goodfootballerornot

Come on, admit it.  Anyone who saw Rooney go over said or thought the same.

That we are seemingly so reliant on one player for an England result is testament to this site (yes it is).  The players are not as good as the press makes them out to be and certainly not as they all seem to think.  There is a big hole in the squad for the world cup should Rooney miss it.   With others doubtful (Ashley Cole in particular) we are going to be reliant on Gerrard who despite his claims at being able to “turn it on” whenever he wants has been poor this season.  Lampard played in the right way has been brilliant for Chelsea, all be it sporadically.  All is not lost.  But there’s still some bum flexing to do while we wait for the news about an ankle.

Bordeaux 1-1 Chelsea : Some ropey defending from Chelsea caused a bit of an upset for Scolari but considering how little they produced in attack for the first hour its a fair result.  A late sending off for Lampard had no effect on the game but he will miss the somewhat important last group game.

Liverpool 1-0 Marseille : Not a comfortable win and the ball pinged around a great deal with lots of flicks and back heels from both sides, flashy but mostly ineffectual compared to a normal pass.  Reina made some very good saves and could be the key to Liverpools domestic and Champions League success or failure.  Messy but somewhat entertaining.

Villarreal 0-0 Man Utd :  Man U continue their season off after doing so well last lear.  Another draw for them and a pretty lame effort.  Shocking high tackle on Ronaldo.

Arsenal 1-0 Dynamo Kiev : Pretty poor stuff from the team supposedly playing the best football in Europe who had to rely on a late Bendtner goal.  Some relief for  Wengers squeaky bum for now.

Aalborg 2-1 Celtic : Habits are hard to break, particularly for Celtic trying to win away in the competition.  They also loose out on the UEFA cup too.  Still, since they are so appallingly bad that’s not unreasonable.

Arsenal 4-0 FC Twente (agg 6-0)

Well McClown cant manage for shit, hilarious Dutch accent mind you. I guess Wengers hairdryer treatment after the Fulham debacle worked.

Liverpool 1-0 S Liege (1-0 agg)

Liverpool are taking this whole idea of playing badly and (just) winning to extremes now. This was a side which Liverpool should have dispatched with ease. Instead it took until the 118th minute to scrape a goal.  Still Man U have won most of thier trophies under SAF based on playing rubbish and the last minute goal, maybe it will work for them too.

FC Twente 0-2 Arsenal:

The score line flatters a fairly poor performance by Arsenal, albeit from a very sub standard squad. Still with no sign of signings Wenger is going to have to hope and pray for an injury free season, particularly in midfield, because the team who played are unlikely to win very much at all and could drop them out of a top 4 slot.

[Update] Arsene Wenger has apparently said he will make a signing in the next two weeks, a midfield consisting of Denilson and Aaron Ramsey gave him enough of a squeaky bum to reach for the cheque book.

Standard Liege 0-0 Liverpool:

Oh dear oh dear. Liverpool “thats ‘Challenge for the title’ Liverpool” were absolutely woeful and only got the draw because they have the best penalty keeper around. Gerrard was reluctantly brought on and made a difference but Keane and Torres need some games to form some kind of understanding that they are actually playing on the same team. No team with ambitions for the PL title can have a slow start and it doesn’t look good for them based on this.

It was not a great game but it wasn’t the worst final I’ve seen either. The conditions (the rain) were appalling, why does the game not mandate covered stadiums, especially for finals?! Chelsea showed their total lack of class by harassing the referee at every opportunity, pathetic. Half the team should have been booked and probably sent off for the constant abuse the referee was under. Drogbas sending off for the girliest of slaps was justified, but I would have liked to have seen a Chelsea player sent off much, much earlier. Man U played the better football overall and had the most chances. Chelseas players attitude was really, really pathetic and a piss poor advert for “English” football in this final.

Platini should stop making ignorant comments about the state of clubs finances and start criticizing the things that need it.

