Champions League Quarter Finals Leg 2

leninbenjamin

Necromomicon wrote:

Finally, I shouldn't even be drawn on the RTE panel, but I can't help myself. It was just a joy to hear them try to cover their asses after the game and make themselves sound less foolish. Fair play to Bill O' Herlihey for really sticking it to them. I don't mind Brady so much, but Giles and Dunphy were really taking the piss.
Edit: Apparently Dunphy called Ferdinand a 'tramp' before the game. Now that's the height of professionalism. :rolleyes:

i've said it before and i'll say it again, at least the RTÉ boys stimulate some sort of debate. you don't get statements said with such conviction on any of the alternatives really, they just toe the line and sit on the fence really (although it would be nice if Dunphy would tone it down and be a bit more dignified).

I think the fact that the Champions league is not just limited to the top teams is good. the fact anyone who makes the last 16 has a chance of winning is good. it makes it more diverse, dynamic and makes for more interesting watching as smaller teams get a chance to show up the bigger teams. Also, The Champions league comes with huge sums of money and offers smaller clubs who progress a chance to earn more revenue, where they wouldn't have that revenue otherwise. and its not like we're seeing obscure teams from out the back and beyond take over the competition, it's still the heavy hitters largely that do the winning.

Stekelly wrote:

Was just thinking there, does Solskjear ever score when he starts? I mean Utd got 7 last night bu the didnt get 1. It seemed nailled on when you saw him come off the bench that he'd score, you could put your house on it. But then when Fergie started putting him in the team from the start, the goal seemed to dry up. He needs to go back to being Roy of the Rovers

solskjaer didn't start last night and didn't score don't get your point

Mossin

where Arsenal not English champions when Utd won it in 99?

Just being pedantic here, but United were Premiership Champions when they won the CL in 99. It was the first part of the Treble..
Anyways enough sh**e stirring..

I'm personally delighted that United hammered Roma last night, but I'm just worried that they will get big heads after that victory. Knowing Sir Alex though, I'm sure he will have them well prepared for Saturday and Watford.

De-valuing the CL or the FA Cup with supposedly lower/lesser teams winning is ridiculous. I definitely feel it's a good thing for those clubs to be in the competition. If you want only the champions from each country, we would be seeing Shelbourne or Derry or St. Pats being hammered by the so called elite. That would de-value it more in my opinion.

I hate it too, the way people are writing off Bayern and Milan at this stage. Whichever of them faces United in the semi-final, has a great chance of winning the CL. Just because there might be 3 English teams in the semi doesn't mean that one of them will win it, so get down off ye're high horses.
I'm a Man Utd fan all the way, but at least I'm being realistic.
What happened against Roma was fantastic, but it's still only one game.

Guy:Incognito

leninbenjamin wrote:

solskjaer didn't start last night and didn't score don't get your point

Missed most of the match, was mis-informed that he started. And I wasnt havign a dig, calm down.

Mossin wrote:

Just being pedantic here, but United were Premiership Champions when they won the CL in 99. .

Be pedantic all you want, it doesnt count. They qualified by finishing 2nd.

leninbenjamin

Stekelly wrote:

Missed most of the match, was mis-informed that he started. And I wasnt havign a dig, calm down.

i didn't think you were having a dig, i just didn't get your point. thought there might have been something i was missing.

mike65

Liverpool to give PSV a fighting chance.

---

Reina
Arbeloa-Hyypiä-Agger-Riise
Pennant-Alonso-Sissoko-Zenden

---

Bellamy-Crouch

Subs: Dudek Paletta Carragher Mascherano Gerrard González Fowler

Mike.

Kingp35

Mossin wrote:

J
De-valuing the CL or the FA Cup with supposedly lower/lesser teams winning is ridiculous. I definitely feel it's a good thing for those clubs to be in the competition. If you want only the champions from each country, we would be seeing Shelbourne or Derry or St. Pats being hammered by the so called elite. That would de-value it more in my opinion.

