English Football Thread! 2006-2007 Season [Archive] - Page 4

Psychotic

02-06-2007, 11:58 PM

So in come Gillett and Hicks. It seems this is the only way for football teams to remain competetive these days, which is sad, but there we are. From what they've said, they seem to respect the culture, the history and the passion of the club (which is second to none), and that sounds promising enough to me, although whether or not they mean it or whether or not it's just a hollow PR tactic remains to be seen.

Not too pleased about leaving Anfield either, but at least there won't be a groundshare with a certain SMALL CLUB! :D I think Rafa meant crap team rather than small club but oh well. :p He has a point, though. What a lousy attitude to such a big game, the derby, which is usually exciting and fast-paced. It seems only the Goodison derby will be like that from now on. Even if there is "£100m between the two teams" (yeah fuck off was there, Moyes you muppet, considering that would require us to have paid over £9m on average for each our players, and we did so for only one of them, Alonso (although Kuyt's was rumoured to be £9m, it's undisclosed), I don't think so.) there's no excuse for doing that in the derby. Still, they're nowhere near being a big club either. The only big clubs in English football are Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal. Chelsea are a good team, hence why they're included in the current big four, but they're not a big club yet. Winning a couple of league titles does not make you a big club when you compare it to the dominance of the three teams I have just named.

02-07-2007, 12:01 AM

Leaving Anfield is one of the worst team stadium moves I've ever heard. It has so much history and everything, it's gonna suck. :(

charliepanayi

02-07-2007, 08:28 AM

02-07-2007, 10:05 AM

Highbury was a shiet stadium for a shiet team, though. :heart: :love:

02-07-2007, 03:56 PM

Highbury was a shiet stadium for a shiet team, though. :heart: :love:You're just jealous because no-one gave a smurf when your team moved grounds. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that quite a few people didn't even notice, and showed up at Maine Road on away days, wondering where the hell everyone was. :p

Psychotic

02-07-2007, 04:41 PM

OH NO THEY CALLED US "Liverpool Reds" AND A "Franchise" OH NO OH NO SOMEONE HELP US MAKE THEM GO AWAY :(

Oh what the heck, make them buy us Ashton/Torres, Daniel Alves, Abidal/Lahm and then make them go away. :jess:

EDIT: Simao Sabrosa too kthx.

Jess

02-07-2007, 10:11 PM

About the England match: What a suprise. :rolleyes2

Psychotic

02-07-2007, 10:14 PM

When your player with the most flair is Kieron fucking Dyer, what do you expect? We lacked the inventiveness of the likes of Rooney, Cole (J! No offence, Carlton, but you just can't cut it) and Lennon and paid for it by being flat and uncreative.

Why is Fatty Lumpard still an automatic starter?

chrisfffan

02-07-2007, 10:21 PM

Dyer is Dier!

Frank lamped is selected because he’s been the best midfielder in the premiership for the last 3 years! always getting at least 20 goals a season and setting up i don’t know how many goals.

blim

02-07-2007, 10:33 PM

Well if you want to live in the past, stay at Anfield. Obviously there's a lot of history there but like us with Highbury, the fact is you know that sooner or later you'd have to move to somewhere bigger if you want to try to keep on a level footing with the Mancs etc. Liverpool will be able to fill a 60,000 stadium easy and that can only be good for them.

I agree completely, to compete Liverpool need a bigger stadium and Anfield cannot provide that, obviously every liverpool fan will miss Anfield but the current structure of football means the move is neccessary. My team need to move to survive let alone prosper.

chrisfffan

02-07-2007, 10:37 PM

how rich is that American guy? because if he is loaded you don’t really need a massive ground to compete and all the fans that go their wont be all real fans its impossible if its going to be 60 thousand!

Psychotic

02-07-2007, 10:37 PM

Frank lamped is selected because he’s been the best midfielder in the premiership for the last 3 years! always getting at least 20 goals a season and setting up i don’t know how many goals.The key phrase in your post was "in the Premiership". That sums Lampard up perfectly. He's good in the Premiership. He's great, even. But here's the kicker: England don't play in the Premiership. At international level he has been diabolical for the past 12 months.

Also, Liverpool have more than 60,000 "real" fans, considering that more than one million people turned out for the Champions League victory parade. But plastic fans are an inevitability in football these days, but they pay just as much as real fans do, and apparently moving to Stanley Park is a money-making exercise.

blim

02-07-2007, 10:45 PM

You cannot expect the new buyers to subsidize the club, it needs to pay its way to be viable long term. Stanley Park is a money making exercise but also an economic neccesity to compete with Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Urine let alone other European teams.

chrisfffan

02-07-2007, 10:54 PM

[QUOTE=chrisfffan;2089045]Frank lamped is selected because he’s been the best midfielder in the premiership for the last 3 years! always getting at least 20 goals a season and setting up i don’t know how many goals.The key phrase in your post was "in the Premiership". That sums Lampard up perfectly. He's good in the Premiership. He's great, even. But here's the kicker: England don't play in the Premiership. At international level he has been diabolical for the past 12 months.

he wasn’t good in the world cup that was a understatement but if you remember he was one of our best players in the European championship where Stevie G didn’t turn up!

Psychotic

02-07-2007, 10:58 PM

True, but that was two and a half years ago, when Darius Vassell was guaranteed to play in every game (usually as a sub). Things change.

chrisfffan

02-07-2007, 11:00 PM

i have faith in Lampard but then again i would im a Chelsea fan i don’t know why Steve and Frank cant play together and bomb on forward while Carrick plays the holding role its seems easy to me.

Jess

02-08-2007, 12:04 AM

Why is Fatty Lumpard still an automatic starter?
And why does GERRARD, get subbed off rather than him? :mad2::mad2:

Psychotic

02-08-2007, 12:09 AM

So he can rest for the game against you lot ;) Xabi didn't play either, ahahaha.

The Captain

02-08-2007, 07:36 AM

I thought only Gerrard and Dyer even played decent in their game frankly. Phillips for all his pace seems to have little control and the defense had a lot of gaps.

In other news, I was very pleased with the US team's performance and really disappointed to see the poor sportsmanship on the part of the Mexican team as they didn't even shake hands after the match but just left the field.

Bring on the real games I say.

Take care all.

chrisfffan

02-08-2007, 05:56 PM

[QUOTE=The Captain;2089545]I thought only Gerrard and Dyer even played decent in their game frankly. Phillips for all his pace seems to have little control and the defense had a lot of gaps.

Wright Phillips plays the same for Chelsea it really annoys me when people say why don’t Chelsea play him more often, he loses the ball all the time and i think we would be lucky to sell him for 5 million that’s all he’s worth at the moment.

02-08-2007, 05:59 PM

Well you do generally tend to lose your touch when you get bought when you're playing at your prime and then get benched for two seasons. :monster:

chrisfffan

02-08-2007, 07:27 PM

he has had chances started games and done nothing.

Loony BoB

02-09-2007, 10:57 AM

02-09-2007, 11:09 AM

He's proven it to people in the past that he's capable of playing very well, so if his move to Chelsea has squandered his ability then it is obviously his own fault for moving to a side that don't need him and also Chelsea's fault for not managing/coaching him well enough.Absolutely right. Plenty of other teams were interested in SWP (us included) and could have pretty much guaranteed regular first-team football. If he'd been smart, he'd have gone where the games were, not the silverware, and he'd almost certainly be England's starting right winger today. His last season for Manchester City was fantastic, and I'm sure that form would have continued had his career not ground to a halt at Chelsea. Now England have to make do with an SWP-lite in Aaron Lennon, who isn't bad for a Spurs player, but still not at good as Shaun was a couple of years ago.

Not that I'm blaming the state of our national side on Chelsea. Everyone knows that's our fault. :p

Loony BoB

02-09-2007, 01:08 PM

Hey man, Lennon is still awesome and will almost certainly be a big player for the future.

chrisfffan

02-09-2007, 08:04 PM

Jess

02-10-2007, 08:32 PM

Doesn't everybody love how Newcastle beat Liverpool (escpecially Paul)? :):):)!

Psychotic

02-11-2007, 09:58 PM

Congratulations on witnessing the greatest moment in your club's history. :)

Oh boy, the curse of Manager of the Month has struck. Just like last season, we're having a very lousy February so far, and we seriously need to pick ourselves up before the Gooners manage to build up a lead over us. As long as they're within 3 points then that's alright, as we are seriously owed a win over them by fate or Jesus or Ian Rush or whoever decides these things, and hopefully the showdown at Anfield will seal third.

But there are more pressing concerns, namely Barcelona. Good god, if we can't even beat the likes of Newcastle freakin' United then I'm not even going to be able to watch the Barca games. And apparently Samuel Eto'o (Far superior to Ronaldinho imho) is due to return for them, which is just wonderful.

I've finally given up hope on Zenden ever producing anything good, and the fact that he was substituted for Danny Guthrie while we were losing says it all really. And now Riise, apparently realising that without Warnock and Traore, we need someone to be completely crap at left-back, has decided to offer his services in that department. And from what I saw of Arbeloa, he looks like being the next Josemi/Kromkamp, although the jury is still very much out on him, and I hope he proves me wrong.

Still, Xabi Alonso has had a little break thanks to suspension, so hopefully he'll be in fine form. And I also hope the Premier League finally get their fingers out of their arses allow us to sign Mascherano, and then our central midfield will be solid enough even for the likes of Xavi, Deco and Iniesta...I hope! With Sissoko recently coming back from injurt against the barcodes, and with Kewell aiming for a return in the Barca game, there does seem to be some hope that things can pick up a bit.

02-11-2007, 11:24 PM

We were rather lucky to get a win today, but considering how many points we've dropped in 1-1 home draws in which we were the better team, I think we were due a proper comeback for a change. Plus, our victory has the pleasant side-effect of keeping the relegation battle interesting.

Psychotic

02-13-2007, 12:24 AM

02-13-2007, 11:47 AM

Plus, our victory has the pleasant side-effect of keeping the relegation battle interesting.Nice try. We all know you despise West Ham. Three London teams down = :strut: (Well, Watford is close enough to London for my liking)Of course I despise West Ham. That's why I want to see them relegated with the last kick of the season, for maximum impact. It'd be even better if Alan Pardew kept Charlton up, considering how they played the blame game and ditched him midway through the season.

Resha

02-13-2007, 02:14 PM

Well, I dunno. I'd like to see West Ham and Charlton go down, purely on Pardew's behalf. :D Whatttaaa :skull::skull::skull::skull:.

Mikztsu

02-13-2007, 04:10 PM

I'd also love to see West Ham relegated. Curbs is crap, he just keeps throwing money away. Literally. Look how much they've spent this season, look at the results.

Anyone watched Bolton- Fulham last weekend? >.< It was a pathetic performance by cottagers, and I blame CC's tactics. He was going 4-5-1 using Heidar Helguson on the wing? And why is that Fulham always only change their formation and players in the middle of the game when it's TOO LATE already! No wonder we are the worst away team. Need more creative players, instead of those "gritty hard workers" for a change when on road.

Liam Rosenior has been aboslute crao recently and it shocked me how he was playing against Bolton too. Really, CC should've just played Volz on right side. Rosenior is a good kid with a lot of talent but his passing is just shocking - About 8/10 passes by average by him went straight to the opponent.

However I'm expecting nothing but vicotry this weekend FA Cup quarte finals against Tottenham. My ideal lineup would be:

--------------Niemi-----------------------
Volz-----Christinval----Bocanegra-----Quedrue
---------------------------------------------
Routledge---Smertin----Bouba Diop----Dempsey
---------Montella-------McBride---------------

Wish we had Jimmy Bullard fit. :( That guy is a legend already

blim

02-13-2007, 05:58 PM

--------------Niemi-----------------------
Volz-----Christinval----Bocanegra-----Quedrue
---------------------------------------------
Routledge---Smertin----Bouba Diop----Dempsey
---------Montella-------McBride---------------

Wish we had Jimmy Bullard fit. :( That guy is a legend already

compared to those its not hard to become a legend. Liam is nearly as useless as his old man. We're going down cos of Leroy

Mikztsu

02-13-2007, 06:37 PM

Fulham's defence is crap, it's no secret. Probably the worst in the premiership. But I myself rate Fulham's midfield potential very highly at the moment. I mean we have names such as Bullard, Routledge, Smertin, Bouba Dip, Dempsey ( very exciting guy to make his mark in England, you'll see), Simon Davies, Michael Brown. That's plenty of decent quality to choose from.

Also Brian McBride is very underrated forward. Strong and very reliable guy. I wish Mohammed Al-Fayed would at last give Cookie some cash to shop players next summer. Buy Montella permanently, buy him a good partner up in front. Midfield is fine as it is. Buy whole new two centrebacks and put Liam on passing training, or sell him while he's still generally highly rated prospect. I wish we would've gotten that Onyewu guy who went to Newcastle. His transfer seemed almost certain at the start of transfer window, but something happened and it fell through.

Need more ambition, not start away games defensive minded and start attack only when you're two goals down. No aimless long balls straight to the opponent anymore.

chrisfffan

02-13-2007, 10:23 PM

i think if you get too ambitious you might end up going the other way ambition is good but in stages Chris Coleman has done a good job at Fulham.

Mikztsu

02-13-2007, 10:33 PM

You're very right about that. And I'm very happy how CC has done, seeing how young he is and is getting more and more experienced every day.

