The Round Football Column 04.08.08: 146th Edition Champions League Preview, Plus More
Posted by Tim O'Sullivan on 04.08.2008
Champions League quarter final second leg previews, Afonso Alves gives Man Utd a scare, Peter Crouch is the most underrated player of all-time, Barnsley and West Brom fans shed Wembley tears, plus more. One Click Away.
A bit late. I apologise a bit.
I'm going to start off this week's column with a theory that may make people question my sanity.
I THINK ARSENAL WILL WIN THE LEAGUE IF THEY BEAT MAN UTD THIS SUNDAY.
Crazy, hey? But seriously, United's injuries to Monster Nemanja and Rio have come at a bad time and they have a really dangerous run-in. I know they have a deadly attack, but Fergie may seriously go for a draw this Sunday. He knows Blackburn and Chelsea away games are killers. Same with Chelsea. Newcastle and Everton away are horrible games.
If, if, if Arsenal win every game I think they could nick the title.
Anyway, back to the real world and a Prem round-up.
Afonso Alves bagged a truly clinical brace as Boro held United in the snowy Riverside.
Chelsea bounced back from the Fenerbahce loss with a superb win at Eastlands. I like Richard Dunne, but he can still be a clumsy tart, can't he?
Arsenal and Liverpool were involved in the TWO TOWERS section of their epic trilogy. There were some dramatic moments and glossy action, but no one will care come Tuesday. It's a weird one that the Premier League is so much harder to win, but at this stage of the Champions League the latter trophy seems to take a greater significance.
By the way, to quote myself in The Emirates on Saturday: "WHO THE FUCK IS PLESSIS?"
Newcastle's triple threat up-front continued to shine as they hammered Reading 3-0. There's something quite endearing about these shit kickers right now.
Two goals from Ryan Taylor helped Wigan beat Birmingham.
Sunderland pretty much relegated Fulham with a 3-1 win at Craven Cottage. If I hear one more person say Chopra's goal was class I may lose it. It was lucky, you clowns!
Leon Osman scored the only goal of the game as Everton squeezed past Derby at Goodison. That miss from the Yak ..wow.
Blackburn and Tottenham played out a nothing 1-1 draw at Ewood Park. Some good stuff from Berba and Bentley though.
The Villa are finally back on track after a really bad spell. Gareth Barry was on fire and that Agbonlahor goal was just stunning.
Barclays Premier League Team of the Weekend
GK - Manuel Almunia (Arsenal)
RB - Luke Young (Middlesbrough)
LB - Armand Traore (Arsenal)
CB - Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)
CB - Martin Laursen (Aston Villa)
CM - Lucas (Liverpool)
CM - Gareth Barry (Aston Villa)
RM - Ryan Taylor (Wigan)
LM - Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
ST - Afonso Alves (Middlesbrough)
ST - Peter Crouch (Liverpool)
We'll know the final four on Wednesday night. We've got to get the quarters out of the way first though.
Roma v Man Utd
This was an extremely professional display from United and a superb performance from Cristiano Ronaldo in the process. Roma played some really nice technical stuff, but they lacked that cutting edge to trouble a United defence marshalled by the excellent Rio Ferdinand.
Roma have a slight chance in the second leg if they get that clichéd "early goal", but it's a long shot.
Schalke v Barcelona
Barcelona really are shit right now, aren't they? As noted last week they are so lucky they got drawn against a side even worse than them. If a side as void of ideas as Schalke challenged them I can't imagine how many United will hit past them in the semis.
As for the second leg, well it'll be pretty standard Camp Nou fare. The visitors will look scared and make Barcelona look better than they are. The end.
Arsenal v Liverpool
This was superb entertainment in the first half and far more exciting than people thought it would be. Arsenal were the better team, but Liverpool looked very dangerous on the counter attack. That's largely down to the form of their two superstars, Torres and Gerrard. Having said that, counter attack was Liverpool's primary aim. Rafa's away tactics were as cautious as ever and after Kuyt's equaliser (I'm surprised no one has said it was a Clichy OG) it's hard to slate him. He had got his away goal and was happy to sit on it. There's nothing wrong with that. Arsenal still should have won though, and if it wasn't for Dirk Kuyt's brother (the ref) and Barry Bendtner's awkward incompetence they would have a lead going into Tuesday's match.
The second leg will be a tight affair, but there's something missing with Arsene Wenger's side right now. They don't have in-form match winners like Torres and Gerrard, and it's no surprise to see links to summer moves for Diego and Ben Arfa. The Gunners have had a superb season with the resources used last summer, but when it comes to the crunch it's been a step too far for them. This could be a really bad week for Arsene Wenger and I see that starting at Anfield on Tuesday.
Fenerbahce v Chelsea
From the highlights this looked like a fantastic game. Chelsea had the chance to eradicate Fenerbahce's impenetrable home reputation, but missed key chances and let Zico's side get back in the game. They scored two really superb goals though, including this stunner from Deivid:
As for the second leg, well it's a tough one to call. I think this Fenerbahce side can score at Stamford Bridge, but they could also fold like Olympiakos did. It'll be an interesting game.
Real Madrid's hideous away form continued with a 1-1 draw at Mallorca. Good to see Wesley Sneijder back on the scoresheet though.
Recreativo could be safe now after a good win at Osasuna. Ex-Liverpool legend, Florent Sinama-Pongolle scored the only goal of the game.
Simao and Aguero bagged doubles as Atletico Madrid beat Almeria 6-3 in an incredible game at the Calderon. Check it:
Barcelona hit the post around 20 times as they were held at home by Getafe.
Villarreal's feint title challenge looks dead and buried as they became the latest victims of Luis Fabiano in Seville.
