Liverpool crash out of the Champions League after Chelsea defeat

Riise was crap again tonight. First he gave away an own goal last week, then he didnt chase Drogba down for the first goal, then tried to claim offside on Anelka rather than playing to the whistle.

I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE TORRES WAS INJURED , HE RAN OFF OK , AND EVEN IF HE WAS HE SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT ON CROUCH.

1RED1POOL YOUR 100% RIGHT PLAYERS LIKE KUYT PENNANT BENNYUN AURELIO VORONIN KEWELL RIISE ALONSO JUST ARN'T GOOD ENOUGH.
ADD BENITEZ'S NEGATIVE TACTICS AND WE FALL MILES SHORT OF A PREMIERSHIP WINNING SIDE.
UNFORTUNATELY BECAUSE OF RAFA'S SUCCESS INEUROPE , WE WLL HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER SEASON TO SACK HIM.

WE WERE TOO NEGATIVE TONIGHT AND YET WE STILL HAD OUR CHANCES OF WINNING, IF ONLY WE HAD PLAYED TWO UP FRONT. CROUCH MUST BE PISSED OFF NOT TO HAVE GOT ON THE PITCH TONIGHT, THE GAME WAS CRYING OUT FOR HIM.

i know we didnt play well last night~we didnt perform our best ,esp for most of our best players, and therefore let chelsea enter the final...

i was so sad last night,becoz i believe all our players' effort in the season deserve to enter the final. They worth it!!They did so well against inter milan, arsenal, as well as chelsea at the first leg~they just accidentally dropped last night, and this was enough to make them out of the champions league...

but life goes on, for all of the fans and players and the manager.let us place our hope onto next season, and keep supporting them in winning glory!!we know u guys can do well in the next season~

Im so proud of u,Liverpool~We'll keep supporting u as u walk on.You'll never walk alone.

I was proud of our performance last night if the truth was known we lost the tie because of Riise mistake in the first leg, the difference between going to the bridge 1-0 up and 1-1 was huge.

Now we need to reorganise the side, we need to buy top quality players and top quality only.
We also need to clear out all of the not good enoughs.

Out must go - Kewell, Riise, Pennant, Voronin, Alonso, Crouch (if only because Rafa doesnt give him a chance),Kuyt, Carson, and Guthrie .

We then need to bring in two top quality full backs, a top class winger, and two top quality strikers.

We are still a long way away from having a premiership winning team.
But us fans deserve a premiership challenging side, we cannot keep being out of the race by Christmas, frankly that is unacceptable. Rafa needs to buy wisely, better than ever before, that means getting the checkbook out and buying big money top quality signings, no more squad players and players for the future.

Wether he can do this is the $64,000 question. Gareth Barry would make a good first signing, but players like Valencia of Wigan worry me (if his so good why is he playing for Wigan ?)Valencia is hardly World class. Benitez needs to buy top class / world class players not not good enoughs.

well our semi final luck has finnaly ran out against chelsea.
all the lads put up a good and brave performance, but i think the reason that we lost the semi was not because of last night but from the 1st leg at anfield when stevie g played the long corner in the 93rd minute instead of playing the short ball and keeping possession in the chelsea end.
i know in hindsight we all say these things but while at work at listening to it on the radio i was in disbelief at why gerrard chose to hoof it into the penalty box which then in turn led to the equalising goal.
hard luck lads and lets hope for a better run next run next season.

now zer r even some saying zat we lost bkoz of wat rafa said about drogba.wat rubbish!!The fact is that Liverpool were 20 minutes or so from penalties, this shows the closeness of the contest and over the two legs either team would have deserved their place in the final, with my biased eyes believing that, on pure football, Liverpool were probably, ever so slightly, the better team. The fact is that this tie was decided not by tactical genius of either manager, but by individual mistakes made by Risse and Hyypia.
To blame Rafa's management for Liverpools' loss is wide of the mark, clearly not warranted, and is a smack of disrespect.
The Drogba thing has been blown out of proportion due to his goals and the fact Chelsea won. If you are looking for reasons for Liverpool's defeat, look no further than the normally composed and reliable Hyypia, who had a stinker last night from the moment he walked onto the pitch. I think Skrtel going off was crucial for us especially as he appeared to have the ability to contain the Chelsea forwards a lot better given his presence and pace.I've no complaints about the result - the result was always going to depend on individual errors. Hyypia made 2 (the penalty and allowing Kalou to skip onto his better foot) and Carragher played Anelka onside in the build up to Drogba's 2nd. Chelsea made mistakes too, but they were in less dangerous areas, and when they WERE in dangerous areas, Liverpool didn't make the most of it.

