Liverpool do it again

[Lim till i die]

Thats why I'd take fans of Barcelona, River Plate, or dare I say it, Celtic, over their English counterparts any day of the week

Pah the Nou Camp is full of tourists

Plus we all know Boca are better :p

As for the game last night. Horrible to watch. But strangely compelling.

Sort of like the LoI really :)

[jebus]

Apparantly while Reina was putting Liverpool in the CL Final last night someone was burgling his house in Liverpool, Scousers, always pushing the stereotype! :D :D

[Lim till i die]

Apparantly while Reina was putting Liverpool in the CL Final last night someone was burgling his house in Liverpool, Scousers, always pushing the stereotype! :D :D

Fcukin classic, is that true?? :D

[jebus]

Fcukin classic, is that true?? :D

Just got a text about it ythere, haven't looked it up on the news though

[gilberto_eire]

Yes because Chelseas only penalty was scored by an England international , that really backs up your point there.

i didnt mean taken and scored i meant influence between the squad and it was a joke nobby!

[Lim till i die]

Oh those Scouse rogues :eek: :D

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=464488&CPID=8&clid=14&lid=2&title=Reina's+home+ransacked

[BohsPartisan]

Oh those Scouse rogues :eek: :D

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=464488&CPID=8&clid=14&lid=2&title=Reina's+home+ransacked

Evertonians always did have the most novel ways of showing their support for their club! :D

[Steve Bruce]

Do you have a measuring tape handy for matches?? :rolleyes:

There were 21 shots. Argue all you like about the distance, variety, etc, but there have been similiar games with far less action, and a lot more boredom. It was end-to-end, it could have gone either way, but it happened to go our way this time. This is high-risk, high pressure EC football. Look elsewhere if you expect something else.

Elsewhere - Like tonight when Man Utd take on Milan, with both teams putting on a great show like they did in the first leg. I think that'll do nicely.

[strangeirish]

Wtf d'you want? a 15-man brawl and 6 red cards, or something??

Sorry, I've never been to a Rovers game.:D
What I meant was that it was a woeful game of football i.e. Balls being hoofed into the clouds all night, overpaid so-called superstars fainting at the sight of a shadow, long periods of the game where same 'superstars' couldn't pass the ball five yards. As for the 21 shots you mentioned, how many of those knocked someone's head off in the stands? 13 of the 21 were off target, not to mention the 52 'fouls' that were committed. I'm not picking on you mypost, but IMHO it was just a bad game of football.

[NeilMcD]

Actually what annoys me about the coverage in the papers this morning, is that they all go on about how great the Kop is, 12th man, can suck a ball from twenty yards (:eek: ) etc. And on nights like last night they are right. But where are the 'greatest fans in the world' when Liverpool are playing Watford, or struggling to break down Blackburn? Its the very same at Old Trafford, not a peep to be heard out of them

Thats why I'd take fans of Barcelona, River Plate, or dare I say it, Celtic, over their English counterparts any day of the week



Nou Camp has a terrible atmosphere, Its like an evening at the theatre.

[strangeirish]

Actually what annoys me about the coverage in the papers this morning, is that they all go on about how great the Kop is, 12th man, can suck a ball from twenty yards etc.
I dunno jebus. I used to date a bird from Liverpool and if she was there last night, I wouldn't doubt that possibility.... :D

[Steve Bruce]

I dunno jebus. I used to date a bird from Liverpool and if she was there last night, I wouldn't doubt that possibility.... :D

A liverpool lass, great and terrible oral skills........... I'll get my coat.:D

[jebus]

Nou Camp has a terrible atmosphere, Its like an evening at the theatre.

Although I've never been (well not when a game is on anyway), I always find it comes across well on TV noise wise, for all the matches they play, not just against the Madrid teams

[OwlsFan]

Nou Camp has a terrible atmosphere, Its like an evening at the theatre.

