2010-2011 UEFA Champions League Thread

[Shzm13]

Figured its time to get this thread going as well.

Tottenham-Young Boys in a qualifier right now on FSN.

 

[Shzm13]

Tottenham not reppin' the EPL very well. Down 3-0 to Young Boys in only 30 min played.

Defense looks super slow

 

[Mathew81]

Tottenham not reppin' the EPL very well. Down 3-0 to Young Boys in only 30 min played.

Defense looks super slow

Loving it. Down with Spurs!

 

[Shzm13]

Its crazy that this is the same team that was witholding all of that talent on the ManCity offense less than a week ago.

 

[Renz]

Champions League groups:

GROUP A Inter Milan (Italy), Werder Bremen (Germany), Tottenham (England), FC Twente (Netherlands)

GROUP B Lyon (France), Benfica (Portugal), Schalke (Germany), Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel)

GROUP C Manchester United (England), Valencia (Spain), Rangers (Scotland), Bursaspor (Turkey)

GROUP D Barcelona (Spain), Panathinaikos (Greece), FC Copenhagen (Denmark), Rubin Kazan (Russia)

GROUP E Bayern Munich (Germany), AS Roma (Italy), FC Basel (Switzerland), Cluj (Romania)

GROUP F Chelsea (England), Marseille (France), Spartak Moscow (Russia), Zilina (Slovakia)

GROUP G AC Milan (Italy), Real Madrid (Spain), Ajax (Netherlands), Auxerre (France)

GROUP H Arsenal (England), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), FC Braga (Portugal), Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)

 

[Chaplin]

Group of Death is definitely Group G, with Group A a close 2nd.

Both Group F and Group D seem to be the easy groups.

 

[Renz]

Definitely a cakewalk for Barca.

 

[Chaplin]

Definitely a cakewalk for Barca.

IMO, Chelsea has the easiest road. But Barca is definitely there as well, although Rubin Kazan causes us problems. The away leg in Russia in the winter is going to be brutal.

 

[Shzm13]

Group G is the tits!

 

[Chaplin]

Barcelona looked clearly like the best team in the world yesterday after such a horrible weekend.

 

[Shzm13]

Messi AND Villa in the front... Scary duo. They fixed their weakness in the dmid by adding Mascherano, so they will be very tough to beat now.

Now that Marquez is gone, I don't like em as much as I used to. Can't wait to see Mourinho take them apart like he did w a much less talented team in Inter

 

[CaptTurbo]

Man City's game will be on ESPN I believe

 

[Chaplin]

Messi AND Villa in the front... Scary duo. They fixed their weakness in the dmid by adding Mascherano, so they will be very tough to beat now.

Now that Marquez is gone, I don't like em as much as I used to. Can't wait to see Mourinho take them apart like he did w a much less talented team in Inter

Marquez was sadly not good enough for Barcelona anymore, just like Thierry Henry. Their weakness in the midfield was basically a 2nd defensive mid, which is what Mascherano is. My worry is that he'll eventually start complaining about playing time like Yaya Toure did because Sergio Bousquets will remain the 1st team defensive mid.

That said, Arsenal put up a similar performance to Barca vs. Braga. They were unstoppable, and since Vela scored twice, I'm sure you're as giddy as a schoolgirl.

 

[Shzm13]

Marquez is better than both Puyol and Milito. His flaw is that he takes himself out of games when a call doesn't go his way.. So im sure that wore thing with Pep.

Jonathan Dos Santos is still at Barca, but probably wont get first team action for a while. That guy is possibly the next Xavi, love his passing ability.


Yes, im quite pleased with Vela netting 2 CL goals in one match. Braga is a pretty good team, finished ahead of Porto I believe. I wish Arsenal were consistent though.

 

[Chaplin]

Marquez is better than both Puyol and Milito. His flaw is that he takes himself out of games when a call doesn't go his way.. So im sure that wore thing with Pep.

That is simply not true. Puyol is one of the best center backs in the world--he's not the most athletic, but he's certainly one of the most intelligent.

Jonathan Dos Santos is still at Barca, but probably wont get first team action for a while. That guy is possibly the next Xavi, love his passing ability.

Good lord. The next Xavi?? I like Dos Santos, but he will never be a next Xavi.

Yes, im quite pleased with Vela netting 2 CL goals in one match. Braga is a pretty good team, finished ahead of Porto I believe. I wish Arsenal were consistent though.

Braga isn't that good--at least they looked very overmatched against Arsenal. And again, what do you care about Arsenal? The only time you even read anything about them is when (and if) Vela plays. You may love the Mexican players, but you're far from an expert on any of their club teams.

 

[Shzm13]

That is simply not true. Puyol is one of the best center backs in the world--he's not the most athletic, but he's certainly one of the most intelligent.

Classic Barca homer response. Puyol was at one point world class, but now, he's a slow CB, living off his past accomplishments, lunging by tackles and getting his ass covered by a superior player in Pique. Luckily for Puyol, he has Pique on both the NT and Barca to cover his poopy play.

Good lord. The next Xavi?? I like Dos Santos, but he will never be a next Xavi.

I never gave you a guarantee or anything... Im just simply going off what fellow teammate, Sergio Busquets said about him. I figured someone who sees both of them practice every day should have a better idea over someone who recently jumped on the Barca bandwagon because the Bianconeri started sucking immensely.

