It would be interesting if one of the quarter-final matchups was Barcelona and Tottenham. Something tells me that it's a distinct possibility and wouldn't it be interesting to see how Tottenham would cope (in contrast to their north London rivals Arsenal). In my opinion the result would be the same, but still, we'd see two great matches. Barcelona are in a class of their own at the moment. I dare say that even Brasil 1970 (with Tostao, Rivellino, Pele, Jairzinho, Carlos Alberto, Gerson et al) would not be able to defeat this Barcelona side. Pity you can only see this sh*t in FIFA video games (through patches), but if only we could. This Barcelona side would easily dispense with the Dream Team of Johann Cruyff (Romario, Laudrup, Stoichkov, Guardiola et al). They made Arsenal (pre-VP sending off) look very average... I swear if it was Stoke City or some bullsh*t League 2 side wearing ARsenal kits, you wouldn't have known the difference. Can't wait until the draw for the quarter-final. BTW, someone please tell me why UEFA decided to stretch out the knockout stage round in this ridiculous fashion? If we're already in March and still don't know the final 8 sides, when is the final going to be played? In July?
I sincerely think Wenger made Arsenal look average. I mean they own Barcelona at Emirates 2 weeks ago and come out completely constipated on the return match at NC. That was a bullshit performance and one that wreaked "Im a 2nd placer" hear me squeek. Wenger just botched it with conservatism and a healthy dose of fear. But who can blame him really after what he's been through. This paradigm of his though is perpetuating no doubt about it.
Erm... Please no... I rather like this magic carpet ride to continue past another round. I heard there's a club in west london that are a bunch of gits. Let them deal with mission impossible.
Please prove that. I'd love to see the flow chart too. Because every option explanation leads to the minor point they are within 3 points Shy of 1st place.
Everybody looks average next to Barcelona. Wenger tried to play last year, he was punished. This time, it could have worked if everybody had followed the gameplan. I don't think you can blame him.
But the irony was Wenger's proclamation that Arsenal would not resort to such tactics and that it was not in their DNA to play as such. Guardiola's statement that Whilshire would only make the reserves at Barcelona was spot on. The way he was playing I thought would make Johnny Wilkinson of Rugby Union proud.
You know whats fantastic? the Tottenham fans were holding banners that read "Arsene, are you watching?" and it was Gallas who saved them off-the-line. Heheheheheheehehhehehehehehehehehee. 으흐흐흐흐흐흐흫
Wilshere? I love him. You're right that he's over-hyped by the English, but it's with plenty of justification... His skill set and vision are so refined, but he loves to get stuck in. It's amazing how he's only 19. Plus, he plays so much like our own Nam Tae Hee. Imo, the two of them are so similar, it's uncanny... Except Wilshere gets to showcase his talents at Arsenal unlike NTH. Btw, Braga must be sick of playing British clubs in Europe by now. First Celtic, then Arse and now Liverpool? Lol...
I love English announcers but they need to contain themselves when it comes to pure, unadulterated fawning of English players. Pundits like them are responsible some ridiculous pumping.
I remember earlier half of the season when the British media believe they found the next greatest player in the world, Gareth Bale.
In other news (crazier than Jens Lehmann coming back to Arsenal), a Motenegro striker was allegedly beaten until he agreed to terminate his contract in Russia. He's officially written to Sepp Blatter. Hope he and his family stay safe... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/soccer/03/15/player.beaten.ap/index.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...odar-of-beating-him-up-to-break-contract.html
Looks like he might be the backup but with Alumnia you never know. Ironic that it was Alumnia that took Hasselhoff's job. Full circle stuff. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/12735013.stm
FIFA 11 Coach of the Year Shocking quote of the day: “Van Gaal simply didn’t want to work with me, he treats players like interchangeable objects. The coach wanted to make clear to us that he can drop any player, it was all the same to him because, as he said, he had the balls. He demonstrated this literally. I have never experienced anything like it, it was totally crazy. Luckily, I didn’t see a lot, because I wasn’t in the front row.” – Luca Toni.
Re: FIFA 11 Coach of the Year Arshavin already made the move to Arsenal by the time Kim Nam Il went to Russia, it's most likley from either of the three players, Kim Dong Jin, Lee Ho or Hyun Young Min, all three were good friends and teammates with Arshavin at Zenit.