[Football] Weekend Fixtures (20-22 Feb)

[Reg]

No Premier League as it's FA Cup weekend (two games on BBC thanks to the magic of the cup). Selected telly games only - full list here amigos. (http://www.live-footballontv.com)

15:00 unless stated.

SATURDAY

Arsenal v Hull - 12:45 BTS2
Reading v West Brom
Watford v Leeds
Bournemouth v Everton - 17:15 BBC1

Cardiff v Brighton - 12:30 SS1
Birmingham P-P Leeds - Postponed
Bolton v QPR
Brentford v Derby
Burnley v Rotherham
Fulham v Charlton
Huddersfield v Wolves
Middlesbrough P-P Reading - Postponed
MK Dons v Bristol City
Preston v Sheff Wed

SUNDAY

Blackburn v West Ham - 14:00 BTS2
Tottenham v Crystal Palace - 15:00
Chelsea v Man City - 16:00 BBC1

B. Leverkusen v Dortmund - 14:30 BTS Europe
Malaga v Real Madrid - 15:00 SS3
Queen of the South v Rangers - 16:00 SS1
Granada v Valencia - 17:15 SS3

MONDAY

Shrewsbury v Man Utd - 19:45 BTS2

Napoli v Milan - 20:00 BTS Europe

[Reg]

An away game on telly for the first time in yonks. We'll be getting out the scarves indoors. :cool:

Also this was good:

The big news is that Wayne Rooney will be offered £500,000 a week to join Shanghai Shenhua in the Chinese Retirement Community. Manchester United will be offered £27m for his services (sic), but will only accept the bid if they switch back from a marketing machine to a football club.

[Samadini]

Team for the game of the day.

#NUFC (4-2-3-1) Darlow; Janmaat, Taylor, Lascelles, Gibson; Saivet, Shelvey (c); Townsend, Wijnaldum, Perez; Doumbia

I've got money on over 3.5 injuries.

[Davgooner]

15 minutes almost isn't enough time to recover from a first half as frantic as that.

[Dquincy]

Sanchez has been misfiring since he came back from injury. Looks shit.

[Toby]

All hail Hull and their eight man defence.

[Dquincy]

Arsenal aren't very good.lols.

[QE Harold Flair]

We were shit but still had 25 shots to 4. We still should have won but our finishing is always lol. Hull will be easier at their place when they actually have to have a shot.

[Davgooner]

You've got to be happy with a midweek trip to Hull.

[Reg]

Well that wasn't enjoyable. Reading this (http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/feb/20/jimmy-bullard-hull-city-extra-15000-wages-week-by-mistake) has brightened up the start to the weekend a little.

[Smiffy]

.....

[QE Harold Flair]

They're saying it may be 60 hours after the Yid game.

[Byron]

Team for the game of the day.

#NUFC (4-2-3-1) Darlow; Janmaat, Taylor, Lascelles, Gibson; Saivet, Shelvey (c); Townsend, Wijnaldum, Perez; Doumbia

I've got money on over 3.5 injuries.

Surely you'll get that from Taylor alone?

[Samadini]

It's Doumbia who looks like he'll never run again.

[Reg]

Was mighty confused about this phantom Newcastle game. Had to check twitter to see it was a friendly - what's that about?

[Samadini]

Well deserved mid season trip to Spain.

[CJay]

The Michael Hector scored the winner this afternoon against West Brom. That's surely as odd a transfer as Papy Djilobodji's was.

[Shindig]

Character-building win, that. Aarons on Wijnaldum scoring.

[John]

701045655603695617

Could probably have put a bit more care into that.

[QE Harold Flair]

Those wrinkles on Moyes :D

[Max Power]

Chris Brunt coined by his own fans. Great scenes :D

[Samadini]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sajx8Y1qsDk

Apparently there were a few choruses of the Adam Johnson chant, when I heard that I hadn't realised there was only about 5 people there. :D/:face:

[Spoonsky]

https://gfycat.com/ComplexIncredibleHogget

:D

[Giggles]

701322225257938945

[SvN]

Amazing.

[Jimmy Floyd]

A most entertaining match currently in progress between Rayo Vallecano and Sevilla. Rayo are always top value not only because they have a club policy of not defending at all ever, but they also manage to field both Bebe and Manucho from the start. Currently 1-2 at 56 minutes.