PS Drogba's celebration after his goal showed that he does not have an ounce of dignity or grace, and highlights yet again why i hate him with such frightening intensity! The sooner he leaves the better for everyone!

this isnt lfc the way it was b4 2 me every body give up we had chance after chance 2 get the goals in sg put it wide he needs glasses when the ball came in from the corner they were just looking at it i hope rafa is really proud of himself he f.cked up the prem now he done this 2 us how many more dissapointments do we need?remember the 8-0 win against birmingham?that the team im on abt we desperatly need some1 soon 2 help torres get rid of all the shite asap & get back a team that can really get us trophies

So Jamie Redknapp thinks that Rafa's comments about Drogba fired him up, come on, first of all Rafa stated a fact. Drogba is a good player, and is also a cheating diving twat, i mean goes down to easily, and second that was a Champions League Semi Final 2nd leg, so all the players should have been fired up anyway. Last night's the 1st time i've heard him say Liverpool are his team, even then, as usual he couldn't heap enough praise on his cousin, the well and truly overated frank lampard. He normally gets swayed by that Hairy (waxed) little retard Richard "knows Fuck All about football" Keys, picking the bones of Liverpool and doing their best to drive a wedge between Stevie G and Rafa. Yet another ex player the fans respected sticking a knife into the club, although to be fair to Jamie, he doesn't like to be confrontational and generally agrees with whats being said. Surprised he's able to sit down with all the splinters in his arse from sitting on the fence. we lost last night because that tosser Riise wouldn't use his right leg at Anfield. and because we had 4 tossers playing shit. having said that, we still could have easily won! not bad with only 7 men, this proves that we're not far away from challenging, if Rafa gets his tactics right in League games and the players realise that they are good enough. Still got to lose the deadwood in the summer and fetch talented players in though! LFC-4-EVER!

i know what ur saying & ur right i am peed off but yes wait 4 next season see what it brings lets hope rafa gets his head the right way round this time hope he has learned his lesson good luck 4 sundays match lads we need 2 make the last few games ours

ynwa

When you look at our first 11 against Chelsea, and see the likes of Kuyt, Arbeloa, Riise and Benayoun, then you have to wonder how hard it is to buy 11 very good players.

I accept Liverpool cannot afford a squad as good as Chelsea and Man U because they are far wealthier. But I don't accept that after 4 years Rafa Benitez could not find a better player than Dirk Kuyt to be in our starting 11 in a European Cup semi-final. Neither do I accept after 4 years he couldn't have found better full backs than Alvaro Arbeloa and John long ball Riise.

If Rafa Benitez had 11 very good, solid and talented players to start in the first 11 then I could accept the reason we haven't even challenged for the league is because we can't afford a big enough squad.

But we don't even have a top class first 11 as was shown last Wednesday night. And I fail to see how after spending 150 million we don't even have 11 top class players when two of our best - Gerrard and Carra - cost Benitez nothing.

I believe Benitez needs to get the first 11 right and then he can worry about the squad. The problem with Benitez is he is utterly OBSESSED with talking about the squad and he ends up having a first 11 that contains players like Dirk Kuyt, a player who wouldn't get near any top class team because he simply isn't good enough. Igor Biscan had great games in Europe too but it didn't mean he was good enough.

Rafa Benitez needs to get his first 11 packed with quality players and then worry about the subs. Patrice Evra didn't cost much and look how good he is. The talent is out there for our budget but Rafa has got as many wrong as right in the transfer market and that's why we are still not near to the title after his 4th season.

i couldnt agree with u more on ur post rafa's obsession with playing kuyt every week its more than an obsession its been one big mistake what a waste of £9m with the likes of kuyt,pennant,voronin,riise,alonso & kewell these are not match winning players they cant get u a goal out of nothing and thats what we are missing in our team we need players that can grab the game by the scruff of its neck instead of relying on SG & torres we need top quality players in the summer not quantity! so rafa needs 2 pull his finger out and sign well known players not UNKNOWNS! i have a funny feeling next season is goin 2 be deja vu all over again especially in the EPL?

