Champions League Return Leg

shatners basoon

For liverpool or united?!
united have been poor for a long time in the CL, ye should be hoping for PSV

cson

evad_lhorg wrote:

I would like a liverpool draw for UNited because they are an easy win:p

Hmmm, if thats for United I worry for you. They're just about scraping by at the minute. That injury to Saha coupled with Larsson leaving could do some damage. The saving grace could be Rafa though, some of the tactical decisions he makes astound me - taking Bellamy off on tuesday

shatners basoon

That was mainly to provide width to the team to exploit Barca's back 3 i'd think. It didn't pay off due to Pennant's performance (though it did set up that Crouch chance) but i'm surprised people are so shocked by it.

evad_lhorg

Sure all United need is John Oshea and theyll walk all over Liverpool or any opposition

shatners basoon

You nearly left me speechless with that remark!
Best goalie/defender/midfielder/goalscorer supreme of our generation!

cson

If i'm not mistaken he took off Bellamy for crouch? Bellamy was playing well that night offering a bit of threat to Barca's stretched defence.

And yeah, John O'Shea - General Superstar. He mustn't like the colour of green though, has an inherent dejectiveness about him wearing green. Hope that United don't bring out a green away kit!

Raskolnikov

I don't know why people rag on O'Shea so much. I thought he was mostly excellent for United tonight. I lost the amount of times he broke up Lille's play is a Makelelé type role tonight. Maybe not the greatest footballer to come out of Ireland but he gives a good honest effort and is reliable enough.

shatners basoon

No Kuyt was taken off for Crouch just before injury time. The pennant substitiution was purely a reply to Barca's aggresive substitution. Bellamy was playing well that night and i do think he should have been kept on, i don't think it was a massive tactical error though. Just didn't pay off as Pennant can be and was... kinda crap!

el rabitos

cson wrote:

Hope that United don't bring out a green away kit!

yeh, they might be "unable to see each other" and lose

shatners basoon

Raskolnikov wrote:

I don't know why people rag on O'Shea so much.

its fun, simple as that.

he is quite the utility player though- thats really his best value.

MisterAnarchy

cson wrote:

Valencia and Liverpool would be a tasty one indeed.

Ha
Paint drying would be more exciting.
Two of the most defensive sides in Europe waiting to try and counter attack each other.

shatners basoon

Liverpool haven't been particularily defensive this season.
Took it to United who were the defensive ones playing counter attack- took it to Barca in the first half too.
We just happen to be great when we dont have the ball thats all

el rabitos

MisterAnarchy wrote:

Ha
Paint drying would be more exciting.
Two of the most defensive sides in Europe waiting to try and counter attack each other.

too true, an actual match with two teams trying to patiently out-do each others defence....in a FOOTBALL match?? no thanks!

i like my football end to end or i switch to pop idol

CorkMan

Glad Valencia made it through. Hala Valencia!

redspider

Arsenal
I think Arsenal can feel sorry for themselves this morning as they did enough to win that game last night. They created loads of chances but couldnt put them away. They got their goal from a goalie mistake (Gomes) and PSV got their reply from a Lehman mistake. 1-1 was not the story of the match though. The Henry situation remains strange. He played as a 20-min sub, showed some flshes but is clearly not himself. Whether it is mind or a 'tired body', who knows. Many people are talking about the potential of this great young team. True, they have potential. But many of the better players are 'old', Rosicky, Hleb (last night) and they will miss Henry as his lucre will fade in the next few years if we havent seen the start of it already, ala Pires. Toure is not exactly an 18 year old.

I still cant fathom Arsenal keeping players off the field in the Carling Cup final, their best chance of silverware.


Celtic
As for Celtic, they fought a rearguard action all night and only created a handful of half attampts to Milan's 30-odd. A goal was perhaps inevitable, but it was a good one from Kaka. The Celtic defender though gave him too much space and got neither a tackle in nor put any pressure on the shot. Do that and you will get punished. The 'hand-ball' by Maldini was more ball to hand than an intentional block. Near the end they got a free-kick in a good position, but Nakamura was already off! Over the 2 legs, Milan deserved to go through, and Celtic can feel proud that they made things difficult for Milan. To go further though, they will need to step up a level.


