Community Shield: Liverpool v Chelsea

[Oxy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/4784663.stm



Premiership champions Chelsea and FA Cup winners Liverpool meet on Sunday in the FA Community Shield - a prelude to the English top-flight season.

Many fans in Cardiff will be looking forward to seeing new Chelsea signings Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack, and Liverpool new boy Craig Bellamy.

But also of interest will be the latest locking of horns of the two managers - Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez.

Mourinho said on Friday the Liverpool boss "maybe has a problem with me".

But Benitez, who has repeatedly clashed with Mourinho in the past, said he would "not waste my time with games" ahead of Sunday's curtain-raiser.

The pair have met 10 times in competition since taking over their respective clubs in the summer of 2004, with Benitez coming out on top twice.

Both victories came in semi-finals, the Reds edging Chelsea in a thrilling Champions League semi-final in 2005 before beating them en route to lifting the FA Cup last term.

The bad blood between the two managers was re-ignited this sumemr when Mourinho claimed only Manchester United or Arsenal could stop Chelsea winning a third successive Premiership title.

He accused Liverpool of "negative tactics" but on Friday admitted the Reds will give his Premiership champions a tough test.

They have good players and nothing has changed for us, we know we must do our best to win


Mourinho said: "You can love or hate or prefer this style to that style, but you have to look at them as a difficult team to beat and a team that goes for every game with the intention of not losing or trying to win.

"They are a very difficult team to beat - that is why in 12 matches we won six, we draw two or three and we lost two or three.

"It is difficult to play against them."

Meanwhile, Benitez refused to be drawn into a war of words with Mourinho.

The Liverpool boss said: "I won't waste my time with games, our fans are more concerned about the team on the pitch than anything Jose or me say beforehand."

Benitez also refused to be intimidated by Chelsea's spending power which threatens to maintain the gap between them and the rest of the Premiership.

He said: "Chelsea have strengthened again, spent more money than anyone else again, but it has been like that for the last three summers.

"That is normal now every summer, but we will send out a team who will compete with them, man for man.

"It does not matter how much money they spend. They have good players and nothing has changed for us, we know we must do our best to win."

A host of World Cup stars will be missing from the Chelsea squad, as Mourinho has lost Joe Cole and Petr Cech to injury, William Gallas to an internal dispute and Claude Makelele because he needs rest.

But Liverpool will welcome back England's Peter Crouch after he was rested for the Champions League qualifier against Maccabi Haifa.

Shevchenko, the Ł30m signing from AC Milan, and Germany World Cup captain Ballack are both expected to start for Chelsea.

[Oxy]

Well it wont be a sell-out.

I've been trying to buy tickets since the 4th Aug (when they open it up to fan card holders) - but they refuse to post them out - they say you have to pick them up from the Anfield!!!

As for the game - I think its a gentle warm up to unveil new signings on both sides.

I think it'll be a 1-1 draw, although I expect Mourinho to try to assert some authority on Rafa - after all, he fears Liverpool's challenge this season.

[the_love_machine]

I dont get this Charity shield thing. Did these two teams have to qualify for this match (menaing beating other teams), or is it just a match organised by the FA?

[Geordie Ahmed]

Originally Posted by the_love_machine I dont get this Charity shield thing. Did these two teams have to qualify for this match (menaing beating other teams), or is it just a match organised by the FA?

the winners of the premiership and FA Cup

[Has]

I think this will be a very useful match with one week to the season to go. No matter what competition it is, its against Chelsea so the players will be desperate to win so the competitive nature will be there both mentally and physically, I except they will be running to the maximum and getting a real good work out. It will put us ahead in terms of fitness and sharpness both physically and mentally so it will help us hit the ground running in the league. I think we should use a nice mix of players and look for a balance in the team more than anything else, I might be tempted to leave one or two players on bench just to play down the significance of any result to guard against complacency in case of a win or depression in the case of a loss. I think we can name 7 subs and use 5, so players like Sissoko and Bellamy can be used to change the game in the second half.

Reina

Kromkamp Carrgher Hyypia Riise

Pennant Gerrard Alonso Gonzalez

Garcia Crouch

Bench

Fowler
Bellamy
Sissoko
Zenden
Agger/ Paleta
Finnan
Dudek

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by the_love_machine I dont get this Charity shield thing. Did these two teams have to qualify for this match (menaing beating other teams), or is it just a match organised by the FA?

Its a traditional curtain raiser between the winner of the Premiership and the FA Cup.

[Has]

I think Rafa is the one manager that Mourinho hasn’t been able to get under the skin off, Fergie lost it when Man Utd played Porto and since Mourinho arrived Chelsea have been much better in the head to heads with Man Utd, and we all know that Wenger has lost his cool with Mourinho.

Rafa is ice cold and is fantastic at handling the media, and I think it bugs Mourinho that Rafa doesn’t rise to the bait.

[madaboutlfc]

oxy are you still after tickets..

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by madaboutlfc oxy are you still after tickets..

Kick off in 30 secs! No point. Staggering though the way tickets were allocated. I havenet missed any CommunityShield games involving LFC at the Millenium.

And they still havent processed my Fan CXard application - very poor show during the summer.

[Oxy]

1-0 Liverpool - Risse with a lovely left footer from about 30 yds! Keeper should have done better - but its all for charity....

[Oxy]

1-1 Scevchenko opens up his Chelase account on the stroke of half time.

[Oxy]

Bellamy to Crouch: Header. 2-1

Lovely cross!

10 mins to go.

[Oxy]

Attendance - 56,000! 18,000 below capacity.

And they didnt want my money!

[Oxy]

Liverpool win their 1st piece of silver for the 2006-07 season.

Mourinho suffers ANOTHER loss v Liverpool!

[Oxy]

[James]

Originally Posted by Oxy™ Liverpool win their 1st piece of silver for the 2006-07 season. Mourinho suffers ANOTHER loss v Liverpool!

Haven't most of the Rafa-Mourinho matches been draws or Chelsea wins?

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by Whippy squash Haven't most of the Rafa-Mourinho matches been draws or Chelsea wins?

My rational, easy going approach only applies to cricket......

[Nawazb]

Great win for liverpool , i could see a number of positives firstly agger showed great composure at centre back leading to a good partnership with carragher, sissoko was tremendous in central midfield he never missed a single tackle and was always looking to go forward to set up attacks.Craig bellamy when he came on showed why liverpool purchased him , his pace troubled the chelsea's defence a lot and it was a great cross for crouch's winning goal!!

[Oxy]

Early days - but LFC did look VERY good. I would nt read too much into Cheleas being all over the place...after all, Liverpool had a competitive game in mid week and should be up to speed.

[madaboutlfc]

Originally Posted by Oxy™ Kick off in 30 secs! No point. Staggering though the way tickets were allocated. I havenet missed any CommunityShield games involving LFC at the Millenium. And they still havent processed my Fan CXard application - very poor show during the summer.

im surprised.. call them tomorrow.. As for the tickets if I had known you were after could have sorted you out.. in future Id recommend you register with a local club and apply through them for the final

[madaboutlfc]

Originally Posted by Oxy™ Attendance - 56,000! 18,000 below capacity. And they didnt want my money!

chelsea did not sell their allocation.. we did.. you could have got loads in chelsea end though easily

[infamous9383]

Chelsea also lost to MLS ALL STARS but they were in their mid season form though

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by madaboutlfc chelsea did not sell their allocation.. we did.. you could have got loads in chelsea end though easily

No way am I sitting in the away fans end - rather miss a game!