December 18, 200816 yr First, and foremost: Juve defeated Milan in one of the best derbies of the season so far. WE are BACK!!!! Second, congratulations to SS, and all Barca fans for their win in El Clasico. Though I was hoping they'd destroy Real really bad this time. Also congratz to Michael* for Sunderlands 4 goal win, and to Fred for taking the 4th spot from us. --------------------- I'm going to bank on Arsenal smashing Liverpool because we're really lacking in attack at the moment, but you guys seem to turn it up against the big teams. It's this week Don't worry though, I'm optimist again. <_< I was actually thinking about using Babel as Torres understudy rather than as a combo. They're playing style is quite similar. Also, Torres doesn't need to defend and Babel is just poor at defending so I don't think Rafa would pair them up considering his dream team would literally be a team of Carraghers :| Errmmm, . . . <_< I actually think Babel will be a really great partner for Torres, as he may create more oppurtunities for Torres, and wil continuously move to the wings, instead of being a pure finisher, which I think Torres is. But anyway, now I back down on my Ideas. Juve wants Babel (and Agger also), and I'd feel glad to see him in my team. We may give you some Carraghers in exchange Arsenal - Juventus (not my two teams against each other) Arsenal - Barcelona (not Henry playing against Arsenal) Sporting L. - Panathinaikos (I won't like to see neither of them in the next round) I want those ties How dare you?? http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/...-messi-sid-loweGreat article about Barca's resurgence. I don't want to be an ass, as Barca fans definitely deserve to be enjoying their current status, but there are 3 things I'd like to mention. Most points made in the post are actually pretty accurant, but: 1. Motivation is not something that Barca's stuff shall get credit. It wasn't something Guardiola said, nor it was getting rid of Ronaldinho, and Deco. After last season it was going to happen anyway. 2. "Score early" is not exactly something that explains Barca's strategies, even though they are currently the best at it. It's actually something that every great team preffers. 3. And lastly, dude must have never watched Henry in Arsenal for thinking Henry is now running more than he ever did. Henry always used to help mid-field, and defense, and actually was always moving from one wing to another. To myself: *cough* Henry fan *cough* And seriously now, I really have to ask this: I really, really, really love Messi, but what does Eto'o have to do to get some credit. He is currently outplaying Messi easily, yet no one seems to appreciate what he does, while Messi is being considered lock to win Golden Ball 09' from now. Does anyone that watch Barca regularly know if they have a Plan B (not that they'd need to implement it at the moment)? I watched most of the Barca games, and the only game where they needed a plan B was the game against Espanyol, and what they did was just tossing more offensive players in the field. It worked against short-handed Espanyol, but it didn't look like it'll work against the better teams.
December 18, 200816 yr Just my 2 cents. Feel free to point out anything I've missed or got wrong I just can't help it,. . . A couple of pages ago Ed making fun of me: I think the position is just RB, not RWB . . ., and Ed last week: . . . Abidal doesn't get up more but with Alves as RWB you can't play symmetrically . . . I think the position is just RB, not RWB How you like me now SUCKKAAAAAA. . . j/k ----------------- I just noticed, this topic is up to page 4-4-2 Lol, I know I'm a little late, but nice catch We can have a more defensive celebration when we reach page 451 Let's call it a modern celebration We'll have the defensive celebration in page 532!! :|
December 18, 200816 yr Errmmm, . . . <_< I actually think Babel will be a really great partner for Torres, as he may create more oppurtunities for Torres, and wil continuously move to the wings, instead of being a pure finisher, which I think Torres is. Well Babel is more incisive as he is willing to run with the ball but he likes to shoot more than pass. His passing isn't the best either from deep or from the flanks, so I don't really expect him to be creating much to be honest. But anyway, now I back down on my Ideas. Juve wants Babel (and Agger also), and I'd feel glad to see him in my team. We may give you some Carraghers in exchange Babel for Giovinco please? :evil: and stay away from Agger everyone :avada: I watched most of the Barca games, and the only game where they needed a plan B was the game against Espanyol, and what they did was just tossing more offensive players in the field. It worked against short-handed Espanyol, but it didn't look like it'll work against the better teams. Rijkaard never had an effective Plan B either. It'll be interesting to watch once Barca can't break someone down using Plan A. I just can't help it,. . . A couple of pages ago Ed making fun of me: I think the position is just RB, not RWB . . ., and Ed last week: . . . Abidal doesn't get up more but with Alves as RWB you can't play symmetrically . . . I think the position is just RB, not RWB How you like me now SUCKKAAAAAA. . . Talking about two totally different things, but it doesn't matter you'll be dead 10 times before you hit the floor :knives:
