CL SF (second leg): PSV - AC Milan (ALL-game comments)

Well, Liverpool made it to the final in Istanbul by edging Chelsea 1-0. They proved to be very difficult to break down and Chelsea seemed to be lacking fresh attacking ideas out there. Should we make it to the final we will have to very very concentrated and tough with this Liverpool side which lacks nothing in inspiration and fighting spirit.
Bravo and congrats to Liverpool.

A sport to be won on the pitch not before the match. Yes, this is football. Liverpool's great play tonight and a terrible night against La Coruna last year will have to be considered by us. Let's strenghten the defence and fight for the final. We have to score once. This is a must.

Liverpool in the final
What a performance from Carragher
Congratulations Liverpool and Dudek!!!

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy that we beat Chelsea ... they are so arrogant and making all these claims of how they're already in the final ... as Debs would say ... ppppffffff

It wasn't pretty from Liverpool, we don't have the players to stroke the ball around like Chelsea can. But we make up for it in effort and determination (plus the odd wonder goal ). I hope and pray Milan will make the final also ... which will leave me (and a few others here) with a horrible choice to make. But i guess i would just hope for the best team on the night to win

So for tonight ... Forza Liverpool

hahahahah

a jumped up translator for a manager: 8 million
a brand new team: 200m

a goal in a CL semi-final: priceless

sorry chelsea but there are something's money can't buy.

Originally Posted by Gipson

Liverpool in the final
What a performance from Carragher
Congratulations Liverpool and Dudek!!!

Part of me would have liked to have played (and beaten ) Chelsea, but the other part of me is really glad Chelsea and their big mouth, arrogant manager, lost. Good to see one of the tournament's historic teams make the final. Now lets go kick some ar$e tomorrow!

(plus the odd wonder goal )

well tonights wasnt wonderful but it certainly was odd

Whats most surprising though is that the players who got Houllier sacked ( Biscan, Traore and Smicer, the unholy trinity ) have been integral to the run this year, well maybe not Smicer, but the other 2 have.

i feel the same way, but I'm glad there season is over now. that's it for Chelsea this year.

Lets hope we can meet them in Istanbul, we'll sure as hell need to be rested up for them though.

Speaking of Liverpool, eliminating Chelsea and Juve and allowing one goal over the four games is something, congrats

It's hard to be 100% sure because Gallas blocks the view ... but it didn't look like a goal to me. But still, Chelsea have ridden their luck against us in the past (own goal in the carling cup final, outplayed at anfield yet get a deflected goal in the league) ... so it's nice to turn the tables.

I think it was a goal, definitely it was difficult to judge it 100%, but I think the ref took the right decision by allowing it. What amazed me tonight wasn't that Liverpool won but that Chelsea had a whole game at hand to score one single goal and they looked completely clueless out there. They had all in all two chances at goal and one of them was a long range free kick from Lampard which Dudek saved relatively comfortably. This was around the 75th minute mark. Their second chance for a goal came 5 min in injury time when Gudhjonsen had a very good shooting opportunity at goal with Dudek beaten but his shot went wide. Apart from that Chelsea didn't do anything to be remebered.

Originally Posted by Haroon

UEFA Champions League

PSV EINDHOVEN Vs. AC Milan

Philips, Eindhoven - NEDERLAND

--- Semi-Final - Second Leg ---

-> First Leg: Milan won 2-0 [Shevchenko, Tomasson] <-

-> Wednesday (May 04, 2005) <-

-> Kick-off -> 19:45 (UK Time): Sky Sports 1 <-

PREVIEW
=======

The second leg of both semi-finals will be played in the next 48 hours and two out of the 4 semi-finalists will be looking forward to the grand final of the toughest UCL in history on May 25, 2005 in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the hard work and dedication of 8 months of football that has tested the teams on every possible level.

But before that does happen, two teams have to show that they are worthy of playing in club competition's most prestigious final. 1 Italian, 1 Dutch and 2 English sides each get their chance as the hours disappear and kick-off approaches.

Milan got a pretty good result in the first leg even though the performance left a lot to be desired. The 2-0 lead that Milan carries to Eindhoven is a healthy lead and a difficult lead to overcome for the Dutch side that has enjoyed a very good season winning the Eredevisie title and are also in the Dutch Cup final. In addition, this is the first time that Guus Hiddink's side has got past the group stage since the Uefa Champions League began. They made sure that their journey was not a one-stop and instead got past their opponents in the knock-out stages and are in the semi-finals deservingly.

Milan on the other hand is fighting tooth and nail to keep the dream alive of doing the most difficult double in football by winning the league and CL in the same season. Even after enjoying a very good season, Milan is not guaranteed a trophy as yet as the Scudetto looks like going down to the wire with Juve equal on points and the semi-final second leg still awaiting in a lively Philips Stadium.

