Not That Type of Paella- Stoke on Tour, Champions & Europa League 2011/12

Thread title courtesy of d-mac. Get on dis ting.

CL qualifying draw feat. Malmo of Sweden.

UEFA Champions League play-off round
Champions route
Wisła Kraków (POL) v APOEL FC (CYP)
Macabi Haifa FC (ISR) v KRC Genk (BEL)
NK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) v Malmö FF (SWE)
FC København (DEN) v FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)
FC BATE Borisov (BLR) v SK Sturm Graz (AUT)

League route
Odense BK (DEN) v Villarreal CF (ESP)
FC Twente (NED) v SL Benfica (POR)
Arsenal FC (ENG) v Udinese Calcio (ITA)
FC Bayern München (GER) v FC Zürich (SUI)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) v FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)

The first legs will be played on 16/17 August and the returns a week later. The ten winners will join the 22 automatic entrants in the UEFA Champions League group stage, the draw for which is held in Monaco at 17.45CET on Thursday 25 August. The losers will take part in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

Lots of good team names in the Europa League draw coming up in half an hour. Celtc vs Lene Lovich ftw.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=1656289.html#uefa+europa+league+play+draw+preview

Possible Spurs vs Hearts BATTLE OF BRITISH ALSO-RANS

A+ thread title, well done.

ya srsly

Possible Spurs vs Hearts BATTLE OF BRITISH ALSO-RANS

DING DING DING!

Now I kinda wish Udinese had managed to hang on to Sanchez. Seeing Arsenal knocked out would have been great fun.

Elsewhere in the Europa, Jol vs Ramos.

Celtic vs Sion
Rangers vs Maribor
Birmingham (forgot they were in it!) vs Nacional
Fulham vs Dnipro
Stoke hate Thun

Hooray, I can dust off Maribor Stork Nightmares again :)

Swiss football is shite, y/n

Google tells me crap clogging ex-Jambo Jose Goncalves plays for Sion. As does someone called Christ Mbondi.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/05/premier-league-preview-manchester-united

the greatest challenge remaining for Ferguson just got even harder.

That challenge is to catch and overhaul Barcelona and spare themselves any more of the ordeals witnessed in the Stadio Olimpico in 2009 and, again, at Wembley last May, when television close-ups showed Ferguson in a way he had rarely been seen before

can this meme die? united aren't next in line for the CL throne, they mostly bottle the CL and god knows they've won enough leagues to have tried plenty of times. you'd swear the final is a nailed on man vs barca for the next five years.

eh i don't think we can tbph, they're gonna be there every year and i do think without barca he'd have won four by now.

so what's arry's plan ere, will he come clean and play the reserves, wait til later in the draw and try and make it look plausible, or ave a go after all

eh i don't think we can tbph, they're gonna be there every year and i do think without barca he'd have won four by now.

in the final? doubt it. even barca may not be there every year.

we'll ave a go obviously, you got to ave a go donchoo

I think you have to assume that the final will be Real/Bayern v. Barca, depending on how the knockout stages go, for the foreseeable future.

Udinese is a decent draw - could have been worse, could have been better - but they've sold their best two players, and we haven't yet.

Terrific thread callback btw.

ya srsly

16/17 August Arsenal v Udinese
20 August Arsenal v Liverpool
23/24 August Udinese v Arsenal
28 August Manchester United v Arsenal

This is a tough run of games for August.

WWWD imo - not betting on the fuckers though, 164 times bitten and all that

also RVP and Nasri are suspended for first CL match

I am seemingly the only optimistic gooner out there but yeah, sheesh. As long as we get past Udinese, I don't mind dropping points in the league.

WLDL

man utd
chelsea
liverpool
man city
arsenal
spurs

wolves
wigan
swansea

Arse will be playing LFC w/o Gerrard or Suarez. Think you will get at least a draw.

cozen just dropping the bomb and walking away, ice cold imo

chillops

instant meme, bravo

chelsea
city
arsenal
utd
liverpool
spurs
---
swansea
wigan
qpr

blackburn ffs guys

can't really see them challenging for europe

isnt this the wrong thread

Oh, well played on the thread title. (yeah yeah, but I've only just got here)

Battle of Britain, excellent. I'm kind of interested in this one, maybe cos it's a proper knock-out - haven't they been all dullo group matches since Celtic's run in 2003?

This is just the final qualifying round - groups are still in place once the competition 'proper' begins. Yay.

i was thinking of going to switzerland but i don't think any my pals are up for it :/ wouldn't be surprised if celtic do this mob 2-0 or whatever at home and still end up going out after the return leg.

Team in full: Szczesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Gibbs, Song, Ramsey, Walcott, Rosicky, Gervinho, Chamakh

Subs: Fabianski, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Djourou, Arshavin, Jenkinson, Frimpong, Bendtner

Handanovic, Ekstrand, Benatia, Larangeira, Neuton, Agyemang-Badu, Isla, Asamoah, Pinzi, Armero, Di Natale.

Subs: Belardi, Denis, Vydra, Abdi, Pasquale, Doubai, Fabbrini.

Could have been worse tbf. No Belardi or Pasquale. Also just found out that Inler went to Napoli this summer, meaning they have lost their 3 best players. If they sell Asamoah and Di Natale by next week they will look like a relegation team.

Pleased Bendtner is still there, not enough true CFs in the side to sell him imo.

pffft i have faith in afobe to step up and be the guy who sits on the bench

/sam

thought bendntnder left?

Ok, the Dutch radio reporter at Twente vs Benfica got a hold of a sheet with the names of clubs attending the match to see Bryan Ruiz in action tonight:

Spurs
Liverpool
City
Blackburn
Barcelona
Lille
Rennes
Marseille
Schalke

o_O

lol Blackburn

looking frwd to seeing di natale tonight

oh and isla as well

really disappointed at the udinese stripes being thicker, looks like an economy juve kit

FEO

<3 Ickle Feo

easy

lol at alan smith claiming theo couldn't miss from there. Thought it was well taken!

lyon 1-0 down at home to Rubin. Sorry Jibe :(. Twente 1-0 against Benfica. I may scout this Brian Ruiz fella.

FFS, first work interrupts my fantasy duties and now I've missed a goal as well!

Feo ever been booked before?

Gomis just scored a peach for Lyon.

Shit, that would have been class

Twente Benfica 1-1 now.

I love how international we are here, all watching different matches :)

nice run.

i... can hear the crowd at the grove?

good game so far.

that's the Walcott i know

Song caught forward again, nice block but he was at fault initially. Great save by Szcz.

everytime i see frimpong on the bench i catch myself thinking "we signed supermario? and he got a bit chubby?"

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu216/le_bateau_ivre/UEKoi.gif TV just showed 'Arry Redknapp in attendance at Twente, Patrick Kluivert (who works for Twente) sat next to him http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu216/le_bateau_ivre/UEKoi.gif

Is 'Arry gonna talk Kluivert back from retirement?

Maybe 'arry is scouting one of Benfica's aging ex-Barcelona starlets Saviola and Aimar.

(Aimar never actually went to Barca did he, except in my wishful alt-history.)