The theatre can be enthralling with lots of reaction from the audience, especially the Windmill Theatre :p

[Emmet]

Anyone who expected end to end football like in the other semi was dreaming. What happened in the first leg at Old Trafford came about because United had no defence and because they possess Rooney and Ronaldo who are at the moment absolutely on fire. To criticise Liverpool and Chelsea for being able to defend well (which is a skill believe it or not) and for not having someone like Ronaldo in their team is being a bit silly.

[DmanDmythDledge]

and for not having someone like Ronaldo in their team is being a bit silly.
But they do though. Chelsea have Cole, Robben, Wright-Philips.

[jockser]

so its 2005 all over again........3-3 anyone??!?!

[BohsPartisan]

so its 2005 all over again........3-3 anyone??!?!

Milan to get revenge. Like 2005 should have been!

[jebus]

so its 2005 all over again........3-3 anyone??!?!

I'd go 2-1 to Milan

[nui-harp]

Did anyone else think Utd were just tactically inept last nite? I couldnt understand Ferguson.....at 2-0 down he did nothing to change it until 15 mins to go then brought on an injury prone Saha who is no where near fit when Ole an Smith were on the bench? Giggs and Ronaldo were dire and Utd cant play this European formation with the 3 in the middle, 2 out wide and Rooney up on his own.....how long will it take him to see this!

[Erstwhile Bóz]

Ages, hopefully. :)

[jebus]

Did anyone else think Utd were just tactically inept last nite? I couldnt understand Ferguson.....at 2-0 down he did nothing to change it until 15 mins to go then brought on an injury prone Saha who is no where near fit when Ole an Smith were on the bench? Giggs and Ronaldo were dire and Utd cant play this European formation with the 3 in the middle, 2 out wide and Rooney up on his own.....how long will it take him to see this!

I think what gets shown up time and again with Premiership teams in Europe is that technically they are not up to standard. People harp on about the kick and rush Premiership, but they never seem to understand that it stunts the growth of their footballers. For clinical passing, finishing etc. the Italians have always had that nailed, given the nature of Serie A football (getting a bit more time on the ball etc.), and the Spanish teams, well they're just blessed with naturally skilled players. As for the English teams, well if it's not a blood and guts, kick them around the park game they're just not up to it

[OwlsFan]

I think what gets shown up time and again with Premiership teams in Europe is that technically they are not up to standard. People harp on about the kick and rush Premiership, but they never seem to understand that it stunts the growth of their footballers. For clinical passing, finishing etc. the Italians have always had that nailed, given the nature of Serie A football (getting a bit more time on the ball etc.), and the Spanish teams, well they're just blessed with naturally skilled players. As for the English teams, well if it's not a blood and guts, kick them around the park game they're just not up to it

Is that why there were 3 out of 4 in the semis and one in the Final :confused: ? And by the way Man U don't play the blood and guts game and destroyed an Italian team (second or third the Italian league) last round.

[Emmet]

But they do though. Chelsea have Cole, Robben, Wright-Philips.

You're not seriously trying to say that those three players are anywhere near the standard that Ronaldo has achieved this year? Ronaldo has just cleaned up at the PFA Awards - none of the three you mention there even made the short-list!!!

[Emmet]

I think what gets shown up time and again with Premiership teams in Europe is that technically they are not up to standard.

In 2005 the EPL produced two semi-finalists and the eventual winners; in 2006 it produced the Runners-up; and in 2007 three semi-finalists and possibly the eventual winners. Like you say, time and again Premiership teams are really not up to standard :rolleyes:

[Stuttgart88]

I think United play a style of football almost unique in England. It’s not as technical as you’d expect from Arsenal or a Spanish or Italian team, and not as direct or muscular as Chelsea and lesser teams like Bolton etc. They get the ball into the box repeatedly, from wide and from central positions from Scholes and Carrick. If it doesn’t bear fruit then they work their socks off to get the ball back and start again. Their work rate is phenomenal but it’s far from blood & guts.

It’s frequently good enough to beat the better continental teams and almost ironically, I actually think their CL campaign this year – in the knockout stages anyway – was far more impressive than when they won it. To this day I don’t know how Inter didn’t beat them comprehensively in the 1999 QF and they were twice the width of a post away from being beaten by Bayern in the final.

