Champions League Week Four Thread

mike65

Tuesday, 01 November 2005

Artmedia Bratislava v Rangers, 19:45
Inter Milan v FC Porto, 19:45
Liverpool v Anderlecht, 19:45
Olympiacos v Lyon, 19:45
PSV v AC Milan, 19:45
Real Betis v Chelsea, 19:45
Rosenborg v Real Madrid, 19:45
Schalke 04 v Fenerbahce, 19:45

Wednesday, 02 November 2005

Arsenal v Sparta Prague, 19:45
Barcelona v Panathinaikos, 19:45
Benfica v Villarreal, 19:45
Club Brugge v Rapid Vienna, 19:45
FC Thun v Ajax, 19:45
Juventus v Bayern Munich, 19:45
Lille v Man Utd, 19:45
Werder Bremen v Udinese, 19:45

Tables

Group A Table
1 B'rn Munich---9
2 Juventus

---

6
3 Club Brugge--3
4 R Vienna

---

0

Group B Table
P Arsenal

---

9
2 Ajax

---

4
3 FC Thun

---

3
4 S'ta Prague--1

Group C Table
1 Barcelona

---

7
2 Udinese

---

4
3 Panathinaikos---4
4 Werder Bremen--1

Group D Table
1 Man Utd

---

5
2 Benfica

---

4
3 Villarreal

---

3
4 Lille

---

2

Group E Table
1 AC Milan

---

5
2 Fenerbahce

---

4
3 PSV

---

4
4 Schalke 04

---

2

Group F Table
1 Lyon

---

9
2 Real Madrid----6
3 Rosenborg

---

3
4 Olympiacos----0

Group G Table
1 Chelsea

---

7
2 Liverpool

---

7
3 Real Betis

---

3
4 Anderlecht----0

Group H Table
1 Inter Milan---6
2 Art B'slava---4
3 Rangers

---

4
4 FC Porto

---

3

Wins for Aresnal, Bayern Munich and Lyon will mean certain qualification while if both Liverpool and Chelsea win they go through, if Barca and Real Madrid win they go through I think.

Mike.

Jivin Turkey

I expect Liverpool and Chelsea to be in the draw for the next round on Tuesday night.

League form may not be miraculous, but at least they will be able to focus on it if they go through so early.

Chucky the tree

i'll go for a 3-0 win for pool.

Dr. Nick

Liverpool
Chelsea
Madrid
Olym/Lyon draw

13-1

eirebhoy

Apparantly Leo Messi's new contract is worth €100,000 a week until 2014. :eek: Doesn't kick in 'til January unfortunately. I've put him as my captain in the FF team as Deco is injured.

county

chelsea to win 3-0,14-1 paddy powers worth a flutter

MrJoeSoap

eirebhoy wrote:

Apparantly Leo Messi's new contract is worth €100,000 a week until 2014. :eek: Doesn't kick in 'til January unfortunately. I've put him as my captain in the FF team as Deco is injured.

Is there not a limit on the length of contracts? Thats some money for him!

mike65

Liverpool

---

Reina
Finnan Carragher Hyypia Riise
Gerrard Alonso Sissoko Garcia

---

Crouch-Morientes

Subs: Dudek, Kewell, Cisse, Hamann, Josemi, Warnock, Zenden

Me likes! Cisse will come on late and finnish them off.

Mike.

galwaydude

thats the team annouced it it

Dr. Nick

galwaydude wrote:

thats the team annouced it it

yet it it.....:D

Kingp35

county wrote:

chelsea to win 3-0,14-1 paddy powers worth a flutter

Current score is:
Real Betis 1-0 Chelsea Dani (28)

Davei141

Class! liverpool 1-0 anderlecht - morientes

whiskeyman

Kingp35 wrote:

Current score is:
Real Betis 1-0 Chelsea Dani (28)

So, 1-5 Chelsea then?
Wonder how they're playing... must catch highlights later. (Arsene is taping it for me )

Pepe LeFrits

Morientes delivers!

randomfella

Tv3 commentator ate his words after Morientes scored. Funny

AARRRGH

Does anyone know any online radio stations where I can listen to one of these matches??

Davei141

We better replace sissoko at half time, i can see him being sent off.

MrJoeSoap

2-0 Madrid at half time. An own goal and Guti.

Kingp35

Olymiakos 1-2 Lyon at half time. I am a big fan of Lyon, I think they are a terrific side who play great flowing attacking football. They could surprise alot of people this season

mike65

Great goal, the cheer that went up when the tannoy announced the bleedin'
obvious was huge! I think crouch will get a goal or an assist if he says on.

Sissoko is putting himself about a bit, if he does go I'd say it'll be Gerrard to go central and Garcia on the right with Harry Kewell down the left.

