• Check out the relaunch of our general collection, with classic designs and new ones by our very own Pissog!

The Soccer thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Don't worry, I eventually found a stream, although I found it after kick-off. I desperately searched for an available stream with Havak, but we were unsuccessful. I was so eager to watch the match as soon as possible, so I left all programs and prepared myself. Finally, after some time, I found one online.

But, man, I will need you next time. ;]

On to the actual match, wow... Berbatov's glimpse of true class shone yesterday, as he set Ronaldo up for the second. I was like, "Okay, how the fuck did he do that?".

I expected no other result. However, I had my hopes up for Hull to drag Chelsea back and force them to a draw, but it wasn't meant to be. I was suprised that Chelsea won that game so easily, to be honest.
 
Yeah, I also had my hopes up for Hull vs. Chelsea and Liverpool vs Portsmouth. My reasonings were, I didn't expect Chelsea to bounce back like that, but going away from the Bridge first was probably good for them. If Hull didn't make a pigs ear of it at the start of the second half, and that shot went in instead of hitting the post, it could've been a bit different.

I really did expect Liverpool to struggle in breaking down Portsmouth, and they did. A stupid mistake from a defender jumping with both hands in the air gave Liverpool another win in a game that had 0-0 written all over it.

Arsenal vs Tottenham wsa a brilliant match up, excellent goals and attacking play. I watched this in tandem with Man Utd vs West Ham (one on TV, one on the PC) and I'm so glad I did. I expected Tottenham to go and get a draw there to be honest, but I only predicted 2-2, not 4-4! I'm fully expecting Tottenham to give Liverpool more than a game on the weekend now, Harry is sorting them out.

Man Utd were good in the first half, Berbatov's magic was awesome. Ronaldo got some goals again, and I honestly predicted a 2-0 win with both goals from Ronaldo, that's how amazing I am. We were lacklustre in the second half, but we never really needed to be that good. It would've been nice to bang some more goals in, but a clean sheet and decent play all round is good enough. Hopefully we can take this into the game with Hull on Saturday and score a few more.

Taylor, SoPcast actually started working just as you left MSN... which sucked lol. If you would've stayed a minute longer and typed 6029 into the Address Bar, it would've worked.
 
Yeh SkarmBliss, I use that too. But unfortunately for me last night that site wouldn't load. But someone on RedCafe Forums said type in a channel to the Address bar on SoPcast, so I did and eventually the channel was online, so I got to watch the game. :)
 
I really hate ronaldo and man U, but i have to admit that hes the best:
Best midfielder: Ronaldo
Best striker: Torres
Best defender: Caragher
Best goalkeeper: Buffon
 
lol Carragher, he was terrible last season, looked like giving a penalty away every 10 minutes, no where near the level of Ferdinand who completely dominated Torres in both matches vs Liverpool and shut down Eto'o vs Barca.
 
Being Man Of The Match in a high-profile match between two big clubs is an achievement, don't get me wrong; however, it doesn't suddenly mean you're the best defender in the world. Ferdinand, despite two silly mistakes against Everton, has shown he has consistantly defended United's goal like a world-class defender. Many would agree he is the best defender at this moment in time.
 
that baffled me as well, Rooney should have gone off for O'Shea if anyone. He was still diving in at the end.
 
As much as I am happy that Liverpool's bubble has burst, it makes the dropped points at Everton seem so much more disappointing :-/
 
Celtic vs Manchester United

zufon6.jpg
vs
6ozg6tw.png


UEFA Champions League

Venue: Celtic Park (Capacity: 60,832)
Date: Wednesday 5th November, 2008
Kick Off: 19:45 GMT
Expected to be shown on
ss2.gif


Manchester United managed to come out on top with a good performance at Old Trafford on Match Day Three, beating Celtic by three goals to nil. Dimitar Berbatov scored a brace, netting two goals that could've well been judged off-side. Wayne Rooney carried on with his recent goal scoring form to net the third, in a somewhat comfortable win for the reds.

Manchester United, currently top of Group E on 7 points, are ahead of Villareal on goal difference. One more win will see United qualify for the next round, so Sir Alex will definitely be returning to Scotland with a victory in mind. United are also the only side (along with Chelsea) that are yet to concede a goal in this year’s competition. Celtic will be looking for their first win in the campaign, which really needs to come against United if they have any hope of qualifying for the next round.