Filthy foreigner Arsene "I didn't see it" Wenger is being given signals from the bench, claims some cunt on Sky

'Arry was listening to Kluivert but didn't look too impressed tbh

I'm watching the Lyon game which is good. Lyon v exciting going frwd esp Bastos. Rubin are some tall m-f'ers. Just turned over and saw a nice team goal by Benfica.

Gomis just scored 2-1 Lyon.

Benfica leading 1-2 :(

It would be a great shame if Twente didn't qualify, cos they cool
It would be a way bigger shame if Twente didn't qualify because it means fucking Ajax get all tv revenue millions and doesn't have to share it... argh

ok need a gif of wenger picking his nose and eating it

RIP every Arsenal defender.

Why don't they just put Armand Traore on, he's a fine left-back.

hey djourou lasted 9 min. that's not bad.

nice from szczesny

armand traoré is great

One for the cameras xpost

That's two great saves from Di Natale free-kicks by Szcz.

That's two great saves from Di Natale free-kicks by Szcz.

― boxall, Tuesday, 16 August 2011 21:20 (14 seconds ago)

but is d-mac convinced?

Ruiz scores a nice header from a deep cross. 'Arry twitches with pleasure.

Frimpong looks the size of a beast. Would love to see him scare a few midfields this season.

nice craig bellamy hommage from the new franny jeffers after his vulpine nearpost finish

ehhhhhhhh

REF POINTS AT PENALTY SPOT FOR A GK

woah that save

yeah he had to get down quick, sweet save

yah hands

udinese looked quite impressive near the end

2 p comfortable clean sheets - long may it continue.

Handanovic is a great name for a keeper

Thought Udinese were great to watch, didn't think it was comfortable but 1-0 at home is a good result without Van Persie I guess.

Chief football writer Phil McNulty at the Emirates: "Udinese very positive in the 2nd half. 10 mins to go now so may feel a one-goal deficit is a very manageable result to take back to Italy."

i know lol nult but something can't be "very manageable" right? either it is manageable or it isn't, yes?

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/374755948.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJF3XCCKACR3QDMOA&Expires=1313529261&Signature=4%2B2ED2sD%2FiA39B6zfX8dE2TydGA%3D

Dear Arsene,

100 lines: "We will not go out to an Italian side"

Thanks.

I completely forgot there was Champions League tonight. Football fail.

dunno how raving about keeper's great saves = comfortable clean sheet but well done on the 1-0 to the Arse all the same

ailsa was the recalcitrant arshavin who shunned the warm embrace of the genial gunnersaurus that is the champions league preliminaries

arsenal did alright considering the thrown-together shoddiness of that team

carl jenkinson looks like the new paul konchesky

now that's just cruel

ailsa was the recalcitrant arshavin who shunned the warm embrace of the genial gunnersaurus that is the champions league preliminaries

I watched one lot of the last round of qualifiers. And lolled heartily.

schadenfreude at the expense of the CHBs is not in the spirit of gunnersaurus, sorry

So Villareal managed to lose tonight, which was a shock. Bayern strolled to a 2-0 win with Gomez missing a hat trick of chances. Nice Robben goal tho.

spurs injury list for the game against hearts (their first competitive game of the season, mind): modric, huddlestone, jenas, palacios, sandro, pienaar, hutton, gallas, king.

Are they injured injured, or we've got Man U at the weekend injured?

I think they're probably "this is the new Carling Cup" injured - one season in the CL and this is beneath them.

Except for Modric, who's "injured" so he isn't cup-tied for the Chelsea's CL campaign.

Interesting times for us tonight - Kelvin Wilson out (dead leg) probably means right-back Mark Wilson at left-back and left-back(ish) Charlie Mulgrew at centre-hoff alongside Big Dan who's so big he never wins a header. Cha Du Ri or Adam Matthews at right-back is ok, I think.

Wee Shaun likely to be playing up front until his inevitable 18th minute injury substitution.

'arry trying desperately not to 'ave a go.

Less games to play = increases the chances of Adebayor signing.

starting line up: Gomes, Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Livermore, Kranjcar, Bale, Van der Vaart, Defoe.
or in other words, you guys are rong

What is a livermore?

a livermore is a quote machine

Livermore signed a new two-year deal with Tottenham on 24 July 2009 and, on the same day, he scored his first goal for Spurs in a 1–1 friendly draw against Barcelona in the Wembley Cup. In a post-game interview, when asked by a reporter, "What is it like to score against the best team in the world?", Livermore replied "Score against the best team in the world? I play for them."

Quoth the Redknapp, 'Livermore'

That was rather beautiful.

Hearts can't defend at all, though.

Still, that was fantastic.

Said as much after the first goal in the Scottish thread. If you count me saying Spurs are good as the same as laughing at the Jambos.

Quality of opposition aside a lot of teams won't score two goals as nice as 2-0 and 3-0 all season.

Ach, there's an insane gulf in quality here. This is the future for every minnow league in Europe. I hope Spurs ease up a bit at some point.

xpost with Peter Drury or whoever this is saying exactly the same thing

Just watched them in the slomo and by Christ they are awful for Hearts.

Also loving George Burley described as 'former Hearts manager'. Sacked when he had them at the top of the league, to install a convicted child sex offender in his stead, let's not forget.

Good psychological boost after what's felt like a very gloomy summer for Spurs fans - getting the game called off and the area round the ground smashed up obviously not helping. Still, doubt we'll get an easier game than that all season, I've only seen the goals but the extent to which we were able to pass the ball round their defence was ridiculous.

villareal vs odense

has been good, imo

yah

rossi should have scoredddd

I was impressed by his composure all the same, took a great save to keep it out.

nilmahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Bayern Zurich is boring but neat

!

switch over to Villarreal in time for that replay then, Bayern will wait

Ribery has done several astonishing things though

Just missed replay

Wtf

was a sliding volley from a pinpoint long cross, he might have shinned it though, in which case I withdraw my praise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwcyW2wewYU

Yeah the pass for v'reals 2nd goal was ridic.

smiling as he hit it, awes

Fenerbache kicked out of the Champions League? To be replaced by Arsenal? Or Liverpool?

UEFA Statement at 7:30pm apparently. It's like an episode of Dream Team!

Is there some reason this place would go to an English side over any other country?

BTW the last 15' of Rubin Kazan-Lyon ought to be good, the former just pulled back a goal, down 2-3 on aggregate and only need one more to advance.

str4m?

try the CASTAMP link at lshunter.tv, has been working great

but the whistle just blew, so. Lyon went through.

As the best-finishing side in the best league in the world who aren't already in Europe, I'd say the place is by rights liverpool's. 2005 would be a good guide for uefa here.

Udinese (4-1-4-1) Handanovic; Ekstrand, Benatia, Danilo, Neuton; Agyemang-Badu; Isla, Asamoah, Pinzi, Armero; Di Natale.
Subs: Belardi, Basta, Denis, Abdi, Pasquale, Doubai, Fabbrini.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Szczesny; Jenkinson, Djourou, Vermaelen, Sagna; Frimpong, Song; Walcott, Ramsey, Gervinho; van Persie.
Subs: Fabianski, Rosicky, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arshavin, Chamakh, Traore, Miquel.

stoke for the badness

I take it Arsenal have the best co-efficient of the sides in the playoffs which means they get the place?