About ambition, I meant that as for financial side, MO Al Fayed needs to start investing again so we won't always be the selling side selling our top players like Van Der Saar, Saha and Malbranque.

On the management side...imo it has something to do with FFC's away form as I said. It's sensible if we look at the pre-game interviews and tactics + starting line ups. Fulham need to go win those away games, not draw. Not like we got much to lose if we go for more attacking strategy, as we're already the worst away team in the league.

There's something really wrong, if you're pretty much safe from the relegation battle yet you are the worst away team with just, like 2 wins within one year.

Sort that out and we'll be on top 6 next year easily.

Psychotic

02-13-2007, 10:44 PM

About ambition, I meant that as for financial side, MO Al Fayed needs to start investing again so we won't always be the selling side selling our top players like Van Der Saar, Saha and Malbranque.In my opinion, the best player you sold was Steve Finnan. Best right-back in the league by a long way, although an honourable mention goes to Pascal Chimbonda of Spurs.

No love for Zat Knight, Mik?

Mikztsu

02-14-2007, 03:03 AM

Yeah I miss Finnan a lot. Forgot to mention him. He's really pure class, was that when he was here as well.

As for Zat, he's been too inconsistent. :(

charliepanayi

02-14-2007, 10:11 PM

Even when given enough opportunities to finally stick it to Bolton, we almost managed to spurn it - a terrible miss, a penalty I could have taken better and then letting in a late equaliser..

Don't give me a heart attack guys!

Kirobaito

02-14-2007, 10:40 PM

Psychotic

02-14-2007, 11:00 PM

I was going to ask you about Hicks. Well, that's wonderful news! :( Still, hopefully he'll leave Rafa in charge of signing players rather than trying to take control himself.

Unlucky, Bolton. You didn't deserve to lose, although then again, neither did Arsenal. Still, great work in taking Arsenal to 120 minutes, depleting their stamina for future games. I hope Blackburn do the same. :D

charliepanayi

02-15-2007, 08:24 AM

02-15-2007, 01:03 PM

Unlucky, Bolton. You didn't deserve to lose, although then again, neither did Arsenal. Still, great work in taking Arsenal to 120 minutes, depleting their stamina for future games. I hope Blackburn do the same. :DNah, we deserved that win. If we hadn't wasted those two golden oppurtunities in the second half then it wouldn't even have been a contest. As it happened, we let Bolton get into their stride and were fortunate enough to score first in extra time, when they were looking the better side. Still, it's really irritating to be taken into extra time when we had the ability to put the result beyond doubt, and with the Champions League coming up, I'm sure that the issue of stamina will have a big impact on the Premiership campaign. I mean, in a month's time, we'll have four competitions to think about, and you'll only have the one. That's a pretty big disadvantage, I've got to admit. ;)

Mikztsu

02-15-2007, 01:56 PM

I hate Big Sam and Bolton. No particular reason, but Big Sam annoys me a lot.

02-15-2007, 01:59 PM

I hate Big Sam and Bolton. No particular reason, but Big Sam annoys me a lot.Let's be friends. :thumb:

Resha

02-15-2007, 03:16 PM

My joy is unrivalled. BOLTON. AT THE REEBOK. FINALLY. HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA oh my Jesus I could eat my fucking feet

charliepanayi

02-15-2007, 03:48 PM

I would say despite the frustrations at not putting the game to bed in 90 minutes yesterday, there was the fact that we could have easily folded up in extra time after letting in a last minute goal. It looked like Bolton had the momentum going into extra-time - but we dug in and got the result. That's at least an improvement on previous occasions.

Psychotic

02-16-2007, 01:42 AM

Nah, we deserved that win. If we hadn't wasted those two golden oppurtunities in the second half then it wouldn't even have been a contest. That's why you didn't deserve to win. Two penalties and the Adebayor miss = oh dear!
I mean, in a month's time, we'll have four competitions to think about, and you'll only have the one. That's a pretty big disadvantage, I've got to admit. ;)Wankers. You just got an easy CL draw, that's all! *fist-shake* And yes, PSV is a very easy draw. We beat 'em in the group stages with ease. Heck, until recently they had Michael freakin' Ball. They still have Jan Kromkamp. Enough said.

Doc Sark

02-16-2007, 07:40 PM

Are we bashing Arsenal? Can I join in?

Psychotic

02-17-2007, 12:57 AM

That's kinda what we do around here these days, Doc. The problem is, at EoFF, Arsenal fans outnumber humans by three to one.

02-17-2007, 02:19 AM

A shame for them that even one Leyton Orient fan is enough to destroy all of the scum here with a minimum of effort :)

02-17-2007, 10:27 AM

Wankers. You just got an easy CL draw, that's all! *fist-shake* And yes, PSV is a very easy draw. We beat 'em in the group stages with ease. Heck, until recently they had Michael freakin' Ball. They still have Jan Kromkamp. Enough said.Yep, it's a very easy draw. I think we deserved it, after getting you and Bolton so early on in the FA Cup. And we've been nowhere near as lucky as Chelsea, who got Porto, and haven't even faced Premiership opposition in the FA.

Are we bashing Arsenal? Can I join in?If you're here to replace Paul, then by all means.

That's kinda what we do around here these days, Doc. The problem is, at EoFF, Arsenal fans outnumber humans by three to one.I know that, having lost to us three times to us this season, Arsenal FC and everyone associated with it might seem like a race of superhuman geniuses, but I assure you that we are as human as Peter Crouch Ian Rush.

A shame for them that even one Leyton Orient fan is enough to destroy all of the scum here with a minimum of effort :)Those guys are tough. They've got cock-er-ney accents and everything. :(

Oh, and because I am a cheap person and like cheap points: Spot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWId91UbwyA) the difference (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co7c3W6YgEU). :D

02-17-2007, 01:04 PM

I don't know, man. When they played us they seemed like a bunch of league 2 arses who didn't know what the back of the net was. Especially that Terry Henry. :sing:

02-17-2007, 02:47 PM

I don't know, man. When they played us they seemed like a bunch of league 2 arses who didn't know what the back of the net was. Especially that Terry Henry. :sing:League 2? Even your lot never sank that low.

And yes, bad result. Definite penalty towards the end (not that we'd have scored it), but that doesn't excuse the fact that we had no answer to Blackburn's packed defence. We'll beat 'em at Ewood park, though.

Resha

02-17-2007, 04:17 PM

At Ewood Park we will beat them; although I do wish they'd cut down on the unnecessary games and win 'em first time round without extra time. They're going to be so tired. :-(

As for sassin' on Arsenal, psh. Y'all just jealous. And off goes VENABLES again, because Arsenal really are the root of all evil. *bitches back at Tel a bit* :D

charliepanayi

02-17-2007, 05:59 PM

A disappointing result there, not sure if we have the energy now to last out another replay between the two PSV games.

As for Chelsea, they'll be getting Plymouth at home in the FA Cup next no doubt...

02-17-2007, 07:29 PM

Oh well, at least I've seen one good game of football today. United were very unfortunate to have that Solskjaer goal disallowed, but they wasted plenty of other good oppurtunities, and Reading's game was spot on, if rather unambitious in the first half. The replay ought to be a very interesting prospect.

Doc Sark

02-17-2007, 07:57 PM

I should have known better than to have put money on Arsenal beating a significantly poorer team, who adopt a defensive and physical strategy, at home. I guess I'll never learn...

I'm looking forward to the Preston v Man City game tomorrow. Did anyone see Dave Nugent's goal on MOTD a week or two ago? I fancy Preston to win it, especially if Man City show the same indifference they have in recent games.

Psychotic

02-18-2007, 12:49 AM

Let's see Wenger do this! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2wnExUrzIY)

Beautiful work, Blackburn. Now, remember how you broke Carra and Cisse's legs? You owe us. It's time to repay the favour. Break Fabregas and Henry's legs. HACK THE BONE, HACK THE BONE!

I did indeed see Nugent's goal. He'll be an England regular within a few years, methinks.

Doc Sark

02-18-2007, 12:53 AM

I don't often wish pain on opposition players, but I do make a special exception for Fabregas as he's such a little turd. Today trying to wind up Mark Hughes and a while back, giving Teddy Sherringham a dig. He plays like a seasoned world class midfielder but still has the attitude of a young adolescent.

charliepanayi

02-18-2007, 02:00 PM

Er...that's because he IS still barely out of his teens, unsurprising he can be petulant sometimes. Besides, he's got nothing on our very own Jens Lehmann, wind-up merchant extraordinaire :)

Mikztsu

02-18-2007, 03:39 PM

Fulham - Tottenham starting soon...watching live stream through TVants program and Starsports channel.

Come on you whites!

edit: dammit one goal down already, poor start! >.< Hope we can climb up.

charliepanayi

02-18-2007, 05:51 PM

Considering how tomorrow there's a just under 50% chance of us getting Spurs, Man Utd, or Chelsea maybe getting knocked out by Blackburn wouldn't be so bad... XD

Mikztsu

02-18-2007, 06:02 PM

That was such an embrassing loss for us...0-4 at home against Spuds. :(

I've been a fan of Coleman when he took over years ago, and eventhough we're not really under threat of getting relegated I'm also thinking that change would be good. For someone more experienced, someone who has won something. I'm not usually to hit the panic button, but really perhaps Al Fayed should consider other options at the end of the season.

Not gonna take anything from Robbie Keane's fabulous permormance, but Zat Knight was awful. 3 of the goals were his mistakes.

Resha

02-18-2007, 06:08 PM

Let's see Wenger do this! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2wnExUrzIY)

Beautiful work, Blackburn. Now, remember how you broke Carra and Cisse's legs? You owe us. It's time to repay the favour. Break Fabregas and Henry's legs. HACK THE BONE, HACK THE BONE!

They broke Cisse's leg because he was a wife-beater :-) (comme toi, mon ami)

And Carven Cotatge :( It was meant to be like a fortress!

02-19-2007, 05:00 PM

Let's see Wenger do this! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2wnExUrzIY)I concede the argument and lick the soles of your feet.

Didn't believe the Fulham-Spurs score when I heard it. Spurs score four times? In one game? Some mistake, surely? Oh well, they've drawn Chelsea in the next round, which is a win-win game for all right-thinking people. It's a shame that the big teams have been kept apart, as it looks like we're heading for a predictable final this time around, but the prospect of Plymouth making a semi-final against one of the big clubs is rather interesting. A home tie against Watford is pretty much the best draw they could've hoped for.

Psychotic

02-19-2007, 09:37 PM

Oh, this is jolly. Craig Bellamy decides to blow yet another chance by acting like a tosser. *shakes head* With Liverpool being his boyhood club, you would've thought he might've decided to act like a professional for once.

Apparently we're very close to signing Andriy Voronin, so much so that they've even mentioned it on the official site, something they never do unless a deal is certain. The guy was in my World Cup fantasy football team, and he's not a bad player, but he's not what we need. We need a world class striker. Go, Rafa. Get David Villa.

charliepanayi

02-20-2007, 10:15 PM

Oh Arsenal, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways... :(

Nice one lads, find yourselves staring elimination in the face now, good work all round.

02-21-2007, 03:01 PM

Oh, buggeration. A decent first half display wasted, and now we've got a bit of a job to do in the return leg. Still, if we actually come out and perform at the Emirates then we shouldn't have any problems.

Psychotic

02-21-2007, 07:25 PM

Either Arsenal will tank them 3-0, or they'll pass the ball around for 90 minutes and miss 50 clear cut chances.

Regarding the Man Utd game, well, what lunacy from the French police. Mind you, I have little sympathy for the United fans, considering that a good deal of them consider it the height of wit to sing offensive songs about the Hillsborough and Heysel disasters (even when they're not playing Liverpool). Perhaps the way they or their friends have been treated will make them realise what twats they're being, but I doubt it. As for Lille walking out, what a bunch of whiners. "You can't win if we refuse to play! Le sulk!" Come on now.

Now to find a stream for a certain big game tonight.

blim

02-21-2007, 07:30 PM

It will be interesting to see if Mascherano looks any better at Liverpool than he has during his brief spell at West Ham. Was hinted he will debut tonight ageainst Barca, cant see it myself though.

Also, re the heysel and hillsborough songs, its not as if liverpool fans never mention Munich is it. (P.S. seeing a copper on fire at Heysel did make me chuckle though)

b.t.w. missed something, whats bellamy done now

EDIT: scrub that mascherano is on bench

Psychotic

02-21-2007, 08:05 PM

Yeah, a minority of Liverpool fans do, although certainly not as much as Man Utd fans mention Hillsbrough/Heysel (in my opinion, but obviously I am biased). But yeah, it's just as wrong and should be stopped.

Bellamy whacked Riise with a golf club, and now they're both on the left wing. Should be interesting. And apparently to counter the thread of Ronaldinho, Rafa has decided that two right backs will stop him. Hmm.

1-0 to Barca. So far our tactics have consisted of running around like headless chickens, and kicking Ronaldinho. Yeah, this is going to end 3-0.

On the plus side, Chelsea were 1-0 down when I last checked :D

Half-time edit: I spoke too soon. 1-1 in both games. Bellamy scored for us, and his celebration was to swing an imaginary golf club. I say Kuyt scored, not Bellamy, and UEFA initially agreed with me but now they've given the goal to Bellamy, presumably because they enjoyed his celebration. Meanwhile, our tactics have changed from kicking Ronaldinho (and Puyol, who has responded to our attacks by turning to religion. He is praying to the referee every time he gets fouled) to kicking everyone. Go LFC, go!

