The TT Football Club

[SempreSami]

Chelsea - Rubin oooh yeeeeeeeah

[PureAlph4]

Originally Posted by PED

Interesting that no one of the Spanish teams are drawn against each other thus increasing uefas chance of a Spanish winner, seemed like the English sides were always drawing each other.

Real vs Gala, really.....what a joke. Same thing with barca and PSG. Pencil those through now

To be fair to Real, they've pretty much had the hardest possible route to get to the QFs, so in some way you can't begrudge them an easier draw. Got through a group with Dortmund, City and Ajax, and then had to play United in the R16.

Funny thing, though, is in the English media it's as if the draw for the QFs never happened. It's the showpiece tournament of the club game, yet most media groups have buried the QF ties out of sight. Why, as soon as the English clubs are knocked out, is the assumption made that the CL is not 'newsworthy' and that all domestic football fans are parochial, insular, jingoistic numbskulls?

There was the same hypocrisy on show with the legitimacy of the 'away goals' rule after the Arsenal vs Bayern game being questioned, yet nothing being said after Spurs benefited from it the following evening (in an even more skewed form, after 120 minutes).

[PED]

Originally Posted by PureAlph4

To be fair to Real, they've pretty much had the hardest possible route to get to the QFs, so in some way you can't begrudge them an easier draw. Got through a group with Dortmund, City and Ajax, and then had to play United in the R16.

I totally agree and Real is who I'm pulling for, I had my cynical hat on earlier, plus I'm still pi$$ed about the ridiculous Nani red card and I'm certainly not a Utd fan. I thought Alex did a great job on his tactics til the card over both legs and felt he was robbed a bit.

Still not sure where I come down on the away goals rule: I thought we did well to bring it back to 3-3 after both legs.

Not making excuses but I will say that we would have done better on a decent pitch-it looked like a skating rink out there. Not as bad as the "beach" they had on both wings at the San Siro last year though

[Feña14]

Originally Posted by SempreSami

Chelsea - Rubin oooh yeeeeeeeah

Are they any good? I know they have M'Vila and that Rondon who alot of teams looked at last year. Apart from that I don't know alot about them.

Originally Posted by PureAlph4

To be fair to Real, they've pretty much had the hardest possible route to get to the QFs, so in some way you can't begrudge them an easier draw. Got through a group with Dortmund, City and Ajax, and then had to play United in the R16.

Funny thing, though, is in the English media it's as if the draw for the QFs never happened. It's the showpiece tournament of the club game, yet most media groups have buried the QF ties out of sight. Why, as soon as the English clubs are knocked out, is the assumption made that the CL is not 'newsworthy' and that all domestic football fans are parochial, insular, jingoistic numbskulls?

There was the same hypocrisy on show with the legitimacy of the 'away goals' rule after the Arsenal vs Bayern game being questioned, yet nothing being said after Spurs benefited from it the following evening (in an even more skewed form, after 120 minutes).

I looked on the BBC sports website after work to find out the draws for both competitions. The Europa League was one of the top stories, which I suppose is understandable considering nearly half the teams left are English. I had to do a search to find out the Champions League draw though.

[SempreSami]

Originally Posted by PureAlph4

Funny thing, though, is in the English media it's as if the draw for the QFs never happened. It's the showpiece tournament of the club game, yet most media groups have buried the QF ties out of sight. Why, as soon as the English clubs are knocked out, is the assumption made that the CL is not 'newsworthy' and that all domestic football fans are parochial, insular, jingoistic numbskulls?

Just because you had to scroll down a bit on the sports page you think there's no coverage?

[SempreSami]

Originally Posted by Feña14

Are they any good? I know they have M'Vila and that Rondon who alot of teams looked at last year. Apart from that I don't know alot about them.

They'll most likely line up in a 4-5-1 looking to score first and then shut the game down, as they managed away at Atletico when down to ten men.

[NickC]

Originally Posted by SempreSami

They'll most likely line up in a 4-5-1 looking to score first and then shut the game down, as they managed away at Atletico when down to ten men.

Well to be fair to Atletico it was more because of a stupid decision to bring up their keeper in the first leg.

I think their most famous claim to fame is drawing Barcelona two consecutive years and giving them a game for all 4 matches, including drawing them at the Nou Camp in that first year and beating them in Russia.

Plus they have wicked kits, by and far the best sponsor on a football shirt I've ever seen:



That is awesome.

[Feña14]

Originally Posted by NickC

Well to be fair to Atletico it was more because of a stupid decision to bring up their keeper in the first leg.

I think their most famous claim to fame is drawing Barcelona two consecutive years and giving them a game for all 4 matches, including drawing them at the Nou Camp in that first year and beating them in Russia.

Plus they have wicked kits, by and far the best sponsor on a football shirt I've ever seen:



That is awesome.

Really? It looks like the shirt for the womens team! With some kind of golden unicorn on the chest. Or maybe they're sponsored by My Little Pony? Who knows

[NickC]

Originally Posted by Feña14

Really? It looks like the shirt for the womens team! With some kind of golden unicorn on the chest. Or maybe they're sponsored by My Little Pony? Who knows

HAHAHA

Yeah that was my original reaction but i did some searching and it's actually TAIF-NK, which is a massive oil refining company. The image is of a Pegasus.

