Champion League Review......10/4/2008

It's official... Man Utd will face Barcelona in the semi final of the UEFA Champions League... and another semi final will be Chelsea vs Liverpool (2nd year in the row now, haha.). Man Utd will travel to Nou Camp to face Barcelona on 23rd April 2008 for the 1st leg of the semi final (can't really wait for that) and 30th April 2008 at Old Trafford for the return leg. And it's gonna be awesome clash as Man Utd will already have Nemanja Vidic back in their defense as they are going for the Double. On the other side, Barcelona, may will have Lionel Messi back fit. So, this match is a Must see. The last time both team met was in the Trebel season(1998-1999) where the match in Old Trafford drew 2-2 and match in Nou Camp drew 3-3. The last time they went to Nou Camp were, Of Course the Treble season Champion League were they win 2-1 against Bayern Munich with their two late late goals scored by Sheringham and Solskjaer. What a nice memory in Nou Camp. Haha.



While in the another semi final, good old clash of Chelsea and Liverpool. This two teams meet every season in the Champion League since the start of the Mourinho era. Lol. The last time this two sides met is last season's Champion League semi final. Liverpool got to the final by winning the penalty shootout after both teams ended 1-1. In Torres, Liverpool have one quality player in hot- hot form now. He can really terrorise Chelsea defense if there are any chances posed to him. On the other side, Chelsea, they also have Joe Cole who have been magnificent lately with his performance.



Arsenal vs Liverpool



This match was one of the nicest match I ever seen for Champions League for so long. Many Arsenal supporters will cry foul when they were dumped out of the on such a dramatic fashion. There were big chance for Arsenal to qualify when Adebayor scored the equalizer. Theo Walcott played a very very big part in the Arsenal equalizer after he dribble past 4 Liverpool players start when he took the ball from his own penalty box. After past all, it is not over, he need to deliver a great low cross for Adebayor to finish. At that moment, I tought that Theo Walcott would be definitely be the Super Sub and credit to master tactician Arsene Wenger. A minute after the goal, another mazzy dribble , but this time it is not Theo, it is Ryan Babel. After dribbling past players, he finally fell down after stumbled by Kolo Toure. In my opinion, it is not a penalty. How can we have double standards in football? But on second tought, referee is human after all. Argument can't solve this problem anymore, it needs action. And the only action that the federation can do is that using computer technology and television replay. Another way is to change the human referee to become a robot referee, where all decisions will be made by generic algorithm, A.I. and even also program being set according to the rules. But, if this were to implement, football will already lose it's passion and enthusiasm. So, for conclusions, Arsenal fans, stop crying foul about the penalty incident anymore, get ready for next season is a better idea because no one is going to reverse the penalty incident. Arsene Wenger is just being forced to eat humble pie. On the Liverpool forth goal, it is a gamble that Arsenal must take for their pride. So, we can't blame anyone here, if I can blame, I will blame that why Fabregas is so small in size (didn't he went to gym? HAHA). If I am Fabregas at that time, I would have tackle Babel in order to stop him running so far to get the goal. This is the way we should lead by example. If the penalty doesn't exist and then Theo Walcott would be the super sub and the man of the match and because of this decision, Ryan Babel turned out to become the super sub and man of the match. Haha. One thing good about football is that Football is a team game, not individual, so if someone is to blame, the whole team is to blame, not only one player. This is the example of Roy Keane's exit from Old Trafford, where he listed a few players that doesn't reach the standard to be in the club. So, the manager and board have no choice but to sack him.

For conclusion, I would like to stat out a few factor that why Arsenal lost to Liverpool:
1. Arsenal lost to a team that include Fernando Torres (which is a quality player). Arsenal is a great team, but every team need to have at least a quality player to make things happen when needed. Arsenal need to make some really quality signing for next season.

2. Arsenal lost because they doesn't have squad in depth. They have just a slim squad now, compare to Man Utd. To fight for 2-3 fronts, the important things is that they have the squad for it and squad that doesn't only have many youth, but also must concede of experienced player to make the squad balance.


Manchester United vs Roma

What can I say about Manchester United, they can afford to let Rooney, Ronaldo, Evra, and Scholes out of the first team and still win the match 1-0. Is Roma weak? or are Man Utd just strong? This is a things that will come to some neutral mind after this match. I rather don't take chances to make conclusion and result for that. Haha. I will rather tell some key players that changes the match and about the penalty given to Roma. Most of the Man Utd midfield performed well yesterday night. Especially Owen Hargreaves and Ryan Giggs. After the weekend of 2-2 draw with Middlebrough at the Riverside Stadium, Ryan Giggs have been in the end of much criticism and even some fans even called in to the MUTV to ask why is Ryan Giggs appearing on matches. To silent the criticism, Ryan Giggs yesterday pulled out a nice performance, with mazy run, nice through ball and great crosses. And another, Owen Hargreaves, he was the commander today. He was everywhere in the midfield, one moment he is in the right, another moment he is on the left and without knowing he is defending against Roma in the middle. I hope that he perform like this against Arsenal, which I know that it wouldn't be an easy game. I know I might be a Manchester United supporter, but the penalty concede by Wes Brown is not a penalty. The first thing that I wanted to argue is that do the referee saw the ball changes direction when Wes Brown tackled Mancini. The second thing is that Mancini only falls after the ball moves away. Doesn't that indicated that he is diving? The referee who stands so near the incident believe the act and gave Roma the benefits of doubt. But to United's liking, De Rossi missed the penalty by blasting over the bar. So, it is just like justice is done over that decision or De Rossi is too sporting maybe (just kidding, haha). The match shows that Manchester United is starting to stamping their authority towards the Champion League by showing Roma a great performance without all their aces in the team. Haha
Looking forward towards Man Utd vs Arsenal on Sunday. May the Best team wins.

Winson