Nutta Gallas 429

On Thu, 07 Sep 2006 19:45:12 GMT, "Paul F. Johnson"

Yes it is fact, but what you again fail to mention is how they actually got to play those 3 preliminary matches, why this omission?

I've read the rules that were in place at the time and they clearly state that only the first 4 clubs from England will be invited to take part, and they also say that the winners of the previous year's competition will NOT be invited to take part. The FACT that you failed to mention was that Liverpool were gifted a place purely and simply because UEFA *gave* you a place, (*gave* as opposed to you *winning* a place, you see the difference?) It was charity, in the same way that one might throw coins to a smelly tramp on the street. He hasn't earnt the right to those coins and likewise Liverpool didn't earn the right to compete the next year's competition - FACT!

You are again talking utter b*llocks! The ECL is primarily a knockout competition. It starts with a knockout and ends with it. If a team is unfortunate to draw a top team early on and get knocked out then who knows how far they might have gone? If a team gets easy games eg TNS (PMSL), then gets seeded (oh the irony of seeding a team who were too sh*te to qualify) then it's conceivable that they could go far in the competition. What we should look at is how far the teams who knocked us both got. Oh look, Villarreal made it to the semis - Benfica didn't! In addition Villarreal are a team currently ranked 14th in Europe, the teams which Liverpool had the *good fortune* to draw and beat in the same competition are ranked as follows:

TNS - Not listed in top 200 Kaunas - Not listed in top 200 Sofia 125 Betis - 40th Anderlecht 47th Benfica 25th

So, to conclude, it's clear that Everton's early exit was due to our mis-fortune in drawing the 14th best team in Europe, we did however put up a fight and lost 4-2 on aggregate. Had the Ferguson goal, which has since been proven to be a good goal, been allowed we would have drawn the away leg and maybe gone on to win it. Liverpool 3-0 to the 25th ranked team. How embarrbutting!

(snigger)

Bernie The Bolt -- 'Blue shirts good, red shirts bad' - George Orwell