Times: Chelsea Given A Helping Hand

28 Sep 2005 Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea - CL Matchday 2

BBC - Liverpool and Chelsea cancelled each other out in a Champions League stalemate at Anfield.

Just put the goalless result aside, don't you think that Chelsea actually was nothing? Who says Chelsea is too strong for Liverpool? They were not EVEN that night, as Liverpool's obviously the better side. Chelsea couldn't even controll the ball and have too many silly mistakes, which I think made their place on the Premierleague table inconvincible. (Well, actually it's never convincing to me ever since this season.) While Liverpool played a great match. I was impressed, especially on Alonso and Hamann. They helped a lot keeping Liverpool's possession on the midfield, defended well and also made some great passing. Gerrard, Crouch and Garcia worked hard at the front. With the magnificent Anfield crowd, Liverpool looked really strong and aggressive.

However, it's a shame that the referee did a favor for them. Liverpool should have had a penalty early in the first half when Hyypia went down, tackled by Drogba. And, it's surely a handball for Gallas in the box as Carragher made a threatening header in the second half.

Rafa: "The penalty was clear watching the television. The question is when you play against a big team the small details make the difference." "We played a good game and for me we were better than Chelsea on the night." "We wanted to win the game and we tried to play with a high tempo and Crouch did well holding the ball up for us."

Carra: "It was a definite penalty, a certain penalty." "Before the game there was a lot of crying coming from their camp. They were crying about various things from last season and there were some sour grapes. But we have a little bit more dignity about this club than that and we will not cry too much about obvious decisions going against us."

Lampard: "Every team gives us different problems, and the problem was Crouchy." "He's very good at what he does, holding balls up and trying to bring people into the game and that was something to deal with." "Not only does he flick balls on, he brings people into play too. He's fresh and different."

Rafa: "I am sure they do not like playing Liverpool. They keep talking and talking about us. I think they are worried; I think they are afraid. I can't stop him talking about us but if they keep doing it, it means we are doing the right thing."

Carra: "We watched videos of Chelsea and when we saw their game against Bayern Munich, I couldn't remember seeing so many long balls since I started watching football in the 1980s."

Garrard: "Everyone is saying that they (Chelsea) are invincible and unbeatable, and that no-one was going to take any points off them but we have proved to ourselves that the gap is not that big." "Nevertheless the result on Wednesday gives us is a massive belief that we can match them again and take the game to them. It also instils a confidence in us that we can claim all three points."