[Jimmy Floyd]

2-2 now. Bebe with a glorious ball in. He looks genuinely quite good.

[Max Power]

Bebe actually looks alright. Great cross there.

Rayo manager took a defender off for a striker after half an hour (tactical). Fair play to the mad bastard

[John Arne]

https://gfycat.com/ComplexIncredibleHogget

:D

That's great.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That was lovely from Payet.

[Max Power]

Payet best set piece taker in the country surely?

[Reg]

I've no idea about Payet but Willian has scored 5 FKs this season.

[Max Power]

I'm not talking purely direct free kicks. And weren't at least three of those Willian ones overhit crosses?

[Byron]

You will all bow down before the majesty of St. Payet.

Genuinely the best player I've seen in a long, long time in the shirt.

[Bob Sacamano]

https://scontent.fbhx1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-0/p403x403/12745678_10153452666335784_9168634315341873128_n.p ng?oh=c5d64273ff7ccfa43675aebc8385d567&oe=576C0AE2

Chelsea to run riot.

[CJay]

You'd think this will be a fairly one-sided affair. Interested to see what some of these youngsters are like.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CbvyrWsW0AEKmTl.png

[Reg]

I was getting ready to be pissed off after having seen that City lineup, but Chelsea's means it resembles something of a real match.

[Waffdon]

Baba Rahman to run riot again.

Offside, but some header from Ronaldo.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's all we have left in our season, barring a turnaround against PSG in a month's time or whenever it is, we'll obviously have a first choice side out for this. Should win comfortably.

I lolled at Ronaldo missing that penalty.

[Serj]

Leverkusen - Dortmund has been halted by the referee because the Leverkusen manager refused to follow the referee's order to leave the coaching zone and go into the stands. :D

[Manc]

City can get fucked with that line up.

[Waffdon]

This referee :D

[Max Power]

Wasn't even a controversial decision ffs

[Reg]

Seems this might actually turn out to be a hungrier and better City...

[Jimmy Floyd]

I am truly shocked that Pedro has suddenly woken up as March beckons.

[CJay]

I am truly shocked that Pedro has suddenly woken up as March beckons.

What's that in reference to?

[Reg]

Leave Pedro alone, Jim.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's in reference to players from warmer climes always going missing for 4-5 months through the English winter. Florent Malouda used to be the world boss at it.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Jimmy Floyd]

Leave Pedro alone, Jim.

The guy's even going grey ffs.

[Manc]

Fancy Barca to win this by a few.

[John Arne]

Why are half the Chelsea team wearing gimp masks?

[Smiffy]

.....

[Waffdon]

Azpilicueta is a nonce.

[John Arne]

Meanwhile in Germany, during the Dortmund-Leverkusen game, he ref sent off the Leverkusen manager Schmidt, but he refused to leave. So the ref just took everyone off the pitch for 10 minutes until he went to the stands.. Fair play to the ref :)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL8KPy8zLLs

[Jimmy Floyd]

Why are the BBC so determined to portray City as plucky underdogs here? It's their choice to pick a reserve team.

Lazy, ridiculous defending for the equaliser.

[Waffdon]

Willian has been atrocious

[Jimmy Floyd]

Taking too long over that corner before the half time whistle sums up our season. Lazy, unprofessional and completely lacking any sense of purpose.

Gary Lineker actually said 'plucky' of City.

[CJay]

I don't know if plucky is the right word, but it's fair enough to describe the team they have out as underdogs. Choosing to play a weakened team doesn't change that.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Real Madrid now 9 points behind. RIP.

[John Arne]

Poor Adarabioyo can't pass for shit :)

[Waffdon]

I miss Hazard running at people like that. :(

[Lewis]

Why are City even picking a weakened team? Had they won this they would surely have been runaway favourites.

[Waffdon]

Away in the Champions League on Wednesday. Assuming that'd be the reason anyway.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Why are City even picking a weakened team? Had they won this they would surely have been runaway favourites.

They were whingeing about this being on a Sunday with their European game in midweek (it's on a Sunday because Fulham were at home on Saturday and there aren't enough rozzers to do both on one day).

[Toby]

Going to be funny when they get fisted midweek anyway.

[Waffdon]

Has Oscar never not missed a penalty?

[Manc]

Willy stayed nice and big there.

[John Arne]

The commentator on Talksport keeps adding an additional syllable to Caballero's name, which is annoying.

