I watched most of the final, and like most Chelsea Liverpool matches of
late, it was entertaining. Surprising that the score stayed at 0-0
given the number of high quality chances generated. Both sides had
goals disallowed, with the harshest decisions being ruling out Matip's
header for a bit of clutch and grab by Van Dijk, and ruling out Lukaku's
for an offside decision that seemed wrong to me.

On to PKs. Both keepers were flopping all over the place without much
chance of saving anything (some good confident pens, but some weak ones
too), so I was pretty sure this would be decided by the first player to
blast one over the bar. It turned out this was Kepa, brought on
specifically for his alleged shot stopping skills (which were not much
in evidence yesterday) who duly obliged.

Liverpool goes back into the lead in terms of number of league cups won,
ahead of City. They have a long way to go catch Arsenal for FA cups,
though. Funny that. The cup does not go to Manchester for the first
time in seven years, or something like that.

Anyway, I am curious as to what Klopp, who has treated this competition
with something akin to disdain, is saying now.

And at the risk of sounding like a troll, I think this cup should carry
more weight in people's eyes than the Club World Cup in its current incarnation.
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)

MH wrote: to me.

On to PKs. Both keepers were flopping all over the place without
much chance of saving anything (some good confident pens, but some
weak ones too), so I was pretty sure this would be decided by the
first player to blast one over the bar. It turned out this was Kepa,
brought on specifically for his alleged shot stopping skills (which
were not much in evidence yesterday) who duly obliged.

TT obviously didn't see |edouard Mendy save a penalty in the AFCON Final
for Senegal!

Before being substituted I thought Mendy was a good candidate for MOTM!

Sometimes you can be too clever for your own good. I hope TT learns his
lesson.

And at the risk of sounding like a troll, I think this cup should
carry more weight in people's eyes than the Club World Cup in its
current incarnation.

Er... it does. Well, in most people's eyes... the English media haven't
stopped going on about yesterday's game. All day long; Liverpool this, Liverpool that! Once the FIFA CWC was over it was forgotten about the
next day (as is the norm) and the FIFA CWC tournament itself didn't get
too many mentions while it was on until the actual Final.

Of the two trophies, I'd much rather we had beaten Liverpool to win the
League Cup than win the FIFA CWC.
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)

On 2022-02-28 15:00, Blueshirt wrote:

MH wrote: to me.

On to PKs. Both keepers were flopping all over the place without
much chance of saving anything (some good confident pens, but some
weak ones too), so I was pretty sure this would be decided by the
first player to blast one over the bar. It turned out this was Kepa,
brought on specifically for his alleged shot stopping skills (which
were not much in evidence yesterday) who duly obliged.

TT obviously didn't see |edouard Mendy save a penalty in the AFCON Final
for Senegal!

Before being substituted I thought Mendy was a good candidate for MOTM!

Sometimes you can be too clever for your own good. I hope TT learns his lesson.

And at the risk of sounding like a troll, I think this cup should
carry more weight in people's eyes than the Club World Cup in its
current incarnation.

Er... it does. Well, in most people's eyes... the English media

Not sure how representative they are of world opinion though!

Based on previous discussions here, the southern Europeans and S.
Americans still place a lot of value on CWCs past and present, in their various formats, though perhaps the latest format has turned people off
(but isn't that going to change significantly soon ?).

The current world club championship seems a lot like the confederations'
cup to me. Kind of artificial and not that highly prized by many of the participants. Harder to qualify for than to win one you get there. I
think the confederations cup has now been scrapped ?


haven't

stopped going on about yesterday's game. All day long; Liverpool this, Liverpool that! Once the FIFA CWC was over it was forgotten about the
next day (as is the norm) and the FIFA CWC tournament itself didn't get
too many mentions while it was on until the actual Final.

Of the two trophies, I'd much rather we had beaten Liverpool to win the League Cup than win the FIFA CWC.

This one should have had a replay. I would have watched. And your side
were pretty unlucky, especially with the disallowed Lukaku goal.
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)

MH wrote:

On 2022-02-28 15:00, Blueshirt wrote:

MH wrote: to me.

And at the risk of sounding like a troll, I think this cup should
carry more weight in people's eyes than the Club World Cup in its
current incarnation.

Er... it does. Well, in most people's eyes...

Based on previous discussions here, the southern Europeans and S.
Americans still place a lot of value on CWCs past and present, in
their various formats, though perhaps the latest format has turned
people off (but isn't that going to change significantly soon ?).

A one-off game for a trophy will never trump a proper competition,
despite what others here might think.

The current world club championship seems a lot like the
confederations' cup to me. Kind of artificial and not that highly
prized by many of the participants. Harder to qualify for than to
win one you get there. I think the confederations cup has now been
scrapped ?

Yes, FIFA stopped the Confederations Cup after the 2017 tournament. The
FIFA CWC is indeed pretty much a club 'Confederations Cup'
tournament... and it has about the same prestige. Nice to win it if
you're in it, but at the end of the day nothing to get too worked up
over.

Of the two trophies, I'd much rather we had beaten Liverpool to win
the League Cup than win the FIFA CWC.

This one should have had a replay. I would have watched. And your
side were pretty unlucky, especially with the disallowed Lukaku goal.

Maybe. It was a close VAR call. Liverpool had one too though.

I'm in the 'if you don't take your chances then you can't expect to
win' camp. Two or three really good chances were wasted by top players
who should have done better. Mason Mount's chance early on in the
second half especially. So they only had themselves to blame.

The Mendy substitution was obviously a TT fuck-up, but in a high-stakes
penalty shoot-out someone is going to put a kick in to Row Z...
unluckily for us it was Kepa. <shrug>
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)