Semi final - Manchester United vs AC Milan

borocooper wrote:

Rai Krol 14 wrote:Otto is funny.

in the same way its funny when a middle aged woman falls over due to the weight of her shopping bags?

More funny

L.r.d wrote:

COTR wrote:to quote the great otto von genius

Otto der Schweinehund wrote:on current CL form Valencia and Roma are joint favourites

ManU were without creativity or wit; they simply don't get into any scoring positions in Europe; quite poor

OH DEAR

rte pundits view??

today

carrick and fletcher - nothing players (before the game)

ronaldo not truly world class because he loses the ball too often

but not much moaning apart from that

Rai Krol 14 wrote:

borocooper wrote:

Rai Krol 14 wrote:Otto is funny.

in the same way its funny when a middle aged woman falls over due to the weight of her shopping bags?

More funny

Jade Goody falling over due to a young child pushing her over and she hits her head hard on the pavement?

borocooper wrote:

Rai Krol 14 wrote:

borocooper wrote:

Rai Krol 14 wrote:Otto is funny.

in the same way its funny when a middle aged woman falls over due to the weight of her shopping bags?

More funny

Jade Goody falling over due to a young child pushing her over and she hits her head hard on the pavement?

Difficult , more funny ..

borocooper wrote:

Rai Krol 14 wrote:

borocooper wrote:

Rai Krol 14 wrote:Otto is funny.

in the same way its funny when a middle aged woman falls over due to the weight of her shopping bags?

More funny

Jade Goody falling over due to a young child pushing her over and she hits her head hard on the pavement?

Clive Tydlesley getting mistaken (?) for a Man U fan at the 2nd leg and subsequently gets clubbed to death by Italian riot cops ?

Pierre Littbarski wrote:

borocooper wrote:

Rai Krol 14 wrote:

borocooper wrote:

Rai Krol 14 wrote:Otto is funny.

in the same way its funny when a middle aged woman falls over due to the weight of her shopping bags?

More funny

Jade Goody falling over due to a young child pushing her over and she hits her head hard on the pavement?

Clive Tydlesley getting mistaken (?) for a Man U fan at the 2nd leg and subsequently gets clubbed to death by Italian riot cops ?

Italian riot cops don't beat fans.

I can’t tell you HOW MAD I am right now, there are so many people that I want to slap right now.

Gila, what Cr@p player, my grandma would be more efficient.
Dida, for the first goal (seriously, how can Milan not see that they need another goalkeeper?)
The fucking Camera men who keep on showing Ronaldo face every 30 seconds (WTF was that?)
Ancelotti, for everything.

I just can believe that Milan lost this match.

Tydlesley's worst comment came just before united got the second goal

'rooney is doing a selfless job for the team'

up until that point he was totally submerged in nesta's pocket

normally he is the reliable one in the pleat/Tydlesley pairing but not tonight

COTR's showing signs of not minding Man Utd, what is the world coming to

The first Kaka goal was classy; the second a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous.

Pleased for Rooney = he gets enough $h!t and that's just about the best possible way of ramming it down the naysayers' throats.

Milan bossed the first half. Seedorf was excellent IMO.
Man U well on top in second half.

I thought for a while that Milan were playing it cool and just fending Man U off - but after the Rooney goal the whole tone changed. Milan were hanging on - and in the end they just didn't have the right grip.

Just checked the match stats.

Utd shots on target:16
Milan shots on target: 6

Dida wasn't so awful really to concede three from 16 - the blame can only realy be placed on him for the first goal: after all, he save from fletcher was sublme

His saves from Rooney and Carrick were good too.

Parks lives wrote:His saves from Rooney and Carrick were good too.

Decent but expected.

the Fletcher one quite a few keepers wouldn't have saved so kudos for him.

How confident are you feeling? After al the vitriol I'd still put the percentage in Milan's favour though not as much as I'd originally said.

I'd say its now 55:45 to Milan, just because at home they'll be in the ascendancy knowing they have to win and you'll still be missing Rio and Vidic.