Also, I thought you weren't allowed to stop during penalty run-ups nowadays?

[Kikó]

He made it hard for the ball hitter.

[Waffdon]

I see Loftus-Cheek is back to not get any game time again. So odd.

[Reg]

Caballero isn't really much good, is he?


Why are City even picking a weakened team? Had they won this they would surely have been runaway favourites.
I think the City board prioritise the Champions League. It's what they need to win to get closer to Barcelona, Bayern Munich etc.

[Kikó]

I wonder who Shrewsbury will get in the 6th round?

[ScousePig]

Has Oscar never not missed a penalty?

He'll keep missing hitting across himself like that.

[ScousePig]

Chelsea fans continuing their tradition of being lovely upstanding citizens. West Brom fans condemning their coin thrower, Chelsea fans more concerned with the Man City players for daring to celebrate in front of them.

[Toby]

What happened?

[ScousePig]

Another coin throwing incident, aimed at the City players when they were celebrating their goal. When Marriner went over to pick the coins up you could see a load of Chelsea fans gesturing towards the players.

[phonics]

701470072729161729

So good.

[Lewis]

I think the City board prioritise the Champions League. It's what they need to win to get closer to Barcelona, Bayern Munich etc.

Regardless, I think they can afford to make a decent go of the FA Cup.

[Reg]

Maybe but it was only the 5th round, and they're 6 points behind Leicester - not a big enough gap to bump the Cup up to the second/first priority.

(I agree they could have played a couple more senior players though. They have a good squad.)

[Toby]

It was a protest rather than a footballing decision. I imagine it'll have backfired hugely, since nobody cares enough to alter fixtures next year, they've been embarrassed today, and they'll very likely still lose midweek.

[Reg]

If it was a protest why play Demichellis and Fernando?

[Jimmy Floyd]

It was a protest rather than a footballing decision. I imagine it'll have backfired hugely, since nobody cares enough to alter fixtures next year, they've been embarrassed today, and they'll very likely still lose midweek.

I think Pellegrini/Soriano/whoever makes these decisions thinks they're still in some tinpot country where mountains get moved to accommodate the wishes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Unfortunately for them, a) they are in a proper country where (in this case) the Championship fixture list and plans of supporters therein are not going to be changed at short notice and b) Senator, you're no Barcelona.

[John Arne]

Granada have missed an absolute bucket full of chances so this evening.

Valencia 1-0 up.

[phonics]

a) they are in a proper country where (in this case) the Championship fixture list and plans of supporters therein are not going to be changed at short notice .

lol

[Waffdon]

Someone find a link for that Dzeko miss. :D

[Smiffy]

.....

[Weaver]

Someone find a link for that Dzeko miss. :D

Here we go:
701501477391433728

[Toby]

Scored two minutes later to be fair to him.

[Max Power]

Decent goal from Salah as well. Shades of Kanu at Stamford Bridge

[Jimmy Floyd]

Barcelona now 8 points clear of Atletico and 9 of Real Madrid. Title over.

Top four is also over so it's over to the typical 8 team relegation battle to provide the rest of the La Liga excitement for the year. Suspect Las Palmas won't have enough, but Levante looked tasty as anything on Friday night. I'd quite like to see most of them stay up, bar the pointless Granada.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Reg]

I was thinking Valencia tackling 6th as Neville proves the haters wrong.
I thought you were one of those "haters" about two weeks ago?

[Smiffy]

.....

[Giggles]

The search works fine as far as I've ever seen.

[Samadini]

Coloccini is out for a month.

2 fit defenders left and Steven Taylor.

[Jimmy Floyd]

7th will likely be enough for the Europa League, but Valencia are too shit to do that. Still got to play all of the big three, which is 1 point maximum, and then add in all the European fixture congestion.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Shindig]

Coloccini is out for a month.

2 fit defenders left and Steven Taylor.

Amazing. Paul Huntington and Peter Ramage are on the phone.

[Reg]

I don't detect the hate, Reg.
Fair play, Smiff. I was clearly misremembering.

[Pen]

I read that Villa lost to their U21-team 3-0 in a 'friendly' today. Surely that can't be true or there's something more to it.

[Weaver]

Romero; Varela, Smalling, Blind, Borthwick-Jackson; Herrera, Schneiderlin; Lingard, Mata, Depay; Martial.

