2013 UEFA Champions League

[Locke]

Game day. Real Madrid vs. City.

[nemanja2306]

Wow, what a crazy second half in Madrid. And what an amazing goal by Kolarov...

[polak]

Woo Lewandowski scores in the 87th minute to give Dortmund the 1-0 win

[Locke]

Match lived up to its billing. Took a good 80 or so minutes though.

City's defence might need to take a pay cut after that showing....

[nemanja2306]

IMO, Mancini is the one who should be taking a paycut. A 100% paycut.

[cam_wmh]

My bad, should've wrote my CL, United conjecture in here.

That said, wow Mancini.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...ticism?cc=5901

[cam_wmh]

As much as I despise City, they were up on Real at the Bernebeau for the majority of the game, and lost during stoppage time.

United is barely skinning by a Turkish side at home, and have conceded 2 posts. This team needs to gel soon.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

My bad, should've wrote my CL, United conjecture in here.

That said, wow Mancini.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...ticism?cc=5901

I dont know how you can fault Mancini, hes right. Joe Hart was immense in that game up until he let in two really bad goals at the very end to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and Mancini is right again, the manager is the judge, not the goalkeeper.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by Locke

I dont know how you can fault Mancini, hes right. Joe Hart was immense in that game up until he let in two really bad goals at the very end to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and Mancini is right again, the manager is the judge, not the goalkeeper.

Hardly.

Joe's asked for his opinion on what happened, he said it like he saw it. Your bud, Mancini, parks 5 back, and he gets exposed for it.
(why do you have such an affection for him anyway, is it a cultural thing with LFC and an affinity for crap managers? )

It ultimately hangs on Kompany though. WTF was he doing?If he half wittingly challenges Ronaldo, he takes that shot away. Instead he parks himself in front of Hart, takes away a good portion of his eye-line, ducks just as the shot were to hit him, and leaves Hart hanging.

Then to further the trolling, the 2nd goal was his fault? You see the heel lift on Benzema, and how fast he turns and lets that shot go? Did you see Hart earlier in the game on his low left side parry? Unreal save then. Not a chance that second is his fault.

[SuperMatt18]

Barca once again pass the ball around all game, go down 2-1, then Messi scores twice to ensure they win.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Hardly.

Joe's asked for his opinion on what happened, he said it like he saw it. Your bud, Mancini, parks 5 back, and he gets exposed for it.
(why do you have such an affection for him anyway, is it a cultural thing with LFC and an affinity for crap managers? )

It ultimately hangs on Kompany though. WTF was he doing?If he half wittingly challenges Ronaldo, he takes that shot away. Instead he parks himself in front of Hart, takes away a good portion of his eye-line, ducks just as the shot were to hit him, and leaves Hart hanging.

Then to further the trolling, the 2nd goal was his fault? You see the heel lift on Benzema, and how fast he turns and lets that shot go? Did you see Hart earlier in the game on his low left side parry? Unreal save then. Not a chance that second is his fault.

First of all, I have no love for Mancini, I think hes an arrogant moron and his team formation against Real Madrid was asinine. That said, hes still the manager.

Say what you want, and Kompany was very much at fault for exposing Hart, but I think Hart could have done better on those two goals. He had a great game prior to that and maybe its not all on him, but he certainly played his part.

He was asked his opinion and he should have given it like most pros do;

"We played well, lost our focus at the end there and we'll improve on the home leg."

Standard stuff man. Then again, it must be a cultural thing for MUFC fans to be cluelessly ignorant and arrogant.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by Locke

First of all, I have no love for Mancini, I think hes an arrogant moron

Kenny Dalglish.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by Locke

First of all, I have no love for Mancini, I think hes an arrogant moron and his team formation against Real Madrid was asinine. That said, hes still the manager.

Say what you want, and Kompany was very much at fault for exposing Hart, but I think Hart could have done better on those two goals. He had a great game prior to that and maybe its not all on him, but he certainly played his part.

