Except it's not just a few thugs, Liverpool fans have consistently been the worst behaved in Europe even to this day. One doesn't have to look any further than their disgraceful behavior in Barcelona last week.
I was reading somewhere that Spurs have won 6 of their last 16 games going into today. 6 wins-9 losses-1 draw. But Arsenal and ManU have been even worse, so you held onto that 4th spot.
Poch definitely got it right, going all in on CL, as you're in the final... but that could have backfired so badly without that 6th minute of injury time goal against Ajax, and Arsenal shitting the bed at home last week. That's the way it works sometimes, everything falls into place.