Liverpool vs. Chelski (helping ManYoo to #19)

[Neil Young]

I have to admit I'm tired of all this caring about what happens to other teams. If United win the league they will deserve it albeit this season the league has been crap, they have been the best team for a number of years and haven't yet forgotten how to win.

I wouldn't choose for Man United to win it but it won't bother me if they do.

Still, it's easy for me - I don't know any Man United fans so I won't have to put up with their crowing. I can understand it must be a lot more irritating for someone who knows loads of Manchester United supporters, lives in Manchester and indeed is a Manc. Someone like Shaggy for instance.

[Norbs]

No way. The thought of them overtaking us as the most successful team in England makes me physically sick. I might actually kill the first manc that tries to slag me if that happens. The worst feeling is knowing that we have lost about 17 games this season to all sorts of **** teams and won't make 4th yet somehow might get a result in the 1 match that means **** all for us and everything to them

It would definitely be a heart breaker to see them beat our record, but I'm more concerned that we're free falling into obscurity

[fowler9]

I dont think it's about hating them more than loving Liverpool - the reason people dont want to see our record go, is because they DO love Liverpool. If it was a case of United overtaking someone else to become the record title-winners, then that'd be different - but it's OUR record they're looking to take and i'm ****ed if i wanna see that. Especially when their squad is on its last legs and ginsoak's on his last artery.

As for this scenario, it's absolutely critical that we beat Atletico on Thursday.

If we get to the final, then we have absolute justification for 'resting' players and nobody could complain (they will, but they've no leg to stand on).

If we're out of the Uefa Cup, we have nothing else left to play for and there's no real 'fair' justification for a weaker side. So we'd get ripped for it. I'm sure Warnock and Allardyce would soon pitch in with their 'thoughts' too

lmao the bit about warnock and allardyce

[Craig_H]

From The Times:

We do not know if Rafael Benítez has voted yet in the Liverpool fans’ poll that asks, with a straight face, “should we field a weakened team on Sunday?” But we can be sure that Sir Alex Ferguson will regard it as the most outrageous supporter survey since the Manchester Evening News asked its readers “should Fergie be sacked?” shortly before he embarked upon the 1995-96 season that brought them the Double.

Field a weakened side against Chelsea? Concede the game and effectively gift the Barclays Premier League title to Carlo Ancelotti’s team? What about integrity and fair competition?

These will be Ferguson’s thoughts. The intriguing question is whether he will dare to air them before Sunday and risk the charge of the most appalling hypocrisy.

Liverpool’s line-up on Sunday can be decided by only one man, and Benítez may want his strongest possible team if he is looking over his shoulder at Everton and/or truly believing that fourth place, and qualification to the Champions League, is still achievable. With each Premier League place worth at least £750,000, he might weigh up the income (although it is questionable whether he will be around to spend it).

But it is equally plausible that he could wake up on Sunday morning with very little to play for in the domestic campaign — and perhaps with the Europa League final to save his players for.

Should Everton fail to win away to Stoke City on Saturday, Liverpool will be guaranteed a top-seven finish and entry into Europe. And if Tottenham Hotspur beat Bolton Wanderers at White Hart Lane, also on Saturday, then the idea of fourth would seem out of reach except to the greatest optimist. Liverpool would be stuck.

In that case, giving a break to a few players against Chelsea would be quite normal practice and might pass with little comment except for the fact that, this being a potential championship-deciding afternoon, it will cause a mighty hullabaloo about integrity and fairness with the added spice that United are attempting to overtake Liverpool and win a record nineteenth English championship.

There would be plenty to discuss on the subject, including the history of weakened teams, which goes back beyond 1971, when Bill Shankly’s Liverpool were fined £7,500, and farther still than 1970, when Don Revie’s Leeds United were docked £5,000 for fielding reserves.

This season it flared up as a contentious issue when Wolverhampton Wanderers were handed a suspended £25,000 fine for making ten changes against United, the first time a penalty had been imposed for such a breach for 17 years. The fine was an attempt by the Premier League to make a statement about how much weakening was acceptable, but an unconvincing one. In the era of rotation, it remains a harder case to prove. As for the moral argument, that horse long since bolted.