Milan however is the only big side to never have lost a Semi-Final tie in this competition and is well on its way to a 10th final. It will take something special for Hiddink's men to overcome this deficit.

PSV

PSV surely rue their missed chances that should've kept this tie in the balance. They had Milan on the rocks especially in the second half when Milan's defence looked far from its normal self allowing Park and Farfan to run ragged. PSV's final shot in the box left a lot to be desired and they deservingly lost that game by the 2-0 margin as they didnot make the most of some very well grafted chances combined with the poorest finishing display of the competition to date. The second goal conceded at the death would have left deep scars in the minds of the players as the game went from bad to worse in the worst possible way.

Hiddink was disappointed after the game but his expression was of disappointment during the game as well as his side was toothless in the first half. Knowing that he does his homework well he may have known that Milan's strike rate in this season's competition is the best and Milan's scoring record in the second half is a mere certainty on most occasions. Shevchenko has scored in every home game for Milan in this season's competition.

He will be glad by the fact that so many chances were carved up and that gives a ray of hope for his side to do some serious damage in the return leg. The bad thing is that General Alexander The Great who is the world's best defender will return to marshall the world's most experienced backline.


M I L A N

Ancelotti was happy with the first half display which was pretty good from Milan. PSV barely did anything in the half except for the ending mins but not threatening enough. PSV came out strong in the second half and used the workrate and speed of Lee (leftback) and Park (fantasista). I was quite impressed by the first touch of Park which was superb. It seemed as if he was a step ahead of what he was doing. He didn't have the finishing though and that let him down a lot.

Hiddink's side is based on phenomenal workrate and solidity. I personally think that now after some time since his return from the Korea NT job has he got the team that he is happy with when you look at the goalkeeper, central defenders and midfield. I wouldn't be surprised if he went shopping for a striker to complete his side as that is the position where his side is lacking. He will also need a Van Bommel replacement.

PSV worked right on the edge of the flanks spreading the Milan midfield and thus creating space to work through the midfield. Their job was helped by Milan playing the ball in the air quite a bit in the first half which is never a good sign for this side. When Milan plays well, the ball remains on the ground mostly and the playmaking is down with through balls rather than chips. Carlo realized that and it stopped after 20 mins or so in the match.

Now the cards are in Ancelotti's hands with the advantage. He can dictate the tie but going to Nederland to defend would be a bad idea.


Probable Starting Line-Up(s)
=====================

---------------
---> PSV <---
---------------

-> 3-4-1-2


-------------------------Gomes-----------------------

--------------Alex--------Bouma-------Cocu-----------

-Van Bommel------Vogel----Van der Schaaf-----Lee-----

--------------------------Park-------------------------

------------------Farfan--------JVOH---------

1. Hiddink mentioned that he is contemplating some changes due to the injury situation. Ooijer (Right Back) is suspended. Bouma, Park, Farfan and Beasley are injured. Beasley will surely miss out but Bouma, Park and Farfan would make the starting line-up IMO. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink should start up front.

2. Now here comes the tricky bit. Lee is not the ideal man to play in a back 3 IF Hiddink plays it. Cocu the handy man who can play in multiple positions would be the man to slot into that left-centre-back position giving the defence stability. Vogel and Van der Schaaf slot in the middle and Lee plays on the left trying to peg back Gattuso and keep him busy. The rest of the positions are the same with Van Bommel to do some more defensive work.

3. The feeling I get is that Hiddink doesn't want to sacrifice "width" under any circumstances even if he has to shuffle the defence or attack. The width will come essentially from Lee and Van Bommel so he will give them an even more opportunistic go at it. Ooijer's suspension is not that damaging. With the tridente up front he should expect more goals. If Alex and Bouma can start then Cocu can use his experience so the team is still balanced and more attacking. And that element of width still exists in his system.

---------------
---> Milan <---
---------------

-> The famed X-Mas Tree - 4-3-2-1


--------------------Dida---------------------

--Cafu-------Stam-------Nesta-------Maldini--

--------Gattuso-----Pirlo-------Seedorf-------

----------------Kaka------Rui-----------------

--------------------Sheva----------------

1. It is the best option to go about. I would start the above team. Stam in right back would peg us back and doesn't exactly work in the best way. Cafu should start there and if need be instructed to start cautiously as he did in the EuroDerby. Personally I was thinking of putting in Serginho for Rui but after giving it a thought Rui is a much better ball-keeper than Serginho. Serginho's speed is his asset and we don't need that speed to start off the game. What we need is patience and intellingent play. Rui is all that.

