This Weeks Champions League

Mossin

Group E:
Real Madrid v Dynamo Kiev - Home
Steaua Bucharest v Lyon - Away

Group F
Benfica v Manchester United - Away
Celtic v Copenhagen - Home

Group G
Arsenal v Porto - Home
CSKA Moscow v Hamburg - Home

Group H
AEK Athens v Anderlecht - Draw
Lille v Milan - Away

MrJoeSoap

Agree with all of them except I think Hamburg will get something from Moscow.

mike65

Well I guess half a group rundown is better than no group rundown

Mike.

evad_lhorg

yea where's the rest?!?!



Group E:
Real Madrid v Dynamo Kiev - Draw
Steaua Bucharest v Lyon - Away

Group F
Benfica v Manchester United - Away
Celtic v Copenhagen - draw

Group G
Arsenal v Porto - Home
CSKA Moscow v Hamburg - Home

Group H
AEK Athens v Anderlecht - aek
Lille v Milan - Away

Mossin

Lets take One night at a time.
Then ppl can assess the games better, and still only need a single thread.

Duras

Group E:
Real Madrid v Dynamo Kiev - Draw
Steaua Bucharest v Lyon - Home

Group F
Benfica v Manchester United - Home
Celtic v Copenhagen - Home

Group G
Arsenal v Porto - Draw
CSKA Moscow v Hamburg - Away

Group H
AEK Athens v Anderlecht - Away
Lille v Milan - Away

tdv

Duras wrote:

Group E:
Real Madrid v Dynamo Kiev - Draw
Steaua Bucharest v Lyon - Home

Group F
Benfica v Manchester United - Home
Celtic v Copenhagen - Home

Group G
Arsenal v Porto - Draw
CSKA Moscow v Hamburg - Away

Group H
AEK Athens v Anderlecht - Away
Lille v Milan - Away

Bucharest to beat Lyon? I doubt that very much

Duras

tdv wrote:

Bucharest to beat Lyon? I doubt that very much

That's the only one I'm 100% certain of...

tdv

Duras wrote:

That's the only one I'm 100% certain of...

Why is that?

Necronomicon

I'm a bit nervous about tonight. In this fixture last season, United really were woeful (as in all CL games last season really). But there are positive signs, Benfica are doing pretty poorly in the early stages of the Portugese league.

Ronaldo is in for some amount of abuse tonight. Returns from suspension, back to the scene of his crime!

Mad Dog

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Agree with all of them except I think Hamburg will get something from Moscow.

Result:

CSKA Moscow 1 v 0 Hamburg

Group E:
Real Madrid v Dynamo Kiev - Home
Steaua Bucharest v Lyon - Away

Group F
Benfica v Manchester United - Away
Celtic v Copenhagen - Home

Group G
Arsenal v Porto - Home
CSKA Moscow v Hamburg - Result already in!

Group H
AEK Athens v Anderlecht - Draw
Lille v Milan - Away

Duras

tdv wrote:

Why is that?

I think OL believe they will win this match without too much effort and they will realize it's not that easy when it's too late...

Chucky the tree

1-0 to Madrid. RVN with the goal.

Vokes

Cross + header 2nd game in a row fpr Arsenal.

Hehe, its becoming a bit of a habit for them now

eirebhoy

Celtic playing a nice passing game for the most part. McGeady's playing very well while Miller looks bloody world class. Nice trick by Naka to set up the peno. Celtic have also had a goal disallowed for offside and a super save from a Miller header.

Jamie Redknapp: "Nakamura's a magician".
He's finally getting noticed.

Duras

1-0 OL... Looks like I was wrong... Good thing I didn't put any money on this

Tusky

Dear god, Man Utd look absolutely terrible. Really really bad. All over the place. cant even hold on to the ball for 30 seconds.

Chucky the tree

Madrid 3 up now. AEK anderlecht is 1-1, Celtic 1 up. Milan still drawing with Lillie.

mike65

Utd look exactly as they did in the same game last year.

Mike.

Duras

wow. what a goal by Saha!

eirebhoy

I really hope people have been watching McGeady tonight and against Rangers on Saturday. He has been sensational this season yet most Irish people probably only seen him against United.

Chucky the tree

eirebhoy wrote:

I really hope people have been watching McGeady tonight and against Rangers on Saturday. He has been sensational this season yet most Irish people probably only seen him against United.

No point in looking good against average teams and then looking completely out of depth against very good teams.

tdv

Duras wrote:

I think OL believe they will win this match without too much effort and they will realize it's not that easy when it's too late...

3-0 to Lyon, it was the Juninho show again setting up all 3 goals:D

eirebhoy

Chucky the tree wrote:

No point in looking good against average teams and then looking completely out of depth against very good teams.

