Flano wrote:
Shite all round for British teams last night.
I saw the Liverpool game myself, dire stuff from them. Porto controlled the game completley. Quaresma oozes class and Boswinga looks like a handy player too.
Agreed Flano. Liverpool were dreadful last night. Gerrard was shocking, as he was on Saturday. Agreed on Quaresma and Bosingwa.
This is incredible - were Liverpool involved in a dull away tie in the Champions League - never thought Iâd see the day !!!
All the English teams will qualify; big deal with Chelsea drawing, not the end of the world, and Rosenborg are a team who Chelsea will beat if they really need to.
Betting Preview for Matchday â1Bâ, not sure where it came from and take no responsibility etc etc; Iâd say my only bet will be a lay of Sporting Lisbon.
1pt Manchester United to be winning half-time/full-time at 5/2(BlueSq).
Rooneyâs back to help United rediscover their attacking spark.
1pt Cesc Fabregas to score anytime v Sevilla at 5/1 (Paddy Power). The
midfield star has scored five goals already and is full of confidence.
1pt Jean-Claude Darcheville to score anytime v Stuttgart at 11/4 (Paddy
Power). Darcheville looks set to start and can help Rangers secure crucial
win.
Sporting Lisbon v Manchester United
Wayne Rooney is set to make his Manchester United return in Lisbon on
Wednesday night and will no doubt be pivotal in helping Sir Alex Fergusonâs
side make a winning start to the Champions League campaign.
The England striker has been missing since fracturing his foot on the opening
day of the season against Reading. Since then United have struggled for goals
and theyâve yet to notch up a convincing victory.
The Premier League champions have won their last three matches just 1-0 and
had to rely on Nemanja Vidicâs late headed goal to steal the three points
against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Ferguson will still be without Owen Hargreaves along with fellow injury
victims John OâShea, Park Ji-Sung, Darren Fletcher, Gary Neville and Mikael
Silvestre, but weâre confident theyâll have too much in their locker for the
Portuguese outfit.
At evens for the victory theyâre perhaps a little too short but weâre keen to
take Blue Squareâs 5/2 about the visitors to be winning at half-time and
full-time.
Although current form suggests they may find it tough to do this, we think
the impact of Rooneyâs return will inspire them to rediscover the spark which
saw them reach last seasonâs semi-finals.
Sure, Sporting Lisbonâs home record in their domestic league has been
faultless so far with two wins out of two, but in the Champions League last
year they failed to impress.
Sporting finished bottom of their group behind Bayern Munich, Inter and
Spartak Moscow, losing two out of three at Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Of course, Wednesdayâs clash also sees the return of Cristiano Ronaldo and
Nani to their old club and theyâre sure to relish the challenge of silencing
a vociferous home crowd.
Verdict: Sporting Lisbon 0 Manchester United 2
Arsenal v Sevilla
Arsenal have hit the ground running at top speed and weâre backing them to
get three early points on the board against Sevilla.
Four wins and a draw has seen the Gunners charge to the top of the Premier
League, while their 5-0 aggregate drubbing of Sparta Prague in the qualifying
round of this competition further underlined their ruthless intentions.
Time and time again last term Arsene Wengerâs side were criticised for
striving too hard for perfection and lacking the fight on their travels, but
early indications this season suggest theyâve turned the corner.
On Saturday they produced some spectacular magic from the feet of Cesc
Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor to come from 1-0 down to beat arch rivals
Tottenham 3-1 at White Hart Lane.
Indeed Spanish midfield star Fabregas has been the inspirational driving
force behind Arsenal having netted five goals in just seven games and we must
therefore snap up the 5/1 available with Paddy Power about him to score
anytime on Wednesday night.
The 20-year-old has proved he can score from close range and from distance
and with his confidence full to the brim we wouldnât be at all surprised to
see him take the lead role once again.
We musnât forget Sevilla will provide tough opposition and theyâre arguably
rather underestimated by Sky Bet who make them 3/1 for the victory.
Last yearâs UEFA Cup winners are considered dark horses to go far in Europeâs
premier competition and they destroyed AEK Athens 6-1 on aggregate in their
qualifying tie.
The 4-1 triumph in Athens is the only time theyâve played away this season -
if we exclude the 3-1 defeat against AC Milan in the Super Cup - while their
impressive start to the Primera Liga has also sparked rave reviews.
