Giving the younger posters a run-out- Carling Cup 2011/12

.

glad I'm out of this thread

shit competition

what's worse, the SPL or the carling cup

Carling Cup is more competitive tbf

also more likely to lead to a team having a good run in Europe

lol

hmm

Anticipated some poor stuff from fresh new talent, instead it's just a couple of former contenders performing light-years from their best.

With nobody watching.

Carling Cup 2011/12

"I've yet to win a Carlsberg Cup tie, or whatever you call it."

Carling is better than Carlsberg tbh according to pub pricing policy too so the competition is obv going somewhere

gonna watch villa bolton

City are supposed to be fielding Hargreaves tonight. If I had him, I wouldn't be wasting one of his appearances on this.

Off to the Emirates tonight to support Shrewsbury. On form - five wins in six - Shrews are a better bet than Arsenal. It is, of course, possible the quality of their opposition has been lower.

they've played liverpool.......

And they beat Man U in preseason, if memory serves right. And, for that all-important ILX connection, Shrews striker Jake Robinson last season called Dorian L a "cunt" on Twitter, for not liking the Kanye album as much as Jake and his mates.

Should probably bump this. Not really looking forward to the Utd game after seeing that lineup though

Jake Robinson OTM

are spurs plain? On road to galway to see TTSS

No Ryo? Boooo! Intrigued by our bench though and glad to see Miquel given a go over Squlolci

where are the cool kids getting their streams these days?

I've only found audio for the Arsenal match.

hmmm our reserves are 2-0 up already maybe they're trying to tell Mick something

Red Legend M. Owen opens the scoring

ahoy hoy i keep reading there is no tv for the arsenal match.man u leeds is here http://www.firstrowsports.tv/watch/81510/2/watch-leeds-united-vs-manchester-united.html michael owen w/ a goal just now

Shrewsbury! How bad can it get for Arsenal?

shrewsbury!

You might not wanna be watching the match anyway hoy

looooooooooooool

Wenger's safe guys, don't sweat it

in fact not looooool arsenal is on my coupon ffs

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

at some point those looooools are going to have turn into actual, choking tears

Yeah this is past being funny imo

rong

'for a supporter' was implied there

Kenwyne Jones hurt, Crouch on vs Spurs.

Pretty sure Arsenal have scored from the roar i can hear out my window.

looool

Nil-nil?

An Arsenal-supporting lion has wandered past? (xp)

ffs. i actually said when i was walking past the bookies earlier this evening, "i bet owen scores a couple tonight". whenever i get a hunch i'm always right, but i never put the bet on.

was that a good goal?

oh come on, this has much further and deeper psychological LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLs coming in the next couple months.

aoc!

The real lol is you trying to follow this match and ponder the Old Testament at the same time, imo.

old testament god really has it in for arsene.

pfft i'd think he'd be pals w/ arsene considering all this 'getting the mistress pregnant' shit going on w/ Abraham and Lot.

Aneke got his debut! 1 minute against Shrewsbury! It all started here, not on telly!

(Ok so Aneke is the post-Wilshere yut hype machine going on in the Arsenal blogs. They talk about him like he is the second coming of Paddy.)

The club-channel commentary thing is such a strange concept. With other clubs you might get ultrapartisan lols out of it, but being Arsenal it was all trying to be good-natured and a little shamefaced about it. The overall effect's a bit like BBC coverage of a plucky brit no-hoper trailing in fifteenth in some minor Olympic event.

stoke- spurs never going to end 6-6 in penalties

ah, stoke win 7-6

13 goal thriller

Arsenal were lucky to go in a half time level. Shrewsbury showed the benefits of going straight for goal when you have the chance, rather than trying to play 329 passes around the edge of the box. Second half was more to plan for Arsenal.

Gerrard on the bench.

hargreaves starting for city tonight. hope he does well. gutted i missed out on tix for brighton game tonight. divided loyalties but LFC need it more and albion got a big game against Leeds Friday night(fucked scheduling imo)

oooh does that mean gerrard will be starting sometime soon? not that i care for him, its just i wanna beat all y'all in the ff draft

lovely stuff

bellamy 1-0, suarez assist

Lovely movement. Bellamy looks a decent fit in this side. Liverpool are so much better that the only real issue is how committed they are to closing this one out.

Goal for Hargreaves!

hargreaves 1-0! so happy for him

What happens to Carroll after this? Not only is Bellamy obviously the right fit here, ultramobile keep-it-on-the-ground is clearly how this side has to play. Maybe move the big lad back to partner Coates?

starting to think that finishing is the weakest part of suarez's game.

Ha, yeah. He hit the post, to be fair to him.

