Champions' League group stages

[Roadend]

Other way around. If you don't think it should have been a free out you are embarrassing yourself

Incident (http://i36.tinypic.com/10zsfgj.gif)

Here you go buddy, pick the free out form here and tell everyone how you two and Bill O'Herlihy are alone in thinking such

[Hibs4Ever]

Incident (http://i36.tinypic.com/10zsfgj.gif)

Here you go buddy, pick the free out form here and tell everyone how you two and Bill O'Herlihy are alone in thinking such


Why are you putting a link to whats already displayed above? Everyone I've spoken to in work today thinks it was a free out. Athletico player looking at the ball the whole time. Gerrard lunged with his knee at chest height straight into the player. Free out. You are the only person I've seen that thinks it wasn't a free out

[old git]

Gerrard has a history of being a cheating c**t. Can't believe the grief the english media give Ronaldo & Drogba. They're not in this guys class of cheating

http://i33.tinypic.com/25ujlzq.jpg


totally agree if drogba / ronaldo did this the english media would go to town on them a blatent dive by gerrard and not his first time either :mad: .. what really p*ssed me off was on utv they totaly ignored dive and kept going on about gerrard once again saving liverpool even ray houghton on rte showed his true red colours definatly a penalty he says in comentary,, then gerrard had the neck to say during his interview i won the ball and player caught me late a definate penalty... he is the golden boy of the english media and is getting all the breaks at the moment... but dive aside liverpool deserved at least a draw on second half performance ... even though benitz / alonso / gerrard all said they controlled first half of game .. must have been a diiferent game i was watching ,, liverpool were terrible in first half could not pass a ball .. at least madrid knocked it about and kept possesion ... on a lighter note anybody see torres and his wife / girlfriend in the stand that the camera kept going to...
is it just me or did anybody else thing she was the double of torres .. wearing a black wig :D

[OwlsFan]

Personally, I think it was a peno. The defender didn't get the ball (Gerrard did) and caught Gerrard in the back with his arm. I also didn't think any of the other handballs were penos as they were all accidental. The RTE Panel seems to think that a ball hitting a hand automatically means a peno :rolleyes: As for Souness and "fast tracking ex-players to be refs", obviously none of them could be bothered as there is nothing stopping them becoming refs but I suspect the pay is bad.

[Roadend]

Why are you putting a link to whats already displayed above? Everyone I've spoken to in work today thinks it was a free out.

Oh well that's that settled then:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Gerrard clearly got to the ball first with his eyes fixed on it all the way, free out indeed :D

[Hibs4Ever]

Oh well that's that settled then:rolleyes::rolleyes:




Coming from someone that used the lack of people they heard it from as part of their arguement :rolleyes:

[Roadend]

To be fair, they are a lot more knowledgable than your work mates:p

[gustavo]

shocking decision really . robbed Atleti of three points Pernia had every right to be aggrieved :(

[OwlsFan]

Liverpool aside, Famaguasta were leading Inter Milan until they clawed back to 3-3. And Chelsea stuffed in Roma. Who said the opening rounds were predictable ;) ?

[old git]

totally agree if drogba / ronaldo did this the english media would go to town on them a blatent dive by gerrard and not his first time either :mad: .. what really p*ssed me off was on utv they totaly ignored dive and kept going on about gerrard once again saving liverpool even ray houghton on rte showed his true red colours definatly a penalty he says in comentary,, then gerrard had the neck to say during his interview i won the ball and player caught me late a definate penalty... he is the golden boy of the english media and is getting all the breaks at the moment... but dive aside liverpool deserved at least a draw on second half performance ... even though benitz / alonso / gerrard all said they controlled first half of game .. must have been a diiferent game i was watching ,, liverpool were terrible in first half could not pass a ball .. at least madrid knocked it about and kept possesion ... on a lighter note anybody see torres and his wife / girlfriend in the stand that the camera kept going to...
is it just me or did anybody else thing she was the double of torres .. wearing a black wig :D

1223

must be gerrard's favourite film he was trying to recreate this scene from platoon :D

[DeLorean]

Changing the subject completely but does anybody know the words to that song United fans, particularly the away fans have for Ronaldo with the past year or so...it goes something along the lines of...."You're the real ronaldooooo, you're the real ronaldoooo". I'm sure there's a more appropriate thread for this question but just humour me please!!!

[shakermaker1982]

Changing the subject completely but does anybody know the words to that song United fans, particularly the away fans have for Ronaldo with the past year or so...it goes something along the lines of...."You're the real ronaldooooo, you're the real ronaldoooo". I'm sure there's a more appropriate thread for this question but just humour me please!!!

you mean the Viva Ronaldo song?