Injuries are now few and far between at Old Trafford, with Paul Scholes and possibly Owen Hargreaves being the only first choice players to miss out. Fabio Da Silva is also still not at full fitness, while Gary Neville and Michael Carrick are yet to reach full fitness. Wes Brown missed a couple of games recently with an ankle problem, but Sir Alex fully expects him to be ready to face Celtic.

Recent Form

Celtic
Kilmarnock 1-3 Celtic
Celtic 4-2 Hibernian
Man Utd 3-0 Celtic
Inverness CT 1-2 Celtic
Celtic 4-0 Hamilton
Villarreal 1-0 Celtic

Manchester United
Man Utd 4-3 Hull
Man Utd 2-0 West Ham
Everton 1-1 Man Utd
Man Utd 3-0 Celtic
Man Utd 4-0 West Brom
Blackburn 0-2 Man Utd

Line-up Prediction

GK: Edwin van der Sar #1

RB: Wes Brown #6
CB: Rio Ferdinand #5
CB: Nemanja Vidić #15
LB: Patrice Evra #3

RM: Cristiano Ronaldo #7
CM: Darren Fletcher #24
CM: Ryan Giggs #11 (c)
LM: Park Ji-Sung #13

FW: Carlos Tévez #32
FW: Dimitar Berbatov #9

Subs: Tomasz Kuszczak #29, Gary Neville #2, John O'Shea #22, Michael Carrick #16, Anderson #8, Nani #17 & Wayne Rooney #10.

This is a game we should really want to, and probably need to win. Let some of the kids have a run out against Aalborg at Old Trafford, not for this one.
 
i did say i had a bad feeling about spurs. we completely outplayed them yet lose. I hope this is a good kick in the backside for the Liverpool and we start winning these games.

and err congratulations on breaking hull's undefeated record away from home in the premier leage xD
 
and err congratulations on breaking hull's undefeated record away from home in the premier leage xD
Click to expand...

Thank you. We appreciate what Tottenham did to you yesterday, though. Sorry... I just can't help myself! Still, I would've prefered Chelsea to lose. ;]

I hate Fletcher and Giggs playing in the centre of midfield, Havak. We cannot let that be the case on Wednesday.
 
When Spurs scored in Injury Time, I think I nearly cried! After a great finish from Dirk Kuyt and dominating Spurs for a good 60 minutes, I thought the game was in the bag. We had so many chances and to be fair we should've won the game about 4 - 1 but a Jamie Carragher own goal and that 94th minute goal killed the game.

Chelsea look a dominating force this season. That's all I can say on the Chelsea matter.

Stoke beating Arsenal brightened my day. I watched the game on Match of the Day and once again, Rory Delap's throw-ins were incredible. Destroyed Arsenal and as Alan Shearer rightly said, "If your Goalkeeper doesn't want to come for the ball and your centre-backs don't want to head the ball, you're always going to struggle against teams like Stoke." Lol at Van Persie's sending off.
 
van persie made me lol as well. went for the ball first, missed, then smashed the keeper's head.

Taylor, Fletcher has easily been one of our best players this season, along with Berbatov, Rooney and lately Ronaldo. And of those he has easily been the most consistent. Giggs was immense 1st half vs Everton but I think we need Anderson in there as Celtic will be up for it at home and it will be a bruising game IMO.

I expect Rooney to partner Tevez, Berbatov has played for about 10 games straight or something.
 
Pillowrath said:
more like, we dominated for the 90 minutes. In the injury time, they dominated.
Click to expand...
I have to disagree with that, and not just because I hate Liverpool. Spurs came into the game after an hour, it was probably their first spell to be honest. Really working you for about 10 minutes before scoring, which was a great effort. Especially since Liverpool had been pretty dominant for 60 minutes but only scored a goal early on. This just shows that if you don't manage to take any chances, you can always get caught. Spurs had 10 minutes of pressure and scored, you had a good 55 minutes of pressure after yoru first goal, and didn't score.

I honestly don't recall any note worthy chances form Liverpool after around 75-80 minutes (when Spurs were still very much on the front foot). Credit to Harry for switching to an even more attack minded side later on, and it payed off in the end.

I obviously can't say Tottenham deserved to win the game, but if you don't take your chances, shit happens.
_____________________________________________

Onto Celtic vs United.