Boxall - How was Bastos tonight for Lyon?

Unfortunately I forgot that Kazan at home meant early kick-off, tuned in around 65' so couldn't say with certainty.

His assist to Gomis in the last league or CL match, forget which, was awesome though.

Udinese/Arsenal terrific stuff so far. Not much defending.

the contrast btwn Di Natale & Walcott offside finishes is instructive, I think

"IF THAT GOES IN, THAT'S A GOAL."

Dunno if that's Clive or Clive's soundalike, but for fuck's sake, ITV.

I'm not sure just how much, if at all, Walcott has improved in the last 3 years. Actually that's unfair, he has improved it's just 5 years ago I thought he'd be better than he is right now.
Fuck, off the post!

final pass/shot woeful here so far

Someone teach lennon how to lay it sideways simply like agyemang pls

About the third time they've hit the post so far.

walcott's improved as a striker, not one iota as a winger.

Yeah we get it, Ch Lge is worth a lot of money, you don't have to salivate over the millions of pounds every 30 secs.

frimpong is for what, exactly? 'Stupid fouls' is not an acceptable answer.

You're going to enjoy Lass Diarra, I think.

The guy can tackle, just needs to be precise on when.

Bringing out the stereotypes, but Udinese seem to move the ball v quickly for an Italian side. Then again I don't see much serie A, so maybe they're all at it.

i've seen and rate diarra, this is my first prolonged frimponging

idk, he runs well with the ball and tackles well, was just overexuberant with his second yellow against Liverpool. (The first one was actually clever, he prevented a quick throw-in while Kuyt was bursting down the wing screaming for the ball & Sagna was nowhere. Just held it a bit too long and got booked.)

walcott's gotta score there

lolcott

ffs Walcott, shoot more than 3" off the ground for once!

handsdowntrfic

theo'd been screaming for it but gervinho's head was down. not that it would have mattered.

am willing to give frimpong a chance tbf, walcott is a writeoff tho. He'll never be better than now- like lennon, he should just be coached in laying it off simply and being fast cos they're both morons.

otm

di natale off

he's not is he? are you posting from the future darragh?

He signaled for a substitution at one point, maybe he's feeling better now.

he signalled after that slid effort but seems ok now idk

just brilliant

ik now

lol

ahahaaaaha

love this guy

Di Natale off..icially great

first time I'm seeing udinese, wish I'd seen them with alexis sanchez in this side. They're fun to watch.

Watch the mental strength evaporate.

"they need the leaders in the team now"

Uh, who?

I take it Arsenal have the best co-efficient of the sides in the playoffs which means they get the place?

― pandemic, den 24 augusti 2011 20:42 (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

reckon this is true. any idea on which team is second-best, if arsenal would happen to win this?

Trabzonspor are replacing Fener.

Trabzonspor into Ch Lge to replace Fenerbache btw

djourou looks world class tho i'll give sam that much.

Shit, so Arsenal need to win now?

ah i see. and that means we get bielsa's athletic in the europa league. could be fun.

flicks over to Carling Cup. LFC crushing Exeter 1-0. Meireles off injured :( WTF is Suarez doing playing?

apparently it would've gone Arsenal, Benfica, Dynamo Kiev if that had been the deciding factor.

1-1 or 2-1 to Udinese and Arsenal go through.

Wenger with the fantastic substitutions again, ffs.

Beglin "arsenal don't dwell on organisation, shape, discipline" hmm

Arsenal starting to dominate

and there it is

never in doubt

a £25m goal if i ever saw one

SHUT UP ABOUT THE MONEY

Have really liked Walcott's movement inside, it's just his finishing. Gervinho doesn't seem to like to shoot either.

now do that for the next forty games ffs

Plenty of time for him to break various bones.

ha, as Gervinho ran into the box there I was just thinking that Arsenal never score from those situations where they just happen to have the ball in an okay position and then play it into set up a reasonable chance.

"FEO IF YOU COME INSIDE AGAIN I WILL KILL YOU" - Fabio Capello 2010

huh?

penalty?

will miss

oh

goodness

SCHESNEY

eesh, nice one Wojy.

Fuck, that was good pen

Szczesny <3 <3

shame, that would have set the last 30 mins up v nicely indeed.

Theo playing on the left here? I'VE BEEN SUGGESTING THAT FOR YEARS. Shame he still isn't doing anything.

left his leg in there, the defender

He's a bear of very little footballing brain, iirc.

ramsey

Dont dive when you can score

It makes you a cunt, a real cunt.

Walcott/lennon clearly better on left

It was a trip.

probably not too much in the way of tactical brilliance to suggest that if you can't cross you might be better cutting in, I guess. (xp)

both left their feet in

Rosicky, donkey or not, works his arse off unlike any other player in this side.

No, Drury, they are playing for the chance to win the Champions Lge, not only to make £25m you unromantic fuck.

have been impressed with hairvinho these past few games, even if he is a bit ~leggy~

blimey he finished one

Theo is class

Bring on the Ox.

gervinho looks good leading the line

Walcott useful when able to run from left t'ward goal, no?

those behind the goal refs really are the most useless fuckers

love Gervinho's runs but shooting always looks like the fifth or sixth option he has in mind

guy of that build likes the ball right under him imo, hard to wind up for the shot but lets him twist and turn round defenders easily.

Gervinho's already equalled Nasri's assist count from last season.

outrageous abuse of stats tbh

ramsey's passing/shooting not great at all tonight.

There goes Arshavin-to-Zenit for this transfer window.

russian commentary giggling when arshavin comes on

feel like I've got twenty five million reasons to be happy tonite

now

http://www.spendsomefuckingmoney.com/spend.jpg

Liam Brady sticking it to the bloggers

lol yeah

Hasn't addressed kenny's point- wenger doesn't need any 30m pound players but they need several 10m ones that don't break.

@JackWilshere
Jack Wilshere
Sorry Spurs fans....we will not be joining you this year! Enjoy :D

lol fair do's

should have had separate champo league and eurlolpa league threads, so I don't need to consort with riff raff

not til after the group stages anyway

frimpong is for what, exactly? 'Stupid fouls' is not an acceptable answer.

― Richter scale? I hardly even knew 'er! (darraghmac), Wednesday, 24 August 2011 20:10 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Delete Undelete Ban/Thread Unban/Thread Ban User Info Yellow Card

You're going to enjoy Lass Diarra, I think.

― boxall, Wednesday, 24 August 2011 20:11 (1 hour ago)

lol tb

anyone see "I saw the devil"?

http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/i-saw-the-devil-mondo-kevin-tong-poster-400x600.jpg

um... wrong thread

cool poster tho

thanks, I try

So is Wenger off the hook?

dunno what you mean, best manager in the game innit

Found out this afternoon that I'm going to old Trafford on Sunday. Feeling p confident after that tbh

lol being off the hook. he has until 1st sept to save his job in which the two main factors are what to do with the cesc money and how we play against utd.

Quite right, don't let him away with this.

Pots for the Champions League draw

Pot one: Man Utd, Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Porto, Inter.

Pot two: Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon, Villarreal, Milan, Valencia, Marseille, CSKA Moscow, Benfica.

