Zola was great! I loved that Chelsea with players like Di Matteo, Viali, Desailly, Gullit - good times

Zola...no doubting his ability there.Small-built but who cares when you can dribble past opponents with ease?Di Matteo...Vialli and not forgetting Ed De Goey...that Chelsea then was a powerhouse.But that period to me was more focused on the "English Wall" of Arsenal.Winterburn,Dixon,Adams,Bould and Keown as a sub...that's scary.
_________________

Now you mention, those were the good days, when even Marc Overmars was at Arsenal. Football was totally different then. It was always special to watch a PL match, now including CL matches are rather boring to watch. Or I'm getting old...

Terryb wrote:

Now you mention, those were the good days, when even Marc Overmars was at Arsenal. Football was totally different then. It was always special to watch a PL match, now including CL matches are rather boring to watch. Or I'm getting old...

Not so.Even I get bored with modern-day soccer.Last time it's all about passion and love for soccer.And the way to play soccer is on the ground.Nice,direct and simple passing.Nowadays many teams employ the long-ball,direct method...which is kind of boring.The strange thing is that...despite teams knowing that the reason why England can't win the World Cup now is due to that long ball stuff...they still follow them!!!That's why the only team that interest me now in the EPl is Arsenal.If not I'll better be off watching Serie A...
_________________

Love conquers hatred just as water subdues fire!!!But some try to extinguish a bonfire with just a cup of water,which obviously is not enough.So instead of saying one can't love,one should try harder to love.

--- Mencius(�Ўq)

Yeah, Arsenal plays the most atractive football of all IMO, although they don't always win. Better than Barca too IMO. But teams like Olympic Lyon are pretty amazing too.

and ugh, I totally hate watching Italian football.

as for the Enland team, well things have changed alot. But when you need to bring in a foreign coach (which is a totally disgrace IMO, they invented football!) you know what's going on, the FA was pretty desperate.

Lyon is too strong for Ligue 1.I was kind of shocked when I realised that Toulalan also belonged to them!!!Having Bedezma is already pretty amazing and now Toulalan...they are like...too strong.But now they started to lose or draw games,which is surprising considering the array of talents in their team.Or maybe it's the Baros curse...but that's plain bull****.

Italian football is pretty...ok.Short direct passes and few long balls.And one can understand the true art of defending there.Good DMs like Edusei and Simplicio played in Catania and Palermo respectively...so it's a open soccer match in Serie A.There's as much chances for a team like Catania to defeat teams from the "Giant 6" or the "7 Sisters" as compared to bigger teams like Milan or Internationale.

England should employ Allydrane.(how do you spell his name?)He can make Bolton so strong with so little cash.That showed that his eye for talent is undoubted.
_________________

wat is Real Madrid Defense doing if i'm Casillas, i will throw my boots at their face LOL....
_________________

kami_kaze wrote:

wat is Real Madrid Defense doing if i'm Casillas, i will throw my boots at their face LOL....

Real Madrid's defense isn't weak.The fault lies with that their star defender's playing mentality.Cannavaro is a legendary defender but he's an Italian.Italians are suited for slow-paced playing tempo.No matter how good he is he wouldn't be effective.They need English defenders,which is contradicting bacuse they loaned Woodgate away.So maybe that's the main reason behing their failure...
_________________

Love conquers hatred just as water subdues fire!!!But some try to extinguish a bonfire with just a cup of water,which obviously is not enough.So instead of saying one can't love,one should try harder to love.

--- Mencius(�Ўq)

That's why I hate Italian football. They often play only one striker (4-5-1, 4-4-1-1) and on top of that counterfootball, it's so defensive and no fun to watch.

just like when Ranieri was Chelsea manager, even with so many good players and possibilities, he just played like a coward though I have to say Mourinho is doing slightly better..