2018:Chris Weale makes a good save from Rudy Gstede, gathering at the second attempt after the Cardiff striker is played in by Filip Kiss.

distinct fm regens vibe about this update

I love Bellamy but I don't think you'll get peak performance out of him for a lot of the season, like Carroll he seems perfect as a squad player.

yeah this is brighton after all, it's kind of made for bellamy

carroll is great, fuck all yall

yeah andy carroll just seems like a bizarre purchase, even if you don't take the price into consideration. LFC look best when ultra mobile, and downing/henderson/bellamy fit this (the fulham away template if you will) Carroll seems like he is so out of place. Not sure if it's his fault so much as the fault of the way the rest of the team plays when he's in it tbh
xp

Mario!

i'm not dissing Carroll! just saying he's better deployed in the right situation rather than expected to shearer on and on every match

ALMOST BOOM!

penalty imo

not so sure on replay

God our defence is ropey

2025: GOALFLASH Cardiff 1-1 Leicester (Steve Howard)

as i post my carroll outburst something roars in all the big men

Carroll is fine probably, and potentially fantastic - it's just, what do Liverpool do with him? His talents aren't useful to the rest of the team, and vice versa.

tbh i just decided to coin the verb "to shearer" and needed an excuse to use it

verb
1. deliver goods as powerhouse CF
2. drone featurelessly for money
3. poleaxe less popular player and get away with acting all butthurt about it

Poor Doni.

yeah if you don't get a run out in the CC then you ain't gonna play at all are you?

even gomes got a game in the cc

typical liverpool...capitulate at first sign of a roaring championship crowd.

getting pasted this half

could see it coming. we'll concede here and prob lose. but let's not forget lucas a real presence at centre mid.

opta stats show he did not make a single mistake while completely going missing at any point in any game last season

burn

here comes another rafa player

sturridge and cech both off injured?

and alex sent off

wait what, vicente plays for brighton?

they have aimar and albelda on the bench

turned down silva iirc

i hate watching matches like this where as soon as the prem team (and it's usually liverpool i watch obv) strings three shit passes together the commentators are acting like normal service resumed, an easy win etc. when the fact is liverpool could concede any time in a game they simpley haven't controlled, just as is the case 75 per cent of the time when they play supposedly lesser opposition. do these dicks never learn?

whoops, simply...

kuyt deserved that anyway...needs to start, he was very good tonight.

they hit the post like a million times ronan

were still shit...and now it's 2-1

CARRA OUT

Seriously, I'm fed up of us going at teams 100mph and it's "hell yeah, pass and move is BACK", then Carra gets tired and drags the team back to the edge of the box and we shit ourselves.

wanna swap him for swlolci?

otm..carra can read the game fairly well but his actual football skills are fucking horrendous. he's such a hoof merchant.

He's been responsible for 5 of the last 7 goals we've conceded, but will no doubt start again on Saturday. Now tell me he's being picked on form and not past glories with a straight face.

dunno if it's past glories or a lack of imagination on Kenny's part or misguided belief that he brings something morale-wise

Ok I'm probably being harsh. Carra defended well tonight if I'm being honest. But this sitting off teams is doing my head in. And the only explanation as far as I can see is Carra. See how deep he was for Spurs' 2nd and 4th goals on Sunday, then waving his arm in the air calling for offside. What's that all about? We did it against Bolton; played some excellent stuff, but if it wasn't 100mph we were screwed. Grumble grumble grumble.

Masch playing central defence for Barca on his own right now incidentally

weht pique?

H8 U Hargreaves

Lfc look exposed at the back, it's the lack of a genuinely good DMC.

Personally I think it's the lack of a truly good CB

yeah, seems obvious that carra's playing because there's no alternative?

If you think Lucas is the problem then, erm, lol.

lucas is pretty much bang in the middle of the two main schools of thought on him

Why the fuck would we want the top tackler in the league?

Skrtel and Coates v Wolves is the answer.

Dunno, who's there to shore Liverpool's midfield up defensively if Lucas is injured or on an offday? Given the wealth of attacking midfielders Dalglish has at his disposal the squad seems kinda threadbare in that department.

definitely, tho you can see why coates hasn't been thrown in immediately, i think there's no option at this stage

Why the fuck would we want the top tackler in the league?

i think i used to say this about denilson 2 years ago

Dalglish's overreliance on Lucas is my biggest concern, Matt. I suppose Spearing would be the one to take his place, although I'm not sure he has the awareness or discipline that's required. If he was to take his place then I'd want him alongside Gerrard, who's at least shown that he can play with restraint. Adam's lack of stamina and and indiscipline is what's exposed the defence this season, not Lucas.

It was never true about Denilson, though.

in 2009 he had the second best tackle rate (behind mikel) and best interception rate. stats didn't mean he wasn't gash tho

personally i like lucas but he doesn't seem right for liverpool, maybe? like maybe he'd be better in the new set-up chelsea are building w/ meireles, ramires and [whoever they ultimately get instead of modric]

lucas prob best behind an all-out attacking central player in a midfield two. That's why playing him with mascherano was imbalanced

So what exposed the defence last season? The only reason Lucas is the top tackler is cos we collectively give the ball away so much. Now that we are a team that tries to play attacking football he's even more exposed. Why did Brighton have 61 per cent possession on Wednesday? Is that the defence's fault now?

