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| Champions League | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 13 2007, 02:00 PM (4,086 Views) | |
| libero | Feb 21 2008, 02:19 PM Post #196 |
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I think for a tall guy Crouch is a pretty poor header of the ball. Also note despite his height he often climbs on a defender's back so will get whistled for fouls. He's 6'6" he doesn't need to do that just jump! These two legged matches are like tennis, you want to hold your serve at home, every team but Celtic did that. For the teams that drew, Olympiakos and Arsenal with 0-0 home ties are actually in a pretty good position for the return games as a draw with a goal scored sends them through on away goals. Less comfortable but still in with a pretty decent chance on the road is Lyon after their 1-1 tie at home with Manchester United. In better position is Schalke who won at home by a single goal but held their opponents Porto to zero away goals which gives them some wiggle room in game 2. Then there are the teams like Fenerbahce and Roma who won at home by a single goal but had their opponents score away goals. These teams will have to be careful in their away trips but a draw will be enough to send them through. Finally there is Liverpool with what looks like a comfortable two goal lead going inot the 2nd game. A quick Liverpool goal and that series is over but an Inter goal will set up a tense finale to that match. So there is still a lot to play for in these games, the first half has ended and the second half should have some twists and turns. |
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| enganche | Feb 21 2008, 05:22 PM Post #197 |
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Bad news for Inter is that Ivan Cordoba blew his ACL out in that loss to Liverpool. I agree with the commments that he was holding Inter's defense together much like Milan did against Arsenal but that when Corodba went off injured and Mancini inexplicably did not use his last sub the defense tired and gave Liverpool the room to score those two late goals. |
| Prefiero morir de pie que vivir arrodillado | |
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| valenciano | Feb 22 2008, 12:27 AM Post #198 |
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libero, I still remember Crouch scoring the winning goal for England against Trinidad and Tobago in the World Cup by pulling on the defender's hair to keep him on the ground as Crouch lept up to score! I agree with you he shouldn't have to resort to that but he fouls practically every time he jumps up for a ball. And that isn't because he is so much taller than his opponents, other similarly tall players like Zigic, Toni or Koller don't foul like that. Barcelona did put on an exhibition of football at Celtic but let's wait to see if they can maintain that before annointing them world beaters. As somebody else wrote, Celtic are one of the weakest teams left in the Champions League. |
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| SuperEagle | Feb 22 2008, 12:55 AM Post #199 |
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Good call on Peter Crouch and his tendency to foul when leaping in the air. As written about here, it was hard to believe Adebayor missed that late header for Arsenal but with the way he has been scoring this season we Arsenal fans can't blame him too much. I agree with the thoughts expressed here that 0-0 at home isn't a bad result but it still means Arsenal will have to go to Milan and not lose. That can be accomplished especially if Milan is more adventurous which will give Arsenal more room to manoeuver but we all know Milan are a wily bunch. Should be a very tense second leg. Tevez' late goal made life easier for United but Lyon with Benzema and Ben Arfa still won't go quietly in the 2nd leg. Thanks to Tevez' late strike, Simon's theory of Manchester United not losing when Rooney plays still holds true! |
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| Simon | Feb 22 2008, 05:15 AM Post #200 |