Mike.

cruiserweight

Kingp35 wrote:

Olymiakos 1-2 Lyon at half time. I am a big fan of Lyon, I think they are a terrific side who play great flowing attacking football. They could surprise alot of people this season

They have been around and have been a good team for a few seasons now! It would not suprise me if they went very far in this tournament! I wonder how long Houllier will keep up the attacking football

Kingp35

I agree but many people thought they wouldnt do as well this season after losing Essien and plus they thought there style of play would change under the management of Houllier. That hasnt happened and Lyon seem to be playing as well as ever. I hope it continues because they are always a great team to watch

Davei141

lyon 4-1 up, theyre looking great. Holy crap luis garcia, absolute beauty!

Shred

Garcia with another cracker:eek: Gwan!

Davei141

Its official, milton neylson is an arse.

cruiserweight

Kingp35 wrote:

I agree but many people thought they wouldnt do as well this season after losing Essien and plus they thought there style of play would change under the management of Houllier. That hasnt happened and Lyon seem to be playing as well as ever. I hope it continues because they are always a great team to watch

I think Essien is over-rated, I think Tiago will do very well in their team! Anyway sounds like a great night, shame I am stuck in the lab!

Vikings

I wonder what Jestrovic said to get him a straight red?

stevenmu

Red card for Gestrovich (sp?), what was that all about ?
The only thing I can think of is maybe a racial slur or something on those lines, he didn't look like he was protesting that much or anything.

Davei141

Stam sent off for 2 yellows. CISSE YOU BEAUTY!

Davei141

Ok liverpool win 3-0 I bet according to tv3 all the goals were lucky defensive errors.

mike65

stevenmu wrote:

Red card for Gestrovich (sp?), what was that all about ?
The only thing I can think of is maybe a racial slur or something on those lines

He is a Serb and Sissoko is black therefore almost cetainly a racist comment I'd say.

Great goals, Luis Garcia may make ones hair curl at times but that was some header and he had another good game in my eyes. Nice for Cisse to crack one home to. Now if only we can get Crouch to score...

Mike.

Davei141

I guess my "arse" comment was premature, lets see what the ref has to say. Mike i have no doubt crouch will get his goal soon, lets hope its vs villa.

Tusky

Could this be the return of Kewell ? Didnt see the match, heard he played well and made a goal ?

What was the sending off for ?

Davei141

Guys, seen the replay again...Im almost positive that i seen "f*ck you black" which is despicable and the ref was 100% right. Imagine a comment like that over a nudge, no place for it.

A Dub in Glasgo

Good goal by Garcia. Excellent result for Betis.

Dr. Nick

Davei141 wrote:

Guys, seen the replay again...Im almost positive that i seen "f*ck you black" which is despicable and the ref was 100% right. Imagine a comment like that over a nudge, no place for it.

Absolutely, said it to the wife immediatly......thought he might have used the n word rather than the b one.

Dr. Nick

Tusky wrote:

Could this be the return of Kewell ? Didnt see the match, heard he played well and made a goal ?

No, he was generally his normal self apart from the assist.......;)

mike65

On the racist incident - its not often a ref will blow up for that so Nielson has just gone up in my estimation.

Cara and Hyypia have rarely looked more composed, good work getting forwards by both Riise and Finnan.

Has Rafa found the best formation/line-up
finally.

Now what about Chelsea? Why did they let us down by loosing?!

Mike.

Davei141

To be honest mike, how annoying would it be if we done a man utd and threw away the group by playing a carling cup team on our last 2 games? Id much rather they had something to play for.

Dr. Nick

Chelsea were defending on the six-yard box when Betis scored. Way too deep.

The Special One will have a special word or two to say to them.

Davei141

Or a special moan and excuse

Guy:Incognito

Davei141 wrote:

To be honest mike, how annoying would it be if we done a man utd and threw away the group by playing a carling cup team on our last 2 games? Id much rather they had something to play for.

He'll want to come top, i doubt there will be a soft touch team winning a group this time round (leverkusen) so rafa will want to finish top. I really hope it doesnt come to the last game needing a draw to finish top because Liverpool always have the potentioal to fall apart i thos circumstances, would rather have top place sorted if that was the case. A liverpool win and a Chelsea draw in Belgium would be nice, then Chelsea' fate would be in our hands .

Necronomicon

Dr. Nick wrote:

Chelsea were defending on the six-yard box when Betis scored. Way too deep.

The Special One will have a special word or two to say to them.

Nah, Betis were probably lucky, Chelsea probably scored the goal for them. :rolleyes: God forbid the thought that Chelsea didn't actually deserve to win.

Guy:Incognito

Necromomicon wrote:

Nah, Betis were probably lucky, Chelsea probably scored the goal for them. :rolleyes: God forbid the thought that Chelsea didn't actually deserve to win.

In fairness, they didnt deserve to lose. Betis were filthy, diving gits. I love hard matches and like to see good tackling, I think it's becomeing too much of a non contact sport, bu tbetiis were just kicking chelsea around and the ref could have been stronger. Diving really grates me and they were doing that by the bucket load. Diving shoud earn you a card for each offence when the video is looked at after.

PHB

Just watching the highlights now.

