Football (Soccer)

[lfcrule1972]

Thats its your officially obsessed with the cricket - this is a footie thread and no gay references are allowed to cricket - get out !!!

[blutach]

HAHAHAHAHAHA - Go MILANO!!!!

Regards

[Mig$y]

Congrats lfcrule1972..... Oh my God... What a final.
What a good night for English football.

Honestly, at the end of the first half you must have thought you were screwed.... What a recovery.... They deserve every bit of credit that is coming to them

How did Dudek save Shevchenko's shots in the second extra half of extra time!?.... Amazing. Good to see him imitating Grobbelaar in the penalty shoot out too

I sure it will be a non stop party in Merseyside tonight.



Nice one.

[blutach]

I take it LFC won. I trust Kool Kewell was the hero.

Regards

[admin]

Congrats to Liverpool. I haven't watched the match yet, but who would bet that you would come back from 3-0 down at half time against Milan and actually win. I just saw the player ratings on the BBC website - how did you manage to score 3 goals, with 5 out of 10 being given to all your strikers (Kewell included)?

People would probably question whether Liverpool are the best team in Europe, despite being only fifth in England, but if you look at all the big teams that Liverpool have beaten on the way to the cup, it can't be all just down to luck, but luck plays a big element I think. And also tactics that make you look like being outplayed, but actually all part of the plan to win ugly, like Arsenal in the FA Cup

Arsene Wenger said that Liverpool would do it, and he was right again (just like how he predicted Greece was to win Euro 2004 before a ball was even kicked). I must start listening to his tips and make a few trips to the bookies.

[blutach]

Strange that the the teams that play bad end up winning these soccer games.

Gotta feel sorry for the losers.

Regards

[lfcrule1972]

OMG !!!! I still can't believe it myself - I was so gutted at half time that I considered turning the game off and sulking on my own !!! But no something gave me faith that they might pull one back - not flipping 3 !!!!!

3 goals in under 7 minutes was the stuff of dreams, honestly I couldn't bear to watch as the game drifted into extra time you could see that both sides were knackered, Baros looked poor again but then against the Milan defence and with no real support its hardly suprising.

Captain Fantastic put us on track, then Smicer in his last game for the 'pool followed by a penalty by Alonso that took two goes to get in

Dudek has made up for those silly errors in seasons gone for me now !! Shevchenko must have thought he had it won from 2 yards out only to see Dudek pull of an instinctive save and take the game to penalties....

The funny thing was I just finished explaining to my lad that years before Grobbelar had put off the Roma penalty takers by having "wobbly legs" on the line when Dudek started the same antics..... If I wasn't so bl##dy nervous I would have been laughing out loud !! Anyway, a miss and two saves later (inc another from a Shevchenko penalty) and we did it !!!!!

I have to get up at 5.30am for work and despite that I was still buzzing at 1.30am Feel ok now altho I expect I will be knacked later.....

Cheers for the messages lads.....

@blutach - Cool Kewell - WHO ??????

[blutach]

AFAIK, he's one of your highly paid stars from here. Bit injury sus I understand.

Christ, what am I doing in the bloody soccer thread? FGS admin, kick me out.

Regards

[Oriphus]

Harry Kewell played for 20mins and then went off with another one of his famous non-physical injuries lol - he is such a waste of money lol.

As for the match, what a turnaround. AC Milan completely hammered Liverpool in the first half and it looked a certain 5-0 thrashing when the second half resume. However, after a few near misses from AC Milan, Liverpool some how managed to score with Steven Gerrard to get a slight life-line. Very unexpected for LIverpool then to score 2 more goals inside 8 minutes or something. AC Milan just went to pieces. Liverpool looked a lot stronger in the second half, even though Louis Garcia tried his best to mess up everything in the final third of the pitch.

I think going into extra time saw Liverpool with the more confident team. Ac Milan again were unlucky not to score a few times, it just reminded me of the Man Utd v Arsenal match a bit in that respect. The better side again lost, but lets not take anything away from Liverpool, there efforts and complete desperation and not giving up won that match.

When the penalties started, i thought the AC Milan side looked depleated. The first penalty showed that as it sailed high and wide. Then Bruce....i mean Dudek tried to put them off with his dancing on the line...it seems to have worked.

I think AC Milan were very unlucky to have their second penalty saved as it should have been a re-take. Dudek must have been 5 feet off his line when the ball was struck, an obvious infringement, but neither the Ref or the linesman gave it.

Great result for Liverpool, hopefully this will be a kick in the arse for them to start performing in the premiership. It makes it more exciting when the four top teams play well and leave the title undecided till the last week or so.

