Football (soccer) Corner

[sayjann]

not that it matters now,game is past and result cannot be changed.

but Chelsea got the rub of the green again after the Pen incident against Liverpool.

 

 

but then again MU got the rub with the Rooney incident.

sorry Steve but that incident was shown to be a good decision at the time by the Ref from his angle.

again most People watching the game thought it was a Pen in real time.

afterwards from many angles it showed it was a travesty,but the Ref called what he saw with no benefit of replays.

but then again Pires never dived against Pompey last Season to win a Pen did he?.......

[chelseafan]

And the rub of the green against Spurs ;)

[chelseafan]

chocolat steve said:

 

Chelseafan you guys drew 0-0 at the Bridge v. spurs earlier in the season. This Spurs side is in form and playing much better. You guys have owned Spurs for the last several yeasr (just like us) but this year things may be a bit different. Spurs may not win but they stand a good chance of taking points.

 

We are likely to drop points at Bolton. We never get a good result when Fat Sam has his players kicking anyone in a red shirt.

 

Phew...2-0 win (notice I reply after the game, I didn't want to jinx it), well thats another win at three-point lane, incidentally Spurs have not beaten Chelsea since 1990, the longest run between two sides who are constantly in the top flight.

Chelsea have also set a premiership record for not conceeding a goal in their 6th consecutive game (I find this one amazing).

I felt that maybe this was Spurs year, but thankfully not....10 points clear for a couple of hours.....come on Bolton ::

 

edit : CS, looks like you were right

[sayjann]

still 10 Points clear after Boltons win.........

 

haven't seen the Goals but i understand Chelsea won a dodgy Penalty.

will see it on MOTD tonight.......perhaps they got the rub of the green again?.....

and i have no problem agreeing with you about the Spurs game.....

 

happy with MU's performance today.

the Defence fought well and as usual Keano was everywhere.

unlucky not to score with a terrific shot which hit the bar.

he can't seem to get that elusive 50th Goal and has hit the woodwork a few times this Season.

 

thought Liverpool were a little subdued and didn't seem to have that fight about them.

but thanks to Dudek for fucking up again.......

that's 3 Years in a row that he has gifted MU the win......

 

that's now 7 clean sheets for MU in a row and a Club record.

 

7 wins out of 13 at Anfield for MU since the PL started......

 

bring on the Arse........

[naughtyboy]

Looks like the Arsenal-Man U game is going to be important for 2nd place. Arsenal played garbage again today and the big names marked absent once more. On current form you would have to fancy Man U to win at Highbury. At this stage only Chelsea can lose the League. Spurs did not park the bus in front of the goal today. Poll well placed for penalty. Slightly iffy but Robben should have got one earlier. Drogba could be in trouble for raising the hand to a Spurs defender. No doubt Fergie will point out that as Rooney got a 3 match ban so should Drogba.

[chelseafan]

sayjann said:

still 10 Points clear after Boltons win.........

 

haven't seen the Goals but i understand Chelsea won a dodgy Penalty.

Not dodgy unless you are a spurs fan, in fact we should of had another two in the game when Robben was fouled, so Spurs got off lightly. Incidentally this was the 1st penalty awarded to us away from home in 3 years !!!!

 

will see it on MOTD tonight.......perhaps they got the rub of the green again?.....

and i have no problem agreeing with you about the Spurs game.....

Just seen the whole game on Football First on Sky, decent enough game, Spurs played well, but it shows how desperate they are when they throw Ledley King up front for the last 20 minutes or so

 

happy with MU's performance today.

the Defence fought well and as usual Keano was everywhere.

unlucky not to score with a terrific shot which hit the bar.

he can't seem to get that elusive 50th Goal and has hit the woodwork a few times this Season.

Yeah not a bad game, though a draw would of suited me just fine, but it seems now that its not Arsenal we need to worry about but United ::

 

thought Liverpool were a little subdued and didn't seem to have that fight about them.

but thanks to Dudek for fucking up again.......

that's 3 Years in a row that he has gifted MU the win......

Seems the Premiership is suffering with dodgy keepers at the moment, I understand Arsenals keeper gifted Bolton a goal today

 

that's now 7 clean sheets for MU in a row and a Club record.

Not Premiership games though as we've just set a record for 6 consecutive clean sheets (so I've been told)

 

7 wins out of 13 at Anfield for MU since the PL started......

 

bring on the Arse........

I'll obviously be wanting a draw ::

 

Just seen the Bolton Arsenal game. Wether it was the BEEB being picky on their highlights but Bolton should of won 4-0 at least, the reds didn't play well at all today....

[Steve]

Well, we played like crap and deserved a bad result. Hard to say as a supporter but I come on here after good or bad results and try to be honest about the game. The problem is the opposition wants the ball more in challenges than we do. Not sure what is the problem. Henry, Vieira, Pires, Ljundberg and Sol were on the side that ran off several consecutive wins (I think we won all of our games March to May) and the same ones that were in the side that went the whole year undefeated so I dispel the notion we lack bottle. We have shown we have it. Some may say we lack a few English (I'll even add Irish and Scottish) players with some 'brit bulldog' for the hard, dirty games. In '02 we still had Adams and last year we had Parlour who would be tailor made for games like the Bolton game. Man Yoo has Keane and Scholes and Rio and Chelsea have Lampard and Terry for those types of games.

 

I have not watched football as long as 99.9 percent of people on the forum but I've seen enough to know that every club that wins the title needs to be consistently good the whole season and especially in the 2nd half of the season and also....that tiny wee bit of luck at the right time. Every title winning team has it. A favorable referee call here, no injuries to key players in the right games, etc. Chelsea seems to be riding that this year. The Liverpool game, the Spurs penalty which I don't think it was. It changed the game for Spurs. Had it been 0-0 past the half, there is no telling what would have happened. Its an omen for the club that usually wins the title. Not that the title isn't deserved but a lucky break comes with the good form. Things go your way.