Juande Ramosâ men dismantled both Getafe and Recreativo Huelva 4-1 in their
opening two games with Aleksandr Kerzhakov and Fredi Kanoute looking a lethal
strike pairing, but the challenge that awaits at the Emirates Stadium is
rather different.
Arsenal have won each of their last four games here, which is now a fortress,
and Sevilla could well be in for a reality check as they begin life with
Europeâs major players.
Verdict: Arsenal 2 Sevilla 1
Rangers v Stuttgart
Rangers open up their Champions League campaign on Wednesday night with
possibly the easiest fixture of their six group games, but this is not to say
Stuttgart are a soft proposition.
Walter Smithâs side undoubtedly find themselves in the âgroup of deathâ
alongside Barcelona, Lyon and the German champions and it will take a
Herculean effort to progress into the second round.
But such a tall order can only inspire them and theyâll head into the clash
at Ibrox knowing they must seal a crucial three points to give them an
platform on which to build upon.
Their dismal weekend performance at Hearts, where they were crushed 4-2 and
made several changes, clearly emphasised they had more than one eye on the
big European night ahead and therefore weâre not going to read too much into
that result.
Apart from the Tynecastle slip-up, theyâve won all their other SPL games and
have a superb 100 per cent record at home in all competitions this season -
including victories over Red Star Belgrade and FK Zeta in the qualifying
rounds.
Indeed itâs at Ibrox where theyâll need to be at their strongest and
Stuttgartâs very average start to their season suggests this could be the
perfect opportunity to play them.
The Bundesliga champions have lost both of their away games so far as they
lie a disappointing ninth in the table and even their manager Armin Veh
admits he would be happy with a draw.
While weâre confident of a home win on Wednesday night at odds of around 6/5
with most bookmakers, weâre going to turn our attention to the anytime
goalscoring market, where Jean-Claude Darcheville is a very tempting 11/4
with Paddy Power.
The Frenchman looks certain to start having been rested until half-time at
the weekend with three goals to his name so far we think heâs good value to
find the net again.
Verdict: Rangers 2 Stuttgart 0
Flano wrote:
Shite all round for British teams last night.
I saw the Liverpool game myself, dire stuff from them. Porto controlled the game completley. Quaresma oozes class and Boswinga looks like a handy player too.
++
strange that you would give things from a british perspective
what a great result for rosenberg -
FingalRaven wrote:
Flano wrote:
[quote]Shite all round for British teams last night.
I saw the Liverpool game myself, dire stuff from them. Porto controlled the game completley. Quaresma oozes class and Boswinga looks like a handy player too.
++
strange that you would give things from a british perspective
what a great result for rosenberg -[/quote]
If you think its strange you must be more delusional than I though. Of course Iâd see things from a british perspective. My football is mind has been anglicized from years of exposure. Much like Marie Currie and radiation, it killed her in the end.
Iâd consider Shakhtar a small team as well. Great result for them too.
Agreed Sledge. Great result for Shaktar. They put the game to bed early on. Considering Celtic cant win away from home in the CL they were never going to come back from that.
small teams dont spend 40 million in the summer
Castillo cost more alone than what WGS spent on Celtic
Id suppose if you thought like an English/Italian/Spainish football fan then you might consider them a small team
They are small Raven. Like you.
Im a fatcat like Chelsea
Yes they do. Celtic are a small team as well obviously, should have pointed that out.
60000 fans every 2nd week & european success befor suggests they are not
Bohs are a small team - portadown are a small team - eintracht triers are a small team -Shaktar are not
Shakhtar Donetsk are anything but a small team. I suppose Chelsea are a big club with their half full stadium and nouveau riche pedigree. Theyâre actually an identical club to Shakhtar in many respects but they donât have a real fanbase.
A terribly disappointing night for Celtic and a reality check if ever there was one. Sure weâre probably the slickest passing side in Europe on our day but weâre not consistently the best side in the continent as of yet. The most annoying aspect of the defeat was the elementary mistakes for the goals we conceded.
