MikeO

Upon hearing the draw, Chelsea manager Avram Grant said his team faced a tough challenge to reach the final. "Any game is not easy. Everton are very good this year," he said. "It's not easy to play against them but it's two games so anything can happen and I hope we will be in the final but I expect us to lose because Everton are better than us." OK so he didn't really say the last twelve words, that was me .

Happy with Chelsea tbh. Arsenal ressies have already knocked us out twice and Spurs are on the up, both sets of players looking at the Carling cup as their most probable chance of silverware. Chelski put out a strong team but it's certainly not their top priority. Also second leg at home which is a big plus. Exciting times!

Chelsea. No problem !

First potential opponents for the last 32 (draw Friday at 12.00) after groups E to H completed tonight are... Zurich Galatasaray Anderlecht Bolton finished third in Group F but pretty certain the rules say we can't play them at this stage.

Looking at the teams they've put out tonight it'll be a miracle if Liverpool get through. Strong Chelsea line-up against poor looking Reds, hope I'm wrong. Chelsea 01 Cech 18 Bridge 06 Carvalho 35 Belletti 22 Ben-Haim 05 Essien 12 Obi 08 Lampard 21 Kalou 07 Shevchenko 17 Sinclair Substitutes 23 Cudicini, 09 Sidwell, 10 Cole, 13 Ballack, 20 Ferreira Liverpool 30 Itandje 17 Arbeloa 23 Carragher 46 Hobbs 12 Aurelio 22 Sissoko 21 Lucas 14 Alonso 10 Voronin 15 Crouch 19 Babel Substitutes 40 Martin, 04 Hyypia, 06 Riise, 11 Benayoun, 42 El Zhar Edit....us against London then . Bring it on!

Injured in the mini-derby on 5th December in fact. (Edit.."A shin injury has denied Andy van der Meyde a return to the Everton side. David Moyes revealed that he planned to bring van der Meyde to play against AZ Alkmaar, but the Dutch winger required stitches in a gash on his leg. The Everton boss will make several changes after bringing several untried youngsters on the European trip. Moyes told evertonfc.com: "We wanted to bring Andy to play but he has got a gash in his shin that required 13 stitches. "We hoped he would recover in time to play because it would have been an opportunity for him. "He has has his problems but we never exclude anybody at Everton, we want him here working hard. "He is a terrific talent and we hope he can show what he can do.") Gonna be some interesting names in the team tomorrow though, very much looking forward to seeing it.

According to Toffeeweb.. Howard, Yobo, Arteta, Cahill and Yakubu have not travelled to Holland, along with the injured Stubbs, Baines, Osman and Van der Meyde — who needed 13 stiches in a leg gash from playing in the Reserves!

....and, "Are you watching Manchester?" Best part of 100,000 singing that at Wembley (only Charity Shield in my case sadly) was special. Be nice to see/hear it again.

Spurs and Arsenal 3rd XI through to join us tonight. Would like to think we could beat either over two legs even if Spurs are a different proposition to what they were. So my guess would be that we'll play the winner of tomorrows game .

He won't go that far....and if I was a Zenit or Nuremburg fan I'd be well pissed off if he did.