A loss here and Van Gaal's finished, IMO.

[Disco]

If they were going to get rid of him before the end of the season surely they'd have done it by now.

[Kikó]

Loooouis van Gaal aaaaarmy

[Reg]

Good time to have fourth and fifth ish choice full backs on, with Shrewsbury 5-3-2.

Memphis isn't very good.

[randomlegend]

Depay has been out of the first team so long he's forgotten he plays football rather than rugby.

[Kikó]

Big rugby league fan.

[Pen]

Any decent streams? I can only find utter shit ones from Reddit atm.

[randomlegend]

http://freefootylive.net/jw/

[Pen]

Thank you :thbup:

[CJay]

This is incredibly dull. Shrewsbury look awful in possession.

[CJay]

That free kick neatly sums up United's current situation, I think. :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

701862195773235200

Darmian can't afford BT.

[randomlegend]

G'warn Mike.

[Kikó]

Top notch.

[Reg]

A stunning half of football. United are BACK.

[randomlegend]

2-0, but we've been so turgid I'm not sure it even Matas.

[randomlegend]

What am I even doing with my life.

[Reg]

2-0, but we've been so turgid I'm not sure it even Matas.
That joke goes straight into the Small of Fame.

It's been Varela of a half.

[Kikó]

United are back hello!

[randomlegend]

I can't even work the Varela pun out.

[Reg]

I can't even work the Varela pun out.
"It's been a hell of a half."

:gs:

[randomlegend]

The person saying it has had a stroke presumably?

[Reg]

The person saying it has had a stroke presumably?
That or a Blind man typed it.

[Ian]

Your jokes are Riley bad, guys.

[randomlegend]

Schneiderlin off Ian, you cunt.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

We're running riot.

That was lovely by little Ander.

[randomlegend]

There's got to be something we're doing wrong to be getting all these injuries.

[simon]

We're running riot.

That was lovely by little Ander.

That's not a pun.

[randomlegend]

I'll eat a pube sandwich if anyone can do a passable 'Borthwick-Jackson'-based pun.

[Jimmy Floyd]

A man walks into a bar.

'Is that the Prime Minister over there?' he asks the barman.

'Yes,' says the barman, 'he's always sitting at that table reading the phone book aloud with a candle in front of him. Tonight, though, he's juggling pork scratchings right in front of the TV, I wish he'd go back to his usual hobby so I can see the football. Did you know Wilshere's signed for United?'

'Yes,' says the man. 'Look, he's just coming on as a sub, replacing their young full back. Cameron, bore the wick, Jack's on.'

[Reg]

:D

[randomlegend]

I don't understand what "bore the wick" is meant to mean.

[Toby]

I don't understand what "bore the wick" is meant to mean.

Read the phone book for fun, do you?

[randomlegend]

Oh, lol, that's quite a setup.

[Toby]

So are you going to eat the pube sandwich or are you going to do a Taz?

[mugbull]

That was the dumbest joke I've ever heard.

[randomlegend]

So are you going to eat the pube sandwich or are you going to do a Taz?

It's a good effort but a convoluted setup like that's clearly not in the spirit.

[Toby]

It's in better spirits than backing out of a promise. :nono:

[QE Harold Flair]

Mertesacker against Barcelona should be a laugh. We're going to be brutally exposed.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I suppose Suarez pulling down an opponent's pants on the field would be the next logical step for him.

Arsenal really need to win the league this year to get into pot 1 and therefore have a chance of ending this last 16 exit cycle, although saying that the likes of Real Madrid will be in pot 2 in all likelihood.

[Giggles]

Graeme Souness is on TV3 with a serious dose of the tango about him.

[Jeet]

Ox starts.....

[John]

Ninety one goals between the Barcelona front three so far this season. Stats involving Messi should have stopped being surprising ages ago, yet that still sounds bonkers.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Bayern's defence looks interesting tonight.

[Waffdon]

Average height is 5ft 7. Lol. Mandzukic is going to have a field day.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

He would if he wasn't a donkey.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Ninety one goals between the Barcelona front three so far this season. Stats involving Messi should have stopped being surprising ages ago, yet that still sounds bonkers.

And yet Real Madrid, nine points behind, have scored more than Barcelona (in the league, at least). The kings of flat track bullying, that stone cold classic double figures effort against Rayo being the best.

