It's about damn time it started... Real is up 1-0 on ESPN2 right now. Nice goal by Guti. Real will have a huge leg up in their group, if they can keep the result and get 3 pts @ Roma.
Real ended up 3-0. Liverpool looked terrible against Valencia. Arsenal beat Dortmund 2-0. Ljungberg scores in his first game back from injury. Next up PSV.
Where's that one Real hater? I forget his name, but he kept saying how poor Real's defense was, and how it would stop them from winning.
I said Real's defense was poor. But I never said it stopped them from winning. I said it makes them beatable, in spite of all their world class offensive players. I watched Real - AS and what I saw was two teams which both had their chances with friggin Guti making the difference. Real didn't dominate AS offensively in any way. In fact, for long stretches of the game, AS was the team that was attacking and had more chances (Montella, I'm pointing in your direction). But then, at the end of the 1st half, Guti made that marvellous shot around the goalie for 1-0. Second half, similar picture. Good chances for AS but Real scores (Raul, but Guti should get at least half an assist for the goal). And then friggin, godforsaken Guti makes another wonderful shot from 20m out. Well, I guess it was Guti's game of his life and if he always played like this, Real would become worse with Ronaldo replacing him as 2nd striker. It wasn't the big names like Zizou, Figo, RC etc that made the difference. If Montella had had a Guti-like day (and on a normal day he's the better player out of the two) the game would've ended 3-3 or something. The other game I watched was Arsenal-Dormund (2-0). Dortmund played without its best striker (Amoroso), best offensive midfielder (Tomas Rosicky) and second best midfielder (Lars Ricken), so the result was rather predictable. Arsenal played some really nice-to-watch soccer and they had a few good chances in the 1st half, but Dortmund's goalie played well, so it was 0-0 at halftime. Dortmund had about 0 chances up to this point. The 2nd half showed basically the same picture, but the 1-0 by Bergkamp was lucky because the shot was altered by Dortmund defender Metzelder, otherwise it hadn't even been on goal. From that moment on, it was clear that Dormund was hosed because without most of key offensive players, they aren't able to break open a defense with just 2 or 3 people, so they had to expose the defense. The second goal was a thing of beauty, beautiful passing before Ljungbergs shot. Yesterday left me rather impressed with Arsenal, rather unimpressed with Dortmund and extremely impressed with Guti. What remains to be seen is how Dortmund plays when all players are fit, how Arsenal handles away games (does Bergkamp still refuse to board a plane?) and if Guti continues playing better than players like Zidane, Figo, Raul etc.
I HATE REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHO WANTS TO SEE THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD ON THE SAME TEAM.....IT IS LIKE WATCHING THE DAMN LAKERS...... Anyway, I loved Ljungberg's goal, and I love Ljungberg. I was afraid if I started a footy post here it would get run out of town with torches. Probably won't be seeing any of you at Man U's site but just maybe If Roma had Totti and Batistuta back they would have been winners. I can't stand Real. This year it will be a Premier team to win. Arsenal and their Fab Frenchies will take it. Thats my bet anyway.
The good thing is that all the first group games are within car distance for Bergkamp. His ability to crack open defenses and release Henry, Wiltord, and Ljungberg is really a beautiful thing to watch. I went to the Arsenal-Man City game last week and he had two amazing passes to open the game up. I think they will romp in the first group stages as Bergkamp will be there. After that we'll see what happens since he doesn't fly (still).
I don't know if you saw this but Alex Ferguson was talking about ManU's matchup with Haifa tonight (yesterday) and starting talking about these teams they had beaten etc when an Israeli reporter realized he was talking about the wrong team. He didn't know anything about Haifa, who they play tonight! How embarassing.
This year is the year of "los Azulgrana" Barca all the way we have Riquelme hes awesome hes gona get us over the top i just hope Van gaal doesnt get in the way like he always does i hate that guy!
as much as i hate Arsenal, I think ljungberg is fantastic! He is exciting to watch unless hes playing against the boys (Liverpool). Liver pool will come around when Owen wakes up! hopefully! Valencia is a tough side but Liverpool did look poor and they need to improve
Wow! Last year's runner ups, Bayer Leverkusen, got THUMPED 6-2 to Olympiakos. No excuse for a Bundesliga power to get their butts handed to them against a Greek squad. Bayern Munchen didn't fare too well either, losing 3-2 at home to Deportivo, thanks to a hat trick by Roy Makaay. As an English soccer fan, I love to see the German national and domestic teams lose.
Deportivo is GOOD. I saw them last year against Arsenal. Ugh. 2-0 loss at Highbury. That's a strong start for Germany, eh Sir Jack? Losses by Leverkusen, Munich, and Dortmond.
Real 3 - Roma 0 is anyone really surprised. Real got outplayed for the entire 1st half (other than Guti's goal), but completely dominated the 2nd. Roma was definately lacking the scoring punch they so desperately needed (*cough* Totti). They had numerous opportunities in the box but couldn't find the back of the net to save their lives; but they were definately exploiting Real's defenders, at least in the 1st half. Someone please explain to me why Real even needs Ronaldo. Guti looked great out there, as did Raul. Their money should've been spent on a tough defender - that's their only "weakness". On another note, Valencia handed it to Liverpool 2-nil (Owen overrated? Ya damn right!). Liverpool's been underacheiving all season and it seems like the trend ain't gonna buck for awhile. later
Owen didn't play the first half, so you can't take the 2-0 score as an indication of whether or not he is 'overrated.'
Owen is in kind of a shooters slump. hes still getting the chances hes just not finishing him. I think hes been feeling the pressure from Dioup from day one. I just hope he fights through it because when on form there is NOBODY better!
Maccabi Haifa? You dont have to know anything about them to win. They will be lucky to even take a point in the group. To bad for them that even their home games is played away. Hopefully United used yesterdays game to get some flow in their game. They showed something, even Forlan got a goal but again, it was only Maccabi Haifa.
One would assume he got SOME kind of sheet about the team he was playing. The fact that not only didn't know anything about them, but that he spoke about things their arch rivals had done, shows how poor his prep is. And how stunned was the Old Trafford crowd when Maccabi Haifa scored eight minutes in?