Edit 2: Oh fuck yes, 2-1! Riise scored (with his right foot!), and Bellamy assisted, hahaha. Break in play in the moment because Ronaldinho just crippled Sissoko. Yes, I got that the correct way around. Still, Momo's been giving as good as he gets, and I think Barca are pretty pissed off with him. Fuck, looks like he's going to be out for a while, and he only just returned from injury. The next 10 minutes or so will be pure heart attack football for me.

Edit 3: and it wasn't really. A bit lacklustre from Barca. I expect a lot of whining to come from them about our tactics. It was sort of like watching an angry Bolton/Everton/Blackburn on crack, although don't assume that means we dug in deep and went into all-out defence mode, we didn't, which surprises me, we attacked them just as much as they attacked us. Our second win at the Nou Camp, and we're still the only British team to beat Barca there. Good god the game at Anfield is going to be intense. :excited:

To end, Mohammed "Inferior to Abou Diaby" Sissoko is a one-man footballing war machine. Xavi, Iniesta, Deco, Ronaldinho...he took them all on and he won. Better than Diaby? He's better than bloody Fabregas.

Resha

02-22-2007, 02:21 AM

2-1 at the Nou Camp. o_o I wasn't expecting it, but wtf Barca. >_o Anywhosss, pretty damn good on Liverpool's part. Prettyyyy damn good. I only hope Arsenal can rip those PSV eiefekfs at Emirates. :/ Bah.

02-22-2007, 04:58 PM

Didn't see the game, but the result speaks for itself. Bloody impressive stuff, Liverpool.

Suikojowy

02-24-2007, 11:18 AM

Thank god Barca lost. As much as I hate Liverpool, I hate Barca a whole lo t more.

Does anyone think Celtic will cause an upset at the san siro?

Bart's Friend Milhouse

02-24-2007, 11:37 AM

Possible. Milan underestimate their opponents from time to time though usually away from home. IMO they shouldn't have been in the competition in the first place

Suikojowy

02-24-2007, 11:40 AM

Milan are in terrible form at the moment. They've barely won their last two games against very weak opposition and their defence is laughable without Nesta.

Resha

02-24-2007, 12:54 PM

There goes dear Fergie antagonising his teaaaam again :bigsmile: That man, I swear.

02-24-2007, 03:52 PM

Bad luck, Fulham. You came so close. :(

Man, I wish there were some West Ham fans around here so I could give them the biggest xD ever. Those guys don't just fail, they fail in style. :D

blim

02-25-2007, 04:20 PM

Jesus, hope John Terry is OK. That looked nasty.

02-25-2007, 06:08 PM

Bah, Howard Webb cocked that game up for us. Baptista should have had a penalty, Diarra should have been sent off, and from that point on it's game over. Our kids did a brilliant job up until the Terry incident (which was horrible to watch, but doesn't seem to have done too much lasting damage) at which point they seemed to lose their stability. Chelsea, meanwhile, had asolutely nothing going for them until the introduction of Robben, when they fought their way back in to the game, and were in control by the end.

Of course, the brawl at the end really spoiled things. It was dumb of Touré to react and start it all off, and dumber of Adebayor to throw his weight around the way he did. But with two minutes left to go, for Webb to give five cards was bloody stupid, and made a much bigger deal of the incident than was necessary. Because of his overreaction, the incidents at the end overshadowed what was otherwise a highly entertaining game, which is unfortunate. I suppose it's all part of the cup final drama, but if you ask me the game was dramatic enough without the injury time controversy.

So many things to cover, but all in all, it's another sucky Chelsea victory. :(

Psychotic

02-25-2007, 11:19 PM

Using accents on Toure's name? Bloody fancy dan.

I think Arsenal deserved to win the entire tournament, but I didn't really care that they didn't. It's just a shame it didn't go to extra time, to wear them out further, but hopefully Blackburn can do that in the replay. Still, sickening injury + handbags brawl = satisfying enough.

charliepanayi

02-27-2007, 08:16 PM

Good lord, this Reading v Man Utd match has gone from possibly intriguing replay to bad joke in the first six minutes! You may as well give the FA Cup to Man Utd or Chelsea right now :( (though I think Spurs may have a chance to beat Chelsea in the quarters possibly)

Psychotic

02-27-2007, 11:46 PM

It ended pretty well though, didn't it?

02-28-2007, 02:44 PM

If Reading had got their second about ten minutes earlier, then things could have been very different. Awesome match, despite the result. :)

Psychotic

02-28-2007, 03:50 PM

Indeed it was, although it's a shame none of their players could get nobbled before this weekend. God knows we can't afford anything other than a win with Arsenal's current games in hand over us. Still, with United's cavalier attitude, and Alonso + Sissoko/Mascherano minding the fort, hopefully we can stifle their attacks and sneak a goal or two. Not confident of that, though.

Anyway, let's hope that the Arsenal - Blackburn game tonight is just as entertaining as the Reading - United game. I'd love it if it was a gruelling, physical match which Arsenal eventually manage to win on penalties.

Rocket Edge

02-28-2007, 03:52 PM

Ole's 4 against Nottingham Forest was better though. Great match.

EDIT: At the comment about the quick goals.

02-28-2007, 09:54 PM

Bugger bugger bugger. :(

Loony BoB

02-28-2007, 09:57 PM

Everyone knows that you can't win cups and leagues with kids (unless you're special).

02-28-2007, 10:03 PM

Teehee. Although really, I would have preferred Arsenal to go through than Blackburn. The small chance of us scraping a lucky victory over them would have been much sweeter, even if they creamed us.

Doc Sark

03-02-2007, 12:14 PM

It was contender for most boring game of the season. Can't take anything away from McCarthy's strike though.

Resha

03-03-2007, 02:47 PM

Psychotic

03-03-2007, 02:55 PM

One shot on target, one goal. Motherfuckers. Bellamy's goal was a mile onside too. We need a finisher and we need one now.

03-03-2007, 02:57 PM

Unbelievable: they played like :skull::skull::skull::skull: throughout, and they come away with a win. But then again, Liverpool failed to capitalise on their 11-man status. I still don't think MU deserved a win at all, though. But eh I am not complaining overmuch; we still have two games in hand, and it's be good for us, at any rate.The difference between a good side and a title-winning side is the ability to play badly and come away with the points. United didn't deserve to take anything from that game, but the fact that they kept Liverpool out for the ninety minutes, and managed to snatch a goal themselves, shows us why they're 12 points clear at the top while we're struggling to keep pace.

Alternative interpretation: Lucky bastards.

EDIT: Don't worry, Paul. You'll feel much better once we stumble to a 1-0 defeat against Reading.

Psychotic

03-03-2007, 03:03 PM

Do you really mean that? :jess:

03-03-2007, 03:12 PM

Do you really mean that? :jess:No Touré, Henry or Adebayor, against a damned good Reading side, with our confidence shattered from two consecutive cup defeats makes this the best chance of us losing our unbeaten home record since the Mancs came to town. Although we all know what happened there. :cool:

Psychotic

03-03-2007, 03:15 PM

Awesome. This saves me the the trouble of eating creme eggs while sobbing. Come on you Royals. :excited:

03-03-2007, 03:20 PM

Awesome. This saves me the the trouble of eating creme eggs while sobbing. Come on you Royals. :excited:If you need any further encouragement, you'll be pleased to know that Awesome Diaby is only on the bench. Presumably, he's still got a bit of bruising from when John Terry cruelly headbutted him in the foot with his thick neanderthal skull.

Loony BoB

03-03-2007, 04:26 PM

Bellamy was not onside for the goal - When the pass was made, he was. Then Sissoko deflected it (otherwise it would have been cleared by a United player), at which point Bellamy was offside.

Also, there was a penalty we should have got but didn't.

Also, although you were definitely the better team in the second half (even between the two in the first), you paid the price for constantly holding onto the arms of our players. I've never seen it done so much in a single game in my life. On so many occasions there were Liverpool players blatantly wrapping their arms around our players' arms, often with our players (eg. Carrick) getting fouled for it (God knows how). Scholes was sent off for eventually reacting to it, but it was yourselves that eventually paid the price when, finally, the ref caught you out and we got a goal for it from the free kick. If it wasn't for the consistency of your fouls (even if you weren't always caught and called out on them), I would say it was injustice that you lost. But you did, and you lost, and I say that's justice.

We would have played a lot better if you weren't wrapping yourselves around our players.

charliepanayi

03-04-2007, 06:03 PM

West Ham v Spurs - bloody amazing game, but it winds up with West Ham pretty much hitting the final nail in their coffin. Ditto for Watford and Charlton yesterday just taking points off each other.

Still, that was a great game just now.

Also, how long before people start talking up another Treble for Man Utd I wonder now...

Psychotic

03-04-2007, 09:13 PM

Bellamy was too onside. :tongue: :tongue: :tongue:

Can't say I noticed any shirt pulling or whatever from our players, but then again I was watching a stream on a very small screen so that's probably why. Assuming it went on to the extent that you claim it did, (I have no reason to doubt you so I'll go with it) I still wouldn't call losing justice; I'd merely call not winning justice. Still, I did see Xabi doing it to Scholes, but after the horrendous foul on him 5 minutes previously just outside the United area, (and he got away with it) I would say Scholes deserved it.

Cz, you lied to me. Why? :(

03-04-2007, 09:51 PM

Cz, you lied to me. Why? :(Sorry. Turns out we're more awesome than I thought.

Can't wait to see the highlights of the West Ham/Spurs game tonight. Even though it's a Tottenham win, it sounded like one hell of a game, and there's nothing like a broken-hearted Hammer to remind you that life is good.

Oh, and I also want to get another look at Scholes' pathetic attempt at punching Xabi Alonso. Funniest thing I've seen in ages. :D

chrisfffan

03-04-2007, 10:07 PM

Loony BoB

03-05-2007, 09:29 AM

Oh, and I also want to get another look at Scholes' pathetic attempt at punching Xabi Alonso. Funniest thing I've seen in ages. :D
He wasn't trying to punch him. This is Scholes we're talking about - he may be a horrid tackler and you might think him aggressive for it, but it's known amongst players, managers and media that he's not the kind of guy who just turns around and swings in for face-redecoration. He was just doing that thing where a player gets pissed off and they do that sort of jump-and-spin-while-punching-the-air thing. Frustration induced, most often by a bad call by the ref, conceding a goal due to fault of your own players or the opposition badgering you. Can also be done in a positive manner when you get a goal, or, in the case of cricket, when you hit the winning runs or get a century. Often done by New Zealanders McMillan and McCullum.

United players aren't like Arsenal and Chelsea players. ;)

If it was Rio, I'd say he was trying to punch him, though.

03-05-2007, 05:24 PM

He wasn't trying to punch him. This is Scholes we're talking about - he may be a horrid tackler and you might think him aggressive for it, but it's known amongst players, managers and media that he's not the kind of guy who just turns around and swings in for face-redecoration. He was just doing that thing where a player gets pissed off and they do that sort of jump-and-spin-while-punching-the-air thing. Frustration induced, most often by a bad call by the ref, conceding a goal due to fault of your own players or the opposition badgering you. Can also be done in a positive manner when you get a goal, or, in the case of cricket, when you hit the winning runs or get a century. Often done by New Zealanders McMillan and McCullum.Pfft. I don't care what he was trying to do. He still looked like a petulant four year-old who isn't getting his way, and it still looked bloody hilarious.

United players aren't like Arsenal and Chelsea players. ;)Trying to score points on player discipline? That's cute. :p

Psychotic

03-06-2007, 03:36 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na-ARBdFMC0

There you go, Cuz. Fair play to Xabi, though, at least he didn't go down like he'd been shot like a lot of players probably would.
United players aren't like Arsenal and Chelsea players. ;)Of course not. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH8TbX8zrYI) ;) Back then, Ryan Giggs and Robbie Fowler were young, exciting talents. Bless. :love:

Loony BoB

03-06-2007, 03:38 PM

I hate how my work blocks youtube. I wanna see United players brawl! How long ago is that from, though, out of curiosity? Who is involved?

Psychotic

03-06-2007, 03:41 PM

If memory serves, it's from 1995, and it's the infamous Cantona Kung Fu kick.

Loony BoB

03-06-2007, 03:47 PM

Oh, I thought you had something recent.

Psychotic

03-06-2007, 03:56 PM

Premiership = recent enough.

Looking forward to tonight's game. One of the best (if not the best) attacking teams in the world against one of the best (if not the best!) defensive/counter-attacking teams in the world. Barca are going to throw everything they have at us, and the atmosphere is going to be absolutely explosive. No football fan should miss it.

03-06-2007, 05:05 PM

Loony BoB

03-06-2007, 05:09 PM

Premiership = recent enough.
Still nothing on the Chelsea/Arsenal players.

As far as I'm concerned, football only began in this world 3-4 years ago.

Psychotic

03-06-2007, 05:20 PM

I like how Cantona's flying kick is always sold by the media and pretty much everyone else as one of the most terrible incidents ever like it totally killed the guy, but in actual fact Cantona dicked himself worse on the fence and the guy just tried to have him back. Looks like it barely phased him at all :monster:The guy didn't try to have him back. He tries to leg it :laugh: And he was in all the papers the next day with the studmarks on his chest, grinning like an idiot. He claims what he said to him was "Off you go, Cantona. It's an early bath for you." Yeah, okay.