50:50 for me still.

I'm confident we can score, just whether we can get two.

Parks lives wrote:50:50 for me still.

I'm confident we can score, just whether we can get two.

the way i see it, Milan are at their best counter-attacking so the fact that you don't have to leave huge space is a major plus for you.

I honestly think that rushing neville bac may be a mistake though, he'll be far from math fit and Janku at home will b a real danger and can easliy out-pace neville

But did there full backs get forward that much tonight?

May be different in the second leg.

Parks lives wrote:But did there full backs get forward that much tonight?

May be different in the second leg.

well not really especially in the second half since they became a little more cautious.

Great win for u lot Park, Milan were v dangerous for the first 15 mins of the 2nd half and i'm really surprised Kaka missed that one on one - really should have done alot better.

2 great goals by you lot, and your team showed alot of spirit to turn it around.

Thanks, Bobo.

Milan at times were sensational, particular the last 20 minutes of the first half and the first 15 minutes of the second.

I really thought we were going out at that stage.

Apart from the first goal Dida was fantastic for them, VDS messed up there first goal. I cant beleive MIlan created so little and almost won the game.

When Carrick missed the open goal, I thought thats it were out, its going to be one of those nights. We created so many chances and we should definitely scored more than 3. For Milan attacking wise it all fell into place for them Gilardino/Pirlo did nothing and Kaka got 2 goals out of nothing. In the second half when the players realised they were allowed to tackle him, he didnt do much and Heinze had the measure of him.

In the second leg, hopefuly Milan will be as wasteful in attack and genorous in defence, as we were. Apart from there goals, I didnt think they were that threatning.

If we had Vidic (we would have definitely scored from another set piece) and Rio in the defence, I would be confident of a clean sheet in Milan.

However we have to score, but with Rooney and Ronaldo up front anything is possible and with Fletcher (the big game player) we can score a couple of goals. Its a huge task, but the way we are playing great football at the moment, despite all the injuries.

BoBo Vieri wrote:

Parks lives wrote:But did there full backs get forward that much tonight?

May be different in the second leg.

well not really especially in the second half since they became a little more cautious.

Great win for u lot Park, Milan were v dangerous for the first 15 mins of the 2nd half and i'm really surprised Kaka missed that one on one - really should have done alot better.

2 great goals by you lot, and your team showed alot of spirit to turn it around.

Hey thanks, the game in Milan will be difficult, I dont think Gila (I told he was awful) and Pirlo can play any worse than they did today. Fletcher, Carrick and Scholes have to play like they did in the second half to give us a chance. I just hope we dont give Kaka 2 goals again.

Interestingly poised for the 2nd leg. I hope we put out the same formation and go for it. If we play defensive then i'll have no qualms about being knocked out because we shall deserve it.

Rez wrote:

BoBo Vieri wrote:

Parks lives wrote:But did there full backs get forward that much tonight?

May be different in the second leg.

well not really especially in the second half since they became a little more cautious.

Great win for u lot Park, Milan were v dangerous for the first 15 mins of the 2nd half and i'm really surprised Kaka missed that one on one - really should have done alot better.

2 great goals by you lot, and your team showed alot of spirit to turn it around.

Hey thanks, the game in Milan will be difficult, I dont think Gila (I told he was awful) and Pirlo can play any worse than they did today. Fletcher, Carrick and Scholes have to play like they did in the second half to give us a chance. I just hope we dont give Kaka 2 goals again.

Whats your likely defence? is Neville going to be back? possibly Ferdinand?

Maldini is likely to be out of the 2nd leg so Bonera should come in. Gattuso should be back since it appears there is no muscle or bone damage. Milan need him since Brocchi was Cr@p.

Gila's movement was poor - this shouldve been Inzaghi's game, at least he would run! Pirlo was relatively poor too apart from his pass to Kaka in the 2nd half.

