Midweek Football Thread

drunkenmaster · 3 Nov 2009 at 22:27

Spawn said:
Real Madrid and AC Milan drew...hmmm not very good for the most expensive side in football at the moment...i think their manager is going to be sacked pretty soon if he doesnt start getting good results...we all know how fickle RM can be when it comes to managers and sackings.

Chelsea drew with Ath Madrid,..bit of a surprise that...thought they would have rolled them over.

Well to be fair up until they score they utterly utterly ripped Milan apart, it was something like 16 shots and 7 on target inthe first half, versus like 3 shots for Milan.

The penalty wasn't a penalty in a million years, infact from the brief replay it might have only hit his back rather than his arm, but it was completely unintentional, from a yard or two away and just wasn't a penalty. Pato's goal I "think" was dissallowed for a bit of a kick in the back of the defender, can't quite decide. He didn't fight or complain about the dicision in the slightest though which makes me think even he thinks he knocked the defender down.

Pato showed, other than the goal, nothing special again, he kept throwing himself to the ground to win freekicks and get people booked, as Ronaldinho did. kaka was so desparate to look good he constantly shot from 30 yards when there were far better options. The team is sorely missing Ronaldo and Marcelo is just a crap player in defence or as a winger, useless.

Considering they are most likely going through to the knock out, and a whole point behind the best team in the world right now in the league, its hardly a shambles or even close to manager sacking time. RM really need another 3 defenders to compete properly over the next few years in the champs league, pepe, Ramos, Marcelo are just turd.

tsinc80697 · 3 Nov 2009 at 22:47

drunkenmaster said:
Well to be fair up until they score they utterly utterly ripped Milan apart, it was something like 16 shots and 7 on target inthe first half, versus like 3 shots for Milan.

The penalty wasn't a penalty in a million years, infact from the brief replay it might have only hit his back rather than his arm, but it was completely unintentional, from a yard or two away and just wasn't a penalty. Pato's goal I "think" was dissallowed for a bit of a kick in the back of the defender, can't quite decide. He didn't fight or complain about the dicision in the slightest though which makes me think even he thinks he knocked the defender down.

Pato showed, other than the goal, nothing special again, he kept throwing himself to the ground to win freekicks and get people booked, as Ronaldinho did. kaka was so desparate to look good he constantly shot from 30 yards when there were far better options. The team is sorely missing Ronaldo and Marcelo is just a crap player in defence or as a winger, useless.

Considering they are most likely going through to the knock out, and a whole point behind the best team in the world right now in the league, its hardly a shambles or even close to manager sacking time. RM really need another 3 defenders to compete properly over the next few years in the champs league, pepe, Ramos, Marcelo are just turd.

RM were ripping Milan for first 15mins then I started switching games!

Missed the foul for the penalty but Ron belted it. Pato scored a goal which was disallowed due to a foul on a defender but it was good skill bringing it down and a decent finish, shame it never stood.

I'll agree with you about Kaka though, seemed to shoot at every opportunity but in the first half he was on the ball so much on the left side you can't really blame him as Madrid did well to get the ball on the edge of Milans box but hardly got past there.

BaZ87 · 3 Nov 2009 at 23:29

Tummy said:
Looking forward to the Liverpool game tomorrow night.

I'm looking forward to seeing what team we put out.

Johnson and Kelly are both injured and Degen wasn't registered for the CL so we've got no first team RB's. Normally Carra would shift over to RB but Skrtel is out and there's a doubt over Agger too. Other than that, Masch has played RB once but with no Gerrard and Aquilani not being able to play 90 minutes (even if he's recovered from his virus) there's no chance of that.

If Agger does make it then the team picks itself other than who plays off of/alongside Torres. I can't imagine N'gog right up alongside Torres, so I guess it will either be Voronin or one of Kuyt or Benayoun with Babel outwide.

Gooner14 · 3 Nov 2009 at 23:51

BaZ87 said:
I'm looking forward to seeing what team we put out.

Johnson and Kelly are both injured and Degen wasn't registered for the CL so we've got no first team RB's. Normally Carra would shift over to RB but Skrtel is out and there's a doubt over Agger too. Other than that, Masch has played RB once but with no Gerrard and Aquilani not being able to play 90 minutes (even if he's recovered from his virus) there's no chance of that.

Stephen Darby whoever he is then!

BaZ87 · 3 Nov 2009 at 23:57

Yea, it would either have to be him or Carra may still play rb but with Ayala CB. It's possible that Spearing could play rb too.

Gooner14 · 3 Nov 2009 at 23:58

I'd be afraid if Ayala played. He was utterly woeful when I saw him play twice last year in the FA Youth Cup, anyone with pace will destroy him.

BaZ87 · 4 Nov 2009 at 00:20

He had a couple of bad games. In the few first team appearances he's made, he's looked pretty comfortable.

