Liverpool played brilliant as far as I'm concerned. Kudos to Benitez.
He should have let Pennant stay on though.
He should have let Pennant stay on though.
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[EU] Champions League 06/07 (29 Viewers)
- Thread starter ReBeL
- Start date
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most definitely, i'm not trying to make a start anything but i think the quality of teams has been sub-par this year even though many are return visitors. on top of all that it disgusts me to see what will transpire -- i hate english football 
, thus i feel like vomiting every time someone even mentions the semis or the potential final. serie A has been embarrassed beyond words this cl season and i don't see it getting any better anytime soon. la liga falling prolly made me most happy but still to see such sh*t teams in the running kills me. i really have no affinity toward any of these clubs even as a 3rd party bystander
, thus i feel like vomiting every time someone even mentions the semis or the potential final. serie A has been embarrassed beyond words this cl season and i don't see it getting any better anytime soon. la liga falling prolly made me most happy but still to see such sh*t teams in the running kills me. i really have no affinity toward any of these clubs even as a 3rd party bystander
In my opinion, not just this term's Champions League is bad from the entertaining point of view, but also the last one, this season has been worse though. Despite being a fan of tactical game play more than the entertaining one, I'm not enjoying Europe's games anymore. Maybe because the English teams have the upper hand this season, maybe because I feel like watching the English Premier League instead of the Champions League, I can't determine. But, it is indeed terrible.
The bad news here is that the next year's Champions league won't be without Juve as well, maybe playing in the Serie A eases the pain, hopefully.
Regarding today's match, I'm not going to speak a lot about the game. Yet, I have to applaud Rafael Benitez whether he'd be crowned champion of Europe or not. To figure out how much this man has been very intelligent, creative and having an accurate long range vision besides being respectful, just compare Liverpool before his era and Liverpool since he took the charge, and also compare how much he spends annually on the transfer market taking into consideration the amount of funds spent by his direct European rival; Chelsea. My hat off to Benitez.
The bad news here is that the next year's Champions league won't be without Juve as well, maybe playing in the Serie A eases the pain, hopefully.
Regarding today's match, I'm not going to speak a lot about the game. Yet, I have to applaud Rafael Benitez whether he'd be crowned champion of Europe or not. To figure out how much this man has been very intelligent, creative and having an accurate long range vision besides being respectful, just compare Liverpool before his era and Liverpool since he took the charge, and also compare how much he spends annually on the transfer market taking into consideration the amount of funds spent by his direct European rival; Chelsea. My hat off to Benitez.
The current CL format gives lesser teams a greater chance of progressing to later stages - its just matter of probability and Liverpool has taken their chance better than others. Kudos on them in this respect.
I just caught the second half - but my goodness it was a shocker. It matches the dullness of Milan vs Inter. At least that match had quality players in both sets of team.
I think the boringness of CL is much more than the competition itself. The game is going through some of the worst generation of players (without exception of Ronaldo & Kaka). Just looking around the world, there are plethora of decent to good players, but rarely few of them touches the greatness. I am coming terms with the fact that the last decade was blessed with some of the most gracious players that ever played the game, it will be hard to match for some time to come.
I just caught the second half - but my goodness it was a shocker. It matches the dullness of Milan vs Inter. At least that match had quality players in both sets of team.
I think the boringness of CL is much more than the competition itself. The game is going through some of the worst generation of players (without exception of Ronaldo & Kaka). Just looking around the world, there are plethora of decent to good players, but rarely few of them touches the greatness. I am coming terms with the fact that the last decade was blessed with some of the most gracious players that ever played the game, it will be hard to match for some time to come.
I totally agree Benitez is one amazing tactician. He makes adjustments, and asks questions about the opposition. I don't know how good in he is in terms of dealing with Superstar egos, but I have to say a man took that crap Liverpool team twice to CL final, and won La Liga with decent but hardly great team in Valencia got to deserve full respect. I can't believe Valencia thought Ranieri was more capable than Benitez.
Generally, the League (Whether in Italy, England, Spain,...) differs from the Champions League. To win a domestic competition like the Premier league, you ought to have two squads in one squad, I mean having at least 20 players who are capable of competing and fighting till the very last end of the season. The season is long and full of surprises like injuries, players losing form, etc...