AC Milan won a game of football, which was really nice for them. Dirty Pippo Inzaghi bagged two.
Roma hung on to their title aspirations with a nervy 3-2 win at home to Genoa. Goals from Taddei, Vucinic and a De Rossi penalty gave them the win.
Pat Vieira scored as Inter actually won a game of football.
Pazzini and Mutu scored as Fiorentina beat Reggina.
The lad Amauri scored another brace as Palermo beat Juventus 3-2.
I was at the second FA Cup semi final on Sunday and for my first visit to the new Wembley I must admit it really is as good as those FA bods build it up to be. Also, Michael Chopra was with the Cardiff team on Sunday. Ex-team or not I found that weird.
Either way, Cardiff are through to the FA Cup final thanks to a really nice Joe Ledley goal and one of the worst, most painful misses in Wembley history. How will Odejayi sleep? Seriously.
Cardiff will meet Portsmouth after the Prem side scraped past West Brom on Saturday. Jermain Defoe has really given Pompey an edge, because they look totally ordinary without him.
The rumour mill kept on churning away this week. Here's some of the best ones:
Diego to Arsenal = unlikely.
Ronaldinho to Man City = more potential than we think.
De La Red to Liverpool = probable.
Back in the real world, the UEFA Cup produced some interesting stuff.
This time last year I randomly watched Bayer Leverkusen v Osasuna and saw an unbelievable away performance.
A year later and the same late afternoon scenario turned up.
Zenit were the visitors this time and they were fantastic. So good that I think they'll win the whole thing. Seriously.
Getafe bagged a huge draw at Bayern Munich.
Rangers drew with Sporting at Ibrox.
PSV netted an important away goal at Fiorentina.
Second legs this Thursday. My predictions to go through: Getafe, Zenit, Fiorentina and Sporting.
In France, Djibril Cisse scored a beauty as Marseille beat Lyon 3-1.
05 Cisse v Lyon 04 Alves' second v United 03 Agbonlahor v Bolton 02 Ronaldo v Roma 01 Deivid v Chelsea
Big week in the Champions League and UEFA Cup, as discussed.
Elsewhere, West Ham play their game in hand against a Portsmouth side fresh from Wembley champagne. I expect The Hammers to capitalise here.
Onto the weekend and it's all about Man Utd v Arsenal I guess. The Gunners have only produced three good performances in the last seven ten weeks. Two against a side that have a similar style (Meeeeelan) and one in the second half against one of the worst teams in the Prem (Bolton). United will use the same tactics as they did in the FA Cup and despite the fact it'll be against slightly different personnel I see the would-be champions winning this with ease.
Aside from Super Sunday, Liverpool v Blackburn is an interesting one and I can see Newcastle shocking Portsmouth at Fratton Park.
In La Liga, Real Madrid rather annoyingly host Murcia .which means an easy three points and no title race drama.
Last Week's Match Predictions (Bold = Prediction . Italics = Actual Result)
UEFA Champions League Quarter Final, First Legs
Tuesday April 1st
Roma v Man Utd 2-1 // 0-2
Schalke v Barcelona 0-0 // 0-1
Wednesday 2nd
Arsenal v Liverpool 1-0 // 1-1
Fenerbahce v Chelsea 2-1 // 2-1
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 5th
Arsenal v Liverpool 2-0 // 1-1
Aston Villa v Bolton 2-0 // 4-0
Blackburn v Tottenham 1-2 // 1-1
Fulham v Sunderland 0-1 // 1-3
Man City v Chelsea 2-1 // 0-2
Newcastle v Reading 1-0 // 3-0
Wigan v Birmingham 2-1 // 2-0
Sunday 6th
Everton v Derby 5-1 //
Middlesbrough v Man Utd 2-1 //
Next Week's Match Predictions
UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals, Second Legs
Tuesday 8th
Chelsea v Fenerbahce 3-2
Liverpool v Arsenal 1-0
Wednesday 9th
Barcelona v Schalke 2-0
Man Utd v Roma 2-0
Barclays Premier League
Tuesday 8th
West Ham v Portsmouth 2-0
Saturday 12th
Birmingham v Everton 0-1
Bolton v West Ham 0-1
Derby v Aston Villa 1-4
Portsmouth v Newcastle 1-3
Reading v Fulham 1-0
Sunderland v Man. City 3-1
Tottenham v Middlesbrough 1-2
Sunday 13th
Liverpool v Blackburn 1-1
Man Utd v Arsenal 2-0
Hobbsy is angry. He's very angry. You wouldn't like to see him angry. But you've made him angry. You know who you are. You know.
Lol. By the way, the 'Pool bought Plessis from Lyon at the start of the season and he's looked good in reserves and evidently transferred that to the first team against Arsenal with a terrific debut performance; while everybody is marvelling over Wenger's incredible ability to mould great players out of his youth, Rafa has quietly started doing the same. Viva la reds!
Posted By: Chungles (Guest) on April 08, 2008 at 08:52 AM
im quite glad your ridiculous roma vs united prediction was proved so wrong, i think the latter stages of the champs league arent more important than the latter stages of the prem, just looked like that is the arsenal liverpool game on sat because liverpool arent chasing the title and are pretty sure they will get 4th place and arsenal have no motivation at all at the moment, be nice if they had a captain who took the bull by the horns instead of doing the complete opposite
Posted By: jacish23 (Guest) on April 08, 2008 at 03:01 PM
Arsenal-Liverpool 2nd leg will be a tight affair.. that'll do my day Tim
Posted By: Sivapc (Registered) on April 09, 2008 at 01:03 AM
