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| Champions League | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 23 2007, 11:32 AM (2,291 Views) | |
| kevin | Apr 30 2007, 10:48 AM Post #136 |
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Actually, Carvalho appears to be out, as do Ballack and now Shevchenko. That's certainly not good for Chelsea. |
| 'Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. | |
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| rosarino | May 1 2007, 07:32 AM Post #137 |
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No it is not good but they do get Essien back for this game. The question is with Carvalho out will Chelsea use Essien in defense again? These absences for Chelsea are making me reconsider the outcome of this game, I'm feeling Liverpool will have a better chance than I previously thought in this one. I thinking adding Crouch to the starting team will make them more difficult to defend for Chelsea particularly if the Blues have to use a makeshift defense. |
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| Winslow | May 1 2007, 01:37 PM Post #138 |
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The first second leg... . . . . . . Liverpool 1, Chelsea 0 AET; Liverpool wins 4-1 on penalties. So much for the quadruple. The Reds knock out the Blues again after Agger of all people scored midway through the first half to level the aggregate. Both sides had chances, and in extra time Kuyt put a rebound past Cech but was correctly ruled offside. So at the end, Reina was the real hero, making a pair of penalty saves while Liverpool's shooters were immaculate. I missed a good chunk of this match, but as rosarino suspected, Crouch made life a little harder for Chelsea, while Essien did play in the back and played very well. As for tomorrow's second leg, Sir Alex tells the world that he's ready to turn his strikers loose, even though he only needs a draw. If Man U goes through, won't it be silly for two English teams, based 25 miles apart at most, to go all the way to Athens to settle this? Them's the breaks... |
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| Johnbuildr | May 1 2007, 01:56 PM Post #139 |
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Just what I was thinking, Dubya. It would sure give the Brits major bragging rights. Like they need 'em or somthing. Oh well.....
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Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum | |
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| Gazza | May 1 2007, 02:05 PM Post #140 |
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I have been watching flight prices from California to Athens in the event United make it. Would be pretty tough. Liverpool/United CL final would be huge. Liverpool/United final with the local police on strike might be interesting.
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| Manzanares | May 1 2007, 02:50 PM Post #141 |
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I'm happy to see Liverpool, the most Spanish of clubs outside Spain make the final again. Merengue's theory from last week that both teams know each other so well they're able to nullify one another was again present today. But I think Liverpool were always the more adventurous of the two teams in this second leg and Chelsea has nothing to complain about. How does a team come into a semifinal and look so flat? Well you'll either get a local rivalry in the final between Liverpool and Manchester United or a rematch of the epic 2005 Final between Liverpool and Milan. And whoever would win that matchup would move closer to Real Madrid in overall Champions Cup/League titles and it would be good to see some team give Real Madrid less to brag about!
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| valenciano | May 1 2007, 03:57 PM Post #142 |
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As a former Valencia manager I am happy for Rafa Benitez but I did not enjoy this game at all. Both teams were running around without much thought to their game. It was played at a high rate of speed but it just kept calling for somebody on either team to use their brain rather than brawn and for one of the teams to string together some passes instead of just looking for long balls. But saying that of the two teams, Liverpool were as Manzanares commented the more adventurous of the two and you can't fault their penalty taking or Reina's two saves of Chelsea's attempts (although neither of the shots saved were particularly well taken). I believe the contrast in styles between Manchester United and Milan will, as it did in the first leg, provide better entertainment. |
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| futbol4 | May 1 2007, 10:45 PM Post #143 |
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Amen to that brother! It was one of the worst displays of footy I've seen in a long time. Dull, brutal, unimaginative, not one graceful play the whole game...yet I couldn't take my eyes off of it, the tension was beyond thick. I really don't want an English CL final, athough it would involve 2 American owners in the final ![]() After last week's questionable coaching, namley keeping Gila in for so frickin long, amongst other things, I'm not confident Milan will pull through. Ancelotti better play Super Pipo for starters, he's the ticket for this game. |
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Four hundred years ago, English-speaking illegal immigrants slipped into Jamestown, Va. When will America start getting serious about protecting its borders? - L Powers U S A! MEXICO! BARCA, BARCA, BARCA! MILAN! | |
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| xeneize | May 1 2007, 10:47 PM Post #144 |
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Overall a pretty uninspiring game but I will join others here in saying Liverpool had the better of the game so their ultimate victory by way of penalties wasn't an unjust result. That was a tough, but correct, offside call on Kuyt in the extra time, he had to have been offside by no more than a foot, and he also had a header hit the crossbar in the 2nd half so it was perhaps right that he was the one who scored the clinching penalty. I also thought Mascherano had a pretty good game as he seemed to constantly be pressuring Chelsea when they had the ball. But like other neutrals I'll be hoping Milan-Manchester United is a much better game. |
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| Simon | May 2 2007, 03:30 AM Post #145 |