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Haha, I wouldn't call it a 'theory' as such, just a statistic that's been doing the rounds that each of United's five defeats this season have been in games we played without Rooney. Unfortunately I don't think it follows that we're invincible when he's in the team, but he's clearly a key player for us! Re Crouch I would say IMO that a high percentage of times he's whistled when he jumps with a defender are when he hasn't actually done anything wrong. But it is true that heading is not the best part of his game. To be more specific, he's good at winning the ball in the air and bringing others into play, but he's not great at heading for goal. Maybe it's unfair that people automatically expect him to be great in the air simply because he's tall. His main strengths actually are on the ground, where he has good skill and shoots well with either foot. I can't understand why Benitez has used him so sparingly this season as he was Liverpool's top scorer last year with 18 goals, he's scored 11 CL goals in the last two seasons and 4 in 6 games in this year's CL and he has scored 14 goals in 25 England games. His figures stack up and certainly bear favourable comparison with those of Torres, yet Benitez at times has preferred to play the mediocre Kuyt or Voronin with Torres. Crouch does have good tecnique, but that doesn't mean it isn't a comical sight when he launches his long gangly frame into the air to score one of his overhead kicks! He's done it a few times now, and for those who haven't seen it I found this video with a couple of his overhead kicks as well as his hat-trick against Arsenal which does include a great header. The first goal on the video is great, but I challenge you to watch it without a smile on your face! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbsUjH7OlXY As for the Liverpool game, others have said that Liverpool didn't look like scoring until late on or until Cordoba was injured, which is mostly true although Torres got through one-on-one with the keeper, Hyypia had a decent headed chance and there was the Vieira handball - I don't recall which of those came before or after Cordoba's departure. But I do think this is missing the point somewhat. Liverpool were on a truly dreadful run of form and were at their lowest ebb after the Barnsley game. The very last thing that Inter should have considered doing was playing for a 0-0 draw against such vulnerable opponents. I can only remember one time when Inter came forward, Cambiasso shot well wide but Liverpool's defending didn't look great. Yet Liverpool must have quickly realised that they had nothing to fear from Inter at all, and that gave them the freedom and confidence to keep pushing forward. They're not playing well, so it wasn't inevitable that they would score, but Inter left themselves as hostages to fortune. For example whether Gerrard's form is good, bad or indifferent, it is idiocy to let him shoot from the edge of the box. Liverpool didn't even appreciably raise their game from the Barnsley debacle, the simple and surprising difference was that they didn't have to think about defending because they didn't have anything to defend. It comes to something when little Barnsley have the balls to attack Liverpool at Anfield but Inter do not. I have an Italian mate at work who supports Inter, and when all the 'Mourinho for Inter' rumours were flying around earlier this season, I asked him why that would be, and that surely Inter would be mad to get rid of a successful coach like Mancini. But he said that there's a big feeling in Italy that Mancini is not a great coach or tactician, that he's been fortunate to end up with such a powerful squad and that his Inter still often play as a bunch of talented individuals rather than as a team. I don't know how far I'd go along with that, but I know that Mancini didn't cover himself in glory on Tuesday. |
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| raconteur | Feb 22 2008, 03:01 PM Post #201 |
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Your Italian mate's comments are a quite popular one in Italy about Mancini. Call him the anti-Benitez if you will. He does great domestically but in Europe his teams stumble. We'll see what they do in the return game against Liverpool. As you say his coaching left a lot to be desired on Tuesday but I felt that last year Inter were unlucky in losing to Valencia on away goals. It takes more than just a talented roster to win games and any coach who has won Serie A as easily as Mancini's Inter did last year and appear to be doing this season isn't just throwing the ball out to the players and telling them to play, he has got to be doing something right there. |
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| Sergio | Mar 3 2008, 02:47 PM Post #202 |
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Time for the second leg games: Tuesday BARCELONA - CELTIC SEVILLA - FENERBAHCE MILAN - ARSENAL MANCHESTER UNITED - LYON Wednesday REAL MADRID - ROMA CHELSEA - OLYMPIACOS OPORTO - SCHALKE Tuesday 11 March INTER - LIVERPOOL Picking up where the discussion left off two weeks ago, I think all the games but Barcelona-Celtic are very evenly balanced and could go either way. Barca look in control of their game especially playing at home up 3-2 overall but all the other home teams still have their work cut out to do to win their series. |
| "You left as a champion, you will always be in our hearts. Rest in Peace Christian Benítez." | |
