Champions League 2018/19

[upgotheheads]

3 minutes ago, The Old Tolbooth said:

I thought Liverpool were excellent last night, it was just one of those nights that nothing went their way (and I'm not talking about decisions as I thought the ref had a superb game). You can't legislate for missing 3 sitters in front of goal, Mane normally tucks them away for fun, Milner, who ironically never misses a penalty, booted his effort straight at the keeper from the penalty spot, and god only knows how Salah missed that chance when it was easier to score. At the other end, 2 wonderful goals and a sheer fluke saw Barca take a 3 goal advantage, Hearts are going to need that sort of luck in the cup final! 

 

Last season, Barca beat Roma 4-1 at home, and then lost the away leg 3-0, and right now I'd be over the moon with the same result on Tuesday night, because Barca are nowhere near as good as people make them out to be, and whoever wins the other tie have a real chance of winning it, I never understood people saying the winner would come from the Barca/Liverpool game, it's very disrespectful. 

 

Stonewall penalty denied to Liverpool.

[The Real Maroonblood]

1 minute ago, upgotheheads said:

 

Stonewall penalty denied to Liverpool.

This.

[Nookie Bear]

7 minutes ago, The Old Tolbooth said:

I thought Liverpool were excellent last night, it was just one of those nights that nothing went their way (and I'm not talking about decisions as I thought the ref had a superb game). You can't legislate for missing 3 sitters in front of goal, Mane normally tucks them away for fun, Milner, who ironically never misses a penalty, booted his effort straight at the keeper from the penalty spot, and god only knows how Salah missed that chance when it was easier to score. At the other end, 2 wonderful goals and a sheer fluke saw Barca take a 3 goal advantage, Hearts are going to need that sort of luck in the cup final! 

 

Last season, Barca beat Roma 4-1 at home, and then lost the away leg 3-0, and right now I'd be over the moon with the same result on Tuesday night, because Barca are nowhere near as good as people make them out to be, and whoever wins the other tie have a real chance of winning it, I never understood people saying the winner would come from the Barca/Liverpool game, it's very disrespectful. 

 

Agree with this.

 

and sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say "we did everything we could but it wasn't enough" and there is no shame in that.

[Nookie Bear]

22 minutes ago, Olly Lee's left boot said:

 

 

What a ridiculous stat. 

 

Only a hyped up English media would consider that worthy of anyything. 

 

I am amazed that van Persie is one of those listed, considering he left in 2015. Vardy comes out rather well on that list also.

[Taffin]

7 minutes ago, upgotheheads said:

 

Stonewall penalty denied to Liverpool.

 

When? If you mean Pique on Mane then I'm pretty sure VAR would have given offside.

[Nookie Bear]

On another note, can we leave the Ronaldo v Messi chat for the teenagers/Asian market please?

[ArcticJambo]

11 minutes ago, upgotheheads said:

 

Stonewall penalty denied to Liverpool.

The Mane dive? 

[The Old Tolbooth]

16 minutes ago, upgotheheads said:

 

Stonewall penalty denied to Liverpool.

 

It really wasn't, even as an ardent red here, that was never a spot kick in a million years, and if it was, they would have ruled it out anyway for offside. 

[The Internet]

1 hour ago, Olly Lee's left boot said:

 

 

What a ridiculous stat. 

 

Only a hyped up English media would consider that worthy of anyything. 

 

Well its more showing messi's insane record than anything to do with England. Notice the names around him all play England's top 6 twice a season each whereas he'll maybe play one of them once a season. 

[Mikey1874]

The key difference for me in both games this week was in the speed of doing things. 

 

Ajax and Barcelona were through the opposition in moments while especially Liverpool was plod, plod, plod in comparison. 

 

Liverpool are a good side but were well beaten. 

[Mr Elwood P]

14 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

The key difference for me in both games this week was in the speed of doing things. 

 

Ajax and Barcelona were through the opposition in moments while especially Liverpool was plod, plod, plod in comparison. 

 

Liverpool are a good side but were well beaten. 

 

I'd watch the game back and in particular the performance of Salah if you think Liverpool were 'plodding'. Liverpool's performance was excellent, the difference was that Barcelona converted their chances, Liverpool missed them. 3-1 or 3-2 would probably have been a true reflection of the match. I'm thinking in particular the chances missed by Salah and Milner, could also add Mane's miss as well.

[Darren]

Steve McManaman bemoaning the goalkeeping for Messi's free-kick was tremendous. He's absolutely melted it with a ridiculous amount of curl and it has taken a deflection.