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It's hard to imagine how Milan - Manchester United couldn't be a better game than that. In fact this season I think I've only seen one game worse than that one last night, and that was the first leg between these teams. But I suppose if you take two dull robotic teams with zero interest in entertainment or flair and stick them together in two vitally important matches with a lot at stake, the results aren't going to be pretty. I was just stunned by how braindead Chelsea were. Is Mourinho really still to be considered 'the Special One', as he called himself? Didn't he see that they needed width when Liverpool were clogging the middle up? Couldn't he see for himself that his moronic tactic of continually bashng the ball in the air for Drogba wasn't getting them anywhere? Eventually he did put Robben and Wright-Phillips on, but far too late. And even then, in the 115th minute Wright-Phillips raced past the Liverpool defence and cut the ball back for Drogba who almost scored. Why didn't they start doing that a lot earlier? Like at the start of the match, knowing that a goal would all but put them through? Surely to God he wasn't playing for penalties against Liverpool, who've won 11 of the 12 shootouts they've had? The penalty shoot-out could almost have been invented for Liverpool - no imagination, spontaneity or flair required, just cold dull efficiency. Liverpool in microcosm, all down the years. Come on United, let's beat Milan tonight and then blast Liverpool out of the water in Athens, playing the United way - the way the game is meant to be played. It'll be for the good of football! |
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| robdog | May 2 2007, 04:46 AM Post #146 |
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Well there is one good thing out of this result. I won't have to fret about rooting for Pachuca or Chelsea this December. Now I can just relax & hope my Tuzos punk any of those Euro posers
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| Supporter for FCK, San Lorenzo, Chelsea, Pachuca, Corinthians & Real Betis | |
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| enganche | May 2 2007, 06:22 AM Post #147 |
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LOL, funny thing is I was talking with a fellow South American about the Champions League and his response was, "this is just to see which European team will be defeated in Tokyo by the Libertadores champion next December!" Considering South American clubs recent record against the European champions his comment isn't far off the mark. Back to yesterday's game I feel as Simon does. Chelsea's tactics in this game were puzzling. And while Mourinho normally isn't as animated on the bench like Benitez, his body language yesterday was like how his team played on the field, they looked like they didn't care about the game! I wonder how true the rumours are that the real reason for Shevchenko not playing wasn't an injury but was a dispute between he and Mourinho? Drogba sure could have used some help in the attack. And it wasn't until seeing him late in the game on a free kick where you realized that Lampard was even on the field! On to today's game, futbol4 asked about Inzaghi, I read where he is supposed to start instead of Gilardino. Based on how invisible Gilardino was in the first leg at Old Trafford and how effective Inzaghi was in the quarterfinal against Bayern this is a move which should help Milan. Like many others here I am looking forward to today's game as both teams are more imaginative than either Liverpool or Chelsea. |
| Prefiero morir de pie que vivir arrodillado | |
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| Zinfandel | May 2 2007, 08:08 AM Post #148 |
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I posted a comment about United on the EPL board, but you have made the point very nicely here about Chelsea. I think the Special One has hindered his team this year by trying to play four central midfielders all at once. And even with Ballack out and Essien at the back, he still played the same formation. I am not sure Chelsea know how to play with width anymore. Joe Cole is a perfectly good wide player, but he was not a major factor. And Lampard, who cannot function when anyone else on the field wants the ball in midfield, has simply not looked himself this year. He is not a failure--just not himself when he has to compete for the ball with Ballack and Essien and company. Or with Gerrard, who, regardless of the Liverpool style, played a better game than Lampard. So, today it is United's turn, and I will go back to something I said on the EPL board. United either play with Brown and OShea, who were responsible for giving up two goals to Milan at OT, or they get one or both of Vidic and Rio back. either of whom is likely to be rusty. My conclusion, therefore is that we will need the offense to come through again and are unlikely to hold Milan to one goal. If we score, we go through and get to teach those car-thieving Scousers another lesson. |
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| Simon | May 2 2007, 09:30 AM Post #149 |
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Spot on. On that point, even while he was busy saving the penalties, Reina's home was being robbed, along with his Porsche. Only in Liverpool... :rolleyes: |
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| Merengue | May 2 2007, 09:36 AM Post #150 |
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Here is hoping all of us will be spared any future Champions League games between Liverpool and Chelsea anytime soon. Liverpool scored a nicely worked goal catching Chelsea napping on that free kick, Drogba had a chance where he shot right at Reina, Crouch headed on at the far post which Cech saved well and Kuyt had a couple of chances, one hitting the post, the other offside but other than that there wasn't much created at all by either team over 120 minutes of play. Yuck! I too will be hoping tonight's Milan-Manchester United game will help erase the nightmare which was both legs of Liverpool-Chelsea. I feel pretty confident it will. Like others here I think Man U's defense will be improved if one or both of Ferdinand and Vidic can make the team but Inzaghi will also help Milan as will the return of Gattuso in midfield. Looks like Maldini will miss the game but Kaladze will start in his place. |
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