Real Football (Soccer to you Yanks) Thread

[porterjack]

just sayin

Looks like germans

Ijs

 

[Springsteen]

It worries me that Blackburn's owners can't see the problem is them.

 

[Springsteen]

Beat Cluj 2-1 in the second game in the second half. A game I would describe as uncomfortably comfortable. Went behind early on with a sloppy goal, but we were always dominating the possession. Robin Van persie equalised with a shoulder flick on. Early in the second half he capitalised on a indecisive keeper to cheekily flick the ball in. In the end we held possession well enough (73% overall) and apart from the odd moment, looked well enough. I'll take 3 points.

 

[Springsteen]

Man City get their first point of the Champions League with a 1-1 home draw with Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund were excellent throughout and deserved to win. They didn't take their chances sadly and you have to at this level, including a glaring miss from Robert Lewandowski. Ballotelli equalised with a penalty which looked slightly fortunate in the last minute. City on 1 point, Dortmund on 4, Real on 6 with Ajax on 0 with City playing a double header against Ajax next which they have to get 6 points from you'd think, and when they meet Real Madrid in November they really have to be ahead of Dortmund by that time. If they aren't qualification will be tricky.

Arsenal got a nice win against Olympiakos 3-1 at home to win 2 out of 2.

 

[skyblue]

britains best chance in the champions league this season are arsenal.united are a shadow of what they once were,chelsea cant get that lucky again and man city are still learning.....madrid or barca this year

 

[Springsteen]

If Arsenal are our biggest hopes we have problems. They are for me too....I dunno, lacking in a couple of players perhaps. they're good, but they won't get anywhere near the Champions League. We aren't the team we were, agreed. But I'd still place us above Arsenal in terms of being able to win this competition, we should now go on to get out of this group we're in. I doubt we'll win it because there are better teams there. You say Chelsea can't get that lucky this time...well they weren't meant to get that lucky last time. They have good quality but agree on the general point that they won't win it, or shouldn't. Man City are still learning at this level, they could still get out of this group but to do that now they have to win 3 of the next 4 games, including winning in Dortmund. I reckon anyway.

I'd place Barca and Real Madrid as about joint favourites. Real should win that group, Barca will easily win theirs. As for who else would be favourites.....I really don't know, it's quite open this year.

 

[porterjack]

britains best chance in the champions league this season are arsenal.united are a shadow of what they once were,chelsea cant get that lucky again and man city are still learning.....madrid or barca this year

Until cov get in

 

[Springsteen]

very good.

 

[Springsteen]

England beat San Marino 5-0. Pointless. San Marino have no right to be in this stage of qualification, it doesn't do them any good whatsoever. Doesn't do the teams that play them any good either. England having 86% possession and 33 shots to 1 says it all. This farcical part of International football has to end.

 

[Springsteen]

I said at the weekend that Saturday's 4-2 win over Stoke summed up our season. Well this match might come closer still. A 3-2 win over Braga where we certainly had to work for it, and certainly deserved it. Poor marking in the second minute allowed the Braga forward Alan to sneak in and finish well. After 20 he did it again, and all looked lost. However with us we defend poorly but attack greatly, and before half time Hernandez headed us back in the game, then had a goal wrongly ruled out. The formation switch at half time helped and when Jonny Evans poked in a Van Persie corner the comeback was complete, but 2-2 wouldn't have been enough and so Hernandez headed in a Cleverley cross to make it 3-2. It's never been dull this season.

 

[Springsteen]

Qualified and won our Champions League group with a rather hard working win over Braga. 3-1 in the end looks straightforward but it really wasn't. A first half where we just passed the ball around with a few chances. Braga looked dangerous coming forward a bit. Early in the second half they get a penalty and score it. The floodlights then chose to fail, leading to a 12 minute delay. When play was resumed the game took the same pattern before the keeper chose to commit suicide by rushing into no man's land, allowing Van Persie to finish well. After that we got a penalty ourselves when Rooney was tripped. Rooney himself dispatched the penalty. A Hernandez goal rounded things off nicely, though he took his time about it. After last year's debacle, it has been well and truly laid to rest.

