EURO HEARTACHE
THE dream is over.
We won't be going to a third Champions League final in four years.
But we went pretty damn close.
It was a devastating blow at Stamford Bridge last night.
What a feat it would have been to make that final three out of the last four years.
But there was always a suspicion that 1-1 at our place, and giving them an away goal, left us with too much to do.
And that proved to be the case.
I don't think we can have too many complaints about the result. From my spec in their main stand, (a replica of the envelope-like miniscule view of Everton's Lower Bullens Road), the ref had a good game and got pretty much everything spot on.
Yes, it was a pen for theirs, silly challenge by Sami that, and our two shouts, Hyppia's and Babel's, they were rightly waved away.
We should have guessed the script had already been written for Lampard after his mum had passed away during the week.
I'm guessing the headline writers are penning 'FRANK DOES IT FOR HIS MUM' , even as I write this, pic of him pointing to the heavens as he trots back to the centre circle. Fair enough.
To make it clear, I've no bitterness towards him, it must have been tough to play in the game while dealing with his personal tragedy, and he was one of the best players on the park.
For the Reds, critically, a handful of players didn't turn up. Man of the match for us was hands down Carragher, who defended like the Carra of old.
Not far behind was Gerrard who manfully tried to drag us back into the game, but was let down by colleagues around him.
Mascherano was half decent, wonderfully committed who continually asked for the ball, even though his distribution in the first half was shocking.
Collectively in the first 45 we were very poor and we let the watery conditions get to us. Only in the second half did we step up to the plate, and after Torres scored, there was a 25 minute window of opportunity where we grew in confidence and they looked ropey. We didn't grab that chance.
On the downside, Kuyt ended his run of good form with an anonymous showing. He's been great recently, but workrate just isn't enough.
Benayoun let the game pass him buy, the brilliant work for our goal apart, Torres desperately needed a second striker and looked forlorn and Alonso yet again was a passenger. How many times must we put up with indifferent displays from the £10m-rated Spaniard?
Skrtel's injury was a blow as he may have kept Drogba quiet, who for all his unsavoury antics, provided two magnificent finishes - the first in particular was a blockbuster.
And there we have it. In the end, with Babel's last gasp 30 yarder, we ran them pretty close. If we chalk off Riise's gaffe, then we go through.
Not that it may have played out exactly like that if we had taken a 1-0 lead to their place, but it goes to show that we weren't far away.
They just had too much for us, and we had to fight tooth and nail for any semblance of a chance.
With a heavy heart, they probably deserved it, but that's difficult to stomach as there's not much to admire about the arrogant London boys and their manufactured fans.
End of the season now, it's obvious where we need to improve. Top centre forward, winger and full back. Get rid of the dross.
So, who are we supporting in Moscow? Mancs or Chelski? What a choice......I might book a holiday - somewhere warm that doesn't have tellys....
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hear hear luke..absolutely agree with you on most points..i really wish gerrard had put up another captain marvel performance though..but again its hard to expect him of that in every game..we need two to three more game-winners like the mancs do to make it..theyve got rooney,tevez,nani,ronaldo,scholes with proven big game players in terms of hargreaves and giggs..we're still very dependant on gerard/torres at the moment..to me masch also put up a good show but he was swamped in midfield by essien and ballack and came against a brick wall in makelele..its very hard to hit the chelski down the center what with terry and carvalho there...how i wished for fereira...sigh.we could have better luck on the flanks but kuyt and benayoun arent exactly out and put wingers..
i dont like chelsea and their players..arrogant...the sight of terry kicking people off their legs and making a big scene and shouting at other peoples faces the moment a decision goes against him is extremely unsportsmanlike..he wouldnt go missing in the part of a bouncer at a soho pub..nor is the sight of drgoba puffing out his chest and beating it like a gorilla in heat..the london zoo might be able to incoperate him into their gorilla breeding program if they have one..but you cant deny that he is also a powerful and sharp striker..avram inherited a team of mega-players..even a kindergarden kid can put them out n tell them to play in their respective postions..the other teams in the league will wisen up next-year..he's rode on his luck this year especially with ballack coming into form at the tail end of the season..hate to say it but i hope the mancs win...id rather see people with the humiilty of scholes lift the cup anytime..YNWA.
Too many passengers on the pitch and not enough guts from Benitez off it. Babel should've been on earlier, game was crying out for a second striker, 'Torres hamstring injury' a blatant excuse for the worst substitution in the history of the game. Benitez's 'nick a goal' tactics and teamsheet leave too much to chance. LFC was built on better.
Congratulations to both teams in the final. Both went all out to win their games and rightly deserve their places in Moscow, not to mention the Premiership.
After Lampards goal....
Radio City Commentator - "It's there! Lampard has scored. Oh God look he's in floods of tears, it's been a horrible week for him and it's all got too much."
Aldo - "Well, I hope he's crying again at the end."
Classy Aldo, classy. That's pretty unpleasant.
A good blog Luke, I like the way you write, as for the booking of a holiday I could not agree more!
Not having the second leg at Anfield made a massive difference. You should have heard aldo after the arsenal quarters. He was yelling about losing the league in 89 and would have beheaded michael thomas had he been there. Bit much that aldo, time to relax with a double g & t down at... aldo's place. Boss name that
Glad to see two English teams in the final that's about it.
Had Kuyt + Benayoun had the bottle to get past the fullbacks I think we would have won with comfort.
Reminded me of the similar bad tactics + match plan used against Milan in last years final which we also threw away.
Would be nice to talk about our Premiership win this time next year though + leave Europe to the others to fight over!
Chelsea are a horrible team with horrible plastic fans waving plastic flags left on their seats for them before the game!
Abramovich is going to have to pay for them to travel to Moscow - he wants the red square blue!
As for the players, they just don’t deserve it. But then again life isn’t fair, and horrible, greedy, cheating, lying people get ahead in the real world too.
This country’s finished I’m off to Abu Dhabi and leaving the telly at home ;o)
Spot on luke 100% agree, honest appraisal of the tie, like men we hold our heads high in defeat and congratulate the victors. Personally I hope Chelsea go on to win it, seeing an hour long special on ITV of the unbelievable acheivement of Man U winning the cup for a magnificient 3rd time would be a bit hard to stomach.
Where have you got in mind for a holiday, got a feelin it could be a popular destination.
Another good blog Luke although I think we did deserve a pen from the Hyppia foul. Incidentally, what did happen with Kuyt going down off the ball in the penalty area in the first few minutes ? The tv never did show it again. Hyppia has been phenomenal all season but I think it was just one game too far for him. I am gutted to go out to the despicable chavs but let's face it, we want the chavs to do the double now (have you noticed how they're all calling it a double ? when we used to win the league and European Cup we called it normal !). I live down in chav central and I've never seen so many before. They must have been locked in an Austrian cellar or something the past few years !!! Strange thing is, they try to wind me up and I say "it didn't cross the line" and they don't get it !
I'll have to have a gander at our two penalty shouts again, from the one replay I saw, Hyppia chucked himself down a bit, alhtough there was some great slaloming feet there!
And Essien seemed to get a lot of foot on the ball from Babel's one.
You ca argue the ti from both angles. First off, you could say that Chelsea were, for the most part, the better side at Stamford Bridge, but then they only took the lead thanks to an ill-advised challenge from Sami - Ballack was actually running away from the goal.
And they were comprehensively ouplayed at Anfield, and had an equaliser gift-wrapped and handed to them on a place by Riise.
Roll on next season, lets sort out the in-fighting and concentrate on building something special at Liverpool.