Champions League Matchday 3 Thread

I must laugh at Inter as well...how many champions league games is that without a win? they are a joke and the way the fixtures are set up qualifying could be very tough for them. You imagine Barca will take em.....so they probably need to win in Kiev which will be very difficult indeed.

bluenine wrote:

Torrente wrote:

bluenine wrote:

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Inter had the chance to take control of their group. Opportunity missed. It won't be easy for them in Kyiv.

Yup, big time opportunity missed. Our next 2 games are away (Kyiv & Barca) and now we will be fighting for survival, hoping to reach the last game with a chance to qualify.

Credit to Kyiv, they matched us tonight. It wasnt as much as Inter not playing well, as it was about Kyiv playing brilliantly. Lucio & Sneijder looked off colour, but the rest of the players did they job reasonably well.

That own goal and the Suazo miss near the end may come back to haunt us. We are unbeaten and bottom of the group. Fucking hell!

From the highlights it looks like Sneijder is continuing to out-Lampard Lampard. He shoots any chance he gets, even when he has no angle or has a wall of players right in front of him. If only he paused and looked up from time to time

I must admit, I am a bit confused... football is sometimes a great leveler... I was so sure that whatever happens, the midfield we put in tonight would dominate Kyiv's midfield. And that didn't happen. Kyiv matched our midfield. Sure, Sneijder and Muntari had an off night, but still surely we should ve been able to control the midfield???

Sometimes in football, its difficult to understand what went wrong... the only way i can explain it is that Kyiv played out of their skins tonight... they were awesome, we were usual, and it was evenly matched. I have no other explaination for it.

Lets say that 4321 is our plan B from now on, and lets go back to the 4312.

Why are you confused? You are looking for mystical reasons for Inter's failure. When a team has chronically underperformed in Europe for decades, it may be time to stop toiling for elaborate explanations.

Plain and simple--winning in Europe is not part of Inter's culture.

This is awful because, like I said earlier, Italy needs all the points it can get this year. Otherwise the Bundesliga will overtake Serie A. As much as I hate Inter, that would be terrible.

Raise your hands if your team has 9 points
Good results for us tonight, my expected score since Liverpool two key players were missing. Lyon king of the group stages. Now that we are almost qualified, we need to get the first place and rest some players for the ligue1.

tonight's show: http://www.storage.to/get/32l4xreR/433-ucl.goals.091020.ws.pdtv.xvid.avi

TITO wrote:Who should we blame for the lost?
Pep?
FIFA?
Maradona?
Marquez?

The CORRUPT FUCKOS of course !!!

Antarion wrote:Football

Sorry. When you say "football" you mean the words of Pep about their match with Valencia? I understand it correctly?

Who will be shocked IF CSKA Moscow beat the Mancs today?

Jay Glenno wrote:a doff of the hat to Unflinching Frenchman who went very close with his worryingly specific predictions

:cigar:

He just got the goalscorers wrong.

What a great MD. Rubin beats Barca, Dynamo draws in Milano, Unirea wins at Rangers. The east will rise again.

Murray wrote:Rangers losing 3-1 to the worst team in the CL

Why are Unirea the worst team in the CL?

Edin Dzeko wrote:

Murray wrote:Rangers losing 3-1 to the worst team in the CL

Why are Unirea the worst team in the CL?

I think he means the worst name instead of the worst team

Hmm, Unirea means United.

Sounds more like United + Real
or urine

lih88 wrote:

Antarion wrote:Football

Sorry. When you say "football" you mean the words of Pep about their match with Valencia? I understand it correctly?

No i mean football was the winner this evening, cause CL got interesting without all those favourite wins we are used to.
That is what makes football exciting. Nothing to do with Pep

Forza Italia!Forza Milan! wrote:

bluenine wrote:

Torrente wrote:

bluenine wrote:

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Inter had the chance to take control of their group. Opportunity missed. It won't be easy for them in Kyiv.

Yup, big time opportunity missed. Our next 2 games are away (Kyiv & Barca) and now we will be fighting for survival, hoping to reach the last game with a chance to qualify.

