Football (Soccer)

[Oriphus]

I hope Arsenal win....best of luck admin - only an hour or so away

[Oriphus]

I knew they would draw. Chelsea should be a walk over at the Olde Highbury...

[admin]

Almost felt sorry for Chelsea when Pires equalised ... almost. Would have been great if we had won 2-1 again though - could have broken some kind of new record!!

Oh well, an away score draw will have to do for now. The Battle of Highbury up next ...

[MPS]

v. nice 2nd half, good play by arsenal, and damien duff wasnt bad either.

gr8 game @bernabeu. a superb reaction from the crowd after morientes' goal.

[Oriphus]

Yeah, the Real Madrid fans gave him a good cheer and clapped when he scored against their team, i thought that was nice. He didnt run around celebrating the goal too much. I think Morientes is still a big favourite at the Bernabeu and that Real may bring him back after htis season loan spell runs out. The second half performance by Real Madrid was excellent, a great game to watch. I didnt actually watch the second half of the Arsenal Chelsea game...

[MPS]

barca out of uefa, damn... celtic beat 'em :|

[Oriphus]

Yeah - was expecting that. im a big celtic fan as well - Quality team...

[MPS]

i have nothing left to say but... go rangers!

[admin]

And now, the match everyone's been waiting for ...

Unfortunately, I can only see a score draw happening, 1-1. United will be the hapier of the two teams, but in reality, only Chelsea will be happy with this result.

[MPS]

unless blues lose @ home to Wolves

1-1 or 0-0 i see.

[Oriphus]

Well it was a draw, as everyone suspected. To be fair both sides had chances. I feel a bit hard done by about the penalty which, im sure you'll agree, we should have had after Ryan Gigss was clipped once going into the box and then brought down inside the box. A poor decision by Graham Poll.

But in saying that, its one of the most exciting matches i've watched. The first 25 minutes were amazing end to end football. Eat your heart out everyone else, I think United and Arsenal have shown the rest of the league what they are capable and that they are definitely able to play better football than a lot of the other teams in the premiership.

What a great start to a come-back from Ole Gunner who set up the United goal. RvN hasnt been looking to fresh recently. He missed the chance to score but luckily for us Louis Saha pounced and finished a tap-in.

[admin]

I think we had calls for at least 2 or 3 penalties as well - this was like the Man City - Fulham game a few days ago, where clear penalties weren't given to each side - perhaps the refs have been told that too many penalties being given ...

But I am very angry at the moment, although on paper it looked like a good point and we did break a new record (I would gladly swap this record for 3 points any day though). Arsene Wenger screwed up with the substitutions, particular Cygan for Pires. If Pires was still on the field, he would have helped Clichy (man of the match, probably) to defend against Ole's cross (Cygan was still trying to run back, but he is far too slow) and even if United had scored, Pires would have helped to get a winner. It's also Lauren's fault at not passing it back to Henry when he wanted it - hope Henry gave him a right smack in the tunnel.

So the lead is cut to 7 points, with Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds and Tottenham up next, all away except the Liverpool game. If we can win these next four games, then we've got the league title. If we slip up, then it's going to be close again. Who knows, we may even have to rely on United to beat Chelsea to seal the title.

As for the FA Cup, I think we will be really up for it and will not give up until we get a two goal cushion.

[MPS]

1-1 it is. everything's been said - a good game all in all

[Oriphus]

I think we had calls for at least 2 or 3 penalties as well

Come on now....who you trying to kid? Two or three penalty calls. Theiry Henry did an amazing dive, the replays showed it as such and the commentators commented on it. The other possible call for a penalty was an amazing tackle by Wes Brown from behind. I mean it was truely excellent quality tackle as the commentators said. There was another time when Roy Carrol missed the ball, but (cant remember the player) Arsenal player let his foot drag and then dived. Roy was lucky, i guess it couldve gone either way, but the commentators said that he was playing for it. Also, there was one clear cut penalty for Arsenal when Roy Carrol again brought someone down in the box, but thankfully the whistle ahd gone for off-side moments before.

Im looking forward to FA Cup match. Expect another great game like it was today. I hope we have Ole Gunner starting and maybe bring on Ronaldo somewhere in the second half. Louis Saha i thought was cup tied and couldnt play, but the commentators said he will be available as he is no longer cup tied. Is that because Fulham are already out of it??

[admin]

The two penalty calls I can remember were for Reyes, first when he was called offside and the replays showed he wasn't and then he was brought down by Carrol. The second is the one you mentioned where Carrol missed the ball after Reyes was through one on one.

Henry didn't dive (or at least not as well as Gary Neville), he was looking for a penalty though by pushing away the ball as Carrol went out for it. Unfortunately, Carrol didn't slide as far as Henry had hoped, and he only slightly clipped Henry's right leg, hence the fall. Remember that Henry is the same player that didn't go down for a sure penalty (the player that nearly pulled his shirt off said it would have been a penalty) and then subsequently had his shot blocked by the keeper, so he won't go down unless there's contact, although in the last match's situation, he should have stayed on his feet and try to score.

And Ryan Giggs was clipped (accidentally) but I don't think he was then brought down in the box. The replays showed Giggs was outside the box for the clip, so if it was to be penalised, then only a freekick would have been given. But then again, Reyes was not offside and should have got a penalty himself. I guess the bad decisions will eventually even themselves out, although I still think the refs were told not to give penalties this weekend for some reason.

I think Saha is cup tied, I think it still applies in the semi finals, unless the rules have been changed (Pennant last season was cup tied, even though the team he was loaned to only played in the first round and lost or something). Henry and Ljungberg will be rested, according to Wenger, so Bergkamp and Reyes will start.