He was terrible against Man U because of nerves which I thought was obvious. He barely even tried to beat his man in old trafford but just couldn't hit a pass to a teammate. I think it's tougher to play against Rangers and Copenhagen when you're double marked than it is against Man U when you're hardly even been marked. He's been excellent in every single match other than the one in Old Trafford and I'll be suprised if he's not excellent in the return match against them.

wheres me jumpa

Benfica v United

---

Well, nearly a year on from the shambles the last time we played Benfica and what has changed? NOTHING. The result being the only exception.

Our movement is abismal. Im just back from training where we were doing drills designed to improve our movement and honestly our junior team in Carlow had better movement than United tonight.

We are resorting to impossible passes when their should be at least two simple passes on at all times.

Ronaldo once again, just like last year was determined to be the one man show in his home country. He sickened me last year when his own persoanl goals in the game(ie sicken the crowd) were more important than the team. Every time he got the ball, he put his head down and ran. No direction. Just run anywhere with the ball and do a trick and your the great fella, I would love to know if that is part of the gameplan at United.

Im hearing all these questions about whats wrong with Rooney. Fitness is not the problem. Ask any player at any level, when your played out of position you suck it up and do it for the team, but Rooney has had to do it too much and he is rightly looking absoulutely pssied off about it. He is at his best in a central position and dropping off the main striker.

Rio Ferdinand made some shocking mistakes tonight. Dunphy has just detailed where he half tried to close down a cross from Simao but I saw a chance which was ruled as a handball, the Benfica player hit a volley, wach the replay, Ferdinand reacted after the player had took his shot even though he was watching the cross come over and could clearly see the striker about 5 yards away from him.

Im so pssied off after that game. We could easily have lost that tonight. But we didnt and know we look certain to qualify and everything is rosey and we'll coast through the group and meet AC Milan in the next round and we will be embarrased again.

mike65

Lucikly for Utd Benfica are crap too!

Mike.

evad_lhorg

terrible match to watch was the UTD game. Ronaldo was the only player worth a fart on the pitch tonight. Terrible formation as well. it didnt work against reading so why would it work in europe?!

MrJoeSoap

evad_lhorg wrote:

Ronaldo was the only player worth a fart on the pitch tonight.

I thought he was woeful as ever. Why oh why do they still allow him to take free kicks?

threebeards

evad_lhorg wrote:

Ronaldo was the only player worth a fart on the pitch tonight.

I'm not sure what game you were watching mate. He was terrible. At least if he farted he might have had an end product!!

evad_lhorg

Duras wrote:

wow. what a goal by Saha!

was a deflection. good goal but the deflection took it around the keeper

boy_wonder

Typical game to watch at this stage. Both sides very poor.

I'm trying to give Mr Carrick a chance but ive seen him a few times now this season and i'd go as far as saying d fletcher does more of a job in midfield - at least his wrok rate is good. Maybe one for the future but sooooo dissappointing so far!!

Another Dunphy classic at half time - "He's braindead" referring to Ronaldo and he aint far wrong!!

Nalz

i agree with the post above. carrick needs to settle soon and repay at least half his transfer fee this season. dunphys comments about ronaldo are 'correct, he's got bags of tricks, good header of the ball, great pace and fitness butn he's totally clueless when it comes to team work, holding possession and killing a game off. The only time he past it forward tonight we got a goal from it...imagine if he looked up alot more.

this formation doesnt work. playing this formation says a bagful about how poor Uniteds midfield really is. 4-5-1, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 whatever you want to call it is complete rubbish. get a decent Cm and a winger in and revert to an attacking 4-4-2

evad_lhorg

he was the only player creating anything or attacking well. I dont know why he takes free kicks either to be honest and that is where he frustrates me most because he always tries to smack it as hard as possible. but he attacked went past players unlike others and created openings. had a touch too many a few times though. and im not one of these Ronaldo lovers. I hate him most of the time but nobody did anything worth while.

el rabitos

man, whoever is picking that united team must think their frank rijkaard or something because they started out using barca's formation and were useless. united dont have the players for that system and it looked like nobody had a clue what they were doing.

ronaldo has the ability to be the most threatening wide man in the game, but as dunphy suggested, he's completely brain dead, why cant the guy just cross the ball??

he cant just beat a player and whip in the cross, no chance, he feels the need to riverdance him to death before blasting the ball off the guy.

i thought it was frustrating at times being a liverpool fan, but i'd be shooting the telly watching that fella every week.

looks like united will be getting the ac milan threatment again if they get through and come up against a well organised team

Mossin

Despite the performance, the result is all that counts and Utd scraped through.

7 out of 8 games presicted correctly at the start, the only team failing me were Milan, who'd have thought that? Good thing i didnt have an accumulater bet on right!!?

