The Football.....

[dellzeqq]

Dortmund V Malaga was a truly fantastic match, with Dortmund stealing it right at the end with two very late goals. I'm very glad I watched that and not the dead rubber that was Madrid V Gala. Dortmund are always good to watch.

well, the Madrid - Galatasaray game was a complete corker - a real antidote to the usual sterile CL stuff. At one point it really did look as if Galatasaray might pull it off.

 

[Typhon]

well, the Madrid - Galatasaray game was a complete corker - a real antidote to the usual sterile CL stuff. At one point it really did look as if Galatasaray might pull it off.

Really? Ronaldo scored after 8 mins to make the score 4-0 on aggregate did he not? I know there were goals but to win gala would have needed 5 uncontested to win the tie. They were never really going to do that. Dortmund V Malaga was really a contest that no-one knew who would win and an interesting battle between two teams of very different backgrounds. One owned by a Qatari sheikh who looked like they might not even be allowed to enter this competition due to financial "irregularities" and the German team half owned by the fans who develop such good young players and play such good football in front of 80k fans a week who pay peanuts compared to the premier league. A real model for the rest of European football. Unlike Real Madrid, who are being investigated again this week for their tacit state sponsorship

 

[dellzeqq]

at 72 minutes, Galatasaray had scored three and looked unstoppable. Madrid could hardly get it out of their own half. Drogba had one disallowed (fairly) for offside and he was rampaging around making the Madrid defence look callow.

Even Roy Keane was impressed.

 

[Typhon]

Fair enough - you watched the game and I didn't. On paper it looked like an insurmountable task after Ronaldo had got that away goal after 8 minutes and I focused my attentions on Dortmund V Malaga. But when you are watching you can get drawn into the drama of it all and think that anything is possible.

For me the Dortmund match was the more interesting encounter even regardless of scorelines though. Klopp has taken them a long way. I am fascinated to see just how far he will take them in the end.

 

[Typhon]

The President of Malaga CF has accused UEFA of racism following their exit:

https://twitter.com/ANAALThani

I wouldn't normally post twitter quotes but that is a verified account.

Dortmund's winning goal was offside but to say that was racism is ridiculous. It seems these kind of accusations are being thrown around a lot lately.

EDIT: Link to BBC article regarding racism allegations, included in case he deletes his tweets:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22087218

 

[MarkF]

Dortmund's winning goal was offside but to say that was racism is ridiculous. It seems these kind of accusations are being thrown around a lot lately.

I'd say one of the "strangest" decisions I've ever seen in an important game, several Dortmund players were clearly offside for the cross, how could so many be missed? Worse, the scorer was offside seconds later, in full view of the linesman and ref, no wonder Malaga were upset!

 

[Typhon]

Yes it was one of the "strangest" I've seen too and probably the worst performance by officials since Ovrebo at the bridge in 2009.

It's hard to believe Scottish officials would take a bribe but I can't say I'm 100% confident there's not some outside influence there. Dortmund are the darlings of the football world right now and the apple of UEFA's eye as they are seen as a role model for other clubs, while Malaga are a Qatari owned sugar daddy club that has had financial "irregularities" that have got them in trouble with UEFA and for a time it looked like they could be in serious financial trouble.

Perhaps no-one at UEFA implicitly said to favour Dortmund but it must be in the back of the referee's mind at least. You wouldn't want to be the referee that gave a decision Malaga's way incorrectly and knocked Dortmund out. You'd probably never officiate a big game again. Then again it wasn't exactly a borderline decision!

 

[2bluegp]

http://nimga.com/m/DSw0J.gif

 

[Monsieur Remings]

M. Remings - I'm astonished that you want Redknapp to stay on, if only because his ability to spend money would test the patience of a state, let alone Tony Fernandes.

I saw part of the Manchester Derby at the barber's - there being no finer place to watch a match. I was struck by the comparison between the City players and the United players - each City player was better than his United counterpart, and yet United are runaway leaders. Mancini is surely toast.

Sorry Dell, didn't see this earlier.

I'd have to say that Mark Hughes wasted the most amount of money. Warnock in our first season back in Babylon, never got the players he wanted due to the late takeover from respective scumbags Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore. By the time Fernandes was in charge of the club, the summer transfer was nearly over.

Come his inevitable sacking that first Xmas - 2011 - Mark Hughes took over and wasted just a bit of money. Because we escaped on goal difference he was then given the best chance yet afforded any QPR manager in the last 15 or so years to build a great squad and instead he set about buying crap and decimating the existing structure already there - never a good idea when it comes to balance in a squad.

With a great start to this season - what was it 17 games without a win, he was rightfully sacked leaving 'Arry to do business in the seller's market which is the January transfer window, and I truly believe he had no choice and knew he was taking a gamble. Is Samba worth £12 mil? No. Is Loic Remy worth £8mil? Yes. The rest are likely to be the choice of Mark Hughes - people like Zamora, Jung Si Park and a whole host of others who I think would struggle in the Championship - useless as they've been..

 

[MarkF]

How do QPR actually get rid of this expensive deadwood? I assume Remy & Samba have clauses, having said that Samba must now be worth 50% of what QPR paid, this may be offset by the increase in Remy's value. But many others, they won't be ale to give them away on their present contracts.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

hawkeye for premier league

 

[Maz]

Sad day for The Blades...Danny Wilson gone.
Bring back Warnock! He'll get us up!

 

[mark st1]

Chelsea seem to be our only European hope for this season then. Adebayors penalty

 

[Maz]

No disrespect to Brad Friedel, but you just knew once it went to penalties, that he wouldn't have the agility to make any meaningful saves.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

That last spurs penalty was laughable...you just knew he was going to miss it as soon as he walked up...there is a difference between confidence and couldn't give a ****