Credit to Kyiv, they matched us tonight. It wasnt as much as Inter not playing well, as it was about Kyiv playing brilliantly. Lucio & Sneijder looked off colour, but the rest of the players did they job reasonably well.

That own goal and the Suazo miss near the end may come back to haunt us. We are unbeaten and bottom of the group. Fucking hell!

From the highlights it looks like Sneijder is continuing to out-Lampard Lampard. He shoots any chance he gets, even when he has no angle or has a wall of players right in front of him. If only he paused and looked up from time to time

I must admit, I am a bit confused... football is sometimes a great leveler... I was so sure that whatever happens, the midfield we put in tonight would dominate Kyiv's midfield. And that didn't happen. Kyiv matched our midfield. Sure, Sneijder and Muntari had an off night, but still surely we should ve been able to control the midfield???

Sometimes in football, its difficult to understand what went wrong... the only way i can explain it is that Kyiv played out of their skins tonight... they were awesome, we were usual, and it was evenly matched. I have no other explaination for it.

Lets say that 4321 is our plan B from now on, and lets go back to the 4312.

Why are you confused? You are looking for mystical reasons for Inter's failure. When a team has chronically underperformed in Europe for decades, it may be time to stop toiling for elaborate explanations.

Plain and simple--winning in Europe is not part of Inter's culture.

This is awful because, like I said earlier, Italy needs all the points it can get this year. Otherwise the Bundesliga will overtake Serie A. As much as I hate Inter, that would be terrible.

It might be worse for you guys if Milan finish 4th in Serie A

You are right about Inter's mental block in the CL. Its very frustating to watch sometimes. Both Kyiv's goals yesterday came from defensive houlers from Inter, and there were another 2 defensive houlers which kyiv couldn't finish. Its so unlike Inter to make so many defensive mistakes. Lucio made a nightmare of a game, an own goal plus 2 of the defensive errors. Apart from that we played well.

We need a big scalp in europe to get over our mental block. Maybe Barca at Camp Nou represents such an opportunity. Whether we take it is another question entirely!

Hopefully we will still qualify for the next round. This group is still very open. Our next game in Kyiv will decide our fate now. It is very unlikely that Inter will again make such defensive errors, as its an away game so the concentration would be high. Its still all to play for. In such a group stage, 3 draws are so much better than one win, as it means we have taken more points away from the other teams.

Lyon beat Liverpool then Pool are out. If Kiev beat Inter then Inter are most likely out. Group stages made interesting for once and this is after Platini's rule which we thought would weaken groups. No way Celtic would have beat Barca in the camp nou thats for sure

L r dd wrote:Lyon beat Liverpool then Pool are out. If Kiev beat Inter then Inter are most likely out. Group stages made interesting for once and this is after Platini's rule which we thought would weaken groups. No way Celtic would have beat Barca in the camp nou thats for sure

No worry!

If too much big cash favourites are about to go out in the group stage, uefa interferes and make 3rd positions play off games with seedings based on rankings


But yeah, the new guns in the CL play respectable so far.

Antarion wrote:

L r dd wrote:Lyon beat Liverpool then Pool are out. If Kiev beat Inter then Inter are most likely out. Group stages made interesting for once and this is after Platini's rule which we thought would weaken groups. No way Celtic would have beat Barca in the camp nou thats for sure

No worry!

If too much big cash favourites are about to go out in the group stage, uefa interferes and make 3rd positions play off games with seedings based on rankings


But yeah, the new guns in the CL play respectable so far.

LOL

This is what I like about having someone like Platini in charge of UEFA.... there will be no favours for the big teams. After a long long time, this is the first head of a top footballing body (FIFA/UEFA) who is making positive changes which are not just guided by money.

Platini Admired him as a player, admire him as an administrater.

Platini Admire lot of qualities...hate him as a person, especially his inferiority complex to Zizou.

bluenine wrote:

Forza Italia!Forza Milan! wrote:

bluenine wrote:

Torrente wrote:

bluenine wrote:

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Inter had the chance to take control of their group. Opportunity missed. It won't be easy for them in Kyiv.

Yup, big time opportunity missed. Our next 2 games are away (Kyiv & Barca) and now we will be fighting for survival, hoping to reach the last game with a chance to qualify.