Necronomicon

I only managed to catch the first half, but being dragged away from the tv I wouldn't have backed United to win at all. Miss-placed passes all over the pitch, didn't inspire any confidence.
I didn't see a whole lot so I can't go into a huge rant, but even though United were poor, let's just, for the moment, enjoy the fact that it was our first away win in Europe in..3 years?

kinaldo

Good to see Raúl reclaim his place as the Champions League's all time top scorer.

Pepe LeFrits

Very good performance by Arsenal tonight, barely gave Porto a sniff. Another headed Henry goal from an Eboue cross, nice! Lovely finish by Hleb too. 4 wins on the bounce now, I'm liking this.

ZENER

I wouldn't get carried away with Arsenal OR Man United tonight, neither have changed their modeus operandum.

United still trying to bully their way with crap pseudo like team play and the Gunners still want the perfect goal.

Granted Gallas has restored some - Keon - Adams - Parlour - style organisation to the defence but the attack still wants to be perfect all the time. It's fustrating to see great players embarrassed to score scruffy goals - still congrats on the win you Gunners.

United need to ditch the ditherers as Anne Robinson would say. Ronaldo reminds me of . . . . oh I can't remember just now . . . but he isn't a team player at all. He's a glory hunter . . . end of. United may win the - "weak group " but will be found out in the next round. Hienze wasn't fit tonight although he put in a reasonable performance, Carrick . . . less said the better 'cept 17M for what ? Rooney ... needs a kick up the bo**ox, world class me hemmoroidal backside he was more or less absent tonight.

Every time I am asked what I think of an upcoming game for United I predict a loss - I predicted the Arsenal game spot on when asked. After 15 mins it was as plain as the hairs on your scro**m to me they would lose.

Ferguson needs to reconsider his position or question his choice of player or sack Queros (sp?). I'm beginning to thinks Giles and Dunphy are right about the outcome of the league this year. Sorry "The Muppet" but I can't condone this style of play anymore . . . .

ZEN

sofireland

I thought Heinze did well last night...
Ronaldo, again, was our main threat and as has already been said numerous times, he didn't release the ball when it mattered, cept for Saha's goal. Fletcher and Carrick missed sitters... but at the end of the day the result is whats important, we were poor, if benfica had quality up top, we'd have been f*cked.

Good to smith back, i don't know what fergie was at with the formation, you could see it wasn't working, he should have switched it round at half time. 442 fergie, you know the one we mean, the one that won us the treble.

Its gotta be like this

VDS
Nev - Rio - Vidic/Brown - Heinze / Evra
Ronaldo - Scholes - Carrick - Giggs
Rooney - Saha

They could try smith up top, plus we have ole too...

But our squad is very thin... we'll get through the groups, but get nailed in the 2nd round... unless things improve significantly...

Mossin

Day 2's fixtures:

Group A
Levski Sofia v Chelsea -Away
Werder Bremen v Barcelona - Away

Group B
Internazionale v Bayern Munich - Draw
Spartak Moscow v Sporting Lisbon - Home

Group C
Bordeaux v PSV Eindhoven - Draw
Liverpool v Galatasaray - Home

Group D
Shakhtar Donetsk v Olympiakos - Away
Valencia v Roma - Away

evad_lhorg

Smith back is a good sign kinda but he was never really a great player in the first place. not good enough for UTD i think. i know he is only back from injury but he didnt move with the ball at all.

Group A
Levski Sofia v Chelsea -Away
Werder Bremen v Barcelona - Away

Group B
Internazionale v Bayern Munich - Home
Spartak Moscow v Sporting Lisbon - Away

Group C
Bordeaux v PSV Eindhoven - AWay
Liverpool v Galatasaray - draw

Group D
Shakhtar Donetsk v Olympiakos - Away
Valencia v Roma - home

yop

A result is a result but christ this is shi*TE to watch, it is a case that a result is now more important than a performance!!

No one played well bar Heinze and VDS, Rooney who, what did he do in that game. Our squad is probably at it's worst in 5 years with no backup.
We will get out of the group stage but not unless we improve we will not be going too far.

Tusky

yop wrote:

A result is a result but christ this is shi*TE to watch, it is a case that a result is now more important than a performance!!

No one played well bar Heinze and VDS, Rooney who, what did he do in that game. Our squad is probably at it's worst in 5 years with no backup.
We will get out of the group stage but not unless we improve we will not be going too far.

I agree, Im not just saying this because im a Liverpool fan but Man Utd dont have much of a team at the moment at all. The first 11 isnt even that great, their bench is awful.