April 3rd win at Spurs was a big one! Legendary Southall save all but gave us the championship. Wed Dec 26 1984 Div 1 A Sunderland W 2 - 1 19,714 Mountfield D 2 Sat Dec 29 1984 Div 1 A Ipswich W 2 - 0 16,045 Sharp G 2 Tue Jan 1 1985 Div 1 H Luton W 2 - 1 31,682 Steven T 2 Fri Jan 4 1985 FAC 3 A Leeds W 2 - 0 21,211 Sharp G (pen) Sheedy K Sat Jan 12 1985 Div 1 H Newcastle W 4 - 0 32,156 Mountfield D Sharp G Sheedy K 2 Sat Jan 26 1985 FAC 4 H Doncaster W 2 - 0 37,537 Steven T Stevens G Sat Feb 2 1985 Div 1 H Watford W 4 - 0 34,026 Sheedy K Stevens G 2 Steven T Sat Feb 16 1985 FAC 5 H Telford W 3 - 0 47,402 Reid P Sheedy K (pen) Steven T Sat Feb 23 1985 Div 1 A Leicester W 2 - 1 17,345 Gray A 2 Sat Mar 2 1985 Div 1 A Man Utd D 1 - 1 51,150 Mountfield D Wed Mar 6 1985 ECWC 3:1 H Fortuna Sittard W 3 - 0 25,782 Gray A 3 Sat Mar 9 1985 FAC 6 H Ipswich D 2 - 2 36,468 Sheedy K Mountfield D Wed Mar 13 1985 FAC 6 Rep A Ipswich W 1 - 0 27,737 Sharp G (pen) Sat Mar 16 1985 Div 1 A Aston Villa D 1 - 1 22,625 Richardson K Wed Mar 20 1985 ECWC 3:2 A Fortuna Sittard W 2 - 0 20,000 Reid P Sharp G (agg 5-0) Sat Mar 23 1985 Div 1 H Arsenal W 2 - 0 36,387 Gray A Sharp G Sat Mar 30 1985 Div 1 A Southampton W 2 - 1 18,754 Richardson K 2 Wed Apr 3 1985 Div 1 A Tottenham W 2 - 1 48,108 Gray A Steven T Sat Apr 6 1985 Div 1 H Sunderland W 4 - 1 35,978 Gray A 2 Sharp G Steven T Wed Apr 10 1985 ECWC SF:1 A Bayern Munich D 0 - 0 67,000 Sat Apr 13 1985 FAC SF Luton W 2 - 1 45,289 Sheedy K Mountfield D (aet - at Villa Park) Tue Apr 16 1985 Div 1 H West Brom W 4 - 1 29,750 Atkins I Sharp G 2 (1 pen) Sheedy K Sat Apr 20 1985 Div 1 A Stoke W 2 - 0 18,285 Sharp G Sheedy K Wed Apr 24 1985 ECWC SF:2 H Bayern Munich W 3 - 1 49,476 Sharp G Gray A Steven T (agg 3-1) Sat Apr 27 1985 Div 1 H Norwich W 3 - 0 32,085 Bracewell P Mountfield D Steven T Sat May 4 1985 Div 1 A Sheff Wed W 1 - 0 37,381 Gray A Mon May 6 1985 Div 1 H Q.P.R. W 2 - 0 50,514 Mountfield D Sharp G Wed May 8 1985 Div 1 H West Ham W 3 - 0 32,657 Gray A Mountfield D 2

Well deserved Liam, enjoy! Fascinated to see if VDM is on the plane tomorrow. Maybe Ossie's toe could come to his rescue....if he doesn't get a shout under these circumstances in his home country then he's as good as gone surely.

You may well have a point there.

Prefer to think of them as "spares" . (Note signed Leon Osman photo in pride of place ) 999,816. Dammit, left my tool-kit on the shelf .

32 points from twelve games would be championship form....if only . We've actually got 17 from a possible 21 in the league, none too shabby for sure but if we win the next five we'll be top two .

I'll go 2-1 to Tesco's after extra time . (where the fuck do you get this stuff Louis? Best not answer that actually )

Confirmed... Liverpool downgrade stadium plan Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry says spiralling costs have forced the club to scale back plans for a futuristic new stadium. The Reds are still committed to building a new 70,000-capacity ground. But Parry said the design would be "slightly downgraded" from plans released earlier this year. "It will be a massive improvement on where we were 12 months ago, if not quite as dramatic as the plans unveiled in the summer," said Parry. We are now considering two schemes but the stadium will be a 70,000-seater. "The new stadium will be a significant improvement on the original plans and a slightly downgraded version of the new ones. "The single tier Kop remains fundamental to the design and we are not expecting any delays - it should be on schedule for 2011." The cost for the proposed stadium in Stanley Park was estimated at £400m, but that figure is now set to be reduced.

This thread could now be re-named.. We should be sitting in fifth! (not that I'm complaining mind, the man whose name rhymes with my favourite cake has done us a huge favour )

And if you have a trumpet worth blowing it's worth blowing loudly (or getting someone else to blow it for you if at all possible ).

Caught me out a couple of times too . Saturday there didn't seem to be any delay at all strangely.

....but I said it first ...

Have a look here Ian..(LINK). Pay attention in future please!

My fault, he asked me what I had for Christmas last year and I sent him the photo, didn't realise he was going to keep it .

Wassat? Just a random insult or any point to it ?

Nice pic from yesterday..