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Lucky Liverpool and Boring Chelsea…

April 8th, 2008 | By: Jan | 17 Comments »

Babel has reasons to laugh

The seminal semi finals match of the season. Cup fighter Liverpool vs artistic Arsenal. At Anfield. 1-1 on aggregate. Anything can happen.

And it almost did. Arsenal started furious, with their typical velvetty positioning play and through passing. Pepe Reyna started nervous and helped Arsenal get into the saddle. Wenger wanted an early goal and he got it. It loomed already for minutes with Adabayor being just in off side position three times. It was Diaby who could penetrate the box and his soaring finish at the first post left Reyna without answers: 0-1. Arsenal virtually through.

But fighting machine Liverpool got back into the game. This time playing in a traditional 4-4-2 with the slightly injured Babel on the bench and Crouch as his capable replacement. But the Liverpool machinery wasn’t oiled too well. Kuyt had trouble reprising his heroic role while Torres couldn’t do anything right. But pushed on by Gerrard, Mascherano and Xavi Alonso, the Reds’ midfield started to capture control around the 30 minute mark and the equalizer was only a matter of time. It was from a Gerrard corner kick that former Willem II defender Hyypia got free to head the ball in the upper corner: 1-1. The Finnish Liverpool icon had only yesterday signed on for another season at Anfield.

In the last minutes of the first half, Arsenal seemed tired again, like they do more often lately. Flamini was subbed due to injury already, Fabregas played sloppy, Hleb wasn’t in the match at all and the back four resorted to long, blind balls to the forwards.

In the second half, Liverpool pushed on. They owned midfield and pushed the Gunners back. The problem with Arsenal being, if their trademark play doesn’t work – like in this match – there is nothing to fall back on. Liverpool tries to play football and has skillful players in their side (Gerrard, Kuyt, Crouch, Torres) but if football doesn’t work, they can fight themselves back into the game and they can always resort to kick-and-rush.
This match was never going to end with penalties. And Torres, invisible in the first half, made his little starturn in the box. Back to the goal, short turn and bang: 2-1. He didn’t even look where the goal was.

Arsenal started to play opportunistic and probability says that if you try enough times, once a ball will come through. With Van Persie and Walcott as subs on the pitch, it was Walcott who picked the ball off Gerrard’s shoes just outside of the Arsenal box. Walcott used his speed and wits to run full swing to the other box, passing four players! There was only one defender left when Walcott passed the ball to the three Arsenal strikers facing Reyna. Adebayor was the lucky man: 2-2. Arsenal virtually through.

But one minute later, and this is all in the last ten minutes of the game, the Swedish ref sees a foul on substitute Ryan Babel in the box. I’ve seen the replay four times from four angles and couldn’t really spot a foul, but the ref is the boss. The spotkick was converted by Steven Gerrard without a doubt: 3-2 Liverpool.

In that last phase of the game, Arsenal was hanging on threads, but a lucky deep ball by Hleb was missed by the ‘Pool defense and ended in the run of Adebayor who only needed a flick of the boot to score, but the tall striker missed by inches.

In the extra-time, Arsenal committed all players bar goalie Almunia and Fabregas forward at a set piece. The ball was returned directly by Liverpool, giving Ryan Babel the opportunity to show his speed to the fans. He outran Cesc and eye to eye with the Gunners’ goalie, Babel made no mistake: 4-2.

This classic CL match will leave a lot of post-match debate. Was it a penalty? Did Van Persie deserve more playing time? Why didn’t Adebayor score that huge chance?

But at the end of the day, Liverpool deserved this win. It seems Arsenal’s season is just four weeks too long. Van Persie has never been really fit, Fabregas and Hleb look tired and without these players (and Eduardo and Rosicky) Arsenal is vulnerable.

Dirk Kuyt played a solid game. Didn’t excel, but worked hard and was always in the thick of things. Ryan Babel became one of the heroes, with the penalty – undeserved though – and his fourth goal. Robin van Persie had 20 minutes or so to prove himself, but he never got the opportunity to shine.

Liverpool reaches the semis for the 9th time in their history in CL/Europa Cup 1.

