Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:01 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

What a complete and utter bell Lee Catermole is. Bardsley as well, running across the entire pitch to bang his chest because Phil Neville shoulder barged Maclean.

cattermole has always been a knob, as for bardsley... he obviously got taught well by keane back at united.

there will be some amount of comings and goings in liverpool on the 14th, fans making their way to wembley and the x thousands going to aintree for the national. might even be as busy in the pubs at night time as paddy's night was .

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:25 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

So City fans, what is Mario Balotelli up to now? He apparently turned up to the unveiling of the new Inter Milan manager and interrupted the press conference to shake everyone's hand before departing.

Visiting old friends maybe? Or there for negotiations? Or is he just mentally unhinged?

Visiting old friends, apparently.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:41 pm  

John Terry, looking like the Angel of the North, handballs it in the box yet Ratboy leaps to his defence. I don't give a hoot how long he had to react, you can't go to close somebody down with your arms spread eagle then expect leniency. Other than that, decent win for Chelsea, if Benfica had a decent striker they'd have probably scored two or three, but they don't so they ended up scoring none. Gaitan looked good for any United fans watching.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:48 pm  

Roddy B wrote:

John Terry, looking like the Angel of the North, handballs it in the box yet Ratboy leaps to his defence. I don't give a hoot how long he had to react, you can't go to close somebody down with your arms spread eagle then expect leniency. Other than that, decent win for Chelsea, if Benfica had a decent striker they'd have probably scored two or three, but they don't so they ended up scoring none. Gaitan looked good for any United fans watching.

I didn't realise JT and Suárez were friendly.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:58 pm  

Catalancs wrote:

I didn't realise JT and Suárez were friendly.

who's he biting this time?

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Wed Mar 28, 2012 12:13 am  

Roddy B wrote:

John Terry, looking like the Angel of the North, handballs it in the box yet Ratboy leaps to his defence. I don't give a hoot how long he had to react, you can't go to close somebody down with your arms spread eagle then expect leniency.

I agree. On the first showing, with my blue bias, my instant reaction was that he was too close to give it. But every single replay it looked a definite pen. You just can't have your arms up like that. We were very lucky.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Wed Mar 28, 2012 12:37 am  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

I agree. On the first showing, with my blue bias, my instant reaction was that he was too close to give it. But every single replay it looked a definite pen. You just can't have your arms up like that. We were very lucky.

It was a decent performance from your lot. Considering it's a tough ground to go to, you didn't give them an awful lot on the counter, which is where the Portuguese sides thrive. What was all the Meireles stuff about? I didn't pay too much attention to the commentary in the first half, but he was getting a lot of grief from the Benfica fans (I know he was a Porto player, but it's not like Torres gets hounded out of the ground at Old Trafford, is it?) and I don't recall him doing too much wrong, other than the yellow card tackle. I still think Chelsea will have a pretty tough game at home, but their confidence seems to be high so they should be able to put them to the sword. Still, I can see Benfica getting a goal, but I can't see them keeping a clean sheet. I reckon it will finish 4-1 on agg to Chelsea.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Wed Mar 28, 2012 11:47 am  

I thought it was an excellent performance. The contrast with Saturday, which was an even bigger "must win" game, was amazing.

We were the counter attacking side last night. Benfica had the balance of possession, shots, corners etc, but we had the best chances. Mata really should have us in the semi's already with the gilt-edged chances he had.

I think Meireles got more abuse mainly because we have so many players with Portuguese influence. We got Ramires and Luiz from them so they were returning to their old club, but there is also Ferreira, Bosingwa and Meireles who are Portuguese. I think that all added to them going a bit overboard against Meireles.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Wed Mar 28, 2012 12:04 pm  

Good luck to Benfica at Stamford Bridge.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:15 pm  

Just watched the Bayern highlights. Gomez's goal certainly wasn't a tap in, but I bet Mandanda must be feeling sick seeing that go in.