2. Big matches bring out the best in Seedorf. This is a chance to reach a UCL final for him and the rest of the Milan side as well of course. I expect him to deliver big on such a occasion even though the opponent is not a Juve, Real or Utd.

3. Maldini said that we need to keep a calm head to qualify. There is no need for rushing things or using flair etc. One thing I noticed in the Fiorentina game was that the players were show-boating a bit and losing possession in crucial parts of the pitch. It was a hurriedly performance. We don't need that. Milan plays best when there is flow and a pattern to the play rather than a losing possession -> gaining possession and losing possession game.


Tactics
======

----------------------
--- Hiddink [P S V] ---
----------------------

Hiddink will know that that task ahead of him is tough but not impossible. Impossible is nothing in football.

A) Most important thing for him would be to create chances and score goals. The finishing needs improvement.
B) PSV for the first time in this tournament conceded more than a goal in an important game. That happened in a game where Milan didn't play particularly well. The signs are ominous.
C) He'll hope that his defence doesn't concede silly goals to make the task harder than it already is.

---------------------------
--- Ancelotti [M I L A N] ---
---------------------------

Ancelotti knows his football. I enjoy his comments thoroughly nowadays. He said that his side can play in any conditions. I wouldn't bet against that. This Milan side is one of the most balanced outfits regarding the type of players, balance, strenth (physical and mental), pace and diversity. And come to think of it, it is comprised of a starting 11 that doesn't even have the two most expensive buys in the shape of Rui Costa (£28 million) and Inzaghi (£22 million).

A) He has brough enormous peace and tranquility in the squad. The team believes. That in itself is a deep statement. No explanation required.
B) Something needs to be done about the pace of Lee and Park. They were slippery customers and hard to control. The best way to do that is to not let them have the ball and keep possession for long periods. When in trouble, go for the X-Mas tree.
C) Get the opening goal and kill off the tie completely. In the Stealth Bomber we trust.


KEY BATTLES
==========

Park Vs. Nesta

Vennegoor of Hesselink Vs. Stam

Van Bommel Vs. Seedorf

Vogel Vs. Kaka

Farfan Vs. Pirlo

Lee Vs. Gattuso

Alex Vs. Sheva


KEY MEN
=======

Park
-----

He had an extremely good performance in the first leg. His finishing let him down. Otherwise his first touch and movement (on and off the ball) was brilliant. He'll need to move up a notch as the stakes are raised, the opponent's defence gets meaner and his team requires goals and assists.

Pirlo
-----

We need to construct a smooth transition into a probable final. Pirlo has been fantastic for Milan this season dictating the play. He has improved by leaps and bounds and he holds the key. He should be in better touch as he played more and is not returning immediately after injury as he was in the first leg.

Hero Watch
=========

PSV Van Bommel, Alex & Gomes

These three need to have a monster game.

Milan: Nesta, Pirlo, Gattuso, Stam, Sheva & Seedorf

Pirlo and Seedorf need to put on a show for us. It is comforting that there are quite a few individuals in this team that one can look upto. All of them have had a pretty good champions league so far.

Prediction

Istanbul is calling. Milan is potentially 90 mins from a 10th final. Milan is potentially 90 mins away from becoming the FIRST side to reach a record 5 UCL finals! Ancelotti wants to maintain status-quo of remaining undefeated in a semi-final tie. Dida is 15 mins from the Van der Sar's record of most minutes without conceding a goal.

The foundations for the passage to the final are there and Milan does seem a good bet to reach the final. PSV will not buckle down easily. They are injury struck and hurting from the defeat in the first leg in that fashion. The Devil continues to clear the path for Milan in mysterious ways.

Milan should make it to the final. It would take something extraordinary to defeat Ancelotti's Milan over two legs. PSV will need to make history. Defeating this Milan side over two legs is one of the most difficult things in football today. If PSV does it then kudos to them. It will be difficult however.

Milan to qualify for the final after a hard fought match.


Forza Milan

Is there such thing as a mailing list for Haroon's post? It will be a good thing to keep in your email!

Chelsea was very slow tonight. It took them way too long to switch from defense to attack time after time. Lampard was nonexistent and Gudjohnson FCOL had to orchestate in midfield. Which is all to Liverpool's credit.
And I really wouldn't mind seeing Hyypia play for us. What a great defender.

congrats to liverpool fans... they deserve it, but to be honest i dont think the goal shouldve counted but still liverpool deserved to win i just hate chelsea... oh and cisse has got to be the coolest footballer ever

i was hoping for some tough tacking, to see some reds n yellows in the game

It going to be a tuff match what ever the result, I hope pippo plays a few minutes he needs to give us more options in attack. It going to be a gr8 match, I hope we can at least draw this game.