Lucas hardly ever gives the ball away though, as the stats show. And, what, he's only the top tackler because we give the ball away so much? Well, surely it's a good thing that he's trying to win the ball back? Brighton had 61% because we dropped deeper and deeper and we weren't able to keep the ball for sustained periods, not because Lucas and Lucas alone is incapable of keeping the ball or whatever else you want to blame him for. Watch him and him alone for 90 minutes. Look at where he positions himself in relation to the ball. Look at how utterly selfless he is. Also, why is it always Lucas that takes the flack for a bad team performance? Why not look at the midfield as a whole, and see if the rest of the midfield is doing its job properly. Lee Dixon was on the money in his Spurs analysis - if anything Lucas was too eager to do his bit; he should have said 'fuck it' and not bothered to close the ball down. Lucas has looked sluggish at times this season, but has still performed admirably - I put that down to Dalglish's overreliance on him and the fact that he badly needs a rest. I just don't get what it is that people expect Lucas to do. Thankfully most people have cottoned on to what he brings to the team, and the number of haters is diminishing. Also, if it's attacking, pass and move you want - and I'm not talking Spurs-lite 100mph football, I mean proper, Shankly-inspired "cat and mouse" pass and move football, the type of football that resulted in the goal of the season at Wolves last season - then it's absolutely essential that Lucas is in the team.

Also he took in a homeless family and rose three days after crucifixion.

Really? Missed that somehow.

Dunno though, what I thought in the Spurs game was that there was no one in the Liverpool midfield stopping us getting the ball out to Bale and breaking. Like time and time again it's the stubborn sides that get in the way of every pass that are Spurs' undoing and Liverpool's midfield didn't get anywhere near doing that. That's probably not Lucas's fault alone but against teams like Spurs, Liverpool need someone else in there who's either first-class at reading the game or a proper niggly bastard. I think Lucas is pretty good but he's not at Mascherano or De Jong level.

lucas is ok, doesn't do anything particularly well imo but sticks to his role and works hard off the ball. Wouldn't tend to blame him if liverpool are misfiring, he's a metronome not a creative fulcrum.

He's no sandro

He tackles very well, in that he stays on his feet and keeps himself in the game. He's also a beast in the air.

yeah he's a proper tackler alright. Hadn't noticed him in the air tbh.

Look at how many of his headers are also actually attempted passes. His technique is incredible.

that does kinda sound like you're reaching a little tbh man

Not every single header, but a fair few. Look for yourself.

Liverpool seem to lack either the players or the desire to circulate the ball in central midfield, so their rates of possession and pass completion are low compared to other top clubs. Should just commit to a counter-attacking style imo.

Should have kept hold of Raul Mereiles.

^^^ CAN'T BE REPEATED OFTEN ENOUGH PLANK DALGLISH WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??

I don't even think he's that great but LFC needed him much more than Chelsea do.

xposts And Aquilani ;)

KD appears to favour a fast-paced, attacking style of football, rather than the "cat and mouse" football I keep banging on about, which concerns me. Because for all the talk of pass and fucking move, it's nothing like the pass and fucking move the U18s and Reserves play, which may render the fantastic work Rafa did in overhauling the Academy utterly worthless. Not that KD's style can't be successful, of course.

Think Chelsea needed Mereiles or someone like him quite a bit too. Ramires is underrated but not especially creative and Lampard is past-it, Liverpool at least have some creativity in midfield but Chelsea were desperately short in that regard before their late signings.

Modric would have been *the* signing for them I think

fuckem

and their 20m bid.

gerrard isn't that player either but will add dynamism at least. Henderson worth a shot, he's no winger

I read that when AVB took over Porto he was thrilled to see Meireles on his way out and the far superior, Modric-level João Moutinho come in. That would have been a huge signing.

Chelsea just need to bite the bullet and drop Lamps for Meireles really, bring Fat Frank on as an impact sub when they desperately need somebody to ping a few shots in

Pass completion rates so far this season:
City 83.7
Utd 82.2
Spurs 81.7
Chelsea 81.5
Swansea 81.3
Arsenal 81.2
Liverpool 77.0

and % of passes in central midfield:
Arsenal 30.7
City 29.6
Chelsea 25.6
Spurs 25.4
Swansea 25.4
Utd 24.8
Liverpool 19.9

Go Swansea!

I mean it's not much use if you can't score or defend but hey at least part of their team is working.

