UEFA Champions League 2010/11 Matchday 5 *** Spoilers ***

[Weebull]

Kenny Miller must write a lot of poetry, because he has awful lot of time to himself.

 

[guyfawkes5]

The crowd's reactions at Ibrox showed their level of ambition, cheering every loose ball hoofed away and every attacker bogged down. Glad they can go back to trashing Glasgow instead of whatever unfortunate city they would have played in next round.

 

[Locky]

And this team wanted to join the epl

 

[drunkenmaster]

To be honest, Rangers needed basically 1 point to be sure of the Uefa cup spot, because thats all they could hope for, on the off chance Bursaspor beat Valencia and then managed to beat Rangers, then 5 points might not have been enough.

While they were the home team, the more open they were the more they would have lost by, its that easy, they had chances to play people through and Miller consistantly screwed everything up, Rangers had no shot at winning, they played for a draw, they weren't far from doing so. Once the Valencia game was at half time and a clear win coming its not like Rangers had to come out all guns blazing either.

Honestly if I was Rangers I'd prefer to try and go 2-3 rounds in the Uefa cup than almost certainly go out in the first knockout round in the champs league.

As for Spurs, I wouldn't get to over enthusiastic till you check Werders record, no wins in the group stage, thrashed 4-0 by a poor Inter Milan, beaten 2-0 at home by a not great Twente, and truly pathetic in that game, seriously why do people rate Marin. Seen him for quite a while now get games for Germany and never been even remotely impressed, just another short midget people assume is good because he has pace or something?

I really never had a problem believing Spurs could go through the group stages, and all the talk of being new to the Champs league, for instance tonight, you played at home, which you do 30times + a year with a cup run, its just against a different side, I've never bought into this "champions league experience" rubbish.

Fly to city A, play team B in stadium C, or fly to City D, play team E in stadium F, does it really make that much difference if you fly to Twente or Newcastle?

They've done well but a side finishing top 4 in any of the three big leagues SHOULD get to the knock out stages, how many times did Benitez almost screw up getting into the knock out stages, but still scraped through, even a bad EPL/La Liga/Serie A team should limp through, its when you play a Real, Barca, Utd, Chelsea,AC (only one Milan seems to be good any single year, and its AC's turn this year).

 

[Tute]

And this team wanted to join the epl

Very scary. Then again, 38 draws is normally enough to guarantee safety right?

It also makes me wonder about the rest of the SPL. No offence intended, but some of those teams must be absolutely shocking.

To be honest, Rangers needed basically 1 point to be sure of the Uefa cup spot, because thats all they could hope for, on the off chance Bursaspor beat Valencia and then managed to beat Rangers, then 5 points might not have been enough.

Oh come off it. I can see what you're saying, but there was no chance Bursaspor would get anything out of tonight's match. Zero points, a single goal, -14 goal difference. There was only going to be one result.

Rangers went out hoping to frustrate United and nick a goal somewhere along the line. But that relies on committing people to the counter-attack and then getting back in numbers. At least they got half of that right, eh?

[Edit] Just noticed, that those stats are after tonight's match. So prior to tonight, Bursa hadn't scored a single goal in the CL.

 

[guyfawkes5]

To be honest, Rangers needed basically 1 point to be sure of the Uefa cup spot, because thats all they could hope for, on the off chance Bursaspor beat Valencia and then managed to beat Rangers, then 5 points might not have been enough.

While they were the home team, the more open they were the more they would have lost by, its that easy, they had chances to play people through and Miller consistantly screwed everything up, Rangers had no shot at winning, they played for a draw, they weren't far from doing so. Once the Valencia game was at half time and a clear win coming its not like Rangers had to come out all guns blazing either.

Honestly if I was Rangers I'd prefer to try and go 2-3 rounds in the Uefa cup than almost certainly go out in the first knockout round in the champs league.

Christ DM, it's not like we don't understand why Rangers parked the bus...

 

[FrankJH]

Would have liked to see Hernandez on sooner, but apart from that Utd couldnt really have done much more imo, a few little mistakes at the back but given Evans/Smalling combo its understandable, and VdS was as good as usual

Thought Carrick did ok, nothing amazing admittedly but imagine the nightmare if it had been Gibson /Scholes in the middle, Utd would have been lucky to finish with 11 men lol (mind you I was pretty amazed in the 2nd half that there was actually a totally clean Scholes challange with no follow through or anything )

Is Berba ever going to be worth close to £20m (let alone the £31m we paid) - surely he has to go in Jan/July otherwise he will end up going for nothing at all. Hernandez is fabulous, but Utd need three decent strikers at the very least, and he shouldnt be put under too much pressure so early in his career.

Glad to see Fabio back, hopefully he can get a few games in (with CC QF next week and with so many games over Xmas Evra surely cant play every one)

 

[Tunney]

seriously why do people rate Marin. Seen him for quite a while now get games for Germany and never been even remotely impressed, just another short midget people assume is good because he has pace or something?

He was Werder Bremen's best player by a mile last night. He's got a lovely touch and, as Spurs found out in the first leg, as decent strike on him. He'd get in the England squad without any problems.

I really never had a problem believing Spurs could go through the group stages, and all the talk of being new to the Champs league, for instance tonight, you played at home, which you do 30times + a year with a cup run, its just against a different side, I've never bought into this "champions league experience" rubbish.