Pot three: Zenit St Petersburg, Man City, Olympiakos, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Basle, Lille, BATE.

Pot four: Borussia Dortmund, Dinamo Zagreb, Napoli, Apoel, Genk, Trabzonspor, Otelul Galati, Viktoria Plzen.

This year looks really weak to me, more than usual. If City, Dortmund and Napoli avoid each other there's going to be hardly any games worth watching.

he has until 1st sept to save his job

you know this isn't actually true, right?

Lol @ Arsenal still being in Pot 1 at the expense of Milan.

Barcelona - Milan - Man City - Dortmund would be one hell of a group.

how about a Real / Lyon / Man City / Borussia group?

Or Arsenal / CSKA / Basel / Genk?

cool poster tho

Is that Mickey Mouse about to Ringu through the rearview mirror?

The second pot will be drawn at 1716, the third pot at 1727 and the fourth pot at 1737.

utd get benfica from pot 2

Group H: Barcelona + Milan, Group of Death still possible ...

Why are they bringing back European Footballer of the Year?

city up next? xp

pretty easy draw for Arsenal so far, City's group could be tough

Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Manchester City, Napoli

NICE

you're not kidding!

villarreal should finish last there, other than that i have no idea

I'll take it

Manchester United
Benfica
Basle
Otelul Galati

lame

same old united

Barcelona
AC Milan
BATE
Viktoria Plzen

Group of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Bayern/Man City games should be cool. Bayern have looked a bit better their last 2 games, still not convinced by their defense tho. Van Buyten trying to deal with the mvmt of Kun and Silva should be fun. Boateng up against his old club. Villareal were rubbish against Odense in the first leg but then again it was effectively pre season for them.

Who did Dortmund get?

Chelsea
Valencia
Bayer Leverkusen
Genk

not drawn yet - could be Arsenal

xp

yep, it's Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiacos, Borussia Dortmund

Inter Milan
CSKA Moscow
Lille
Trabzonspor

Have Madrid got Lyon btw, wouldn't seem like the Ch Lge without that.

Ohh boy looking frwd to Dortmund/Arsenal already!!

Yep haha

xp

Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb

Real Madrid
Lyon
Ajax
Zagreb

lol they must be so tired of each other

Chelsea will kill Leverkusen. Ballack back to the Bridge, hopefully he can find the time to turn his back on Drogba and rplay one of my favourite moments ever.

that ynahtid group looks like almost the easiest possible

love that they're bringing ronaldo up on stage for this

xp yeah, no resting players in the EPL with that group, can use their Carling Cup squad ie Michael Owen/Berba

pretty funny that Puyol is sitting among all the suits in that neon yellow polo & shorts

Otelul Galati's stadium
http://moldova.sports.md/tsp/upload/medium/otelul_1_medium_1233111140.jpg

i know that BATE uses an alternative stadium for european matches, maybe they will do the same.

Yeah, i imagine it'll be played in the brand new National Stadium in Bucharest, which is hosting the 2012 Europa League final

More like Otelulz, right?

no easy games in Europe these days etc.

Hilariously easy draw for United there.

same as it ever was

holy shit that is the easiest draw utd could have paid for. when was the last time they had a 'hard' group?

excited to play dortmund. it is a tough group but most of them are tbh. some how seems like a much more exciting cl group stage than usual?

agreed, a lot thanks to napoli, city, dortmund etc being rated so low i guess

can't believe man u rigged the draw AGAIN

Phil McNulty,
Chief football writer

"Manchester City's first venture into the Champions League has given them a tough draw alongside Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Napoli. They can still feel confident of progress, however, given the quality in their squad. They also have players with European experience.

Sir Alex Ferguson will feel very happy with Manchester United's group while Chelsea can also approach the group phase with optimism. Arsenal's reward for battling through the qualifying stage is an awkward group with Marseille, Olympiakos and Borussia Dortmund - but the Premier League quartet can all make it through to the knockout stage."

he's got to stop being so fucking controversial. for once just write something without trying to start a fucking huge flame war phil, why are you so addicted to offending others?

like why in the name of living fuck would you have a situation where the draw is made and someone says "we'll get phil's opinion on this in a little sidebar".

cos he's there? cos he's on the payroll? it's a fucking joke.

Utd have never faced difficult opposition in the Champions League at any stage

bit of a scandal brewing about this. in this still it looks very much like the 2nd seed for utd's group is not being drawn from the official pot:

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumblarge_517/1277907440cwlZYv.jpg

they have but injuries made it easy for them.

Is the spurs hearts game on tv?

itv4 Dmac

i think

correct

So I have a choice of Spurs kids in what will amount to a friendly, or Rangers on ESPN in a game that is well balanced..Spurs it is.

Actually might try to find a stream of Sevilla/Hannover tho Hannover were distinctly average at the weekend.

ta, i think i might have that tucked away somewhere

I just noticed Piotr Trochowski's joined Sevilla, always liked him.

Whoa... check out this goal from PSV's Lens, from 15 mins ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjZKvxhNIao

suppose I was in the wrong thread

Samaras not good enough to play St Johnstone yet inexplicably picked again for a European game. I honestly don't get it.

― Um yeah, hi, that's (onimo), Thursday, 25 August 2011 19:25 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

fucking clown

― Um yeah, hi, that's (onimo), Thursday, 25 August 2011 19:31 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

45 seconds in and Dan Majstorovic dives in like a prick and gives a penalty and gets sent off. That'll be us out of Europe.

hohoho sweet. Could have gone down, then outside of the right foot. Lovely. I can dimly recall a Christian Vieri goal from near the corner flag into an empty net that was a beauty.
xp

alright folks, time to pack our bags and take our isolated place in the SPL thread for the rest of the year.

;_;

we've always been good at the 'out of Europe by Christmas' business, but have we ever had this situation of all Scottish teams being out of Europe before it's even properly started before?

Roma knocked out as well.

have enjoyed this tbh, dont get to see the younger lads enough

did i really just hear that

though the commentator, watching a small kid jumping up and down in the stands, made the remark 'he must have had a few e's tonight'

hahaha

btw spurs have signed some spanish kid with the first name of Iago tonight. Dressing room intrigue awaits.

othuddo

lol
Shamrock Rovers level with partisan belgrade, 2nd half of extra time.

xp That's what i heard too. Assume he was talking about E numbers 'cause he mentioned Irn Bru earlier but still...

Iago's in on loan from Juve which seems a bit strange for all concerned.

Shamrock Rovers 10 mins away from taking Partizan Belgrade to penalties. Also, this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOfNq6JY_BE&feature=youtu.be

Rovers should have had a penalty just now

oh shit, it is a penalty

and they've scored it! Mental

blimey!
xp about that goal

omg...any streams?

I've got a really crap one. Hence the confusion
http://www.profreetv.com/index.php?content=watch&tvid=290

so belgrade need 2 right?

if they get into group stages, even of the europa, will the tv money be enough to see them wipe the floor with the rest of the irish league for many moons?

someone post a pics of weedy capt america pls

Bloody hell, well done lads.

have a fondness for shamrock rovers solely due to them being a feeder club for LFC in FM10, not that I've ever signed a player from them.

has it finished? still 3 mins left on my stream?

ooh nasty stamp there

I'm a Home Farm guy myself, but you've got to tip your hat to class wherever you find it.