Man Utd
Man Utd didnt quite get a scare. A better Lille perhaps would have scored. It was good to see Larsson score. The marking was woeful but he put it away with aplomb. He is a great player, and I have a lot of respect for him.

---

Bayern put away Real Madrid as expected. The only two predictions I got wrong were PSV and Roma.

So, the scores on the doors for the last 8 are:

England -3 (Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd)
Italy - 2 (AC Milan, Roma)
Spain - 1 (Valencia)
Germany - 1 (Bayern)
Holland -1 (PSV)

No shocks with the big-4 leagues getting the bulk of the places. England showing very well. PSV are the only representatives punching above their weight. No French teams this year.

Redspider

Nalz

Manchester United game was an absolute bore to watch. Great to see Larrson score and Smith coming on to replace. I'm a little gutted with Celtics exist. Had some decent enough chances and could have easily got a penalty...but it wasnt to be.

As a Manchester United fan I hope we avoid Valencia, Liverpool and to a lesser extent Bayern. Valencia are probably the most balanced side left in the competition, and by law of averages Liverpool are due to give us a beating. The pool were very poor against United in OT this season and very very unlucky in Anfield...if we get them again I'd fear a backlash! Bayern mightent be the force they were in European football, but they're a dogged hard team with some quality layers -Salihamidvic, Van Bommel, Hargreaves, Lahm, Lucio, Sagnol,Podolski,Makaay and the somewhat overratted Pizarro.

Valencia have a great chance this year

el rabitos wrote:

i like my football end to end or i switch to pop idol

Yep, definitely winning cyber personality of the year!

RE*AC*TOR

Trilla wrote:

I'm a little gutted with Celtics exist.

I know I know. You just have to live with it though, Celtic are a fact of life.

patmac

Some thoughts from last night. First off (begrudgingly I am one of those people who give out about Sky tv and pay them €66 per month) the multi screen on Sky was excellent yesterday watched Utd till they scored, then watched Arsenal-PSV till PSV scored, then the end of Celtic-Milan followed by six really tense minutes of Bayern-Real followed by Celtic-Milan extra time add in the goal alerts and all in all an excellent nights entertainment.
Secondly when was the last time Utd played well in Europe I'm thinking back to Rooney's debut v Fernabache as the last decent performance they gave, I mean Celtic played way better v Milan than Utd did 2 years ago. The way Utd are playing no-one should fear them in the qf's especially now without Larrson, we have been very lucky lately and could end up with feck all if we don't start playing soon.

BaZmO*

evad_lhorg wrote:

my Draw predictions

Ac Milan v Bayern Munich
Roma v PSV
Chelsea v United hopefully not
Valencia v Liverpool

hmmmm.....

Nalz

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

I know I know. You just have to live with it though, Celtic are a fact of life.

:rolleyes:

griffdaddy

i'm sure it's been said before, but Kaka really is an absolutely incredible player, i'd have one Kaka instead of three ronaldinhos on my team anyday, he's an all-round gem.

dr.bollocko

If he was that much of a gem the ****er could have scored in normal time and netted me a tonne. But NO. Mr. Kaka decided to wait until three minutes into extra time. the showboating gambler hating bastard.

MisterAnarchy

patmac wrote:

Secondly when was the last time Utd played well in Europe I'm thinking back to Rooney's debut v Fernabache as the last decent performance they gave, I mean Celtic played way better v Milan than Utd did 2 years ago. The way Utd are playing no-one should fear them in the qf's especially now without Larrson, we have been very lucky lately and could end up with feck all if we don't start playing soon.

Very true.
United have been awful in Europe for the last 3-4 years.
Their away form is particularly bad and they are due a right hiding soon if they continue to produce such poor displays.
Over the last 3 weeks United have been playing very poor stuff and they need to turn it around or they might blow the league.