Scotty Brown gave a dodgy pass to Mick for the first but the first 5 minutes of an away champions league tie is not the time for your centre back to try bring the ball out of defence. As for the second, I have never liked our zonal marking system at the back, even when we played 3-5-2 under OâNeill and if any striker risked going for a header heâd be nearly decapitated by Mjallby, Balde or Valgaeren, and this cost us again last night. Anyone who knows anything about Serie A will know how prolific Lucarelli is in the air and to have Naylor on the back stick marking him was asking for trouble.
Fair enough it was a cracking header although having conceded headed goals at the far post at Falkirk, Moscow and now Donetsk, and each time to a striker latching on to one of our small full backs, itâs surely time for our centre backs to take responsibility for picking up the strikers for crosses rather than one covering the near post and the other the centre area in line with the penalty spot.
We looked distinctly better when Hartley came infield but if truth be told they had the better chances throughout and we were quite fortunate to escape a heavier defeat. Head-to-head record could be important in what looks like being a tight group so in that sense avoiding a 3 or 4 goal defeat might be crucial when we give them a thumping in Glasgow.
Ratings:
Boruc - 5.783: Couldnât be faulted for either goal (even though Rocko inexplicably tried to do just that for the first) and made two quality saves after that.
Wilson - 2.471: Not good enough in either half. Didnât get close enough to their players to prevent balls coming into the box and his own delivery was poor on the overlap.
Caldwell - 6.239: A solid shift by the much maligned centre back. A series of good challenges and blocks and was easily the best of the overworked back four.
McManus - 3.558: Messy play for the first goal and though he tried hard as always things didnât improve much for him from then onwards.
Naylor - 2.362: All at sea in the first half. Stood off them, never marked, tracked runs or tackled. Big improvement in the second half though.
Naka - 3.247: Very poor display by his own high standards. Sloppy passing at times and generally very tentative throughout.
Brown - 3. 638: Started badly and continued in that vein. Quite lucky not to be sent off after making a number of reckless tackles. Some of the people building him up on this thread need to take a good look at themselves. The bhoy has it all to prove.
Donati - 5.593: One of our better players on the night. Put himself about and made some surging runs forward.
Hartley * - 6.437: Star man. Steadied the ship when he came into the centre and showed a massive appetite for work in the trenches as well as being very neat on the ball.
McDonald - 5.712: Another of the few to come out of the game with any credit. Held it up admirably, had a decent effort turned away by their keeper and showed constantly fotr the ball.
Vennegoor of Hesselink - 5.328: Caused them a lot of problems in the air and worked tirelessly but the cold facts are he had two free headers from 8 yards out and didnât hit the target with either.
Subs:
MackEddy (copyright Liam Brady) - 4.563: Was pitched into a losing battle and wasnât able to turn things around.
Killen - 2.984: Put himself about which translates into âfouled the opposition constantlyâ. Missed a one-on-one after 86 minutes.
Zurawski - Not on long enough to be rated.
So, all in all thereâs probably a few positives to be taken out of the game. At least Chris Killen is now cup-tied in the Champions League so itâs unlikely that one of the Spanish or Italian sides will try to take him off us in January. We also kept the scoreline down and could have taken a more severe beating. Other than that it made for quite depressing viewing. The ante has been upped and it more or less means weâll need to take 4 points off Benfica, beat Donetsk at home and get a good result in one of the Milan games. Speaking of which our run of games adds a bit of pressure with Milan at home next followed by a trip to Lisbon. I have every faith in the manager and the team and expect them to turn things around.
FingalRaven wrote:
60000 fans every 2nd week & european success befor suggests they are not
Bohs are a small team - portadown are a small team - eintracht triers are a small team -Shaktar are not
Kajagoogoo.
Heres some big clubs
Real Madrid
Man Utd
AC Milan
Juventus
Chelsea
Barcelona
Bayern Munich
Liverpool
Inter Milan
Arsenal
Roma
Newcastle
Spurs
Schalke
Lyon
Man City
Everton
Valencia
Lazio
Bohemians
Shakhtar arenât
Ignoring your joke at the end Flano just why are the following teams big in your opinion:
Newcastle
Spurs
Man City
Everton
Lazio?
But Bohs are The Big Club
I know youâre trying to back me into a corner here rock because Im sure that you know my reason why Ive listed these teams here.
No I donât. I donât remember you listing them before. Thereâs no logic to your rationale anyway so Iâm not bothered whether you do or not.