December 18, 200816 yr Well Babel is more incisive as he is willing to run with the ball but he likes to shoot more than pass. His passing isn't the best either from deep or from the flanks, so I don't really expect him to be creating much to be honest. Thats one sure thing, but playing as a CF, he will get his turn to shoot anyway, so after a while he'll start to make smarter decisions. Sure he is not an incredible passer, but from what I've seen he is a great 1 on 1 dribbler, and when you pass your defender in dangerous area, other defenders will come to cover, and Torres is a smart player who can find open spots. Passing in those situations is not that hard, all he needs is a little experience. Babel for Giovinco please? :evil: and stay away from Agger everyone :avada: Did you just say Giovinco?! :persuazn: They didn't even loan him to Arsenal at the beginning of this season, they sure won't let him go away now. He is the next symbol player of Juve. BTW, I'm not even a bit interested in Agger. AC Milan can have him Talking about two totally different things, but it doesn't matter you'll be dead 10 times before you hit the floor :knives: Would you want me to remind you about what happened the last time? :anger: :knives:
December 19, 200816 yr Thats one sure thing, but playing as a CF, he will get his turn to shoot anyway, so after a while he'll start to make smarter decisions. Sure he is not an incredible passer, but from what I've seen he is a great 1 on 1 dribbler, and when you pass your defender in dangerous area, other defenders will come to cover, and Torres is a smart player who can find open spots. Passing in those situations is not that hard, all he needs is a little experience. I guess... but don't forget this is Liverpool we are talking about. Cut-backs should be easy and Arsenal make it seem simple, but if you've ever watched us play you'll know that Liverpool players can't cut back. EVER. We make a simple pass look hard and the support always mistime their runs, so even if you think Babel would make a good partner for Torres, you better think twice. We are Liverpool :| Did you just say Giovinco?! :persuazn:They didn't even loan him to Arsenal at the beginning of this season, they sure won't let him go away now. He is the next symbol player of Juve. BTW, I'm not even a bit interested in Agger. AC Milan can have him Well if not Giovinco then can we have Chiellini, please? Who does Juve have at the back now? Mellberg and Andrade? Zebina?
December 19, 200816 yr Chelsea - Juventus Arsenal - Roma Inter - Manchester U. Real M. - Liverpool Lyon - Barcelona Atl. Madrid - Porto Sporting L. - Bayern M. Panathinaikos - Villareal Comments later, but looks like another fanastic 2nd round is ahead of us
December 19, 200816 yr And seriously now, I really have to ask this: I really, really, really love Messi, but what does Eto'o have to do to get some credit. He is currently outplaying Messi easily, yet no one seems to appreciate what he does, while Messi is being considered lock to win Golden Ball 09' from now. Samuelito is the most under-appreciated striker in the world. He has a scoring average of 0.68 goals per game since arriving at Barca. No other striker gets close to that mark, except for Ruud Van Nistelrooij (who incidentally, is also greatly underrated).
December 19, 200816 yr Ruud has been showing a lot more class since he went to Madrid Eto'o is awesome and his ability to melt into the Barca system is greatly underappreciated. He was fantastic for Rijkaard, and he's proving his class again for Pep. Salivating ties! Luckily Ruud is out for the season. My pick of the round - Juve vs Chelsea
December 19, 200816 yr Words cannot describe how much I'll be rooting for the 'pool in their tie, Ed.
December 19, 200816 yr The draw hasn't been very kind to the Premier League clubs, but it's definitely thrown up some interesting games and there's something in all those ties worth watching for the neutral. Chelsea / Juventus, Madrid / Liverpool and Inter / United will all be great. It's always an occasion when Mourinho meets Fergie and can't wait to see what happens when Ranieri goes back to Stamford Bridge. Also congratz to Michael* for Sunderlands 4 goal win Only Sunderland could win 4-0, lift themselves out of the bottom three and be back to square one 24 hours later. Still, nice to see that our team is showing a few signs of life again.