Cant wait for the Fifa Cup in 2010 in South Africa!
_________________

Slow and defensive...yes I admit Italians play rather slow but at least their football brings success.Their playing sytle won them the World Cup for 4 years.England only won it once...and that was way back in 1966.Now with the array of talent in England's squad...winning the World Cup isn't impossible for them.But long ball tactics will bring them nowhere!!!Look at the past winners of the World Cup.Italy...Brazil...France...all of them played nice,on-the-ground football.How many teams in the EPL even played that way?I could only think of Arsenal and occasionally the bigger teams.But in Italia Serie?Many teams played that way since a slow-paced tempo is in their blood.When you play slow your passing got to be exceptional.So Italia Serie isn't that bad...

Or watch the Bundesliga.Pretty slow as well.But they are not that interesting to watch...the Germans are great footballers but I just simplt don't know where are they exceptionally good at?The Brazilians are well known for their tricks and passing whereas the Italians are best at defending.So what's the German's greatest football talent at?
_________________

Ah well, of course me being from Holland. The craving for attacking + attractive football is in the blood only the dutch are so stupid to play 4-3-3 still in these modern days of football... Another thing I really dislike about Italian way of playing: they never take initiative, they never try to make the game. I don't consider that skill. In Italy 1-0 is considered a great result and they are known to be cheats too. (as in diving n such, not as bad as the Portugese but still)

The Germans? they are known for their last minute goals. Fighters mentality, they never give up. German players are just not the type of players to show fancy stuff. Though nobody can deny Ballack's quality. Even though he's been crap at Chelsea, he's like the German Lampard. Both great players.

Anyway the Germans still manage to progress pretty far at the big tournaments. For example the World Cup Korea-Japan, that was like the worst German squad ever, and they still managed to play the final.

and the way the French played last year was just shameful. With 2 top strikers like Henry and Trezequet, along with many other talents, Domenech still played 4-5-1 ALL tournament - appaling, and to everyone's surprise made the final. Even Italy was playing 4-4-2. Go figure..

German fighters?!?Kinds of makes sense...I don't see them having anymore assets other than being good and hardworking footballers.

About the Italians...it's their way of playing.Italian stars like Nesta and Maldini all quoted this sentence before."I rather win 1-0 than to win 3-2."Their target is pretty simple.Get the win and get a clean sheet.Well what more can you expect from a land filled with defensive-minded freaks?!?

4-5-1 is the same as 4-3-3.Except that it had a more defensive approach.Trezeguet as the target man.With Henry and Ribery as the forwards.Pretty strong in attack.But of course 4-4-2 is always better in attack...

Speaking of Lampard...I will like to ask whether do anyone thinks that Lampard has the best long shot in England?I think that Gerrard and Huddlestone are better than him in that area.And of course there's the old veteran Scholes.His long shots are still good as ever...
_________________

I think Lampard is the better player upfront as attacking midfielder, both him and Gerard have great shots of course. Though I've seen Lampard score more often from freekicks too. Gerard has more a more power to his shot and is better at crossing the ball though.

I love Scholes, though not as a good as say like 4-5 years ago he was a menace to any defense. Just like Giggs, damn both these players seem like have played a lifetime at ManU already. Just like Ferguson has been manager for decades haha.

The Man U of 5 years ago are almighty.The Yorke and Cole tag team with Solskjaer and Sheringham as back up.That's a little...over powerful in the strikers' department.

Yeah Lampard is all-rounded.Kind of remind me of Gianni Rivera of Italy during the 70s.Strangely Lampard seems to score more goals than most of the midfielders playing at the exact position as him.More than Kaka...more than Stevie G...wonder what's the main "ingredient" responsible for this difference.Good assists from teammates?More determination?
_________________

Ok with the two semi-final results of Man U-Milan and Chelsea-Liverpool being at 3-2 and 1-0 each...it raises some worries.Here's my comments on those two matches.