They're a lot of fun to watch.

if lucas is such a good tackler why does he have to kick people so much

tbf 'kickin ppl a lot' is v much part of the 'epl defensive midfielder' job description

unlike our sophisticated continental cousins. you never see those spanish or italian lads kick anyone.

best tackler in the league before Lucas was obv Mascherano, lending credence to this point (xp)

fair enough, of the defensive midfielder role in general then (not thudd or song tho obv)

I thought everyone had written Song off as a dirty tackler as well now, for stamping on The Boy with the Thorn in His Side?

that doesn't make you dirty, it makes you a UN envoy

lucas is ok

darragh otm. tho generous. fuck all this opta shit, not in some "oh i believe what i feel" religious way, just lucas is like a player that works better in a system designed to negate teams, and that's about it. is he the best midfielder lfc could have in that role. the answer is lightyears away from yes.

basically there's been a cancer with lfc for the last 10/11 years whereby negative average players have hung around and seen the club do okay at best but never truly challenge. whether or not dalglish succeeds lucas is one of the last remaining tumors of this era.

masch was a negative great player, but a luxury for a side full of negating cunts, aka rafa/houllier hell

Who do you rate most highly of the current squad?

imo

Gk reina
Def- agger but injuries taken in- enrique prob
Mf- gerrard tbf but downing's p good
Cf- suarez

For 'best players by position' that's not actually all that great is it? Maybe i'm forgetting ppl cos it's 6.30.

I like Kelly, Enrique very good, Downing, Skrtel and Agger, Kuyt should start, Gerrard on form would be good, Suarez clearly good, I think Henderson could be good in future. Still think Adam is useful, not perfect by any means. Lucas tries and his heart is in the right place but i think central mid is easily the biggest problem area.

yeah, ye've quantity but probably not quality in midfield, and possibly neither at centre back depending on injuries and coates adjusting. I'm actually talking myself into believing they'll struggle for fifth but i dunno i think they'll prob be in the mix with us and arsenal.

should buy someone like aquilani for CM

i contend that there's something embarrassing abt the nature of lucas' fouling. like mascherano was "passionate", "committed" & "competitive" whereas lucas just aims a kick at yr shins because if u both play football he'll lose.

he has improved steadily tho and could still be getting better.

Fuck aquilani

lucas is like a player that works better in a system designed to negate teams
But is also the epitome of what Shankly and Paisley talked about re. passing the ball and tackling ;)

I don't need to defend Lucas any more though. I've a feeling he's going to be here for a long time.

Stoke away btw. There goes our Carling Cup dream!

Oh fuck it, I like defending Lucas. Some of his best performances came in games we battered the opposition; Fulham and Birmingham last season spring to mind, Stoke the year before. Do you remember Fulham away? He was laughably good that day, both in defence and attack. Some of his passes were Xabi Alonso-esque, and I'm not even exaggerating. He'd be captain were it not for Gerrard and Carragher. Don't need *WORLD CLASS* in every position either. You need people who do their job properly and work for their team.

Home to Citeh. Cup's got our name on it.

notha young englisher getting his debut in yennaris.

only got 5live going - can't seem to find a stream?

Not on TV anywhere apparently

sky sports two

Vidic booked already

yeah my dad just told me on the phone. big surprise.

berbatov one nil nice barca lite style

Morrison better get some minutes this half

isn't yennaris the kid on twitter who pimps out their cars?

park scores, 5live commentator gets incredibly 'is this racist?' with how he talks about how south korea will celebrate him scoring in a carling cup game.

WOULD JU BELIEVE IT!

http://cfile207.uf.daum.net/image/1971FD374EA714620B9855

http://cfile214.uf.daum.net/image/171FA13B4EA7153D0BE33C

"It's a wok in the park," says John Terry.

BBC maintaining the highest standards as always

Aldershit threaten again and it's that man Gutteridge who has a free-kick from the edge of the area saved by Manchester United keeper Ben Amos. They're doing their best to take at least one fond memory away from this game.

Bugger. Genuinely thought we had a shot at this. Perfunctory Arsenal triumph ahoy!

I'm astonished Chelsea let anelka take penalties. He's awful at them. This suarez goal sounds good i'll have to watch the BBC round up tonight.

So two missed pens in Toffees vs Chelski?

looks like
oh and another suarez goal.

What's with all the missed penalties this season?

right? bizarre. at a guess i'd say 40% have been missed this season!

dunno what kind of team stoke put out but that's a good result for the 'pool tonight. Man City get 5. They are ridiculous this season. I hope we're playing them at home after a gruelling away game in champs league. The idea of silva et al against carra is an unhappy one.