Chelsea can't seem to finish at all. How did Gudjohnson miss that chance, he is such a clinical finisher, its unreal.
Good game though

redspider

Well, Liverpool lined up very similar to how they did on Sat in a 4-4-2, with just Crouch replacing Cisse, as follows:

---

Reina

---

Finnan - Carra - Hyppia - Riise
Gerrard - Sissoko - Alonso - Garcia

---

Morientes - Crouch

---

Liverpool played the better football, but Anderlecht posed very little threat. The Liverpool defence and midfield were very comfortable, dealing with anything that came their way and moving the ball up into attack quickly and effectively.

Finnan had a very good game, and got in a lot of crosses. Gerrard when out wide was not as effective as he can be, not one of his better games, but good enough. Carra was his usual effective self, and Hyppia didnt get caught out. Alonso as on Sat was sublime, both creatively and defensively. Again Liverpool's best player. This Liverpool formation of 4-4-2 works very well, especially against opposition like this. Garcia was again better than his average. He still loses the ball, but he is working harder, is linking up well, and his headed goal attempt from long range came off. Sissoko, didnt do much really, still a Traore in midfield. Hamann would surely do a better job skills wise, but its not clear if he has the same level of stamina/fitness to get up and down the pitch.

Up front though, the problems persist. Morientes, not doing very good, not clinical, in spite of his goal from the corner of the box. It was a good goal but he didnt score others that were easier and was easily put-off, tackled, etc for the whole match. Still not sharp and wont be. Himself and Crouch not combining at all. In fact, Crouch was the source of a lot of turnovers, giving the posession away easily as moves broke down on his control/pass. His finishing was poor and eventually Cisse got his run out and showed him how to score. Cisse was his usual self, strong and fast and direct. Kewell, when he came on didnt do much. Zenden looked lively when he came on early in the 2nd half for Morientes, and did ok.

With Benitez picking stable 4-4-2 selections in the last couple of games, it remains to be seen if he will stick with it and the personnel. Liverpool's main problems remain up front, and there is no easy answer for that. Crouch once again on tonight's performance demonstrates why he is not good enough. Morientes likewise, and we know Cisse's faults. But as Liverpool have no-one else its difficult to decide. Perhaps playing all 3 in each game (ie: bringing one on as a sub at half-time) is the best way to go.

If I was Benitez, I think he must go into the transfer market in Jan and get a new striker, even though he has signed two already (Morientes, Crouch), but even by Jan, Benitez should be in a position to admit that they are just not working out.

redspider

SCULLY

Chelsea were very poor in the first half but overall I think that they were unfortunate not to get something out of the game (essien hitting both posts with one shot!). The diving aspect of Betis was really annoying but although they did a lot of time wasting, all teams are guily of that at some time or another.

Hardly a crisis at Stamford Bridge (first loss in all competitions in 6 months and running away with the premiership) but still will be interesting to see how they react to this mini blip. Still fancy both english sides to progress to knock out stage.

Thanx 4 The Fish

What game were you watching lad ?

Kewell came on and immediately beat three or four lads then laid the ball off. He did something similar for Cisses goal which I am sure that he would have scored had Cisse not took it off his toe. Also had another chance where he danced into the box near the end and was not far away.

What he finished up with yesterday was a good attacking pairing, Cisse up with Luis playing off his shoulder. Luis really has performed very well in the last two games. Gave the ball away less, made his penetration count and played some sublime passes. Some good goals, some decent play, let's see how we do against Villa.

gracehopper

if i was benitez i'd leave the little fella Garcia just for Europe, i wouldnt even bother picking him in the squad for the league. All in all i thought liverpool were very professional last night, They beat anderlecht fairly comfortably. One question though. Why is benitez playing the best central midfield player in england at right midfield?

Dr. Nick

...because he has 4 CMs and no RM to talk of.

redspider

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote:

What game were you watching lad ?
Kewell came on and immediately beat three or four lads then laid the ball off. He did something similar for Cisses goal which I am sure that he would have scored had Cisse not took it off his toe. Also had another chance where he danced into the box near the end and was not far away.
What he finished up with yesterday was a good attacking pairing, Cisse up with Luis playing off his shoulder. Luis really has performed very well in the last two games. Gave the ball away less, made his penetration count and played some sublime passes. Some good goals, some decent play, let's see how we do against Villa.

I presume I'm "lad".

I didnt watch the last half hour of the game that closely, so I wont lambast Kewell. The work he did for Cisse's goal was only reasonable and if Cisse wasn't there the goalie would have collected it - it was not taken off Kewell's toe. Also, the Anderlecht defense were pretty poor so Kewell's walking through 2 of them for this goal is not a good benchmark. Kewell has a lot more to do if he is to be considered a first team player. He didnt do himself any harm last night. Neither did Zenden. But neither player are good enough for a 1st team berth.

Garcia has indeed improved. He plays off the front two anyway and drifts inside from whichever side of midield he is put on. He never fulfills the winger tasks, and cant play as a defending midfielder. Thats why when he doesnt produce he seems to be an extravagance that we cant afford. He has to produce, and luckily for him in the last couple of games he has. But I think we needs to be played with two strikers, not just one. And in tough games where we have to do a lot of defending, he is a source of problems.

redspider