[CJay]

Bayern's defence has an average height of 5ft7in tonight. :cab:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The Bayern/Juventus match is on BT freebie tonight btw.

[Magic]

Two cracking games tonight, lads.

[Reg]

Pretty psyched for this. Think Barca 2-1.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The size difference between Mertesacker and Iniesta :D

[Magic]

Looks a strong Arsenal team.

[Magic]

Also am I fuck listening to us get raped by Fulham.

[Giggles]

Didn't realise Juve and Bayern were even playing each other. Happy days.

[Magic]

Is Terstegen still donning it in cup competitions only?

[Giggles]

Juventus look rank.

EDIT: What the fuck was Muller at there?

[CJay]

Arsenal are doing a fine job of restricting Barca's front 3 to scraps. The Emirates seethe is strong so far.

[Reg]

How has Wenger got his coat on? They've only played 29 minutes.

[Magic]

Two boring games tonight, lads.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I keep switching every 5 minutes or so.

Both are dull as fuck.

[Reg]

Ox isn't right but I'm not sure why that's hurt him so much.

Agree with CJ. Makes for a relatively dull game but Arse are doing very well.

[Magic]

Toby finding this simply riveting.

[Giggles]

I'm not finding this one too bad and can only improve if Juventus stop being rubbish.

[Giggles]

Well that's been coming.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I fucking love Thomas Mueller.

[Magic]

Boring Diregreaves is almost as bad Shitechal Boring.

[Toby]

Toby finding this simply riveting.

This joke again? What did it even stem from?

[Jeet]

And the 1st half shows why I think Ox should be nowhere near the Arsenal team.

Add him to the Eboue, Denilson and Bendnter list of players

[Dquincy]

I've figured out how to get BT Sport app to work on Apple TV. Just in case anyone else was having issues.

[Davgooner]

And the 1st half shows why I think Ox should be nowhere near the Arsenal team.

Add him to the Eboue, Denilson and Bendnter list of players

There's criticism and then there's comparing him to that shower. Have a look at yourself.

[Jeet]

There's criticism and then there's comparing him to that shower. Have a look at yourself.

Have a look at Ox.

[Reg]

Just because he missed one chance, Jeet?

[Magic]

This joke again? What did it even stem from?

:D

Is this the lack of creativity that's been mentioned in the other thread? :(

[Jeet]

Been saying it all season.

[Waffdon]

In before Giroud scores.

[Magic]

Bet you 100% Giroud would have been sent off for that if the roles were reversed.

[Giggles]

Fucking hell that was far too easy. Shambolic at the back. That's the tie.

[CJay]

Ramsey's having a terrible game.

[Giggles]

Looks a far better finish in the later replays in fairness.

[Magic]

Cheating separatist terrorist cunts.

FUCK OFF VIRGIN TV ANYWHERE. Buffer buffer buffer.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Juventus are shit.

[Magic]

Lol and is 2 minutes behind. Has someone scored?

[Toby]

I thought on Sunday that it was City drawn against Barcelona this week. That they're playing Dynamo Kiev makes their team selection even more plebbish.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Game on.

Kimmich was a mess but a nice finish from Dybala.

[Giggles]

That was a lovely goal there, though more shit defending. Bit of life back in it at least.

[The Merse]

Enjoying this a little more than I thought I would. Not a great game perhaps, but fascinating nonetheless.

[Magic]

Giroud. :D

He's a proper bottling cunt against decent teams.

[Waffdon]

Ronaldo 'wid have donned these fuckers.

[Magic]

Awesome. :drool:

[Reg]

Clinical. Very good goal.

[Waffdon]

I knew it would work. VAMOS VAMOS VAMOS

[Giggles]

Switched over to the Arsenal game for a few minutes and near slipped into a coma. Have they had that double bank of four that deep all night?

[Giggles]

That's the fucking stuff. Juve :cool:

[Lee]

Made the right choice picking the Juve-Bayern game. :cool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Shit, we really do have a game on.

Juventus looked dead at 0-0, going 2 down has woken them up.

[Waffdon]

Jesus fuck. Suarez and Neymar's composure tonight has been utterly horrendous.

[The Merse]

Switched over to the Arsenal game for a few minutes and near slipped into a coma. Have they had that double bank of four that deep all night?

Nope. 4 or 5 decent chances actually but very organised obviously.