The best bit about it is apparently that old woman threw her hot tea over Cantona. You can't see it in the video so if it did happen, it must've happened at the start where you can't really see what's happening. I also like the guy in the fluorescant coat. He thinks he should so something, but he doesn't quite know what.

Loony BoB

03-06-2007, 09:45 PM

What? La Liga? Best league in the world? My arse it is.

Also, right after the triple-save by Barca, if you flicked to the Chelsea game to see how it was going you'd have made it just in time to hear some guy who was lucky enough to be close to the stadium microphone say "Come on ref you [expletive]! [incomprensive yelling] ...twat!"

Funny as hell.

03-06-2007, 09:49 PM

Man, Barcelona were awful. For a team who had to score twice to have a chance of qualification, they showed barely any ambition going forward. Even when they did get going, their attacks were stifled by an excellent Liverpool side. As usual, Benitez got his tactics spot on, and Liverpool fully deserve to be in the next round.

Shame about Porto getting our hopes up and then blowing their lead against Chelsea, but I don't mind that little disappointment, so long as we beat PSV tomorrow. Play well, Arsenal. Please?

charliepanayi

03-06-2007, 11:42 PM

The fight between Valencia and Inter at the end of their game - funniest thing I've seen in ages!

Psychotic

03-06-2007, 11:56 PM

Told you all it'd be a good game! Would've been better if Barca had really given it all they had for more than about 5 minutes. They definitely didn't deserve to win the game, but hey, we're through and that's all that matters. Cracking performance. The main difference between the two sides was that Barca held onto possession, knocking it around their back three and not threatening, whereas whenever the reds got the ball, we went straight for the jugular with rapid counter attacks. You'd think we were the team that needed two goals from the first half performance.

Is there a greater travesty of justice than Carra not being an automatic choice for England? This season, only Rio Ferdinand has come close to him. I suppose Terry's had an injury-hit season, but when I see games like the one tonight (and the United game, and the Nou Camp game), I struggle to think of Terry ever doing anything as impressive recently.

Hmm...imagine if all four English teams make it to the Quarters, and are kept apart in the draw for that round, and meet during the semis. They'd be 5 incredible games, no matter who played who.

Loony BoB

03-07-2007, 12:04 AM

You just know UEFA would rig it so it couldn't happen, though. :(

charliepanayi

03-07-2007, 08:55 AM

I have a great idea - if Arsenal lose tonight, UEFA should kick out Inter and Valencia, and give their place to Arsenal for the quarter-finals! :D

To be honest I'd much rather play terrible and labour to a 0-0 draw etc and elimination tonight, rather than win 2-1 and go out on the dreaded away goals rule. That would be too much of a kick in the teeth.

03-07-2007, 09:30 PM

:weep:

charliepanayi

03-07-2007, 10:10 PM

Well done lads! You've cleverly ended your football season two months early so you can spend the next two months just going through the motions.

Oh wait, I forgot there's that big battle for 3rd place still. Thrillin stuff I'm sure we'll all agree.

Well I'm sure we'll manage to go on another European run again in about 5-10 years or so.

Psychotic

03-07-2007, 10:30 PM

I mean, in a month's time, we'll have four competitions to think about, and you'll only have the one. That's a pretty big disadvantage, I've got to admit. ;)I'd like to be beneath the sea in an octopus's garden in the shade. :cool:

What battle for third? Now that we've got extra CL games and they don't (not to mention their games in hand) it's as good as Arsenal's. Mind you, looking forward to the game at Anfield. This time it's PERSONAL! And also this time we should have Momo, touch wood. :D

Bart's Friend Milhouse

03-08-2007, 09:49 AM

:weep:

This resembles hysterical laughing more than anything.

One must admit, kids in the Europe's prime tournament = Failure

Resha

03-08-2007, 11:18 AM

Kids ffs. I'm getting annoyed by this word. Can anyone think of a better reason, please?

Loony BoB

03-08-2007, 11:23 AM

They aren't experienced enough?

In all seriousness, Arsenal got to the final last season and you can't expect it to a constant thing. Some years you'll do well, others you won't. That's life. Barcelona are out too, does that mean they're a crap team? No, it just means Liverpool were better than them on the days they needed to be.

Psychotic

03-08-2007, 05:35 PM

Kids ffs. I'm getting annoyed by this word. Can anyone think of a better reason, please?Get over it. After the January defeats to Arsenal, Benitez was called a bungler who didn't know his best team, wereas Wenger was hailed as a visionary and an investor in the future or whatever.

Rafa's tactical fiddling and Arsenal's kids are excuses no matter what result Liverpool and Arsenal get. Both of them are probably good things, considering that Liverpool and Arsenal are good teams. But when it suits the media (and consequently the general public such as yourself who mirror their views - oh yes you did, saying Liverpool's rotation was at fault for a bad patch of form at the start of the season, don't deny it!) it's suddenly their biggest weakness.

Jess

03-08-2007, 09:33 PM

Ah, another season ended for Arsenal. In my opinion? Good. All the arrogant Arsenal fans lately are starting to drive me insane. :p

I'm backing Liverpool for the Champions League and obviously, Newcastle for the UEFA cup.

4-2 tonight, we should have won by more but still an advantage is always nice when we still have to play them away. :jess:

03-08-2007, 09:51 PM

I mean, in a month's time, we'll have four competitions to think about, and you'll only have the one. That's a pretty big disadvantage, I've got to admit. ;)I eat those words. Eat eat eat them.

In all seriousness, Arsenal got to the final last season and you can't expect it to a constant thing. Some years you'll do well, others you won't. That's life. Barcelona are out too, does that mean they're a crap team? No, it just means Liverpool were better than them on the days they needed to be.That's just the thing. We outplayed PSV in the first leg and didn't take any of our chances. We should have gone to the Emirates with an away goal lead, and had it wrapped up before kick-off. To lose to inferior opposition is hugely frustrating, and unfortunately it's something we do all too often.

Get over it. After the January defeats to Arsenal, Benitez was called a bungler who didn't know his best team, wereas Wenger was hailed as a visionary and an investor in the future or whatever.

Rafa's tactical fiddling and Arsenal's kids are excuses no matter what result Liverpool and Arsenal get. Both of them are probably good things, considering that Liverpool and Arsenal are good teams. But when it suits the media (and consequently the general public such as yourself who mirror their views - oh yes you did, saying Liverpool's rotation was at fault for a bad patch of form at the start of the season, don't deny it!) it's suddenly their biggest weakness.Doesn't mean the media/general public/Alan Hansen aren't wrong, though. I mean, how can anyone seriously suggest that having a vast squad with a huge array of tactical options, or an excellent youth team are weaknesses? These are the kind of people who think Frank Lampard is undroppable from the England squad, and thought the same about David Beckham for about five years after he became completely useless. Fuck 'em.

Ah, another season ended for Arsenal. In my opinion? Good. All the arrogant Arsenal fans lately are starting to drive me insane. :pYou used to be cool. :(

Psychotic

03-08-2007, 10:08 PM

Ah, another season ended for Arsenal. In my opinion? Good. All the arrogant Arsenal fans lately are starting to drive me insane. When we watched the Arsenal-Spurs game, did you see the way the fans in their Fabregas shirts all jumped up and started hugging each other whenever Arsenal scored? It's your bloody reserves playing in the bloody Carling Cup you ponces.
Doesn't mean the media/general public/Alan Hansen aren't wrong, though. I mean, how can anyone seriously suggest that having a vast squad with a huge array of tactical options, or an excellent youth team are weaknesses? These are the kind of people who think Frank Lampard is undroppable from the England squad, and thought the same about David Beckham for about five years after he became completely useless. smurf 'em.That was exactly the point I was trying to make. I hate the whole idea of "undroppable" players enough as it is. Short of scoring a hat-trick of own goals against Germany before being sent off for attempting to sexually molest Lukas Podolski, I don't think anything is going to turn the media against, say, John Terry.

Old Manus

03-08-2007, 11:11 PM

EoFF needs more League One supporters :(

03-09-2007, 12:11 PM

That was exactly the point I was trying to make. I hate the whole idea of "undroppable" players enough as it is. Short of scoring a hat-trick of own goals against Germany before being sent off for attempting to sexually molest Lukas Podolski, I don't think anything is going to turn the media against, say, John Terry.Damn right. I'm glad we've managed to agree that everyone is stupid. :up:

EoFF needs more League One supporters :(I guess we could each adopt a League One club to make things interesting for you. *claims Leyton Orient* :D

Oh, and the CL draw:

AC Milan v Bayern Munich
PSV Eindhoven v Liverpool
Roma v Manchester United
Chelsea v Valencia

03-09-2007, 02:22 PM

I call Yeovil <3

Loony BoB

03-09-2007, 02:56 PM

Resha

03-09-2007, 03:03 PM

When we watched the Arsenal-Spurs game, did you see the way the fans in their Fabregas shirts all jumped up and started hugging each other whenever Arsenal scored? It's your bloody reserves playing in the bloody Carling Cup you ponces.
What, it's illegal to feel happy if the team you support scores, now? :p Give it a break, mate. I won't deny the rest of what you said in the other post though. :D

Psychotic

03-09-2007, 04:11 PM

No, it's not illegal. It's just a stupid overreaction. Unless beating Spurs in the Carling Cup is the limit of Arsenal's ambitions these days. Oh, and what, it's illegal to mock gunners, now? :p Give it a break, chum.

Regarding the draw, Chelsea certainly got the toughest of the three English teams remaining. Roma shouldn't present too much of a problem for United, after all, Middlesbrough knocked them out of the UEFA Cup last season. Still, United's European record hasn't been impressive for the last couple of seasons, (worst of all the English teams. Except Everton, if you want to count them!) so you never know.

If PSV play against us like they did in the group stages, then we'll go through. I saw the away game (it was a 0-0 draw; we won at Anfield 2-0) and a midfield of Aurelio, Zenden, Sissoko and Pennant was more than a match for PSV. Mind you, I expect them to play a lot better than they did in the group stages, and I certainly don't think it's an easy game: The Arsenal fans took that approach and now look at them. It'll be tricky, and we can do it, but whether we will do it remains to be seen.

Supposing we do it, that'll lead to a dream semi-final no matter who it's against. Chelsea are, well, Chelsea, and there are several players who have represented both Liverpool and Valencia (Off the top of my head, Aurelio, Sissoko and Morientes) as well as a certain Mr. Benitez.

And I may be looking just a bit too far forward (I can have my dreams) but supposing we get to the final, our opponents would be either Roma, AC Milan, Bayern or Man United. I checked, and every single one of these teams' home kits are red/maroon, and their away kits are all-white. In each of the five times we have won the European Cup, it has been against a team in all-white. I don't know how it's decided who gets to wear their home kit though.

Edit: Scratch that, just found out we'd be the 'away' team in the final, so unless Milan volunteer to wear their white kit (until meeting us, they'd won 6 finals in white and lost 2 in red/black) it looks like we would be in white and green. Brings back horrible memories of the '96 FA Cup final against United. I don't think I could stand to lose to them in the CL final.

03-10-2007, 07:50 PM

Regarding Arsenal being the better team: You're only as good as your final touch in front of goal, and if you don't get the goals then your touches weren't good enough. They did get goals, they won, you were beaten by the better team.

I can say it when we lose to West Ham, you should be able to say it when you lose to PSV.Part of the beauty of football, or any other sport, is that the best team doesn't always win. I've seen matches lost through squandered chances, yes. But I've also seen games where the outcome was determined by bad refereeing, and others that were decided by sheer fortune. Obviously, I'm not going to pretend that Arsenal don't have a problem with taking oppurtunities in front of goal, but that doesn't mean the other aspects of our performance should be ignored.

But yes, we didn't really do enough to deserve a win against PSV. There's no injustice in the result, I'm merely frustrated that my team wasn't able to show the quality that we all know they have. Looking at that PSV side, it's hard to believe they'd have had a chance against an Arsenal on top form, and having a team that is capable of matching any team in Europe exit the competition against an average side is terribly frustrating.

charliepanayi

03-10-2007, 09:41 PM

Mind you, I expect them to play a lot better than they did in the group stages, and I certainly don't think it's an easy game: The Arsenal fans took that approach and now look at them. It'll be tricky, and we can do it, but whether we will do it remains to be seen.
.

Only incredibly stupid arrogant fans would ever assume a game in the CL is going to be easy (especially as any Arsenal fan with half a brain should remember our long list of slip-ups in Europe) - so please don't blithely assume all (or even most) Arsenal fans were this dumb.

As for PSV, they're most likely going out, but I'm sure Liverpool will remember Benfica last year, and Bayern Leverkusen back in 2002, who were both underdogs and both wound up knocking out two English clubs, and won't make any mistakes wih regards to complacency. Chelsea have the hardest draw definitely though.

And also Middlesbrough threw away a good chance to beat Man Utd in the cup tonight - the crushing inevitablity of a Man Utd-Chelsea final takes a step closer (though I'll hold 100% judgement on that depending on which Spurs side turns up tomorrow).

