last season.

 

I'll happily settle for this fixture

[magicrat]

Maureen will put out a weakened side and we will win comfortably.

I assume you said this tongue in cheek because its the exact opposite of what I expect will happen.

[tex88]

They have got City after the return leg haven't they? I expect he will want to get it over and done with tonight so he can field a weakened team in the 2nd leg in preparation for City. Saying that Chelsea's second string aren't bad. Think we will get a draw tonight and hope he does play a weak team in the return leg which we win 1-0

[Pan77]

We haven't got one player who'd get in their first team. To beat them over two legs would require a Benitez like tactical masterclass. Unfortunately Rogers hasn't got that in his locker yet. Can see us losing by 2 goals today.