Hereâs why I listed them, the one thing that matters
Bandage wrote:
A terribly disappointing night for Celtic and a reality check if ever there was one. Sure weâre probably the slickest passing side in Europe on our day but weâre not consistently the best side in the continent as of yet. The most annoying aspect of the defeat was the elementary mistakes for the goals we conceded.
Scotty Brown gave a dodgy pass to Mick for the first but the first 5 minutes of an away champions league tie is not the time for your centre back to try bring the ball out of defence. As for the second, I have never liked our zonal marking system at the back, even when we played 3-5-2 under OâNeill and if any striker risked going for a header heâd be nearly decapitated by Mjallby, Balde or Valgaeren, and this cost us again last night. Anyone who knows anything about Serie A will know how prolific Lucarelli is in the air and to have Naylor on the back stick marking him was asking for trouble.
Fair enough it was a cracking header although having conceded headed goals at the far post at Falkirk, Moscow and now Donetsk, and each time to a striker latching on to one of our small full backs, itâs surely time for our centre backs to take responsibility for picking up the strikers for crosses rather than one covering the near post and the other the centre area in line with the penalty spot.
We looked distinctly better when Hartley came infield but if truth be told they had the better chances throughout and we were quite fortunate to escape a heavier defeat. Head-to-head record could be important in what looks like being a tight group so in that sense avoiding a 3 or 4 goal defeat might be crucial when we give them a thumping in Glasgow.
Ratings:
Boruc - 5.783: Couldnât be faulted for either goal (even though Rocko inexplicably tried to do just that for the first) and made two quality saves after that.
Wilson - 2.471: Not good enough in either half. Didnât get close enough to their players to prevent balls coming into the box and his own delivery was poor on the overlap.
Caldwell - 6.239: A solid shift by the much maligned centre back. A series of good challenges and blocks and was easily the best of the overworked back four.
McManus - 3.558: Messy play for the first goal and though he tried hard as always things didnât improve much for him from then onwards.
Naylor - 2.362: All at sea in the first half. Stood off them, never marked, tracked runs or tackled. Big improvement in the second half though.
Naka - 3.247: Very poor display by his own high standards. Sloppy passing at times and generally very tentative throughout.
Brown - 3. 638: Started badly and continued in that vein. Quite lucky not to be sent off after making a number of reckless tackles. Some of the people building him up on this thread need to take a good look at themselves. The bhoy has it all to prove.
Donati - 5.593: One of our better players on the night. Put himself about and made some surging runs forward.
Hartley * - 6.437: Star man. Steadied the ship when he came into the centre and showed a massive appetite for work in the trenches as well as being very neat on the ball.
McDonald - 5.712: Another of the few to come out of the game with any credit. Held it up admirably, had a decent effort turned away by their keeper and showed constantly fotr the ball.
Vennegoor of Hesselink - 5.328: Caused them a lot of problems in the air and worked tirelessly but the cold facts are he had two free headers from 8 yards out and didnât hit the target with either.
Subs:
MackEddy (copyright Liam Brady) - 4.563: Was pitched into a losing battle and wasnât able to turn things around.
Killen - 2.984: Put himself about which translates into âfouled the opposition constantlyâ. Missed a one-on-one after 86 minutes.
Zurawski - Not on long enough to be rated.
So, all in all thereâs probably a few positives to be taken out of the game. At least Chris Killen is now cup-tied in the Champions League so itâs unlikely that one of the Spanish or Italian sides will try to take him off us in January. We also kept the scoreline down and could have taken a more severe beating. Other than that it made for quite depressing viewing. The ante has been upped and it more or less means weâll need to take 4 points off Benfica, beat Donetsk at home and get a good result in one of the Milan games. Speaking of which our run of games adds a bit of pressure with Milan at home next followed by a trip to Lisbon. I have every faith in the manager and the team and expect them to turn things around.
Agree with most of those ratings Bandage but Iâd have Naylor significantly lower than Wilson.
I didnât blame Boruc for the first goal, I just said if he had stayed on his line heâd have saved it because Brandao shot from outside the box in the end. The problem was he couldnât be sure that Caldwell would make it across to force him into hitting it early.
The goals weâre conceding at the back post are getting extremely repetitive. Itâs so easy for their strikers to drop onto our full backs and weâre doing nothing about it. Brandao did it at the other post later on in the first half and should have scored.