SD on 4/4/2008 at 16:44

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Pretty football and no end product... that is so Portuguese ;)

It's really galling how much football commentators and pundits wank over Arsenal's style of football. They might make pretty patterns on the pitch, but they haven't won a trophy since 2005. Give me Rafa Benitez's more pragmatic style of football - and the trophies it brings - any day of the week (and twice on Sundays).

And you know, we're capable of playing some nice football too; it's just that we marry it to a hard work ethic and mean defence. I don't think it'll quite be the "crime against football" you say it will be when we complete the job on Tuesday.

Anyway, if you ask me, the real crime against football is to surrender a 1-0 lead in a European Cup Final in the last 15 minutes, like Arsenal did in 2006. Compare and contrast with Liverpool's comeback from 3-0 down the year before. You know I'm right :p

Still, I'm totally with you on the Fantasy Football thing. I too refused to have Cumstaino Rapealdo in my team (as well as Lt. Worf aka The Elephant Man aka Joleon Lescott) and it's cost me big time. Still, it's nice to have principles :erg:

D'Arcy on 4/4/2008 at 18:14

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Well, I like to have fun while watching a football match. We (Benfica) won the league with Trapattoni in charge, with lots of 1-0 wins and scoring most of our goals from set pieces, and I was very glad that we sent him away at the end of the season. Maybe it's a portuguese thing, I don't know ;) Regarding Rafa's Liverpool, I just find it boring to watch you guys play most of the times - but when you get desperate and throw caution into the wind you get some pretty decent football going, like what happened in the last three games of the CL group stage. The boring football you play is even more annoying when I think of the quality of the players you have in the squad.

And Liverpool's win in the CL two years ago, although an exciting game to watch, was terribly unfair in my opinion since, apart from those magical fifteen minutes, it was Milan who pretty much had the run of the play during the remaining 105 minutes. It kind of reminded me Man Utd's win against Bayern in the Camp Nou. Bayern was by far the better team for 90 minutes, and deserved to be ahead by more than one goal. Then we know what happened.

I'm actually considering getting Ronaldo in my Fantasy League team, because almost every player I get ends up getting long term injuries. The last one was Everton's Cahill.

D'Juhn Keep on 4/4/2008 at 21:54

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One eyedness aside (you and that match report both), Drogba and Yakubo are bad too, it's very true. Ronaldo though, in all the Man Utd matches I've watched recently he's not been diving. I think Ferguson was smart enough to realise there was a backlash against him coming and got him to cut it out. There's no advantage to diving if the ref thinks you're diving and gives you a yellow card afterall.

Speaking of lower league matches, Setanta does a good line in Blue Square Premier matches. They're actually really entertaining, so I'd recommend them to anyone with Setanta.

nickie on 5/4/2008 at 16:23

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Well it's got a lot more interesting since that well-known, cheating, *******, Schumacher retired. And I'm looking forward to the BBC getting the rights back. Wahay - no more ad breaks at crucial moments.

Best win on the National was 1. 2. and 4. Red Rum, L'Escargot and Spanish Steps way back when. I'm fantastic at picking horses these days - they always come in the top three - unless of course I actually place a bet!

And I see that the Pompey unprintables are through to the FA final.

R Soul on 6/4/2008 at 00:20

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Max Mosley, hopefully. Not because of the recent... controversy, but because the FIA ought to be headed by someone with some sense.