The Champions League Thread (1 Viewer)

[BonsaiSuperstar]

we dont have one of these so thought i would create one.

Man Utd 1-0 Celtic

Berbatov with an off side goal.

Bayern Munich 2-0 Fiorentina Turner

Fenerbache 1-3 Arsenal

 

[BonsaiSuperstar]

embarrassing now for Celtic , 3-0 to united.
they have been chasing shadows all night

 

[ratmonkey]

Celtic have nothing to be embarrassed about, there's no way they should realistically expect to compete with clubs from the bigger leagues.

 

[Franco]

Champs League is a total snorefest until february.

 

[I Bleed Black]

Celtic have nothing to be embarrassed about, there's no way they should realistically expect to compete with clubs from the bigger leagues.

They beat utd last season or season before in the group and ran AC close in the second round the year they won it. I'd call that competing.

 

[Wheels]

They beat utd last season or season before in the group and ran AC close in the second round the year they won it. I'd call that competing.

It was always going to be difficult for even a full strength Celtic at Old Trafford, but without Vennegoor of Hesselink and Samaras it was next to impossible. They'll probably give them a decent game at Celtic Park.

 

[ratmonkey]

They're playing in a small league. UEFA money is divided according to the TV revenues of the country the club plays in. They're probably slightly behind the Portugese and Dutch clubs, never mind the French and Germans, in terms of revenue. On that basis, any positive result they get is an achievement, but they shouldn't be expecting results.

 

[Hector Grey]

They're playing in a small league. UEFA money is divided according to the TV revenues of the country the club plays in. They're probably slightly behind the Portugese and Dutch clubs, never mind the French and Germans, in terms of revenue. On that basis, any positive result they get is an achievement, but they shouldn't be expecting results.

BATE's manager probably said as much to his lads before the Roma or Chelsea games.

 

[trev]

Champs League is a total snorefest until february.

i knocked off the switching between the utd and arsenal games last night around the hour mark and watched the vidi printer on Sky Sports News.

 

[Cormcolash]

Celtic were decent last night but the heads went down after the second goal went in. Of course it should have been a totally different match, two offside goals ruined the whole game really, I could have seen Celtic holding out for a long time and frustrating United if it hadn't been for two shit linesmen on two set-pieces.
Celtic were getting some decent counter-attacks that were relieving pressure and causing problems for United until the first goal went in. After that, with United knowing they don't need to go forward any more and leaving no spaces, Celtic could hardly get the ball out of their own half.
At least they didn't totally collapse and worked until the end, but with the squad as it is they were never going to worry United, and it must be said not many teams are.

 

[BonsaiSuperstar]

i cant believe the wrong decisions the linesmen have made in the liverpool - athletico game!

 

[Cormcolash]

I can't believe that linesmen and referees are so completely fucking shit right now but there's still no move to introduce technology or something that would actually help them out.
Fuck, you think that game was bad, try Celtic's Champions League campaign.

Goal wrongly disallowed for offside against Aalborg that would have made a 1-0 win (Scott Brown clearly onside for the goal).
2 goals wrongly allowed for Man.U that changed the whole complexion of the game (Berbatov clearly offside both times).


Here's the thing that currently is doing my head in: How come whenever these decisions come up, and you see the replay and it clearly shows that the referee or linesman fucked up, the match reports you see online and read in the papers always say shit like "looked to be offside" etc.?

Perfect example tonight from Liverpool (from BBC match report):

"Robbie Keane's cool finish from a suspiciously offside position gave the visitors the lead in the 14th minute."

What the fuck is this "suspiciously offside" bollocks? What the fuck was "suspicious" about it? What, was he fucking lurking around behind the Atletico Madrid defence wearing a fucking balaclava and black and white striped pyjamas or something? What the fuck like!

Surely what they mean is "Robbie Keane put Liverpool ahead with a cool finish in the 14th minute, although replays showed that he was blatantly offside and the goal should not have stood"

Same last night with Berbatov - "Berbatov 'looked to be' offside"

What they mean is "Replays showed that Berbatov was definitely offside for both his goals and neither of them should have been allowed"

What is so fucking difficult about that????

 

[Vinnie]

Surely what they mean is "Robbie Keane put Liverpool ahead with a cool finish in the 14th minute, although replays showed that he was blatantly offside and the goal should not have stood"


What is so fucking difficult about that????

Keane was level with the last man. Dont be taking Celtic's 16 year Champions League capitulation away from home out on Liverpool.

 

[Hector Grey]

celtic need to look at themselves, not the linesman. gordon talked up the opposition so much before the game, celtic had lost that match before a ball was kicked. these lads are champions of their country, repeatedly! they've loads of tin on the dresser, why don't they just believe they can win? crap teams get good results in the champions league, it's not all about money. with celtic it's about an inferiority complex. they play like they know they're shit. except at home, of course. i've never seen celtic go away from home and play like they expect a result. even against rosenborg.

 

[Lefty Frizzell]

I thought Keane was a foot or two offside to be honest.

 

[Cormcolash]

celtic need to look at themselves, not the linesman. gordon talked up the opposition so much before the game, celtic had lost that match before a ball was kicked. these lads are champions of their country, repeatedly! they've loads of tin on the dresser, why don't they just believe they can win? crap teams get good results in the champions league, it's not all about money. with celtic it's about an inferiority complex. they play like they know they're shit. except at home, of course. i've never seen celtic go away from home and play like they expect a result. even against rosenborg.

I agree actually. The Celtic playing away from home thing is all in their fucking heads. I'm convinced the staff are also saying to the players things like "Be tight defensively, hold on to the ball, etc etc." all this stuff that just adds more pressure, instead of just "play your regular game and things will come good".
My point is though, how can you go out and play a football match properly when the officials can't even get simple decisions right?
Celtic have been much better away from home this year than previously. They were actually GOOD against Villareal, even very unlucky not to equalise after going behind, but Villareal had that extra bit of quality needed to see them through. And I think if they had held out a bit longer against Man. U (which they weren't allowed to do because of a shit linesman) then they would have started asking questions of United, along the lines of "How are you going to get through us then?".
It's a fallacy to say Celtic have always been shit away from home in the Champions League. It's more accurate to say that they always play shit against the shit teams they should beat, but against much better teams they actually usually play well but just end up getting outclassed.
Don't forget, the only result Celtic have actually got away from home in the CL was against Barcelona, coming away from the Nou Camp with a 0-0 draw. Not many teams can say that.

 

[maims bond]

here, all this chatter about linesmen, is it really fair to ask them to get it right all the time? it's impossible. Defenders are excellent at pushing up just when a ball is played so that an attacker who was onside when the ball was played looks way offside when he receives it. If linesmen had the benefit of the slow-motion stuff on cameras then the rate of bad decisions would be almost nil. But this would need to happen every fuckin 5 minutes.

Solution: get rid of offside altogether or allow managers to contest x amount of decisions per game to a video ref. The problem with the latter option is: what happens if the decision is overturned? If the striker didn't get a chance to have a shot, or stopped playing cause he heard the whistle, then where do you pick up from?

 

[ratmonkey]

Video isn't the answer; put sensors on all the players and the ball so all the officials have to do is deceide whether the player is interfering or not, not whether whoever is in an offside position.

 

[Hector Grey]

human fallacy is integral to the game, in players, officials, manager and fans. without it, what are we watching?

 

[ratmonkey]

Mainly I'm watching the RTE lads in the studio and occasionally the match.