I felt Milan controlled the game for most of the first half and the beginning of the second half tho ur right, they didnt create much, just Kaka's 4 chances and a couple of half chances on headers from Ambrosini and Kaka. Some good passing by Seedorf and Kaka but again, Gila let them down since his movment was so poor!

I fancy u lot to get a draw there.

Neville will be back, so that covers Evra's suspension.

Ferdinand I'm not sure, though if he does make it back he'll take O'Shea's place.

Hopefully, Neville-Rio-Brown-Heinze. *Pray*

Parks lives wrote:Neville will be back, so that covers Evra's suspension.

Ferdinand I'm not sure, though if he does make it back he'll take O'Shea's place.

Hopefully, Neville-Rio-Brown-Heinze. *Pray*

Much better

Final score: Manchester United Reserves 3 Kaka 2

I didn't have the "pleasure" of hearing Clive Tyldesley tonight... but I can assure you that the RAI TV commentary team were their usual disgraceful, biased, jingoistic, nationalist, arrogant selves. Think WWII Pathe newsreels ("...and you can bet that our boys will be making sure that Jerry doesn't sleep a wink tonight!"), and then multiply by 8. The thickos in question were Gianni Cerquetti, Fulvio Collovati (still smarting after being humiliated in the Milan derby by Mark Hateley 22 years ago!) and Beppe Dossena (incredibly still in a job after his racist comments during the World Cup... and to think this jerk managed Ghana!).

But far more important... what a cracking game of football. Possibly the best I've seen in the CL this season, and a thousand times better than the borefest served up by these two in 2005. Yes, there were mistakes (Dida, Heinze, Brocchi), but there were some stunning individual performances too: Kaka, Seedorf, Nesta, Scholes (in the second half), Rooney, Carrick... and my MOTM, Fletcher. Someone questioned why on earth United want to buy Hargreaves, and I have to agree: the only thing that Hargreaves does better than Fletcher is free kicks. Unfortunately, Fletcher (like David Batty) gets labelled a "water carrier" because of his immense work-rate. Tonight, his PASSING was superior to that of Pirlo, Scholes and Carrick for most of the game.

With so many absences, United had no right to take anything away from this match... but they ended up dominating in a way that they weren't able to do against either Sheff. Utd or Middlesborough. The post-match stats showed that Milan created 5 opportunities (all from Kaka) whereas United had no less than 16 (only Brown, Heinze and Evra DIDN'T get a shot on goal).

It's actually quite bizarre to hear Ancellotti (who's gracious and realistic in defeat as he is humble in victory) commenting that "we were under siege for almost the entire second half", and the TV pundits trying to tell him "that Milan looked in command and were caught on the break"!

Best bit was watching the edited highlights half an hour after the game... all the Italian TV pundits droning on about how Milan had deserved better (3-2 didn't do justice to United's superiority!), and how Milan had thrown away a match they should have won (hem... when your CF doesn't get a sniff of goal in 90 minutes, the best you deserve is a draw). Then it suddenly dawns on them that almost the entire second half featured Fort Apache-style defending from Milan (OK, the absence of Gattuso probably didn't help... but United weren't quite at full strength themselves). And then it's egg on face time, as they finally admit that a 2-2 draw would have been a travesty.

Still everything to play for. Both teams will have learned a lot from this match. And seeing as United probably wont recoup any of the absentees, they still have to decide how to replace Evra (who didn't look any more than 70% fit tonight, IMO).

Excellent as ever Merseyman. If we would of drawn that game 2:2 I would of been devasted (our chances would of been about 25:75). We created so many chances in the second half.

Fletcher is a Legend!! Feel smug that I backed him all those times now.

Vidic began training on Monday. I'd be tempted to toss him in next Wednesday

So that we have something like

Neville Vidic Brown Heinze

Before you say Brown and Vidic are too simillar, Brown has enough pace and agility to be the covering player or to chase around the roving foward while Vidic sweeps the air in his usuall manner, he also has the attitude to be commanding about it.

always rated Fletcher

borocooper wrote:always rated Fletcher

Not in his own personal thread...

I bigged him up at some point im sure.