crackerjack
Well-known member
even i have to concede that's cruel
chelsea were awesome and deserved to go thru
chelsea were awesome and deserved to go thru
i wasn't watching this match, only listening on the wireless, so the following perhaps needs a pinch of salt, but it sounded like the Barcelona gamesmanship after the equaliser and the general reaction of their bench etc was a bit shitbag, tbh
gamesmanship? they made a couple of substitutions, that's all (incl one for a corner who didn't even get back to defend in time) - the ref added the time on, played almost 6mins nstead of 4. nothing t complain about that i could see
my apologies.
i blame my reliance on Green and Lawro from 5 Live.
they were getting a bit het up you see
Cracker, sounds like you have a telly, what's this about Drogba screaming blue murder into the camera?
and Ballack slapped him, did Paul say?!
yeah immediately after the hand ball wasn't called, ballack was running alongside the ref, screaming in his ear, and turned sideways with his arms around the man's front and back. it was like he wanted grab hold of him. from the angles i saw he seemed to sneak in a smack to the ref's back. then he got the yellow.and Ballack slapped him, did Paul say?!
I dunno about the entitlement thing.
They adopted ref-hassling as a tactic in Jose's day.
Yeah, I think Ballack was just desperate when he followed the ref and got right in his face. The shot was struck so hard the defender had no chance to move - I guess you see them given but it would have been harsh. To me Chelsea's best penalty shout was the one in the first half that he gave outside the area, if it was a foul - which the ref obviously thought it was - then it was definitely well inside the box and that was a classic example of avoiding the big decision by pretending it was the other side of the line (if that option isn't available refs often go for the indirect free-kick inside the box choice)."These commentators are getting ridiculous. Handballs have to be intentional to count as a foul. Pique's arm was out already and Anelka kicked the ball from one yard away. The other one, the defender was turning his back on the ball."
Not just Cashley. They all looked absolutely gobsmacked - as well they might. They were a level above Barcelona for the whole game but they didn't put it to bed. On that evidence Barce won't stand a chance against United - but the performance doesn't count for anything, it's the result. They can produce a different performance in the final."You've got to love how the camera cut to Ashley C***"
Not just Cashley. They all looked absolutely gobsmacked - as well they might. They were a level above Barcelona for the whole game but they didn't put it to bed. On that evidence Barce won't stand a chance against United - but the performance doesn't count for anything, it's the result. They can produce a different performance in the final.
Well not really but then it's not even clear that Berbatov will play. I mean for the semi I was reading all these things about the decision that Ferguson had to make, would he play Berbatov or Tevez? As we know he went for Park and he scored in nine minutes. A lot has been said about Barcelona's wealth of attacking options but United have Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez, Ronaldo which isn't too shabby - plus you never know what he'll go for - Ronaldo on the wing and Rooney in the middle or vice versa, maybe Tevez and Berbatov as a front two with wingers as well, perhaps with Rooney behind. And the thing is that Ronaldo and Rooney are skillful plus they are both capable of outmuscling people just like Drogba. Also United have a big boost in that (I think) Puyol will be back for the final, he's always worth at least one goal to the opposition."Can't imagine Utd parking the bus and hitting long balls like Chelsea. Fair play, very effective tactic, but can you see Berbatov muscling Barca's backline like Drogba (actually, I'd pay to watch that)?"