CL Quarter Final first legs

[Ray de Galles]

CL Quarter Final first legs

hobbes wrote:

Having watched the incident again, I think the penalty shout was one of those "seen 'em given, seen 'em not given" decisions.

I would have thought that, especially given the demands for absolute consistency from refs on here after the Marty Maraschino sending-off (possibly not from you, granted), the fact that other refs might have made the same mistake as last night's in not giving the pen doesn't excuse it.

[Guest]

CL Quarter Final first legs

"I do know the referee. I played in Holland lots of times where he was the referee and he was the official when we played Feyenoord earlier this season. We both come from the same area. He comes from Leiden and that is the place where I grew up also."

If Kuyt and the ref were Irish, the ref would spend the entire evening hounding him. Eventually Kuyt would crack and scream: "You fucking bastard, you've had it in for me since the Junior C final in 2001." At which point the referee would take out the red card with a smile and murmur: "It's a long way from the Champions League you were reared . . ."

[statto99]

CL Quarter Final first legs

Vink is from Noordwijkerhout, a small town close to Amsterdam with a population of around 15,000. Kuyt's home town of Katwijk aan Zee is only five miles away, and the striker admitted to having played in a number of games in which Vink officiated..."We both come from the same area. He comes from Leiden and that is the place where I grew up."

I've been to Nordwijkerhout. And Leiden. There's a conference centre in Nordwijkerhout and you catch a bus there from Leiden having taken the train from Amsterdam.

Nordwijkerhout is by the sea. It's close to Amsterdam in the same way that Margate is close to London.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

CL Quarter Final first legs

That was a blatant penalty, and I love the hilarious efforts of toro and hobbes to say that black is white.

I was thinking about that game yesterday, and once again Rafa the genius has shown us yet again that when it comes to the Champions league, It's better to be lucky than good.

Think of the frustration Arsene wenger feels. He spends his life hand rearing those footballers, feeding them on a diet of manna, and water drawn only from the highest of glaciers on the himalayas. He teaches them the ancient art of that running flying business that they do in crouching tiger, and every arsenal player has to undergo the ancient training of the fianna, whereby each player would stand in a waist-deep hole armed with a shield while nine warriors threw spears at him; if he was wounded, he failed. In another his hair would be braided, and he would be pursued through the forest; he would fail if he was caught, if a branch cracked under his feet, or if the braids in his hair were disturbed. He would have to be able to leap over a branch the height of his forehead, pass under one as low as his knee, and pull a thorn from his foot without slowing down. He also needed to be a skilled poet.

Then he sends out his amazing superplayers, all suckled at his generous teat to play against liverpool, and what happens? Dirk Kuyt, a player that would be out of his depth in the championship not only scores a goal, but also gets away with a blatant penalty because the ref comes from the same amish-style community in the flat earth part of holland, and they bonded over a communal barn raising 20 years ago.

Let us just take a moment to marvel at the majesty of Dirk Kuyt. I would love to have been there when rafa benitez looked at his £10 million striker, watched him running around the pitch like a lobotomized ferret, and decided "hmm, you're not a striker, you're a wing back, I will play you in tandem with a full back. I will use you to mark the opposition left back."

yet despite the glaringly obvious fact that he is one of the most hopelessly inept strikers in the Champions league he has more goals this season than wayne rooney, carlos tevez, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, didier Drogba, thierry henry, Fernando torres, Raul, cesc fabregas, Luis Fabiano........ but not only that, he's scored against Porto to ensure that Liverpool didn't reach the halfway stage of their group with 0 points, he scored the crucial goal against Inter Milan in the second round, and as sure as god made little apples the return fixture in this is going to finish 0-0 to let him have the crucial goal. He's already scored in a european cup final, It's like Luis garcia all over again.

Ah yes Rafa, it's better to be lucky than good.

[Ray de Galles]

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That's a work of beauty, AIATL.

[EIM]

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Magnifico.

[Brandenburger Toro]

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Lucky Liverpool get lucky AGAIN!

How can lucky Liverpool have such outrageous luck? They spend ten million on a player who's no good AT ALL, and yet by SHEER LUCK, he gets useful goals while playing out of position in big matches. LUCKY BASTARDS.

SEASON AFTER SEASON, they go on IMPROBABLE Champions' League runs FUELLED ONLY BY SPAWNY GOOD FORTUNE, and SOMEHOW LUCK their way to the latter stages.

Why are they so consistently LUCKY, the LUCKY LUCKSTERS?

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

CL Quarter Final first legs

well since we've plenty of evidence that they're no fucking good, you have to assume that they are very lucky.

You don't think that having fabregas's shot hit bendtner, and not conceding a penalty because the referee is married to kuyt's sister while also being kuyt's uncle is a little fortunate?

[Nico Rijnders]

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Fartle's return has really raised the stakes, I see.