your answer is the easy way out. arse bought unknowns, yet they won the prem. are problem is rotation, look at crouch no matter how well he plays, kuyt will allways get the nod. are defence changes like the weather, only 4 players are first choice, sg ,carra, torres,and reina. and maybey mash. the rest are all squad members. rafa needs to know his first 11 and work from there. it will not make any diffrence to who we buy if the rotation continues. because players are human, if rafa can,t be arsed why should they? they will still get paid . the reason we were so good is that players. wanted to play for liverpool, they were not all world class players, but there heart, and soul belonged to lfc. the shirt was a honour, too many players today lack motivation, its all money torres is a good example he wanted to play for l,pool and look how good he has been. i like alves as a player, but his attuide is i go were money is good. look at rob jones souness signed him from nowere look how good he was. its not allways the big names that win you games,its the players who can play in big games. also unity is a must among players. we do require 2 attacing full backs, but isuana is worth a try, and nemeth as well. the reserves are hungry they should be are squad players, and have a strong 11 first teamers. the youngsters have desire, to make it, were some of the fist teamers allready think they have made it. so for me clean out kuyt, pennant, riise,carson. guthrie, and crouch if he wants to go. and voronin. and if alonso wants out let him go to. and finalay if rafa does not do it this time well it is time to move on.money might buy you who you want, but it will not garantee what you get...

I think next year will be different, once the challenge for the League was over yet again, Rafa knew he had to finish in the top 4, so he started picking a settled side, when he did this we went on an unbeaten run, so he realises what needs to be done, its not rocket science is it! I think his tinkering with the team was made worse by the fact that he is Stubborn, and wouldn't want it to look like he was taking any advise from anyone, especially the press. If he puts his personal pride away and does his job properly then we could mount a serious challenge next season, with some decent signings. what about Hienze at Madrid? If he's fit, not as good as Evre but better than what we've got at left back, and an added bonus of pissing Ferguson off! Then we need a right back, right and left midfielders and one forward to go with Torres, Babel and Crouch if he's daft enough to stay.(If he goes then he will come back to haunt us) It would be worth trying to get Dean Ashton, he is a class act always scored goals at Crewe, Norwich and West Ham. The scum are reported to be after him, we don't need that, the twats have done what they've done for the last couple of years without a recognised centre forward, imagine what they could be like with a decent one! Doesn't bare thinking about. LFC-4-EVER!

liverpool has made a bid 4 gareth barry not a cash offer but a bid with a mish mash of players we all know that carson is probably one of those players and maybe is riise aswell what u guys think of this? gareth barry would be a good signing 4 us rafa is starting early in the transfer market he needs 2 coz we missed out on potentional signings last year

yea i heard he had offerd 10 mil, oneal wants crouch and riise. carson iam not too sure. they can have riise and carson, but i would keep crouch, let them have kuyt. i tell you this if crouch does leave he will come back, and make us pay. but i cannot blame him wanting to move on, rafa does not give him a fair go. but barry would be a great addition. for starters.

ur correct there if crouch did go ur spot on he would come bk and haunt us with out doubt 4 some reason i dont know why but rafa isnt given him a decent run in the side he'd rather use that crap useless p*ick kuyt what he see's in him god only knows i can see kuyt bein with us next season to? lets hope KK signs him 4 newcastle but we are in need of to top name wingers tho and a top name striker what u think rouman?

Hopefully its true, Barry would be a very good addition, and its an excellent way of recycling some rubbish(not Carson of course). LFC-4-EVER!

The debate about players will go on for ever - everyone you speak to knows we need two quality full backs and two qulaity wingers. So Rafa allegedly puts a bid in for Barry !?!? Good or bad he is not actually what we need. Crouch will come back to haunt us - why - because he will be treated fairly by any other manager in the country. Rotation is shite - changing formation AND rotating players is absolute bloody stupidity. Remember the team for Reading away this year ( Crouch & Voronin on the wings ) - Benitez has got away with it this year - if we are out of the title race by December he has to go - Kewell, Arbeloa, Voronin, Benayoun, Pennant, Kuyt, Crouch, Aurelio can all go with him. Title or bust - nothing else will do, absolutely nothing else - bollocks to the Champions League. Can't see it happening until the stubborn manager with the stupid tactics goes elswhere. Remember Middlesborough away first half !?!?!? ( and there were too many others similar games this season ) Average players will not win a title. Average players struggle against Luton Town, Havant & Waterlooville and Barnsley. Rotation does not create the team spirit needed for a 38 game commitment. £150m spent and all we have is rotation and mediocrity. I know it ain't going to happen (yet) but there is only one answer to the problem. Adios Amigo