[Football MaD]

1223

must be gerrard's favourite film he was trying to recreate this scene from platoon :D
Indeed he was, just jumped up threw his hands in the air and fell to the ground. Ridiculous!!!!
I think gerrard must be the most over-rated player in th premiership>

[DeLorean]

you mean the Viva Ronaldo song?
Ya sound just looked it up using that and I found it, tried everthing else. Heard em singing it at Pride Park last season and it sounded class

[sadloserkid]

I think gerrard must be the most over-rated player in th premiership>

You're way off. Try in the history of the world and you'd be closer to the truth.

[OwlsFan]

He was the only Liverpool player anywhere near the pace last night.

[Football MaD]

You're way off. Try in the history of the world and you'd be closer to the truth.
HaHa I know sure :D. He must be!

[Razors left peg]

It definitely wasn't a peno, but for pity's sake, don't go embarrasing yourself with suggestions like this either.

I stand by my opinion, Gerrard basically charged the defender, the defender only tried to head the ball

[Football MaD]

Can someone tell me how ronaldo got player of the year?
And berbatov, what a sitter he missed!!

[Mr Maroon]

Can someone tell me how ronaldo got player of the year?

Could have had something to do with the 40 goals

[mypost]

Have we just seen the worst decision in Champions Leaue history???:confused:

Wrong.


Bullsh!t

Right. :D

Defender charges into Gerrard's side, two feet off the ground, and doesn't win the ball.

It happened in the box, so is a penalty.

[OwlsFan]

Was disappointed with Strachan's negative approach from the outset last night. Talking up Man U and not playing his creative players, unless McGeady and Nakamura were injured. The Man U equaliser was inevitable when you can't retain the ball. They even almost and should have lost it in the end. Somehow I expect more from Celtic in terms of flair and attacking football but perhaps I am just naive but a few seasons ago Celtic really went at Man U and beat them. He almost had 10 defenders on the pitch at one stage. He didn't even look pleased when Celtic scored - it was as if in his heart he didn't believe Celtic would hold on :confused: Celtic is a massive club with massive support - I don't think they should be tipping the hat to Man U or anyone else.

[shakermaker1982]

Attack vs defence last night, Celtic defended bravely but inviting that sort of pressure was suicidal.

[gaiscíoch]

Don't see any problem in Strachan not celebrating they scored in the first 10 mins. As you know they were playing the Champions of Europe with 60million euro worth of strikers on the bench and a game is 90mins long???


He done the right thing they didn't have the midfielders who are capable of getting and keeping the ball nor did he have a striker who could hold onto the ball in the eventuality that the ball ever got up there. On limited resources which he has that is a good result....

[Roadend]

I did see Ronaldo's kick out at Brown. I was under the impression that that is a red card offence.........:)

[old git]

I did see Ronaldo's kick out at Brown. I was under the impression that that is a red card offence.........:)

it is and if you were the ref he was sent off :) unfortunatly ref & linesman right beside them missed it also :)

[Junior]

Was disappointed with Strachan's negative approach from the outset last night.

McGeady, Hesselink and Samaras all injured

First half I thought Celtic were excellent, worked hard, created a few chances, scored a great goal. We had the very inexperienced Sheridan up front who has only played 2 games from the start for Celtic!!

Trying to defend a 1 nil lead against Utd for 45 minutes was never going to work and at the game I was really frustrated with Strachans 2nd half tactics. But after reflection, he didnt have a lot of choice.

The starting 11 were running on empty. The back 4 were imense, blocked and tackled all night, brilliant. Unfortunately, our saviour so often, Boruc was less certain. Brown in the middle was excellent and is really becoming a great player for Celtic.

McDonald, Sheridan, Maloney all ran their hearts out but changes were needed and who did we have on the bench?

Subs Used - all of whom have less than 2 games worth of first team football this season, some with much less than that - minutes even......

Donati
Hutchinson
O'Dea

Not Used

Caddis (could have been an outlet and would get stuck in - definitely was an option though has hardly any first team football experience)
Nakamura (can retain possession better than any of the celtic players but would he have dug in as was required? probably not)
Naylor (fullback no better than what was on the pitch - fresh legs or not!)

At the end of the day, with the resources available, I think we did what we could and I am just happy to get the point as Berbatov could so easily have killed it off at the death.

[old git]

Don't see any problem in Strachan not celebrating they scored in the first 10 mins. As you know they were playing the Champions of Europe with 60million euro worth of strikers on the bench and a game is 90mins long???