December 20, 200816 yr I guess... but don't forget this is Liverpool we are talking about. Cut-backs should be easy and Arsenal make it seem simple, but if you've ever watched us play you'll know that Liverpool players can't cut back. EVER. We make a simple pass look hard and the support always mistime their runs, so even if you think Babel would make a good partner for Torres, you better think twice. We are Liverpool :| Oh, I felt sorry for you guys now. Don't worry though, I can help you with it. I'll make sure Arsenal will teach you guys a lesson tomorrow :evil: Well if not Giovinco then can we have Chiellini, please? Who does Juve have at the back now? Mellberg and Andrade? Zebina? Well, I like Chiellini, but I wouldn't mind trading him for Babbel. We always manage to get good defenders anyhow. And if worse comes to worst we'll get Boumsong back! :| Lol, sadly my most hated Juve player of all times Zebina is still there, but the good news is he rarely plays. Our main defenders are Chiellini, and Mellberg in the middle, Grygera in the right, and Molinaro in the right. The main reserves are Legrotallie for the center, and Marchionni for wings. DeCeglie who played as Left winger against Milan, is originally a LB also, and he got a new contract until 2003, immediately after Milan derby. So our defense is all good for now. So is our attack. All we need is a couple of mid-fielders. I still have an eye on Mascherano. Samuelito is the most under-appreciated striker in the world. He has a scoring average of 0.68 goals per game since arriving at Barca. No other striker gets close to that mark, except for Ruud Van Nistelrooij (who incidentally, is also greatly underrated). I won't agree about Ruud being underrated. There's a difference between what type of players Eto'o, and vNistelrooy are. Players like Nistelrooy, who here are known as Pivot CFs, are usually more static, and they usually score with only making the last touches in traffic, or with headers. Among this kind of players, Ruud is easily the most appreciated (he was a candidate for GoldenBall remember?), while a player like Trezeguet, who has outscored and outplayed him during the last season was not. There are also a couple of this type of players that I think are better than Nistelrooy. Fact is, Ruud was actually considered the best player of his team, in both ManU, and Real (and in Real deservebly so), and IMO thats pretty much what he deserves. On the other hand, Eto'o scores from deep runs, from long ranges, is also good with the last touches, and unlike Nistelrooy he can move to the lines, and help his team (by at least taking a defender with him), while Nistelrooy is not a threat, when is away from the goal. To top it all, up until this season, Eto'o had PK-free scoring record which is also amazing. What I was trying to say, is that Eto'o shall be considered among top5 in the world. I personally have always rated Eto'o over Ronaldinho, and Messi(except 07'). And players like Eto'o, have actually always been credited among the best players of the World. i.e.: George Weah, Ronaldo, and Shevchenko have recieved POTY awards. IMO Eto'o is one of the top3 players so far this season, but I hardly believe "the experts" would put him in top10. -------------------- Btw, Michael, I was actually so bored about what to write about Sunderland, so thanks for saving my time. I'll just quote myself Also congratz to Michael* for Sunderlands 4 goal win Seriously though, a 4-1 away victory against Hull City, a team that gave hard time to all the bigs, has really impressed me, and to be honest it was something I wasn't expecting. Hopefully they'll keep their curent form.
December 20, 200816 yr BTW guys, does anyone have Alex Fergusons number? Don't worry cause Morinho has it. Man, I'm so glad that United will go against Inter, the team thats probably the most tricky for them. Juventus will play against Chelsea, and I express my optimism from now. Juve will get to the next round, easier than it looks on the paper. Buffon sweared that he won't allow any goals. Seriously though, Chelsea was one of the worst opponents possible, but I still think Juve has a little edge. They are still hungry, and to win UCL, just two years after Calciopoli will be fantastic. Plus I'd really enjoy to see last years finalist M. United, and Chelsea out of this competition this early. On the other hand I wish all the best luck to other two English sides. Arsenal will play against Roma, who plays great as a team, and shall definitely be taken seriously when all the players healthy, while Liverpool has the easiest draw as of now, but Ral may make considerable moves when the transfer windows opens. It's funny that Barca picked by far the easiest opponent possible, cause because of the rules they had only 4 possible draws, and them being Arsenal, Chelsea, Inter, and O.Lyon. Still Lyon is a serious team, especially considering they have Juninho, and Barca has Valdes, but I guess they'll proceed to the next round anyway. In other draws, I'll be rooting for Villareal Atl. Madrid and Bayern I also think this three teams are favourites to get to the next round as well. --- P.S.: I really had great hopes for tonights game, but Valencia lost to Real.
December 21, 200816 yr Here's hoping for Chelski-Inter later on. Can you imagine the press conference for that one leading up to the tie.
