Scholes is pure gold. And guess what sports fans heās Utdās and no other fooks will ever have him. Gerrard shove him up your hole. Lampardā¦ well stick Gerrard up there actually. Whoās next? Really doesnāt matter.
If united had lost a goal at the end it could have resulted in the end of the league as the confidence would have been shattered. Now they have a European Cup Final to look forward to and two must wins game to retain the league.
My ratings tonight:
Manchester United -
Van der Sar: 5 - Poor kicking and uncertain handling. His form of late suggests he needs replacing next season.
Hargreaves: 7 - Good, solid display.
Ferdinand: 9 - Superb over both legs. Saw off Etoāo with class and ease.
Brown: 9 - Tremendous tonight. Disciplined, committed and dealt with everything.
Evra: 7 - Did as well as anyone can on a genius like Messi.
Nani: 6 - Inconsistent but some good moments.
Carrick: 6.5 - Not bad in a covering role at times but didnāt really influence the game in a positive way passing wise.
Scholes: 6.5 - Superb strike for the goal but fairly anonymous otherwise against a Barca midfield that dominated possession again.
Park: 7.5 - Worked really hard and was decent on the ball too. A tireless effort.
Ronaldo: 6.5 - Had a few nice touches and a couple of attempts and linked up well with Tevez for his second half attempt but didnāt stamp his authority all over the game.
Tevez: 8.5 - Worked like a beast. Superb workrate down the channels and right along the line. Had one good shot and held the ball up well. Great game.
Subs: The three pricks werenāt on long enough.
Barca -
Valdes: 7 - Good save from Tevez. No chance for the goal.
Zambrotta: 5 - Will have nightmares over the goal. Tucking a blind pass inside back into the danger area was crazy for such an experienced player. Did well otherwise but a huge error.
Puyol: 6 - Runs around manically but never looks composed. Everythingās a bit last ditch and hurried with him and tonight was no exception.
Milito: 6 - Not bad tonight as heās usually awful.
Abidal: 5 - Received an ocean of ball in good attacking areas on the overlap and used it shockingly every single time. How heās ahead of Evra and Clichy in the French set up is beyond me.
Deco: 6.5 - Was sloppy early doors but passed it well after the break without ever being incisive enough.
Xavi: 7 - Thought he was playing super for the first 15 minutes and then went out of it for a while after the goal. Came again after the break and passed it around sweetly as usual.
Toure: 6.5 - Not as good as last week but picked up a lot of ball and gave it to the more creative players to go on the offensive again.
Messi: 9 - The ladās superb and was again tonight despite probably being only 75% fit or thereabouts. Nearly everything he did was fantastic but lacked the support he needed in the offensive third. Still trying to decide if his performance at Celtic Park this season or Kakaās in Milan last year was the best individual display Iāve ever seen in the flesh.
Etoāo: 5 - A disgraceful lack of effort and I would have hauled him off at half time.
Iniesta: 6.5: Thought he was their second best player after Messi in the first half but was then called ashore after an hour for Henry. I would have sacrificed Toure and moved him back to his more natural midfield position.
Subs: The three pricks didnāt do much though Henry could have done better with a header and had a shot too.
Great fucking stuff. What a superb goal from the ginger genius. Much better team performance from us last night. Defensively, we were animal. We always looked the more likely side to score, even if they had more possesion. Special mentions should go out to Evra(two games against Messi-only done once, no yellow card that would have ruled him out), Ferdinand(immense), Brown(orange hair as a tribute to Scholes), Tevez(super game), Scholes(what a screamerā¦) and Carrick(much maligned after the first game, much better last night).
Super result for the squadās belief in themselves. And it was done without Rooney and Vidic- outstanding stuff.