[Anaconda]

Originally Posted by NickC

With the exception of an in-form Barcelona, they're not - you are absolutely right about that. I'd venture as far as saying that outside of the big two in Spain, English clubs are just as good if not better than the rest - and yes, this does include the likes of Malaga, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, etc... Real can also be beaten on their day, it is definitely possible if the tactics are right.

There is quality in the Bundesliga but there's nothing that suggests that the lesser clubs in Germany (Hamburg, Bremen, etc...) are anywhere near comparable to similar sized clubs in England.

The only major difference is the quality of the youth coming through the academies, which is where England lags behind.

The only team who could beat an in-form Barca would be the Real Madrid team of 2002-2003 when they had Roberto Carlos, Zidane, Figo, Guti, Ronaldo, Makelele, Morentes, Raul, Salgado, Cambiasso, Casillias, Hierro, Helguera (basically every best player for that position).

[Feña14]

Originally Posted by Anaconda

The only team who could beat an in-form Barca would be the Real Madrid team of 2002-2003 when they had Roberto Carlos, Zidane, Figo, Guti, Ronaldo, Makelele, Morentes, Raul, Salgado, Cambiasso, Casillias, Hierro, Helguera (basically every best player for that position).

Or Chelsea last year

[Anaconda]

Originally Posted by Feña14

Or Chelsea last year

Ok fair point; Let me change my statement to...............




'Real Madrd in 2002/03 would be the only team capable of beating an in-form Barcelona by outplaying them'.




Chelsea got outplayed in every match in the Champions League last year. The gods smiled down on them, that's for sure, I think Barca completely outplayed Chelsea, but Munich was even a bigger joke. How on earth they won that tournament I do not know.

[Ross K]

I totally agree and Real is who I'm pulling for, I had my cynical hat on earlier, plus I'm still pi$$ed about the ridiculous Nani red card and I'm certainly not a Utd fan. I thought Alex did a great job on his tactics til the card over both legs and felt he was robbed a bit.

+ 2 on that.

Really? It looks like the shirt for the womens team! With some kind of golden unicorn on the chest. Or maybe they're sponsored by My Little Pony? Who knows

Haha, "My Little Pony!"

Chelsea got outplayed in every match in the Champions League last year. The gods smiled down on them, that's for sure, I think Barca completely outplayed Chelsea, but Munich was even a bigger joke. How on earth they won that tournament I do not know.

I agree, but that added element (call it 'luck' or whatever) can't be legislated for; especially when it's allied to great tactics, superb defensive resilience and organisation, marvellous finishing, and unbreakable spirit.

[Feña14]

Originally Posted by Ross K

I agree, but that added element (call it 'luck' or whatever) can't be legislated for; especially when it's allied to great tactics, superb defensive resilience and organisation, marvellous finishing, and unbreakable spirit.

That's the one! We just played rope-a-dope with Barcelona really, toying with them if you like. Eventually Ramires decided to show them what he could do (after Terry decided to give them a chance by getting himself sent off), yet they were still 2 goals short of making the final

[Ross K]

Originally Posted by Feña14

That's the one! We just played rope-a-dope with Barcelona really, toying with them if you like. Eventually Ramires decided to show them what he could do (after Terry decided to give them a chance by getting himself sent off), yet they were still 2 goals short of making the final

Oh gawd, don't go reminding us all about that calamitous 'challenge' ! ... actually, now I'm recalling Drogba in full peek-a-boo, not exactly Oscar-winning, amateur dramatics form last year... Fena, I take back the praise!

[SempreSami]

I don't remember sponsor logos dictating male/female football kits. Nurnberg had Mr*Lady Jeans for a shirt sponsor a few years back. Plus that's an old Rubin kit, here's the current one, same sponsor, being worn by ex-Chelsea player Gokhan Tore. They've got a new badge as well, but what is it with all these new ones looking very similar? The design agency that does them must be raking the money in.

[NickC]

Credit to Everton!

Mancini surely is on the out now, he got his tactics completely wrong. Hell, even his assistant on the touchline spent the entire second half trying to tell him so.

The ref wasn't good either, that goal wasn't offside and Tevez deserved a spot kick as it clearly hit off Felliani's hand. The final score should have been Everton 3-1 City

[PED]

I'm feeling a Hammers win tomorrow after they let me down against spurs the other week. Good news is that Chelsea doesn't have Bale.

[norbac]

Cazorla was great in that game, really took control. Diaby was terrible, he keeps possession of the ball for too long and does absolutely nothing with it. He really seemed to slow the team down.

I am starting to believe in Ramsey though, he's put in a couple of solid performances for a few weeks now.

[Feña14]

Originally Posted by PED

I'm feeling a Hammers win tomorrow after they let me down against spurs the other week. Good news is that Chelsea doesn't have Bale.

Unfortunately for West Ham, we have Mata instead! The player Bale one day hope's to become