Pep was ingrained in the Barcelona way. He played there and managed their B team.
Understood, a second team.
That’s an extremely dumb thing to say.
Fucking hell, you managed to get even dumber. This might be a bit oxmoronic, but that’s some achievement to out dumb the previous post. Well done, I think.
Good report from John Kenny earlier on last night’s Atletico Madrid-Milan clash. Kaka headed home an Andrea Pirlo cross apparently.
Quite unlike you
Incidentally Tony O Donghue was interviewing Fabregas earlier, what a cushy fucking number that man has.
Would it excite you to be interviewing fab?
I think I would find it tedious.
[quote=“caoimhaoin, post: 915851, member: 273”]Would it excite you to be interviewing fab?
I think I would find it tedious.[/quote]
Fab 
I know @Bandage is good mates with Daniel Taylor of the Guardian but his match report from last night is another example of English clubs’ players and management and media of propagating the same tired “hard done by” line with regard to refereeing.
Taylor, in fairness, acknowledges Barcelona’s superiority but his passage on the officiating makes no mention of the Barcelona penalty they should have had, nor their incorrectly disallowed goal, nor Kompany’s persistent fouling. And in referring back to the first leg, he makes no reference to the fact that Barcelona were arguably equally or more hard done by in that game too.
By that stage they were down to 10 men after another refereeing decision that will convince Pellegrini his team suffered badly over the two ties because of poor officiating. City were convinced they should have been awarded a penalty for Gerard Piqué’s 78th-minute challenge on the substitute Edin Dzeko but the French referee, Stéphane Lannoy, waved play on and Pablo Zabaleta took his protests so far that he was shown a second yellow card.
City had a reasonable grievance on a night when Pellegrini was already barred from the dugout because of his lacerating post-match comments about the Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson after the first leg.
[quote=“Rocko, post: 915886, member: 1”]I know @Bandage is good mates with Daniel Taylor of the Guardian but his match report from last night is another example of English clubs’ players and management and media of propagating the same tired “hard done by” line with regard to refereeing.
Taylor, in fairness, acknowledges Barcelona’s superiority but his passage on the officiating makes no mention of the Barcelona penalty they should have had, nor their incorrectly disallowed goal, nor Kompany’s persistent fouling. And in referring back to the first leg, he makes no reference to the fact that Barcelona were arguably equally or more hard done by in that game too.[/quote]
I’ll touch base with Danny and see where he’s coming from. He’s a Forest fan but was a beat reporter following the Manchester clubs for years so there may be a little bit of bias having crept in there.
Didi fairly clamps Arsenal and the EPL here. @The Wild Colonial Bhoy will be seething.
Former Bayern[/URL] Munich midfielder [URL=‘http://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_person=Dietmar%20Hamann&article=true’]Dietmar Hamann[/URL] has dismissed Arsene Wenger’s suggestion that the sending off of goalkeeper [URL=‘http://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_person=Wojciech%20Szczesny&article=true’]Wojciech Szczesny was the decisive moment in the two-legged Champions League tie between his old club and Arsenal.
After Tuesday’s 1-1 draw in Munich, the Arsenal boss had claimed: “what made the difference was the decision to send our goalkeeper off in the first game. That decision had a huge impact.”
But speaking yesterday in Dublin at the launch of Carlsberg’s “#Jointhegreats” campaign (see facebook.com/carlsbergfootball), Hamann insisted the gulf between the two teams was far greater and suggesting no English team is good enough to win the Champions League in the foreseeable future.
“I don’t know here he gets that from,” said the 40 year-old former German international when asked about Wenger’s comments.
“If he thinks the sending off had any impact on the outcome of the two legs, he must have watched different games because they (Bayern) outclassed them.
“Arsenal had 12 per cent possession in the second half at the Emirates . . . it was embarrassing. Sometimes it can be harder playing against 10 men but Bayern Munich used the man advantage and just absolutely annihilated them in the second half.
12% possession
“Twelve per cent possession? If you turn it around the other way; if Bayern Munich had a player sent off, do you think Arsenal would have had 90 per cent possession? I don’t think so.
“No, Bayern Munich are in a different league. Full stop. The English teams are way behind what’s required to win the Champions League. I think that was obvious.”
Hamann was similarly unconvinced by Wenger’s suggestion that Bayern are “more vulnerable” this season than last with the former Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester City player acknowledging that defending their European title may be more difficult than winning it in the first place was but arguing that with the players they have added and Pep Guardiola in the dugout they are exceptionally well-equipped for the task.
“The manager’s got them on their toes; I think that’s the biggest difference he has made. They were a great team last year but I think their mentality… he did it at Barcelona, they played at this (indicates high with his hand) level for four or five years, won 15 or 16 trophies out of 20-odd, and I think he instilled that belief and mentality that: ‘While we are the best, we’ve got to make the most of it’.
“I think Bayern have the belief now, because they lost two finals don’t forget, against Inter and Chelsea. And I think to come back after the Chelsea disappointment and win it the way they did the season after showed what a formidable side they are; what great character they’ve got. If anyone can defend it, it will be them. They look the real deal.”
And if they do that, he suggests, they will have a claim on being the best club side ever.
“I think you can make a case for them being better than Barcelona because Barcelona relied on one player. Bayern Munich don’t.
“But, yes, of course they are stoppable. In a one-off game, in a final, anything can happen.
As for the big English clubs, he says, for all the money they have spent they lack the number of top quality players they had a few years back.
“England had the golden generation - even though they were probably just only silver because they never did it in a tournament - and there were world class (foreign) players in abundance at every team.
“You look at it now: how many players would get in a World XI. Would a Manchester United player? At the time you had Keane, Van Nistelrooy, Beckham, Scholes, Stam; you could have made a world XI out of Premier League players. Now, you would struggle to find three.”
Thanks mate. That’s all I ask. Don’t fall out over it.
[QUOTE=“mickee321, post: 909623, member: 367”]right again as usual so i am,
they could really just cancel the second legs now.
This is one very boring game in Istanbul, both of the Galatasaray FBs are awful, awful players, chelsea are pulling the piss here , they will close this in the first 20 mins in London, so they will.[/QUOTE]
The first leg may have been boring but this is worse. Chelsea in complete control but Galatasaray have offered absolutely nothing.
How the fuck did juventus let those jokers get through instead of them
This competition gets a little bit more shit every year.
Euroleague of all the rich mobs and be done with it ta fuck.
Coyle and Kerr going nuts at Drogba running around as if it was a testimonial.
They have a point.
Jese ruptured his ACL in last night’s Royal Madrid-Shkalk Oh Four match and, needless to say, will miss the rest of the season and the World Cup.
Giggs and Ferdinand start for Manchester United.
Last European game for Giggs.
De Gea; Rafael, Jones, Ferdinand, Evra; Valencia, Carrick, Giggs, Welbeck; Rooney, Van Persie.
Moyes explaining his tactics.
Disappointing panel from RTÉ.