Now It Gets Serious....
posted by The Blue Devil @ 10:42 AM
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
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40 Comments:
Hello Bob. I am sorry to say that I will probably not be around , but will try to chip in with a few comments tomorrow when the Gunners take on Bayern, my pick to win the CL.
Hiya, David - no worries. I'll look forward to chatting with you tomorrow.
Here are the teams lining up this afternoon at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy; Toure, Fernandinho; Navas, Silva, Kolarov; Negredo. Subs: Pantilimon, Lescott, Richards, Garcia, Nasri, Jovetic, Dzeko
Barcelona: Valdes; Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba; Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta; Sanchez, Messi, Fábregas. Subs: Pinto, Bartra, Adriano, Song, Sergi Roberto, Pedro, Neymar.
And we're off from Manchester, both sides in their home kits.
Barca employing that strikerless formation that drives me batty. Lots of possession from the Catalan side already. Boring.
PSG have opened the scoring against Leverkusen away. Great start for the French moneybags. Blaise Matuidi with the goal.
I find myself supporting Citeh this afternoon. Both sides are big money teams, but I appreciate the attacking flair of the Manc side.
Citeh fans whistling Barca now because they're boring, passing it about without purpose.
Impossible for Citeh to hang on to possession for more than a few moments.
Ten minutes gone - no chances for either side yet.
Citeh are trying to attack on the break but the passing hasn't been right yet.
Better from Citeh there, most of it going through Yaya Toure, who might just be the key to opening up Barca.
Just a reminder of the CL picks in the PPP group:
* Barca - Matt, Red Dragon,
* Bayern - MUR, Swansong, UWS, WHR
* ManYoo - Yellows
* Real - Blue Devil, Red Devil, Sporting, What's Up Wheaton Simon
First real chance goes to Citeh, Alvaro Negredo rounding Valdez and dinking a shot that goes agonizingly across the box.
Oh - a massive ruck there in the Barca area from the corner, mainly due to the sloppy handling by Valdez.
Still nothing going for Barca going forward. I could definitely see Citeh taking a couple of goals to Barca on this evidence.
Negredo picks up a yellow for a rash tackle back.
Messi's first sight of goal, leaning back on his right peg - well over.
As we reach the half hour mark, Citeh have a slight advantage in terms of shots on goal and real danger.
PSG still 0-1 up in Leverkusen.
Barca still trying to choke the life out of this tie. I assume that they think they'll have the advantage in the Camp Nou if they come back with a 0-0er. That's not necessarily going to be the case with a side as unpredictable as Citeh.
First real attacking move for Barca through Messi and Alves, broken up by an offside call.
Coming down to the last few minutes. I'd like to see Citeh throw caution to the wind in the second half. This tie is there to be won in this fixture tonight, if they're bold. There is absolutely no threat on Joe Hart's goal at present.
Two quick goals from Zlatan and PSG are positively cruising it in Germany tonight. 0-3 up!
Half-time and Citeh will be reasonably satisfied with that first half. They will have no fear that Barca will overwhelm them tonight. They need to make some changes at the 60 minute mark that will give them more firepower up front.
So - Barca get us underway in the second half.
The same pattern as the first half, with lots of useless position by Barca.
There's the big moment of the match. Messi goes over under Martin DiMichaelis' challenge. Red card for the Citeh man and a penalty given. Harsh - I thought it was on the line.
Messi steps up and waits before Hart moves and slips it by him down the middle. Cheeky.
0-1 Barca.
Barca are really lucky there. Navas was fouled by Busquets up the pitch and then turned it around into a scoring opportunity for Messi. Should have been a free kick and red card. Would have been 0-0 and ten men.
The complexion of the match has completely changed now. Really deep climb back for Citeh. They need to score quickly.
The mistake that Manuel Pellegrini made is in not changing things at half-time and waiting and seeing. He should have thrown Nasri and Dzeko on in favor of Fernandinho and Kolarov at that point and gone for the kill. It's probably too late now.
Oh - Nasri had a chance there. And appealed for handball as his shot struck an arm.
Negredo is still too alone up front. He could use a strike partner right about now.
Well worked move through Danny Alves, pull back to Xavi who belted it over the bar side-footed. Chance!
Still twenty minutes left for Citeh to claw their way back into this one.
0-2! Danny Alves steers home Barca's second goal. Great finish!
Barca will get the plaudits for a "masterclass" tonight but it could really have been different if Citeh had set out differently. Only Messi and Alves have been threats and they could have been nullified without sacrificing the attacking edge.
0-2 at the end and a big mountain to climb. I agree with Vincent Kompany's comments that Barca weren't that good. They need to go to Spain with the idea of hitting them fast and getting back in. Citeh need to be more attacking and not just try to rely on breaks.
PSG have run out 0-4 winners and are through to the next round based on that result.
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