Psychotic

03-10-2007, 10:41 PM

Only incredibly stupid arrogant fans would ever assume a game in the CL is going to be easy (especially as any Arsenal fan with half a brain should remember our long list of slip-ups in Europe) - so please don't blithely assume all (or even most) Arsenal fans were this dumb.I don't assume all Arsenal fans took that approach. However I did check out an Arsenal forum at the time and saw a lot of them acting like they'd won the damned thing already and a couple were laughing at Liverpool for getting Barca (although obviously that was much worse at Chelsea and United forums). To be fair, I did see several acting more cautiously though. And Cz here certainly isn't stupid, quite the opposite, but from the post I quoted previously, he clearly thought Arsenal would go through and Liverpool would go out. It wasn't a baseless assumption.

Disappointed Boro couldn't beat United. I want all the talk about a treble to go away, and fast.

charliepanayi

03-10-2007, 11:06 PM

Online forums are all too often populated by idiot fans though (present company excepted ;) - but then this is not a football forum), frequently full of 'ZOMG TEAM X SUX OLOLOLOL'. I daresay I could find some Liverpool fan forums which are now full of daft comments about how Liverpool will thrash PSV etc.

Though I will say that Cz's comment made a month or so ago was really daft and was asking for trouble if we wound up falling on our arses - at the very least you make a proviso for the worst-case scenario when looking at the future, not just the best.

One hope is now that Liverpool get so tied up with the CL that they forget to take brutal revenge on us at Anfield for the way we've been screwing them over so far this season - well I can but hope...

Psychotic

03-10-2007, 11:48 PM

I agree with all of that. Except the last paragraph. ;)

Let's get excited about the FA Youth Cup! Come on, folks! All four of the semi-finals teams are represented here (Liverpool v Newcastle; Arsenal v Man United) and Liverpool just won the first leg 4-2. We won the entire tournament last year and hopefully we can do the same again this year.

I care more about this than I do the Carling Cup. Why? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FA_Youth_Cup_Final_Squads Take a look at that. You'll notice an awful lot of familiar names. Scroll down far enough and you'll even see Bobby Charlton! Even the last two finals have produced England internationals (Richards and Walcott). Young English talent is an extremely valuable commodity these days.

Loony BoB

03-11-2007, 10:41 AM

Haha, check out the 91/92 United teams. Beckham, Butt, Neville, Giggs, Savage. Nice.

EDIT: An Arsenal fan regaularly posts at the United forum I go to. No ill treatment, either. Proving not all football forums are full of mindless idiots but actually some good blokes.

EDIT: I'd say Chelsea speaking of getting all four titles is a bit more annoying than United whispering about trebles.

charliepanayi

03-11-2007, 04:46 PM

Great quarter-final between Chelsea and Spurs earlier, there's been some cracking games in the last week or so.

And odds for a Man Utd treble at the moment are 9/1 apparently ;)

03-11-2007, 06:22 PM

Bah, you can't rely on Spurs to do anything right. The moment Jol swapped Berbatov for Mido you could tell that Chelsea were going to make a comeback, and I've no doubt that Spurs will disappoint in the replay, taking us one step closer to a United-Chelsea final.

Still, it was a great game of football, and I'm not going to complain about a bunch of Tottenham fans going home miserable. They had a couple of chances to kill the game off, so screw 'em. :p

Psychotic

03-12-2007, 12:23 AM

After seeing that game, no wonder Mourinho hasn't given SWP a chance. He's...well...crap. Didn't hit an accurate pass all day, and with the European qualifiers coming up, I hope McClaren doesn't consider him based on this evidence. Obviously he's behind Gerrard and Lennon in the pecking order for the right wing berth, but I'd also put him behind Beckham and even Jermaine bloody Pennant on the strength of that performance.

Jess

03-14-2007, 12:16 AM

Ah, another season ended for Arsenal. In my opinion? Good. All the arrogant Arsenal fans lately are starting to drive me insane. :pYou used to be cool. :(
I'm not talking about all Arsenal fans, but living in the South East of England I know plenty and recently I've been driven mad. I'm not one to deny that within a couple of years Arsenal will probably be the best team in the premiership and win lots, but for now some of the fans need to stop wearing boots too big for their feeties! :jess:

03-14-2007, 11:09 PM

All right! A really important three points, putting us in third place with a game in hand over Liverpool still to play. Our season may be over, but we can still get a respectable finish yet.

Psychotic

03-14-2007, 11:24 PM

For both Liverpool and Arsenal, I don't think third could be considered respectable. Second, maybe, but then again...

"If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing." - Bill Shankly.

Loony BoB

03-14-2007, 11:55 PM

Watched the FA Youth Cup semi (first leg) at the Emirates - have to say it was a quality match, both sides looked very organised and despite us going down 1-0, I was pleased with the performance. Full credit to Arsenal, they made better chances than we did.

Jess

03-15-2007, 09:10 PM

1-0 down. Nooooo! We can't concede anymore or we're out. :(

edit: :(!!!!!!!!!!!

Psychotic

03-16-2007, 01:56 AM

A mocking text: To send, or not to send, that is the question. :D

In other interesting (albeit two day old) news...

The new UEFA president, Michel Platini, is thinking of making teams from England, Spain and Italy play each other in order to qualify. I think it just applies to the third and fourth placed teams. I think I prefer Maccabi Haifa to Real Madrid.

The football league wants to abolish draws, replacing them with penalty shoot outs. While I daresay this might just be what we need to no longer fail at penalties, on the other hand, it would be just sickening to see teams like Everton come to the big teams, defend for 90 minutes, and then walk away with all three points after winning the shootout. Mind you, Liverpool have a fantastic shootout record so maybe I have nothing to fear...

And work has been stopped on the new Liverpool stadium because the new owners want it to hold 80,000 rather than 60,000. Good. I wasn't really sure if leaving Anfield for a 15,000 increase was worth it.

Loony BoB

03-16-2007, 10:36 AM

The ideal scenario as far as I'm concerned...

You win, you get 2 points, plus 1 point for every goal scored, to a maximum of 5 points (ie, 3-5 points possible).
You draw, you get 1 point provided goals were scored. No goals, no points.
You lose, you get nothing.

That's proper incentive.

03-16-2007, 05:33 PM

...or maybe we just keep the system we have now. I doubt the shoot-out idea's going to be implemented anyway, with all the opposition it's drawing. Good job too, because it's pretty dumb. Maybe instead of screwing around with ridiculous experiments like this, the authorities should get around to fixing their incomprehensible offside rule, and introducing the video replays that the whole football community has been asking for years.

Platini's idea is a much better one. Not the play-off bit, but reducing the number of CL spots for the big leagues is a pretty good idea. Who knows, it might actually make the UEFA Cup worth winning. :D

Loony BoB

03-16-2007, 06:00 PM

Think that's an awful idea, personally. Looking forward to the G-14 Super League.

EDIT: Awful idea = Platini's one. I like the idea of video replays.

Psychotic

03-17-2007, 12:43 AM

03-17-2007, 11:02 AM

Eh, you're probably right. And at least the current system has the pleasant side-effect of practically guaranteeing us qualification every year. ;)

Bart's Friend Milhouse

03-17-2007, 01:28 PM

I think the Champions League is fine as it is, and I really don't understand the calls for the tournament to be champions only. Imagine watching Barca, Chelsea and Inter steamroller eastern european teams for a few months before finally getting to the semis and facing each other. Boring.

That's the way it was in the earlier years of the tournament which is why teams from many different countries managed to win it. It meant something back then, like the World Cup in a way. Somewhere among the mid-90s they lost the plot and the whole concept of what the tournament was about. I admit the games might not be as entertaining for us living in England but think of those living in these eastern european countries.

And I don't know about champions of Spain, England and Italy consistently meeting in the latter stages of the tournament. I mean look at World Cup 02

Psychotic

03-17-2007, 07:31 PM

But teams from lots of countries didn't win it, that was the whole point.

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/history/index.html

In 13 years of the Champions League, teams from 7 countries have won it, or therefore 1.8 wins per country.
In 37 years of the European Cup, teams from 10 countries won it, or therefore 3.7 wins per country.

Also I'd like to point out that the Champions League has yet to see a country picking up back-to-back titles, let alone a team, which you definitely can't say about the European Cup.

Bart's Friend Milhouse

03-17-2007, 07:34 PM

But teams from lots of countries didn't win it, that was the whole point.
Why lessen their chances then? It's not very European.

Psychotic

03-17-2007, 07:46 PM

03-18-2007, 12:38 AM

I'd forgotten what winning felt like! It's quite satisfying.

03-18-2007, 06:58 PM

Bah, saw that coming a mile away. We need Adebayor back.

Bart's Friend Milhouse

03-19-2007, 10:51 AM

But their chances aren't being lessened. For example, Spartak Moscow, from Russia (a country that has never produced a winner of the European Cup or Champions League) would not normally have been given qualification because they finished second in the Russian league, got through to the group stages, something which they would not have been able to do under the old system.

And so they should not have since they didn't win the Russian league hence should not be entering a competition specified for champions. But by allowing such teams to enter the tournament you are restricting the amount of places available to other teams who did win domestic titles thus lessening their chances

Using the World Cup analogy, though, it's like giving Europe and Oceania equal qualifying spots.

The number of countries (with national football teams) from Europe certainly outnumbers those from Oceania which makes reasonable sense as to why they are allocated the amount of spaces they have. Barring Australia much of these teams from Oceania would probably get thumped by most European squads especially given the fact that most of them aren't professional footballers anyway. The Champions League however, is a much different story. Don't forget teams from eastern Europe are fully capable of defying the 'stereotypical' status automatically given to them by upsetting the odds and handing able teams defeats they would not normally have seen coming.

In all honesty the way Arsenal have been playing is certainly not the form of champions but given the current system they still will probably finish comfortably in one of England's bountiful qualifying spots and come the time of qualification handed a club (who thoroughly deserve entrance into the main draw) that has had a more tiresome journey to the very same stage

Doc Sark

03-19-2007, 04:18 PM

And so they should not have since they didn't win the Russian league hence should not be entering a competition specified for champions. But by allowing such teams to enter the tournament you are restricting the amount of places available to other teams who did win domestic titles thus lessening their chances

So you'd see the Champions of Malta play rather than the Russian runners-up, a move which would reduce the quality of opposition in the competition. Lets not forget it was CSKA Moscow's great performance winning the 2005 UEFA cup which has helped the Russian league gain deserved recognition and a couple of extra coefficient points to bolster their collective Champions League ambitions.

The number of countries (with national football teams) from Europe certainly outnumbers those from Oceania which makes reasonable sense as to why they are allocated the amount of spaces they have. Barring Australia much of these teams from Oceania would probably get thumped by most European squads especially given the fact that most of them aren't professional footballers anyway.

That logic is so flawed. The amount of professional teams in England is more than the amount of professional teams in Albania, and the quality of English sides is far better. By your logic the fact that England has more teams than Albania, it makes "reasonable sense" that England have more teams in the Champions League than Albania ;)

The Champions League however, is a much different story. Don't forget teams from eastern Europe are fully capable of defying the 'stereotypical' status automatically given to them by upsetting the odds and handing able teams defeats they would not normally have seen coming.

Yes, but they don't upset the odds regularly enough to justify say Slavia Prague's entry in the competition over say, Liverpool's. You want the best teams on the continent competing for arguably the biggest accolade in club football, not the fricking Faroe Islands champions, just because they won their league but would probably get turned over by a Leyton Orient under-18's squad. People get far too caught up in the name of the competition, which in the context of the spectacle, is wholly irrelevant. The Champions League is designed to bring the best clubs in Europe together and see who wins. These smaller footballing nations have their chance in the Intertoto and UEFA Cups, and only the Russians and the Turks have really made any impact from Eastern Europe in recent years, by winning the competitions, and that is reflected in the fact they have extra qualifying places in the Champions League now, compared to when it started.

Bart's Friend Milhouse

03-19-2007, 06:15 PM

So you'd see the Champions of Malta play rather than the Russian runners-up, a move which would reduce the quality of opposition in the competition. Lets not forget it was CSKA Moscow's great performance winning the 2005 UEFA cup which has helped the Russian league gain deserved recognition and a couple of extra coefficient points to bolster their collective Champions League ambitions.

I fully admit we would not find the champions of Malta as exciting to watch as most of the teams that made the group stages under the current system but frankly many Maltese people would. And don't forget the results prior to CSKA's European glory Doc,
Lokomotiv 3-0 Inter
Spartak 4-1 Arsenal :(
surely you wouldn't need to see such a team to go as much as winning a cup just to realise they should be given a fairer chance

That logic is so flawed. The amount of professional teams in England is more than the amount of professional teams in Albania, and the quality of English sides is far better. By your logic the fact that England has more teams than Albania, it makes "reasonable sense" that England have more teams in the Champions League than Albania ;)

I understand the contradiction in my statement. But I'm not sure that still makes the current scheme of things totally justifiable. A better solution to this problem would be to allocate every country one spot. Again if you will allow me to refer back to the World Cup, I for one would find it rather unjust to allow any top seeded country (eg Italy) the chance to enter two or three squads (say Italy A, Italy B, and Italy C) to qualify for the finals which is again by the very same logic

Yes, but they don't upset the odds regularly enough to justify say Slavia Prague's entry in the competition over say, Liverpool's. You want the best teams on the continent competing for arguably the biggest accolade in club football, not the fricking Faroe Islands champions, just because they won their league but would probably get turned over by a Leyton Orient under-18's squad. People get far too caught up in the name of the competition, which in the context of the spectacle, is wholly irrelevant. The Champions League is designed to bring the best clubs in Europe together and see who wins. These smaller footballing nations have their chance in the Intertoto and UEFA Cups, and only the Russians and the Turks have really made any impact from Eastern Europe in recent years, by winning the competitions, and that is reflected in the fact they have extra qualifying places in the Champions League now, compared to when it started.