I do kind of agree on Giggs, but with the lack of football he's had, he'll be pretty fresh in comparison with most of our squad. Darren Fletcher has had a bit of a rest with Carrick returning, but I don't think throwing Carrick straight in against Celtic away from home is the best idea. Carrick played a bit against West Ham when the game was won, and against what should still be seen as one of the lesser sides in the league despite their brilliant form, Hull. Celtic away will be, IMO, a much tougher game so starting him on the bench is more likely. Fletcher + Giggs doesn't seem that great, but I'd be quite confident in it, especially with the energy of Park and Tévez to do some midfield work. Brown should definately start against Celtic, and there's talk of Foster getting a chance in goal. But I just think this should be seen as a must-win game and we'll go for a really strong squad.

We play Aalborg at Old Trafford in the Champions League next, and that should be the game that's treated more lightly. With a team like: Foster, Rafael, Brown, Evans, O'Shea, Nani, Carrick, Anderson, Park, Tévez & Berbatov/Rooney/Ronaldo.

Despite Berbatov not having a rest as of late, I'd like to see him start as he's finally in good form. Showing some great skills as of late, and he's the current leading goal scorer in the Champions League. So I don't see a reason not to start him. Rooney can come on for him late on, let Tévez play all of this game, and all of the Aalborg game so he gets some play time.
 
SkarmBlissCounter said:
Taylor, Fletcher has easily been one of our best players this season, along with Berbatov, Rooney and lately Ronaldo. And of those he has easily been the most consistent. Giggs was immense 1st half vs Everton but I think we need Anderson in there as Celtic will be up for it at home and it will be a bruising game IMO.
Click to expand...

Giggs was immense against Everton? In general, his awareness is much appreciated, but I dispise the weight of his passes and old-school crap he tries to pull off and evidently fails. Fergie feels obligated to play him because let's face it, he is Ryan Giggs, a Manchester United legend. Our manager has repositioned him to play centrally, knowing full-well he cannot hack it on the wing in the top division today. Anderson or Giggs? I would take the Brazilian 100% time, no contest.

Darran Fletcher stands out just as much as Rooney considering he played nearly every game so far this season, which incidentally did not come through a great display of football; his chances, however, were awarded due to the fact that three of our midfielders were unfit to play.
 
Steven Gerrard, you are a disgrace. That was absolutely pathetic, and the biased commentators even stressed that the penalty was soft. Liverpool are the luckiest team... ever. Gerrard, you no longer have the right to criticize Ronaldo's 'dives', unless you want to be labelled the biggest hypocrit of the year. What a joke - Athletico had you beat.
 
Okay so, van der Sar isn't travelling to Scotland, nor is Hargreaves, Scholes, Brown, or Neville. So the side needs a rejig:

GK: Ben Foster #12

RB: Rafael Da Silva #21
CB: Rio Ferdinand #5
CB: Nemanja Vidić #15
LB: Patrice Evra #3

RM: Cristiano Ronaldo #7
CM: Darren Fletcher #24
CM: Ryan Giggs #11 (c)
LM: Park Ji-Sung #13

FW: Carlos Tévez #32
FW: Dimitar Berbatov #9

Subs: Tomasz Kuszczak #29, John O'Shea #22, Jonny Evans #23 Michael Carrick #16, Anderson #8, Nani #17 & Wayne Rooney #10.

It's really hard to decide what to do, as we play Arsenal on the weekend so it'd be great to have the likes of Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson, Nani, Park, Rooney, and Berbatov fit and fresh.

But first things first, we need to win this game against Celtic to cement our place in the next round. Idealy, I'd like to see the game won in the first half, if we can manage 2-0.

Then decide who to rest, I'd let Tévez play it all since he's unlikely to start against Arsenal, while Berbatov has played a lot so I'd like him taken off early for Rooney, or even Anderson. Rafael should play the whole game at right back so we don't need to change that position. Which means we can take off Ronaldo for Nani. Then maybe give Carrick some more game time, taking off Giggs or Fletcher.

Rafael -- Ferdinand -- Vidic -- Evra
-- Fletcher - Anderson - Carrick --
Nani ------------------------ Park
-------------- Tévez -------------

I'd like to see something like this for the majority of the second half if we can win the game early on, but even if Celtic aren't what they were a few seasons ago they still have an awesome home record in the Champions League. So it's going to be very tough.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top