Given the defensive injuries they had last night’s result wasn’t that much of a surprise but with a fit Neville, Ferdinand & Vidic they’d have been more competitive.

In my opinion all 4 English clubs should get past the group stages and depending on the draw you’d expect at least 3 to make the QF. From then on it’s a bit of a lottery. You have a group of good teams in a knockout competition where the ties can go either way. Having 3 teams in this year’s SF reflects well on the “elite” teams in England but you can’t draw any conclusions beyond that about the strength of the league in general. I think there’s a parallel between the PL teams’ results in Europe and the English national team, especially under Sven. On balance you’d expect them to get to the latter stages of a tournament but making the final step just proves a bridge too far – there’s usually someone better. In England’s case I think their route to success lies in replicating United’s style as they can’t take the technical teams on, but this style of play just doesn’t work in late June heat. I don’t think they have the players to replicate the Chelsea approach.

Separately, it annoyed me all last week that almost everyone in the English media had pretty much assumed United were already in the final. On Tuesday 5 Live was asking whether it was stupid to have an all-English contested final in Greece. ITV virtually had United in the final, as did much of the print media.

[jebus]

In 2005 the EPL produced two semi-finalists and the eventual winners; in 2006 it produced the Runners-up; and in 2007 three semi-finalists and possibly the eventual winners. Like you say, time and again Premiership teams are really not up to standard :rolleyes:

Since the inception of the Champions League the winners have come from

France 1
Holland 1
Portugal 1
England 2
Germany 2
Italy 3
Spain 4

and when you consider that United and Liverpool both stole their respective finals from better teams, then you might see that technically English teams, much like their national side, just aren't up to it technically

[Stuttgart88]

English teams, much like their national side, just aren't up to it technicallyTrue, but it's not fair to say that it's all blood & guts either, nor is it fair to say that they're not competive against good teams. I think that winners of major tournaments tend to be the technically superior teams though, and those with real pace in the team too.

You can point to Spurs having a good run in UEFA Cup this year, Middlesboro last year and all the English clubs in the early & middle stages of UEFA Cup for that matter as an example of the strength of the mid-ranking English clubs versus their European peers, or you can look at Everton in Europe last year to take the opposite view.

[Stuttgart88]

I hear Frank Lampard has emerged as the main suspect in the Reina burglary. Nobody can ascertain his whereabouts between 7.45pm and 10.15pm on Teusday.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Did anyone else think Utd were just tactically inept last nite? I couldnt understand Ferguson.....at 2-0 down he did nothing to change it until 15 mins to go then brought on an injury prone Saha who is no where near fit when Ole an Smith were on the bench? Giggs and Ronaldo were dire and Utd cant play this European formation with the 3 in the middle, 2 out wide and Rooney up on his own.....how long will it take him to see this!
Fergie got the tactics completely wrong. He went to Milan with the wrong gameplan. Regardless of what he said in the lead up to the game United set out to keep the game tight and nick a goal. As soon as I saw the line up I knew AC would win. Fergie has got this notion into his head about the way they should play away from home in Europe, by playing a more conservative game. FFS you can't tell players like Ronaldo, Rooney etc to be conservative. By holding them back like that they were unable to show their talents and as a result had poor games.

Trying to play through Milan was the wrong option- how many times did Scholes try and pick out a pass or run through Milan's midfield, who had set up in a line just in front of the penalty box. The only way Man Utd were to win this game was by trying to open it up by spreading the play as much as possible and by using the wings. Italian teams are comfortable with sitting back and letting teams to attempt to play through them- everybody knows that. The only way to beat them is to play with a style they are not comfortable or used to- the way Man Utd played against Roam and Milan at home. Fergie is overcomplicating things by trying to play a 'European' style of football.

The way he should have played was 4-4-2- take out Fletcher, put in Smith. With Smith constantly hounding the defenders Milan would have been uncomfortable with teams putting them under pressure as they are not used to that.

