396 replies to this topic

[Zomp]

Ossie, What the fuck has gotten into Mario Gomez? He used to be a punchline after Euro 2008...now he's scored 59 goals in 59 games for Bayern (who look fantastic, btw).

Ronaldo scored 2 today to make it 100 goals in 105 games for Real.

[SoxFanInCali]

Man City lost to Napoli 2-1. They need to beat Bayern and hope Napoli doesn't beat Villarreal (who is 0-5 in the group stages) on Matchday 6, or they are Europa League bound.

Man United only managed a draw with Benfica at Old Trafford. They will play Basel in Switzerland and will likely need at least a draw to advance. A Basel win and a Benfica win or draw against winless Otelul Galati would knock the Mancs out.

Bayern, Inter, and Real Madrid have all advanced to the knockout stages. Ajax are 3 points and +7 GD up on Lyon, so they are likely through. The other 4 spots from Groups A, B, C, and D are up for grabs.

[Vinho Tinto]

Man United only managed a draw with Benfica at Old Trafford. They will play Basel in Switzerland and will likely need at least a draw to advance. A Basel win and a Benfica win or draw against winless Otelul Galati would knock the Mancs out.

ManU controls their own fate for the knockout stage. A win/draw and they are thru, while defeat will have them in the Europa League.

They can still win the group with a victory in Belgium and SLB dropping points to Otelul.

Benfica has qualified for the knockout stage and has the tiebreakers against Basel and ManU, so 3 points wins the group.

It looks like City is screwed.

Edited by Vinho Tinto, 22 November 2011 - 06:19 PM.

[SoxFanInCali]

Thanks, VT. I was going off the tables on ESPN right after the game that showed Man U ahead of Benfica. Looks like they've corrected it and put Benfica up top.

[Vinho Tinto]

Thanks, VT. I was going off the tables on ESPN right after the game that showed Man U ahead of Benfica. Looks like they've corrected it and put Benfica up top.

It's confusing since ManU has the better total differential; but the 1st three tiebreakers are head to head results, total head to head goals, and then head to head away goals.

[Zomp]

Very impressed with Aimar, VT.

United likely qualifying second means there will be an excellent chance they'll play one of Barca, Real, or Bayern in the opening round

[Vinho Tinto]

Very impressed with Aimar, VT.

Best season since arriving from Valencia. Having that year where a player fully understands his game, but is on the edge of losing it physically. Jesus does a good job of managing his minutes. So good at shielding the ball away from the defender, regardless of the angle they are on them.

He's a free agent after this year. I'm sure he'd like to play for River, but I could see him getting one final big paycheck from a Greek or Turkish team.

United likely qualifying second means there will be an excellent chance they'll play one of Barca, Real, or Bayern in the opening round

Bitch, please. You'll get APOEL and play in a stadium full of Mancs in Cyprus.

Edited by Vinho Tinto, 22 November 2011 - 07:36 PM.

[SoxFanInCali]

If they qualify at all, of course.

[mikeford]

Very impressed with Aimar, VT.

United likely qualifying second means there will be an excellent chance they'll play one of Barca, Real, or Bayern in the opening round

Speaking from fan experience, on the one hand yeah that sucks. On the other hand theres the chance for this:

[SoxFanInCali]

Or better yet, actually winning the tie.

Edited by SoxFanInCali, 22 November 2011 - 10:28 PM.

[DLew On Roids]

Zlatan vs Barcelona today. I can't wait. Abidal might get a roundhouse kick right under his nose.

[teddykgb]

City is obviously in a lot of trouble, but getting out of that group was always going to be difficult. Napoli has been on fire all season and I think they're likely to get a bit deeper than most would think. City certainly could have won both matches against them, but they're quite a natural counter attacking team and are likely to get anyone who is wasteful of their scoring opportunities.

[Zomp]

ZLATAN

[SoxFanInPdx]

Chelsea have some huge issues on that backline. That was awful, but funny.

[SoxFanInCali]

There is a possibility that 3 of the 4 English teams won't get out of the group stages. Man U isn't likely to lose to Basel, but Valencia could definitely get a result against Chelsea the way they are playing right now. Man City is screwed unless they get a lot of help.

[sachmoney]

There is a possibility that 3 of the 4 English teams won't get out of the group stages. Man U isn't likely to lose to Basel, but Valencia could definitely get a result against Chelsea the way they are playing right now. Man City is screwed unless they get a lot of help.

Who would have thought that of the English teams, with our start to the season, Arsenal would be the only ones through with the group won heading into match day 6‽

[Snakebauer007]

Chelsea have some huge issues on that backline. That was awful, but funny.

Huge issues overall with the system and lack of capable players being used in the system right now, AVB is stubborn

[SoxFanInPdx]

Huge issues overall with the system and lack of capable players being used in the system right now, AVB is stubborn

As a Chelsea fan, do you think AVB lasts until the New Year? I keep reading he may get canned, but I have a hard time thinking that will happen.