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| Martin | Mar 4 2008, 12:15 AM Post #203 |
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I agree with your comments Sergio. What makes these second leg games so fascinating is how important the first goal should be in these matches. Take for example Real Madrid-Roma, with Roma up 2-1 after their home leg. An early Roma goal puts them up 3-1 and requires Madrid to win by 3 goals to advance. Similarly a first goal from Real Madrid evens the aggregate score but has Madrid up on away goals. The same applies to all the other series, except Barcelona v Celtic so the first goal scored in these games will be vital. Something to look out for as we enjoy watching these matches. |
| Club Sportivo Desamparados | |
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| Pepe | Mar 4 2008, 06:40 AM Post #204 |
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What you've written is generally true Martin but let us see if the visiting teams come into these games determined to defend first or if they'll be looking to get that quick goal you discussed which could change the panorama so quickly. I think it more likely will be the first of the options I gave and the visitors will be trying to snatch a late goal to win it but a more offensive attitude from the opening whistle would make for a better spectacle. Looks like Roberto Carlos will miss Fenerbahce's game at Sevilla today. |
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| Winslow | Mar 4 2008, 02:17 PM Post #205 |
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Tuesday's second legs... . . . . . . Barcelona 1, Celtic 0 (4-2 aggregate). Man Utd. 1, Lyon 0 (2-1 aggregate). Milan 0, Arsenal 2 (0-2 aggregate). Sevilla 3, Fenerbahce 2 (5-5 aggregate; Fenerbahce advances 3-2 on PKs). So the holders are gone and two EPL teams are through, but it wasn't easy. Man U took a first-half lead after Lyon failed twice to clear a corner kick; C. Ronaldo picked up the loose ball and buried it. OL hit the post in the second half but got no closer. Meanwhile, the Gunners needed 20 minutes to wake up at the San Siro, but then dominated the rest of play. Fabregas finally broke the mutual schneid with six minutes to go, as his hopeful 30-meter shot passed between two defenders and just inside the post, beating the late dive by Kalac (he was screened). Adebayor added another in injury time, tapping in a cross from Walcott. It was another lukewarm effort by Milan, which had a few good moments but never seriously threatened Almunia. And the Austrian refs called a pretty poor match; the low point was Hleb being booked for diving after he was clearly brought down on the edge of the box. Barca needed only a Xavi first-half goal to control Celtic at the Camp Nou, but Messi hobbled off near the end. Sevilla took an early two-goal lead behind Alves and Keita (both from long distance) and led 3-1 at halftime, but Deivid scored with ten minutes to go to force extra time, which settled nothing. The Turks prevailed on PKs as keeper Volkan made three saves (Escude, Maresco, and Alves) to send Sevilla packing. Surprise! |
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| robdog | Mar 4 2008, 03:45 PM Post #206 |
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I will drink to that. Hail to Fenerbahce
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| Supporter for FCK, San Lorenzo, Chelsea, Pachuca, Corinthians & Real Betis | |
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| Simon | Mar 4 2008, 04:13 PM Post #207 |
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I don't have a great deal to add to Winslow's round-up. I was satisfied with United's play in the first half of our game, as Lyon hardly had a touch of the ball, although they defended quite stoutly. Carrick and Fletcher controlled the midfield and Rooney and Ronaldo looked liable to score. Ronaldo's goal was his 30th in 30 games, which for a winger is quite remarkable. I was a bit disappointed with our second half performance. Lyon never managed to get behind us or create any chances, although Keita hit the post when he chanced a shot, but United had various opportunities to put the game to bed and we spurned them through sloppy passing or poor decision-making. Overall we were quite comfortable but watching it was still a twitchy experience as we knew a Lyon goal out of the blue could send us into extra time. Still, it's pleasing to eliminate one of the better sides in the competition, and this was our 10th consecutive home win, which is apparently a CL record. Arsenal were excellent in Italy, they really dominated the game and were good value for their 2-0 win even if the goals came late. In a sense, this wasn't surprising in that Arsenal are top of the PL while Milan are 5th in Serie A, Arsenal are in