English & European Football [24th - 29th Apr 2010] **spoilers**

guyfawkes5 said:
If that was true, then why were Sneijder, Milito and Eto'o on the pitch at all then, instead of more centre-backs and defensive midfielders. :rolleyes: Inter played a counter-attacking game as they had done in the previous leg before the sending off.
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I don't mind about that, did you watch the game? Eto'o was a left back for nearly 90 minutes and Milito was in his own half for most of the game. Valdes spent most of the second half on the half way line. That's embarrassing
 
“My wisdom tooth is hurting”

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“Ref, I’ve been shot”

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Peekaboo:

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"I tried my best but we still didn't win” :D
 
nobody can deny Inter just turtled in and dug deep. but that was ther smart thing as it won them the tie.

it was an insanely fine defensive performance and what was needed. playing the beautiful game against barca is just stupid. your not going to come out on top.

manages are paid what they are to win games, mourinho is one of the best at this, hes a tactical genius and tonight just proved that he can beat any team including the best team in the world (which nobody can deny barca, they play insanely good football)
 
jakeke said:
I don't mind about that, did you watch the game? Eto'o was a left back for nearly 90 minutes and Milito was in his own half for most of the game. Valdes spent most of the second half on the half way line. That's embarrassing
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You have an extremely naive view of football. It's a results driven business and if Inter had tried to take on Barca at their own game they would have been tanked. They intelligently played to their own strengths and got through. The same could be said of Chelsea's semi-final performance last season (who were very unlucky not to go through) and United's performance the year before, who just did enough to beat Barcelona. It may not have been great to watch (like Barcelona's previous three semi final appearances) but it was compelling all the same.

Ultimately, Barca can blame no one for not getting to the final- they created absolutely nothing with their pretty passing in front of the Inter defence. There was acres of space on the wings- Alves was left on his own wide right at times- but they lacked the players to take advantage of it with decent crosses and aerial threat in the box. Too often they faffed about until someone got frustrated and hoofed it over the bar. There was never any thought to work the ball wide and stretch the defence. The one decent cross they put in the box (which, it must also be noted, was delivered well from a central position) created an absolutely golden opportunity that Bojan somehow contrived to miss. The likes of Alves and Maxwell didn't have a single good cross in them last night.

In fact, Barcelona's one dimensional performance struck me as remarkably reminiscent of Arsenal, so perhaps that's why you're so offended about the outcome.
 
Barca screwed up and it wasn't in the second leg. They were mostly poor in the first leg, and the scoreline in the first leg allowed Inter to play the way they did in the second game. The way inter played is a valid tactic, in this one specific situation. If the first leg had been 0-0 and they played like that, they would have been beaten playing like that.

Even so Barca were truly terrible and should have still won last night. It took them the best part of what, 70 minutes before they even attempted a long shot, and it was Toure. Inter weren't being forced out of position or closing down from the half way line because they had no need to. Barca were ONLY looking for a pass through the defence, they weren't looking for the right pass till 10yards outside their box and they weren't providing a threat elsewhere. If they just started peppering the goal from range early on, they'd force a couple of saves and might have got lucky with the ball dropping for someone.

But most importantly as the danger increased, Inter would have been forced to close down players who even LOOKED like they might shoot, and that in itself opens up space as players rush to close down a shot.

Thats the problem, they didn't look threatening, Messi didn't shoot from 30 yards, so he no one closed him down. They were one dimensional and poor throughout. There was no urgency with their play and very few people actually tried to run at the back 4, because they were allowed, essentially to walk up about 10 yards out, they weren't ever attacking at pace. Neither did they try to draw Inter out at all to create some space in behind, they really tried nothing different all night.

Had it not been for the ill timed Cordoba substitution they wouldn't have scored at all.

As for a results driven business, you're mistaken, if Inter went on to become the CL winners, and won it every year for the next 20 years playing that exact same way, fans would not pay £400 for a ticket for the final, fans wouldn't even bother going to the final.

Its an ENTERTAINMENT driven business, because without any entertainment, no one would watch it.

Sure the odd team can get away with being overly defensive and dull as crap, but Chelsea hardly became the best supported team in the world while under Mourinho. Likewise all over people love to watch Barca and Real, while their Italian counterparts in the past decade simply don't get the same worldwide support.

Attacking and exciting football, means money and is the end goal for every board of directors and manager. Barca, Utd, Real, Arsenal, would have significantly less fans and FAR less income if they played like Inter did last night.
 
Don't act like defending, never leaving your half and hoping to god that Barca don't score two whilst hoofing it whenever it comes close and feigning injury/time wasting any time there is a break in play is intelligent play, it's not. I could have come up with that game plan.

Inter were lucky to proceed and if the referee was a little better then they'd be out.