In the run up to the game I had to give Liverpool the edge, they seemed more likely to score in the first leg and away goals are rather valuable. A Chelsea win would be interesting, just for Avram Grant. A man who has been near vilified just for being in the job. To see him manage this team to achieve more than that twunt Mourinho would be hugely satisfying. The first leg had been so much better than their previous encounters in the competition and I was hoping for more of the same.

As it was the state of the weather and the pitch really screamed for covered grounds and I was really concerned that the result was going to be affected by the conditions. Slick, fast and sometimes unpredictable was the pitch. If people complain about the lack of predictability and consistency of officials, why add another element of luck? Even though the result of the game wasn’t obviously affected by the conditions, the tackling was often a fairly haphazard affair due to the pitch. It could have been a disaster however. As it wasn’t maybe rain conditions should be simulated for every game?

As for the result, Liverpools run against Chelsea in the competition ended due to the common complaint, the inability to score. Overall it was a good game, patchy and scrappy but had some good moments and in the end the better team won. Despite Peter Cech being the most damaged keeper in the CL, he showed he is the best. If Drogba wants to know why his diving attracts so much scorn, have a look at the replay of his first goal. An absolute cannon ball of a shot, but apparently he doesn’t have the strength to remain on his feet after what seems like 70% of tackles…yeah right.

The Sky commentary was fairly poor. Andy Grey, apparently “Britains best football pundit”, voted by his mates maybe. I quote, “I told you it wasnt’ finished” after Liverpool scored their first. No, its not over until the ref blows the final whistle and enough goals or penalties have been scored. I could relate more inanities but I can’t be bothered and the sooner hes replaced the better.

Most of the game in normal time was much the same as the first leg, a good game overall with a few more chances all round.

Extra time was where the real tension began with an Essien goal being disallowed, not an extraordinary decision Mr Grey as Drogba was offside and right in front of the keeper, its called interfering with play. Not to mention the other 2 Chelsea players also offside. Also, offside should be offside, lazy players should get their arses back on side ASAP, not mince around waiting for a chance.

Despite the Chelseas goal being disallowed they got a penalty a minute later and it was comfortably converted by Lampard. Now I know his mum died this week, but was it necessary for J. Rednapp to verbally fellate his cousin on TV telling us how strong he was etc. etc. ad nauseum. I appreciate Lampard was playing under some emotional stress but I don’t need to have a relative tell me how fucking great he is. Hes a professional footballer and he is employed by a professional club, if he can’t hack it he shouldn’t be on the pitch. He was playing so therefore he didn’t actually do anything other than his job and have a moment he can dedicate to his mum. Nice for him, but not a gargantuan moment in human history that it was made out to be thanks. Not to mention where does little Rednapp get off shouting down Hoddle and Souness in the studio? Granted they are failed managers but they talk a hell of a lot more sense that he does. Richard Keys should have kept him under control, him being the junior, less experienced, non managerial and frankly moronic pundit. Is Keys a family member too? Or just a member?

Regardless of my whinges of the coverage, Chelsea are through. Poor old Avram, despite his genuflection at the result, still will get no credit as he gives the impression of not being involved when the game is on. It is about style and what you can show, and he doesn’t show very much at all. I didn’t and don’t want Chelsea to be in the final, I think they are a classless arrogant bunch, a rich mans plaything and generally are bad for football. Still, I’m having a good laugh at the special one right now.

Well the ginger ninja, who nearly sabotaged his teams hopes in the 40th second by hacking Messi down, saved the day with a superb goal, gifted by a mistake from Zambrotta.

On form at least Barca should have lost, despite Uniteds recent slump in form, but they made a fight of it.  Yet again however they failed to produce much in the area that counted, goals.  Messi was again their best player and at 20 makes a mockery of the Premiere Leagues so called young geniuses and made Ronaldo look poor indeed.  Deco was their next best attacking option, the late Substitute Henry producing one header straight at Van Der Sar and a shot very similar to the first leg which was a fairly easy effort for the keeper.

For United Ronaldo did very little indeed, Tevez being their best forward and midfielder by a long way.  Barcas substitution of Eto for the 17 year old Bojan Karick was a hint of things to come, well in years to come  Eto had been almost totally non existent in the game and the subs should have come on much earlier.

