Taking Sides: Liverpool vs Everton

two each from Spain, England, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal
one each from Greece, Holland, Czech Rep
the previous year's champions

So, WTF?

(Incidentally, top three in table get seven Euro places [4 CL, 3 UEFA], next three get six [3 CL, 3 UEFA], next two also get six [2 CL, 4 UEFA] and then it rather arbitrarily drops to four, split evenly between comps [9th thru 15th] or just with one CL place [16th thru 21st]...)

(* - it's here: http://www.geocities.com/jfaugeras/UC200304.html
Sorry, brain is fried today, can't do blue writing).

M White: ManYoo's win probably indirectly gave England its fourth spot because it pushed Eng up the coeff table.

If the defending cup holder already qualified directly for the group stage of the Champions League, the champion of the 10th country on the country ranking list will gain direct access to the group stage, the champion of the 16th country on the country ranking list will gain direct access to the 3rd qualifying round, and the champions of the 26th and 27th country on the country ranking list will gain direct access to the 2nd qualifying round. Similar changes are made if the cup holder already qualified directly for one of the qualification rounds, or if the cup holder did not qualify directly but is from one of the top three ranked countries.

It's kinda interestin' cos it means L'pool and Chelsea would make it into the group stage directly and Arsenal & ManYoo's battle for 2nd spot in the Premiership would be meaningless - they'd both go into r3 of the qualies.

A decent performance, I'm sure Chelsea fans will be here soon, beingquite cocky saying things like "oh yes, we'll do them away, no problem" all with that authority that a decent bit of success after years in the doldrums gives, we've been hearing it all season.

Saves made by Dudek - 0

made by Cech - 2 (including one of the best I've seen in a long time)

all the posession in the world doesn't necessarily give you a goal.

Jamie Carragher = Colossus

upstairs or downstairs?

ahem, back to footie everyone.....

Liverpool can nick this, I reckon. But its unlikely considering they only need to concede one against an all-guns-blazing Chelsea to go out.

The lack of an away goal may be crucial but then I thought that in 2001 when LFC held Barcelona goallessly; they kept them out at Anfield too and McAllister stuck home a penalty to take them into the final.

I have four specific results in mind over the next nine days that would enable me to finally crack open that sparkling stuff in the fridge (which should really have been drunk on Feb 14). Only one of them is an Everton win.

Still feel the lack of away goal might make it too much of a mountain to climb. Is Duff back for the next leg? I can only imagine the horror....

Harry Kewell and Luis Garcia look identical.

however, if Milan play Liverpool in the final, it will be such a mauling that the ref will probably have to stop the match. so, despite other prejudices, i hope i am wrong and Chelsea win it.

Did you see the ease with which PSV pulled apart the Milan defence on Tuesday? 15 shots on goal in the second half - with better finishing Milan would be out by now. 2-0 was a travesty. Liverpool's campaign has been all about saying "You're not all that" to everyone they've played. I expected them to leak goals to Leverkusen, Juve and again last night. Their stubborn refusal to carry their frequently laughable Premiership form into Europe is an absolute agony to me. Vice versa for a few others on this thread, I guess.

1-0 on Tuesday and 1-0 in Istanbul. I can already taste the sulphur.

It's infuriating. I suppose the squad is depleted but still.

Chelsea had men on the posts for both corners, playing the entire field onside, the linesman got it wrong.
Taking short corners when you can ping a dead ball in as well as Gerrard or Riise is baffling all the same.

Milan just aren't letting goals in in the Champs League. Inter and Man U got nowhere near them - Utd didn't get a shot on target in either leg. admittedly, PSV had chances, but they still didn't score any of them, and the first leg of the semis against a third tier team like PSV is a totally different proposition to a final against Liverpool.

if they face Milan in the final, a one-off game, the Liverpool players end up will need counselling for years afterwards.

"It never announces the precise dates of its action, but various circumstantial details let us pin it at about 1987. In fact I once lent it to a friend, an Everton fan, who agreed that the implied status of Everton in the Football League at one point in the narrative confirmed this with some precision."

Everton 1-0 Liverpool

Congratulations to Liverpool FC and their supporters on a tremendous achievement.

The first time since 1965 we've finished ahead of the Kopites without having to actually win the league - so this, this is for all those running-out-of-fizz seasons when we were both short of the title pace but the bastards hauled us in anyway. 1974-75, when we lost at home to Carlisle United on the run-in; 1977-78, when we outscored everyone else in the top-flight but stuttered in the spring and had you'll-be-rubbish-without-Keegan shoved back in our face by a blond Glaswegian with an incessantly-obstructive backside; 1992-93, when Souness's lot were dreadful but we got a hint of what life in the newfangled Premiership would be like by being, ultimately, slightly worse; 2002-03: four defeats in the last five, including that shocker of an Easter Saturday Goodison derby, and all the Kroxteth Kid's work was undone.

I nearly opened the Lanson in the fridge but I'll save that for Istanbul.

You're going, are you? ;)

Congratulations to Everton FC and all their supporter on a tremendous achievement

Are you 'going to Istanbul'? Or are you staying here? (That is in code.)

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERTON FC AND ALL THEIR SUPPORTERS ON A TREMENDOUS ACHIEVEMENT.

Also, my one has a plural, in it, though perhaps his singular supporter was deliberate.

Premiership team of the season?

I'm going to vote for whoever stays up as Premiership team of the season, unless it's grotty old Crystal Palace.

It reminded me of that possibly apocryphal tale regarding Laurence of Felt, aghast at being stranded in the Glastonbury mud - "But I thought there'd be little bungalows for the pop stars."

(* - I still won't really believe this until the draw is made in the summer and we're in it; there's still this lurking fear that it'll somehow be taken away from us again).

The Merseysiders have equalled their highest ever points tally in a Premiership season, and have two games to add to the 61 points already bagged. But David Moyes' boys have lost their last three in a row on the road.

The Goodison Park club have already lost twice to the Gunners this season - adding a 3-1 fourth round Carling Cup defeat at Highbury to the home Premiership loss, making a disappointing aggregate over the two games of 2-7. Everton's only Premiership victory at Highbury and only maximum in 17 visits to the famous north London venue was 1-2 on 20 January 1996.

Viewing figures for Dr Who are at their highest level since 1977, when Everton lost the League Cup to Aston Villa in a replay, shortly before Ken McNaught switched allegiances to the claret and blue second city high-flyers.