Ferguson, for his own sound reasons, was among those who let open the stable doors by deciding that what is best for United outweighs all other considerations. When other clubs have hoped United might give a game their full attention, he has not always been able to oblige. Some Manchester City fans still have not forgiven him for the team he picked back in May 2001, that included Michael Stewart, Luke Chadwick and Ronnie Wallwork, for the visit of Derby County. “We saw their team and thought we had a little chance,” Jim Smith, the Derby manager, said.

He was proved right. Derby celebrated the most unlikely victory at the home of the champions, securing their top-flight status at City’s expense, and the joking between Ferguson and Smith at the final whistle still rankles among blue die-hards.

Then there was the resting by Ferguson of senior players including Roy Keane, Wayne Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy at home to West Bromwich Albion towards the end of the 2004-05 season, and the improbable draw at Old Trafford that helped Bryan Robson’s side to safety.

Most notoriously, Neil Warnock will never shed the bitterness he feels having seen Ferguson rest more than half his first team against West Ham United on the final day of the 2006-07 season. Carlos Tévez scored and Sheffield United were relegated.

Ferguson was looking after United in every case, and will make no apologies for that. Few neutrals condemned him for it. No doubt he will be equally understanding when questions about Benítez, integrity and team selection are put to him before Sunday.

BREAKING NEWS: Liverpool team to face Chelsea just in. 1 Ken Dodd, 2 Cilla Black, 3 Bob Carolgees, 4 Sonia, 5 Jimmy Corkhill, 6 Derek Hatton, 7 Mimi Maguire, 8 Holly Johnson, 9 Sinbad the window cleaner, 10 Spit the dog and, of course, 11 Lucas Leiva.

[Shanks]

If other results go against us, I'd put out a full strength team so Fergie has no complaints. However, I'd go 4-4-2 with a line up as follows:

Lucas
Kuyt Gerrard Aqua Benayoun
Agger Babel Reina Johnson
Carra Masch

Needs to be done..

Reina as an outfield player..

He'd be worse than Carra for shoutin his mouth off.
Stevie at CB is a position I'd expect him to take up when he hits 40.

[Vermilion]

I just know we'll win this game, i'm so sure that if someone gave me some cash i'd put the lot on us winning, no fear, it's a bloody cert, it just is..it's that Whiskey faced git's luck, we can't lose..believe me.

just ring..07749235961 with your credit card details. thank you.(all usual cards taken, no paypal)


Minimum stake...£1,000. No time wasters.

[Shanks]

From Paddy Power.. bit harsh..

Liverpool v Chelsea

HOME 3/1
AWAY 5/2
DRAW 10/11

.

[Fernandinho]

doesnt kuyt play right back anyway under 4-2-3-1?

[Shaggy]

Just got this **** off a Manc which is being sent around amongst their lot...

We've had tsunamis, twisters, earthquakes, 9/11 and even volcanic ash. No we are faced with a fate worse than death, a favour off a Scouser. This for the Red Army is pure torture, our fate is in the hands of granny bashing , bin dipping, light fingered parasites, so on Sunday as we secretly cheer, just remember the most important thing. A SCOUSER IS FOR ONE GAME, NOT FOR LIFE.

[Craig_H]

From Paddy Power.. bit harsh..

Liverpool v Chelsea

HOME 3/1
AWAY 5/2
DRAW 10/11

.

That's very very weird. A draw is never odds-on. Never seen it before in my life. It's almost implying some kind of fix, with that set of odds. Which is bizarre, cos a draw wouldnt really benefit either side.

[Chrono]

Why can't the other results come in before our game arrghhhh, even one result would let us know if we should chuck the game. The worst case scenario here is we win, give the Mancs the title and then still not get 4th. I think I'd cry.

[Shaggy]

Why can't the other results come in before our game arrghhhh, even one result would let us know if we should chuck the game. The worst case scenario here is we win, give the Mancs the title and then still not get 4th. I think I'd cry.

Terrible situation innit, ****ing terrible. More than anything I hope we somehow blag 4th but as has been said, if a result or two goes against us then **** it, hope we lose.

[Norbs]

If other results go against us, I'd put out a full strength team so Fergie has no complaints. However, I'd go 4-4-2 with a line up as follows:

Lucas
Kuyt Gerrard Aqua Benayoun
Agger Babel Reina Johnson
Carra Masch

[Neil Young]

Just got this **** off a Manc which is being sent around amongst their lot...

Football tribalism - the seemingly acceptable face of bigotry,

[Exiled_red]

Just got this **** off a Manc which is being sent around amongst their lot...

Bloody Mancs

I really really hate them