On the contrary, all the Champions league's matches to the final are just 12 compared to 38 weeks in the EPL. That's why I'm not surprised at all to see Liverpool reaching the final of the Champions League and at the same time being very satisfied with the third place in English Premier League.
On the contrary, all the Champions league's matches to the final are just 12 compared to 38 weeks in the EPL. That's why I'm not surprised at all to see Liverpool reaching the final of the Champions League and at the same time being very satisfied with the third place in English Premier League.
I don't think it is entirely down to the squad depth. I havent followed latter part of the season, but if anything Chelsea has been stretched far more through injuries than Pool, and despite a wealth talent, their team depended a lot on consistent performers like Essien, Drogba, as they did not have the balance in the squad. Benitez in contrast struck me as a man who genuinely believes in squad rotation, and if anything focuses a lot on investing as to spread talent as much as possible (though this probably due to their lack of funds than anything else).
IMO, the biggest factor is the format itself. I do not disagree with rotation plays a large role in general, but that still does not explain the number of lesser teams making it to final four since the change in format 3 years ago. Liverpool progressed by kicking Barca out of competition (literally) through away goals, poor PSV team, and penalty shoot out against Chelsea. That is a lot easier than earning 10 points playing a group stage with Lyon, Roma, and Barca which they would have done 4 years ago.
IMO, the biggest factor is the format itself. I do not disagree with rotation plays a large role in general, but that still does not explain the number of lesser teams making it to final four since the change in format 3 years ago. Liverpool progressed by kicking Barca out of competition (literally) through away goals, poor PSV team, and penalty shoot out against Chelsea. That is a lot easier than earning 10 points playing a group stage with Lyon, Roma, and Barca which they would have done 4 years ago.
yeah i understand that, but then it also confuses me when i think about the ability of the players on the squads, liverpool are obviously a weaker set of players than chelsea and barca but they still managed to get past them, i dont know if its their psychological advantage of being a european team and i understand that luck effects teams a lot more in cl but liverpool seem to always grind out results in europe and then they struggle against portsmouth bolton etc.
on the benitez note he is an absolute genius in european competition but in the prem his decisions are no where near as effective and liverpool barely put runs of form together, theyve been better this season than the last few but its still quite strange to thing how they can be so different in 2 competitions
on the benitez note he is an absolute genius in european competition but in the prem his decisions are no where near as effective and liverpool barely put runs of form together, theyve been better this season than the last few but its still quite strange to thing how they can be so different in 2 competitions
The question was pretty obvious, how can you progress in the CL while you fail in the domestic league? It is up to the number of the players ready in every match with the presence of the proper substitutions. But when it comes to competing in Europe, a balanced team is needed to reach the final. A balanced team here means a good fitness, harmony, skillful players, hard working players and a world-class tactician. The issue is bigger than the number of the squads player and its depth, but I didn't explain it in full details.
The situation of a team in its domestic league sometimes leads to alter the entire team's ambition in Europe, let me say the whole season precisely. For example, Liverpool lost its hope in the Premier League after the beginning of the second leg, I think. Now, they've two main targets for this season; securing a CL spot for the next season and doing their best in Europe. This also explains why they lost to Portsmouth at the same week they beat Chelsea.
But, this still doesn't explain their success in Europe. Of course, Benitez is a reason but not all the reasons. There are some factors that have hands in that success. As said earlier, the competition itself is no longer the strongest as we used to see plus the luck which aids a lot, for example Liverpool met Eindhoven who isn't up to such a competition, yet they knocked Arsenal out of Europe.
But, this still doesn't explain their success in Europe. Of course, Benitez is a reason but not all the reasons. There are some factors that have hands in that success. As said earlier, the competition itself is no longer the strongest as we used to see plus the luck which aids a lot, for example Liverpool met Eindhoven who isn't up to such a competition, yet they knocked Arsenal out of Europe.
yep as mourinho said they had the luxury of focussing their attention on one competition alone, when you compare that to chelsea's 4 competitions (EPL, champions league, FA cup - final with man u in a few weeks and carling cup - winners against arsenal) it just means that there is more riding on the game for liverpool than chelsea and therefore they gain better focus! sucks, but this is football, i think its should actually be the CHAMPIONS league and bring back cup winners cup!