[benny]

https://youtu.be/oqN1cY6mAro

Edited May 2, 2019 by benny

[Mikey1874]

5 hours ago, Mr Elwood P said:

 

I'd watch the game back and in particular the performance of Salah if you think Liverpool were 'plodding'. Liverpool's performance was excellent, the difference was that Barcelona converted their chances, Liverpool missed them. 3-1 or 3-2 would probably have been a true reflection of the match. I'm thinking in particular the chances missed by Salah and Milner, could also add Mane's miss as well.

 

No

 

Barcelona got into that strange way, others say is common to lose their urgency and end up having to defend. With credit to Liverpool's pressing second half.

 

But they broke out of that to devastating effect last 20 minutes which again is a common feature of how they play. Which most people who are not Liverpool fans could see coming. 

 

Only real blatant chance was Milner's. The two others were hard, sharp chances. 

 

I do note a lot of people are saying Liverpool played very well. They still got hammered and nearly 4-0. Suppose they can prove me wrong on Tuesday. 

[Mr Elwood P]

7 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

No

 

Barcelona got into that strange way, others say is common to lose their urgency and end up having to defend. With credit to Liverpool's pressing second half.

 

But they broke out of that to devastating effect last 20 minutes which again is a common feature of how they play. Which most people who are not Liverpool fans could see coming. 

 

Only real blatant chance was Milner's. The two others were hard, sharp chances. 

 

I do note a lot of people are saying Liverpool played very well. They still got hammered and nearly 4-0. Suppose they can prove me wrong on Tuesday. 

 

Salah's chance was a better opportunity than Milner's. The stats both in terms of possession and chances created demonstrate that the performance levels were much closer than the scoreline alludes to.

[smiler]

1 minute ago, Mr Elwood P said:

 

Salah's chance was a better opportunity than Milner's. The stats both in terms of possession and chances created demonstrate that the performance levels were much closer than the scoreline alludes to.

The stats you allude to mean **** all if you’re not going to score.

Liverpool got pumped, get over it.

[Mr Elwood P]

1 minute ago, smiler said:

The stats you allude to mean **** all if you’re not going to score.

Liverpool got pumped, get over it.

 

I wanted them to lose, I think they will have their faint EPL hopes extinguished by Newcastle on Saturday as well! If it's not Hearts I'm generally not bothered who wins a football match unless I've back one team on a bet. It just isn't a fair reflection of the match to say Liverpool were poor or didn't have any chances.

 

 Johan Cruyff Champions League final incoming ...

[Mikey1874]

That's right

 

Barcelona 3 Liverpool 0 is the only stat that matters. Though let's wait till the second leg. 

 

But my original point wasn't a criticism of Liverpool as such. No one in the Liverpool side put in anything like the pass and run for the first goal. Or Messi's anticipation for the second goal. Something for Klopp to work towards.

[Stewie Griffin]

Whilst it’s true Liverpool missed 3 great chances to score Barcelona could have had at least one or two more towards the end if Dembèlè had taken the chances that fell to him especially the one with the last kick of the game 

[CJGJ]

1 minute ago, Stewie Griffin said:

Whilst it’s true Liverpool missed 3 great chances to score Barcelona could have had at least one or two more towards the end if Dembèlè had taken the chances that fell to him especially the one with the last kick of the game 

The only reason they had the chances was simply Liverpool's desire to score an away goal...those chances would never have arisen otherwise had it been say 1-0 or even 2-0 at the time

 

A manager and players who went for it and all the better for that

[Seymour M Hersh]

8 hours ago, ArcticJambo said:

The Mane dive? 

 

Ice finally frozen your brain?

[ArcticJambo]

37 minutes ago, Seymour M Hersh said:

 

Ice finally frozen your brain?

fully thawed-out now, Seymour.

 

Nahh, he was at it all night, chucking himself to the floor at every opportunity tbf.  I like him, and he's some athlete but there's just no way he goes down in any of those instances (three iirc) unless he chooses to.

[Stewie Griffin]

1 hour ago, CJGJ said:

The only reason they had the chances was simply Liverpool's desire to score an away goal...those chances would never have arisen otherwise had it been say 1-0 or even 2-0 at the time

 

A manager and players who went for it and all the better for that

 

True but they had the chances and Liverpool although feeling like they were unlucky not to score should consider themselves fortunate it didn’t finish 4-0 in the end

[Mikey1874]

2 hours ago, CJGJ said:

The only reason they had the chances was simply Liverpool's desire to score an away goal...those chances would never have arisen otherwise had it been say 1-0 or even 2-0 at the time

 

A manager and players who went for it and all the better for that

 

They did.

