Official Football Thread

Which is exactly what happened.

What has amazed me about Man U's win is the comments from some people about how it was Chelsea that lost the league due to their injuries they have faced, etc. I find this totally ridiculous as they cite the absence of John Terry as a case in point. Come the end of this season, Terry (Chelsea's captain) will have played 1 less Premiership game than Gary Neville (United's captain). And Man U have been playing a second rate back four for the last few crucial games - it works both ways. Some person actually claimed that Terry's absence caused them to leak goals that they normally would have not conceded and by virtue of that, it has cost them between 12 and 20 points. If they had got those 12 points, Chelsea will now be on 93 with two home games to go - potentially, giving them 99 points (or 107, had they got those 20 points). Highly unlikely. Terry's absence coincided with a poor run of form for them, but their biggest problem was scoring and drawing too many games, not conceding goals.

The fact is that Man U won the league by scoring more goals, winning more games, etc. and playing better football. Quite possibly, they had the league won by Christmas - at that point, it was really theirs to loose.

I really do think that some people need to accept the league is not Chelsea's divine right to win.
 
I totally and wholeheartedly agree. Also defensive-wise, last summer Chelsea sold one of the best centre-halves in the division, William Gallas, and gained one of the most overrated (in my opinion obviously) defenders in the league, Ashley Cole. I think Wayne Bridge is a better and more-rounded left-back, and also as a squad player Gallas is a better option than Cole.

It goes to show that with all that money you can buy 15 world class players, but the ones that don't play become unhappy (like Gallas did), and the ones that do play don't necessarily gel into an effective team. Man U play much more as a 'team' - individually the sum of Chelsea's parts might be greater than Man U's, but Man U are better as a whole.

I also agree about Man U playing better quality football than Chelski - it's hard to disagree. Christiano Ronaldo, as much as I disliked him at the start of the season, has been by far the best player of the season, and he's actually a joy to behold. Rooney as well is extremely exciting, when he's on form.


PS nice custom title. :D
 
So, the first FA cup final at the new Wembley is finally here and as such, I'll give my pre-game thoughts:

Potentially, this could be a superb game of football been played by the top two teams in the country. However, games like this are often built up only for it to be a drab affair. But, the weather is good and should suit a good passing game.

I don't care really who wins, I'm just hoping for a good game. But I think, although Chelsea claim to be more hungry for it, Man U, I feel, may have the edge as their on a bit of a high going into the game knowing they have already won the biggest domestic prize.

Should Chelsea loose, would this be the end of Mourinho? £500m spent securing the League cup is not the return the board may expect - but they are in the very lucrative Champions league again next season (again), so all is not too bad.

Should Man U win, it may be the right time for Fergie to retire, leaving the club in a very good position - I know he wants another Champions League trophy, but he could spend 10 more years at Old Trafford and not get past the Semi's (and I think he knows that). If this is the case that he does go, I dread the next manager - he has got to be bloody good from the off.

Prediction - Man U to win after extra time.

And, please - no more penalty shoot-outs. It's not good for the nerves.
 
Pretty good prediciton. As I said to someone before the game, the best two sides in the country meeting , with the best players, does not necessarily meen it'll be a good game. Both teams have very good defences and they're so well matched that they almost cancel each other out.
The first half was extremely boring, but the second half was an improvement. It was a good goal that won it, just a shame it had to go to Chelsea and Drogba. ;)
 
national acrobat said:
It was a good goal that won it, just a shame it had to go to Chelsea and Drogba. ;)
It was a good well worked goal, and probably the only way the game was going to get a goal was from a piece of very good play between two class players.
 
And so it comes...the final between Milan and Liverpool tomorrow.

I think these teams are worthy opponents although I'd have liked to see Manchester in the final just because Liverpool have been in it recently before. I'll be supporting Milan and hopefully they can avenge their 2005 defeat. At any rate, it should be a great game, and I'll be glued to the telly...
 
The final really has "Dutch touch" so I am really keen on seeing it !

Let's see what Dirk Kuyt can do. His first season with Liverpool and getting to the final immediately !


For Seedorf it will interesting as well. He is the first, and to date, the only person to have won the CL with three different clubs: Ajax (1995), Real Madrid (1998), and AC Milan (2003); Will he win it for the fourth time??
 
Forostar said:
The final really has "Dutch touch" so I am really keen on seeing it !

Let's see what Dirk Kuyt can do. His first season with Liverpool and getting to the final immediately !


For Seedorf it will interesting as well. He is the first, and to date, the only person to have won the CL with three different clubs: Ajax (1995), Real Madrid (1998), and AC Milan (2003); Will he win it for the fourth time??

And don't forget Paolo Maldini, playing in his eighth Champions League final!

I'll be cheering on Liverpool as the English team, but it will be a very interesting match. Hopefully Peter Crouch will start.
 
Come on The Reds!
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http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CGFC4W2O *


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*The Dubliners
 
If I could deal with some of the possibly thoughts that Milan may have before the game:

If Milan go out to exact revenge for 2005, they will most likely loose.
If Milan want to give Maldini a big send off (should he retire after this season - which I think is probable), they will loose.[sup]1[/sup]
If Milan put all other thoughts out of their mind and simply go out to win the game, they most likely will.

However, if Liverpool feel they can repeat what they did 2 years ago, they will loose.

I'm going for Liverpool. :D


[sup]1[/sup]I recall Bayern Munich leading Man U in 1999 only to then substitute Matthaus with minutes remaining to allow him to take the applause from the Bayern fans. Bayern had this idea the game was won. A few minutes later, Man U were leading 2-1.
 
Albie said:
If Milan want to give Maldini a big send off (should he retire after this season - which I think is probable), they will loose.[sup]1[/sup]

I heard that Maldini will go on for another season.... -_-

Albie said:
I'm going for Liverpool. :D

Me too, Albie...  :innocent: :halo:
 
ABandOn said:
I heard that Maldini will go on for another season.... -_-
I heard this too, but if Milan win tonight, will he go for one more season, or end with a high point? I also read that his contract ends in 2008, so one more season is plausible.
 
*jumps up and down* Milan won 2-1! Although I admit that they didn't deserve the first goal, they played shite in the first half...
 
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