[Snakebauer007]

As a Chelsea fan, do you think AVB lasts until the New Year? I keep reading he may get canned, but I have a hard time thinking that will happen.

I hope not, the carousel of managers is a huge detriment, and I do like him, but he needs to sort a lot of shit out right now. Our defensive woes are frustrating to no end. It's starts with him wanting to have a team that presses, but we have so many lazy players who just dont(Drogba, Malouda, Sturridge, even Lampard). Then there is the high defensive line and offside trap and everything that is wrong with it from Terry and Alex being to slow, to Ivanovich being unable to foucs on executing the trap when playing CB to Ashley COle aging 5 years this summer, to Bosingwa being awful. Ancelotti was stubborn in terms of players, AVB is system stubborn, hopefully he wises up quickly or picks up and clears out players soon

[mikeford]

Man, there are so many spots still up for grabs going into Matchday #6.

Group A - #2 spot still technically up for grabs between Napoli and Man City
Group B - #2 spot still up for grabs for all 3 other teams
Group C - #1 and #2 spot up for grabs for 3 teams
Group D - Basically solidified
Group E - #1 and #2 spot up for grabs for 3 teams
Group F - #2 spot up for grabs between Olympiakos and OM and Dortmund hasn't TECHNICALLY been eliminated either
Group G - #1 and #2 spot up for grabs for 3 teams
Group H - Barca and AC Milan through.

[SoxFanInCali]

There is a possibility that 3 of the 4 English teams won't get out of the group stages. Man U isn't likely to lose to Basel, but Valencia could definitely get a result against Chelsea the way they are playing right now. Man City is screwed unless they get a lot of help.

Sometimes being wrong is awesome.

[mikeford]

Holy. fucking. shit.

What a fucking day.

FC Basel. LYON making up a -7 GD to go through.

Unbelievable, I love football.

[Snakebauer007]

Holy. fucking. shit.

What a fucking day.

FC Basel. LYON making up a -7 GD to go through.

Unbelievable, I love football.

That Lyon game might need investigating, just saying.

[mikeford]

Yeah, I've heard that from some people who watched the Ajax/RM match. I guess Ajax had 2 goals disallowed in that match as well.

[Tony the Pony]

Fuckin BEAUTIFUL!

The two disallowed ajaks goals should have counted. And there's absolutely no doubt whatsoever Dinamo sold that game at half-time. I wonder who ended up making like bandits? Albanians? Russians? Chinese? I heard a few bookie sites were unavailable during the second half of that match.

Have been watching the highlights for the last two hours. The defenders, the keeper. They are actually doing a worse job than Malta did against Spain.

[Infield Infidel]

As far as I can discern from the following, Lyon still would have advanced had Ajax's two goals counted, via tie-breaker #7 (They drew both head-to-head matches 0-0).Is this correct?

1 higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2 superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3 higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4 higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
5 If, after applying criteria 1) to 4) to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, the criteria 1) to 4) will be reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams;
6 superior goal difference from all group matches played;
7 higher number of goals scored from all group matches played;
8 higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.

But either way it's undoubtedly fishy

Edited by Infield Infidel, 08 December 2011 - 01:17 AM.

[Tony the Pony]

As far as I can discern from the following, Lyon still would have advanced had Ajax's two goals counted, via tie-breaker #7 (They drew both head-to-head matches 0-0).Is this correct?

Yes. But if those two goals goals would have counted, the result would likely not be 2-3, anyway. Plus, if Lyon would have needed to score, say, 9 goals in Zagreb, Dinamo woudl have conceded 9 goals.

You could see this coming from miles away, though. Real Madrid even decided to play without B-Win on their jerseys out of sympathy of what was about to happen, ha ha

[goyangfc]

Not that this really matters to anyone, but the best thing that came out from yesterday was Park Joo-Ho making it to the Round of 16 with Basel. The guy started from J2-League in 2008 and signed with Basel this past summer from the options he had pretty much solely on the fact that Basel had qualified for the CL. I'm hoping he becomes the next Lee Young-Pyo who had played for Fulham for a few seasons after doing his thing with Park Ji-Sung during their PSV years.

[SoxFanInCali]

Not that this really matters to anyone, but the best thing that came out from yesterday was Park Joo-Ho making it to the Round of 16 with Basel. The guy started from J2-League in 2008 and signed with Basel this past summer from the options he had pretty much solely on the fact that Basel had qualified for the CL. I'm hoping he becomes the next Lee Young-Pyo who had played for Fulham for a few seasons after doing his thing with Park Ji-Sung during their PSV years.

Only one Park was going to make the final 16, and I can't tell you how happy I am that it was that one.

[mikeford]

Only one Park was going to make the final 16, and I can't tell you how happy I am that it was that one.

Only one, eh?

[SoxFanInCali]

I meant in that game, but fine.

I was going to make a joke about every Korean footballer being named Park, but looking at their 2010 World Cup team, it only contained 2 Parks. There were 6 Lees and 7 Kims, though.