Heres yer link

Braga isn't that good--at least they looked very overmatched against Arsenal. And again, what do you care about Arsenal? The only time you even read anything about them is when (and if) Vela plays. You may love the Mexican players, but you're far from an expert on any of their club teams.

Not that good, huh?

Braga finished 2nd in Portugese Liga, behind Benfica and ahead of Sporting Lisbon and Porto, who recently reached the CL quarterfinals in 08-09. Since they're not Arsenal/Barca/Juve or MLS, they CLEARLY must not be very good, right? lol

 

[Milgod]

Marquez is better than both Puyol and Milito. His flaw is that he takes himself out of games when a call doesn't go his way.. So im sure that wore thing with Pep.

Jonathan Dos Santos is still at Barca, but probably wont get first team action for a while. That guy is possibly the next Xavi, love his passing ability.


Yes, im quite pleased with Vela netting 2 CL goals in one match. Braga is a pretty good team, finished ahead of Porto I believe. I wish Arsenal were consistent though.

Sorry, what?

Three 6-0 wins this season not consistent enough?

I enjoy the US - Mexico rivalry and if they aren't playing I like Mexican players to do well but you take things too far. Marquez is, and never has been, as good as Puyol. To say so is bordering on insane. You over-rate nearly every Mexican player out there and often act like a voice of knowledge about the clubs their players are with (when in fact you often don't seem to know what you're talking about).

Arsenal were good last night, but let's not act like Braga are that great themselves. They might have qualified from the Portuguese league but the league isn't as strong as some think. The three gooners I work with all said the same thing today - 'Arsenal didn't even have to try. Braga wouldn't make the top 15 teams in the Premiership'.

 

[Chaplin]

Sorry, what?

Three 6-0 wins this season not consistent enough?

I enjoy the US - Mexico rivalry and if they aren't playing I like Mexican players to do well but you take things too far. Marquez is NOT, and never has been, as good as Puyol. To say so is bordering on insane. You over-rate nearly every Mexican player out there and often act like a voice of knowledge about the clubs their players are with (when in fact you often don't seem to know what you're talking about).

Arsenal were good last night, but let's not act like Braga are that great themselves. They might have qualified from the Portuguese league but the league isn't as strong as some think. The three gooners I work with all said the same thing today - 'Arsenal didn't even have to try. Braga wouldn't make the top 15 teams in the Premiership'.

+1 (although I fixed one of your first sentences)

 

[Milgod]

+1 (although I fixed one of your first sentences)

Cheers, didn't realise I did that!

The thing is, I have nothing against shzm but he is starting to sound a lot like slinslin was with Germany.

 

[Chaplin]

Cheers, didn't realise I did that!

The thing is, I have nothing against shzm but he is starting to sound a lot like slinslin was with Germany.

Absolutely! That's why I'm more frustrated with shzm--he wasn't like this pre-World Cup. Slinslin was always like he was with Germany.

He likes Mexico, more power to him, but I think you summed it up pretty well.

 

[Shzm13]

Chaplin, thanks for ignoring my entire post.


Milhouse, consistently healthy, sorry, guess I didn't add that part.

Im simply not as impressed with Puyol as many others are. He was a world-class player in the past, but now, a lot of his mistakes are cleaned up by superior defenders on Barca and SNT (Pique). Im not the only one who shares that viewpoint, but apparently I am in this board.

Lol @ me "overrating players." With the exception of the Marquez-Puyol , all i say is "Woo, they're getting playing time!"

If you don't like what I have to say about a team, then go ahead and say something else about it instead of complaining.

You guys (USMNT fans) like to knock Mexico whenever possible, so I take friendly jabs back at you guys and then you get upset. I've never made it sound as Mexico is unbeatable (as Sinslin did with Germany) so the comparison is silly.

 

[Chaplin]

If you don't like what I have to say about a team, then go ahead and say something else about it instead of complaining.

You guys (USMNT fans) like to knock Mexico whenever possible, so I take friendly jabs back at you guys and then you get upset. I've never made it sound as Mexico is unbeatable (as Sinslin did with Germany) so the comparison is silly.

Simply not true. We don't knock Mexico "whenever possible". In fact, many of us point out their good players. The issue is how you make all the players out to be superstars deserving of more than they are worth. At least for most of us, we're realistic about how good or bad members of the US National Team are.

But it's ok, I think Milgod will agree that you're not nearly as bad as slinslin was, but everything else he said applies.

 

[Shzm13]

Other than the Marquez comments, what have I said about Mexican players other than " they should get playing time?"

 

[Shzm13]

Gave Manchester United the win over Valencia :-D

 

[Chaplin]

Is anyone following what's going on with Real Madrid? Apparently, after being up on Ajax 4-0, Mourinho instructed Iker Casillas to tell Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos to get their second yellow cards in the game, forcing them to miss their last meaningless group game but then be yellow card free when the quarters start.

UEFA is apparently investigating Mourinho, Casillas, Ramos, Alonso and Jerzy Dudek (who apparently relayed Mourinho's order to Casillas, who told Alonso and Ramos to commit the fouls).

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=846227&sec=uefachampionsleague&cc=5901

Granted, what he did isn't against the rules, but they are being charged with unsportsmanlike conduct, which I completely agree with. But then again, since when has Jose Mourinho been a respectful sportsman? Never, IMO. The guy is a good manager, but a scumbag human being.