Chelsea lost away against Fener, 2-1. They needed to score at Stamford and they did. In the 3rd minute already, offensive midfielder Michael Ballack had a free header opp that he converted: 1-0. After that quick lead, Chelsea paced the game down a bit and almost got a bit boring. Some good plays and runs spiced the first half up a tad. A Kalou shimmy ended on the bar, compliments of Joe Cole but it was Fener who got the best opps with two free headers when the Chelsea defense was caught dozing off.

In the second half, Fener put some pressure on with Kezman coming on. But the Turkish Brazilians didn’t create a lot. There were some opps, some pressure but no real chances. Chelsea on the other hand, didn’t impress me. At all. Pace was low, sloppy passing. And it took till the 85th minute for Chelsea to put away another goal. A good Essien trick on the right side of the box and a quick ball pulled low in front of the goal for Lampard to finish at close range: 2-0.

With 5 minutes or so to go, Fener still only needed one goal to stay in the match, but quite frankly… Even if they had 2 hours of play I couldn’t see them score. So, again, Chelsea moves to the semi finals of the CL, this time to face dupfighters Liverpool. Another cracker coming our way.

Tags: Aresenal, Dirk Kuyt, Group C, Oranje, Ryan Babel, The Netherlands

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Comments

By Tjeerd | April 8th, 2008 at 8:52 pm

I got home early and caught the last 30 minutes of the game, great action.
I thought it was all over at 2-2. Babal went down in the box just when the goals replay was done. Babals final goal was impressive, he not only out ran Cesc, he outmuscled him.

By Caleb | April 8th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

I’m so depressed! Why does Liverpool always get all the luck in the CL?? How come last week it was no penalty when it should have been, and it was a penalty tonight!?! I don’t know who to cheer for now…

By Miguel Rosado | April 8th, 2008 at 11:07 pm

I’ll cheer for liverpool, we have Babel and Kuyt to cheer for.

Babel changed the whole, he looked very dangerous every time he got the ball, he got the penalty and scored the killer goal. In my opinion he was the man of the match.

By Jan | April 9th, 2008 at 1:15 am

I agree with all of you. Liverpool was lucky with that penalty. I don’t think it was one, really. So Pool gets a questionable penalty, Arsenal was denied one last week. That fourth goal didn’t really matter anymore. Arsenal had 9 players in front of the ball as a last resort. Babel did well of course, but the match was played by then. I will support Pool from now on. I don’t like Chelsea too much. ManU and Barca are also faves of mine, so… I guess I will cheer anyway, as long as Chelsea doesn’t win.

Posted from Australia

By goose | April 9th, 2008 at 3:30 am

hahah .. im such a wanker…. after Arsenal made it 2-2 i walked out of the house all angry when i came back the wife told me she watched the game till the end and that Liverpool had won… i missed it all!! haha

im very happy; dont know why, but Liverpool is my team!!

LIVERPOOL

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | April 9th, 2008 at 3:40 am

How come Goose? Old history, Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish and all, or Kuyt?

Posted from Australia

By lars | April 9th, 2008 at 4:42 am

i cant believe that, liverpool are lucky bastards! the ref crumbled under the pressure from those stupid scouse fans. was never ever a penalty. anyone but liverpool to win the champions league now!!

Posted from United Kingdom

By goose | April 9th, 2008 at 4:51 am

@Jan; yes, i became a fan during the Rush era… english and german football were the only things i could watch…. during Bergkamps reign Arsenal had my support too

but i really fell in love with Liverpool after watching a match at Anfield…great, great ambiance….and ofcourse Kuijt….

btw; some major, off topic, news; Dennis Bergkamp is gonna join the KNVB training to learn to become a manager!!!! Dennis back on the field!!!!

grz

Posted from Netherlands

By Bruce | April 9th, 2008 at 5:17 am

I have always thought guys like Dennis Bergkamp and Philip Cocu would make excellent coaches. I’m very excited to see them start their coaching careers. They were both extremely smart footballers, and natural leaders. They’ve already had a hand in training the likes of van Persie and Affeley as players, and now they’ll have their chance as managers.

Posted from Republic Of Korea

By Jan | April 9th, 2008 at 5:40 am

Ah Goose… sentiments eh? I’ve never been to Anfield Road. Would like to. Will do the Beatles-tour as well .