Yeah, celebrations ongoing here.

shelbourne would be closest to me but they did a marseille a few years back.

Now replays - at least one incredible save by the Shamrock keeper ... ach, cut to some busty models instead

Heh, clip of Shamrock missing a quarter-chance at 0-1, and all the players with heads in hands thinking 'that was it'

Aww man Shamrock Rovers... rooted for them so hard! <3

Yeah i dislike Rovers quite a lot really but y'know, still amazing.

Have a fondness for them by proxy, my love's Irish roots etc.

my main memory of irish football (not helped by going to tolka park as a good way to knacker drink) is this huge wall which the entire stadium would ritually piss against every week. apparently in 1991 you could see it from space but today it's merely handy for tying your shoelace on.

in a way that's not unlike my main memory of scottish football

gaa meanwhile involved going to parnell park, you could get on tv if you stood near the scoreboard, an unexpectedly risky game which one night unexpectedly posed the risk of my dad seeing me underage drinking while somehow finding dublin minor football highlights on irish language station tg4.

unexpectedly

I'm a Home Farm guy myself, but you've got to tip your hat to class wherever you find it.

― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 25 August 2011 22:02 (24 minutes ago)

Emmerdale?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Farm_F.C.

well done shamrock rovers. delighted for them.

So, they'll be dancing in the streets of Shamrock tonight?

Re: CL group draws - I find the group stages a tedious waste of time and would rather they just went straight to a knockout and United's group has done nothing to increase my interest. I was vaguely hoping for Ajax or Napoli (not that I know anything about the state of either club nowadays, just for the historical resonance and the curiousity value).

agree the group stages are just a sham for making money. a very generous portion of the season's most boring and worthless football is to be found in the CL group stage.

Yep. Though not for Spurs last season.

awes

Groep A:
Tottenham Hotspur (Eng)
Rubin Kazan (Rus)
PAOK Saloniki (Gri)
Shamrock Rovers (Ier)

Groep B:
FC Kopenhagen (Den)
Standard Luik (Bel)
Hannover 96 (Dui)
Vorskla Poltava (Oek)

Groep C:
PSV (Ned)
Hapoel Tel Aviv (Isr)
Rapid Boekarest (Roe)
Legia Warschau (Pol)

Groep D:
Sporting Portugal (Por)
Lazio (Ita)
FC Zürich (Zwi)
FC Vaslui (Roe)

Groep E:
Dynamo Kiev (Oek)
Besiktas (Tur)
Stoke City (Eng)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Isr)

Groep F:
Paris Saint-Germain (Fra)
Athletic Bilbao (Spa)
Red Bull Salzburg (Oos)
Slovan Bratislava (Slw)

Groep G:
AZ (Ned)
Metalist Kharkiv (Oek)
Austria Wien (Oos)
Malmö FF (Zwe)

Groep H:
Sporting Braga (Por)
Club Brugge (Bel)
Birmingham City (Eng)
NK Maribor (Slv)

Groep I:
Atlético Madrid (Spa)
Udinese (Ita)
Stade Rennes (Fra)
FC Sion (Zwi)

Groep J:
Schalke 04 (Dui)
Steaua Boekarest (Roe)
Maccabi Haifa (Isr)
AEK Larnaca (Cyp)

Groep K:
FC TWENTE (Ned)
Fulham (Eng)
Odense BK (Den)
Wisla Kraków (Pol),

Groep L:
Anderlecht (Bel)
AEK Athene (Gri)
Lokomotiv Moskou (Rus)
Sturm Graz (Oos)

Groep indeed

aviva here i come

SHAMROCK ROVERS.

Remind me why Stoke and Fulham are in this?

foul play/fair play

I'm not sure the soft-as-shite fans from Turkey, Israel and Ukraine are quite ready for Stoke.

Atlético Madrid (Spa)
Udinese (Ita)
Stade Rennes (Fra)
FC Sion (Zwi)

Tasty though.

Rubin looked okay against Lyon. V cool that Shamrock have drawn Spurs :)

Stoke racking up the mad air miles there.

can't believe that maribor robbed us of the opportunity to see a rangers - birmingham dream tie.

Fantastic. Rubin aren't as good as they used to be but it should still be a great match, assuming 'arry doesn't play the kids. Shamrock / Spurs should be pretty special as well.

Groep I:
Atlético Madrid (Spa)
Udinese (Ita)
Stade Rennes (Fra)
FC Sion (Zwi)

^ gotta love that if sion get chucked out celtic will go back into this

"Our Euro dreams are still alive! Oh shit!"

strangely there'll probably be less collective moaning about the state of scots footer even if celtic are only in it to collect six pastings

i mean idk what rennes are like but let's assume shall we

i totally missed shamrock rovers getting into europe

is the league of ireland going to displace the spl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enda_Stevens

is this a common irish name? never come across it

summer football is the way to go for us wee countries with shite weather imo

wcwsw cup

The difference between Ireland and Scotland is almost that two of the teams have large stadiums. Is basically how it's going to be for the little countries from now on. Could be worse though, could be Serbia.

nb rtc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enda_Kenny

idk if it's common....not that rare tho

common

Shamrock Rovers made the Scottish football fail all the funnier really.

Also back in the Champions League, Man United have been drawn against a team I have genuinely never heard of.

number none has explained all that. Utd are too successful not to get incredible draws year after year, even taking into account the actual possible permutations, it's not mathematically possible for them to have to play full-time opposition.

dealwithit.gif

pffft deal is coming from some cunt's sleeve is the deal

I bet the plucky little guys at Otelul Galati can't wait to be patronized by Clive Tyldesley on their visit to the Theatre of Dreams™

Also back in the Champions League, Man United have been drawn against a team I have genuinely never heard of.

Romania has been good at this lately, what with Cluj and Unirea. And seemingly last season Unirea got relegated and went bust. I guess in recent seasons the Romanian FA has given up on football and now assigns league places by drawing straws.

europa league continues to a worthless piece of shit

Dan Petrescu is also responsible for coining the Wolves of Bărăgan nickname. During training sessions and official fixtures, he used to call his player Wolves in order to increase their ferociousness. Bărăgan refers to the plain in which the town of Urziceni is located.

lol czn

you know the european super cup is on right now. messi already scored once and alexis just came on for villa. porto's been sloppy.

been rubbish enough

pedro having quite the off night

messi's goal was ridic in little ways, left it so late and cut it so fine with that dummy

valdes has pulled off some good saves.

two porto reds and a nice fabregas goal but this has still been boring

I feel for Porto. As well as losing AVB, Falcao and it looks like Pereira, their starting def. midfielder has been enjoying a Cesc/Modric-style sulk all summer without even having a particular club he wants to join.

Nine days, two trophies (both shit but w/e) for Fab.

Can't really blame him tbh. Helluva finish an all.

Can't decide whether to root for Rovers or for the Metalists from Ukraine.

mascherano diving again to get a porto player sent off. fuck this guy.

never had that in his game with liverpool.

he had everything else tbh

don't know did he even dive? istr most of the yellows were pretty bookable challenges

mascherano has always been the same, he is a great and unscrupulous player

How do ppl here think his reinvention as a CB is going?

