Champions League Thread (the dawn of time - 2014)

[shantanu_rooney]

Just tell me which is the number on club in that list

Anyways I guess keeping in mind our away form this season, its going to be another 0-0 draw. No Rooney, Giggs and Scholes its going to be either Carrick, Anderson or Gibson along with Fletcher. We will need to stop Matat who has been their star player this season. Owen(hopefully he starts ahead of Chicharito) to score if United do score.

 

[JBlues08]

A good win against Marseille and it was a game we have to win considering Spartak Moscow won their match too. And I seriously hope Kalou, Benayoun, Lampard and even Bosingwa can make a quick comeback from their respective injuries because for the past two games, our bench looked slightly depressing. Half of them are young players and the others are senior players but are defenders except for Zhirkov. Not that the young players are bad or anything but we still need experience if things don't go our way in matches especially the big ones. We also need Lampard back for more creativity that was lacking at times.

 

[Haarithan]

Eagerly looking forward to united and barcelona matches. A loss for united and win for barca will not only take barcelona to 2nd in Club rankings but also reduce the gap between themselves and united to 5 points . Just read the way rankings are made and its flinging horrible to see that both europa league and the champions league are given equal weightage

 

[Ollie_H]

Real Madrid currently 2-0 up against AC Milan and look absolutely incredible on the counter attack and when they go forward. Cristiano Ronaldo is absolutely INCREDIBLE, he looks threatening every time he gets the ball and I reckon with Jose at the helm they could be back to their Galaticos days.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

The level of punditry in this country is awful.

"Mourinho has got more attacking as a coach". Just complete bollocks. No one's managed to point out the fundemental problem with Milan which is being totally over-ran in the wide areas. Milan started with Pato and Ronaldinho and neither are tracking back at all, which is hardly unexpected, and Ronaldo and Di Maria are just loving it at the moment. How it's only 2-0 is amazing.

 

[JBlues08]

Just watched the Spartak Moscow vs Chelsea game's highlights. Zhirkov goal was absolutely superb. Anelka should probably have scored more than one goal and Cech made some great saves too.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Milan's shape was awful and Madrid exploited it for the full 90 minutes. Allegri went with Pato, Ronaldinho and Ibrahimovic. None of these three tracked back, which was obviously expected but what this meant was that Milan were completely outnumbered in wide areas - which Ronaldo and co exploited excellently.

Allegri is clearly struggling to fit these excellent attacking players into a cohesive system, but then so would any coach. He needs to be brave and drop one of them. They just can't play like this.

 

[m_vaughan]

Milan's shape was awful and Madrid exploited it for the full 90 minutes. Allegri went with Pato, Ronaldinho and Ibrahimovic. None of these three tracked back, which was obviously expected but what this meant was that Milan were completely outnumbered in wide areas - which Ronaldo and co exploited excellently.

Allegri is clearly struggling to fit these excellent attacking players into a cohesive system, but then so would any coach. He needs to be brave and drop one of them. They just can't play like this.

Surprisingly, Ibra actually did track back a lot and was even helping out the defence on a number of occasions.

 

[War]

Bale so wasted being Welch. Should have been English.

 

[ARay]

I really do not think AC milan played like they did last year. I mean last year Pato had some inspiring moments.
Or maybe Jose prepared Real madrid better this year. *shrugs*

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Surprisingly, Ibra actually did track back a lot and was even helping out the defence on a number of occasions.

lol what I meant to say was that neither one of those three are known for tracking back and then go to the point that Ronaldinho and Pato staying far up the pitch meant they were outnumbered in wide areas. And the thing is, if you stay far up the pitch you can pressure the fullbacks and stop them from getting forward but they didn't do that either and were effectively being lazy.

 

[Bevab]

Did somebody see the Internazionale V/S Tottenham Hotspurs match? Bale was awesome out there. Its really sad to see them lose. They didn't have Van Der Vaart and King which is quite a problem. Eto'o played greatly despite racism threats against him.

 

[JBlues08]

Did somebody see the Internazionale V/S Tottenham Hotspurs match? Bale was awesome out there. Its really sad to see them lose. They didn't have Van Der Vaart and King which is quite a problem. Eto'o played greatly despite racism threats against him.

Yeah. His first goal was definitely a brilliant solo goal to remember.

 

[Haarithan]

Yeah. His first goal was definitely a brilliant solo goal to remember.

And his second was almost a carbon copy of the first , man what a talent !!!

 

[JBlues08]

Great performance by Spurs and most obviously, Gareth Bale. His contribution on the third goal was excellent and his pace is really frightening. At least that should keep that Fat Spanish Waiter's mouth shut and send him back to Italy with a defeat!

As for our game against Spartak Moscow, first half was pretty poor but we stepped up in the second half and eventually got what we wanted. Anelka's goal was great and Spartak's goal should have been disallowed as the scorer was in a offside position. Anyway, Zhirkov, Ramires, Anelka and Ivanovic in particular was great apart from his mistake for their goal. Also, I was hoping that we could seal the first spot tonight as well but that MSK Zilina have to get themselves thrashed by Marseille. Because of that, we still need at least a point to do so and it is achievable with Zilina next at the Bridge and nice to see the youngsters getting some game time in the remaining two games.