"I think he should have done better" or "played his part"
What does that mean? He had no chance. Ronaldo should've been doubled with Mancini putting more players behind the ball. The goal befalls Kompany who was standing around like a stool-pigeon, and took his keeper out of the play. Watch it again. Hart doesn't react until the ball is just passing Kompany. Far too late. Screened.

As I already mentioned the Benzema goal was a very fast play. No keeper saves that. Banger play, hammer shot. Compare again, to Hart's save in the same place against Ronaldo early in the first half. BRILLIANT save. Then he does it all over again 10 minutes later!

Hart was the better keeper on the pitch. How about the first goal on Casillas? Wrong-way!

Originally Posted by Locke

He was asked his opinion and he should have given it like most pros do;
"We played well, lost our focus at the end there and we'll improve on the home leg."

You mean something like this?

Originally Posted by Joe Hart

You can’t go 2-1 up with five minutes to go and lose the game. We can only blame ourselves.”

Thats it! That is par for the course in sports. Over-reacting to that quote is akin to an overprotective think-of-the-children soccer mom. Heck our own Jarome, says derivatives of that.

Originally Posted by Mancini

I agree but I think Joe Hart should do his job. I can criticise the team not Joe Hart. Joe Hart should stay as goalie. I am the judge, not Joe Hart.

Doesn't he sound like a treat.

Originally Posted by Locke

Standard stuff man. Then again, it must be a cultural thing for MUFC fans to be cluelessly ignorant and arrogant.

Standard stuff? I suppose when your team is getting wiped all over the place, you'd put a gag order on your team.. but when you're one of the top 3 spenders on the planet, saying "we should not fall apart after leading 2-1 in the final minutes", is the furthest side of mutiny as you can get.

Arrogant? It's an insult for the insecure.
Ignorant? I broke down why the goals weren't his fault with fact, and why what he said is fair play. If countering with legitimate facts & reason is ignorant, you'll have to teach me your rules.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Bagor

Kenny Dalglish.

one has won a LOT more than the other

[cam_wmh]

Mancini being criticized, surprising...

http://gulfnews.com/sport/football/m...hart-1.1078946

Hart had not criticised an individual team-mate. He had not criticised the manager. He had simply expressed his dissatisfaction in an entirely proper way, incorporating a gracious apology to the supporters both in the ground and at home. Mancini’s waspish reaction made you wonder if there was more to the exchange than met the eye.

And, of course, there was Hart, who produced world-class saves to stop Ronaldo giving his team a two-goal lead in the first dozen minutes. He could do nothing about Real’s first two goals. Mancini can shoulder whatever blame is going for those, with some questionable defensive selections and alignments, but he will want a conversation with Kompany about the way Ronaldo’s shot was allowed to enter the net.

[cam_wmh]

If I could get the O.P to rename the thread "Europa Qualifying", might get Locke back in here to reply.

[united]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

one has won a LOT more than the other

Have you been watching ESPN Classic? What has Kenny done in the 21st Century? Tough to compare what someone did 25 years ago with what someone is doing now.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

If I could get the O.P to rename the thread "Europa Qualifying", might get Locke back in here to reply.

You believe he had no chance and was fine in his comments and thats great, I stated what I meant to state and have nothing to add. I'll concede looking at the replay that Hart was hung out to dry on the last goal because Kompany inexplicably ducked at the last second.

I wont argue that Hart was the better goalie on the night, he was incredible early in the match, City could have been slaughtered practically straight off the start if not for Hart.

Is Mancini out to lunch for not wanting his players to to criticize one another? Thats up to him because the buck stops with him and hes the one shouldering a massive amount of the pressure. Was Hart really criticizing his teammates? I dont know, but the whole thing smacks of a manager under some serious pressure and makes you wonder if theres more than meets the eye going on here.

As for Dalglish being an arrogant moron, well there were times where he was arrogant where he shouldnt have been, theres no denying that. I wish he'd been a little more humble and focused more on his own team.

[d_phaneuf]

I hate this highbury camera angle

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by united

Have you been watching ESPN Classic? What has Kenny done in the 21st Century? Tough to compare what someone did 25 years ago with what someone is doing now.

I had actually forgotten how much until I listened to the football ramble this week and heard the profile

it's an extremely impressive list