Van der Sar -Great player but getting old.
Neville - over rated
Ferdinand - Very over rated, doesnt seem to want to defend lately.
Vidic - decent
Ronaldo - Lots of talent but more often than not, frustrating
Carrick - ok player, not good enough to marshal man utd midfield. Good enough for man utd ? dont think so
O'Shea - not good enough
Scholes - great player but has seen his best
Rooney - one of the best in the world but off form
Giggs - great player but getting old
Saha - Looks a fantastic player

When you compare their squad to Arsenal, Liverpool or Chelsea they more than pale in comparison.

zAbbo

Only results matter at this stage, get the points and get to the knock out stages, but Utd do look very off the pace in Europe, and as mentioned, take a few players out and suddenly it's a very average side. There doesn't seem anything in terms of backup.

Rooney should always be deployed as a second striker, playing off the main man, but when you sell the best finisher around(RVN), loan out the protege(Rossi), and rely on 2 injury prone strikers (Saha + Ole), you're in trouble.

Squads need a bench, someone who can make an impact, or can be used to rest a main player, now don't get me wrong, ManU's Best XI is good, but there is a huge lack of depth, For example Spurs have Defoe, Keane, Mido & Berbatov as strikers, Liverpool have Alonso, Gerrard, Zenden and Sissoko as CM.

Anyway, lets hope for some better action tonight with Liverpool, although I'd settle for a cagey performance with a result

PHB

When you compare their squad to Arsenal, Liverpool or Chelsea they more than pale in comparison.

Indeed, it's incredible that they have managed to Arsenal and Liverpool them in the league last year, and that they are above them in the league this year. Must be magic.

Also it's an interesting first 11:

VDS
Neville-Ferdinand-Vidic

Ronaldo-Carrick-O'Shea-Scholes-Giggs

Saha-Rooney

A 3-5-2 with one fullback? Pretty odd.

mike65

Liverpool are expected to start with Luis Garcia tonight so here's my guess

---

Reina
Finnan--Carra-Hyypia-Riise
Gerrard-Alonso-Sissoko-Gonzo

---

Garcia

---

Crouch

With Dudek, Agger, Aurelio, Kuyt, Bellamy, Zenden + AN Other on bench

Mike.

cournioni

I honestly am getting sick of seeing Ferdinand on the team sheet week in, week out. He has a very half arsed approach to everything he does, and I have lost count of the amount of balls that has sailed over his head to a free man who he should be marking. Someone really needs to give him a serious kick up the arse, or SAF should put him on the bench and give Brown and Vidic a chance. £120,000 a week my ass.

As for Rooney, I think what Giles said last night is probably right. He looks distracted by something, whether it is in the club or in his private life it seems to be effecting his performance on the pitch. I couldn't believe what I was seeing from Rooney last night. He looked slightly disinterested compared to his normal aggressive and focussed self last night. His first and even second touches were very poor and his passing just as bad. Whatever it is, SAF needs to sort it out with Rooney. He is our most important player at present and for the future also. This cannot continue.

Regarding Ronaldo, I thought he was our biggest threat last night. He was very frustrating to watch when something didn't come off I agree, but can anyone honestly say that anyone else on the pitch for United last night looked like even threatening Benfica? Absolutely not. Ronaldo needs to be praised for running at Benfica, all be it a little bit too much.

herbieflowers

Ronaldo has that element of unpredicability. Fair enough, it's not being truly harnessed correcty at the moment but I still have hogh hopes for him in the future. He just needs to learn when to release the ball sooner. A problem in the past for him was his final delivery, he eems to be somewhat rectifying that - some of his crosses this season have been excellent.

He's still young and has all the attributes needed to be a very good player - strength, pace, dribbling ability, heading ability. I can't help but feel the system last night didn't get the best out of him or, for that matter, Rooney, Scholes or Carrick.

As for Rooney this "slump" is probably just a shortage of match fitness causing diffidence and under-par performances. Remember he was just barely fit for the WC, was sent off in a friendly and missed the start of the season. He's the type of player who needs to start game after game.

RustySpoon

PHB wrote:

Indeed, it's incredible that they have managed to Arsenal and Liverpool them in the league last year, and that they are above them in the league this year. Must be magic.

Or it might be the caliber of the teams that they have each played.

Man Utd: Fulham, Charlton, Watford, Spurs, Arsenal & Reading
Arsenal: Villa, City,Boro, Man Utd & Sheffield Utd
Liverpool: Sheffield Utd, West ham, Everton, Chelsea, Newcastle & Spurs

Liverpool are only three points off Man Utd after playing two big rivals in away games.
Arsenal are only 5 points off Man Utd with a game in hand and have played and beaten Man Utd at Old trafford.

PHB, please take off your rosy glasses, can you not see that this Man Utd team are not that good? They are also not as bad as many doom merchants make out but will not make much of an impression on the league or champions league this year.

OTliddy

Rooney is the biggest factor. If he plays good, week-in week-out, United have a great chance of winning trophies. He lacks conviction and confidence on the ball atm. He actually played very well defensively though.