Although it goes against my gut feelings(of absolute liverpool hatred), Iād rather play the scum than Chelsea in the final. Thereās no reason that we shouldnāt beat them.
thereās one thing I dont get about the fawning over Premier League sides by Irish and British media and supporters. Negativity. The English sides are atrociously bad when it gets to this stage with their everyone behind the ball attitude and weāll take a one goal advantage. Now, I generally wouldnt have much of a problem with this, after all, its about winning games and titles, and you do what you must to win.
But people in England and Ireland are so quick to have a go at the boring Italian league (BTW, check last weeks results for boring games -5.2, 2.2, 4.1 just a couple) but yet talk up the Liverpools, Chelseas and Man U as great exponents of the game and real ambasadors for football and how it should be played. Utd defended exceptionally well over the 2 legs, with Rooney an extra right back and Tevez a holding midfielder. Scholes took his goal brilliantly. But if Barca scored at the end you could hadly say they didnt deserve it. They tried play football, and Utd defended and tried get them on breaks. Chelsea are the best long ball team I have seen in years. Hoof it up to Drogba and see what happens. And when in trouble, put a centre half up forward (Robert Huth anyone?) Liverpool are nearly as bad, a long ball over the top for Torres (or Owen) to run onto.
As I said, if it wins games, then fair enough. But just dont say its great to watch and they are class footballing sides. In the Premier league they can be class against the rubbish teams, in Europe, defend for your life and grab a goal or 2 and hang on.
[quote=āGmanā]thereās one thing I dont get about the fawning over Premier League sides by Irish and British media and supporters. Negativity. The English sides are atrociously bad when it gets to this stage with their everyone behind the ball attitude and weāll take a one goal advantage. Now, I generally wouldnt have much of a problem with this, after all, its about winning games and titles, and you do what you must to win.
But people in England and Ireland are so quick to have a go at the boring Italian league (BTW, check last weeks results for boring games -5.2, 2.2, 4.1 just a couple) but yet talk up the Liverpools, Chelseas and Man U as great exponents of the game and real ambasadors for football and how it should be played. Utd defended exceptionally well over the 2 legs, with Rooney an extra right back and Tevez a holding midfielder. Scholes took his goal brilliantly. But if Barca scored at the end you could hadly say they didnt deserve it. They tried play football, and Utd defended and tried get them on breaks. Chelsea are the best long ball team I have seen in years. Hoof it up to Drogba and see what happens. And when in trouble, put a centre half up forward (Robert Huth anyone?) Liverpool are nearly as bad, a long ball over the top for Torres (or Owen) to run onto.
As I said, if it wins games, then fair enough. But just dont say its great to watch and they are class footballing sides. In the Premier league they can be class against the rubbish teams, in Europe, defend for your life and grab a goal or 2 and hang on.[/quote]
A load of old codswabble as regards Liverpool there Gman ya punk.
Do you remember the Championsā League Final of 2005? Or the game against Olympiakos in the group stages of that campaign?
And hereās some of their results in this campaign:
4-0 against Toulouse
8-0 against Besiktas
4-1 against Porto
4-0 against Marseille
3-0 agg against Inter
5-3 agg against Arsenal
Hope you didnāt cream yourself over the 2-2 draw in the Italian League.
[quote=āGmanā]thereās one thing I dont get about the fawning over Premier League sides by Irish and British media and supporters. Negativity. The English sides are atrociously bad when it gets to this stage with their everyone behind the ball attitude and weāll take a one goal advantage. Now, I generally wouldnt have much of a problem with this, after all, its about winning games and titles, and you do what you must to win.
But people in England and Ireland are so quick to have a go at the boring Italian league (BTW, check last weeks results for boring games -5.2, 2.2, 4.1 just a couple) but yet talk up the Liverpools, Chelseas and Man U as great exponents of the game and real ambasadors for football and how it should be played. Utd defended exceptionally well over the 2 legs, with Rooney an extra right back and Tevez a holding midfielder. Scholes took his goal brilliantly. But if Barca scored at the end you could hadly say they didnt deserve it. They tried play football, and Utd defended and tried get them on breaks. Chelsea are the best long ball team I have seen in years. Hoof it up to Drogba and see what happens. And when in trouble, put a centre half up forward (Robert Huth anyone?) Liverpool are nearly as bad, a long ball over the top for Torres (or Owen) to run onto.