I am not asking for the champions of the Faroe Islands to be put into the main draw. If that was the case the group stages would take eternity to complete. There certainly has to be some sort of qualification programme (like most other tournaments) in order to determine those who should be obliged to enter the latter stages. A mere suggestion would be to gradually (I realise an abrupt change of things would make a joke of a reformation) revert back to the mid-90's system (4 groups of four clubs) where only the best 16 would be able to compete in the group stages, besides managers moan about the number of games they are due to play anyway. Having said that, I still stand by my statement that the way Arsenal and Liverpool have been far from the likes of champions. There is no doubt smaller clubs would relish the opportunity of playing in such a competition possibly even more so than the regular visitors

Psychotic

03-19-2007, 11:46 PM

I fully admit we would not find the champions of Malta as exciting to watch as most of the teams that made the group stages under the current system but frankly many Maltese people would. Don't be entirely too sure of that one. I think you'll find that it's the case in Malta, and many other Eastern European countries, that they watch the main European leagues, and support teams from those leagues, so they're just as happy either way. The people who lose are us, who don't know the Maltese teams as well as we do, say, Liverpool, Arsenal, or even the likes of Real Madrid and Inter Milan, for example.
I understand the contradiction in my statement. But I'm not sure that still makes the current scheme of things totally justifiable. A better solution to this problem would be to allocate every country one spot. Again if you will allow me to refer back to the World Cup, I for one would find it rather unjust to allow any top seeded country (eg Italy) the chance to enter two or three squads (say Italy A, Italy B, and Italy C) to qualify for the finals which is again by the very same logic.I'd argue that this is not the very same logic. The very same logic would be Man United A, Man United B and Man United C entering into the CL.
Having said that, I still stand by my statement that the way Arsenal and Liverpool have been far from the likes of champions. There is no doubt smaller clubs would relish the opportunity of playing in such a competition possibly even more so than the regular visitorsArsenal and Liverpool were certainly the likes of champions, if you watch the way they played. Whether or not you consider them to be deserving of entry into the competition, you can't fault them on the quality of their football/tactics. What's more, both teams were unfancied. Nobody thought they'd get to the final, or make it past the last 16 for that matter. To continue with the World Cup theme, it's like Turkey or Croatia finishing third. But, if you were to apply the same rules that you want to apply to the CL, the likes of Croatia and Turkey would certainly not have qualified for the World Cup. It's the upper-middle teams that miss out at the expense of the poorer teams, and which ones are more likely to create a shock?

Anyway, onto Spurs v Chelsea. Woeful first half, somewhat interesting second half. Blimey, Aaron Lennon's a bit...well...overrated, isn't he? Lord knows I hope Stevie starts on the right against Israel, although then again, I'd hope that anyway, as otherwise that would mean the dreaded Lampard-Gerrard partnership, and in such a crucial game, a tricky away game at that, it'd be suicide. Also, nice to see a crazed Spurs fan run on the pitch at the end and try to attack the Chelsea players.

Loony BoB

03-20-2007, 12:13 AM

Haha, Cristiano Ronaldo became a proper legend tonight as far as I'm concerned. "Why do you think people might hate you?" (or was it "Why does controversy follow you everywhere?"... I forget. Either way...)

"Because I'm too good." Haha, I cracked up laughing when he said that. Cocky bastard, but it's true.

EDIT: Ah, here we go (http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=261361276&p=z6y36zy39&n=261362219).

Psychotic

03-20-2007, 01:51 AM

Excellent, Liverpool are through to the FA Youth Cup final for the second successive year, beating those filthy barcodes 3-1 (7-3 on aggregate) Shame Ajdarevic got sent off though, as I think he'll now miss the final. Also sent off was Kazenga LuaLua, although nobody is sure what relation he is to the Portsmouth striker.

Bart's Friend Milhouse

03-20-2007, 03:09 PM

I understand the contradiction in my statement. But I'm not sure that still makes the current scheme of things totally justifiable. A better solution to this problem would be to allocate every country one spot. Again if you will allow me to refer back to the World Cup, I for one would find it rather unjust to allow any top seeded country (eg Italy) the chance to enter two or three squads (say Italy A, Italy B, and Italy C) to qualify for the finals which is again by the very same logic.

I'd argue that this is not the very same logic. The very same logic would be Man United A, Man United B and Man United C entering into the CL.

Hmm.
In my previous post [post 917] I was partially referring to the amount of professionals footballers owned by the continent being proportional to the amount of spaces they had been allocated. In my last post [919] I used Italy (a country with a long historical affair with football) as an example. If the manager were to require a checklist of all players eligible to play for the country he would have a long list of names that would probably outnumber the population of Brunei shall we say. The current Man Utd squad fails to exceed the number of players of a lesser club in such a way thus branding it ridiculous to allow them an A a B and a C team

Arsenal and Liverpool were certainly the likes of champions, if you watch the way they played. Whether or not you consider them to be deserving of entry into the competition, you can't fault them on the quality of their football/tactics. What's more, both teams were unfancied. Nobody thought they'd get to the final, or make it past the last 16 for that matter.

Are you really serious about this?
Arsenal and Liverpool unfancied? I certainly would expect them at the very least to make the last 16

To continue with the World Cup theme, it's like Turkey or Croatia finishing third. But, if you were to apply the same rules that you want to apply to the CL, the likes of Croatia and Turkey would certainly not have qualified for the World Cup. It's the upper-middle teams that miss out at the expense of the poorer teams, and which ones are more likely to create a shock?

Obviously the world cup is on a broader scale. There are probably five times the amount of countries in the world than there are in Europe so clearly 4 groups of 4 teams would not be appropriate or fair to the teams you mentioned I grant you that.
So, how about extending the amount of groups for the World Cup finals to eight (something already acheived under FIFA's current system) simply because there are more countries in the world than there are in Europe or better yet not change anything about the World Cup (I have no problem with it)

Cuchulainn

03-20-2007, 03:45 PM

He plays on the left
He plays on the righttttttt
our boy Ronaldo.
Makes England look :skull::skull::skull::skull:e.

Psychotic

03-20-2007, 06:03 PM

Hmm.
In my previous post [post 917] I was partially referring to the amount of professionals footballers owned by the continent being proportional to the amount of spaces they had been allocated. In my last post [919] I used Italy (a country with a long historical affair with football) as an example. If the manager were to require a checklist of all players eligible to play for the country he would have a long list of names that would probably outnumber the population of Brunei shall we say. The current Man Utd squad fails to exceed the number of players of a lesser club in such a way thus branding it ridiculous to allow them an A a B and a C teamChina and India have populations of over 1,000,000,000. The Netherlands has a population of 16,000,000. Now, I know not all of these people are registered footballers, but I think we can agree that the amount that could be potentially registered as footballers is much higher in the two asian countries. If we're basing this on the amount of eligible players, does this mean they should be allowed to qualify for the World Cup ahead of the Netherlands?

Anyway, I would also say that United could, in fact, field three teams. I'm going to base this on Liverpool, because I don't know entirely too much about Manchester United, but I imagine they have the same amount of players, and of the same sort of quality. Chosen from here (http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/squad/). I didn't even have to use the youth team, although let us assume that they make up the reserves. (http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/youth/)

Liverpool A:
Reina
Darby
Agger
Paletta
Roque
Pennant
Sissoko
Guthrie
Gonzalez
Crouch
Fowler

Subs:
Roberts
O'Donnell
Threlfall
Le Tallec
El Zhar

Liverpool B:
Dudek
Arbeloa
Carragher
Hobbs
Aurelio
Gerrard
Alonso
Hammill (which reminds me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxGuQUpvupQ check this goal against Celtic out. I think this lad could be huge. But this is off topic so back to Liverpool B!)
Zenden
Kuyt
Cisse

Subs:
Padelli
Smith
Anderson (sorry Cz. I think Hammill is better than him these days. The boy needs a loan move)
Flynn
Brouwer

Liverpool C:
Carson
Finnan
Hyypia
Antwi
Riise
Luis Garcia
Mascherano
Peltier
Kewell
Bellamy
Sinama-Pongolle

Subs:
Martin
Huth
Insua
Idrizaj
Lindfield

There you have it. Established Premiership and international players, plus a few talented (youth cup winning) youngsters. All three could easily tank Birkirkara FC, the champions of Malta. And yes, a lot (12, I believe) are out on loan, if we had three teams, there would be no need to send them out on loan, so that is irrelevant. These squads are a bit thin, even with the youth team reserves, but, if Liverpool/Manchester United needed to, they could easily buy a fair chunk of Birkirkara's rivals' players and use them to fill out the squad.

...is it sad that I knew all of these players without having to even look? :D

Are you really serious about this?
Arsenal and Liverpool unfancied? I certainly would expect them at the very least to make the last 16Yeah, I expect them to make the last 16, I expected Arsenal to make the last 16 and then get knocked out in 2006, and I don't think anybody could say they fancied Liverpool making it out of their group in 2005. I'm a blind LFC optimist, and even I had my doubts.

Obviously the world cup is on a broader scale. There are probably five times the amount of countries in the world than there are in Europe so clearly 4 groups of 4 teams would not be appropriate or fair to the teams you mentioned I grant you that.
So, how about extending the amount of groups for the World Cup finals to eight (something already acheived under FIFA's current system) simply because there are more countries in the world than there are in Europe or better yet not change anything about the World Cup (I have no problem with it)Yeah, but there are probably five times (at the very least) more professional teams in Europe than there are countries in the world, so reducing it to 16 while keeping the World Cup at 32 is extremely unbalanced.

Bart's Friend Milhouse

03-20-2007, 11:41 PM

China and India have populations of over 1,000,000,000. The Netherlands has a population of 16,000,000. Now, I know not all of these people are registered footballers, but I think we can agree that the amount that could be potentially registered as footballers is much higher in the two asian countries. If we're basing this on the amount of eligible players, does this mean they should be allowed to qualify for the World Cup ahead of the Netherlands?

I do believe we have missed the point here. My claim in post 917 was targetted at spaces allocated for continents (i.e. groups) not individuals. Besides this specific sub-argument has sidetracked too far off the point I was making so let's not continue him any further and stop wasting our time in searching for these bloody figures to back up our claims. (For your information, it took me way too much time to find a country (i.e. Brunei) that had the population I was looking for :mad:)

And no one cares about your pathetic little reserve players and no one in their right mind would ever check up on you anyway :lol:

*cheerfully deletes each and every Liverpool player*

Are you really serious about this?
Arsenal and Liverpool unfancied? I certainly would expect them at the very least to make the last 16.Yeah, I expect them to make the last 16, I expected Arsenal to make the last 16 and then get knocked out in 2006, and I don't think anybody could say they fancied Liverpool making it out of their group in 2005. I'm a blind LFC optimist, and even I had my doubts.

The heck? I thought Liverpool's 2005-06 group didn't seem pretty bad. Naturally I would expect Chelsea to emerge with you but considering the others? Anderlecht have failed to impress in seasons before that and Betis had not only not featured in the tournament for as long as I can remember but to boot, have had no major impact in European football for the last, well decade (correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not in the mood to start rading wikipedia again, I'll settle with the services of my memory)

Yeah, but there are probably five times (at the very least) more professional teams in Europe than there are countries in the world, so reducing it to 16 while keeping the World Cup at 32 is extremely unbalanced.

I'm not going to argue with this seeing that I am content with the way things are run in the World Cup. If your hunch is right in the sense that there are five times the professional teams in Europe than there are countries than I guess football is vastly becoming a popular sport. However I doubt the increase of the number of groups (first from four to six then to eight) was because of this

Psychotic

03-21-2007, 12:06 AM

And no one cares about your pathetic little reserve players and no one in their right mind would ever check up on you anyway :lol:

*cheerfully deletes each and every Liverpool player*Each and every single player you deleted would become Arsenal's greatest player (of all time! well maybe with the exception of Michael Thomas in some cases) if he signed for you. Still, I guess deleting them will ease the pain of them being better than you. ;)

The heck? I thought Liverpool's 2005-06 group didn't seem pretty bad. Naturally I would expect Chelsea to emerge with you but considering the others? Anderlecht have failed to impress in seasons before that and Betis had not only not featured in the tournament for as long as I can remember but to boot, have had no major impact in European football for the last, well decade (correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not in the mood to start rading wikipedia again, I'll settle with the services of my memory)By "2005", I referred to 2004-2005, the group in which Liverpool needed a last minute smash from Gerrard in the last game in order to qualify from. The other teams were Monaco, the previous tournament's runners up, Olympiacos, a team featuring several players from the Greek side which had just won Euro 2004, and Deportivo La Coruna, who, if you remember, actually used to be somewhat decent. Also keep in mind that this was a Liverpool which had just lost its main outlet of goals, Michael Owen, and relied on the likes of Biscan, Josemi, Baros, Nunez, Pellegrino, Traore, Mellor (although maybe to an Arsenal fan, Neil Mellor is a frightening opponent ;)), and Le Tallec. They even lost the home leg of the qualifying game against the mighty AK Graz.

