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Madrid v Juve Winner: Madrid
Porto v Inter Winner: Inter
Barca v Chelsea Winner: Barca
Bremen v Lyon Winner: Bremen
Liverpool v Leverkusen Winner: Leverkusen
PSV v Monaco Winner: PSV
Man United v Milan Winner: Man United
Bayern v Arsenal Winner: Arsenal
Juve
Inter
Chelsea
Bremen
Leverkusen
PSV
AC Milan
Arsenal
Well Guys if you all think you know who is going through then check out the match odds on www.gamebookers.ie and if you do a combo of Inter, Leverkeusen and Bayern to Qualify you'll get it at 5/1 add Juve adn it goes up to 10/1 but thats a bit dodgy against Real I think. I reckon I'll stick 50 on the 5/1 Can't see Liverpool Qualifing and Inter definatly will while Arsenal look dodgy as well.
Home Draw Away
22 Feb 05
13/10 Bayern 19/9 Arsenal 19/9
11/10 Liverpool 11/5 Leverkusen 17/7
8/7 PSV 13/6 AS Monaco 16/7
11/10 R Madrid 1/5 Juventus 17/7
23 Feb 05
11/10 Barcelona 11/5 Chelsea 12/5
9/5 Porto 19/9 Inter Milan 6/4
6/5 Man Utd 19/9 AC Milan 9/4
6/5 Bremen 19/9 Olympic Lyon 7/3
www.gamebookers.ie
Watched the Real/Juve game, good quality football, not much playacting surprisingly except for the free kick for the goal, ZZ dived and Beckhams free kick got flicked in off Helguera's shoulder.
Four home wins, Arsenal must have been shocking against an average Bayern but the two late goals by Arsenal & Leverkusen still leave all four games slightly open.
Roll on tomorrow, another 4 home wins will dink, dank, doo for me :D
Arsenal dont have the defense for a realistic challenge. The were hopelessly exposed again tonight. They did well to get the away goal, but had Frings put that sitter away for 4-0, it was all over. Should be a cracking 2nd leg.
Liverpool and Leverkusen was a good open game. Both should have scored a few more, both missing a few one on ones. Riise was outstanding, and I thought Biscan looked very strong and very creative. Amazing through ball for Luis Garcias goal. Again should be a good 2nd leg.
Didnt see any of the other 2 games so cant comment.
Real-Juve was a poor game IMO. Beckham was dire, Ronaldo was lazy, but Real could/should have won about 3-1.
I'm sticking with all of my predictionsQuote:
Originally Posted by 4tothefloor
Regarding tonights games, Dudek is a complete f**k up after that. What a disaster of a 'keeper, he single-handedly ruined a good performance once again. I've lost count of how many times now. I thought Liverpool were superb, considering the side they had out. Biscan, Riise and Carragher were excellent. Kewell did well but ran out of steam.
Leverkusen will find it tough to put Liverpool out - they're missing both Ponte and Freier for the second leg, while Liverpool will have Gerrard back.
Thought Arsenal were rubbish, terrible performance. Still have a lifeline though. Real - Juve was poor fare, boring game.
Last 8
Juventus
Inter
Barca
Milan
Arsenal (will overturn to save their season)
Lyon
Liverpool
Monaco
Have to agree with most of the above. With the honourable exception of Kewell. I understand that he is coming back from injury but according to El Gaffer he's been training for the last 10 days!Quote:
Originally Posted by 4tothefloor
I thought he was muck. He just didn't look bothered. The ref was crap, granted, but all Kewell did was whinge. For a while he reminded me of Robbie. There was no chasing of the ball or get-up-and-go about him. Luis Garcia was at the other end of the spectrum in comparison, imho! I thought he was quite impressive supporting the front man well chasing back and generally putting himself about. Man of the match Arnie without a doubt. Back to his best tonight. Biscan showed why he was bought in the first place. Was signed as the promising central midfield player (which he was) but was subsequently turned into a centre-half ( which he isn't/wasn't) unsuccessfully. Nice to see him repay the faith.
I'm glad that Freier lad is suspended. I thought he was impressive.