Posted from Australia

By goose | April 9th, 2008 at 6:05 am

@Jan; im probl. one of the biggest Beatles fans of my generation…guess i ‘ dig’ the Liverpool spirit (and their wit)

Posted from Netherlands

By Igor | April 9th, 2008 at 11:07 am

well pool-arsenal was an exiting game for sure, a real roller coaster ride, with each team seemingly assured of progressing to the semis at different points of the match. can’t believe the penalty was called, and i don’t mind loosing to liverpool (better than losing to chelsea or inter for example), but that was not the way to decide an exiting two-leg tie…proof the ref lost the plot is that he not only pointed to the spot but gave a yellow for a non-existant foul. i also can’t believe that eboue started all three games versus liverpool in the past week…what does wenger see in him? i think he slows every attack down, does not have a good cross and often loses possession and on top of that he is a poor sportsman. i would rather have seen walcott start or even van persie playing on the wing. what do you guys think?

Posted from Canada

By ferenc | April 9th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

it was a good game. arsenal lost it. i mean it was so unprofessional to get such a stupid penalty after equalizing. man of the match: ryan babel? only one thing i’m happy was his play and he prooved that he’s a talented player. kuijt was all right,but nothing special. @goose: why do you like so much kuijt? i mean he’s a hardworker,runs miles and miles,very combative but technically not gifted really far away from the joga bonito. as a isaid earlier he would be perfect for one ofe the holding midfielder roles but as a striker he’s not enough talented. and this is one thing you can’t obtain by leraning and working hard. let’s see for example babel: he’ s probably not as hardworker as kuijt but his touch,dribbling skills (the technical domain) is far better.

in the meantime,it’s going to be an exciting barca-mu semifinal. hopefully this year ebglish teams will repeat what they did last year. 3 in the semis but the winner is someone else.

i’m worried about van persie. in 2 months we’ll have the ec and seeing his actual form is not that promising…

Posted from Hungary

By Caleb | April 9th, 2008 at 9:28 pm

I　don’t know who to cheer for.. I don’t really want any of them to win.. I don’t want Liverpool to win because they’ve won too many times already and they don’t deserve it (they are just lucky), I don’t want Chelsea because they are boring, I don’t want Man U because I don’t want Ronaldo to win one, and I don’t really want Barca to win because they one 2 years ago.. can’t they all lose??

By Bruce | April 9th, 2008 at 10:39 pm

Re: Ferenc; I think everyone know that Kuijt is not technically gifted, but you have to admire that the only reason that he where he is, is simply because of his heart and his brain, and that is the reason I like him so much (and perhaps the same is for Goose). He was not born with the flashy genes, but his love for the game has made him a great player. Furthermore, I don’t think Dirk is ever a waste of space. He doesn’t make mistakes, and positions himself well to make smart passes, and never loses his man, and rarely loses the ball.

Regarding Arsenal, I really think Wenger played his cards wrong in this one. Liverpool were putting the pressure on Arsenal right from the 2nd half kick-off and Arsenal couldn’t create anything. When Wenger finally subbed Walcott and v Persie on, they got a goal almost right away. Too little too late in my mind… Walcott looks like he’s going to be a great player…

Re: Caleb; Liverpool are not lucky. They are a very talented team, and have fought for every victory. Liverpool are fighters, and it would be pretty strange for a team to luckily find themselves in the semifinals for three years in a row, and win it once.

Liverpool – Barca final would be interesting!

Posted from Republic Of Korea

By Caleb | April 11th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

Bruce – Liverpool are fighters and know how to play on the big stage, but there is also a definite amount of luck for them lately. For Example:
The two penalties in the Arsenal tie (one not given, one given) determined everything, and unless Liverpool is paying the refs, it was lucky the way it turned out for them. 3 years ago they got a questionable call against Chelsea in the Semi’s (whether the ball crossed the line or not) that could have gone either way, and they went through because of that. That’s lucky.

Posted from Canada

By Jan | April 11th, 2008 at 7:59 pm

JC always said: luck is something you make. Or, if you never take a shot at goal, you will never score. In other words: try 15 shots, may lucky one might go in. People will say: how lucky were they?? But they sort of forced their luck.

Posted from Australia

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