As I said, if it wins games, then fair enough. But just dont say its great to watch and they are class footballing sides. In the Premier league they can be class against the rubbish teams, in Europe, defend for your life and grab a goal or 2 and hang on.[/quote]
Ask my bollix Gman. The Italian league has much less goals than the english league, and itās fixed. Iād bet my left testicle that the goal averages confirm as much. The games are far less exciting. Just watch em.
A league that is better is probably is the Spanish league(theyāre teams usually do well in europe, and more of them and are exciting to watch), although I think the standard of Spanish football this season has been poor with, no team being very impressive. Real were beaten by a poor Roma side(united have beaten them 5 times in the last 15 months) and theyāre top. Barca have been shite this season for all their class and to claim that one game last week where they outplayed United but couldnāt score(and didnāt look like it) means they play better football is bollox. Last night United deserved to win and had better chances. They didnāt have as much possesion, but so what. We play good football, or try to 99 times out of a hundred.
You seem to be suggesting that semi finals without english sides are super games of attacking football? I think usually semifinals of any kind(championās league, world cupā¦), are usually tight as fuck as noone wants to lose and the tension is high.
As regards tonightās game Iām gagging for it but extremely nervous cos of that ginger prick. I expect, as Iām sure most do, for Chelsea to play negative counter-attacking football and to just try not to concede. I think Liverpool, expecting this, will come out of the blocks very quickly and hopefully thereāll be a bit of individual brilliance from Gerrard or Torres which will change the game completely with Liverpool reverting to the Chelsea style. Can see Chelsea scoring though and kind of expect extra time tonight.
The only selection question for Liverpool is what way he shuffles the back 4 with Aurelio out. Think he might move Carragher to RB and play Arbeloa LB as heāll expect a lot of high balls which Hyypia and Skrtel can handle.
Impact players if needed will be Crouch, Pennant and perhaps Benayoun. If Liverpool take the lead Iād say weāll see Lucas though.
Final against United would be mouth-watering.
Re: Last nightās semi, Iād give a special mention to Wes Brown, much maligned on here, he was fantastic. Thought Etoāo was shiāit and to be honest heās never impressed me.
[quote=āJuhniallioā]Great fucking stuff. What a superb goal from the ginger genius. Much better team performance from us last night. Defensively, we were animal. We always looked the more likely side to score, even if they had more possesion. Special mentions should go out to Evra(two games against Messi-only done once, no yellow card that would have ruled him out), Ferdinand(immense), Brown(orange hair as a tribute to Scholes), Tevez(super game), Scholes(what a screamerā¦) and Carrick(much maligned after the first game, much better last night).
Super result for the squadās belief in themselves. And it was done without Rooney and Vidic- outstanding stuff.
Although it goes against my gut feelings(of absolute liverpool hatred), Iād rather play the scum than Chelsea in the final. Thereās no reason that we shouldnāt beat them.[/quote]
You are one fucking cock ball of shite.
By all means be happy about the victory but donāt muddy the best footballer on the planet at the moment in Messi by saying that he did Evra only once. Every single time he got the ball in both legs he made something of it. Thatās not necessarily Evraās fault because he did it to every player he came up against but what you said there is absolute lies.
Ferdinand and Brown played well but a lot of that has to do with Barcelonaās complete ineptitude in front of goal - they havenāt scored in six hours. Etoāo was disgraceful, as was Henry and this young lad Bojan doesnāt look up to much.
In conclusion credit to United for getting through (credit to Scholes the ginger dirty fook for getting the all important goal even of he did nothing else for the entire game but letās all blow our loads over him) but Barcelona, Messi apart, were a poor side.