So how did Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool fare in their first season in the Champions League?

It's a lot easier for most of the big teams because they're top seeds. AFAIK, Spurs are the only third seed to qualify from their group so far. That's a pretty impressive achievement.

Remember that you're playing teams with a very different style of play and usually against players that are unknown quantities. For example, Premiership defenders have learnt how to cope with Peter Crouch. As we've seen in the Champions League this season so far, European teams haven't.

 

[jakeke]

I think Spurs have been under achieving for a few years so can't quite figure out if reaching the last 16 is over achieving or doing as their squad should do, it's a pretty expensive squad to be fair and has some good players. I also think that all the talk about VdV and Bale is a bit undeserved, Modric is the best player in that team by some distance.

Edit - Though tbf, no matter the expense of the squad, they've done well to do it first time, even though you'd expect them to be above Werder (especially this season) and Twente

 

[Greenlizard0]

To be honest factors like the strong £ from a few years ago are still things that English sides are benefiting from. It's allowed our sides at the top to play with enough technical ability and build a squad such that they do very well in the Champion's League e.g. Modric who is a vastly underrated player.

It's not that surprising Spurs have got to the knockout stages. I tipped them to have a chance at least as soon as the group was drawn: Werder and Twente are far better on paper; bar any freaky results (i.e. there are seedings) I still stand by the fact that you only have to win half the games in a group; the seedings deffo helped Tottenham in their debut season; their strongest opponents, i.e. the defending champions had a managerial change which has predictably weakened them such that they've gotten more than 0/6 points which most thought would happen; the emergence of a consistent Bale.

In the 2005/2006 season the same could easily have happened to Everton. However they're that much poorer compared to the current Spurs squad, and were unlucky enough to be drawn in their qualifiers with an outside/'unknown' side that would to everybody's surprise, later progress all the way to the semifinals. We only beat them thanks to a last minute penalty save.

We do though have a poor record in the Europa League/UEFA Cup in recent years. That is because unlike other countries we've ended up with a static/'traditional top four'; for all the talk about how well Spurs did last year, don't forget that at least half of their qualification was down to how bad Liverpool were.

Look back at who beat English sides and it's more often than not a side who usually does something in the Champion's League or at least has done so recently. Also Barca and Real may always finish first or second year in year out in La Liga, but 3rd and 4th spots regularly change. A similar picture is in Italy and Germany. We also don't take it that seriously, Spurs would never dream of resting players for their Champion's League run. But City and Liverpool have done so this year and Aston Villa did it a few years back too (and ended up being knocked out).

Edit - too long..

 

[Stewy]

I also think that all the talk about VdV and Bale is a bit undeserved, Modric is the best player in that team by some distance.

I think VdV and Modric are just a class above everyone else at Tottenham tbh, VdV at his best is better but Modric is consistently quality.

 

[CliffyBiro]

VdV and Bale both have fantastic goal/assist per game ratio though.

 

[jakeke]

I thought Bale had like 2 goals and 1 assist in the league this year?? (Could be a bit wrong)

I thought moving Modric back would ruin his game but he's so good that he's adapted brilliantly. I've always believed the best players are the ones who can adapt easily to different situations as it proves that the technique and brain are both there, and that's what he's done, and that's why I also think England and their players are mostly woeful and massively over rated

 

[CliffyBiro]

VdV 13 games 8 goals 5 assists
Bale 19 games 9 goals 9 assists

in all competitions.


Think that's correct.

 

[Tunney]

I thought moving Modric back would ruin his game but he's so good that he's adapted brilliantly.

The strange this is that we were playing the same players in the same positions under Ramos and look how that ended. Ramos was determined to play Modric and Huddlestone as deep holding midfielders and Bale/Lennon out wide. 8 games later, we all know how that ended. What a difference a couple of years and a change of manager has had.

 

[cm1179]

e.g. Modric who is a vastly underrated player.

not by spurs fans he isn't! he is a true dynamo in midfield, very physical for his size

 

[jakeke]

The strange this is that we were playing the same players in the same positions under Ramos and look how that ended. Ramos was determined to play Modric and Huddlestone as deep holding midfielders and Bale/Lennon out wide. 8 games later, we all know how that ended. What a difference a couple of years and a change of manager has had.

To be fair, Modric, Huddlestone and Bale have all come on loads since then, least of all Modric but Huddlestone and Bale are much, much better than they were a few years ago. I think Lennon has got worse, but I'm almost sure he's getting replaced very soon. I can't remember the last time I saw somebody so far out of his depth at the Emirates. Woeful.

 

[daz]

I think Huddlestone has dropped about 2 stone since those times

 

[Pigeon_Killer]

I think Lennon has got worse, but I'm almost sure he's getting replaced very soon. I can't remember the last time I saw somebody so far out of his depth at the Emirates. Woeful.

*Awaits a Spurs supporters to post a YouTube video of the same two crosses looped endlessly to prove he has an end product*

 

[CliffyBiro]

*Awaits a Spurs supporters to post a YouTube video of the same two crosses looped endlessly to prove he has an end product*

Well, he did assist 2 of the 3 goals last night.

Lennon was doing fantastically well before his lengthy injury spell, and now he's starting to pick up form again.

Or is the injury recovery excuse only for the Sky 4 teams?