Football (Soccer)

[admin]

I think Ljungberg didn't play well because he was out of position - he's not a striker by any stretch of the imagination, and if it weren't for the fact that we had 9 players out, he would never have played there. I still think had it been Quincy and Lupoli up front at the start, we would have had a better attack (Quincy has provided most of Lupoli's goals this season). Wenger was clever in that he knew the Sheffield were going to try and stop us playing for the first half, so no matter what strike force we had out there, it wasn't going to be easy. So instead, he settled for Lupoli, who is more heavily built than our other available strikers (funny how a 17 year old is our strongest striker), so would at least allow Sheffield to tire themselves out a bit, allowing our creative play to dominate for the second half.

As for the Champions League, chances are, all the English teams will be out by Wednesday evening (yes, even Liverpool). I don't think Arsenal have much of a chance, but what I would like to see (apart from the match it self, which will not be shown here in Australia ) is some fighting spirit, so even if we go out, at least we can say we tried our best.

[Oriphus]

Im hopeful that United can defeat Ac Milan, but i am disappointed after that performance against Crystal Palace, though it was clear that Sir Alex was showing where his priorities lay this season. If we have an RvN on scoring form, a Rooney that comes alive for big games, and the rest of our first 11, i think we can get the 2 or 3 goals needed, without conceding. I just hope that Rio Ferdinand will be playing....

[Oriphus]

Its getting close....... :-/

[admin]

I think Chelsea were lucky to go through. If Arsenal had scored the winner, it would have been ruled out for a foul on the keeper (remember Euro 2004 and Sol Campbell's "winner"?). They've had all the luck this season (Liverpool away for example), so no wonder they are doing well. Let's just hope their luck doesn't carry them all the way to the final.

[MPS]

what a disappointment for Barca and MU to go out...
amazing game at Stamfrod Bridge thou, one of the best this season. 3 goals by Chelskov below 20 mins, great comeback by Ronaldinho, a sheer genius that 2nd goal... but it wasnt enough, Eto'o, Deco, Xabi, and in the end Maxi Lopez - they let down tonight, and Terry made Abramo' happy.

an impressive 10-2 agg by Lyon against Werder.

i guess it's go Real for me on Wednesday :]

[admin]

Also forgot about the penalty that wasn't given to Barca, and of course the lucky own goal that Chelsea got in the first leg - without it, Chelsea wouldn't have stood a chance today.

United were poor in both games, so they just lost to a better team, that's all. If Arsenal do get knocked out, we won't be able to say that though, because Bayern isn't in the same class as Milan.

That Wiltord for Lyon looks great - maybe we should buy him. Oh.

[admin]

Well, we won, but are still knocked out. The first half wasn't so great, but we hang on. The second half was better, and we showed some of that fighting spirit I talked about earlier. So while we're out, at least we went out with a victory. If only we played more like this on other European nights...

[Oriphus]

an impressive 10-2 agg by Lyon against Werder

Werder Bremmen were never really going to up to much to be honest....

Yep...United were definitely poor in both games. Im annoyed at that. The team was wasting passes, not playing together at all and looking out of shape/form/something....I dont think we deserved it at all. Granted we had a great chance in the first half when we hit the post and if that had of gone in i think you mightve seen a different United, but overall the result was fair. AC Milan deserved it and we didnt. I just hope Chelsea play them in the quarter final and get put out by them. I really hate seeing Chelsea go through....

Liverpool had a great win to go to last 8, but to be honest i think they are out of their depth now. They wont get any further, they dont have the team for it. The only team they could probably beat is Lyon lol. I know thats cruel on Liverpool, but what do you think of their chances.

Arsenal played well in the 2nd half alright. They just werent into it in the first half. a 3-1 deficit was always going to be difficult, so i think a win on the night is a reasonable result for them.

We gotta get it right for next year. Two years in the running we have been put out before the quarter final stage. Are we not one of the top 8 teams in Europe??? We have some great individuals, but sometimes they are just not coming together as a team. Hopefully with RvN back and getting fitter, we might get that attacking spirit back that scares the crap out of the opposition. We have been defending pretty poorly as well i think, chances have gone begging for out opponents. I think we also need a new face in the summer, someone who will help the team gel....i dont know who it would be a replacement for, but what i do know is that we were very very stupid to show no interest in Damien Duff, cuz he has been great for Chelsea and he even said he was holding off to see if United were interested. A stupid decision by Sir Alex....

