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Post by Elliot Kane on Mar 12, 2008 1:12:18 GMT
England has four teams through to the quarter-finals - Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal! Surely bodes well for an English team to win it this year? We can only hope! Still a fierce fight ahead, though...
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Post by cleglaw on Mar 12, 2008 13:14:12 GMT
I don't really follow soccer, but while I was abroad in February, I came across a remark in an Indian newspaper. It said that Manchester United cannot truly be said to be a British team as it is owned by an American, and few of its players are English. Of course my favorite American basketball team, The Spurs, has a Frenchman, an Argentinian and a guy from the Virgin Islands as its star players. Anyway congrats to the Brits!
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Post by Elliot Kane on Mar 12, 2008 13:25:30 GMT
Few top football teams in any country are entirely made up of their own nationals, but the English game is awash with money, and so the top English league (The Premiership) is awash with foreign players. Spain tends to get all the best South Americans though, as they have as much money in there as we do. They probably do still have a better league too, though we are challenging them, now. It's usually Spain who gets 3-4 of the last 8 teams.
Chelsea - owned by a Russian, managed by an Israeli, has a solid core of English players but they are a minority.
Liverpool - Owned by Americans, managed bya Spaniard, solid core similar to Chelsea.
Arsenal - Owned by English, French manager, has been known to field teams without a single English player.
Manchester United - Owned by Americans, managed by a Scot, fields up to half English players.
A truly multi-national set up - and the rest of the premiership are not too different.
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Post by twoheadedragon on Apr 13, 2008 9:06:10 GMT
Well, well, well... Look where things are going with Liverpool Against Chelsea and Manchester United against Barcelona. In Indonesia, most of the people like MU, but actually a considerable amount of people watch, love and play football. Even though we can't play well at all, either in Local or International Competitions, we still love football! ;D
So, here's a brief analysis: Chelsea: Being pulled through by Petr Cech and Didier Drogba, as well as a few Englishmen such as John Terry. Manchester United: Christiano Ronaldo pulling like a mad freight train! He's probably one of the best players this year, I'd give him the "Player of the Year" award, he deserves it. Liverpool: Fernando Torres is a madman! Of course they do have quite a solid English base, but not that solid. Barcelona: Well, I didn't really get a chance to see any of their games, but I'm guessing that with so many of their players injured, most notably Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi, a lot of weight is on Thierry Henry.
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Post by Elliot Kane on Apr 13, 2008 10:32:03 GMT
Just like England these days ;D *** I agree that Ronaldo's a cert for player of the year. Not least because he's cleared up a lot of the dirty cheat side of the game which a player of his skill never needed. Honestly, he should get European and maybe World, too. He's simply been outstanding. In a class of his own. As for who'll win the match ups... I honestly have NO clue. Chelsea should beat Pool, but when you put Pool in Europe they turn their game up so high it's like they forget how downright mediocre they can often be in the Prem. Ask Arsenal - usually they are FAR better than Pool, but not in Europe. Then there's Barca and Man U, two of the teams anyone would list close to the top in their 'best team in the world' lists' Both have huge reputations and huge pride to play for. Whatever happens there will be an english team in the final, so Barca have more to play for country-wise, but club-wise you don't get bigger than these two and they'll want the win so much it hurts... Gonna be some awesome games
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Post by Ubereil on Apr 13, 2008 11:29:39 GMT
Chelsea-Pool will be like the cold war, as usual these days. Both teams have super strong defence, but neither team will dare to attack due to fear of the opponent retaliation. We'll see three goals if we're lucky.
Manchester United - Barcelona is another story alltogether. These two (expecially Barcelona) builds their game on their offensive strenght, and not their defence. These two teams, together with Arsenal and Real Madrid (and Sevilla when they're up to it), are the most entertaining teams in the world. To that, Manchester have defensive problems due to an injury on Nemanja Vidic. Gary Neville might be back to these games, but he probably won't be as good as he used to be, since he's been gone for over a year. Barcelona doesn't have much of a defence to talk about.
United have been in outstanding form this season, with Ronaldo being their figurehead. Barcelona, on the other hand, have been out of form the entire season, with the exeption of Messi (who WILL be back for the United games). When they bought Tierry Henry for slightly above £10 million pepole talked about how cheap he came. It turns out Barca overpayed... ;D Henry have been out of form the entire season, just as the rest of the team. Their only hope is Messi and Etoo (who have had problems with injuries too), and the fact that they start away. Statistics states that starting away (and finnishing at home) is a major advantage. Hopefully (for them) they'll get a result that gives them the edge at home. But I still think there's a small advantage for United.