In other news Chelsea beat Shakhtar 3-2 at Stamford Bridge to keep their hopes alive, and will qualify with a win in Juventus, who need a win themselves. Celtic beat Barcelona 2-1 at Celtic Park to keep their hopes alive, a win for them against Benfica will qualify them. Arsenal drew 2-2 with Schalke last night but should still qualify. Man City are pretty much out after only drawing with Ajax 2-2, they need to win both their remaining games and hope other results fall their way.

 

[porterjack]

Celtic beat Barca

 

[Springsteen]

They did because they hit Barca with things they couldn't cope with. Observe the two goals tonight, go back and watch the goal Celta Vigo scored on Saturday. That's how you score against Barcelona. At the moment anyway when the defence isn't the best.

They really should go for a draw in Benfica and then beat Spartak at home, because Barcelona will almost certainly beat Benfica at home. That or beat Benfica.

Bayern are ridiculously ruthless. 6-1 home win over Lille.

 

[porterjack]

Rangers in scots third div
Celtic beat Barcelona

Ten years ago if i said that you would have laughed

 

[Springsteen]

Zlatan's goal

I applauded it, I'll be honest. It's scary how great that goal is. Look at that bastard defender trying to clear it off the line.

 

[Springsteen]

Oh Puyi, Barca have missed you and your comedy.

 

[Springsteen]

Chelsea lose 3-0 to Juventus in the Champions League to leave Chelsea's qualification on a knife edge. To qualify now Chelsea have to beat Nordsjland in the final game and hope Shahktar beat Juventus to qualify.

We lost to Galatasaray in Turkey in a match which meant everything to the Turks insomuch as with that win, they are in pole position to qualify. They need to make sure Cluj (who play us away) don't better their result. Phil Jones got 90 minutes which is a positive. Neither side's performance was fantastic. Galatasaray were better but the end aim for both totally differered which may have added to the generally poor quality of the game.

Celtic lose 2-1 to Benfica but still would fancy qualifying. To do so they need to better Benfica's result in the last game. Benfica travel to Barcelona (who have wrapped it all up) and Celtic play Spartak at home.

 

[Springsteen]

Manchester City go out of the Champions League in the group stage for the second year running after drawing 1-1 at home to Real Madrid. A win would have kept City just about in, but after falling behind to Karim Benzema's early strike (after some appalling defending from Maicon) it became doubly difficult. A penalty from Sergio Aguero leveled matters but in the end it wasn't enough. In truth 3 points from a possible 15 and not one win is far from good enough from a team who should be doing better. But in truth they haven't improved really from last year and you need to. Yes they won the league, but they're lacking a lot still.

Arsenal go through with a 2-0 win over Montpellier. For all of Wenger's perceived faults, 13 consecutive seasons of qualifying for the Champions League knock out stages is very impressive.

 

[Springsteen]

2-2 draw between us and West Ham in the FA Cup. A dominant opening half from us possession wise led to a 1-1 half time scoreline. Cleverley scored the opener in the 23rd minute with a neat finish. Collins then headed West Ham level shortly after before doing it again in the second half. An awful performance from us mostly but we'll always find a way, and Van Persie scores the equaliser brilliantly in stoppage time to deny West Ham a famous win. After having about 96% possession in the second half (it wasn't but it felt like that) we could have got more, but created very little. We'll take the replay.

 

[Springsteen]

We wom the replay of that game 1-0 in a match where we did everything in our power to only win 1-0. The goal which opened the scoring came in the 10th minute when a pinpoint ball from Anderson found Hernandez's run. The Mexican's ball across the goal found an unmarked Rooney who did the rest. After that the half, and the game in general got scrappy. The closest we came to adding to our scoreline was when Nani saw his shot cleared off the line. In the second half early West Ham pressure nearly paid off but didn't, and when Ryan Giggs's attempted cross hit the hand of a West Ham defender, Wayne Rooney had the chance to wrap up the win. However Sergio Ramos's penalty from last year's semi final found itself in good company when Rooney blazed the ball over. In the end we saw the game out and advance to the fourth round for a meeting with Fulham in 10 days time.