[quote=āGmanā]thereās one thing I dont get about the fawning over Premier League sides by Irish and British media and supporters. Negativity. The English sides are atrociously bad when it gets to this stage with their everyone behind the ball attitude and weāll take a one goal advantage. Now, I generally wouldnt have much of a problem with this, after all, its about winning games and titles, and you do what you must to win.
But people in England and Ireland are so quick to have a go at the boring Italian league (BTW, check last weeks results for boring games -5.2, 2.2, 4.1 just a couple) but yet talk up the Liverpools, Chelseas and Man U as great exponents of the game and real ambasadors for football and how it should be played. Utd defended exceptionally well over the 2 legs, with Rooney an extra right back and Tevez a holding midfielder. Scholes took his goal brilliantly. But if Barca scored at the end you could hadly say they didnt deserve it. They tried play football, and Utd defended and tried get them on breaks. Chelsea are the best long ball team I have seen in years. Hoof it up to Drogba and see what happens. And when in trouble, put a centre half up forward (Robert Huth anyone?) Liverpool are nearly as bad, a long ball over the top for Torres (or Owen) to run onto.
As I said, if it wins games, then fair enough. But just dont say its great to watch and they are class footballing sides. In the Premier league they can be class against the rubbish teams, in Europe, defend for your life and grab a goal or 2 and hang on.[/quote]
- Whoever said that Liverpool and Chelsea were great to watch?
- Three English teams have made the semi-finals of the Champions League on the last two occassions - this year it will be an all English final
- Have you seen Liverpool play? You must not have as they do not hoof the ball long to Torres. And how exactly would you hoof the ball long to Torres? He is not that big to win headers in the air and who does he knocked it down for? Did you put any thought into that statement at all or just say it because it fitted the argument?
- Chelsea brought on Huth three years ago under a different coach.
- Barcelona did not deserve it last night. They pased it yeah - but never looked like scoring. Hardly good football.
In conclusion I thought Juhniallioās statement on Evra was about the worst I vever heard on this website but that entire post is a load of me bollixā¦
I masturbated to the repeat of Scholes goal last night.
Did you touch your balls as you were doing it?
The defence has been exceptional. They have kept 5 clean sheets since Benzema scored in the first leg at Lyon.
[quote=āfarmerinthecityā]You are one fucking cock ball of shite.
By all means be happy about the victory but donāt muddy the best footballer on the planet at the moment in Messi by saying that he did Evra only once. Every single time he got the ball in both legs he made something of it. Thatās not necessarily Evraās fault because he did it to every player he came up against but what you said there is absolute lies.
Ferdinand and Brown played well but a lot of that has to do with Barcelonaās complete ineptitude in front of goal - they havenāt scored in six hours. Etoāo was disgraceful, as was Henry and this young lad Bojan doesnāt look up to much.
In conclusion credit to United for getting through (credit to Scholes the ginger dirty fook for getting the all important goal even of he did nothing else for the entire game but letās all blow our loads over him) but Barcelona, Messi apart, were a poor side.[/quote]
Aah, the loveless leitrim lighthouse rares his angry ginger head.
Messi is obviously a wonderful footballer but Evra was superb against him, causing him to cut inside almost every time. Evra even found time to spend most of the first half attacking. Evra didnāt resort to fouling Messi, he merely gave a fantastic performance against him. Heās not a better player than Messi but his job is to DEFEND, which he did superbly over two legs.
Funny that a Liverpool fan is now blind to good defending.
Now get back in your oversized box, freakshow.
Here Juhniallio before I start - get a job you bumā¦
Secondly why is it a good thing causing Messi to cut inside? Again any thought in that statement or have you just heard it before and thought it sounded right.
He did indeed cut inside and ended up casuing more probelms in there than he would have done along the wingā¦
Also the reason that he cut inside was not due to Evraās defending but because he is a left footed player playing on the right wing so that is what Barca want him to do.
