I'm sticking with an Arsenal Barcelona final.
2nd leg predictions;
Arsenal 3 - 1 Man U (can't see Arsenal keeping a clean sheet)
Chelsea 1 - 1 Barcelona
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I'm sticking with an Arsenal Barcelona final.
2nd leg predictions;
Arsenal 3 - 1 Man U (can't see Arsenal keeping a clean sheet)
Chelsea 1 - 1 Barcelona
It could be a tense night at The Emirates alright but I can't see United conceding 3 goals. Arsenal might score the first one alright but I'd fancy United to score at some stage.
Think Chelsea will have too much muscle for Barca, they'll be chaos for every Chelsea set piece and they'll win on the night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by old git
The thing is Wenger can only go with the squad he has available to play. Arshavin, a world class player who can tear any team apart, is cup tied in Europe. Rosicky, who was a great player a few years ago in Dortmund, is almost always injured. Fabreagas is only begining to come back to 100% since the Liverpool injury at the start of the year, Wallcott is also a bit rusty. His only operational strikers (Adebayor and Bendtner) are too similar to play together in a system for any significant stretch of time, and to be honest Bendtner is barely premiership class. I would imagine had Eduardo*, Van Persie, Arshavin and/or Rosicky been available he would have played a more positive system.
* - although he was listed it's clear he was not fully fit.
wenger is the manager bought arshavin knowing he was cup tied !! adebayor/ bendtner both brought through by wenger why if both to simalar players he had plenty of chances to strenthen team in last year or so but did not do it :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by cfdh_edmundo
It's nothing to do with having to strenghten his team. Not many teams could fully cope with the amount of players arsenal were missing - Van Persie, Clichy, Arshavin, Gallas, Rosicky with Eduardo, Fabregas and Walcott coming back from injury.
Its going to be very tough for Barca but I really believe they can go through. Chelsea are favourites now it has to be said but when they have to come out and score that is when Messi, Iniesta and Eto'o will come to the fore. I have a sneak feeling it will finish 2-2 putting Barca into the final. Heres hoping.
Man Utd - Barcelona final would be the most exciting. No offence to Arsenal, but I rather Barca's attacking style.
manager sets out his squad at start of season... then in january u have option to strenghten squad if long term injuries or get fresh players in wenger only brought in 1 player who is cup tied in champions league :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by Rovers fan
Man, I'm looking forward to the next two nights, should be great. Man U to go through with a hard fought 1-1. Can't call the Chelsea-Barca one.
I'm going to miss tonight's game due to work. Sickening.
Rooney, Tevez and Evra are all one yellow away from missing the (potential) Final.
Not sure what the Arsenal situation is.
have to get result tonight before worrying about missing final... hard to see rooney & tevez holding back worried about getting booked :D either way heres hoping its another cracking game tonight 2 good footballing sides and utd may just have enough firepower to see them through :ball:Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
DiabyQuote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Van Persie
Song
Nasri
are all a yellow card away from missing the Final.
Evra and Rooney are your bankers for yellows there!Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Hope Arsenal and Chelski can do it. Head says Barca and Man U though.
I'm hoping for a Man Utd-Barca Final. I think Man Utd can grab a goal tonight so Arsenal will need to score three. I wouldn't totally write the gooners off but Man Utd should progress if they can boss Arsenal from the start like last week. Fletcher, Tevez and Rooney are the key men for United tonight - Arsenal struggled with the pressure and pressing last week and couldn't get going.
Chelsea will look to bully Barca which means they will venture out of their own half tomorrow night which is awfully good of them. Expect to see plenty of long balls to Drogba.
Once again Arsenal flatter to deceive in a season. Utd tonight got the goals they deserved in the first leg. Its the funny the way footall works. How anyody thought that Arsenal could keep Utd Scoreless tonight was beyond me.
I reckon Rooney may be taken off now. In addition I think the myth that Ronaldo does not score in the big games and well and truly been blown out of the waterQuote:
Originally Posted by rambler14
Disgraceful decision by the ref. Fletcher is going to miss the final now. That card should be cancelled out. Now way should he have been sent off.
Cracking stuff in the RTE studio tonight. Fair play to Souness sticking up and standing up to Dunphy and Giles.
Best retort back to Dunphy in ages, when he said to Souness you do not know what you are talking about.
"who exactly did you mange Eamonn"
same dunphy who was talking tonight how good utds defence is.... the same dunphy who on the preimership slated same defence as weak and leaking to many soft goals.. :confused: having said that watched match on utv and jim beglin must be the worst ever .. first half disagreed with every referee decision in utds favour and kept going on about how unlucky this young arsenal team had been tonight... the same team who took 65 mins to register first shot on target and were totally outplayed by utd over the 90 mins .. the old show pony ronaldo looked very impresive tonight also :DQuote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
quick question - why cant the red card be appealed? Making a big deal of it over on the BBC matchtracker without actually explaining why...
cant wait to watch that game later tonight!!
disgracefull decision wonder will as much fuss be made by media about this incorrect penalty award ... seems he will miss final as you can only appeal red card if ref sent of incorrect player ...Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
adabayor nasty over the top tackle on carrick was worth more than a yellow and could have done carrick some serious damage :mad:
Will Fletcher serve a ban in the premier league as-well?