Chris

[admin]

For some reason, this feels like the least disappointing exist from the CL for Arsenal. Maybe because the disappointment was over 2 legs, and we did actually beat Bayern in one of them, but I think it's because we've had such a poor season (performance, injury and luck wise), it would have been asking too much to go any further in Europe. I guess the same may apply with Man United, because unless one of us wins the FA Cup, it's going to be a very disappointing season.

Speaking of the cup, Bolton are a very annoying team to play against. If you saw the match, you would have seen one team in blue playing football, and the other team in white playing rugby. All Bolton were trying to do was to get throw-ins near our penalty area, do a long throw and treat it like a corner. They did that about 20 times yesterday - I hardly saw them using their feet at all. When they are not throwing the ball, they are hoofing it up as high as possible. Other than that, it was bad tackle after bad tackle (5 yellows and a red, and the ref, who had a very hard game to officiate, tried to hold off as long as possible from giving cards, as otherwise, he would have to send all the Bolton players off). The officiating was also poor, corners not given when it should be, and a corner given to us when it wasn't one. The ball going out and no one spotting it, and booking Pires for a dive, when this was actually one of the rare times that Pires didn't dive. There was also nearly a fight - which was expected because Steve Bennett was the ref (also the ref for the "Battle of Old Trafford"). That Diouf is an idiot.

[England5_Germ1]

Chelsea Power, Man Utd Flower

About time the saggy faced Fergie fell from the perch, Long live Jose'.

Triple this year, grand slam next year.

[Oriphus]

Hey guys, sorry been away in South Africa for two weeks, will post shortly, just been really busy since i got back.

Chris

[Oriphus]

That was a shocking result for United. Really annoyed that we had such a poor squad for that match and it just goes to show that you cant ever bring a 2nd rate team to a premiership match. Our CEO made a valid point two weeks ago that everyone is sackable at Man Utd. I hope Ferguson starts performing cuz these past two years have been very poor for United standards. Beaten by the bottom team in the table.....unbelievable!!

[admin]

Norwich, unlike most bottom of the table teams, play some pretty good football, and it's always a bit uncomfortable playing against them (the away game we played ended 4-1 to us, but it never felt safe until the last few minutes). Unfortunately by trying to play, instead of trying to stop the opposition playing (like Bolton), they don't get many results against big teams. But the match against Man U, they really did fight for the ball as well as play, and include a deliberately weakened Man U side, the result wasn't a total surprise.

A nice 3 point gap now between second and third, which is good, because if Arsenal had to qualify for the Champions League, they probably won't.

With Newcastle playing pretty bad football recently (pretty good fighting though), and if we beat Blackburn, it looks like an Arsenal - Man U FA Cup final - could be one of the best finals in recent memory.

[Oriphus]

That was a good victory for Arsenal today against Blackburn. Ok, granted it was not a true reflection of the match the 3-0 win, Arsenal didnt really look like loosing it. Van Persie's goals were both excellent, particularly the second one. Why doesnt he get more of a chance to play at Arsenal, he certainly shows he is capable of it every time he plays?

Im looking forward to our game tomorrow afternoon - i think we should go through ok, but who knows with this on/off United team of recent times. Looking forward to the Chelsea v Arsenal match on Wednesday night as well as the United match.

[admin]

Arsene Wenger still hasn't forgiven van Persie for his silliness at Southampton, where he got sent off when Wenger had already told him to be careful not to get a second yellow. van Persie has scored 8 first team goals this season, not bad considering he's only had 13 starts. I would like to see Aliadiere play some matches, since he looks a lot stronger than before and did contribute to van Persie's second goal. Even if he leaves, he still should get some games beforehand to impress so we can get a good price.

Chelsea next - will have to wake up at 5 in the morning to watch it, and I will (and then next Monday 5 again to watch the game against Spurs). Without Henry, it doesn't look too good, but that's been our luck this season.