Doc Sark

03-21-2007, 12:47 AM

Also keep in mind that this was a Liverpool which had just lost its main outlet of goals, Michael Owen, and relied on the likes of Biscan, Josemi, Baros, Nunez, Pellegrino, Traore, Mellor (although maybe to an Arsenal fan, Neil Mellor is a frightening opponent ;)), and Le Tallec. They even lost the home leg of the qualifying game against the mighty AK Graz.

Dark days my friend, dark days indeed! Don't forget Smicer, for me one of the worst players in LFC history, who's swansong, ironically, was to produce a 25-yard+ wonder strike to bring it back to 3-2 at the Ataturk, forever etching him in the annals LFC history as a hero. Aah, Neil Mellor...my girlfriend is an Arsenal fan. She loved that I made her watch the goal every time she came to see me at uni. Absolutely loved it! It's a miracle I'm not single...

At the risk of taking this off on a tangent, you mentioned Michael Owen, a player who I am still angry we sold regardless of whatever extenuating circumstances Rafa touted at the time. If you sell a 20+ goal a season striker, you have to replace him. Something we are yet to do. If you could buy any striker in the close season, who would you have and who (not including Robbie Fowler) would you offload?

Psychotic

03-21-2007, 02:37 AM

Dark days my friend, dark days indeed! Don't forget Smicer, for me one of the worst players in LFC history, who's swansong, ironically, was to produce a 25-yard+ wonder strike to bring it back to 3-2 at the Ataturk, forever etching him in the annals LFC history as a hero. I always had a soft spot for old Vladimir, to be honest. Maybe it was his long, Czech locks :love: Oh, and while we're on the subject, Zenden is the new Smicer.
Aah, Neil Mellor...my girlfriend is an Arsenal fan. She loved that I made her watch the goal every time she came to see me at uni. Absolutely loved it! It's a miracle I'm not single...You are a shining example to all men. I salute you.
At the risk of taking this off on a tangent, you mentioned Michael Owen, a player who I am still angry we sold regardless of whatever extenuating circumstances Rafa touted at the time. If you sell a 20+ goal a season striker, you have to replace him. Something we are yet to do. If you could buy any striker in the close season, who would you have and who (not including Robbie Fowler) would you offload?£8m + Nunez was a ridiculous fee, and certainly not enough to buy a decent replacement. Personally, I'd like to see us buy Miroslav Klose. He probably only has 2 or 3 decent seasons left in him, (which would mean we could get him on the cheap, I hope) but his record clearly shows he is a natural goalscorer, something we desperately need. I'm guessing I can't choose Fowler because Rafa's already chosen to replace him with Voronin. Can I say Cisse? No? Bah. I would say Bellamy, but he has pace, which is a necessary alternative, so I suppose it would have to be Crouchie, even though I am a huge fan of his.

Doc Sark

03-23-2007, 09:02 PM

Oh yes, Zenden is certainly that. I've made plain from the start my distaste for Bolo Zenden. I'm just glad he didn't cost anything.

You're the second person I've spoken to who has suggested Klose and it's someone I'd never really considered before now, but he would be a quality signing. Berbatov has done really well since coming over from Germany in the summer, and is a similar type of striker. I think he would be good. Though before I would have said David Villa. The new owners have a reputation for splashing out on big name players apparently.

I think everyone at Liverpool was hoping Dirk Kuyt had displayed the profilic side he had shown in the Dutch league, so that a player like Villa could come in and play alongside him. His workrate can't be faulted, but the last thing we need is another Emile. He needs to score more or will end up replaced.

I'd have said Crouchie too. I think we're headed towards a total football style and I don't think he complements it. Even though he's got some lovely moves.

What do you make of Sissoko?

Psychotic

03-23-2007, 11:07 PM

I've thought about Villa, and Fernando Torres, signing for us, and while it's an attractive (and expensive) prospect, there's a niggling doubt that they couldn't hack it in the fast-paced, physical Premiership. I agree about Kuyt, he needs to get sharper, but I think his performances have earned him a place in the squad until the end of next season, at least.

Another good thing about selling Crouchie is that I bet the likes of Newcastle would pay £12m for him. :D Although I will say that if he starts working on his neck muscles, so that he can actually put some power into his headers, I would not want to sell him.

Momo? I think I've praised the lad in every other post I've made in this thread. I think he's fantastic and can't get enough of him. The only doubt about him is his technical ability, but he's still young and that'll improve with time. There's also his habit of getting booked, but if memory serves, he's very good at managing to stay on the pitch, and has only managed to pick up a second yellow once (I do believe it was against Sunderland away, last season, where we won 1-0 thanks to a Xabi free kick. Ah, sweet football encyclopedia of my brain, you never let me down) so I don't think it's too much of a problem.

charliepanayi

03-25-2007, 12:22 AM

Blimey England seem content to bore the hell out of everyone at the moment - they're making it tough for themselves though I think with them saving all the home games until the end, they should still make it through. But please can they at least be less sleep-inducing at this rate!

Psychotic

03-25-2007, 12:25 AM

no more lampard plzkthx steve mcclaren

Cuchulainn

03-25-2007, 02:38 AM

WE BEAT WALES :D

3 wins in a row now (please don't mention that 2 were against San Marino including a lucky 2-1 I am enjoying my bubble)

It seems the only squad from the British Isles doing good is Northern Ireland, the team my Protestant brothers support.

How Healy isn't in the Prtemiership, I'll never know.

PS: England were Dull and uninventive. It's near time everyone stops blaming coaches & realise the national team is 2nd best now to Club football. Players are afraid of getting injured. International football is dying a death. Has been since the 90s.

Loony BoB

03-25-2007, 02:14 PM

Fact: In the past year, I have fallen asleep while watching over half the England games I've 'watched'.

charliepanayi

03-25-2007, 05:27 PM

Surely Scotland are probably doing the best at the moment out of the British teams, considering they're in a group with both World Cup final teams, as well as Ukraine.

Rocket Edge

03-26-2007, 08:15 AM

no more lampard plzkthx steve mcclaren
Lampard is the most over-rated player England & Chelsea have.

Loony BoB

03-27-2007, 11:14 AM

no more steve mclaren plzkthx fa

Doc Sark

03-27-2007, 01:48 PM

I didn't actually think Lampard was that bad against Israel. Don't get me wrong though, I'm the first to slate him normally, but he was the only likely goal threat we had. He just needed to hit the target. At least he attempts on goal which is more than can be said for most. Having said that, I still think he should be dropped.

Johnson was useless...again. Further proof that second rate strikers don't cut it at international level. The forward line looked a cut above completely impotent after Jermaine came on but seriously, we had two Everton players on pitch, what chance did we have? ;)

Bite me, McLaren. You're useless.

Loony BoB

03-27-2007, 02:07 PM

Just noticed I put the wrong name into my last post. That's what I get for copy/pasting the 'template'.

charliepanayi

03-27-2007, 03:45 PM

The FA and the media are reaping what they've sowed with McLaren - the former screwed up when it was trying to find a manager in the first place and the media did its whole 'it has to be an English manager!' whining (and if anyone here thinks Sam Allarduce would make a great England manager, I will personally hire someone to shake the sense back into you) and they've been rewarded with medicority.
Also when you remember the way everyone crowed after McLaren's first game with that 4-0 win over Greece (Gary Lineker sneering 'missing you already Sven' on the BBC whilst Ian Wright cackled in the background), this whole business is even more funny to look at now.

03-27-2007, 05:17 PM

I don't entirely blame McClaren for England's poor form as of late. It's not his fault he's hopelessly underqualified for the job, after all. The fact is that he shouldn't have been picked in the first place, and that's the fault of the media (for scaring off Scolari) and the FA (for caving in to pressure and appointing an English manager, when he clearly wasn't up to the task). Oh, and it doesn't help that we suck, either.

The last time England put in a decent performance against meaningful opposition was our friendly against Argentina before the World Cup. We didn't play so much as ten minutes of good football in the tournament itself, and fully deserved to be knocked out. From what we've seen since, we don't deserve to qualify for the European Championships, either. Part of this is the fault of the managers' unadventurous tactics, sure. But if people continue to ignore the fact that supposedly key players like Rooney and Lampard just haven't been doing their job, then results are never going to improve. If there's one thing that could be said for David Beckham, it's that he could usually be relied upon to deliver a set-piece once or twice a game that gave us a certain goal-scoring oppurtunity. It was the reason he was in the team. Now, what's the point in playing Lampard, if he's not going to create chances or score 25-yard screamers like he does for Chelsea? Why play Rooney if he's not going to consistently score?

Doc Sark

03-27-2007, 11:48 PM

I don't think Rooney is there to be a consistent scorer, he's not a natural centre forward. We miss Owen, he is a consistent scorer and love him or hate him, it can't be denied.

I don't entirely blame McClaren for England's poor form as of late. It's not his fault he's hopelessly underqualified for the job, after all.

:D It would be interesting to know whether he is the most underqualified England coach in recent years. If your success is measured by the trophies you've won, as a coach McLaren has just one Carling Cup to his name. Also he's only had one club, where he managed to spend a :skull::skull::skull::skull: load of money and actually make 'Boro worse, which is no mean feat! Should have been Hiddink.

(and if anyone here thinks Sam Allarduce would make a great England manager, I will personally hire someone to shake the sense back into you)

Shake my hand. I'm yet to hear one convincing argument that supports a coach like Allardyce getting the England job ahead of a more talented foreign coach. He's yet to win a major domestic trophy or develop a style of football that would work on an International stage with a supposed footballing superpower.

I say experiment against Andorra, because we will beat them, that is almost certain. There I said it :)

I would play a 4-3-3 given our lack of strikers. With Rooney and Lennon playing off Defoe. Rooney does it at club level and Lennon has the ability to adapt. Lamps and Gerrard in the middle. If Frank can't get it right in the same formation he plays at club level, against Andorra, he should be dropped. Hargreaves could then sit in front of the back four that should not have JC playing left back...ffs McLaren...No Phil Neville either, eradicate the Everton presence! Either Barry and Carra (right back isn't so bad for him) or Micah and Barry. The lack of a left footer against Israel was blatant causing us to play a narrow, constricted and ultimately fruitless game.

That's my twopence worth anyway.

Psychotic

03-28-2007, 12:02 AM

Why not Ashley Cole at LB? He's availiable for the Andorra game.

03-28-2007, 03:58 PM

No Lampard tonight. That's great news, since McClaren wasn't going to drop him no matter how bad he played. At least now he'll be forced to try something new.

Loony BoB

03-28-2007, 04:12 PM

No Lampard? He get injured? What's the bet it was intentional. Paid for by some random manager.

charliepanayi

03-28-2007, 06:35 PM

Apparently he was struck on the wrist by a ball kicked by Rooney XD

All I can say for tonight is to urge people to not watch the England 'game' (if it can be called that) and watch something like Italy v Scotland, which at least may be interesting.

EDIT: Have to take my hat off to Northern Ireland, who are doing very well at the moment having just beaten Sweden - still not sure they can make it through ahead of Spain, Sweden and Denmark but they're doing a great job so far.

Psychotic

03-28-2007, 10:24 PM

Steven Gerrard in the middle + no Lampard = victory.

Now, I know it's "only" Andorra (but lord knows Andorra could say it's "only" England based on recent results...) but hey, it worked, and I think it's the only way we'll get out of this mess.

Doc Sark

03-29-2007, 12:35 PM

Well done for spotting my er deliberate mistake Psy ;) I had forgotten all about Ashley Cole. He might as well not have been available. His only notable contribution was throwing an opponent to the floor. Maybe Barry should have been given the chance?

The crowd were brutal and it was fully justified. They paid a lot of money to trek across Europe to watch that tripe. Steven Gerrard won the game on his own but on the whole it was a pathetic attempt at football. In the last fifteen minutes we started to knock the ball about in their half and looking comfortable, largely thanks to Stevies nerve settling performance.

After that game, if Johnson or Downing play for England again someone needs to end McLaren.

And yeah, hats off to Sanchez and NI. Great performance.

03-31-2007, 10:12 AM

Last night I dreamt that today's scoreline would be Liverpool 4-9 Arsenal. In reality, I'll be happy with a draw. :D

What does everyone make of the deal giving ITV and Setanta getting the rights to internationals and FA Cup games? Personally, I don't like ITV's football coverage, and so I'm not relishing the prospect. Then again, the way England are playing these days, I don't exactly relish the prospect of a televised international match anyway. Still, it's not good news.

Cuchulainn

03-31-2007, 11:00 AM

All those egos in one national squad. Spain have the same problem. Personally I'd leave Lampard at home every time, Gerrard is 20 times the player. I'd honestly give my right bollock for him to join United (I know it'll never happen).

I don't believe McClaren is experienced enough to cope. I believe they made a grave error in their handling of Phil. He would have brought flair back. I haven't seen an England team that any country should fear since 1996 (yes I'm old enough to have remembered). A succesion of mediocre, cautious & inexperienced managers & staff have ripped lifeblood from what was a decent side. I love it.

On to today,

Blackburn....tricky game but if we don't play like twats, we could & can whip them. We seem to struggle against teams coached by ex United players & staff, weird that.

charliepanayi

03-31-2007, 01:50 PM

A draw? I'll be happpy not to get a good hiding at the moment...

I was expecting it though, we are usually awful at Anfield, and the only times we've won there in the last 20 years is any season when we've gone on to win the title. Let's try not to hit rock bottom against bloody West Ham next week at home guys!