Credit to Kyiv, they matched us tonight. It wasnt as much as Inter not playing well, as it was about Kyiv playing brilliantly. Lucio & Sneijder looked off colour, but the rest of the players did they job reasonably well.

That own goal and the Suazo miss near the end may come back to haunt us. We are unbeaten and bottom of the group. Fucking hell!

From the highlights it looks like Sneijder is continuing to out-Lampard Lampard. He shoots any chance he gets, even when he has no angle or has a wall of players right in front of him. If only he paused and looked up from time to time

I must admit, I am a bit confused... football is sometimes a great leveler... I was so sure that whatever happens, the midfield we put in tonight would dominate Kyiv's midfield. And that didn't happen. Kyiv matched our midfield. Sure, Sneijder and Muntari had an off night, but still surely we should ve been able to control the midfield???

Sometimes in football, its difficult to understand what went wrong... the only way i can explain it is that Kyiv played out of their skins tonight... they were awesome, we were usual, and it was evenly matched. I have no other explaination for it.

Lets say that 4321 is our plan B from now on, and lets go back to the 4312.

Why are you confused? You are looking for mystical reasons for Inter's failure. When a team has chronically underperformed in Europe for decades, it may be time to stop toiling for elaborate explanations.

Plain and simple--winning in Europe is not part of Inter's culture.

This is awful because, like I said earlier, Italy needs all the points it can get this year. Otherwise the Bundesliga will overtake Serie A. As much as I hate Inter, that would be terrible.

It might be worse for you guys if Milan finish 4th in Serie A

You are right about Inter's mental block in the CL. Its very frustating to watch sometimes. Both Kyiv's goals yesterday came from defensive houlers from Inter, and there were another 2 defensive houlers which kyiv couldn't finish. Its so unlike Inter to make so many defensive mistakes. Lucio made a nightmare of a game, an own goal plus 2 of the defensive errors. Apart from that we played well.

We need a big scalp in europe to get over our mental block. Maybe Barca at Camp Nou represents such an opportunity. Whether we take it is another question entirely!

Hopefully we will still qualify for the next round. This group is still very open. Our next game in Kyiv will decide our fate now. It is very unlikely that Inter will again make such defensive errors, as its an away game so the concentration would be high. Its still all to play for. In such a group stage, 3 draws are so much better than one win, as it means we have taken more points away from the other teams.

I don't think we will finish 4th. I think we will end up in 6th place. I am more worried about Italian football's health because Milan, Inter, Juve etc. have to function in a larger context, which is more important than rivalries. The encouraging thing is that Fiorentina is giving a good account of themselves and the Italian teams in UEFA cup are not doing too badly either.

It's not as if Juve and Milan are doing any better than Inter. Their progress is far from assured. Inter, however, have the best squad and should be comfortably beating Dynamo. If they don't start doing the business, then Serie A could be in big trouble.

Edin Dzeko wrote:Hmm, Unirea means United.

but it sounds like they pissed on Glasgow rangers last night....

Unflinching Frenchman wrote:Platini Admire lot of qualities...hate him as a person, especially his inferiority complex to Zizou.

The only realistic way to compare players of two different era's is to see what impact they had on football in their era - how good they were with respect to their contemparies. In that respect, while it is close, but IMO Platini was better than Zidane.

However, I can understand why most french rate Zidane higher... apart from being a genius himself, he won a world cup, an Euro, and reached another WC finals for his country. Platini won a Euro, and 2 WC semis. But you also have to appreciate that Zizou's supporting cast were arguably better than Platini's.

For anyone who lived through watching football in the 80s, Platini was a legend - an artist on the pitch. Still the best fk taker I have ever seen. He had the ability to make football look effortless, so many times he would just waltz into the goal, tapping the ball into the net as if the gk did not exist. One memory that stays with me, is when Juve played Napoli in the mid 80s, when Maradona was at the hieght of his powers. Maradona was given the task of marking Platini out of the game, coz the coach felt that he needed to put his best player to this impossible task in order to win the game. Platini still scored to win that game. That was the kind of respect Platini used to get during his days...

3 consecutive euro player of the year awards speak for themselves, thats the kind of impact Platini had on the game. For an AM, scoring at the ratio of over 0.5 goals per game is also remarkable, at an era where defensive football was reaching its peak.

