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Originally Posted by klein4
didn't want to hear that - you'll pox it now!! :D
I'm sticking with Arsenal are crap, Henry doesn't do it in the big games and Wenger is found out tactically in Europe. No matter what happens it's always nicer to be in Europe longer than Utd and Chelski :)
I tipped liverpool for it last year and they won so dont worry...
Quote:
Originally Posted by klein4
I never said that Crespo was not world Class did I. I just said that he was not a superstar player in the same way that Henry or Ronaldinhio are.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KarlosIRL
Karlos is this the same competition that last year you said did not reall matter that much and that the Premiership was far far more important.
Crespo is a quality player. Italy is still hardest european league to score in & i believe he has excellent record there.
Now that Barca have beaten the strongest defense in the competition they are surely favourites.
I said if i remember correctly that it's not as important as winning your League and I stick by that. It's a cup competition and often the best team don't win it and it's why Arsenal have a chance this year. We've had better teams than this Arsenal one and gone out far earlier and performed worse. It's still nice to get further in it than your rivals (doesn't make it any more important though). Same goes for every cup competition they enter.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
It's a great prize to win but it doesn't make you the best team in europe imo, it just makes you the winners of the european cup. I'd honestly rather be really challenging for the league than playing Real Madrid tonight (all though doing both is preferable no doubt).
It is however a great competition to watch and I'd love Arsenal to win it but it's priority number 2 in the list for me.
Nah, its definitely the competition everyone in europe wants to win. Means far more to any club than a league win
Now now, you're being pedantic in the extreme. I am not a neutral when it comes to Sheffield Wednesday. Furthermore, I was talking about "massive clubs" - not the "shocks" rubbish of the FA Cup where one small club beats a medium sized one. If Villa Real have more divers and cheats than Barca, I would soon switch my support to the latter. The style of play of a team doesn't affect whom I support - their on field antics would.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
I still stand by my statement that the only difference between Barca and Chelsea was the Brazilian.
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Originally Posted by KarlosIRL
Good Answer Karlos.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
I dont think the logic of your arguments stands up to all arguments.
Which Brazilian are you talking about Motta, Silvinhio, Ronaldhinio
Going back to Mourinho (Sorry, can't resist) in the Spanish press he was qouted as saying he was now backing Benfica because it was a Portuguese club and he was Portuguese, genuinely Portuguese, not like others.
It sounded very much like a dig at Deco, who if I recall made some comments about him before the first leg.
The man is losing the run of himself
I guess I'm not everyone so (but i am living outside Europe at the mo!) :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
I get much more satisfaction winning the league over 38 games than winning cups (european or otherwise!). We could win the European Cup without losing a game this year but it wouldn't compare to the unbeaten league season of 03/04 for me. There would be great scenes and I'd be delighted & all that jazz but we still wouldn't be the best team in Europe. The best teams in Europe haven't won the competition. Liverpool's team is a better team this year and might go out.
I do strongly think it's more important that we do well in the league and there would be no more euphoria in getting to a champions league final and losing for example than finsihing 4th in the league :)
Yeah but WINNING it is everything. Anything else is nothing
I think your head is right Karlos but there is a small bit of your heart that must wish u could have a night like Liverpool or like Man Utd had a few years ago. I agree with you though the League is a great thing to win and its a pity that sides such as Porto and Liverpool have won the Champions League recently as I do like to see the best side in Europe win it and I believe Barcelona to be that side followed by Juventus and then Chelsea.
Only difference the Brazilian? Not a chance.
Mourinho moans about playin with 10 against 11, yet they still managed to take the lead. Think back to before the sending off, where Barca outplayed Chelsea as Mourinho's tactics forced them to counter-attack.
Rijkaard learned from his errors last year. Belletti, regular in La Liga, didnt play after being skinned last year. Mourinho refuses to change his ways. They needed a goal at Anfield and never looked likely till injury time. Ditto last night
He has been a fortunate manager(Tim Howards last minute clanger v Porto). With the money at his disposal he surely should be able to create an attacking side capable of winning titles.