He done the right thing they didn't have the midfielders who are capable of getting and keeping the ball nor did he have a striker who could hold onto the ball in the eventuality that the ball ever got up there. On limited resources which he has that is a good result....

so celtic football club have no professional midfielders capable of getting and holding onto ball ... find it very hard to accept professional footballers cannot do this ... i think problem was celtic were set up to defend from the start ( plan a ) and no other plan showed utd way to much respect .. as for limited resources he has this since he took over at celtic but was still able to beat utd two years ago on limited resources :D

[Junior]

i think problem was celtic were set up to defend from the start ( plan a ) and no other plan showed utd way to much respect .. as for limited resources he has this since he took over at celtic but was still able to beat utd two years ago on limited resources :D

We set up 4-4-2, one of the 4 midfielders was BIG Shaun Maloney, renowned for his tenacious tackling. Celtic did not start out to defend.

We ended up doing that for the 2nd half but we didnt start out like that.

This Celtic side was a poorer side than 2 years ago. Some of it injury related some of it down to the squad we have now versus then.

[gaiscíoch]

so celtic football club have no professional midfielders capable of getting and holding onto ball ...

Paul Hartley, to a lesser extent Barry Robson & Shaun Moloney & Scott Brown (as much as I admire his attitude) are all very limited footballers. So that's exactly what I'm saying. They couldn't pass a ball between them....



find it very hard to accept professional footballers cannot do this ...
Unfortunately that's the reality..


i think problem was celtic were set up to defend from the start ( plan a ) and no other plan showed utd way to much respect ..
I agree they showed too much respect you see that everyweek in every league everywhere the lesser lights are afraid to go out and play the big guns.


as for limited resources he has this since he took over at celtic but was still able to beat utd two years ago on limited resources :D

As junior said due to injury and generally a weaker squad than 2years ago it's getting harder and harder to compete.

Strachan did exclaim "Manchester United to be the best side in Europe" so maybe that goes a long way towards explaining his tactics.

[old git]

Paul Hartley, to a lesser extent Barry Robson & Shaun Moloney & Scott Brown (as much as I admire his attitude) are all very limited footballers. So that's exactly what I'm saying. They couldn't pass a ball between them....



Unfortunately that's the reality..


I agree they showed too much respect you see that everyweek in every league everywhere the lesser lights are afraid to go out and play the big guns.



As junior said due to injury and generally a weaker squad than 2years ago it's getting harder and harder to compete.

Strachan did exclaim "Manchester United to be the best side in Europe" so maybe that goes a long way towards explaining his tactics.

best side in europe not on last nights performance

ronaldo / nani / giggs / fletcher / carrick also could not pass a ball last night and not even one good bonecruncher tackler amongst them :D

[shakermaker1982]

They are the reigning champions of a tournament which decides the best team in Europe every year so I think it's easy to assume that Man Utd are the best team in Europe right now. They are not out of third gear yet so expect to see some improvement over the next 2 months.

[Ceirtlis]

best side in europe not on last nights performance

ronaldo / nani / giggs / fletcher / carrick also could not pass a ball last night and not even one good bonecruncher tackler amongst them :D

They werent even go at in it full pelt and they still should have won at a ground where Celtic have a great record in Europe. They are through now so thats all that matters really. The doubt I would have about them is that Rio Ferdinand has thrown in a few shaky performances recently and I think Van der Saar is on the way out. A very solid defence is usually needed to win cup competitions.

[viagogo]

They are the reigning champions of a tournament which decides the best team in Europe every year so I think it's easy to assume that Man Utd are the best team in Europe right now. They are not out of third gear yet so expect to see some improvement over the next 2 months.

Dont see them improving this season.

Their performances remind me of the last time they won European Cup in 1999. They played poorly for the next few years. I know they won the league a couple of times but there was no competition in England then (there is now) and they were easily beaten in Europe.

After watching Arsenal game today looks like their hunger is gone. Ferdinand and Van Der Sar playing very poorly.

[cheifo]

Arsenal v Man U was great entertainment.Both teams were almost reckless in their approach but it was good stuff.

[Rambling Along]

Arsenal v Man U was great entertainment.Both teams were almost reckless in their approach but it was good stuff.

Yeah it was also a Premiership match and had very little to do with the Group stages of the Champions League!:rolleyes::cool:

[cheifo]

I was responding to Viagogos post, but anyway you put a :cool: in so I know you are too cool to be a pedant.:p

[eirebhoy]

Paul Hartley, to a lesser extent Barry Robson & Shaun Moloney & Scott Brown (as much as I admire his attitude) are all very limited footballers. So that's exactly what I'm saying. They couldn't pass a ball between them....
I think you're doing Brown a disservice. You'll rarely see him play a long pass but he isn't a bad passer at all. He's great at a quick first time pass and that's a big advantage over Hartley or Lennon who'd tend to slow a game down. Pity my bloody youtube account keeps getting closed because I had a good video of Brown teasing Franco Miranda and in it he plays an absolutely superb through ball to Zurawski with the outside of his boot. He's a very good dribbler of the ball and looks like a real natural when running, always with his head up.