I have very little interest in the Champions League these days because i think 4 teams from one country being in it is too much, it should be limited to two teams to give the smaller teams a chance. I do think it takes away from the competition that the 4th best team in England of the previous season can win the Champions League. It really is a joke that the entire competition is geared towards the big Leagues. Before the Liverpool fans go nuts im not saying they didnt deserve to win it but I think they shouldnt have been in it. Finishing 4th in your league shouldnt be good enough to enter the "Champions" League.

Im becoming disillusioned with what football has become the last few years. The Premiership is a very boring league, not in terms of boring matches (although there alot of them) but in who is going to win it. The same can be said of many other European Leagues as well. Its all about money and the smaller clubs are not as well looked after. Football is slowly becoming more and more boring as fewer and fewer teams have the chance of winning major cups.

Guy:Incognito

Kingp35 wrote:

Finishing 4th in your league should be good enough to enter the "Champions" League..

It wouldnt be if the clubs hadnt done so well in Europe. Not sure now but up to the end of last season Liverpool had the highest coefficient of the ENglish clubs.Results have been similar for the clubs so I'd imagine they are still the top English club.

Kingp35

Stekelly wrote:

It wouldnt be if the clubs hadnt done so well in Europe. Not sure now but up to the end of last season Liverpool had the highest coefficient of the ENglish clubs.Results have been similar for the clubs so I'd imagine they are still the top English club.

I understand that, what im saying is that I dont like the current set up that allows up to 4 clubs from one country to qualify. Am I right in saying that its going to be limited to 3 in the near future? I think this is a step in the right direction if true.

Chucky the tree

Come on Crouch, i could do with a hat-trick you big string of urine.

Guy:Incognito

Whats with Sky showing the whole of YNWA being sung? They dotn usually do that do they?


Not that I'm complaining, always gives me a shiver.:)

What channel is the liverpool game on?

I thought RTE were showing it and the channel guide says so yet they are showing the Bayern + AC game!

What the christ??

Guy:Incognito

They changed their minds because theres more to play for in the Milan -Bayern game apparently.

Hope PSV got the message that they've nothing to play for and should'nt bother trying.

Setanta and Sky are showing Liverpool - PSV

Stekelly

Stekelly wrote:

They changed their minds because theres more to play for in the Milan -Bayern game apparently.

Hope PSV got the message that they've nothing to play for and should'nt bother trying.

Setanta and Sky are showing Liverpool - PSV

Wierd! Thanks for the info would never have found setanta if I didn't look for it(Chorus box)

Guy:Incognito

Robbie coming on? Good good . (not that bellamy got injured but I like Robbie gettingplaying time)

zAbbo

game on now.

0-1 Milan

KdjaCL

2-0 screamer.

What is with bad defending and CL knockouts...unheard of in recent years!!!

kdjac

purple'n'gold

How serious is the injury to the poison dwarf?

YeatsCounty

There goes Bayern's 2 away goals! After a pretty poor opening by Milan, I'm astonished by the manner in which Milan have taken this game by the scruff of the neck in these last 10 minutes.

W00t.

RE*AC*TOR

The atmosphere at Anfield is great tonight, despite the mediocre game.

Haven't heard that Rafa Benitez to the tune of La Bamba one before - was being sung for a good solid ten minutes there.

zAbbo

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

The atmosphere at Anfield is great tonight, despite the mediocre game.

Haven't heard that Rafa Benitez to the tune of La Bamba one before - was being sung for a good solid ten minutes there.

Thats the Rafa Benitez song!!

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/images/misc/rafabenitez.mp3

Ra-ra-Rafa Benitez
Ra-ra-Rafa Benitez
Xabi Alonso, Garcia and Nunez
Ra Ra Rafa
Ra Ra Rafa

Ra-ra-Rafa Benitez .......

RE*AC*TOR

ahh nunez, how we miss thee

super_furry

It's Reina now.

