QuoteYou're showing a rare glimpse of your feminine side, Charlie.
With a black/charcoal suit it's just anarchy. For what died the sons of Róisín, etc.Originally Posted by geysir
You're showing a rare glimpse of your feminine side, Charlie.
I take umbrage at that. Is Paul Galvin showing his feminine side? Actually, nevermind.
Before I forget - what's the point of showing slow-mo replays of Messi's first goal in particular? It looked magical in normal speed; slow-mo took away from the goal if anything. Give us normal-speed replays!
Galatasaray v Schalke looked a good game too.
I think if Milan had been at full strength they would have gone through on the night. De Jong has been injured since before Christmas, he would have been a better option to stifle the midfield. Without Pazzini (injured) and Balotelli (cup tied) they had no physcial presence upfront with El Sharahawi and Niang being a bit too slight, there was no pressure release and they couldn't get the ball out of their half, it was almost like they were playing with two wingers instead of strikers. Compare this with 10 man Chelsea last year, who could constantly hit the ball long to Drogba and watch him either win a header or get fouled. There is clearly now a way of beating this Barcelona as Chelsea, Inter, Real Madrid have demonstrated, but you need tactical discipline and you have to deny them space both in your box and a good 30 yards in front of your box. Milan didn't have this tactical discipline last night and were hampered by injury and also by bizzare team selections (Constant at left back ahead of De Sciglio, Bonera or even Antonini). I know the love-in has restarted but I think Barcelona could come a cropper against a top level team like Dortmund, Real or Bayern.
Completely and 100% agree. And more that it does.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Predictable reaction from the reductionists, full of ifs and buts
True enough though, Milan were at some disadvantage, Niang is no Tony Watt.
Milan had a 2 goal lead and play football their way, not like Madrid or Chelsea.
They got off to a bad start in Serie A but since late November when they beat Juve, they have been the best performing team in the league. It took a special performance from Barca, where most everything goes right, in order to overcome that deficit and Barca are a joy to watch when everything goes just right.
I'm not quite sure I'd say Milan "played their game" in the sense that they played the way they would choose to. I think that Milan would desperately have wanted to play with a presence upfront. In the league they tend to have Balotelli (who is a reason for their resurgance in the League, not the only reason but a big one) or Pazzini as a player to hold the ball up. They were missing both of these players last night and those are the sort of players you want to have against Barcelona's defence as they will struggle with physical attackers. In the first leg Milan's second goal came about after Sergio Buscuits fouled Pazzini, last year Drogba pretty much carried 10 man Chelsea for that second leg semi (winning almost every header and "earning" free kicks in a way that outdid even Barca), Diego Milito set up 2 and scored the 3rd in the fantastic 3-1 win for Inter. Every good team will get chances against Barcelona, and if you have a physical player upfront (as opposed to the winger Niang and El Sharawary) you will have a much better chance of not only generating more chances but also putting those chances away. I don't think Chelsea would have won last year without Drogba, I don't think Inter would have won without Milito and so Milan without any physcial striker, were not able to play their optimal game, and so had a much reduced chance of scoring/going through.
Porto have ****ed it up.
2-0 Arsebal! 5 minutes to go!
I think I'm in love even moreso with Philip Lahm. Le sigh. The guy is just something else with the ball at his feet drifting through midfield. L
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Eamo is a huge fan of this Oxford-Chamberlain lad.
Oxford-Cambridge you mean! :P
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
I thought Porto were certs to get through that second leg, they blew it big time, probably more so in the first leg when they should have scored 4.
Why is there all this sympathy for Arsenal? It's insane.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Milan have been resurgent in Serie A since they beat Juve in late November, Balotelli joined them in February. Before Balotelli came they won 7, drew 1, lost 1, (since nov25). After Balotelli joined, they have w4 d1.
Are you referring to the RTE panel? It's all epl focus chat there, thank God for Dunphy and his expertise around the foreign leagues.
Why do RTE send a commentary team to these games, including Tony o'D, for what? the post match meaningless interview? Why can't they do what most every small station does, just commentate over the match feed and pretend they are there?
I prefer if the commentators are there to be honest. But that's nothing to do with what I was asking.
Basically all over the media last night there were posts and articles about unlucky plucky arsenal.
it just defies all rationale. At least all the English clubs are out now though.
Barca v Dortmund
Bayern v Galatasary
Malaga v Juve
Real v PSG
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Of course it adds that bit extra of atmosphere and commentary quality.
It's another discussion, but RTE don't have to send the commentary team out there for CL games in order to maintain good standards of CL coverage. Maybe there is some research showing that the extra Irish viewers attracted away from Sky tv coverage towards RTE because of their live commentary, means extra advert revenue, means the commentary team costs are covered.
In the absence of that research, i'd prefer a few more euros from the sport's department kitty, thrown at the MNS.
Those 8 games since Juventus (but before Balotelli) were all against teams outside the top 6 (Catania, Torino, Pescara, Roma, Siena, Sampdoria, Bologna and Atalanta). Even the Roma match (which they lost) was against a team that's 7th and two of those wins, Pescara and Siena, came against teams in the relegation zone. Obviously you can only beat what's put in front of you, but those fixtures (with the exception of Roma) were all ones Milan would hope to do well in.
If you look at their 6 games since Balotelli (post feb), you have Udinese, Cagliari, Parma, Inter, Lazio, Genoa. Two of those teams are top 6 (Inter, Lazio) and none are in the relegation zone (although Genoa are very close) - they havent lost any of those 6 games in arguably a harder set of opponents. It's interesting to note that across those 6 game Balotelli has got 5 goals and 1 assist, so in all those six games (except the draw with Inter) he's provided something concrete to the wins (and draw at Cagliari).
I wouldnt put down Milan's turnaround just to Balotelli, but I think having a physical striker (Pazzini or Balotelli) is a huge part of Milan's sucessful attack. In fact if you look at all their 14 games since Juventus (both pre and post Balotelli), there are 13 goals and 2 assists from both. But more tellingly you can see that in only 4 games (Catania, Sampdoria, Atalanta, Inter) was there no contribution (goal or assist) from Pazzini or Balotelli. Having neither really hampered them on Tuesday.
Someone could get a back door to the final:
For instance:
Dortmund v PSG
Malaga v Galatasary
--------------------------
Real v Barca
Juventus v Bayern
I've just used Dortmund as an example, you could swap them for anyone in the bottom half, if that draw was to happen whoever is in Dortmunds position would be fairly happy.
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