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[Mama Smurf]

Chelsea now have their two games in hand before the next United Premiership fixture, so we'll get a clearer idea of where things stand. It's Portsmouth away this afternoon and Man City away on the 14th, and if they drop any points, they can forget it. And two away games...it's possible.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Fabregas you shortarse, stop missing open goals! Reading are close enough that I want them to lose.

 

[hadareud]

Fabregas you shortarse, stop missing open goals! Reading are close enough that I want them to lose.

can't believe he missed that.

I don't have a good feeling for the second half

 

[Mama Smurf]

Fabregas should really score more goals. The commentator said he hadn't scored in the last 40 games or so, but I don't understand why. He has a decent shot on him, he gets into the box quite a bit, he generally plays alongisde a more defensive midfielder...should score more. I'd say if Arsenal play 50 games a year, he should be getting at least 4 or 5.

 

[Mama Smurf]

You can see why Walcott is considered a potential Henry replacement. His movement and pace is excallent, he just needs to work on his finishing.

Denilson is so damn impressive for a defensive midfielder at his age. That's probably the hardest position possible for a youngster.

 

[celestial body]

Good call, Mama. Fabregas finally puts his Arsenal goal drought to an end.

 

[Mama Smurf]

:lol

Dammit Arsenal, learn how to defend a corner. And you might want to pick up something on how to score from one at the same time.

 

[hadareud]

nervous win, but really important. There definitely was a lack of confidence in the end, but the win was more than deserved.

Shouldn't have been this close, Aliadieres goal was clearly onside and there should have been a second penalty. The Sky Sports co-commentator was absolutely clueless btw. Who was he anyway?

 

[Shinobi]

Good call, Mama. Fabregas finally puts his Arsenal goal drought to an end.

:lol

Diaby has been blowing me away in his last few matches...his strength, pace and poise is just ridiculous. We've defintely got our new Paddy. Good win overall, despite the nervous finale. Second half play was a lot of fun to watch, though we really need to be more clinical.

I was wrong about the tables...we're a point behind the Reds now, but with two games in hand. Hopefully Mama's boys will turn Bolton over to keep them at bay.

 

[Lakitu]

 

[kaizoku]

Not being afraid to speak out is a flaw now? God I find your posts irritating.

mission accomplished

I was actually referring to his conduct though, not his speaking out, which I merely find ironic as stated in my post. He's bemoaning so called unfair treatment when they've had preferential treatment and gotten away with loads of things in the past few seasons thanks to David Dein, fact.

Everyone knows the FA are a bunch of jokers, especially Man Utd fans and I agree that the systems are stupid but Wenger isnt doing anything revolutionary, he is merely throwing his toys out of the pram in typical public fashion - typical behaviour of Arsene and his players.

Utd have been slighted many times by the FA but we always retain our dignity and class and deal with things in the proper manner (or just take it on the chin).

Now Wenger's team are in trouble for fighting (some would say brawl) in the bloody cup final and he's moaning about how his poor players are being treated unfairly. Sorry but the rest of the country is laughing at you Gooners and your manager who has the eyes of a hawk when it benefits him and is blind as a bat when it doesn't. If thats not a flaw in arguably the world's 2nd best manager, what is?

This viewpoint is echoed by much of the nation's press and pretty much every sports show/sports fan forum - why are you so shocked ?

 

[Blablurn]

Bayern won 3:2 in Berlin \o/

 

[Shinobi]

mission accomplished

I was actually referring to his conduct though, not his speaking out, which I merely find ironic as stated in my post. He's bemoaning so called unfair treatment when they've had preferential treatment and gotten away with loads of things in the past few seasons thanks to David Dein, fact.

Everyone knows the FA are a bunch of jokers, especially Man Utd fans and I agree that the systems are stupid but Wenger isnt doing anything revolutionary, he is merely throwing his toys out of the pram in typical public fashion - typical behaviour of Arsene and his players.

Utd have been slighted many times by the FA but we always retain our dignity and class and deal with things in the proper manner (or just take it on the chin).

Now Wenger's team are in trouble for fighting (some would say brawl) in the bloody cup final and he's moaning about how his poor players are being treated unfairly. Sorry but the rest of the country is laughing at you Gooners and your manager who has the eyes of a hawk when it benefits him and is blind as a bat when it doesn't. If thats not a flaw in arguably the world's 2nd best manager, what is?

This viewpoint is echoed by much of the nation's press and pretty much every sports show/sports fan forum - why are you so shocked ?

