I think 'poxed' is a little harsh. If anything they should have been having more pot-shots, because try as they might they were finding it very hard to play through the Italians. They were working the ball out wide in the second half, only to cross it in to a line of blue and black defenders.
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In all fairness Liverpool scored two late goals after Inter lost Materazzi because of a very poor referee and a bit of theatrics on the Liverpool side, and the man of the match Cordoba, that's barely being able to beat them for me, despite their domination. And I doubt any of us would be creaming ourselves if it were Arsenal who played like that, because that would have been a poor Arsenal performance by their high standards
Inter may be bottlers in Europe, but they're about to win their 3rd Serie A on the trot and have to be ranked as a better team than Liverpool overall
Liverpool were dominating the game long before Materazzi was sent off. They might not have won, but they still would have racked up a lot of chances. IMO the sending off helped Inter in a way. Before that, they were playing far too high up the pitch and it looked as though it was only a matter of time before Torres would have got clear of Materazzi and through on goal, but after that they started defending extremely deep and Liverpool couldn't break them down due to their lack of creativity in the final third.
Anyway, Dunphy really is a tw*t, but I just can't stop listening to the guy. He really is a comic genius in the studio sometimes.
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Eamonn Dunphy is a plonker simple as. Honestly this man is allowed to comment on the champions league when he hasn't a clue about players anyone half interested in football would know who Cordoba is and given half a brain while studying the teams would acknowledge that Inter are a good side..... It may not be essential to follow all the leagues, but surely having watched the group stages he would have noticed Inter strolling their group.
Liverpool got lucky again last night. Materazzi should never have been sent off. Whatever about conceding early I would imagine losing a centre half as being much worse. The game plan would go straight out the window...
The keeper was having a good game and looking solid up to Kuyts strike.
Deflection or no deflection it was straight at him he was on his knees by the time it left Kuyts boot, Gerrards strike keeper was in totally the wrong position...
Barca 2 vs manchester 0
The loss of Materrazzi made little difference to Inters game plan, because their game plan was simply to defend and play on the counter. When Materrazzi went off, Chivu and then Burdisso simply slotted in to position. Their defensive unit remained the same, as did their overly defensive midfield unit. Yet they were still s**t. Liverpool should have been ahead long before the 85th minute, again missing clear cut sitters in yet another game. If you as a team decide to camp yourself in your own half for the entire game without showing any interest in attacking, well then you're asking for it. That's what Inter did, and they got their just rewards. It should have been more though, not to mention the blatent penalty that Viera got away with. Liverpool got lucky my @rseI haven't seen such a one sided CL game in years against a supposed great side. Even Besiktas, who were beaten 8-0, were better than Inter going forward
Just got my first ever infraction for it! Ah well, at least there's the consolation of ruining your lunch.
Any idea why that would be? I'd say you're right, just wondering.
Although in fairness the English clubs often play weakened sides and still do well. I seem to recall, for example, a reserve Newcastle side winning in Palermo a year or two ago.
Parma reached the UEFA Cup semis a few years go by playing their reserve team, when their first team was struggling at the bottom of Serie A.
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"barca have a poor defence, that's why madrid are 5 points clear"
you obviously don't watch spanish football so eamonn
"Even if the sun ceases to rise, Even if the sea ceases to flow, Even if the wind stops to blow, The name of Sligo Rovers will shine and shine forever like the morning, glinting star in the sky."
Can he explain that the lead was 9 points and now is 5.
schuster's team are s*** after xmas and robinho injured. dunphy probabaly wouldn't know who madrid's manager is and i remember him pretty much saying robinho was rubbish during the group stages. robinho had of course been the best player in the world in the previous 6 months.
Last edited by Red4Eva; 21/02/2008 at 1:55 PM.
"Even if the sun ceases to rise, Even if the sea ceases to flow, Even if the wind stops to blow, The name of Sligo Rovers will shine and shine forever like the morning, glinting star in the sky."
You've just picked a cherry there though haven't you?!
Palermo, Sampdoria and Empoli got knocked out in first round this year by the might of Mlada Boleslav, Aalborg and Zurich respectively.
No Italian team in last 16 last year.
Three Italian teams reached last 16 the year before, all knocked out then though.
Parma were the only Italian team to make the last 32 the year before that. In fairness they did well to reach the semis; beating Stuttgart and Sevilla. But remarkable they were the only representatives in the last 32.
Pretty damning evidence there over the past four years of how poorly Italian teams have fared at the only reasonably objective criteria we have. Whether to conclude that Serie A is poor in general or it's just that for some reason or other its teams don't do well in Europe is up for debate.
(All facts taken from my memory bank. Honest.)
But it's hardly 'reasonably objective criteria' if the Italian teams don't take it seriously. Obviously Parma, and possibly the three teams you mentioned were more interested in league survival than the UEFA cup.
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It's objective in the sense that teams from the different leagues are openly competing against each other, for us all to see how they get on. And it's more objective in a comparative sense than just spouting meaningless crap like "Serie A is too boring, the Premiership is wonderfully exciting."
I wouldn't place enormous weight on it, but it must say something against the clubs, and league in general by association, that they don't/won't fully test themselves and try to win a major competition. Undeniably hints at weakness in my opinion.
Overall, it's a matter of taste, if you prefer watching Serie A, fine. But inevitably we'll be drawn into comparisons, and in that regard I think it's somewhat instructive to look at how teams do in various competitions.
It's probably fair to say clubs in the bottom half of Serie A wouldn't be as strong as clubs in the bottom half of the EPL or La Liga. Middling English clubs like Boro, Everton, Bolton etc are raking in many millions in TV revenue thanks to the EPL deal with Sky which spreads the money around pretty well. In Italy Juve/Milan/Inter take 90% of the TV money. The likes of Palermo simply do not have the finance to compete with Bolton.
That said, Dunphy was talking about the top of Serie A not being very good, which is utterly ludicrous, as proved over the last couple of nights! His 6 teams operating on a different level (MU, Arsenal, Chelsea of course, plus Real, Barca, Sev.) drew in Greece, lost in Turkey, struggled in Scotland, drew in France, drew at home and lost in Italy.
Well yes I agree it's better than hearsay to use the UEFA cup as a gauge. All I'm wondering is (and I don't watch Italian footie) if the UEFA cup is treated like seriously enough by the Italian teams to use it as a gauge for the league.
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From what I've read/heard AC Milan are the only Italian team in recent times to really give two hoots about European competition. Inter, having waited so long to win a Serie A, are happy where they are at the moment, the Rome teams have always cared more about national success over anything else, and Juventus are happy to be in the position they are in after the bung scandal, so I wouldn't hold it against them that they care more about winning/doing well in Serie A, than getting a good European Cup run together.
Furthermore the European Cup has only gone back to England on two occasions since Heysel, and on those two occasions the English team were somewhat lucky to escape with the trophy. That says more to me about overall standards than England getting 3/4 teams in the semi finals last year and still failing to win it
Very narrow-minded altogether aren't they!
I can't really understand why once you qualify for UEFA Cup or CL that you wouldn't give it your best shot. Was that not the point of doing well in the league in the first place? From the fans perspective, is the glory simply in their team finishing a few places higher, say 5th versus 9th, than might be expected? And the possibility of an exciting European adventure the following season is largely irrelevant? Just seems a little odd to me.
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