Edin Dzeko wrote:

Murray wrote:Rangers losing 3-1 to the worst team in the CL

Why are Unirea the worst team in the CL?

I was wrong about that, obviously Rangers are the worst team in the CL.

And Platini was definitely a better player than Zidane, ZZ was overrated.

Scoring penalties and freekicks (diving all by himself to get those) sticks to my mind when it comes to Platini, he had better technique in those. But apart from that, Zidane is far more creative, and sheer poetry. There has been no better players in manipulation of football, and some of his improvisations are sheer art. His ball control & vision are both so great that its obscene.

I don't remember that Napoli-Juve game. But I do remember games when 3-4 Juve players marked Diego and fouled him in turns. So It's a massive surprise to hear that. Moreover Maradona is significantly better in other qualities than in man-marking.

Unflinching Frenchman wrote:Scoring penalties and freekicks (diving all by himself to get those) sticks to my mind when it comes to Platini, he had better technique in those. But apart from that, Zidane is far more creative, and sheer poetry. There has been no better players in manipulation of football, and some of his improvisations are sheer art. His ball control & vision are both so great that its obscene.

I don't remember that Napoli-Juve game. But I do remember games when 3-4 Juve players marked Diego and fouled him in turns. So It's a massive surprise to hear that. Moreover Maradona is significantly better in other qualities than in man-marking.

I remember him for the delightful chips into the goal, the ball moving like in slow motion over the line as the helpless defence/gk watch beaten... I remember him for freekicks which seemed to defy physics, curling around the wall in the "safe" corner. I remember him for beating defenders by flipping the ball over the heads....

I couldn't find the video i was looking for, but here is a sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdqMrgRi9dA

For me, Platini is the second best footballer Europe has ever produced, after only Cryuff.

bluenine wrote:

Torrente wrote:

bluenine wrote:

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Inter had the chance to take control of their group. Opportunity missed. It won't be easy for them in Kyiv.

Yup, big time opportunity missed. Our next 2 games are away (Kyiv & Barca) and now we will be fighting for survival, hoping to reach the last game with a chance to qualify.

Credit to Kyiv, they matched us tonight. It wasnt as much as Inter not playing well, as it was about Kyiv playing brilliantly. Lucio & Sneijder looked off colour, but the rest of the players did they job reasonably well.

That own goal and the Suazo miss near the end may come back to haunt us. We are unbeaten and bottom of the group. Fucking hell!

From the highlights it looks like Sneijder is continuing to out-Lampard Lampard. He shoots any chance he gets, even when he has no angle or has a wall of players right in front of him. If only he paused and looked up from time to time

I must admit, I am a bit confused... football is sometimes a great leveler... I was so sure that whatever happens, the midfield we put in tonight would dominate Kyiv's midfield. And that didn't happen. Kyiv matched our midfield. Sure, Sneijder and Muntari had an off night, but still surely we should ve been able to control the midfield???

Sometimes in football, its difficult to understand what went wrong... the only way i can explain it is that Kyiv played out of their skins tonight... they were awesome, we were usual, and it was evenly matched. I have no other explaination for it.

Lets say that 4321 is our plan B from now on, and lets go back to the 4312.

An off-night by Sneijder is still good enough for two assists

If anyones having a gamble tonight theres a tasty looking offer on
European Accumulators here . Has to include at least one British team though, unfortunately I reckon mine might be H$V to beat Celtic

Sevilla have surprised me this season. They're a better team than I thought.

L r dd wrote:I must laugh at Inter as well...how many champions league games is that without a win? they are a joke and the way the fixtures are set up qualifying could be very tough for them. You imagine Barca will take em.....so they probably need to win in Kiev which will be very difficult indeed.

I must laugh at Rangers aswell. Conceding 4 goals at home again.

L r dd wrote:Lyon beat Liverpool then Pool are out. If Kiev beat Inter then Inter are most likely out. Group stages made interesting for once and this is after Platini's rule which we thought would weaken groups. No way Celtic would have beat Barca in the camp nou thats for sure

Not exactly, but qualifiation would be out of their hands.