[Magic]

Flamini. :D

First touch = giving away a pen.

[The Merse]

Fucking Flamini. :face:

[Reg]

I really like that touch on the studs from Messi to kill the ball, for the first goal. Not something many players would do. Did it again while winning the pen.

[CJay]

Yeah that touch is :drool: worthy for sure

[Dquincy]

Danny Alves loves exaggerating an injury doesn't he.

[Multi]

Arsenal have been better than I expected, they were in this game you have to feel. For sure a better team this season.

[Magic]

Were they?

[QE Harold Flair]

Giroud and Ramsey fucked everything up and Chamberlain is worse at finishing than me.

[Reg]

They created more in the first half. The Ox chance was the best by far.

[Magic]

Never even got out of first gear. Wenger set them up to frustrate and stop them scoring. Shite. Could be 6 on aggregate at least as they'll actually have to make an attempt to play football.

[Davgooner]

Shsme that, as we'd had the better of it until they scored. Having kept it tight the whole game a few too many got giddy and left us wide open for their first.

Watch the media build up our chances for the return.

[Jeet]

Glad to see we learnt from the Monaco goal last year. :face: Replica goal.

Won £350 so :D

[Reg]

Never even got out of first gear. Wenger set them up to frustrate and stop them scoring. Shite. Could be 6 on aggregate at least as they'll actually have to make an attempt to play football.
Didn't have you down as a purist. Going toe to toe with the team who has arguably the greatest attack ever would be a bold move.

[Magic]

Didn't have you down as a purist. Going toe to toe with the team who has arguably the greatest attack ever would be a bold move.

As opposed to, at home, setting yourself up to sneak a goal and let the away team have nearly 8 times as many passes and 70odd% possession? Then you end up conceding two anyway?

[Giggles]

The simple fact is that Barcelona were always winning this anyway so it sounds like it's just been a matter of limiting by how much.

[Magic]

Well no, their defence is shite so if Arsenal had a better striker and a faster CB they could have played a higher line and brought the pressure. Even still I'm disappointed they didn't take the game to them. You can't just sit back and expect to score and not concede against that three.

[Reg]

"You can't just sit back."

To get up the pitch, first you have to get the ball. Much tougher than you're making out. They actually defended higher up than most teams manage to, and in the first half restricted the chances and actually created the better chances themselves.

They got beaten by an excellent goal and one mistake. Their tactics weren't the problem, Barcelona being Barcelona was the problem.

[QE Harold Flair]

Magic has it all sussed out. And he never changes his opinions either, so you fucking listen.

[Magic]

"You can't just sit back."

To get up the pitch, first you have to get the ball. Much tougher than you're making out. They actually defended higher up than most teams manage to, and in the first half restricted the chances and actually created the better chances themselves.

They got beaten by an excellent goal and one mistake. Their tactics weren't the problem, Barcelona being Barcelona was the problem.

They did a bit of both without the conviction of either. It was always going to end this way. And they could have had a third at the end.

[Magic]

Fuck SAKE can mods restore my post? Fucking delete button.

Also Suarez could have had a fourth.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Sitting deep and letting them wank themselves off to no avail is the only way to deal with Barcelona, although it's more difficult these days as they are a lot less one-dimensional than they used to be.

Nobody even bothers against them in La Liga. Real Madrid have too much of an ego, as a club, not to attack (hence they get humped constantly in the clasicos) and some of the performances that even decent top eight clubs give are an absolute shambles.

[CJay]

All the talk beforehand from likes of Sid Lowe was that this Barca side struggle more when teams press them hard and high.

[Reg]

All the talk beforehand from likes of Sid Lowe was that this Barca side struggle more when teams press them hard and high.
Haha, forgot I heard that on Football Weekly. Then Pique goes and lobs an Arsenal player, ten yards from the corner flag.

[Yevrah]

As much as I'd love to stick the boot into Arsenal, Barca have, by an absolute mile, the better set of players, which effectively makes it men against boys and in that regard 2-0 isn't a disgrace.

Wenger's gone as far as he can though, that much is abundantly clear. He's basically delivering 'par' now. Get his replacement right and you can kick on, get it wrong and, well, we all know what happens in that event.

[Jimmy Floyd]

All the talk beforehand from likes of Sid Lowe was that this Barca side struggle more when teams press them hard and high.