Guy:Incognito

Where did the ref get that call from? :eek:

Guy:Incognito

So thats it wrapped up (assuming no 2 minute miricles happen)

So it's Chelsea - Liverpool & Milan - Utd


Is that the way th edraw was done? I'm almost sure it was , Liverpool & Utd at home 2nd leg?


What price a Liverpool - Milan final?

mike65

How bad was Fowler tonight!? One good touch which lead to the goal otherwise hopeless.

Mike.

MisterAnarchy

Dunphy is spouting his garbage again portraying Milan as Demi-Gods.
Idiot.

Kingp35

To be fair Milan looked pretty decent tonight. Man U will rightly be favourites but Milan can still cause problems. I think their lack of decent strikers will go against them though.

leninbenjamin

Milan vs. United

Chelsea vs. Liverpool

haven't a notion who'll come out of these.

was watching the Bayern vs. Milan match. United will be quite optimistic i think. 2nd half and Milan weren't fantastic, they looked a bit sluggish and just weren't holding onto possession like i've seen in previous years (although there were flashes where they did). If United can play at a really high tempo over both the legs then i'd be pretty confident of them wearing the old Milanese legs out. However, it's not all rosy. Milan played very deep and never let themselves get suckered in for the counter, and I can see them playing deep again against United in order to negate Ronaldo's runs. Ronny will find it difficult to scramble through a midfield of Gattuso, Pirlo and Ambrosini. You could easily see United, with Ferdinand and Brown in particular being caught on the counter by Kaka, he could be very damaging.

referee didn't really do Bayern any favours tonight. what was with him stopping play when Gattuso went down? stopped an attack in the build up over nothing! very frustrating for Bayern, although the better team won to be fair.

Liverpool match any good? flicked over a few times and thought it looked dull enough.

Royale with Cheese

They'll have Gillardino back for the United games.

leninbenjamin

Royale with Cheese wrote:

They'll have Gillardino back for the United games.

is he any good though? i've never been impressed with him in what little i've seen of him.

Kingp35

By the way Hargreaves looked very poor. I really cant understand why Man U want to buy him. Average player imo. Much better players than him out there.

Guy:Incognito

mike65 wrote:

How bad was Fowler tonight!? One good touch which lead to the goal otherwise hopeless.

Mike.

He's out of shape and has been most of the season. TBH I blame Rafa. He took him for the sencond half of last season on the promise if he did well he'd get another deal and been involved. At the start of the season Robbie was in great shape got a couple of games and goals, then nothing, not even make the bench a lot of times. I was watching him early in the season, he was much more active and hungry than Bellamy and seeme to be right up for it. After not geting a sniff of playing time for a good while, he came out visibly different in shape and didnt look as interested, he obviously isnt getting what he thought he was when he signed the contract.

Having said all that, he did well to set up the goal. Plus where I really liek Fowler and he hasnt lost this , watch every time a shot comes in, by the time the move finishes with the ball either in the net, in the keepers hands or gone out of play, he in the closest player to the goal (for both sides), any hint of a loose ball and he'd be all over it. If we were playing Utd every week with VDS inparry mode, he'd have a heap of goals.

MisterAnarchy

Kingp35 wrote:

By the way Hargreaves looked very poor. I really cant understand why Man U want to buy him. Average player imo. Much better players than him out there.

I cant either.
He is a woefully limited player.
Ultra negative.
As Brady says 'He is a clone of Carrick' but inferior.
Wouldnt value him at even 5m.

Kingp35

MisterAnarchy wrote:

I cant either.
He is a woefully limited player.
Ultra negative.
As Brady says 'He is a clone of Carrick' but inferior.
Wouldnt value him at even 5m.

I agree, I think Carrick is the better of the two. The price being quoted for Hargreaves is unreal. Surely they could buy a better player for that kind of money.

leninbenjamin

Kingp35 wrote:

By the way Hargreaves looked very poor. I really cant understand why Man U want to buy him. Average player imo. Much better players than him out there.