Also Fergie left it far too late to make the change, and made the wrong change. Smith should have come on, and any of the defenders, apart from O'Shea who was the best Utd defender on the night, should have gone off instead.


You're not seriously trying to say that those three players are anywhere near the standard that Ronaldo has achieved this year? Ronaldo has just cleaned up at the PFA Awards - none of the three you mention there even made the short-list!!!
God no- I was responding to you're point where you said that people shouldn't be complaining that Chelsea are playing long ball football (or at least something along those lines, can't remember now).

[Emmet]

Since the inception of the Champions League the winners have come from

France 1
Holland 1
Portugal 1
England 2
Germany 2
Italy 3
Spain 4

and when you consider that United and Liverpool both stole their respective finals from better teams, then you might see that technically English teams, much like their national side, just aren't up to it technically

Ok - well you've gone back a good number of years there to make your point. I doubt there are very many players who were around when the CL was conceived who are still playing so I fail to see what relevance their skill back then has on how good certain teams are now. If you're saying that historically English teams lack technical skill then I'd certainly agree. However to say that at this point in time they lack technical skill then I'd totally disagree with you.

Your association between English clubs and the England national side is remarkably simplistic. Cristiano Ronaldo is not English. Neither is Henry. Or Shevchenko. Or Fabregas. Or Mascherano. Or Ballack. Or Alonso. I could go on and on. Do you really believe those players lack technical ability? They all play for English clubs.

As for Liverpool and United stealing the trophy from better teams I'm struggling for words! A game of football is determined by goals scored. It's fairly simple really. The team that scores the most wins the game. In a final if both teams score an equal amount it is (rightly or wrongly) settled by penalties. Again, the team that scores the most wins the shoot-out. United scored two goals, their opponents one. Noone from United stole anything. They deserved to win because they scored the most goals. Liverpool scored more penalty kicks than their opponents. Again, Liverpool deserved to win because they scored the most penalties. If they were playing 'better' teams then why did these so-called better teams not outscore them?





God no- I was responding to you're point where you said that people shouldn't be complaining that Chelsea are playing long ball football (or at least something along those lines, can't remember now).

I think what I was trying to say is that Chelsea are a very good side defensively and that it was unfair to criticise them for being good at that whereas United were being praised for being cavalier and pleasing to watch but in truth had an exceptionally strong attack and an exceptionally poor defence! Chelsea going forward aren't particularly creative and they find it very hard to break down well-organized defences (as we saw on Tuesday) - I'd certainly agree with you there. My point really was that their defensive strengths shouldn't really be a reason to criticise them!

[Marked Man]

[QUOTE=Emmet;678680] As for Liverpool and United stealing the trophy from better teams I'm struggling for words! A game of football is determined by goals scored. It's fairly simple really. The team that scores the most wins the game. In a final if both teams score an equal amount it is (rightly or wrongly) settled by penalties. Again, the team that scores the most wins the shoot-out. United scored two goals, their opponents one. Noone from United stole anything. They deserved to win because they scored the most goals. Liverpool scored more penalty kicks than their opponents. Again, Liverpool deserved to win because they scored the most penalties. If they were playing 'better' teams then why did these so-called better teams not outscore them? QUOTE]

If that's struggling for words, I'd hate to run into you when you were feeling like a bit of a chat.

[Emmet]

Well ... I was struggling at the start!! :D

[NeilMcD]

Football is made up of subjective feeling, of suggestion - and, in that, Anfield is unbeatable. Put a **** hanging from a stick in the middle of this passionate, crazy stadium and there are people who will tell you it's a work of art. It's not: it's a **** hanging from a stick [...] if football is going the way Chelsea and Liverpool are taking it, we had better be ready to wave goodbye to any expression of the cleverness and talent we have enjoyed for a centur

[Erstwhile Bóz]

How many Liverpool matches has Valdano watched this season, do you reckon? I've a funny feeling he has watched one or possibly two of the European ties. I stand to be corrected.