Porto denied two clear pens imo.

Two tidy finishes in different ways. Cesc looked right at home bursting forward from midfield.

Masch is and always has been a moaning cheating dirty little prick. Enforcer who dives and cries: nagl.

Fabregas goal was great. He looked so happy

I dont think any of the players in the barca defense last night started their careers as defenders. abidal, maybe.

Welcome back, Celtic

Boo

Groep I:
Atlético Madrid (Spa)
Udinese (Ita)
Stade Rennes (Fra)
FC Sion (Zwi)

^ gotta love that if sion get chucked out celtic will go back into this

― r|t|c, Friday, 26 August 2011 14:09 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"Our Euro dreams are still alive! Oh shit!"

― Frimpong iddle I po (onimo), Friday, 26 August 2011 14:12 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Big Sami refused a move to Rennes in the transfer window - must have known we'd get a reprieve.

Also gain coefficient points for the two 3-0 wins we've been awarded, according to stv hack on twitter :)

http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg620/scaled.php?tn=0&server=620&filename=m3hvjo.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640

Jim looks delighted lolol

Celtic scoop the full Europa tv rights pool too I take it. Would be funnier if it were worth something I suppose.

I'm gonna miss the games tonight but should be able to sky+ the Dortmund and Milan games. Dortmund/Arsenal a hard one to call. Dortmund have only looked great once this season, and that was against Hamburg who have been subsequently shown to be hopeless. Then again Arsenal haven't even been great once. I like Lewandowski but not sure he's suited to the lone striker role and think they miss Barrios. Have no idea if Barrios is due back soon, or if indeed he was back at the weekend, cos I didn't catch their defeat to Hertha Berlin. I've liked Gundogan the couple of times I've seen him but he doesn't look to have the passing ability of Sahin.

Didn't see Barca at the weekend so don't know if they are persisting with a 3-4-3 or if that was a one off for the Villareal game. Could be an interesting contrast of styles if they set up like that vs Milan. Of course for me it's all about Aquilani ;)

Leverkusen have gotten better with each performance I've seen them this season but think Rolfes should start, not Ballack, but they seem to take it in turns.
I know group stages of this thing are usually a bit stale but quite excited by a few of these games tbh

Obviously I really want us to have a convincing win but I want to see Dortmund do well and I want to see more of Goatse.

aw

We're not in this anymore.

Admit it, you'll miss us

celtic in btw

shamrock rvrs playing at home. Dumbass decision imo.

playing at home as opposed to what?

Playing at the aviva presumably

'the aviva' is all wrong

ah right.
xp

'the emirates' is not quite so bad

using the aviva stadium- capacity of c.50000 in a world class arena vs i think about 5k in their own basic ground

I'm conflicted tbh - it's annoying when the little lads do that & roll over in the FA Cup, but otoh Ireland's football-mad and presumably at least the spurs game would sell out, so there're 40,000 or whatever denied the chance to see Shamrock having a go.

'aving a go, sorry

aviving

Celtic still in, Swiss Vlad type dude wanting Platini arrested.

http://m.stv.tv/sport/football/scottish-premier/celtic/270134-sion-president-wants-michel-platini-arrested-for-europa-league-decision/

Rovers are putting in some extra seats i think. I respect their decision to stay at home tbh

meh, won't get to game now and seems illogical

Ah, but where were you when times were tough?

lol i should maybe make it clear that idgaf about shamrock rovers tbf

Well, naturally

a pair of twins starting in CL games today Lars Bender for Leverkusen, Sven for Dortmund.

are Barcelona playing Mascherano and Busquets in central defence or are they just not bothering with defenders these days?

I've got footage of Wenger being led by shaven-head security guards into some kind of underground bunker.

(Insert more Nazi puns, I guess?)

Merdeyeux, they are. Not because they aren't bothering but a lot of the defenders are injured still I think.

Tiki taka defense.

too soon

can i say the name SVEN BENDER makes me giggle to say?

WHOA

KING BOY PATO

not sure if dortmund - arsenal is remarkably frantic or if it's just the spanish commentary i've found giving that feeling.

No, it's definitely started fast.

Thank fuck Song was on the goal line.

RIP Koscielny.

why u no watch milan sonning barca

if kagawa could keep it down, he'd have 2 already.

arsenal look like the overwhelming quality is all that will get us through, we are too new to each other for tactics to seemingly mean anything. they just look like 11 individuals.

alternatively, dortmund look like a team incredibly annoyed for the game to go through kehl when sahin did it so much better while kuhl was injured all last season. the team had been built up

^^^written 20 minutes ago before my internet died. what did i miss?

is beating a team 1-0 'sonning' them? especially when that team is barca who can could quite easily score 6 out of nowhere? is their 'no centre halves' tactic not working?

No-one watching Barca vs Milan here?

Milan's not really on dis ting anymore, but Barca ain't all that either.

Also, RIP KP Boating. Heaven needed a scrappy mohawk.

Ah, 1-1 Pedro

One way traffic though, Barca will easily win this 3 or 4 to 1.

lol pedro just score?

drawing 1-1 is probably sonning when yr injury depleted team is playing them away

JAMES GIVE ME A LOW DOWN PLZ

messi's assist there was great

abate is fast and he just sped past him

Iniesta just vomited onto a photographer, he's being subbed o_O

It's 0-0 and neither team has been good, a hoy hoy.

Cesc in

Dortmund fans are really impressive though, it is *loud* right now.

I'm thinking baout switching to Arsenal-Dortmund after the break. Milan are shit.

anyone got a working stream for arsenal? i can't get any up and running atm.

i know its a crazy idea but someone couldnt possibly follow gervinho when he makes a break to their box, maybe? because while it may be something wenger likes, 10 men standing around watching him get cornered by 4 men every minute or two isn't a great tactic, while having someone counter attack with him just might be.

VAN INJURY WOOOO LOL KEHL IS A BIT SHIT HUH?

veetle.com slash index.php/channel/view#4e6d18092b049

that was the worst offside line i've seen in years, thank you kehl(i think it was kehl, the commentators keep saying his name like it was him)

http://www.futbolarena2.co.cc/

this one works but it's not great

xxxxp's

Gervinho is having success at drawing defenders out of position but not at delivering a pass into the space(s) they have vacated.

VAN INJURY IS GOD

Sam was it a good goal?

forum.wiziwig.eu/threads/60147-Tuesdays-Football-Links

I can't tell anymore from the language the Beeb uses on their live text.

xp

kagawa-götze show

Beeb also writes:

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LATEST You cannot keep Cesc Fabregas out of the action, sort of. He comes on as a replacement for Barca after Andres Iniesta limps off.