Übereil
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Post by twoheadedragon on Apr 14, 2008 6:29:53 GMT
SMALL advantage for MU?!? HUGE ADVANTAGE FOR MU!!! Honestly, I think MU will walk away with this Champions League. And also, I'm just guessing here but I think Pool will beat Chelsea, unless Torres breaks his legs! ;D
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Max
Chaosite
Imagine all the people...
Posts: 610
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Post by Max on Apr 23, 2008 15:29:45 GMT
Phew! Chelsea weren't half lucky last night...we played absolutely atrocious and I'm just glad we kept it to only one goal conceded. I'll readily admit that Liverpool were the better team and we probably didn't deserve a 1-1 all but hey, we're now even for that "goal" in 2005.
I think Chelsea really need to get rid of some useless players (and a certain manager) in the summer. When you see the attacking fluidity of Man Utd and then you see Kalou and Malouda struggling to pull a pass off you know something is wrong. Get rid of about 7 players that shouldn't be anywhere near a top four club and bring in some real talent and maybe then we can start thinking about this promised "attacking football".
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Post by Elliot Kane on Apr 23, 2008 15:42:20 GMT
Chelsea's biggest problem right now is that theyreplaced a great manager with one who is, frankly, not experienced enough to run a huge club like Chelsea. He'd probably do well enough at a smaller club, and it's certain that following Jose makes him look worse than he is, but still.
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Post by twoheadedragon on Apr 24, 2008 16:17:39 GMT
Well, now apparently it's been a goalless draw between ManU and Barca. Ronaldo really blew it with that penalty kick... At least this makes the next game more interesting and with Messi back Barca actually stand a chance, who knows...
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Post by Elliot Kane on Apr 24, 2008 16:21:58 GMT
Two draws for the semi first legs. I bet no-one would have predicted that! It's all still to play for for all four clubs...
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Post by twoheadedragon on Apr 24, 2008 16:24:35 GMT
Do or Die, Score or Cry!
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Post by Elliot Kane on Apr 29, 2008 21:09:27 GMT
All English final! Booyah! Man Utd vrs...?
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Post by twoheadedragon on Apr 30, 2008 4:45:50 GMT
All English final! Booyah! Man Utd vrs...? Whoever they're against they'll THUMP for sure! ;D (A bunch of my friends are celebrating this now!)
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Post by Elliot Kane on Apr 30, 2008 12:11:44 GMT
Wouldn't bet on that. Both Liverpool and Chelsea are capable of beating Man U - and as the final of the CL they'll be pretty desperate to do so. Right now, both Man U and Chelsea could win both the Prem and the CL. both will be going all out for that, while Pool will be fighting to prove that they are 'The European Team'. Promises some darn good matches
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Post by Ubereil on Apr 30, 2008 13:09:16 GMT
I'm hoping for Liverpool, because I think we have a bigger chance vs them than vs Chelsea (we've beaten Pool plenty of times before). I allso think it would be a morale killer for Chelsea if they go out again vs Pool in CL. Besides, Manchester United vs Liverpool is kind or a dream finale. It would mean far more than the average CL finale.
Übereil
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Post by Elliot Kane on Apr 30, 2008 21:02:57 GMT
Chelsea vrs Man U for both the Prem AND the CL! Does that make them the two best teams in Europe this year? it's certainly arguable...
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Post by Elliot Kane on May 21, 2008 21:54:26 GMT
Not a matchstick between the two sides in the final! Man U beat Chelsea on penalties, but either winning would have been a fair result.
A good match, though not a great match, IMO.
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Post by Ubereil on May 22, 2008 8:44:15 GMT
Great for a final IMO. And it really could have gone either way, there were loads of 'almost' situations. Chelsea hit the woodwork thrice, and VDS wasn't close to takeing one of them. On the other hand, if Chelsea hadn't gotten that equalizer (which hit Vidic on the calf and Ferdinand in the back to set up Lampard an open goal since VDS slipped) United would had won without overtime.
And as I said, great game for a final. Compare it to the FA-cup final last year where there was somewhere in the region of two scoreing opportunities all game...
Übereil
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Post by Ubereil on May 24, 2008 9:34:15 GMT
Übereil
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