 

Credit. Maybe Klopp learnt from Napoli away. 

[Seymour M Hersh]

2 hours ago, ArcticJambo said:

fully thawed-out now, Seymour.

 

Nahh, he was at it all night, chucking himself to the floor at every opportunity tbf.  I like him, and he's some athlete but there's just no way he goes down in any of those instances (three iirc) unless he chooses to.

 

The first one was a penalty. 

[shaun.lawson]

Spurs were all over the place, should be out but are very much alive. Liverpool were frequently very good, but are done for. And that's Cup football basically.

 

I thought Liverpool were very brave to take Barca on toe to toe... but they did so with quite conservative players (Milner, Henderson, Gomez). Keita going off was a key moment; so was Valverde taking Coutinho off and effectively ceding the initiative: a very ballsy thing to do as Barcelona manager at home. That worked like a dream.

 

If it was 1-3, Liverpool would have a chance. At 0-3, there's none. They'll never stop Barca scoring next week. And an amazing season looks like ending up with nothing: which is both incredibly harsh, but merited in another sense, because they don't have that X-factor which both Barca and Man City have. Salah especially is just so so wasteful; and for all Robertson's phenomenal improvement, his final ball isn't good enough either. 

 

Liverpool have to add in midfield and, possibly, another striker. But the average age of their squad is excellent - and there's no reason why they can't improve further.

[RudiHMFC]

3 minutes ago, shaun.lawson said:

Spurs were all over the place, should be out but are very much alive. Liverpool were frequently very good, but are done for. And that's Cup football basically.

 

I thought Liverpool were very brave to take Barca on toe to toe... but they did so with quite conservative players (Milner, Henderson, Gomez). Keita going off was a key moment; so was Valverde taking Coutinho off and effectively ceding the initiative: a very ballsy thing to do as Barcelona manager at home. That worked like a dream.

 

If it was 1-3, Liverpool would have a chance. At 0-3, there's none. They'll never stop Barca scoring next week. And an amazing season looks like ending up with nothing: which is both incredibly harsh, but merited in another sense, because they don't have that X-factor which both Barca and Man City have. Salah especially is just so so wasteful; and for all Robertson's phenomenal improvement, his final ball isn't good enough either. 

 

Liverpool have to add in midfield and, possibly, another striker. But the average age of their squad is excellent - and there's no reason why they can't improve further.

 

Third most assists in the premier league. Can't be that bad.

[Arthur Morgan]

16 minutes ago, RudiHMFC said:

 

Third most assists in the premier league. Can't be that bad.

Yep, he's been excellent this season. 

[shaun.lawson]

19 minutes ago, RudiHMFC said:

 

Third most assists in the premier league. Can't be that bad.

 

True... but at the most rarefied levels of all (Liverpool are probably the third best side in the world, but the top two are both palpably better), they still need more than he provides. Or at least: what he provides right now. 

[Fozzyonthefence]

14 hours ago, Stephane Grappelli said:

 

What's Ronaldo got to do with it?  I just despise the Spanish Celtic and their diminutive cheat.

 

Surely even you can understand that?  On second thoughts, reading your other posts, maybe not.

 

The Spanish Celtic chat really is tragic.  Real are shite, just accept it.  Out of interest, why do you even care about Spanish football?  Just enjoy the best player ever to have played the game lifting another CL trophy - it can’t stick in your throat that much can it?  

[Taffin]

1 hour ago, Seymour M Hersh said:

 

The first one was a penalty. 

 

The one where he was offside?

[Fozzyonthefence]

36 minutes ago, shaun.lawson said:

 

True... but at the most rarefied levels of all (Liverpool are probably the third best side in the world, but the top two are both palpably better), they still need more than he provides. Or at least: what he provides right now. 

 

Where do they get a better left back than Robertson from?  Many have him as the best left back in Europe or even the world right now so I reckon he’s more than good enough for England’s 2nd best team.

[shaun.lawson]

6 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

 

Where do they get a better left back than Robertson from?  Many have him as the best left back in Europe or even the world right now so I reckon he’s more than good enough for England’s 2nd best team.

 

It's not a case of them replacing him at all. It is a case of:

 

- Him getting even better

 

- Them not being so dependent on him by improving their midfield creativity

 

That's where they're lacking. Since Coutinho left, they've had next to no X-factor in midfield: the sort of player who decides heavyweight ties like this. England came up short last summer because we had no-one fitting the bill; Liverpool, a much better side than England mind you, don't either. 