Uhm, Iniesta was sick and had to vomit. Limping?

offside trap so shit that van injury had time to do that 'no srsly?' look at the lino and keeper before putting it in

oh kehl played the initial shit pass, which i guess has let (subotic maybe?) off the hook.

it was a good build up on its on, a dortmund player was sloppy passing, rvi intercepted, played a one-two with theo during which it was made too easy with the covering centre half running away from him. the goal keeper tried to make himself big but was in no way to blame, sandra redknapp had the time and space.

passing into the space they vacate is great and all but if no-one decides to run into that space (this happened in the newcastle game too) then it is all for nothing. a goal hanger like inzaghi would be pissing himself with gervinho next to him, while rvi prefers still standing around the half way line.

thanks folks. veetle worked for me.

can't seem to find the spurs score on the BBC, are they playing tomorrow night?

offside trap so shit that van injury had time to do that 'no srsly?' look at the lino and keeper before putting it in

haha, i love that look <3 separates the naughty boys from the good boys innit.

thanks for the update sam, I would've watched Arsenal but Barca-Milan is on telly (yes, dutch public broadcasting still buys cl football from tax money every year lol) and I can't be bothered watching a lousy stream tbh

it really was a great goal by Pato. he should've made a hattrick too in the first 15 mins tbh

I thought you lived here now?

Not yet, no :-/

Great Villa goal. Game over.

someone score for chelsea? my arsenal stream has a little screen with goals from other games but it's too small and the commentary too foreign for me to work out what's going on.

one thing that i like about dortmund: they all kinda look like a band of extras behind the tough gang in an 80s teen action movie

Dortmund's finishing is brutal

Milan are a poor man's Sociedad right now

Dortmund are really gorgeous to watch sometimes, and Kagawa has that quality of doing the unexpected, effortlessly. But here they are losing.

Dortmund's finishing is brutal

― Number None, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 20:57 (35 seconds ago)

nail hit on head

chelsea's not scoring, torres is too lame. leverkusen lining up some chances now tho

feel it might be a time for a proper torres thread? maybe a 'what do you think happens w/ nando in the next five years' type thing?

torres ain't lame, it's his team-mates being too slow

xp

Nice strike from Luiz

It's starting to become inconceivable to me that Nando comes good again

xp it was. and a great run leading up to it.

gotta say the keeper in leverkusen (leno??) has been terrific

Ambrosini is wearing black undies, no boxers, today. One can see it through his white shorts. That's about as exciting as this is right now.

h8 u alves

Leno was phenomenal in the one BL match I saw this season, against Dortmund.

Surprised at how good Nesta still is. Only good Milan player.

He was pretty poor vs Lazio on Friday.

messi no longer best player on pitch

they may be totally boring two games in but am excited by BENNY NOON and ARTETA TRACKING BACK, EVEN IN THE SECOND HALF. Crazy, I know.

Boxall, I'll believe it in an instance! Not seen Serie A this year yet. He's doing alright against Messi tonight though, I have to say.

ok dope save, chesney caught it between his thighs.

lot of rancid performances for arsenal tonight (benayoun, arteta, gervinho)

dortmund rank in front of goal despite kagawa and götze's obvious ability

arsenal painful to watch tonight, albeit somewhat understandably since they're away from home. absolutely no fluency

there it is

Lucky but deserved.

exquisite

BASTID THAT WAS SWEET

Apoel Nicosia 2-1 up against Zenit is the real shocker here tbh

sup?

Perisic scored a 20 yard volley darragh, 1-1.

Dortmund beating Arsenal at their own game 'til a moment ago

obvious penalty

Zenit are fucking up my accumulator

<3 chesney. straight quality

mertesacker painful to watch at times

ta sam

It was the type that hung in the air for what seemed forever, as if to mock us with its beauty.

milan equalise from corner 92 mins

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

2-2 barca milan

Dortmund going hard for the winner now too, real backs-to-the-wall stuff

they haven't had the ball since scoring in the first minute

i know right?

Great Villa goal. Game over.

― Vision Kreayshawn Newsun (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 20:54 (43 minutes ago)

I think I posted something like that when they were 2-0 up on Sociedad.

Milan are a poor man's Sociedad right now

― Vision Kreayshawn Newsun (Le Bateau Ivre), dinsdag 13 september 2011 21:58 (41 minutes ago) Bookmark

xp :-)

wonder if torres even scores in training

mertesacker painful to watch at times

― is it hrostep? (cozen), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 21:33 (1 minute ago)

??

i don't remember him doing a thing wrong? v. much like watching stoke defend - will throw himself at anything. it may not be pretty but it's not painful either. [says guy who had to put up with cygan, silvestre and senderos]

We did ok. Dortmund deserved a point but they never really created any clear cut chances, most shots were rushed and most attacks nullified easily enough. It took a wonder goal to beat us, which i am cool with, we aren't going to see those every week. We look totally out of wack going forward but that should come with time. Maybe if Arshavin was played behind the striker like he did for Zenit? Benny obv. not a central player.

Overall I'm happy, a point at the German champions wouldn't be looked down upon no matter what team you are and was p much the hardest game of the group out of the way.

looooooool barca. fucking karma tiswat.

good lord what a strike from perisic

(also lols from playing no centre halves. wise spending all that money on more attacking players when you ended the season with masch at CB)

fuckin hell that strike

Watching Chelsea-Bayer now, Torres would have scored in the first 5' if an offside Meireles hadn't gotten a touch to his shot.

i had 35 quid riding on barca, nooooooooo.

was quite sad watching the game seeing how shite the champions of italy look next to barcelona :/

so shit they got the same amount of points

last year they looked shit next to Spurs, so things are looking up

so shit they got the same amount of points

you didn't watch it, so stfu.

real talk

it was for real demoralising to me as someone who really loves a good few of the milan players.

srsly tho barca regularly rake the champions of TBLITW and the most expensive team ever assembled so a thrown-together milan side being outplayed is no thing, rly

yeah, what nakh said.

any team who doesn't lose to barca atm is not playing bad.

dunno about that tbh.

real sociedad ffs

Shit, Perisic' goal was great, but look up Hulk's strike for Porto against Shaktar if you haven't seen it, whoah

goalie makes a complete cunt of that.

"so shit they got the same amount of points"

you didn't watch it, so stfu.

― you've got male (jim in glasgow)

difference in philosophy, i'm not gonna make a ruling either way here tbh

What do we think will be the best match for a neutral today?

Man City's first step into the big time looks like my preferred option.

I'll prob be watching Ajax-Lyon, but would've watched ManC if i could as well

yeah, I'll record Ajax/Lyon and City/Napoli

It means I have to look away from the screen every 15 mins when they roll the scores along the bottom of the screen but that's okay. The advantage of working with people who don't give a fuck about football, I hardly ever get spoiled for scores.

and with grim inevitablity i check the listings and see utd benfica is the game on terrestrial. fucks sake.

Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo has stated that he has never heard of Borussia Dortmund's Mario Gotze.

The 19-year-old playmaker has been catching the headlines after excellent displays for the Bundesliga club and Germany, but despite this the former Manchester United man does not know who he is.

"Who's Gotze? In what position does he play? Is he good? I have little opportunity to see Bundesliga games," the 26-year-old told Bild.

idk if that's rlya thing but loll at german ppl getting upset

Utd being on might be a blessing of sorts - City smashing Napoli to pulp would leave me feeling very guilty afterwards

Tempted to watch Lille to see how our Joe gets on.

not in the starting xi

so... rip de gea?

Utd going with boring away in Europe XI

Villarreal-Bayern has been good, early Bayern goal but Villarreal dangerous.