 

Rafa Benitez forgot to read the outgoing advice from Houllier. "Never play Dudek in the Man Utd game". I'm convinced Dudek puts a fiver on Man Utd each time he plays them. Liverpool plays great against us and Chelsea but for some reason seemed lost v. Man Yoo. Morientes looks the business though and after he gets settled will get more than his fair share of goals.

 

It remains to be seen if we will let Man Utd nip 2nd. On present form, it looks that way. Of the 3 clubs, we looked the poorest in form, even with our recent wins. The wins weren't convincing and of the 3 we looked the most likely not to be able to hold a goal lead.

 

I've always said that if we lose the title to Man Utd we were outmanaged and if we lose it to Chelsea we were outspent. Getting 3rd it will be both. We'll need an inredible amount of luck, consistency and Chelsea getting a major dip in order to win it. Right now, I'd just be happy with consistent, good football.

[sayjann]

only heard on 605 about a dodgy Pen so did not know until this morning.

if it was a Pen then Keane should have had one as well as his incident was exactly the same.

but Chelsea did have other calls and i suppose the law of averages comes into effect.

 

yes Almunia didn't seem confident in the highlights i saw.

Bolton played a lot of crosses into the area and he was definately dodgy.

 

MU set a club record of 7 games without conceding in any competition.

not talking about just the PL and Chelsea also set a Club record with their 6 games in the PL.

don't know if that is a PL record though.

another useless bit of info,did you know that MU have never gone 3 PL games without scoring?.

 

MU deserved the win and while still not playing that well are starting to get their act together.

i said at the beginning of the Season when MU were struggling a little that once all the injured Players were back they would be raring to go and i was right.

we still have a few injuries but have slowly clawed back the points lead Arsenal had.

amazing to think that if Arsenal had won at OT the difference would have been 14 points,but now it is only 1.

 

Arsenal have just not seemed the same since the loss at OT and some of the Players just don't seem to be their normal selves of late.

not that i'm complaining and i hope we get that good result at Highbury.

 

Steve.

didn't see the Drogba incident against Spurs but if what you say is true then he deserves some sort of punishment.

as i said in an earlier post he had his hand around Fortune's throat in the CCC SF and he can't keep raising his hands.

Rooney was stupid and broke the rules and was rightly punished for it,even if it was not exactly the worse thing i have ever seen.

but shouldn't all Players be answerable to the laws?,or are some allowed to do what they want and get away with it?.

[Steve]

Some say our slip in form was from the loss to you guys Sayjann. I am not so sure. It seems like that but had we won, we'd still have our normal slip but maybe not as severe possibly. When have we ever gone from October - December without a slip the last several years? Its an annual event. I think our first loss to anyone after the run we've had would have caused problems. Had we lost it to Norwich or anyone we'd have suffered a loss of confidence.

 

Injuries did us in again, in '03 it was the backline, this season the midfield. When you think about it, we had to play 2 teenagers in the biggest game of the year v. Chelsea, it really magnifies the problems we had and its a crucial position because as you know, if you can't control the middle of the pitch, you can't control the game. But, its a problem we could have overcome with a better attitude in games. The mental part of the game is what is really hurting us.

 

Monday we'll probably find out if the FA will look at the Drogba incident. If Rooney got a match ban, then Drogba would have to go, although I honestly thought the Rooney thing was 'hand bags' as you guys say. He raised his hands, that's true, but its the kind of thing we're used to hear in American sports. A penalty maybe during the game at worst, a stern talking to by the referee is the usual thing. Punches are a different matter, like the recent NBA bust up.

 

I've never been in favor of using Almunia. Gooners were calling for Lehmann to be let go or replaced and if it was to happen I'd much prefer Taylor. Almunia was on loan at a then relegation zone Celta Vigo side. He wasn't even good enough to plaly first team for a team struggling to stay in the league. He was given to us because Celta Vigo didn't have the rest of the money for Silvinho. So he didn't come to us because he was a great talent but because they didn't have the money. Its like I owe you 50 quid and give send you my wrist watch as payment. You don't know if you got a bargain or was robbed till you need it. To be thrown in to a title run for a big club is asking too much of him. Taylor, even with his faults, as at least been there and substituted for Seaman in the '03 season. What frustrates me as a gooner is that, at our best, we're arguably one of the top 5 clubs in Europe and don't have a keeper who is even one of the top 5 in our own league. How can we claim to have European ambitions then? Milan, Barca, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juve, all have top internationals. No club is strong at every position, most big clubs its one of the full backs. But there is one you can't lack as that is the keeper. You need a commander at the back. Seaman, Schmeichel, Kahn, Casillias, Dida, Buffon, all give their clubs that confidence and the back line stability.

[chelseafan]

Interesting point about keepers, I mentioned before, but they seem to be a rare breed these days. On reflection, could this be the biggest difference between our clubs. Whilst Chelsea have two outstanding keepers, Arsenal and Man U are suffering. If you look at the title winning seasons (with the exception of last year), Arsenal had Seamen, United had Schmichel. Barthez never made it at United, nor it seems has Alminuia at Arsenal. As my old man always says, when building a team you have to start from the back, theres no point in have great defenders when you have a dodgy keeper.

 

But this isn't just restricted to Arsenal and United. Dudek for Liverpool is inconsistant, Given had moments of brilliance at Newcastle but was never consistant and even Cudicini (when he was playing regulaly) was prone to the odd mishap (v Arsenal for one).

 

As a country, England has always had two or three decent keepers, nowadays it seems we dont have one!!

 

On a different note, I see the ashes are being stoked again

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/4178407.stm