 

So yesterday, it was either Robertson knocking balls in which were too long - or them trying to walk through Barca, but with no-one able to make that telling final pass. Then Barca would win it back, and they'd get run the length of the pitch.

Edited May 2, 2019 by shaun.lawson

[Fozzyonthefence]

2 minutes ago, shaun.lawson said:

 

It's not a case of them replacing him at all. It is a case of:

 

- Him getting even better

 

- Them not being so dependent on him by improving their midfield creativity

 

That's where they're lacking. Since Coutinho left, they've had next to no X-factor in midfield: the sort of player who decides heavyweight ties like this. England came up short last summer because we had no-one fitting the bill; Liverpool, a much better side than England mind you, don't either. 

 

England came up short last summer because they were nowhere near good enough to take advantage of a piss easy draw (see the similarities with Hearts this season?), Liverpool on the other hand had an excellent chance of lifting the CL this season with, as you alluded to, only 2 teams better than them in the competition, due to the strength of their forward line and defence, so you have a point there.

[Seymour M Hersh]

6 hours ago, Taffin said:

 

The one where he was offside?

 

No flag. 

[Taffin]

46 minutes ago, Seymour M Hersh said:

 

No flag. 

 

Also no pen.

 

And if one was given, as soon as VAR reviewed it they'd have called the offside.

[Marvin]

Frankfurt's fans display was superb last night.

[Marvin]

37 minutes ago, Marvin said:

Frankfurt's fans display was superb last night.

 

Wrong thread. 

[benny]

There are rumours that Barcelona supporters are going to avenge the push into the fountain by pushing Liverpudlians into Job Centres next week

[Seymour M Hersh]

10 hours ago, Taffin said:

 

Also no pen.

 

And if one was given, as soon as VAR reviewed it they'd have called the offside.

 

In your opinion. 

[RudiHMFC]

11 minutes ago, Seymour M Hersh said:

 

In your opinion. 

 

Did you not see it was offside?

[Stephane Grappelli]

On 02/05/2019 at 09:33, upgotheheads said:

 

Stonewall penalty denied to Liverpool.

 

Correct.

 

Plus Rakitic puts Keita out for the season with a shocking hack from behind and doesn't even get booked.

 

Messi then punches a Liverpool player but instead of being sent off he gets awarded a free kick. A free kick which he then moves 3 metres closer to the goal and scores from via a deflection.

 

Cheating, jammy bar stewards the lot of them.

[Stephane Grappelli]

On 02/05/2019 at 23:00, Fozzyonthefence said:

 

The Spanish Celtic chat really is tragic.  Real are shite, just accept it.  Out of interest, why do you even care about Spanish football?  Just enjoy the best player ever to have played the game lifting another CL trophy - it can’t stick in your throat that much can it?  

 

They do have some striking similarities to Celtic.  The rewriting of history to suit them, offended by everything embarrassed by nothing, want to win everything yet still be loved at the same time, chip on the shoulder, victim complex... l could go on.

 

I have a number of reasons for being interested in Spanish football, it would be boring if we all just like the same stuff. You probably have interests that I would find boring, like golf or crochet, but unlike you I don't feel the need to pass judgement.

[Morgan]

1 minute ago, Stephane Grappelli said:

 

They do have some striking similarities to Celtic.  The rewriting of history to suit them, offended by everything embarrassed by nothing, want to win everything yet still be loved at the same time, chip on the shoulder, victim complex... l could go on.

 

I have a number of reasons for being interested in Spanish football, it would be boring if we all just like the same stuff. You probably have interests that I would find boring, like golf or crochet, but unlike you I don't feel the need to pass judgement.

Nothing wrong with crochet btw.

 

 

[Stephane Grappelli]

4 hours ago, Morgan said:

Nothing wrong with crochet btw.

 

 

 

I'm more of a knitting man myself.

[Morgan]

1 minute ago, Stephane Grappelli said:

 

I'm more of a knitting man myself.

I’m knot.

 

 

 

[Stephane Grappelli]

19 minutes ago, Morgan said:

I’m knot.

 

 

 

 

Stop trying to needle me.

[Morgan]

19 minutes ago, Stephane Grappelli said:

 

Stop trying to needle me.

Eye.

 

Sorry.

 

I get your point.

[Sooperstar]

Bit of a CL hangover for Liverpool.

[milky_26]

1 minute ago, Sooperstar said:

Bit of a CL hangover for Liverpool.

is rafa going to cost liverpool another title after his facts breakdown