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***Official Soccer Discussion Thread*** (9 Viewers)

'Good said:
'CletiusMaximus said:
'Good said:
'Christo said:
'Good said:
'CletiusMaximus said:
'jonessed said:
#### me. I don't want to have to watch this crap soccer again.
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I've never seen a better game. I doubt any of us have ever seen a left back play as well as Ashley Cole did against Barca over 180 minutes. Lampard, Cech and Ramires were the best players on the field again today as they were in the first game. I do agree that Cesc and Sanchez were crap and Xavi was invisible over both legs. Messi is still looking for his first ever goal against Chelsea and Pep his first ever win. I was disappointed that they seemed to completely run out of ideas with 30 minutes to play, although it did make for an exciting finish until Torres finally broke through for the inevitable counter goal.
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What would you suggest?
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Perhaps trying to take a shot from farther out than 8 yards.
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So from 20-30 yards?
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They were still getting some good looks until the very end, so its hard to say what they might have done. I just think the endless tiki-taka around the box, with no intensity or urgency and this constant air of arrogance they have would have driven me crazy if I were a Barca fan. Its like they expect goals to drop from the sky into the net if they string together enough one-touch passes. I guess that has been Barca's experience against most teams. Maybe they could dump it in once in a while and see what happens, try a few long crosses into the box or drop Messi back a bit and try to give him some room to run or at least draw the defense out a bit.
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What air of arrogance? The entire Chelsea team was dropped back into the box. If there's no lane to shoot, there's no lane to shoot, I don't see the sense in getting Englandy about it and firing a uselesss blast twenty rows up. Messi had a nice opp. in the 2H that hit the post that was from distance. But that's how they play: control possession, and wait for an opportunity, which will eventually present itself if you control possession long enough. It's worked pretty well overall. If you don't think they had any intensity or urgency, I'm not sure which game you were watching. The stakes were well-known. They did their best to try and score, but they're not a team that's built to Stoke it up and lob in innumerate crosses over and over. They're small. They thrive on passing around and through a defense. Just like Chelsea would be useless in a wide-open game against a team like Barcelona, Barcelona is not made to score when 3/4's of the field is conceded to them. No team can do everything.

I think their real undoing occurred this summer, when they eschewed getting any help for their backline. Worse than scoring only two goals over 180 minutes is giving up two (I won't count Torres' goal, as Barca was pushed so far up in desperation to score) having conceded so little possession. Pique's been pretty bad this year even before he got knocked out of this game (Pep was wise to get him out of there, he was not right), Puyol is old, Alves is basically a forward at this point, Abidal's gone, Adriano's OK, Montoya is out for the year with an injury, and there's only so much Mascherano can do. Cesc and Alexis allowed them to weather the injuries to Villa and Affelay, but I think they would've ultimately been better off if they'd foregone one of them in lieu of defensive help. There are a lot of things about this iteration of Barca that are improvements on the last one (Thiago, Cuenca, Alexis most of the time), but they weren't enough to make up for the dips in form of Pique especially, and other players to a lesser degree.

FWIW, I thought the handball before Torres' goal should've been called, but Cesc also got away with a dive to draw that penalty, so I suppose they even out. Terry's card was obviously deserved. I don't think the refs were unfair, but I also think the "UEFAlona"-related claims are just as silly.

Barca supporters have nothing to cry about. They've won the most prestigious club competition in the world two of the last four years, and reached the semis in the other two. They've also won one of toughest leagues 3 out of the last 4. They're a team with a lot of money (even with the past administration's financial misdeeds) and a loaded youth system. They got caught by a decent team in good form that plays a style that's tough for Barca to handle. #### happens. :shrug:
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:goodposting: Pretty interesting that this game started off with a similar incidental handball in the box that was actually given.

 
'The Z Machine said:
'B Maverick said:
Stats: Cristiano Ronaldo now has 56 goals in 51 games this season.
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Everyone thought that Messi was a shoe-in for the Golden Ball. I'm not so sure.
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Ronaldo will probably win it if he wins the CL and/or keeps it up with Portgual. Messi has 63 in 55 so it will be close. We are really lucky to get to watch two of the greatest n their prime with hopefully more to come. CR has had some amazing goals this year.
 
U.S. SOCCER (@ussoccer)

4/25/12 4:04 PM

Congratulations to #USMNT defender Timmy Chandler, who signed a two-year contract extension with Nurnberg.

 
'Major said:
I'm convinced Robben is one part man, one part of amphibian....Whatever team advances will crush Chelsea.
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Neither one of these teams are as one-dimensional offensively as Barca so they have that in their favor. Chelsea could just clog the middle with Barca, but both RM and BM have presence in the air that would force Chelsea to stretch the defense wide.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Are you ####### kidding me. Bayern had a 2 goal lead and they just pissed it away. Amazing.....

AND RAMOS JUST SHANKS IT. ARE YOU KIDDING ME :wall: :wall: :wall:

 
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