He was also using a game they won 6-1 as an example of that. It might lead to more awkward passages of play for them at times but in terms of knocking them out of Europe over two legs, the only teams that have done it in recent years are the ones sitting back with immense discipline and then being ruthless on the break. Very few teams are actually good at defending anymore - but you saw Juve give them a decent game in the final.

[phonics]

Thought Arsenal played well but didn't take their chances. Losing by 2 off a stupid pen is proper :facepalm: stuff though.

[Yevrah]

Thought Arsenal played well but didn't take their chances. Losing by 2 off a stupid pen is proper :facepalm: stuff though.

There's absolutely no way a Wenger side beats this Barca one over two legs, I'd give an Allardyce relegation bound one more chance.

[Lewis]

Arsenal will win the next leg 2-1 and secure Wenger another ten years.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I'd pay so much money to see Big Sam come up against Neymar. He could get The Laugh out of the cupboard and everything.

[Yevrah]

Arsenal will win the next leg 2-1 and secure Wenger another ten years.

It wouldn't surprise me, but we all know the score. If he doesn't win the league this year then 'come now, there's little hope of him being what he once was' moves to 'ok, there's absolutely no hope that's going to happen'.

[Lewis]

Or they write Leicester off as a freak (which it is), blame injuries, and hope for a title next year after he signs a striker and a defender and...

[Yevrah]

Or they write Leicester off as a freak (which it is), blame injuries, and hope for a title next year after he signs a striker and a defender and...

I know you're in my camp anyway, but Leicester would be a freak if they hit 90+ points. They'll be nowhere near that.

[Spoonsky]

Arsenal got overexcited about the fact that they were outplaying Barcelona for a second and got punished for it. At the same time, they definitely could've scored in that spell, and lol at Giroud's little pass to no-one. It's like Barcelona's reluctance to shoot is contagious.

Disappointing result though, an Arsenal victory would've set the second leg up nicely.

[Vim]

Really hard to find a team that has the heart to fight back from 2-0 down against this Bayern. Conceding two goals at home means that we'll have to win in Munich, which is hard but stranger things have happened. The way we'd usually go about this is sit back and hold 0-0 and hope we find the 1-0 along the way, but that's what we did in the first half today and it really does not work against Bayern.

[Davgooner]

Have a look at Ox.

I thought he was pretty decent. The touch that led to him getting injured was turd, but when he went off we lost something as Walcott hasn't got a fucking clue what to do defensively.

[phonics]

There's absolutely no way a Wenger side beats this Barca one over two legs

There's absolutely no way 99% of any sides beat this Barca one over two legs, they're one of the 3 best sides in the world, what's your point?

Ah yes, Sam 'P30 W5 L18 D7' Allardyce is a far superior manager.

Walcott needs to get out of the club. Wellbeck could contribute more on one leg.

[Reg]

Looks like Conte will be the next Chelsea manager. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/feb/24/chelsea-contract-talks-antonio-conte

[Jimmy Floyd]

A lot keener on that than Simeone. No idea why it's a cast iron rule that we go for a huge foreign name though.

[Byron]

I suppose the answer to that would be that I can't think of a British manager that would be good enough for Chelsea. Not be flippant, but I genuinely can't think of one, given the likes of Coyle, Monk and Moyes have all struggled to fulfil their destinies as 'chosen ones'

[Jimmy Floyd]

Indeed but this would be a 14th consecutive foreign appointment for us since Hoddle and at least half of those have been completely hopeless.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35649272

Heh.

[Sam]

Speaking of cockups, Iniesta's barnet last night was a laugh.

[Giggles]

Was this Kiev stadium not supposed to be empty?

[Giggles]

Nobody watching either of these? Did Arsenal put everyone off football last night?

[Reg]

Neither really grabbed me and football every night is overload. I might be in to watch United tomorrow so 3 weekday games is more than enough.

[Giggles]

In fairness, it's fucking horrendous.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I was watching the PSV/Atletico match, the first half wasn't too bad considering there were hardly any chances. Second half has been trash, I switched on to the City game after Kiev got a goal back but it's not been much better.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Toure :harold:

That was on a plate.

[Lewis]

Neither really grabbed me and football every night is overload. I might be in to watch United tomorrow so 3 weekday games is more than enough.

Are you alright, mate?

[Kikó]

If Reg is bored of football then we are in all sorts of problems.

[Giggles]

Nice finish that.