Loki · 4 Nov 2009 at 07:27

Barry, whats the situation with Torres, when I was out and about yesterday, I noticed a few of the red tops carrying the same story that he will be out for two months :confused:

Is this speculation or does he have a hernia that they will be operating on in the near future ?

FrankJH · 4 Nov 2009 at 08:07

Loki said:
Barry, whats the situation with Torres, when I was out and about yesterday, I noticed a few of the red tops carrying the same story that he will be out for two months

Is this speculation or does he have a hernia that they will be operating on in the near future ?

Torres has ben quoted as saying he doesnt need an op - whether thats just team spirit not wanting to let anyone down or whether its the truth is anyone's guess

bloodline76 · 4 Nov 2009 at 11:04

Simon said:
Are highlights on tonight? Or will tonights and tomorrow's games be on tomorrow night?

I know tonights highlights are on normal tv at 10:30pm but im not sure if they are showing yesterdays games.

Arsenal should roll over AZ tonight. Can see us getting 2 or 3 goals and hopefully they have learnt from their mistake and wont let them back into the game.

BaZ87 · 4 Nov 2009 at 12:34

Loki said:
Barry, whats the situation with Torres, when I was out and about yesterday, I noticed a few of the red tops carrying the same story that he will be out for two months

Is this speculation or does he have a hernia that they will be operating on in the near future ?

I'm not sure if he has a hernia or not but he's got some niggling problem never the less. The club don't think he'll need an op though and think they can manage it by letting him sit out some training sessions and being careful with him in games.

Rafa's said it's getting better each day so hopefully he'll be ok.

Tummy · 4 Nov 2009 at 12:49

Gerrard needing an op on his groin?

Sky Sports mentioned it.

FrankJH · 4 Nov 2009 at 12:56

2 for 1 offer?

Tummy · 4 Nov 2009 at 12:58

Newcastle have renamed the stadium "sports direct @ st James" or something similar.

BFCTom · 4 Nov 2009 at 13:01

Some good games in the CL last night, enjoyed the highlights.

Ronaldinho showed everyone how to take a pen, two keepers couldn't have saved that.

Man Utd got lucky and I was impressed with CSKA. They're an underrated side with a fair bit of talent, I wouldn't be surprised if Akinfeev gets snapped up in the next couple of transfer windows.

It was nice to see Aguero and Drogba doing what they do best (in totally different ways), maybe the Chelsea strike force in the future?

Hopefully Arsenal can put AZ to the sword tonight. I usually want all english clubs to do well in Europe but if Liverpool do go out it would at least be a bit funny.

Weebull · 4 Nov 2009 at 13:26

Tummy said:
Newcastle have renamed the stadium "sports direct @ st James" or something similar.

Ahahahahaha.

Doesn't Ashley own Sports Direct anyway? So he's just backhanded some of their profits into the football club? Nice, that'll be legit then.

K1LLSW1TCH · 4 Nov 2009 at 14:34

Weebull said:
Ahahahahaha.

Doesn't Ashley own Sports Direct anyway? So he's just backhanded some of their profits into the football club? Nice, that'll be legit then.

Yeah, it's his company, and seeing as St James' Park naming rights are up for sale then it's being called Sports Direct at the moment.

Can't wait for the Arse game tonight, we've been free scoring in 4 or 5 of our last league games so hopefully that form can be carried over to the CL. The Emirates has been a fortress this season and I'm expecting a comfortable win. If I was Wenger I'd get Nasri starting and then swap him later on for Rosicky.

jakeke · 4 Nov 2009 at 14:34

Gutted about Clichy, he was starting to show the form of 07/08 over the last few weeks, thought he was starting to play at his usual high level and now this

Don't really trust Gibbs in the big games yet even though he's a talented boy I don't think he's top notch defensively yet

Greenlizard0 · 4 Nov 2009 at 14:38

Gibbs is still a bit raw, but we still could (but it would be annoying if we) lose tonight. I think the biggest test will be Chelsea up at the end of the month and he'll have a few games under his belt until then.

Hopefully we can put qualification to bed tonight, and win comfortably to make amends for two weeks ago.

K1LLSW1TCH · 4 Nov 2009 at 14:42

jakeke said:
Gutted about Clichy, he was starting to show the form of 07/08 over the last few weeks, thought he was starting to play at his usual high level and now this Don't really trust Gibbs in the big games yet even though he's a talented boy I don't think he's top notch defensively yet

I think last time Clichy was out with an injury, Gibbs took over quite well. Nothing spectacular but I think he did an alright job. I'm not worried but there's no doubting we'll be weaker in the league without Clichy. I love watching his balls getting whipped into the box... oh, umm, that sounds dodgy!

I'm really glad that Almunia is back in net because I really didn't trust Mannone and I think the defense were a bit nervous knowing that a young and inexperienced keeper was behind them. He wasn't abysmal, he just looked shaky at times and if it made me feel nervous sat on my sofa watching the match then just think what the centre backs must have been thinking!

I reckon we're going to win it 3-0, with 2 RVP goals, and a 3rd from Eduardo.