No European competition is not connected with the Premiership.
jesus it's getting worse now giles saying he thought it was a penalty but player should have only received a yellow as he tried to play ball .. then says he got touch on ball and then brought down fabregas for penalty :confused::confused: even souness saying it was a penalty now only dunphy disagrees nowQuote:
Originally Posted by old git
all the experts on t.v saying u can only appeal on mistaken identy ( e.g wrong player sent off ):confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
thanks og, seems like a crazy rule to me!
seems a crazy rule alright ... in the preimership it can be changed by referee after game or appeal panel . :ball:Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Disappointing from Arsenal, the first goal and slip by the defender ruined the game as a competitive fixture. I hope Aresenal come back stronger from this and they will have Arshavan next year. Their defence was torn apart at will by Utd. But I think Arsenal are a better team than the final result suggests.
Dunphy up to his usuall immature behaviour in the studio, not respecting other people on the panel. The guy is incredibily insecure, he thinks anyone new who comes on the panel will take his job in time.
It's time Dunphy was put out to pasture now. No-one who actually knows their football thinks Dunphy is an expert. Fair enough Giles comes out with an odd thing that makes sense although even he can say some bizarre things at times such as saying Ryan Giggs was not a great player! But Dunphy is just there to back up Giles.
It was like Punch and Judy on the panel tonight with Giles and Dunphy and poor Sounses stuck in the middle. Please let this be the last season we have to watch this circus, which some people believe is incisive analysis.
Fletcher's sending off was a complete joke, no penalty in my book and not even a yellow card either. He clearly won the ball before making contact with Fabregas. The only negative on the night for United, great performance.
Ronaldo, in fairness once again proved himself tonight. He's now scrored in the Last 16, Quarter-final and Semi-final of this year's competition.
Thought Berbatov was very poor when he came on, sick of him now.
I can't see Barcelona going out of the competition at Stamford Bridge, I think we'll be in for a few goals in this one
Clear pen in my estimation. Fletcher will be missed!Quote:
Originally Posted by vidic-class
FOR SALE: 60,000 Arsenal flags. Nearly new, only waved for 7 minutes.
The first touch doesn't seem to be relevant in decisions anymore. Tackles from behind are not allowed even if the ball is played. The player was through on goal. Penalty. Sending off. These are the rules whether it's 2-2 or 20-0. Tough on Fletcher but they're the rules. Just about every tackle from behind is now given as a free kick.Quote:
Originally Posted by vidic-class
Harsh but Owlsfan is totally right on this.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Super stuff alright, Souness gave as good as he got. IMO he is the best analyst of the two. When you compare them to the rubbish that is on display on the beeb, itv and sky, they are miles ahead. Their "analysis" is worth watching, whereas I very rarely watch the others.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
tonight Souness will be in the studio Jamie Redknapp. "It's a game of two halves Richard. Int that right Andy? Tell him".
COME ON BARCA!
He came in from the side and got a good touch on the ball before Fabregas fell over him. If he went through Fabregas to get a touch on the ball I would agree with ye, and I wouldn't even call it harsh, but that's not what happened. He was pretty much side by side with Fabregas so how could it be a tackle from behind?Quote:
Originally Posted by Rafa B
Going, going, going,
United are going to rome,
It was boys v men,
Now we'll beat chelsea again,
Coz united are going to rooooome!!
It really was boys v men as dunphy n co summed up last nite. the two early goals took the gooners by surprise n there was no way they where coming back from that! the young boy gibbs has really showed his age in the two games against united, he looked lost in both legs. no stopping united now!!
Really think chelsea are going to beat barca tonite in stamford bridge, boswinga shud stay on the left to do a job on messi again and hiddink will go with anelka n drogba up top id say. chelsea will be too strong in the end as barca wont have the width of the pitch in their favour for the wide game they play. 2-0 chelsea!
The Beeb, ITV and Sky, especially the former two, usually have about 10 minutes max for "analysis". They don't have time to go in to the drivel that masquerades as "analysis" on RTE. Did the Panel say it was "men against boys" before the game or did they get it wrong at the start as usual (didn't see it - saw the game)? What had Drunkphy to say about Ronaldo whom he has castigated at every opportunity? I suspect Giles bemoaned the absence of Tevez before the game and never mentioned it at the end. I saw the start of the discussion at the end of the game where they picked a theme (Arsenal not spending) and did it to death - nice to see Souness disagreeing. That's what I have been pleading for for the past 20 years. Didn't hear any mention of the top Arsenal players who were missing including the Russian whom they spent a lot of money on, Arshavin. But some balance at last.Quote:
Originally Posted by elroy
Believe it or not, I have no huge problem with the RTE panel so long as there is balance. There has been none for 20 years.