Loony BoB

03-31-2007, 02:59 PM

Last night I dreamt that today's scoreline would be Liverpool 4-9 Arsenal.
You were half right.

charliepanayi

03-31-2007, 03:02 PM

And now we see why I am such a misery-guts when football is concerned. Utterly useless today, you get the feeling the players really do just want to get the season done with now. But it's the thought of more embarassments like that against the likes of Spurs and Chelsea in coming weeks that worries me. That said, I guess we did beat Liverpool by three goals at home, so we're kind of even now on that score in the two league meetings this season. But it's still not good enough.

Doc Sark

03-31-2007, 04:09 PM

Delicious. Simply delicious.

There's a demon emphatically banished. Great performance today and hopefully that'll see us improve against Arsenal again in future games. It was good to see Mascherano, Pennant and Crouch play so well too.

03-31-2007, 04:59 PM

Oh dear. We didn't deserve to anything from the game, but I'd rather we hadn't lost by such a margin. The team seems to have decided that their season's already over, and although they're effectively right, I wish they showed a little more spirit in games like this. Liverpool were great today, but if we'd have had something to play for besides a meaningless third place, I think we'd have given them a better game.

Cuchulainn

03-31-2007, 06:03 PM

Fantastic result against Blackburn. They won the first half but we came out after half time like a team possessed. I've never seen a team so dominated.

MOURINHO ARE YOU LISTENING
YOU BETTER KEEP OUR TROPHY GLISTENING
WE'LL BE BACK IN MAY, TO TAKE IT AWAY
WALKING IN A FERGIS WONDERLAND

Psychotic

03-31-2007, 06:29 PM

Paul

03-31-2007, 07:24 PM

peter crouch what a legend.

Doc Sark

04-01-2007, 08:26 PM

I was wondering what the heck Rafa was playing at with his team selection, but then I realised: He'd picked players who hadn't been on international duty. And my word that 2 week (?) break really showed. Still dunno if we can get 3rd though, as Gooners do have a game in hand.

Well if the talk above is anything to go by, Arsenal and their fans think 3rd place is meaningless? If so, it's ours.

Somehow I don't think that is the view of the Arsenal team though, and they would not have come out Anfield thinking, meh screw it, 3rd place is meaningless lets not bother. Arsenal were under pressure from the kick-off, they weren't allowed to get into the game at all. For the first time in a long time, Arsenal were tactically and physically outclassed in every area hence the goal margin. Exactly what Arsenal did to us in the F.A Cup and at Highbury.

I think we can still get third place, especially if Arsenal aren't bothered about their "meaningless third place". ;)

Resha

04-02-2007, 06:13 PM

Oh, we're bothered enough to try and beat you Liverpudlians for a third place, be it meaningless or not ;) (Like children who steal cake just to prevent other children from having it!)

But Arsenal fans can call it meaningless because we have no silverware or titles to gain anymore. And when compared to all we've been kicked out of and lost, it is meaningless. If y'get me meaning.

Mr.Bogus

04-02-2007, 07:46 PM

I sure am happy Manchester as Ronaldo with them...

They may throw stones but he will keep putting them on the top...well at least near the top:eep:

Loony BoB

04-02-2007, 11:03 PM

Fantastic semifinal between Arsenal and United (was live on MUTV). FA Youth Cup Final is now between Liverpool and Manchester United! :D Should be awesome.

Gaius Drakan

04-03-2007, 08:46 PM

I haven't kept track of the Youth Cup. United deservingly besting every opposition I hope? When is the final being played? I'll need to watch that.

And yeah, Ronaldo will totally pwn Mancini tommorow.

charliepanayi

04-03-2007, 09:29 PM

Liverpool currently thumping PSV just makes our result against the latter even more embarrassing now >_<

Psychotic

04-03-2007, 10:07 PM

PSV were pathetic in their attitude/tactics. Who puts defensive barriers up from the first minute of a home tie? Who does this? Well, PSV obviously. Disappointed in them and Koeman.

Plaudits to Javier Mascherano especially. I was hesitant when we signed him, but it definitely looks like we have Argentina World Cup Mascherano rather than West Ham Mascherano, and so I'm extremely happy with this.

Also I will praise the man who I voted on Liverpool's website as our player of the season (and when I did, he was in second place ahead of Steven Gerrard. Carra was #1) and that is Steve Finnan. Two great crosses, two assists. He's been doing that all season and I stand by my opinion that he is the best right back in the Premiership.

Doc Sark

04-03-2007, 10:38 PM

On Steve Finnan, Rafa has certainly turned him from the average, sloppy right back he was under Houllier, to a streamline, consistently good performer who is definitely amongst the most well rounded right backs in the division. He was awesome tonight Psy, I totally agree.

Was going to post similar sentiments about Mascherano who will imo, usurp Momo as the regular starter in the holiding role. I love Momo, but Mascherano has three things he doesn't, composure, a great first touch and a world class footballing brain.

The only performances I want to criticise, as ever, were the awful commentary team of Clive Tyldesley and David "I think they've had a pretty easy run in the Champions League because I don't really think about anything I say" Pleat. Is it just me who wants to mute to the TV and play Britney Spears albums as a more soothing alternative to their constant tripe? Seriously Clive, put away the book of footballing cliches. It must have taken all his willpower not to make a comment about how Crouch is often criticised about not being good in the air but is great with his feet...

Though I was in the loo when Crouch scored so it wouldn't surprise me if he did say that...:D

Psychotic

04-03-2007, 10:42 PM

Yeah, actually, he said just that. :laugh:

charliepanayi

04-03-2007, 10:53 PM

David Pleat in the CL final last year, saying "the sight is in end" with 15 minutes to go - apart from that statement beingthe wrong way round, Barcelona equalised almost straight after - nice one Pleat! :(

He is a wally, agreed.

Loony BoB

04-04-2007, 12:00 PM

I haven't kept track of the Youth Cup. United deservingly besting every opposition I hope? When is the final being played? I'll need to watch that.
Thumped every team before Arsenal, who beat us 1-0 at Emirates and outplayed us in the first half at OT. Once they scored a goal, though, we took it to another level and scored one ourselves, then we scored again to take it to extra time. They scored again in the first period of ET, then we scored twice to take it in a typical United "fight to the death of the game" and won it. Have to say, when it comes to excitement in a football game, that tie compared with any Premiership game I've seen this season. Fantastic game.

EDIT: Final is also played over two legs - Anfield on 16th April and OT on 19th April. Should be viewable on MUTV if not on a major channel.

Cuchulainn

04-04-2007, 06:59 PM

Big game tonight...AS Roma.

It's hard to predict, truely is, I'm hoping for an away goal. But more importantly, for English fans not to get the crap beat out of them by Latin Police & supporters.

Chelsea will win 2-0.

Last night Pesh-Vey (as the Dutch call them) were terrible,m that's not to take away the fact the Scousers still had to show up. I think you are safely through, only tiny worry is what you did against Barca in the second leg at home, sat back. I still believe 3 goals is too much to overcome.

Cuchulainn

04-04-2007, 08:36 PM

Scholes....you...idiot...

:cry:

Mr. Mojo Risin

04-04-2007, 08:48 PM

FORZA ROMA!!!!!

Gaius Drakan

04-04-2007, 09:45 PM

After seeing the first tackle of Scholes, I knew he was going to go. :\
With ten men though, 2-1 is not at all a bad result. Rooney and Ronaldo played well I thought, the former getting a goal (at bloody last) and the latter showing that he can stay on his feet through all but the worst tackles.

Cuchulainn

04-04-2007, 09:45 PM

2-1

Decent result...considering. Fantastic goal by us, great break by Ronaldo, great pass by Solskjær & great goal by Rooney.

As I feared there was trouble. God knows the consequences.

Forza Roma my ass. It took 10 men & deflected shot & a ricochet to win.

Old Trafford Ahoy.

blim

04-04-2007, 11:52 PM

Bye Bye scholesy :bgl:

Heath

04-06-2007, 09:46 PM

Oh Fulham!

Great result tonight (Everton 4 - Fulham 1), just hope that Anichebe's okay. With any luck Bolton and Spurs will mess up their next games (Spurs play Chelsea which works in our favour) and we'll beat Bolton in our next game to take us closer to a UEFA Cup spot.

04-07-2007, 11:49 AM

Nice to see Charlton out of the drop zone. Or to be more precise, nice to see Sheffield United in it. Let's hope today's results keep things that way.

Bart's Friend Milhouse

04-07-2007, 12:10 PM

What's your grudge with Sheffield United?

Although I admit they have a household Championship side name I'd much rather they stay. As much as I've grown to like Alan Pardew over the last few months and as much as I feel sorry for West Ham I'll stick to my guns and finish off rooting for the side I wanted to avoid relegation near the start of the season

04-07-2007, 12:35 PM

My problem's more with Neil Warnock than Sheffield United, although after they beat us at Bramall Lane earlier this season, I can't say I'm too enamoured with the team themselves, either. :p

To be honest, I'd quite like to see Charlton stay up anyway. Pardew's done a great job turning them around, and to see them stay up at West Ham's expense after the events of this season would be delicious. Plus, they've got Alex Song on their books at the moment, so that's an added reason for Arsenal fans to root for them. It's not as if they're real London rivals anyway.

Remedy

04-07-2007, 05:02 PM

hey, does Emre play for Newcastle ?
I don't see him in matches!!!

04-07-2007, 06:51 PM

Curse you, Robert Green. :(

Cuchulainn

04-07-2007, 07:39 PM

Chelsea for the league again ppl?

Idiots in red shirts are throwing away our season.

Burtsplurt

04-07-2007, 08:42 PM

I went to see the Boro against Watford today. Watford were absolutely awful - they made us look like a good passing team! I can definitely see why they're bottom of the Premiership

hey, does Emre play for Newcastle ?
I don't see him in matches!!!

He's injured. Well, probably. He plays for Newcastle, so it's pretty much a given (who, incidentally, is one of the few who is rarely injured).

Psychotic

04-08-2007, 08:53 PM

Re: Arsenal and finishing third/fourth.

If Arsenal finish third: YES YES WE ARE THE GREATEST!!! SCOREZONE!!!
If Arsenal finish fourth: Le sulk! We don't care! Third and fourth are just as bad!

Re: Emre.
Didn't he get banned or taken out of the team because of some racism debacle?

Also just wanna point out what you internet folk call a "lol" that I saw at the Arsenal - Hammers game. An advertisement reading "UEFA Champions League 06/07 - Out 23rd March!" there is so much brilliance in that.

04-08-2007, 09:18 PM

Re: Arsenal and finishing third/fourth.

If Arsenal finish third: YES YES WE ARE THE GREATEST!!! SCOREZONE!!!
If Arsenal finish fourth: Le sulk! We don't care! Third and fourth are just as bad!Oh, alright. Since you so astutely made an "Arsenal are French" observation, I'll reward you with the admission that third place is very very important, bestowing as it does the remarkable prestige of being the least sucky team with unrealistic title aspirations. Bravo, Liverpool Reds.

Also just wanna point out what you internet folk call a "lol" that I saw at the Arsenal - Hammers game. An advertisement reading "UEFA Champions League 06/07 - Out 23rd March!" there is so much brilliance in that.I know! You'd think they'd have got round to changing the advertising boards by now. :shifty:

Psychotic

04-08-2007, 09:27 PM

Oh, alright. Since you so astutely made an "Arsenal are French" observation What can I say, I'm like an internet Alan Hansen. :cool: To follow on, Arsenal are currently hitting a bad patch of form because Arsene Wenger won't change his tactics and is only playing kids! It's 100% true, folks! I am a former footballer (In Year 6 I scored 18 goals), so I know what I am talking about.
I know! You'd think they'd have got round to changing the advertising boards by now. :shifty:The other thing I just love is the way they've only just released the game, even though the CL is nearly over. Oh wait no, releasing it in September or so would mean it would have to compete with EA's (I am assuming this game is EA made, as they own the licenses to everything, even the BAoTW game. When I was making my own unofficial version, I had to call the characters Pzylohicx and Camzstar) other football game, FIFA, for the share of the Christmas wallet. Oh EA, you are shrewd businessmen indeed!

04-08-2007, 09:40 PM

What can I say, I'm like an internet Alan Hansen. :cool: To follow on, Arsenal are currently hitting a bad patch of form because Arsene Wenger won't change his tactics and is only playing kids! It's 100% true, folks! I am a former footballer (In Year 6 I scored 18 goals), so I know what I am talking about.I too am a veteran of Year 6 football (a "Centre Back Stopper") and it is my opinion that Arsenal's problem is that they are always trying to score the perfect goal and making one pass too many! However, when they play well they have it all: Pace. Power. Movement. Precision. Movement. Movement. Movement.

The other thing I just love is the way they've only just released the game, even though the CL is nearly over. Oh wait no, releasing it in September or so would mean it would have to compete with EA's (I am assuming this game is EA made, as they own the licenses to everything, even the BAoTW game. When I was making my own unofficial version, I had to call the characters Pzylohicx and Camzstar) other football game, FIFA, for the share of the Christmas wallet. Oh EA, you are shrewd businessmen indeed!Things were worse back on the Sega Mega Drive, when for some strange reason EA were too lazy to keep the squads up to date in their FIFA games. As a result, the FIFA 96 game, made for the 96/97 season, had the likes of Queens Park Rangers and Norwich City when all I really wanted was to play as newly promoted Derby County. Also, they only had one player model for each team, so Ian Wright was white, and Ian Rush was un-moustached. :(