good form this season while Milan aren't and Arsenal are young and fast while Milan in too many cases are quite old and slow. And yet it was never inevitable that Arsenal would go through because Milan have real know-how in this competition while many Arsenal players are novices at this level. But the Gunners really produced a great performance - as accustomed as they are to controlling league games with their passing and movement there are still not many teams who have that degree of control over a big game at San Siro. If results go as expected in the remaining four games, we could see all the Italian teams out of the CL by the end of the Round of 16, although I'm personally still hopeful of a big Inter win against Liverpool! Unfortunate injury for Messi, he pulled his hamstring and the word is that he'll be out for about 6 weeks. Still, Thierry Henry came on in his place so Barcelona aren't too badly off! There's no shame for Celtic in losing 4-2 to Barca, and it was a good learning experience for them. Finally, Fenerbahce conceded two terrible goals inside 9 minutes this evening, so it's impressive that they didn't go under, but rather managed to emerge on penalties. To qualify that statement, both goals were clean strikes of the ball but IMO were real howlers from Volkan, so it was nice for him to make the decisive penalty saves later on. |
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| rosarino | Mar 4 2008, 08:26 PM Post #208 |
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Yes this is unfortunate for Messi as sadly he's had a tendency in his young career to pick up hamstring problems. A similar injury he picked up last year just before Christmas kept him out for 5 weeks and he was just returning to form when he suffered this new injury. Volkan the Fenerbahce goalie came through big as Simon wrote and helped make up for his previous errors on those long range Sevilla shots. We haven't seen mnay Turkish clubs make it this far in the Champions League so it is good to see Fenerbahce make the quarters. Maybe their Greek rivals Olimpiacos can do the same tomorrow? More diveristy among the quarterfinalists is good for the tournament. Sorry English, Spanish and Italian fans but that's the way I see it. I was impressed with Arsenal's win. We all know of Milan's Champions League savvy but Arsenal used their midfield pressure to take Milan out of their game and that Cesc Fabregas long range shot was a great way to decide the series. Arsenal deserved the win. |
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| raconteur | Mar 4 2008, 10:13 PM Post #209 |
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As a Milan fan I am disappointed by their loss but there's no doubt Arsenal deserved the win. They controlled the midfield and it got me to thinking that maybe Milan's plan with Seedorf not available to sacrifice a midfielder and play two forwards Inzaghi and Pato plus Kaka ended up tilting the balance in favor of Arsenal in the midfield. While you'd think Milan would be more offensive with two forwards plus Kaka in fact because the midfield was outnumbered Milan's attack was less effective. Give Arsenal credit as they were able to win the ball in midfield and put Milan under pressure. Fabregas' shot may have been speculative but he had the time to line up his shot and he placed it well. I never like to hear about players getting injured so I was disappointed to read of Messi's latest injury setback. Hopefully this offseason Barcelona will put him on a physical regimen to strengthen his hamstrings. |
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| Dr. Z | Mar 4 2008, 11:49 PM Post #210 |
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It is disheartening for Barcelona fans like myself to see Messi get injured again. These hamstring injuries are occurring frequently to him. I don't know what can be done to help prevent those, Michael Owen is another player who comes to mind who suffered (still suffers?) from this same problem but if there is a way to strengthen one's hamstrings then Barcelona needs to have Messi undergo that treatment. Against Celtic, Barcelona were cruising, the early goal by Xavi, and he's playing well know, put them so far in front that the rest of the game they were able to play in 2nd gear and still emerged comfortable winners. Time to think of the league and getting Messi healthy. Hopefully he can return for the 2nd leg of the quarterfinal but you also don't want to rush his return and see him reinjure himself once more. As Simon wrote, with Henry and there's also Giovani Dos Santos and Bojan Krkic available too, Barcelona shouldn't be hurting for attacking options. Still Messi's exciting presence will be missed. |
| Poniendo el pecho a las balas! | |
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