Well done Liverpool.....the best team in Europe.....

....Well....they are really i guess since they won it, but then again, everyone has their days

Chris

[lfcrule1972]

I think best team on the night is probably more accurate

That said we did beat Juventus and Chelski to get there, yes there was luck but thats what you need in a Cup competition isn't it ?

I agree that the ref had a bit of a mare when it came to penalties, he could have awarded one to LFC on the 1st half and then missed Grobbelaar er Dudek's leap off the line for the second penalty.....

Oh well, my voice is slowly starting to come back now, I am tired but elated !! Now I just need to get hold of my mate who is making his way back from Turkey today, via the Orient Express !! ha ha A Scouser who likes to travel in style - I hope he got me a programme !!

Cheers

Oh, blutach asked if this post could become a "Camp Cricket" one come the summer - please say NO !!

[Oriphus]

Yeah, please please say no to any Cricket topics inside this topic lol, i hate cricket...

CHris

Anyway, we got loads of transfers to discuss and summer training and games...

[lfcrule1972]

Thank God for that !!

I can think of plenty of stuff already, Gerrard staying or going, clear outs and signings at LFC, Arsenal, Man Utd etc, will UEFA let LFC defend their title ?

At least for a few months I am spared the trauma of losing to teams we should be beating

Cheers

[admin]

At least for a few months I am spared the trauma of losing to teams we should be beating

But you also miss out on beating teams you should be losing to (Juventus, Chelsea, AC Milan)

Okay, I'll start with some interesting transfer "news":

Robinho to Arsenal - we definitely sent people there to watch the match, but don't know if it's to look at Robinho or another player. Would be a dream signing, so most likely fake news.

Reina to Liverpool - would be a good signing, and would fit the pattern of transfers by Benitez (ie. all Spanish).

Sergio Ramos to Man U - he looks like a good right back, someone that we might need actually. To replace Gary Neville?

I've been wondering actually, now that Man U is in Glazer's hands, if Chelsea came in with a 50 million bid for Rooney, would Glazer accept? From a business point of view, it would be stupid not to accept it (since 50 million can buy lots of other players, including some big names, for the loss of just one player). Something for the Mancs to worry about over summer

[lfcrule1972]

Yeah I heard the Reina signing a few weeks ago, as you know a team needs a consistently good keeper and I think only Chelski have that at the moment....

Liverpool clear out in the summer

Saw this as well - to be honest not too much heartbreak if we lost those players, I do like Hamann, despite his age I believe he can do a job for LFC and also Barros, given time I think he could be a huge asset to the club - however open criticism of Benitez in the press won't help his cause

Not much else news wise around at the moment - will check again at lunch......

[Oriphus]

I've been wondering actually, now that Man U is in Glazer's hands, if Chelsea came in with a 50 million bid for Rooney, would Glazer accept? From a business point of view, it would be stupid not to accept it (since 50 million can buy lots of other players, including some big names, for the loss of just one player). Something for the Mancs to worry about over summer

Thats been one of my big worries as well. It would be different with a player that has a huge fan base, like Beckham, who can generate the funds, but with Rooney...who'd want a photo of him on their wall....would scare the kids at night....

Robinho is a good player, and could do well at Arsenal. As for Sergio Ramos, im doubtful that he is a better player than Gary Neville. Im very happy with Gary's performance at United. Id be happier if we took a Centre Back to replace Silvestre lol. TO be honest, Silvestre plays brilliantly for us sometimes, it would be hard to leave him out.

If only we had another Peter Schmeichel in nets, Gary Pallister, Rio Ferdinand, Gabrielle Heinze and Nesta in defence. Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Ronaldo and Solskjaer in midfield and RvN and Rooney up front. All those players at their peak would make an awesome side all right

Seriusly though, i think we need a keeper, a strong attacking midfielder, a strong defending midfielder, and possible a strong defender.

The clearout and United has commenced:

Roy Carroll is gone, Ricardo is gone, Daniel Nardiello, Ramon Calliste, Ben Collett, David Poole, Lee Lawrence and Paul Tierney are all gone.

Its clear we are now on the hunt for a keeper, with only one keeper remaining at the club. No doubt Tim Howard will now take over Roy Carrolls role and we hopefully will buy a top Keeper to replace Peter Schmeichel which we still have never been able to do. Gianluca Curci from Roma is a possibility. He's 3rd choice, but he is supposed to be very promising and has just signed a contract till 2009 worth only £1500 a month, which is probably a big factor in him possibly going.

Talk of Ronaldo going to Real Madrid, i think not lol....

Chris

John Obi Mikel is still involved in the whole mess about whether he is coming to Man Utd or not.