Pretty sure I read something saying more than half have been missed. QPR scored one on Sunday but even that was rubbish.

reffing absolutely shite tonight

City superb, wolves not bad

Chelsea/Anelka's shit penalty/prick with the laser pen cost me a bundle last night :(

oof, wolves got their arses felt on that 5th city goal there.

city were brilliant, a johnson and scapuzzi in particular

and now that i've caught up, carra should have been sent off, hopeless 'challenge'

both his and drenthe's second yellow looked ok from some angles tbh

and now that i've caught up, carra should have been sent off, hopeless 'challenge'

i agree drenthe's was a little harsh, he more ran into the guy rather than attempted to tackle him. thought carra's was dangerous and fortunate not to make proper contact.
also the one time suarez stays on his feet the ref doesn't give him the penalty he should.

haha chris

did you see the whole game Chris? Maxi looked good on the highlights.

yeah, tbh i was hoping suarez would stop, put his foot on the ball and eyeball the ref until he gave it

His reputation's preceded him there I'm afraid, Gary

Damn, you've got me doing it now

the internal voice is a nonsense, bill

xposts. Yeah I saw the whole game. I thought Maxi looked off the pace at times - understandable considering he's hardly played this season. Still looked class though.

Carragher was alright to be fair, apart from backing off to the 6 yard box for their goal and not reacting to Jones until it was too late.

Error for their goal aside, Coates looked really good.

This is our Europe

Manchester City: Hart, Richards, Savic, Lescott, Clichy, Barry, de Jong, A. Johnson, Milner, Balotelli, Agüero. Subs: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Onuoha, Hargreaves, Nasri, Dzeko

Liverpool: Reina; Kelly, Agger, Skrtel, G Johnson; Gerrard, Spearing, Henderson, Downing; Carroll, Bellamy. Subs: Enriqué, Coates, Kuyt, Carragher, Shelvey, Adam, Doni.

battle of the midfield cloggers

gerrard, milner and barry are pretty uncloggish for english midfielders

describing the execrable spearing in such terms demeans all honest cloggers

you've got to lift it there son

at no stage did I believe carroll would finish that

stewart downing, £20m

fuck off hart

lol

savic is hopeless

no adam so we've a chance to score this
calling a hart save tho

sweet pen

ugh lasers

we've been great so far... only 2 hrs 45 mins to go

citeh are toilet tho

Citeh obviously want to concentrate on Europe.

carroll looks knackered to me

used for glue

christ Lawro

did lawro just say that spearing had filled the gap left by lucas manfully? Sir, I know Lucas, and Jay Spearing is no Lucas.

they were talking about wanking before that

that pass from carroll was criminally bad

Milner good with Balotelli there

his lack of athleticism is quite striking, not that he ever had good first-step speed but he was never as shit as this, also strangely diminished power

damn

Since Carroll's miss I've been working on a Klata Scale of Striking Confidence, based on the taking of one-on-ones. It goes something like:

0 takes it early, rolls pitifully wide
1 poor touch, goalie gathers
2 dallies, defender gets back to make tackle
3 shoots low, like an idiot, into the goalkeeper's legs
4 blazes wide
5 good save by keeper, raises eyes heavenwards
6 as for 3, but somehow goes through goalie's legs
7 places beyond keeper's dive
8 little dink
9 takes it round the keeper, strokes home
10 round the keeper, blasts home from a yard, roars through the net
11 round the keeper, screws wide from unnecessarily tight angle, massive grin

loved the "pleasedosomethingcrazypleasedosomethingcrazypleasedosomethingcrazy" camera following Mario every step of the way off the field there

no one even knows how to take around the keeper these days

that balotelli/petrol station story was def true tho

you never know with mario
hes a livewire
a breath of fresh air

good stuff Ismael, unlike the last 30 mins of this
I'd be inclined to swap 0 takes it early, rolls pitifully wide
with 2 dallies, defender gets back to make tackle

loved the "pleasedosomethingcrazypleasedosomethingcrazypleasedosomethingcrazy" camera following Mario every step of the way off the field there

they probably followed him out onto the streets of Manchester hoping to capture one of his acts of fictional erratic generosity

awful from sktrel

phew

Gerrard simply wasn't going to accept a card there

milner's attempted 'finish' was terrible

gerrard leading v britishly there, cleans out opponents, fucks ref out of it, fucks teammate out of it

Exemplary

Has Shearer got his suit on the wrong way up?

be honest alan liverpool passed it well for 15 mins at best

lol Ismael

wtf there was nothing wrong with what savic did right at the start there

"might" sound a bit stupid

lol at this graphic behind the spurs match update

Shearer - dalglish will be saying "beware of something from Man City"

transmission???

Wtf they play Joy Division as the teams run out here?

What Alan? WHAT?
dance dance dance etc

Curtis was a City supporter

Figures

they were playing Rock N Roll Star at the end of the first half, just underlining City's trendy credentials I guess

So he was. If only he'd lived, he could've penned their 81 cup final ditty.

guuuuuuy MOWbray

City without their 3 best players + Mario are nigh on unwatchable.

Yeah this is terrible fare. I'd put on Spurs-Everton but being able use my actual telly is still a novelty.

carroll's first touch is carlton palmer-esque

what an inevitably shit conclusion to that break

Gah!

aguero should have gone for the pen

The camera panned out at the end to reveal Carroll only just running into the City half.