If you'd been paying any attention to the full story instead of keeping your head buried up Fergie's ass, you'd know that The Independant did a full video dissection of that video that showed Drogba landing a punch, and Essien throwing a punch. Nothing happened to those players, yet Eboue got repreminded post-facto. It's a pretty obvious double standard, even for a dimwit like you to grasp.

That's why Wenger is pissed...he'd apologized on Sunday for the way things melted down, but the FA's rulings have basically said that we did all the punching while Chelsea laid on the ground in a fetal position. That's just bullshit, I give Wenger credit for saying so. Though to be fair, I doubt he goes on about it this long if we didn't also have a half dozen players in sick bay.

 

[hadareud]

This viewpoint is echoed by much of the nation's press and pretty much every sports show/sports fan forum - why are you so shocked ?

yeah, that must make it true then. The British press and fans of other clubs agreeing with each other.

It's what history shows us, the more people agree the better and more correct the cause must be.

 

[Shinobi]

:lol :lol :lol

 

[Mama Smurf]

Cech kept Chelsea in that game at 1-0. I'm glad they won though, Portsmouth being a team Blackburn are chasing.

 

[Shinobi]

Cech's twin saves were simply awesome, but especially the first off Cole. As much as I love watching great goals, seeing great saves is just as entertaining for me (I used to play goal in both soccer and hockey, so that's part of the reason).

Drogba with another goal...ho hum. 14 in 18 games, 29 overall, 18 in the prem. Don't know why it took Chelsea so long to sub him though...he was clearly in discomfort. Would be interesting for Chelsea if he misses the Porto match.

 

[Yazan]

We kicked Chievos ass. "The phenomenon" is still a beast, and M.Oddos goal was fantastic. :lol :lol :lol :lol @ Dida and Bonera

 

[Aurora]

Manchester United didn't really deserve those 3 points but hey, I'm happy.

It's beyond reasonable doubt that we're going to win the Premiership now.

 

[Yazan]

War between Sevilla-Barcelona. Zambrotta received his second yellow card.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Wow. 3 red cards. Must be nuts.

Just realized if Sevilla win, they take over 1st position in La Liga.

 

[Yazan]

Barca lost the match. The referee= catastrophic disaster

 

[Mama Smurf]

What was the score? And who scored?

I'd like Sevilla to win the title, just to mix things up. Plus they impressed the crap out of me in that European Supercup match back towards the beginning of the season.

 

[Yazan]

Sevilla - Barcelona


14' [0 - 1] Ronaldinho
28' A. Ocio (red card)
29' Ronaldinho (miss. pen.)
39' [1 - 1] A. Kerzhakov
61' [2 - 1] D. Alves
62' L. Giuly (red card)
77' G. Zambrotta (red card)

 

[bud]

ronaldinho missing a penalty!?

is this the first time?

 

[Mama Smurf]

Sounds like a fun match. I didn't know it was on until it was almost over, or I'd have watched.

 

[Falch]

What was the score? And who scored?

I'd like Sevilla to win the title, just to mix things up. Plus they impressed the crap out of me in that European Supercup match back towards the beginning of the season.

Barca lost....Ronaldino missing a penalty...3 red cards....

Hell of a match that must have been.:lol

Anyway, PSV with a solid 2-0 victory over RKC. Farfan with the 1-0 after 2 minutes. Alcides with his first ever goal since becoming a prof:

:lol

 

[Lakitu]

I'm drunk, Liverpool pratically handed the title to Man U, our biggest rivals, only positive thing to come out of that match is Neville getting kicked in the balls, good night.

 

[Shinobi]

:lol

:lol Hope he's not doing that to us on Wednesday...

I'm drunk, Liverpool pratically handed the title to Man U, our biggest rivals, only positive thing to come out of that match is Neville getting kicked in the balls, good night.

:lol Perspective is everything...

Kinda feel sorry for Inter...they won 17 games on the trot till a couple weeks ago, and I think are unbeaten in their last 28 (they came from behind to beat Livorno 2-1 earlier today), 16 points clear of Roma with 12 games to go. There's every chance they could replicate Arsenal's feat in '04 and finish their league campaign unbeaten. But due to how watered down the top clubs are in the Serie A compared to previous seasons, nobody seems to be giving their accomplishments much respect.

 

[Falch]

:lol Hope he's not doing that to us on Wednesday...

He won't, he's not eligible to play in the CL for PSV (played for Benfica already).

Can't wait to see the match on wednesday. I really believe we can beat Arsenal (well, over two legs that is, I'd take a 2-1 defeat like Reading today).