I am sure he would have destroyed the wonderful Evra if he had been bothererd to take him down the outsideā¦
Didnt think my little post would cause so much anger!
I was only using the Italian league as an example of how people rag on it for being boring, yet fail to see the irony of the Premier league being so similar. This year has a good ending for the title and relegation in the EPL, but its the first in a while, and the title is still going to be won by one of the big 3 clubs of the last 10 years.
I think Iām just fed up of the RTE/Sky sports hyping up of the Premier league. In Europe, Liverpool play the best football IMO, yet are claimed as being the worst of the CL sides in the premier league. Ferguson plays awful shite tactics in Europe, and has done so for years. Utd really should have a better record in the last 15 years of CL football.
I follow Liverpool too, and in fairness to Benitez, he generally gets his tactics spot on for the CL. It just sickens me that the league form is so brutal.
And farmer, I didnt say they hoof it up to Torres, I said they play it long over the top for him to run onto. And it is something they do quite a lot, I suppose it happens more to the end of a game, but its an annoying trait that some players have to try get themsleves out of passing a ball, just loft it over and let torres run onto it and do the work. Chelseas style hasnt changed since Huth, that was the point I was making. Watch them tonight if Liverpool score and they need an equalizer. Terry or Carvaliho will be played up front and they will just launch balls on top of them.
It was something I noticed too in Barca last night. In the CL final against Arsenal, they kept their heads and kept playing their passing game and didnt panic and tried break them down. but last night for the last 10 mins they started playing these long balls that were going no where.
Juhniallio, I donāt know how much Spanish football you watch but Messi cuts inside nearly every single time he gets the ball. Heās not a traditional get to the by-line winger and itās not Barcaās game to whip in crosses from wide. Itās all one-touch and give and go stuff between the width of the box and Messiās main attacking ploy is to dribble inside and past the full back before rolling it square to Deco or Xavi and continuing on a diagonal run towards the box to receive the return pass (see his first goal at Celtic Park). Otherwise he just goes past players himself on the inside and shoots himself (see the save Van der Sar made from him in the first half last night) or plays a forward ball into the feet of the main striker and runs in diagonally to recieve the one-two (however, Etoāo was shambolic last night and literally fell over every time he received a ball to feet). Evra did fine but Messi was exceptional over both games despite not being fully fit.
In fairness to you Shan, you put 1,000 virtual blips on Manu to win. Big kahonaās there
[quote=āfarmerinthecityā]Here Juhniallio before I start - get a job you bumā¦
Secondly why is it a good thing causing Messi to cut inside? Again any thought in that statement or have you just heard it before and thought it sounded right.
He did indeed cut inside and ended up casuing more probelms in there than he would have done along the wingā¦
Also the reason that he cut inside was not due to Evraās defending but because he is a left footed player playing on the right wing so that is what Barca want him to do.
I am sure he would have destroyed the wonderful Evra if he had been bothererd to take him down the outsideā¦[/quote]
Donāt let your obvious hatred of me leave you blind to a good footballer.
Messi had one shot that was decent all night(just after the UTD goal- good save from Eddie vander). Causing him to cut inside to a congested midfield left him with less space to attack and therefore to be less threatening. Evra had a number of excellent tackles on Messi, and played him as well as any left back could. Suggesting that Messi couldnāt be bothered to try attacking down the line means either he is an idiot or you are. hmmmmā¦
For all the problems, he caused, he didnāt score. Or set up a goal. Or get robbed by an unjust ref.
Basically, you seem to be trying to argue that Messi is god and hammered Utd but that no credit should go to the player who played against him for 180 minutes or so when Barca couldnāt score.
Now, freakshow, any chance of a loan til next thursday?
Usually I agree with Juhn but heās wrong on Messi here. Heās played out on the right
[FONT=Verdana]deliberately [/FONT]so he is able to cut in on his left foot. Im surprised by him.
And to answer Clarkeys question, no I didnt touch my balls.