Assume De Gea is just being rested for the Chelsea match and Lindegaard needs to get some games under his belt. There's no reason De Gea would be dropped after his first clean sheet.

and now Van Buyten is hurt and being subbed for Rafinha, so Bayern won't be as slow at the back.

Ajax vs Lyon is equal up till now, but Gomís has had two chances for Lyon that should've gone in tbh

Ah, what a goal.

Benfica one up

rooney elbows gk in celebration of his 'greatest ever' status

2013: Wayne Rooney does get involved, seeing yellow for a late challenge on Benfica goalkeeper Artut. Not a lot in that for me. Sir Alex Ferguson will not be happy with this so far.

BBC Radio 5 live
Craig Burley on BBC Radio 5 live at the Stadium of Light: "That goal has been coming. United haven't got going. They've been scrappy in possession and that's been against the grain for what they've been doing this season."

Goooooooaaaaaaaaal
2010: A striker has come to the party in Portugal, but it's not Wayne Rooney as Benfica go ahead. And it's a great goal. The impressive Nicolas Gaitan lofts a delightful pass forward to Cardozo who controls on his chest then strikes into the far corner from the edge of the 18-yard box.

GOALFLASH: BENFICA 1 MANCHESTER UNITED 0 (Oscar Cardozo)

2008: Slow start to the night across the continent with Bayern still the only team to notch. Time to get Wayne Rooney into the game perhaps.

STOP FUCKING MENTIONING ROONEY

roon

rooooooooon

ruh

ruh

oooooon

ni

niiiiiiiiii

yyyyyyyyyyyyy

Feels like Lyon is only playing at 30% of their ability, hoping for a counter. I'm hoping with them tbh. They make Ajax look way better than Ajax is.

Amazed at that 38-62 possession stat. Utd have been crap. They'll probably still score twice in two minutes and I'll be left thinking 'well what was the point of that?'

city napoli p good

yaya hits crossbar and flops to the ground bemoaning the fates while play is ongoing

Ribéry is running this game, Bayern uninspired but competent in every other position, looks like a winning formula to me.

GIGGS!

beautiful strike, brings back memories of rooney at his best

astonishing that with all the talk of rooney's world class, ryan giggs pops up to score. amazing to think he's still doing it all these years later.

The Peter Pan of football has literally turned back the clock

rooney will be delighted for giggs but as the welshman flourishes his thoughts will have surely turned to his own worrying lack of form

"One can only imagine what thoughts are going through Rooney's head at a time like this!"

"rooney rooney rooney rooney ROOneyROOney ROO-NEY chicken"

Ajax vs Lyon still 0-0 at half-time. Not seen much of Wayne Rooney in this game yet.

and that is why dutch football will always dine at the second tier of football imo, no rooney

sing it sister

dont rly rate any of napoli's defenders

laughable to think they could yet come up against the likes of rooney

loll ray wilkins bringing insight

'maradona was wonderful'

CAVANI

awes

Great individual goal by Rafinha, 0-2 Bayern.

kolarov subbed for clichy just after scoring a great fk

Lindegaard's looking surprisingly handy

that's a great performance from napoli there

answers some of the questions I had about man city

which ones?

im not sure if they were pertinent questions

citeh were alright vs a very dangerous side

very good game

how will man c fare when they actually play someone decent

cavani class for the goal, gargano massive in midfield, v.well organised

yes! gargano was great

when he fought for the ball with aguero wilkins and tyler used the word tussle about five times in as many seconds

'very good tussle'
'great tussle'

super tussle

Rooney failed to impress in the Ajax vs Lyon game. One wonders if England's golden boy has lost his touch!

lolsperini

yeah what happened there? only caught a glimpse of the goal so far but cambiasso et al looked like they needed to be put down tbh.

fletcher is going to be ynahtid manager in about 20 yrs

http://i.imgur.com/uAGRp.jpg

Assume De Gea is just being rested for the Chelsea match and Lindegaard needs to get some games under his belt.

CL groups = Carling Cup to Utd then :(

gotta love the name walter gargano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8kQGs6No-E

Alex Ferguson. Cunt.

Interviewer was Kelly Dalglish. She had an agenda.

Just watched the highlights from the Lille-CSKA game. It looked quite good, good drama with Lille leading 2-0 and then letting CSKA score 2 in the last 20 mns. Two of the goals were quite nice, the first a cheeky little madjer from Sow. And the last one nice passing in the box to let Doumbia score his 2nd. That guy looked quite good in the 4mn highlights i saw.

yah nae prob w/ ferguson there, every shitty hack is circling around david de gea (redknapp's pussyhole son at it again tonight) and that is a p obviously loaded question

i like that he has taken a gamble on DDG and is looking after him

see also 'veron is a great fuckin player are yr all idiots'

How did Hamsik look?

like he stuck his finger in a light socket

adamnbarrett (3 hours ago)

Ferguson loses it when a Dalglish is in front of him! Wobble wobble! DALGLISH!

^ loving the pure playground wanker delight in this youtube comment

Was a fairly innocent question IMO, if fergie had any sense he'd just say Anders a great prospect for the future but david will start at the weekend. By getting annoyed he draws more attention to it.

^^ this.

The funny thing is he gives a totally fine, textbook answer, then just can't help himself. He must be murder to deal with personally, I bet he has to win every point in every conversation.

Interviewer was Kelly Dalglish. She had an agenda.

Ferguson must have a problem with the offspring of successful figures getting peferential treatment in the game.

Apparently he had told her in the pre-match interview that De Gea would start on Sunday, hence the annoyance.

Martin-Samuel-Why-shouldnt-Stoke-pop-Champions-League.html

aw gomes can't even get a eurovision game

:( Forgot about 6pm kick off times. Can I be bothered to watch Spurs Reserves? Atleti/Celtic is an 8pm k.o I assume?

Yes, both on ESPN in the UK, Channel 5 showing the other UK games I think.

Celtic have half a first team missing and are gonna get hammered. You could buy our whole club for 1 x Atletico forward.

Stoke and Birmingham are on ITV4. Salif Diao starts!

Read that as 'Salif Diao STARS' and thought 'steady on Chris!'

Shamrock Rovers v Rubin Kazan kicking off in a few mins

fuckin cuntish cuntface cunts

ESPN not available in ireland? cunts

eh

anyone got the address for streams these days?

im watching the spurs match on setanta

don't have it am RAGING

http://www.lshunter.tv/

Watch PAOK score a peno. flick back to rovers and kazan and kazan miss a penalty and then flick back to spurs v PAOK and its 0-0....it was a justified peno though spurs should have got one earlier

stoke city bringing it in kiev- more yellow cards than shots

we were lucky to get away with that but a few of them looked good prospects

samaras > falcao

samaras is underrated by everyone that sees him

Falcao is mostly overrated/priced, Jim's > still needs to be somewhere around <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Atletico haven't been great, we've had one half chance but barely looked like threatening really - though the midfield has passed it around ok at times. Reckon it'll finish 3-1 them.

Commentator full of shite about the rough and tumble of the SPL - it's a lower standard but it really isn't a league of cloggers. Many teams try to "play football", they just can't.

celtic have been alright, stupid goal to give away

hooper could do with some support but hard to keep it tight

also, OK, atletico might've won the europa league in 2010 but they were abject throughout that competition - their run would have put rangers to shame