Ask anybody who was raving about him after last weeks match. he just had a bad game, he's not really an attacker anyway like he was being asked to do for much of the game tonight, and it didn't help that Van Bommel was sh*te as well

adox

Compleetely different player to Carrick and as I wouldnt judge Hargreaves on one performance I certainly wouldnt judge Carrick on last nights performance alone.

What United are badly lacking is a really good ball winner in the middle and Hargreaves seems to be the best available at the moment.The price is of no consequence to me.

Carrick has been unimpressive for nearly the whole season.I`d prefer to see a United midfield with either Scholes or Carrick as the creative player and a ball winner along him,especially with the likes of Ronaldo also lining up in midfield.For all his gifts tracking back isnt one of his assets which can leave the midfield very exposed with the current line up.


Oh and by the way I`d start Scholes everytime ahead of Carrick.:)

Mr. Presentable

http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s6i17214

Dave!

Anyone know the dates for the semis? Should be good

leninbenjamin

adox wrote:

Oh and by the way I`d start Scholes everytime ahead of Carrick.:)

way to state the bleedin obvious.

Carrick may not impose himself as much as other (better) midfielders, but he is a good passer and is a better alternative than any of the other United options in there (bar scholes of course). Even though 18mil was a fortune for a player of his abilities, I'm pretty sure that without Carrick United would not be top of the league now. they had to get someone in, and paying 18mil was the only possible way they could get a half decent premiership ready footballer, and if they end up winning the prem i think you'd have to say its worth it.

PHB

Hargreaves was terrible tonight, but he was incredible in the last game, so whats to conclude
I still think he could be a good player for United, he isn't like Carrick, Carrick is like Pirlo, Hargreaves is like Gattuso.

Milan will be a tough game, no doubt about it. United are at home first, but I think we can win it.

smemon

back to italy for Utd and fans :rolleyes:

lets hope the police are neutral this time.

anyway, on the pitch it's a case of revenge. Milan played us off the park the last time we met and knocked us out with no complaints.

that hurt, as for once i just had to accept they were the better side overall and we couldn't match them.

Things have changed though since. Utd this season are on fire. Provided everyone remains fit, i'd have my money on Utd. In fairness it's hard to bet against Utd after their last result. Keep playing like that and everyone else can give up now.

el rabitos

PHB wrote:

Carrick is like Pirlo, Hargreaves is like Gattuso

no need to insult 2 fine milan players. low dude, low.

Bateman

Great to see that Liam Brady feels authoratative enough to dismiss Owen Hargreaves on the back of a handful of TV games. In fairness, Hargreaves is probably over-rated but it gets more than slightly annoying when they dismiss Ronaldo's greatness because he can't do it consistently across a period of time, yet they have no idea what Hargreaves has done over a period of time and still feel comfortable enough to tell the rest of us how good he is. :rolleyes:

Chucky the tree

he's sat on the subs bench over a consistent period of time hasnt he?

Raskolnikov

I don't know why Hargreaves is getting such a roasting, he wasn't great but he was certainly better than Van Bommel.

Pighead

Raskolnikov wrote:

I don't know why Hargreaves is getting such a roasting, he wasn't great but he was certainly better than Van Bommel.

Its the Man Utd haters getting some pre emptive strikes in.

Bateman

Pighead wrote:

Its the Man Utd haters getting some pre emptive strikes in.

Man Utd fans shouldn't flatter themselves into thinking that, at all.

PiE

But Beckenbauer, speaking on German television, said: "If it is right there is an offer of 25-30m euros (£17-20m), then I would seriously consider it.

A midfield of Carrick and Hargreaves sure strikes fear into me.

Job done for Liverpool, Chelsea should be a nerve-biting tie.

Delighted for Milan. Reckon they'll be well up for the semi-final, especially as it'll be one of the few times their senior players will ever be considered "underdogs".

RasTa

Sweet jesus I hope it's a Utd V Pool final. I'd actually give up the league if it meant that we could beat Liverpool for the 3rd time this season in the final of the champions league. Getting a wee bit ahead of myself just thinking about it.

Chucky the tree

2005 final all over again?