I'll be going for :Quote:
Originally Posted by cullenswood
Juve
Inter
Chelsea
Bremen
Liverpool
Psv
Milan
Bayern
Why didnt Liverpool play Scott Carson ? Dudek has at least one major foul-up per game, its cost Liverpool a few times now, I think Benitez will drop him soon. The Bayerena is not an easy place to go and Liverpool will need to be on top form if theyre to go thru. Arsenal were woeful, it just didnt click for them - that said a poor lapse by Bayern has given Arsenal a reasonable chance. With Bergkamp and Ashley Cole back, and in the intimidating atmosphere of Highbury I can see Wenger pulling it off. Monaco v PSV was a dire match, I dont see either team going far on the evidence of that. Juve are in dire straits at the moment, their forms deserted them in the league and Real Madrid should have had the tie done and dusted, but Ronaldo and Raul were poor (yet again).
I'd say Liverpool, Juve, Arsenal and Monaco will go thru.
Tomorrow's matches should be interesting, I can see the winner of Bremen - Lyon (prob Bremen) going very far.
I'd guess Bremen, Milan, Barca and Inter will go thru.
Arsenal were really poor tonight and didn't think Bayern were much better to be honest. 3 horrible mistakes at the back cost Arsenal bad tonight and the finishing by Bayern was superb it must be said. I think Bayern only had 4 shots on target in the game with the Frings one being off target.
Arsenal had a lot of possession but didn't really go anywhere with it - at 1-0 down they had a really good 15 minutes on top before half-time and directly after they had the Reyes chance that he should have squared but the defensive errors were killing them.
Defensively we were extreemly poor. It says something when watching the game i felt Cygan was our best defender on the night. Campbell & Cole were a huge loss. The goals we gave away were handed to Bayern, the first two at least were extremely ugly with long balls and big crosses not being dealt with by Toure, the finishing however by Pizarro was clinical on both occasions but they were given to them as opposed to well worked. The third goal was well worked and extremely well finished by Sally-Ham-Sandwich. You could blame Lehmann but I thought the quality of the cross meant he was stretching for it and these things happen.
At 3-0 it was all over. At 3-1 there's a glimmer of hope. In fact on closer inspection, 3-1 is much better than 2-0.
It's possible that Arsenal could beat Bayern 2-0 at Highbury. I certainly didn't feel Bayern were any great shakes without the help of our defenders and they could yet regret not really going for Arsenal last night as we really wobbled after the third goal and I feared it could have been 5 or 6. The team head dropped for a few minutes and Lauren really should have been sent off for a terrible two footed tackle.
Was quite dismayed that Wenger changed the formation for the game playing Freddie Ljungberg up front. I'm all for trying new things and I now that was Freddie's position before joining the club but he seemed so isolated and him and Henry rarely got a decent touch of the ball. I think what was more worrying was Arsene sticking with it for 80 odd minutes - Van Persie seemed to get more ball in the few minutes he played than when Freddie was on.
In the end, it was a disasterous nite with little to take away. The Last Minute goal means we have something to play for at least. The only real positives I can think of is:
1. We surely couldn't play THAT bad again
2. Bayern didn't exactly play us off the park
3. Campbell,Cole & Bergkamp should return
That's my slightly biased but trying to be objective review!
cheers
I though kewell played very well last night. so did the kopQuote:
Originally Posted by Kingdom
How come you reckon Arsenal will overturn a 3-1 first leg defeat after playing garbage and then you pick Milan over United ? With Shevchenko out tonight i reckon the tie will be over after the first leg. Just Like arsenals is.Quote:
Originally Posted by 4tothefloor
you obviously dont watch much italian football do you? :rolleyes: i hope man utd are thinking the same as you!!Quote:
Originally Posted by GK for the Town
Once again Wenger has been found out at the highest level. He just does not have the tactical awareness at European Level. I laughed and laughed last night seeing their defence flounder again. A defence of Lauren, Cygan, Toure and Clichy is never going to be enough and Surely Wenger must be blamed for not buying defenders in the summer or January. They have been shocking from set pieces all season.
I can understand and support Wenger going with the same defence that won a championship conceding the fewest goals last season, not losing a single league game and a defence that has been apart of 7 consequtive champions league game without a loss until last night. It makes complete sence to me but doesn't legislate for injuries to key players outside transfer windows..Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
Some of the players have lost some confidence, good managers don't make that worse by heaping more critisicm on the squad. Some teams don't have the luxury of spending €20 million on a right back or €30 million on a centre back like some of our Champions League Rivals - who could Arsenal have bought who is better than what's there and elligiable for the Champions League, I can't think of any in England with the possible exception of King at Spurs?? The absence of Campbell & Cole (2 experienced top qaulity Internationals) last night was a huge blow but you play with what you have. Apart from the slip-ups for the goals Bayern had only 1 more shot on target and 2 off target.