Yeah Rico has already said Cork City priority is Champions League this season.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
2+2= 65 per chance?Quote:
Originally Posted by Over the post
The question was would he like to see Barca go on and win it now, he said he'd prefer Benfica to win it as he's from Portugal.
From the Guardian
Mourinho must start trusting talent
Kevin McCarra
Chelsea's late arrival in the tunnel at Camp Nou was a miscalculation. A three-minute delay was nothing like long enough on a night when it would have taken a postponement of the fixture to thwart Barcelona. Gamesmanship is always embarrassing when the opposition fail even to notice the ploy, and Frank Rijkaard's players were ready to show their superiority whenever the match kicked off.
Only an unmerited penalty gave Chelsea a 1-1 draw and spared them defeat in each leg. This is turning into a season of slight decline for Jose Mourinho's team. The almost certain retention of the Premiership title and a continuing FA Cup challenge seem signs of rude health, but the deficiencies of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have undermined Chelsea.
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Trouble was brewing at the group stage in the 1-0 defeat by Real Betis and the inability to score in either draw with Liverpool. Any assumption they would effortlessly return to a higher level when required was exposed as a delusion on Tuesday night.
If they are to be measured against Barcelona then a process of decay has occurred. Last season, Chelsea did lose at Camp Nou after Didier Drogba had been dismissed, but until his departure they had led 1-0 and should have scored on another occasion as they absorbed attacks and turned them into a launch pad for ventures of their own.
There was none of that to be seen this week. Rijkaard has learned from experience, with the inclusion of Edmilson and Thiago Motta introducing some steeliness to his otherwise idealistic conception of football. Even so, Chelsea were poorer. No amount of talk about the referee Terje Hauge's rulings in the first leg can disguise the fact.
Natural as it is for Mourinho to denounce the red card for Asier Del Horno at Stamford Bridge, it is a strange truth that the side's best spell of the whole tie came when they were without him there, at the opening of the second half. Whenever 11 Chelsea players faced 11 Barcelona players, the Premiership men were second best.
Mourinho will have to ask himself what changes might be necessary. He and Rafael Benitez, when they were respectively at Porto and Valencia, made a virtue out of their relative lack of money. They were the managers who exposed the decadence of the star system embodied by Real Madrid, putting the emphasis on strategic signings, preparation and tactical plans.
While Mourinho will return to the transfer market, the only haughty temperament permitted at Stamford Bridge will probably be his own. Within his own framework, though, a way has to be identified to encourage a degree of exuberance.
Chelsea might well ask themselves if it is really of benefit to turn Damien Duff into a drudge, running hard to get back and cover as well as to ferry the ball to the attack. His dashing display for the Republic of Ireland against Sweden last week was a reminder he can still be the exciting winger he once was.
Mourinho does require some game-changers and it was depressing at Camp Nou to see the side stuck in a rut. He needs to get more out of Arjen Robben and there are occasions when Joe Cole could be allowed to indulge in some individualism. Even Shaun Wright-Phillips might provide some of the missing unpredictability if he settles at Chelsea.
With Drogba looking clunky in Barcelona and Hernan Crespo's long-term attachment to the club being questioned, a new centre-forward may also be essential to bring focus to the attacks.
First of all Mourinho will have to sacrifice some of his own power by letting the more skilful players enjoy a degree of independence when everything rests on talent rather than tactics.
This is the point I was trying to make yesterday. Mourinho does like to have individual superstars because his ego is so big he wants to get all the attention.
http://football.guardian.co.uk/fiver/
See the fiver for a better analysis
Do not entirely agree with you on that point.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
Of course nobody will argue with you over the fact that Barca have a strong squad, that their kind of playing is attractive not only to their fans but also to many neutrals. I think the point OF wants to make is that thanks to money you can (or at least you have the power) to attract big names which, of course, makes it much more easy to make it to the end. I got many friends who for sure will support teams like Villareal, Lyon or Benfica not because they themselves support smaller teams or play for smaller teams but those three clubs (Benfica perhaps being a little exception) have put many effort over the last couple of years to invest in youth and home grown talent.
That's also a reason why FC Porto deserved their title 2 years ago.
What's the point of spending 2 nights a week in front of your TV to see the same teams winning over and over again the CL ?