United were not convincing and were frankly fortunate to get thier goal.  But Barca just failed to score, despite comfortably having the majority of possesion over both legs.  A sorry story for a team with such players.

As for United they have to be considered favorites again in the league and to win the Champions league now.

Well this game was surprising for the total dominance by Barcelona. It started with Man U in Real Madrid style white, which may have explained the rest of the game! A second minute penalty was missed by Ronaldo who should have had a second one later in the game.

Messi showed just how dammed good he is, injury and or fitness the reason for his fairly early substitution I would hope. Ronaldo for his part had some free kicks from which to show his talents after the penalty miss, but they were all too far out.

It took until right near the end of the first half for a Barca player to be carded for a continuous series of pretty cynical fouls on Ronaldo, the player rather than the ball was played on many occasions.

The second half was much the same as the first. Man U were somewhat surprisingly not in the game at all really. Maybe it was some SAF tactical genius, cede possession but so long as the penalty area is protected it should be ok. Barcelona for their part outdid themselves considering their form in all competitions coming into this game, but they look like a team of individuals and Messi is by far the stand out player in a team of stars. Iniesta is a master of making the most of a nudge or a half block in a tackle, and frankly deserves contempt for his continued going to ground like some sort of flailing ballerina. Its the dive around the player, a supposed art form in to some, which makes it seem all the more like an effort to get the free kick rather than just play the game.

The stats said 63% for Barcelona overall, Man U need Rooney to be more than a defender to turn this one around, Scholes probably shouldn’t start and they need to show some real ambition.

Well not the dull affair that I had expected. Both sides started slowly and poorly. Drogbaaaaaaa (thanks Clive) was given an early free kick for a weak challenge and his behaviour was consistent throughout the game, unlike the referee. It was a scrappy game for the first 20 minutes, a few poor chances after spells of brief possession. Playing Cech should have been a weakness and early on it looked to be as he flinched/drew back from a challenge. I don’t blame the man after his 50 stitch effort but it could have been a problem.

Chelsea did have the first best controlled effort of the first half and like much of their possession threatened but failed to produce much.

The ref was very harsh early on and along with the players attitudes made for a scrappy, stop start game.

From early on Drogba did his “I’ve been shot” impression and keeled over at any opportunity, please will some ref card him for this! Like the vast majority of his minute or two on the ground writhing type efforts he quickly recovered, until the next time of course. Drogba was involved in an entanglement in the box which could have been seen as a penalty, but his own less than enthusiastic plea showed it for what it was, two players with no control over the ball colliding. The ref sensibly waved play on.

The latter part of the first half was Liverpools, including an excellent Kuyt nutmeg of Ashley Cole. Kuyt showed his worth by scoring late on in the first half, if he hadn’t scored when he did he could have been given a penalty for a trio of kung-fu style challenges on him, which while lacking massive contact were pretty good (desperate) attempts to stop the player scoring. The goal wasn’t agaisnt the run of play, there was no run to go against, but it was deserved.

The second half was as the first ended, slightly longer periods of possession, with Liverpool having the best of the game, but ultimately leading to nothing. John Terry showed his credentials by giving Torres some knee style follow through after an attempt on goal.  Shows hes got balls like water melons that does. I do hope Capello gives the Captaincy to someone else. Drogba did yet another pathetic dive in amongst not much else from Chelsea. Carvalho also gave a nice fist to the back of Torreses head as part of a tackle. Torres might feel pleased that they feel he is such a threat, but it just shows the total lack of class Chelsea have. Ashley Cole got away with a proper Kung-Fu style tackle late on, the ref by then totally inconsistent compared to the first half by letting all sorts of nonsense go on.

Liverpools last best chance was by Stevie G which required a great Cech save.

But a late, late, own goal gave Chelsea an undeserved equaliser and away goal. Chelsea’s smug, practically suggesting victory hand slapping after the own goal was funny in a way, as they should have lost this by more than one. With the away goal, they may well win this now, undeservedly and unwelcome perhaps, but Avram Grant looks to be closer to steering Chelsea to a final than the so called Special one ever was.