His aggressive playing style and running onto passes at pace doesn't do him justice in terms of technical ability. I'm not saying he's world class technically but he's certainly not a Gattuso or Lennon.

[eirebhoy]

I think you're doing Brown a disservice. You'll rarely see him play a long pass but he isn't a bad passer at all.

...
Brilliantly waiting pass to set up Naka's goal tonight! ;)

[OwlsFan]

Celtic go out with a whimper. Didn't see the game as I was out at a quiz but their desperate away record continues. I notice the Man U game ended 0-0 which is what both teams wanted :rolleyes: I believe that there is a strong case for awarding 0 points for any game that ends 0-0. It would certainly add to the excitement of both teams having to attack and perhaps end the games where the weaker teams put 11 men behind the ball for 90 minutes looking for a draw.

[superfrank]

The first match was a 0-0 draw, iirc. They've also drawn 0-0 twice before that. Is it possible that they're just two evenly matched teams?

Found this (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7749331.stm) fairly interesting. Rooney dives but Fergie lets him away with it because he apologised, then has a cheap shot at Robert Pires.

"He apologise to me and said he didn't mean to do that," said boss Ferguson.

"I think he's been watching Robert Pires too much. At least he apologised to their players. You'd never see Pires do that."

[trevy]

All four groups layed last night have been decided with one game to go. Last nights boring 0-0 draw summed up the group stages of the champions league and then we had to listen to Giles and Dunphy have their weekly moan at Ronaldo afterwards.Yawn:rolleyes:

[Closed Account 2]

Dissapointed with Zenit... I'd hoped they would make it through and knock out one of the self-obsessed hollywood-esque clubs in their group.

[OwlsFan]

All four groups layed last night have been decided with one game to go. Last nights boring 0-0 draw summed up the group stages of the champions league and then we had to listen to Giles and Dunphy have their weekly moan at Ronaldo afterwards.Yawn:rolleyes:

Looks as if the first poster on this thread was correct therefore:


Are they the most pointless thing ever? There are very rarely any shocks - the strongest 2 teams inevitably get through. Tell the truth, did anyone REALLY think Liverpool weren't going to get through last year, even when they needed to win their last 3 games?

The whole competition is pedestrian until the quarters, then it really hots up.

[eirebhoy]

Last night was the worst I've felt after a Celtic match in years. Aalborg are a poor team. St Mirren and Hamilton were MUCH harder games. Celtic should have been probably 3 goals up after an hour on overall play. Yet they lose. Horrible feeling. What a chance to end this run of defeats away from home. All it takes is 1 win to relieve the pressure. That's all it is that caused the defeat last night. Pressure.

[brianw82]

I was right, I tells ya!

[Razors left peg]

I was right, I tells ya!

I agree with ya, the group stages are pretty boring alot of the time. This year Im finding it hard to be interested in it at all.The competition really doesnt get going until the knockout stages.
Just as a matter of interest does anyone think that a bonus point system like what is used in Rugby could improve things in the group stages, maybe something like a bonus point for scoring 3 goals. Could be used in qualifiers for International tournaments too.

[Mr Maroon]

Dissapointed with Zenit... I'd hoped they would make it through and knock out one of the self-obsessed hollywood-esque clubs in their group.
Real are the only ones that fit in that category

[elroy]

I agree with ya, the group stages are pretty boring alot of the time. This year Im finding it hard to be interested in it at all.The competition really doesnt get going until the knockout stages.
Just as a matter of interest does anyone think that a bonus point system like what is used in Rugby could improve things in the group stages, maybe something like a bonus point for scoring 3 goals. Could be used in qualifiers for International tournaments too.

I think this years CL group stage has been the most boring yet. Its pointless imo because of the 16 teams that will make the knock out stages most people would have predicted 15 of them at the start. Unfortunately it is a case of the big leagues taking over and the fact that one/two countries will dominate the quarter and semi finals is not good for football imo.
The CL was at its best in the mid to late 90s, I remember MAn U in a group the year they won it with Brondby, Bayern and Barca. Now Brondby admittedly werent upto much but every game was worth watching. Now i dont even bother with it until the last 16 stage.

[holidaysong]

Now i dont even bother with it until the last 16 stage.

I watch the games with Irish teams and then tune out and then come back for the quarter finals.. Having said that, the results by Cluj and Famagusta this year have been a welcome break from the norm. Although it wouldn't be great for our co-efficient, I'd like to see Famagusta get through.