I'm considering a positionally inept XI - him, Luiz, Rene Higuita in goal etc

'running'
xp

Oof, well done Reina

de jong is the most boring player

i think he added the psycho tackles to provide a tiny lil bit of intrigue

3 full backs

He was running though! If he'd been walking or jogging I could forgive him as sheer laziness - as it is I'm just wondering where exactly he could have started his run.

is aurelio on the bench? we can get 4 on before the end

kompany's wife a total babe btw

sorry

they looked scarily alike

carroll was probably marking the space by the near post from the corner
xxp

She really was, and I'd not be mistaking her for Vincent at any rate.

okay, kompany a total babe btw
xp

It was in the eyes, a certain mournful quality

we're looking p ragged now.

is gerrard still on the pitch?

he was walking in the vicinity while Nasri shot there

is KK gonna bugger this up?

Carroll won a header!

That could be the break he needed to go on a long run of...winning headers

Aw City fans are so 'over' the Carling Cup, that was us a few seasons ago *wistful sigh*

Another CB

Oh God. 6 defenders!!!!!

we're scotland

with added carragher.
shameful tbh

city have been crap but deserve an equaliser cos this is some negative shit from lfc right here.

Wouldn't fancy either of these sides against Palace or Cardiff tbh.

Mowbray: Aguero yet to score outside Manchester or London, maybe that'll change at Wigan on Monday
Lawrenson: Just tell him it's near London
Mowbray: It...it's near Manchester

#awesomeuseoflicensepayersmoneyguys

at least they're not talking about wanking

chest control followed by volleyed hoof out of play

Ha, this is *so* terrible

another volley out of play, is this rugby i'm watching?

this is an and thats what they done aaaalll night game

they never gave city a moments restbite

red card tackle

they said look we'll let u have the ball and try to play thru us

carroll's found his position

darragh otm btw

yup that's a red

Oof, that was a tackle right enough

lol at how similar that was to kompany's

Fucking hell at Carroll's blind pass just now

everywhere i look i see reds

Aye, red card and ban not four days ago.

aside from the first 15 mins only the spurs game has depressed me more this season

claudio reina?

Defo a red irrespective of which En Vogue Interpretation track you're listening to.

"played really well liverpool"!!!!! Fuck off Hansen!

Mancini isn't happy

A+ shitting it by interviewer there

blaming the guys in the studio!

HERE HE IS

they were so delighted

'maybe the pretty stuff will come at anfield'

great advert for the premier league

love the way shearer has become andy carroll correspondent.

"alan you're a big ignorant bollocks who played for newcastle united, just what will andy carroll be thinking right now?"

BBC 1, 7.30pm: Manchester City v. Liverpool, Carling Cup Semi-Final.
ITV, 7;30pm: The Unforgettable Leslie Crowther.

Viewing figures should make interesting reading.

Enjoying seeing our new lad Wilfried Zaha getting kicked up & down the left wing by various Cardiff rogues tonight.

palace cardiff?

1-0 to Cardiff, pretty much all Cardiff first half

They ran a montage of shock finals at half-time - two of the 80s winners are now non-league clubs.

bit scrappy but ambitious enough so far this half from both teams where's this zaha lad

Far side. He looks pacy but not really in full control of what he's doing tbh. I'd have him in our first team, like.

Ooh, save.

yeah this is ok stuff this

whittingham should have made it in a pl team by now

This is what the EPL was like in the nineties, so he kind of has.

they it is

This ain't looking good for Cardiff

good finish here

Hahaha! So many ways to not win a football match!

It could only have been a better finish if he'd tucked it away as the whistle blew.

Who are these loons in the crowd looking all excited about the penalties? These cannot be enjoyable moments.

Kenny Misser, ladies and gentlemen

One good penalty among them

Cardiff it is then

rub penos

plenty to like about liverpool so far tonight

?

they're looking good

2003: Edin Dzeko goes down from the following corner - and Charlie Adam does catch him as he clears the ball away. Not a lot of appealing from the visitors though, and referee Phil Dowd is uninterested.

Hate this shite, appealing has no bearing whatsoever on the correctness of the decision. Also they did appeal! Looked a penalty imo.

eh imo dzeko came and managed to get a leg ahead of adams' swing, find it hard to give it

fuuuuick

Missed that. Streaming's a nightmare these days, I keep getting ambushed by guerilla ads for cilit bang, etc which make the feed for long enough for de Jong to do that.

make the feed stick

Trying to decide on the lesser of two evils here.

I'm glad there's still one area where we can compete.

happy for lfc to do a job tonight tbh

that was a screamer. but also a fluke.

well reffed

Think I want Liverpool to win

Awesome technique from Lescott there.

loving the ref's overblown motions

Don't see how that can be a penalty tbh, but who cares, at least it can't go to penalties now.