Man U-Milan:In fairness...Milan played well but solely missed the finishing of the in form "Phenomenen" Luiz Ronaldo.Still they managed to salvage two important away goals to capitalise on in second league at their home San Siro.Credit to Man U as well...they played well.Ronaldo was the major talking point and he didn't disappoint.Yet one can't expect him to single-handly win matches for the team right?(The days where players like Pele and Rivera made such huge imparts for their teams that their presence alone can spar the team to play their best!)So back...as everyone knows...Rooney scored the winning goal.But he deserves more credit.He played very well and ran like a Kenyan(except that he didn't last as long as those marathon freaks).So overall...Man U deserved the victory.

Chelsea-Liverpool:Ok Chelsea is relatively more safe then Man U as they kept a clean sheet at home.Chelsea played brilliantly at the start and fought on and on and on.Liverpool did not sit back and let Chelsea have their way.But they only showed life after conceding the goal by Cole which was assisted by Drogba.But typical EPL style again.Lots of pot shots from around 30 yards out.Too bad none went into the net.In the end...Chelsea did what they need in pressurizing Pool and deserved to walk out victors.
_________________

Last night AC Milan showed off their effectiveness again, and Kaka displayed that perfectly. You don't need 10 scissor kicks to fool your oponent, truly top players only need 1. If you watched the entire match: as much as Ronaldo stunned everyone with his form this season so far, he was pretty disappointing yesterday. I really enjoyed the match though but I think 2-2 would have been a better result.

Tonight's game was equally enjoyable to watch, it was a very open game with chances for both sides. Especially Liverpool looked as if they were going to dominate the game from the start, but after 5-10mins Chelsea took over. It was nice to see Zenden play leftmidfielder again. The position where he used to be at his best in his early days.
Still I don't think 1-0 will be enough for Chelski, I'd like to see Liverpool play Crouch from the start.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a AC Milan vs Liverpool final again, though Milan vs Chelski would be great too. I'd really hate to see an all england final though

Yeah agreed.An all English final kinds of spoils the mood of the Champions League.Instead of countries supporting the team representing them in the final,it becomes soccer fans within a country supporting their beloved teams.it will become no different from the FA Cup or the Carling Cup.

Ronaldo's enjoying the praise for his pace and tricks,but as you pointed out...Kaka simply need to execute just one trick to bring his team a goal.That's testament that Ronaldo is definitely not the world's best player despite the news report.Kaka is equally fast and is a much simplier player.That kinds of make me assume that EPL fans love to see players doing stepovers and stuff,ignoring whether those players can successfully beat a defender or not.Yeah 2-2 seems fair but Milan has a problem now that their warhorse "Braveheart" Gattuso is out with an injury now.Without him as a destroyer...Milan is in big risk of giving midfield procession to Man U.Pirlo can't do everything,and he's not someone who hacks at your legs every single second.Milan needs a replacement...

Benitez should decide whether he wants his team to play pace or to play slow,direct football.Playing a midfield consisting of Gerrard Mascerano Alonso and Zenden and a duo strikeforce of Bellamy and Kuyt..Benitez is trying to attack with both pace and technique.Kuyt is a great player,hardworking and good with the ball but he does not create a presence.Couch however alone will be more than enough for JT to handle.So put Crouch and Kuyt together.Kuyt will then simply one Chelsea defender to handle.And play Pennent!!!Pennent is on form and very good this season.He does not deserve to start in the bench just because this is the Champions League.
_________________

Yeah, I was wondering why Pennant didn't play from the start. He's like one of the better right/wing midfielders this year.

Can't blame Benitez though, he played more offensively already than he normally would.

ben_galahad wrote:

.Still they managed to salvage two important away goals to capitalise on in second league at their home San Siro.

i think milan got the advantage of these away goals, since they only need a 1- 0 to go to the final...

Terryb wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised to see a AC Milan vs Liverpool final again, though Milan vs Chelski would be great too. I'd really hate to see an all england final though

i really don't want to see Man U vs Chelsea again in the Premier League race, FA cup... now even Champion League you got to be kidding... might as well say that this year is Man U vs Chelsea year..
_________________

kami is "god", kaze for "wind"