By dixon9
May 3 2007

90 odd minutes away from Athens? Tomorrow night we have an opportunity to put right the wrong of that night in Anfield in 2005 – we’ve been waiting a long time for this! This will be or at least should be an extremely tough game and with the possible loss of Carvalho with then Essien therefore being wasted at centre-half it should be even tougher.

Come on José!  Put Boulahrouz there and let Essien do what he does best in midfield! 

 

Carvalho´s loss was a slight surprise to be honest – he could walk off the pitch during the Bolton game and I had the feeling his withdrawal was more of a precaution than a necessity.  The Portuguese did leave the stadium on crutches however and Mourinho did say that he wouldn´t make the Liverpool game and would be out for 2 weeks - so any hope that this might be a typical bluff from the Special One looks doubtful unfortunately. 

Benitez will have no doubt leaned his lesson from the 1st leg at Stamford Bridge and start with Crouch, Gerrard possibly in his more favored centre-midfield role and I wouldn´t be surprised if Gonzalez features at some point on the left flank.   With regard to the latter, I’m hoping that young Diarra plays at right-back instead of the more pedestrian Ferreira.  Liverpool’s own right-back position looks to be filled by Finnan, set to return after suffering a neck injury.

 

With a 1-0 lead and no away goals conceded I’ve a feeling that José may be quite conservative with his starting line-up and any changes will only be made if we do not survive the initial onslaught during the first 20-25 mins.  Withstanding this initial period of pressure without conceding more than a goal is quite essential – do this and then us scoring should deflate them significantly. 

 

A further concern is the players we have being one yellow away from a suspension such as Drogba and Joe Cole, and with the almost conspiratual selection of a Spanish referee by UEFA it doesn’t bode well at all.   A Spanish referee at Anfield, with the home team with a Spanish content is suspicious to say the least.  I am at a complete loss as to why such a referee has been selected for such an important game.  This is the same referee who officiated Liverpool´s final in Istanbul AND their match against Lyon when they needed 3 goals to go through!!!  It is not exactly the most diplomatic of choices is it?!!!  Some would say this is another move by UEFA to decrease our chances of qualifying – others that it is a mere oversight or just another example of UEFA incompetence.  We can be sure that even if we do qualify, damage control on suspensions will be very difficult and probably most decisions will go their way.

 

The press have predictably started their anti-Chelsea/pro-Liverpool campaign but we’re getting used to that aren’t we?  Benitez has been highlighting the money we’ve spent whilst comically forgetting that he met with Hicks and Gillette to find out what war chest he’d be getting before making a decision on his own future at Anfield – not to mention the huge quantity of players he’s signed (nearly 20 so far?) since his arrival.  As one Chelsea fan put it;

"Benitez on Money:
1 - It's not fair that Chelsea have more money to spend
2 - I'm staying at Anfield because the new owners have promised me lots more money to spend.

Ho hum....."

Agger has re-ignited the Drogba diving issue after he and Carragher got the run around from him at Stamford Bridge (they will go all out to get him at least a yellow you can be sure) and then even Kuyt has had his tuppence worth claiming that Mourinho is scared of Anfield!  Still, I like it when the opposing team starts bigging up before a match – it is usually the worst thing you can do as the result tends to then go against you.

 

Benitez also claims that Mourinho must be devastated at being 5 points behind Man Utd but Jose has responded in typical fashion:

 

 “Of course, my players were devastated, but Liverpool should be also devastated because they are third and so many points behind and they lost the title in January - So maybe that makes the game an even bigger game. It’s the chance for both clubs to win or at least play a big final.”

 

A Liverpool friend of mine has been criticizing Benitez´s motivational player skills as apparently the Spaniard won’t talk to some players about their new contracts until he evaluates their performance against us tomorrow night!  Hmmmmm….if we can score early I wonder how many will remain so motivated if indeed, this is true.

Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Riise, Finnan, Gerrard, Alonso, Pennant, Mascherano, Zenden, Kuyt, Bellamy, Crouch. Dudek, Hyypia, Gonzalez, Sissoko, Paletta. Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Ashley Cole, Makelele, Joe Cole, Wright-Phillips, Mikel, Lampard, Shevchenko, Kalou, Drogba, Cudicini, Boulahrouz, Geremi, Bridge, Diarra.  I’m expecting 4-4-2 (hopefully, José won’t go defensive with a 4-5-1), Cech, Diarra, Terry, Essien, A Cole, Maka, Obi, Lampard, Cole, Shevchenko and Drogba. Score? 2-1 to Liverpool.  They’ll get 1 in the first 25 mins – Shevchenko will reply for us. The media and probably UEFA are also probably against us (they don’t call this the G14 Cup for nothing).  COME ON CHELS!!!!!