Oh, Kromkamp looks like he's out. Seems to have gotten a hamstring injury, he will get an echo tomorrow to see how serious it is. Could be a problem though, since Alcides isn't eligible and Reiziger is still injured too.

 

[bud]

psv are horrible. if you take a couple of players out and replace them with the regular bench-sitters they just fall apart. this is one of the advantages of the roulationsystem imo, every player gets minutes.

 

[Shinobi]

It's gonna be tough for us, especially with the injuries. I think we can still take the tie, but being a goal down is gonna really put us on edge. If PSV scores one goal we'll have to score three to advance, and that'll be a tough ask. The key for us will be to score first, ideally in the first half. We've also gotta be more clinical with our finishing, something that's deserted us the last few weeks (this is where we're really missing Henry and RVP).

 

[bud]

how does the system works anyway?

for instance, if psv score 1 goal does that count as 2?

can anyone explain this please?

 

[Falch]

psv are horrible. if you take a couple of players out and replace them with the regular bench-sitters they just fall apart. this is one of the advantages of the roulationsystem imo, every player gets minutes.

Well, we're not a European powerhouse that can afford a lot of expensive players on the bench. We had Mendez, Vayrynen and Culina on the bench today, 2 of whom played against Arsenal, so it's not that bad. Our attack is our main problem since we failed to land Luque last january: we only have four strikers, 1 of whom is often injured (Kluivert) and one who isn't good enough (Tardelli). Koeman already said he wants 6 strikers next year, so the situation should improve.

I'm actually against the roulation system, at least for PSV, mainly because our bench isn't very good, and we'd lost to many points if we didn't always fielded our best team.

Don't forget that even though Arsenal isn't considered a rich club in England, it has more than 3 times annual turnover (don't know if that's the right word) compared to PSV.

So, I won't consider PSV horrible. I think it's quite a feat that we've survived the CL groupstage for 3 years in a row now.

 

[Falch]

how does the system works anyway?

for instance, if psv score 1 goal does that count as 2?

can anyone explain this please?

When both teams have won one of two legs, the team with the most away goals goes through to the next round, if the difference in goals scored per match is the same. Same goes for 2 draws.

Sounds way more complicated than it is.

 

[bud]

When both teams have won one of two legs, the team with the most away goals goes through to the next round.

what if it's 1-1 and 1-1?

 

[Falch]

what if it's 1-1 and 1-1?

Extra time.

If it's 3-3 and then 2-2, the team with the 3 away goals wins.

In PSV's case, if they lose 2-1 at London, they will still go through to the next round because they didn't let Arsenal score an away goal, while they managed to get one.

3-1 win for Arsenal would mean that Arsenal managed to get a 2 goal difference at home, when PSV only managed a 1 goal difference at home, so Arsenal would continue on.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Another point on away goals, they count in extra time too.

So, for example, if Arsenal were to win 1-0 at home after 90 minutes against PSV, the game will go into extra time. Now if PSV score during extra time, that's an away goal and Arsenal would have to score 2 to go through instead (or if PSV scored 2 in extra time, Arsenal would have to score 3). Seems slightly unfair to me that Arsenal, purely due to having the second leg at home (as the first leg can't have extra time) might have to face another half hour where an away goal can be scored against them. If it were Arsenal to score in extra time under this scenario, PSV would STILL only have to score once to win the tie.

Of course, the home side gets the advantage of, well, being at home for the extra half hour. I still think I would probably prefer the half hour to get an away goal though myself.

 

[PleoMax]

Sevilla - Barcelona


14' [0 - 1] Ronaldinho
28' A. Ocio (red card)
29' Ronaldinho (miss. pen.)
39' [1 - 1] A. Kerzhakov
61' [2 - 1] D. Alves
62' L. Giuly (red card)
77' G. Zambrotta (red card)

Lol

Why did i miss the damm game...

 

[hadareud]

Another point on away goals, they count in extra time too.

So, for example, if Arsenal were to win 1-0 at home after 90 minutes against PSV, the game will go into extra time. Now if PSV score during extra time, that's an away goal and Arsenal would have to score 2 to go through instead (or if PSV scored 2 in extra time, Arsenal would have to score 3). Seems slightly unfair to me that Arsenal, purely due to having the second leg at home (as the first leg can't have extra time) might have to face another half hour where an away goal can be scored against them. If it were Arsenal to score in extra time under this scenario, PSV would STILL only have to score once to win the tie.