How there were only 4 minutes added time is mental.

btw I do realise that Barca were nearly as bad as Inter in the gamesman stakes. It was a horrible game to watch and to say it was a CL Semi, I just find myself MASSIVELY underwhelmed at the quality on show last night and utter lack of entertainment
 
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In other news: the liverpool team news doing the rounds from the 'usual' people, who tend to be right more then not is:

------------Pepe
Masc---Carra--Agger---Johnson
-------Lucas---Gerrard
Benny------Aqua-------Babel
------------Kuyt

Dont know if im happy with that team or not.lol :(
Either way, hopefully its going to be more fun then lastnights CL game ;)
 
Oh dear Barca out...wasnt expecting that but lets be honest they got screwed by 2 incompetant refs on both legs....that second goal should have counted, there was absolutely no way that toure handballed there...utter idiocy by the ref in all honesty...he really needs to get some specs lol.

I wonrder if Mourinho had a word with the ref at half time lol.

Anyhow i didnt think Barca could overhaul a 2 goal deficit sadly...if they had scored early then maybe they could have won but left it a bit too late in all honesty.

Didnt like the tactics of Mourinho, defending most of the time even before they went down to 10 men but meh i said it last week that I think Inter are going to win the CL this yr...although i hope Bayern beat them in the final.
 
God I'm nervous for tonight. Fell at the last hurdle against Spurs (for Wembley, anyway), hoping the same doesn't happen tonight. Be even more nervous if Zamora doesn't play :(
 
Shame both games are on at the same time, will probably watch Liverpool though :p

Can't record the Fulham game as I'm recording the election debate :rolleyes: :(

Too much on!!
 
Don't see why there is so much criticism of Inter over last night, nor so many complaints about the referee being biased towards them.

The referee was awful for both sides. Barca played him to get Motta sent off, Inter played him to win a lot of soft fouls. A lot of those fouls were stupid fouls by the younger members of the Barca team showing their inexperience in trying to regain possession. Jeffran and Pedro are particular examples I am thinking of.

It was clear from the outset that Inter only wanted to stifle any Barca attacks and when possible use Eto'o to hit them on the break. They did this a couple of times until the red card. After that it was obvious what their game plan HAD to be. Stay narrow, press the wingers when the ball went out wide and just get the ball clear whenever possible. Why on earth are they being criticised for this? They had a final to get to. If you have a two goal lead, 10 men for over an hour, you hold on to what you have got as desperately as you can and credit to them for doing this. They deserved to beat Barcelona in the first leg and deserved to go through to the final based on how the game panned out in the 2nd leg. Barca didn't create enough clear chances. How many saves did Cesar have to make really? One from Messi in the first half and then a few routine stops in the second. Don't know why people seem to think Barca have a god given right to be in the final just because they pass the ball a lot. Yes it is fantastic to watch but it doesn't automatically mean you deserve to progress.

The way Barca got through to the final last season at Chelsea's expense also makes me care even less for complaints in their favour about the refereeing this season. You win some and you lose some. Thats how football works.

Congratulations to Inter for upsetting the odds and deservingly progressing to the final.
 
[ASSE]Hinchy;16459843 said:
Don't see why there is so much criticism of Inter over last night, nor so many complaints about the referee being biased towards them.

The referee was awful for both sides. Barca played him to get Motta sent off, Inter played him to win a lot of soft fouls. A lot of those fouls were stupid fouls by the younger members of the Barca team showing their inexperience in trying to regain possession. Jeffran and Pedro are particular examples I am thinking of.

It was clear from the outset that Inter only wanted to stifle any Barca attacks and when possible use Eto'o to hit them on the break. They did this a couple of times until the red card. After that it was obvious what their game plan HAD to be. Stay narrow, press the wingers when the ball went out wide and just get the ball clear whenever possible. Why on earth are they being criticised for this? They had a final to get to. If you have a two goal lead, 10 men for over an hour, you hold on to what you have got as desperately as you can and credit to them for doing this. They deserved to beat Barcelona in the first leg and deserved to go through to the final based on how the game panned out in the 2nd leg. Barca didn't create enough clear chances. How many saves did Cesar have to make really? One from Messi in the first half and then a few routine stops in the second. Don't know why people seem to think Barca have a god given right to be in the final just because they pass the ball a lot. Yes it is fantastic to watch but it doesn't automatically mean you deserve to progress.

The way Barca got through to the final last season at Chelsea's expense also makes me care even less for complaints in their favour about the refereeing this season. You win some and you lose some. Thats how football works.

Congratulations to Inter for upsetting the odds and deservingly progressing to the final.
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This.

Great post Hinch :)
 
It's a shame Barca lost, not because I like them at all but because I would have loved to see them play the final at the Bernabeu, just to annoy Real Madrid. Still, the result over the course of the two games was probably the right one. I think it's ridiculous to suggest that the ref was pro-Inter, seeing as he sent off one of their players for absolutely nothing! I thought he was just generally incompetent, which is unfortunately become a routine occurrence in football.

Hopefully Inter win the final. Bayern got lucky against United and any decent side could have beaten Lyon the way they played. Doesn't seem right that Bayern get to be called the best team in Europe.
 
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