More important overall however has been the absence of Gilberto for the majority of the season. The player who patrolled in front of the 'best defence' in england last year and protected so well in the air at set pieces and corners. Least we not forget we only started conceding on a regular basis from corners & set pieces in NOVEMBER not the whole season as previously stated. Players don't become bad over night - their confidence is rocked and I feel for sure that the protection in front of them is not at the levels it should be in general.
I don't believe personally that Wenger was found tactically inept last night against a team that was gifted 3 goals and created little else. It was the same tactitian let's remember calling the shots that orchestrated wins and draws against the likes of Lippi's Juventus, Cuper's Inter, Capello's Roma, Benitz's Valencia, Irueta's Deportivo, Hitzfeld's Bayern etc etc. I believe he was right to play four attacking players (i'd question freddie's position in the line up but not the concept) to try and get an away goal and give the team a chance but simply putting it, the players just didn't perform as well as they can and in the end got a good result under the circumstances as had McGath changed his tactics and gone for more goals the tie would well and truly be over as a spectacle.
Is he registered for the Champions' League?Quote:
Originally Posted by cfdh_edmundo
Last season arsenal played very well but It also has to be said Wenger did not get many injuries to his defenders. When that happens a good manager does not go everything is rosey in the garden. They go, "I have been lucky there and will not be so lucky next season so I will get decent back ups in. INjuries are part and parcel of football and every team gets them. Man Utd had terrible injuries at the start of the season and as a result they were poor. Van Nistelroy has been injured for ages however Utd have still gone on a great run beating Arsenal twice during that time. Wenger should never have got rid of Upson and he should have bought 2 centre halves as back up or competition for Campbell and Toure. Cygan is not good enough. Arsenal have never got passed the Quarter finals. They are failures in the Champions League. As long as Wenger is in charge they will never win the Champions League as he is not tactically aware enough to consistantly beat the tops sides in Europe. How many games did they win as part of that 7 match unbeaten record. If I was an Aresenal support i would be very dissappointed with 2 quarter final appearances during his time in charge.
He didn't get rid of him. Wenger asked Upson to stay. The player decided to leave because (as he said) he wasn't prepared to battle it out with Adams, Campbell & Keown for a starting spot anymore. Unfortunetly for Matthew, when he did get into the team - 10 games in 2002 when he picked up a championship medal, he got injured and was out for a long time.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
Last year he brought in Phillipe Senderos who missed the whole of last year and most of this through injury. This year along with Senderos he's promoted Justin Hoyte (shock horror: an english born player) into the squad. He's said himself, he feels these players are as worthy of a chance and as good as anyone we can afford - both were carrying injuries for last nightQuote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
There are 31 failures in the champions league each season - except for fiancial reasons getting beaten in the final or being knocked out in the group stages means little to me. I, like the players and staff of Arsenal FC want to win the thing (full stop). I don't belive that Arsenal would be happy to get to the semi-final, lose and see it as a success. If we were spending over 25 million on individual players each season a la our domestic rivals, I would of course be hugely disappointed and I will be when we have that type of money to throw away in persuit of european glory.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
As it is our pockets aren't damaged, we haven't been outside the top 2 in the league, haven't had to have the burden of qualifying for the CL and when all is said and done we've come as close as any of domestic rivals to winning the champions league in the last 5 years i.e. no where near! :D
Disappointed we haven't gone further sure but delighted we haven't sacrifed our finances with our failure and are now able to build a state of the art stadium, complete fiancially for the best players in the world and not have to rely on Arsene turning them into stars each year.
p.s. fantastic to see an Irish player on the bench for Arsenal last night too ;)
So u rather get knocked out in the second round phase than the semi finals then. So if you dont win it there is no point in entering. The ideas is to get as far as possible. The facts are arsenal have only made the last 8 during his time there. for teh quality of players he has at his disposal that is under achieving. Why did you pick the last 5 years is that because Utd won it in 1999 nearly 6 years ago now. Also both Manchester Utd and Chelsea and Leeds have all come closer to winning it thatn Aresenal have. i.e they all got to the semi's in the last 5 years.