[De Geas Clean Linen]

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Liverpool rob their way to a result like they always do. Useless bunch of cloggers. You need a lot more luck to win a knockout compo than you do to win a championship and this is why they have failed to win the league in the last 100 years. To suggest that Liverpool haven't been lucky in this competition over the years is absurd. They fumbled their way to the final last year in pretty much the same manner when they won it (luckily) in 2005.

Liverpool are a semi-decent cup side who always get smashed when their opponents play clinical, attacking football against them (like United).

To be honest, I think Arsenal will get the result they need in the second leg and then lose narrowly to Fenerbache in the semis. To let 'Liverpool' progress into the semi finals will be a travesty for football and the human race in general...

Thats my unbiased opinion.

[Kusal Flyer]

CL Quarter Final first legs

Is Kuyt realy a Hamish? That would expl,ain his haircut i suppose. But who cares it doesnt matter whether we play the Scouse the Arse Chelski or Fannybatcher. Theyll all bow at the altar of Saint Ronaldo.

[De Geas Clean Linen]

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I like you.

[Captain Kurtz]

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Not really surprising that Liverpool rest players in the league, as they normally do it this time of year. League games in the latter part of the season seem to matter about the same to Benitez as league cup games in September. Even so, I've never heard of Damien Plessis?!

Bit more surprising, that Wenger seemingly rests players as well, with Adebayor, Hleb, and Clichy all on the bench. Has Wenger given up, already? Has he?

BTW, I hope they both lose.

[hobbes]

CL Quarter Final first legs

it doesnt matter whether we play the Scouse the Arse Chelski or Fannybatcher.

I'd have said "oh god, Fartle and his fuckwit 'comedy' team names is back" but unless he's using 2 usernames, it can't be.

[Guest]

CL Quarter Final first legs

Has Wenger given up, already? Has he?

His players have, if the radio commentary is anything to go by.

Bendtner's having another terrible game by the sound of things. Even Bryan Hamilton, the man who would accentuate the positive if the five-minute warning went off, has been putting the boot into him.

[Captain Kurtz]

CL Quarter Final first legs

Bendtner had a terrible, terrible miss, but to be fair to my fellow Dane, it's not like Arsenal's midfield is giving him much to work with.

At the other end of the pitch, Arsenal's defence somehow manage to make Crouch look like Ronaldo anno 1997. Again.

[Guest]

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NICKLAS BENDTNER HAS SCORED A GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[G-Man]

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How can lucky Liverpool have such outrageous luck? They spend ten million on a player who's no good AT ALL, and yet by SHEER LUCK, he gets useful goals while playing out of position in big matches. LUCKY BASTARDS.

SEASON AFTER SEASON, they go on IMPROBABLE Champions' League runs FUELLED ONLY BY SPAWNY GOOD FORTUNE, and SOMEHOW LUCK their way to the latter stages.

That is an astute summary, toro. Not much too argue with there, except an overuse of all caps.

Now, Voronin. Is he an experiment by Rafa to see how far he can push that having luck with shit players gig? That miss today was mindboggling. Not because it was a very easy chance, but because he turned a good chance into absolutely nothing at all. He's all ponytail and no talent. Dirk Kuyt is ten times the player Voronin is. And AIATL' opinion of Kuyt is too charitable.

[Captain Kurtz]

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Bendtner had a quite decent second half, though I'm not sure how popular he is in the dressing room.

After his (potentially season saving) equalizer, Bendtner is obviously delighted and runs to the corner to celebrate with the fans. Walcott runs over and congratulates him. When Bendtner turns his face back towards the pitch he realises that no one else has bothered congratulating him. In fact, none of his team mates are even looking in his direction and are just trotting back to the halfway line.

This tells me two things:

1) Bendtner will be sold in the summer
2) The only Arsenal player more out of the loop than Bendtner is Walcott

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

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Aww man I was listening to Fie Live's commentary of this and Bob Wilson. Yes, Bob Wilson was co-commentator.

Sample quote:

Now I'm looking down on Voronin there... with his ponytail... and he just looks fat. He looks in terrible shape.

Absolutely hilarious it was.

[Guest]

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Just seen the highlights. For the second time in four days, a Liverpool player pulls back an Arsenal player in the penalty area and is allowed to get away with it.

Peter Crouch scored a super goal and set up great chances for Riise, Benayoun and Voronin. This is the guy who is left on the bench every week while Dirk Kuyt gets a game. That alone is a savage indictment of Benitez as a manager.

The ostracising of Bendtner when he scored was very funny. They must really hate him.

[Ray de Galles]

CL Quarter Final first legs

Hieronymus Bosch wrote:

For the second time in four days, a Liverpool player pulls back an Arsenal player in the penalty area and is allowed to get away with it.

Do you think these sly little fouls and dives are part of the full Melwood experience and the coaching team work on them or are they leaving it to Carragher and Gerrard to give the new players the benefit of their skills with some extra curricular schooling?