Of course, the home side gets the advantage of, well, being at home for the extra half hour. I still think I would probably prefer the half hour to get an away goal though myself.

very true, they should change that. The FA cup is even worse, where in replays the away goal doesn't count for more in regular time - but in extra time it does. How did they come up with that?

I think they should scrap the away goal rule altogether. I think it was useful and fair 10 or 15 years ago, but football has changed so much since then that it doesn't make much sense to me anymore.

 

[Yazan]

Seedorf scored a wonderful goal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd01jHOoSxc


Haha the bonera & dida situtation needs a gif:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Uhu6UChGI

 

[Blablurn]

Beautiful goal by Podolski. It's from yesterdays match against Berlin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nXQkbMyObc

So, next victim is Madrid!

 

[kaizoku]

Arsenal fans, its all well and good teaming up on me and acting like I'm some kind of insane moron, but these points of view are pretty much the general consensus on Arsene Wenger and his breed of Arsenal players. (sometimes its useful to know how outsiders view your tribe)

It is stunning that you should ignore that. Are you saying Wenger is flawless? I'm not even concerned about the cup final brawl, it probably was harsh. nevertheless it happened, it was embarassing, it wasn't gentle pushing and discussing etc. but you guys got punished and now Wenger is pumping the press with sob stories and all this "justice" talk. Rather like Lille actually. He would have been better off just not talking about it, concentrating on the game and pursuing any appeals through the proper channels in a dignified manner.

Wenger's teams have always behaved petulantly, dived, moaned when things dont go their way and caused trouble like kids in the park. Over the past few years Arsenal have been involved in so many stupid little fights - that is your flaw and now Wenger is speaking as if his team are little angels. Funny and deluded. Just like the fans eh?

I'm glad, its what keeps him in Fergie's shadow.

enough teasing though, good luck vs PSV, I'd like to see how Arsenal fare against top European sides in the next stage.

 

[John_B]

Beautiful goal by Podolski. It's from yesterdays match against Berlin.

That was a pretty cheeky finish by the young chap.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Woohoo! Blackburn beat Bolton away 2-1. I couldn't see the game, but I know we scored two penalties. Looking at the stats (which are sometimes decieving but usually not) it seems Bolton were probably on top, but a win away at the Reebok however it comes is impressive. And I'm just happy we scored them, given the number of penalties we've missed this year.

We're now 9th and within 3 points of 6th place! It'd be fantastic if West Ham could at least hold Spurs to a draw later, that would top them going ahead of us.

I've mentioned this before, but Mark Hughes reckoned we needed to win 8 of our last 11 Premiership games to get into Europe again. Now there's no reason to think he's necessarily right, but if he is then we're on our way. We won the first two of those 11 (Portmsouth, Bolton), leaving us needing to win 6 of the last 9:

H West Ham
A Man Utd
H Aston Villa
A Tottenham
H Watford
A Fulham
H Charlton
A Newcastle
H Reading

There are still some tough games there (though less tough if we're allowed to lose 3), but we might just sneak it.

 

[Dr Zhivago]

Wenger's teams have always behaved petulantly

Yeah, you'd never get Ferguson doing something petulant like, say, refusing to talk to the BBC.

 

[Mama Smurf]

West Ham 3-4 Tottenham

I wanted West Ham to take points off Spurs, but still an awesome game. West Ham were 2-0 up at half-time, Spurs got it back to 2-2 in no time, 5 minutes from the end West Ham go 3-2 up, agonisingly concede yet again to make it 3-3 and in the very last minute of stoppage time, while trying to get a winner, they're hit on the break and concede a 4th.

Robinson freaking sucks btw while Green actually had a good game, which seems strange when he conceded 4.

If anyone knows Ghost in real life, please remove all sharp objects from his place.

 

[celestial body]

Someone check if Ghost is okay....

What a match, 2 goals in the last 5 minutes.

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

Good lord! What a game!

Too bad West Ham lost. Zamora was so stupid taking that ball to the middle when all his teammates where inside the box. Made the counterattack so much easier for the Spurs.

 

[Steroyd]

I ALMOST felt sorry for West Ham that match, unlike the Charlton match they actually went out fighting and i still can't believe that the only guy who really shouldn't give a damn about West Ham i.e Tevez is working his socks and put out a performance for the team again.

Still sore about Liverpool losing to man U unluckily that's been the story of Liverpool's season give out a damn good performance but don't get the result, i hope Crouch gets sold it's almost sickening that a guy of that height cant even header a ball his lack of aerial threat makes it too easy defend against bring on koller or Caccioalio. (sp?)