Michael* Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Lionel Messi: "Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated." He certainly did split Milan's defence in twain last night. Great footballers - making mugs out of kneejerkers since forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael* Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 So near yet so far for Arsenal. Clearly, they're better than their first leg showings against Bayern and Milan last year, but neither are they as good as the second leg results might suggest. In truth, they're somewhere in the middle.Still, the fans can always cheer on Emmanuel Eboue in the next round, while Man City fans can shout for Roque Santa Cruz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 I wonder what happens at Sunderland in the summer if they stay up. For what its worth, I suspect they will, possibly due to others being more incompetent more than anything else. Would they give O'Neill a boat load of cash? Would O'Neill walk away if they didn't? Do they go for someone else? Sell the pampered underachievers for a loss? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael* Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 I wonder what happens at Sunderland in the summer if they stay up. For what its worth, I suspect they will, possibly due to others being more incompetent more than anything else. Would they give O'Neill a boat load of cash? Would O'Neill walk away if they didn't? Do they go for someone else? Sell the pampered underachievers for a loss?Hard to say at the moment, I suppose a lot will depend on where we end up finishing. Short is reportedly growing rather frustrated at the lack of progress being made, and understandably so since he’s sunk another 30-odd million of his own money (the Bent and Henderson fees only went as far as bankrolling Bruce’s final spending spree) into the team this year. O’Neill really hasn't done much to help himself either - he's placed far too much trust in Bruce signings who simply aren’t up to it, and his own signings have been a very mixed bag. Johnson hasn’t quite been the flop some have labelled him as, but neither has he been the matchwinner we were expecting. He appears incapable of performing for longer than 15 minutes at a time and his aimless lame-o attempts at stepovers get on my wick. Can’t fault Fletcher, he’s managed to grab us 11 goals despite being restricted to about 14 chances all season by the tamest supply line in the league. N’Diaye, there’s not much to tell. He runs past opponents, they run past him, sometimes they bump into each other. Graham desperately wanted to move back to the north east, did so and then appeared to think ‘well I’m here now, I don’t have to try any more’. I get the impression that he'd have even considered going back to Boro if the money had been right. He looked half-decent at Swansea though and it's still early days, benefit of the doubt and all that.There's a lot of panic going around at the moment and I can't deny that we're in a scrap, but I do think we’ll just about be okay. I'd be surprised if we were able to get ourselves north of the 40 point benchmark with time to spare, though. It’ll probably be another flirtation with the ‘R’ word before we limp over the line again in decidedly underwhelming fashion. Unfortunately, such things just seem to be written into the DNA of the club, it doesn't seem to matter who's in charge, what players we have or how much money we throw around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael* Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Swiss Super League match in 'interrupted by vicious pine marten' shocker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Champions League quarter-final drawMalaga v Borussia DortmundReal Madrid v GalatasarayParis St-Germain v BarcelonaBayern Munich v Juventus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 While I respect Malaga and the manner in which they've advanced through the competition, you'd have to say its the optimum draw for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Europa League quarter-final drawChelsea v Rubin KazanTottenham Hotspur v FC BaselFenerbahce v LazioBenfica v Newcastle United Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael* Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 What a tremendous draw for Dortmund. The Malaga game will be a cracker, as will Bayern-Juve. The PSG-Barca tie will be billed as Beckham vs. Barca by the English media and Zlatan vs. Barca by sensible people, but either way it's one to look forward to.Last night's game at the San Siro really served to highlight the ridiculousness of the away goals system. If and when a game heads into extra time, the advantage swings so heavily in the away team's favour that I would actually go so far as to say it's unfair. Surely to goodness the rule should be changed so that away goals only count as double in normal time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Last night's game at the San Siro really served to highlight the ridiculousness of the away goals system. If and when a game heads into extra time, the advantage swings so heavily in the away team's favour that I would actually go so far as to say it's unfair. Surely to goodness the rule should be changed so that away goals only count as double in normal time.Completely agree with this. But hey, had a cheeky couple of quid on Inter to be 3-0 up after 90 minutes when Ray Winstone popped up at half-time offering 14-1, which I thought was more than generous. Good job too because I almost went with Inter to win the tie overall at 12-1. Gambling is of course inherently evil and nobody should do it. Except me. If I win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael* Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Benfica-Newcastle in the Europa, eh? I've always dreamed of seeing the black and whites dismantled at the Stadium of Light, but I must say, this isn't quite what I had in mind. Better than nothing though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 A 1-0 lead, nearly six minutes of stoppage time and the unwavering love and support of Fleet Street and yet poor ol' Harold Redknapp still came up a loser. Fantastic second half performance today, ran around like manic street preachers, particularly Weimann who's really grown into a man these past few months. Typical to type the minute you want a favour from Liverpool they promptly go rubbish again. Is it 2nd, 4th, 5th or 8th they're going for this season, I can never remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SympathysSilhouette Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Benteke with 8 goals in 10 games, where is his Bale-like hype? Oh, he's not British! Never mind... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Benteke with 8 goals in 10 games, where is his Bale-like hype? Oh, he's not British! Never mind... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael* Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 We can't even win when a game is handed to us on a plate. Gifted a numerical advantage for over an hour, gifted a penalty and a let-off for the Rose handball and we still conspire to only draw, barely even troubling the Norwich keeper along the way. I'm seriously beginning to think we might've had it. We're absolutely dire, we deserve everything we get and if we do end up going down, we'll be missed by precisely no-one.I even cheered a Newcastle goal this afternoon in the vain hope that they might do us a favour against Wigan. Urgh, I feel dirty. :yuckky: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I think the derby game against Newcastle and its outcome may come to define Sunderland's season (though when does it not? Heh). A win there and you've got your tails up heading into three home games,out of the next four, two of which seem very winnable, plus of course a trip to Villa. But I agree, from what I saw of yesterday they looked shockingly rudderless despite being 10 vs. 11. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael* Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 The next four games in particular will be such formidable challenges, I'm hoping against hope that there'll still be a way back by the time we get through them all. If there is one slight ray of hope, it's that United are playing Chelsea in the FA Cup replay just a couple of days after our game with them. They're thousands of points clear of Man City so perhaps Fergie will rest a few of the usual first eleven. I wouldn't exactly be confident of getting a result against the reserves either, but it's better than facing Fatman & Robin.For some considerable time now (even when we were mid-table) O'Neill has been repeating his mantra that we're fighting relegation, and his cautiousness seems to bleed into the way we play - so lacking in belief, craft and ambition, and no plan on how to improve. I think if we survive now (barring some miraculous improvement coming out of the blue) it'll be by the skin of our teeth and by virtue of others' misfortune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael* Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 End of the road for Michael Owen, apparently. What year is it again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Remembering how unmotivated Owen looked shuffling around the pitch (okay, fine, six yard area) against Villa in the game that relegated Newcastle four years ago says a lot to me about the man. Guess he has more time for blogging and Twitter 'banter' with Piers Moron now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael* Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Remembering how unmotivated Owen looked shuffling around the pitch (okay, fine, six yard area) against Villa in the game that relegated Newcastle four years ago says a lot to me about the man. Guess he has more time for blogging and Twitter 'banter' with Piers Moron now. Cue the inevitable appointment to the MOTD team. I can hardly wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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