[goyangfc]

I was going to make a joke about every Korean footballer being named Park, but looking at their 2010 World Cup team, it only contained 2 Parks. There were 6 Lees and 7 Kims, though.

That sums up the family/last (sur)names in Korea, actually. The top three are (in descending order):
1. Kim
2. Lee
3. Park

Luckily, my last name is very, very rare.

Edited by goyangfc, 09 December 2011 - 09:54 AM.

[Tony the Pony]

Luckily, my last name is very, very rare.

I hope your first name is, too

[ossie schreckengost]

sometimes you just have to admire the fascist uefa and its´ über-troll, platini.

when everyboy knows that olympique lyonnais at halftime just walked into zagreb´s locker room and bought the match for cash right there -

platini is musing about üfa´s inquiries into the dark arts of sports betting and stuff, and there´s nothing to see. move along.

he´s pretending the people responsible for that great 2nd half are to be found - IF there´s any foul play at all - on the betting circuit.

when everybody and his uncle perfectly knows it was those dirty croatians who, true to form, sold that game to the french at halftime to cover their expences.

but since it was ajax ("ajax ist zum putzen da!") that was fucked, i´m all with them dirty croatians.

[goyangfc]

I hope your first name is, too

haha it's not, unfortunately. One of the Wonder Girls is Yubin lol.

[PedroSpecialK]

I'm waiting for the formation of Korean pop supergroup Three Sa Company, with Eubene, Eugene, and Eumene.

Edited by PedroSpecialK, 10 December 2011 - 01:41 PM.

[Zomp]

is anyone else watching this Benfica/Zenit game? It might be the worst game I've ever seen.

[TapeAndPosts]

Caught a couple minutes, turned it off. Looks like the end was exciting, though.

Like the rest of the world, mostly waiting for Milan/Arse.

[sachmoney]

It's no surprise that the San Siro pitch is absolute rubbish:

People these days take no pride in the upkeep of their lawns.

Lineups:

AC Milan v Arsenal line-ups
AC Milan: Abbiati, Abate, Mexes, Thiago Silva, Antonini, Seedorf, Van Bommel, Nocerino, Boateng, Ibrahimovic, Robinho. Subs: Amelia, Alexandre Pato, Nesta, Ambrosini, Bonera, Emanuelson, El Shaarawi.
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Song, Rosicky, Walcott, Ramsey, Arteta, van Persie. Subs: Fabianski, Henry, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Djourou, Arshavin, Benayoun, Coquelin.
Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

The average age of that Milan side is 74.

A lot of people might complain about Ox's exclusion from the starting line up, but I'm fine with this. Get a foothold early, bring him in as a spark later in the match. Should be a good game.

Edited by sachmoney, 15 February 2012 - 02:27 PM.

[Vinho Tinto]

is anyone else watching this Benfica/Zenit game? It might be the worst game I've ever seen.

It was -15 Celsius at kickoff. The field was cement. Both teams gave up on building an attack and went with 1980s long balls. Only Shirkov's goal at 1-1 displayed class.

The good news for SLB are the two away goals. The bad news is Aimar picking up a yellow and missing the return leg. Also, Rodrigo having to be subbed out after landing hard following a Bruno Alves tackle. Hopefully, Javi Garcia will be ready to go as he was missed.

[Zomp]

Boateng. What a player.

[Vinho Tinto]

Boateng. What a player.

Why is he the former Spurs player and not former Portsmouth? Pompey gets no love.

[mikeford]

This pitch at San Siro is a complete and utter joke.

[mikeford]

Arsenal looks like total shit. Scoring at all would be a miracle.

[PedroSpecialK]

Ibrahomovic with two great long passes to end the half, surprised Antonini was carded there.

Ouch. Vermaelen slips and Robinho makes him pay.

Edited by PedroSpecialK, 15 February 2012 - 03:56 PM.

[mikeford]

Nice game jerkoffs. Burn those yellow kits and never speak of this match again.

[cjdmadcow]

Thought I'd pop in to see how the loyal Arse fans are viewing tonights match. In entirely the way I anticipated, to be honest. At least you'll get loads more cash to put in the bank when RVP leaves in the summer.

[mikeford]

Thought I'd pop in to see how the loyal Arse fans are viewing tonights match. In entirely the way I anticipated, to be honest. At least you'll get loads more cash to put in the bank when RVP leaves in the summer.

Is there a different way to view getting smashed out of the Champions League 4-0 that I am unaware of?

[cjdmadcow]

Is there a different way to view getting smashed out of the Champions League 4-0 that I am unaware of?

To be fair, it was only 3-0 when I posted and I seem to remember a side coming back from that score v Milan in the Champions League. That was only in 45 minutes too.

[DLew On Roids]

According to the Guardian's MBM, Boateng used to play in a 5-a-side league in Croyden when he was at Spurs because he couldn't get in their squad.

And I was on record as wanting Liverpool for buy him when Pompey went down. I think Milan got him for like 4M.