Tough to see deflection from refs position. It happened quickly and he was straight in front. not a pen but i don't blame the ref for giving it.

i know fuck all about the rules, but ive always felt the intentionality of a hand-ball should be moot if a player's arms impede the progress of the ball in the box, especially in a goal-bound shot or potentially dangerous cross.

it came of this leg though

i realise that might be beyond stupid.

Dave Jones "it's not a penalty but Liverpool deserved a goal" aye ok then let's make the rules about deserving.

not a pen but i don't blame the ref for giving it.

I'd have to blame the ref, given that no-one else made the decision.

I agree with jim tbh. Judging whether it's deliberate is pretty much impossible when the defender is hurling himself in the way of a shot and I'd give benefit of the doubt to the attacking team.

It's like they reached in Ray Winstone's nightmares and made an advert out of them.

Not when the ball clearly bounces up off your leg to strike your hand. The shot has already been blocked and the ball is headed straight up. xp

xp I mean, there's always a margin of error, and that decision was hard enough to be in that margin.

it came of this leg though

of which leg?

doesn't matter where it came from his hands were in thee air

I'm in the 'not a penalty' camp. There was fuck all Richards could have done to stop it hitting his arm.

not have his hands above his head, in the air

Honestly shocked at Deems calling that a pen and thinking it's ok for Adam kick Dzeko because he's too slow to get the ball.

My dad appears to be one of these people who think it doesn't matter because Liverpool are playing better anyway. He also appears to have shifted his English allegiances from Arsenal to Liverpool. I might have to disown him. Or at least not phone him again this evening.

ha maybe onimo, maybe, but tbf i'm just calling them as i see them

and yet the bent penalty at the weekend was a cert imo, and i couldn't tell you the difference o_0

saave

how's he booked kolarov for that

Was just about to post about that weird Bellamy incident (where he appeared to mock strangle someone) and missed the goal

vg

Get in!

i hate to change my mind about anything on ilx but kolarov, eesh

We can be pretty good, sometimes.

Bloke in the crowd was clearly celebrating with a bottle of beer in his hand. What is the world coming to?

Nice goal there - I'm still amazed Bellamy's star fell so far in the last season or twoo. I thought he was top 5 in the prem before City decided he wouldn't make their 25.

no real width as such, but a lovely line in curling passes from the flank into bellamy's path

Want to turn over to Barca-Real but this is too watchable.

bellamy's star didn't really fall ability-wise- city just able to waste talent like that to prevent eg spurs getting him

as usual we're only good against the top 4/5...spurs fail excepted.

love bellamy.

Agreed, but top 5 prem vs outside the top 25 for City (City of 18 months ago) is still a huge gap.

It was just personalities though? He was the Tevez of his day, except not a joke.

kuyt has been good tonight, esp second half. liverpool still got very little through the middle tho, so many wasted crosses with barely any attackers in the box.

i hate to change my mind about anything on ilx but kolarov, eesh

The point always was that he's not a defender

Andy Carroll reduced to time wasting sub in last minute of the lesser cup.

well done lads

indeed. in the final of the world's pinnacle club competition again.

dalglish is crying

Come on, it was a pretty great night. I'm as pleased for the League Cup as I am for Liverpool, actually.

dunno, i found it a bit of a forced attempt at "famous night at anfield"... like a herbal high champions league knockout win. but i will try and go wembley.

need to recognise liverpool's level at the moment. and winning a domestic cup is pretty much the most that can be expected.

which is why it was depressing.

liverpool fans...

You gotta take what you can and frankly knocking out the league leaders and doing better than United/Chelsea/Tottenham/Arsenal isn't anything to sniff at.

ffs@the stupid fucking circular attitudes on this board.

it's just nothing worth getting carried away about it and it's embarrassing watching fans do so, which is exactlyh the sort of shit that people would be complaining about here if someone said OMG WE'RE GOING TO WIN THE CARLING CUP, KING KENNY, WE'RE BACK. christ...you're all so randy for "sense of entitlement".

yeah i'd agree with that, but it just didn't strike me as that big a deal really?

lol xp missed u man

anyway they'll prob lose to cardiff, let's face it, for that team cardiff is a way tougher game than man city.

not even being facetious when i say that.

yeah the space behind the fullbacks city were allowing was cruel

savic seems to be tactically suspect, tho decent if he gets close enough to you? bellamy had joy of him and lescott all night. if cardiff set-up deep liverpool will struggle to create anything without that space- or at least they have any time i've seen them this last few months

last few years...it's still basically rafa problems, can't break down teams, good at counter-attacking and good when in the lead.

better without the ball etc

lack of width still the one imo

kuyt was as good tonight as i've seen him in quite a while

kuyt a whuyl

he was excellent yeah, held it up really well, good touches. it's rare he's played that well in recent times.

i think they have more width than has been the case but there's never anyone coming through the middle, as i said, the amount of aimless crosses.

gerrard doesn't seem to be rampaging forward much, they could do with that.

