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It's a sad day for European football and football in general when muck like that gets you through to a European final. I thought it was obvious from the start that Rangers more than happy to take the game to penalties, it didn't even matter when Cousin got sent off as it made no difference to their game plan anyway!
Sure teams have been doing that for years , Red Star in the 1991 European Cup final springs to mind.Quote:
Originally Posted by drinkfeckarse
In fairness I think its up to the opposition to break the defensive side down. If they're good enough, they'll score and usually when the team that comes to see out a 0-0 concedes they fall apart.
So I don't think we can criticise Rangers, they went with a gameplan, knew they had inferior players and kept ten men behind the ball. If Fiorentina were good enough, they would have scored. Obviously they weren't
Fair play to Rangers I say. This is about football, and defending is a huge part of football. They defended superbly last night, and deserved what they got.
They only did that in the final though. Rangers have consistently done it home and away this season IMO. Red Star had great players like Prosinecki, Savicevic and Pancev at that time and none of the previous games before the final were bore's. You can't compare the 2 teams really.Quote:
Originally Posted by gustavo
I've said it before that I can't knock Smith and Rangers because it's got them results but I've also said it's the closest thing to anti-football that I've seen. I know full well that plenty of other teams adopt a 4-5-1 formation but I've yet to see anybody deploy it with the negativity that Rangers seem to do it with.
Fair play to them, they've played to their strengths which is their defensive capabilities, just don't expect me to give them any plaudits for it.
I dont think Rangers style of football is particularly entertaining etc but you have to applaud them. They play a style that suits the capabilities of their team. If they played free flowing attacking football, they would've been knocked out of the competition along time ago. Walter Smith did wonders with Scotland and he has done the same here, there is many an English club who I believe are superior in personnel to Rangers and faltered a long time ago in this competition.
I think the major surprise what the huge defeat inflicted on Munich. Petersburg have to fancied for the final.
Not a football classic by any means but incredible heart and determination. Fair play to them.
Great news for me too as I'm probably sorted for a champions league final ticket now as I have UEFA Cup finals tickets.
So one or two games out of a season means nothing. Man Utd have been an attacking team all season except for one or two games, whereas Rangers have been defensive all season with the exception of one or two games. They way they set uptheir 5 man midfield is 99% of the time radically different.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
From what I've seen of Man Utd this season they've been attacking against the smaller teams, but in the CL and against the big sides in England they've generally been either defensive or "balanced". They weren't attacking against Lyon, Roma and Barcelona and from what I saw of them against Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea they were never an attacking side. They seem to be predominantly a counter attacking team. The only truly attacking side in England (IMO) is Arsenal and they're going to end the season with nothing. The idea of attacking sides (at least for the top sides in Europe) is outdated (IMO) as you'll get caught out too easily.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
A stuttering 1-0 win over Motherwell. Just about hanging in there.
Utd always played counter attacking football.Quote:
Originally Posted by jmurphyc
And it wasnt that long ago that we had a Barcelona v Arsenal Champions League final. both truly attacking teams.
So no quadruple but the treble is still on. Often wonder whether losing a final strengthens resolve or demoralises. I think the former.
Seen the cctv footage from after the final, dont know if it was zenit fans or rangers but when the fans battered the cop, thats horrible.
It was all Rangers fans.Quote:
Originally Posted by bellavistaman
Was at the game, pics from the day and game itself here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tetsujin...FACupFinal2008
Didn't actually know about the riot until this morning, it was only 2 blocks from where I was staying
great pics, thanks for postingQuote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
"The Worlds most successful club"? hahaha shouldn't that read "The fans with the biggest sense of humour" However loking at the state of Manchester today maybe that wouldnt be apt either...........
So what did you think of the game and the Rangers' fans? What were their chants like? Any really dodgy ones ;) ?Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
I was at the game too. Great atmosphere but poor enough quality game. Still very enjoyable though.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
No dodgy chants at the game however some sectarian singing in the bar beforehand and a couple of dodgy guys on the airport train afterwards. That was the only time I was conscious of my accent.
I didn't see any of the riots but thought the organisation was poor from the city. they stopped the trams, cancelled loads of trains instead of putting on extra ones, big screenas failing (surely you test them first) etc. Stadium was reasonably well run but they sold out of programmes and merchandise.
The overwhelming majority of fans were impeccably behaved. I didn't wear any colours but one guy on my flight from Dublin was in an Ireland jersey.
Justice was done during the 90 mins. I was dissapointed by Walter Smith's tactics, if he had played a 442 with Novo instead of Hemdani it would have been a better game. Instead it was brick-wall football and they were always going to lose that to a team that's scored 4 against Bayern, 5 against Leverkusen, 3 against Marseille... Had Rangers attacked them then it might have been a better game, even the Rangers fans said they were dissapointed by this lack of ambition. As it was Zenit were by far and away the better team, they played good positive football, had some great players and deserved to win.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Rangers fans, some were unpleasant (urinating in the middle of the street, throwing stuff), but most were well behaved and a few of the ones in their 40s and 50s would talk to you and were friendly enough. Some of the ones in their 20s and 30s were aggressive and did have sectarian chanting on the buses to the stadium. Again I didn't see the riots because I was at the match and didn't get home til midnight, I saw George Burley at the match and some guy with a St. Pats Scarf had his photo taken with him, also saw John Delaney who seems to have had a trim.
I spoke to a few of the Zenit fans and they all seemed very nice, they were certainly impressive in terms of noise and co-ordination at the stadium given the numeric factor was against them.