Stephen Adams.

The funny thing was, in the same way that you think if anyone can do it tonight it's Liverpool, the same kind of thing was thought about Depor then. They were such an attacking side with a bit of a gung ho attitude, especially at home and once they got the momentum behind them they were unstoppable.

Class act. What can we expect from the mancs in Portugal tomorrow night, or need I ask? Are there are any plans for silences or armbands in any of the quarter finals?

"I am angry because the players didn't even try to implement the gameplan," said Allardyce, whose attempt to turn the central defender Samba into Didier Drogba lacked any support and who gave 17-year-old Aaron Doran a debut after Aaron Mokoena failed to transform into Michael Essien. "I will make sure the players stick to the gameplan against Stoke next week. I will train them, we will practise all week and they need to listen – that's all they need to do. That's what they are paid to do. None of those guys are ever going to be as good as I am at what I do, because they are only players and I am the manager, so make sure you listen to me." He also did a lot of "whingeing and moaning" about injuries after the game.

Deportivo coming back from whatever the fuck the score was against Milan should be in there. 4-1 or something from the first leg. One of my favourite games ever. I was meeting someone that night and got to the bar early and just sat there amazed as each Depor goal flew in.

Brian Glanville's a pompous old fart, but he does see right through Ferguson to be fair to him.

Is Aurelio fit? He was terrible in the first leg and didn't make the 18 at all on Saturday. Arsenal isn't until Tuesday 21st. If Gerrard's fit, play him.

Personally, I wouldn't play both Benayoun and Babel from the start because they both tend to come inside and leave us very narrow. I can see Yossi being very useful because he can score goals and also come in off the wing and play wee through balls like the one he played to Torres on the same ground in the semi last year. I'd be reluctant to leave out either Kuyt or Riera though because they can both score goals and Riera stays wide and keeps the shape. I haven't read this whole thread, but has anyone considered the possibility of Gerrard not starting this one either?

In my opinion, the only chance we have is to play our normal game. I know a lot of people are talking about using extra forwards, but we always play better as a team and score more goals as a team when we play 4-2-3-1. I know Rafa took a lot of abuse after the Hull game when he said that extra forwards don't guarantee goals (when he brought on Lucas rather than Keane) and a lot of it was justified. But in there somewhere, there is a point. If we chucked extra bodies up there, we'd probably start throwing aimless balls straight into Cech's hands. What we need is Alonso and Mascherano to take control of midfield, our full backs and wingers to stretch Chelsea and for Gerrard and Torres to play blinders. And probably a couple of great saves from Reina and a few missed sitters from Chelsea! We need the perfect performance, but I don't think that involves ripping up our normal script and going gung ho. What we need to do is create chances and take them.

As good a player as Arshavin is, he appears to me to be an absolute whopper. I can think of no other reason why he would celebrate almost every goal by running away with his finger at his lips "ssshhh" ing the crowd, when he hasn't actually been taking any stick in the first place. He ran towards the Arsenal end doing it yesterday, the tit. Any time I've seen him score for Russia or Zenit, he's done the same thing. In summary, Mascherano will kill him and we will win the league. End of thread :angel:

Mascherano and Alonso will be big in this game if Gerrard doesn't make it. Remember the derby where Gerrard was sent off early and Alonso and Sissoko dominated against 11 men? Something similar from Xabi and the Chief tomorrow would e nice. If we can win the battle and stretch the game, then we should have enough to score a few past these whoppers.

I couldn't care less if we played brutal but scraped a 1-0

Every fucking time we draw, never mind lose, there are about 10 threads saying Lucas is shite, Babel's a cunt, the full backs aren't good enough, the wingers aren't good enough, our corners aren't good enough, Rafa is too defensive and will never win us the league, Kuyt's fucking useless blah blah blah. Beating around the bush indeed. If there weren't so many crying bitches who think the world is over every time someone misplaces a pass, this place would be a lot better.

21 clean sheets this season. Reina's record at penalties is even better than I thought. He must have saved about 100 this season already.

If he misses Saturday, fuck it, we'll just have to win without him. We've done it many times before. As for the 2nd leg, with or without him it's a long shot anyway.

I think it's hilarious. It's not like it's about Lampard's ma. He spent all last night trying to get Torres booked, then after the game he was crying about Liverpool players getting him booked when he dived head first into Reina.

I've got some fucking stats for Sky. Gerrard and Torres, who we "rely too heavily on" have scored 22 of our 55 league goals this season. The mancs, with their "more matchwinners than Liverpool" have relied on Rooney and Ronaldo for 24 of their 52 league goals. Tevez has a massive 3. Giggs has a tremendous 1. Scholes has a huge 1. I know it's not about goals conceded, but I do wish they'd fuck up.

If we can keep winning and going top before they kick off, it will put real pressure on them. Of course, if we're capable of winning our last 7, then they're more than capable of winning 7 from their 8 but I think the more times we can win before they play, the more difficult it will be for them.

No you're right, the chance to go top of the league 5 times before they play their game in hand isn't significant at all.

There was a spell where O'Leary's Leeds came to Anfield a couple of times and played far better football then Liverpool too.

...could all be results by the time the mancs kick off their games, due to the latest TV fixtures. Saturday (Blackburn home) we play at 1245 and they play at 3 (Sunderland away). We play on the 21st (Arsenal home) compared to the 22nd (Portsmouth home) for them. On the 25th, we play at 3 (Hull away) and they play at 530 (Spurs home). We play at 130 on the 3rd of May (West Brom away), whereas they're scheduled to play at 4 on the same day (Boro away, although this will be moved forward to the Saturday if they get past Porto.) We play on the 9th of May (West Ham away) and they play on the 10th (City home).

The most ridiculous post ever.

I thought in the first half last night, as in a lot of games recently, we played some lovely football going forward and got all 4 wide players involved.

Was it not his mobile that went off at the press conference in Athens and Z Cars was the ringtone?

Nonsense. The first half was fantastic from both sides.

Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard, Torres + 4 others. I'm not saying play these 7 no matter whether they're fit or not, but if they are fit then we can't start resting our best players now, because we don't have replacements for them. Leaving out Skrtel, Aurelio, Kuyt and Riera probably wouldn't weaken us too much because we have Hyypia, Agger, Insua, Dossena, Babel and Benayoun who could come in.