December 22, 200816 yr Here's hoping for Chelski-Inter later on. Can you imagine the press conference for that one leading up to the tie. You mean "later on", like sometimes the next season right? :persuazn: Seriously though, I'd hate it if Juve can't pass this round, but if both of these teams get to the quarters, it'd be funny to see them meet with each other. The press confernece leading up to that tie may be a funny one, though I don't believe that Chelsea staff, or Mourinho would make any disrespectful comments towards each other. The most exciting press conference would probably if Inter eleminates Chelsea. I bet Mourinho will have something to say about Scolaris skills. Come to think about it, can you imagine the 2nd leg being in Stamford Bridge, and Chelsea to enter the last minutes with an advantage, and then Inter scores in loss time, and Mourinho starts with his wierd usual goal celebrations. ------- Anyway, results this week pretty much pissed me off. Arsenal tied with 'pool, while Adebayor got sent off, and Cesc got injured in the worst time possible (just when first hal was about to end). Hopefully he'll get back soon, cause we're dealing with enough already. I'd conglaturate Ed, but I guess with a man more, they were the side that was closer to 3 points. And I would have preffered the loss to the draw. 2nd Valencia lost by allowing Real to score in their first attack, and they weren't able to get good oppurtunities to tie the game. If Valencia had won, they'd get a huge advantage iin war for 1 of the top4 seeds. I was also hoping that Villareal will upset Barca, and they got really close to it, but at the end, Barca knew how to close the deal. Actually this game was sort of a test for the "Plan B" of Barcelona, that we were talking about, and it was definitely the bad opponent to try it against. Piquet played in right wing, and Alves played "completely" as a mid-fielder. Funny thing is, Barca looked better after Piquet got sent off, than they did when the game was played 11 vs 11. Villareal IMO is the best team (I mean as the ones that play the best team ball) in Spain, and they were the only team that had a shot at stopping Barca. After last nights game, I guess Barca pretty much ensured the Spanish title. Local leagues were disater as well, bbut I won't get started. The good news is that Juve is playing great, and keep winning. Though another thing that sucked this week was Inters victory against Siena. Maicons 2nd goal(83rd min) was was offside by 4 meters. <_< Anyway, while the results sucked, there were a couple of things that made me laugh. In Villareal-Barcelona game, in like 29th minute, Messi stopped a long ball with his chest, and the ref stopped the game for playing with hand (refs suck, btw), and Messis headshaking was like saying "Damn, I didn't do a thing, but I know you are judging me by something I did 2 years ago". And the funniest thing was at 50th min, when a shot by Seidou Keita hit a Villareal player right at the butt. They shoved the replay in slowmotion for like 3 times. It was priceless. Also a funny frame was when Kaka scored Milans 2nd(his 1st) goal against Udine, as he went to hug Gattuso, and Gattuso hugged him back with those canes.
December 23, 200816 yr Fabregas out for four months. Holy crap, Arsenal are in a world of trouble right now. Will Wenger finally buy some help in January?
December 23, 200816 yr You watch so much football :| How did you figure it out? Seriously though, I actually watched only two games this week. (Arsenal-Liverpool, and Villareal-Barcelona) I caught the last 15 minutes of Inter, and was playing PlayStation with a friend while Juve was playing (so I was able to catch every crucial moment of the game). But I have access to so many sports channels, so I can watch the summaries of most of the games, and I always can cover if I miss an interesting game. Trust me, there are way freakier viewers than me. :| Fabregas out for four months. Holy crap, Arsenal are in a world of trouble right now. Will Wenger finally buy some help in January? Yeah, tell me about it. After a really great performance in the start of the previous season, Arsenal was cursed during the whole year with injuries of key players. I was still hoping for the title, even after the draw with 'pool, but with Fabregas out, our new goal is the 4th seed. But the good news (st least for Arsenal) is that Totti got injured as well, and is expected to miss 2 months, which means he won't play at least in the first leg of the 2nd round. --------------------- One last thing, Beckham is officialy in Milan. He was presented to fans, and he'll wear #32. I don't think it was a good (or better say: necessary) move for Milan, but hopefully it'll be a good move for Beckham himself.
December 25, 200816 yr Read he was booed by a section of Milan fans upon being introduced. Actually I saw the whole introduction on Milan Channel, but didn't see/hear anything odd. Possible though!!! ------------ Arsene Wenger seems like finally has decided to buy some players. News are that Arsenal is intersted in Liverpools Xabi Alonso. Funny, cause he was the one that injured Cesc. Hopefully this deal will go through. We were needing a CMF even with a healthy Fabregas. Without him, our midfiled kinda sucks. Udineses Gökhan Inler is also on their list. ----------- And in a TV program there was a poll: "Will Huntelaar, Diarra, and Klasniç be the new blood hat Real needed." Just pointing out, because I hadn't heard about Diarra, and Klasinç transfers.
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