what has happened downing/crossing

is it really that carroll's gone that bad all by himself? i can see suarez not getting on the end of much end product tbh, his game is a lot more about creating for himself from deep, but jesus it's easy to slag dalglish but who didn't think downing/carroll would just fuckin = goals all day at the start of the season

I was just messing LG. Now say something angry about Utd

downing started the season well but has gone into his shell, although his chance creation stats for the season are still good from what i can recall. was very good tonight.

adam's an enigma.

i've prob knocked the carling cup aplenty, but fuck it, i'm looking forward to wembley. not too downbeat about our longterm prospects just yet. just hope we don't shit ourselves if we don't make top 4 this season.

trophy and no top four looks a cert tbh- hopefully the yanks had a realistic long-term plan in place to allow for another year or two outside of cl- competition for that last spot is better than ever

adam's an enigma.

well the answer is obviously to stop thinking he's xabi alonso, move him up the pitch in the gerrard second striker role, don't give him any defensive responsibilities and don't let him anywhere near your own goal. more enigmatic wrt my feelings towards him on a daily basis.

No-one?

oh yeah

Tidy. Mon the Cardiff.

OH YEAH

http://i.imgur.com/zVLUE.png

Downing actually looking all right against a Championship side

Andy Carroll not so much...

he looks as good against a Championship side as he does against a Premier League side.

ok then

Plucky minnows pull back a lucky goal etc etc.

wow nice reactions

NOW WE GOT A CUP FINAL

Nice one. Fancied some penalties

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_m0YtPN5vgmI/TN4E8Ry0BnI/AAAAAAAAVLY/meyWTLAQ3F4/dancing%20bear.gif

wonder save

wao, perfect form of a penalty save.

wtf

Now that's what I call a miss.

and that's one of the worst penalties ever

buddy can you spare a liveblog?

pool win it on penalties

http://www.picturesof.net/_images_300/A_Crying_Teddy_Bear_Royalty_Free_Clipart_Picture_091121-145277-077009.jpg

some shocking penalties in there. Anthony Gerrard with the losing kick

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_m0YtPN5vgmI/TN4E8Ry0BnI/AAAAAAAAVLY/meyWTLAQ3F4/dancing%20bear.gifhttp://lh4.ggpht.com/_m0YtPN5vgmI/TN4E8Ry0BnI/AAAAAAAAVLY/meyWTLAQ3F4/dancing%20bear.gifhttp://lh4.ggpht.com/_m0YtPN5vgmI/TN4E8Ry0BnI/AAAAAAAAVLY/meyWTLAQ3F4/dancing%20bear.gif

fix obv

never in doubt

so relieved

Some absolutely terrible penalties there. Could have put money on Gerrard (S) and Miller missing though.

Gestede was so obviously going to miss. Looked completely fooked

dont think ive ever seen so many players out on their feet at penalties

ffs kenny is it really so hard to wear a suit on cup final day.

is dancing bear now an ilf meme because i'm cool with that

i could do without it

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_m0YtPN5vgmI/TN4E8Ry0BnI/AAAAAAAAVLY/meyWTLAQ3F4/dancing%20bear.gif

Charlie Adam's penalty was a disgrace. Actually a fineable offence imo. If his contract doesn't allow that then at the very least he should forfeit his winners medal (I know only the Carling Cup but still)

Carling Cup is still half a double

yah, the same half that also goes into 'dubious'

The Gerrard family needs to spend more time practicing penalties.

Adams' was one of the worst I've ever seen.

He was a pretty consistent penalty taker at Rangers, iirc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjvA3cYXR0U

Good boy, that Carra

"we'd love to have you, we'd love to have you"

ok Andy

The Gerrard family needs to spend more time practicing penalties.

steven hasn't missed one in fucking ages. he is generally v good these days.

btw YAY. i was at a funeral plus associated activities all weekend so missed the game, unfortunately. doesn't surprise me they struggled though, i think i said i expected that upthread.

sympathies.

thought lfc were ok for the first half but tbh only had half an eye on it and also had been watchin us collapse just before so maybe flattered by comparison

yesterday was fun and a nice distraction. we've ended the 'x years without a trophy' thing anyway, and if it gives certain players the kick up the arse they need to start performing regularly and to kick on for 4th then happy days. very happy for dirk and maxi, who i can't see being here next season unfortunately.

I missed the whole thing yesterday but very pleased. Shocking, Drogbinian miss from Adam though. Winning stuff is important I think, more so than what the stuff is, if only because being the type of squad/person who wins things is a quality of its own.

we were poor tbh. downing very good, skrtel excellent. just caught an interview with jose enrique, great to see how made up he was. i mean you can obv tell they're all happy, but he seemed particularly chuffed, lovely bloke. just hope our season doesn't fizzle out. can't see us getting 4th, but a big end to the season and going a bit further in the fa cup would be nice.

capital one cup yall
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1083841/capital-one-are-new-league-cup-sponsors?cc=5901