I think some little-known team called Manchester United might also have a game today?

czetie: I think some little-known team called Manchester United might also have a game today?

Yep, Hopefully this match goes better than the last. Not that a 2-0 win is a bad thing but they looked weak.

I expect Bayern to come away with some points. Mario Gomez has been in great form recently.

Hala Madrid!

My baby takes the morning train!


Link (new window)

Pope Larry II: czetie: I think some little-known team called Manchester United might also have a game today?

There is a second Manchester team now?

I'm sorry, we can't hear you over the sound of all these trophies.

Zzzz. Sorry, I just woke up from the Arsenal/Marseille match. What day is today?

czetie: I'm sorry, we can't hear you over the sound of all these trophies.

You're bragging about trophies to someone who ended their post with "Go Ajax"?

/No tv for me today, but 5 Live Radio seems like it will suffice :)

Gomez is the cherry on top of a well-oiled machine that is Bayern. I've been a hockey fan all my life, but I think I've done well in choosing a football team to follow.

(Having a Bavarian soccer-nut girlfriend helped a bit too)

I came here to say that Real Madrid is playing incredible entertaining football, it's a great match to watch!
/subby forgets about United and really gets it.

Cajnik
"Mario Gomez's goal means he has now found the net 11 times in his last ten UEFA Champions League appearances."

Which one? He just scored a hattrick in the first half. ;)

HaywoodJablonski: Zzzz. Sorry, I just woke up from the Arsenal/Marseille match. What day is today?

Match day 4

Cajnik: The Voice of Doom: Which one? He just scored a hattrick in the first half. ;)

Yeah, I see that. I saw this quote after the first goal. So he's at 13 in 10 games.

Napoli just put one back and quieted the home crowd before half

i hope i can see this match later, we have rain here, so Im inside-working

Cajnik: Anyone watching the United game? Why isn't it 3-0 at half since they're at Old Trafford

Sounds like they're practically sleepwalking based on the radio commentary. Fortunately, the Romanians aren't terribly good so it shouldn't really hurt their chances...

farking diver

Cajnik: KaisertheCoyote: I expect Bayern to come away with some points. Mario Gomez has been in great form recently.

"Mario Gomez's goal means he has now found the net 11 times in his last ten UEFA Champions League appearances."

Damn, I need to add him to my fantasy team

As someone already said, he bagged a hat trick. Seriously, Gomez is one of the best strikers in Europe today. He does amazing with the German National Team too.

expobill: I came here to say that Real Madrid is playing incredible entertaining football, it's a great match to watch!
/subby forgets about United and really gets it.

It was alot of fun, I was switching between and online stream of the Bayern game and Real Madrid. Madrid has gotten some really good chemistry recently.

Bayern losing Schweinsteiger is gonna suck.

christhebloke: Bayern losing Schweinsteiger is gonna suck.

In other news, "schweinsteiger" is fun to say out loud

/Try it

Pope Larry II: czetie: I think some little-known team called Manchester United might also have a game today?

There is a second Manchester team now?

Go Ajax!

Yes there is, the brave and brilliant FC United of Manchester (new window)



Best club in England, bar none!

...and there goes Michael Owen after 10 minutes.

I'm beginning to wonder if Owen Hargreaves is right about there being something wrong with the United training staff. Way too many players out with repeated niggling injuries.

One thing seems increasingly obvious: United need a player who can run at the opposition with the ball at his feet, like Silva or Messi do. The passing was good, especially Rooney, but it doesn't disrupt the opposition's formation. Nani can't do it: he can run, or he can stand in front of a defender (or two) tapping the ball from side to side, but he can't run and dribble at the same time. Giggs can do it, but only in bursts before he needs a sit-down and a cup of tea. Evra thinks he can do it, but he can't really.

Oh, and never, ever play Berbatov and Hernandez at the same time. They are both looking for the same balls in the same spaces.

TonnageVT: really? you're basing this off of Owen and Hargraeves? The two most injury prone players??

No, I'm basing this off of Fabio, Rafael, Vidic, Ferdinand, Cleverly, Young, Smalling, Giggs, Bebe, Macheda, Gibson, et al. being currently injured or recently returned from injury. (At the end of September you could have added Carrick, Rooney and Hernandez to that list). Last week, United's injury list was 7, compared to 4 each at Chelsea and Arsenal, and just 1 at Man City.

Quantity aside, it's the pattern that troubles me most. It seems like a lot of players pick up niggling minor injuries, come back in, then go out again with another injury. And I'm talking about young players like Cleverly and Smalling, not crocks like Michael Owen, who could pull a hamstring sneezing too hard. And Fabio seems to have spent more time injured than available. It really does make me wonder about how United is rehabbing injured players.

Is it the same everywhere and I just don't notice because I don't follow the others as closely?

At this point I was going to make a point about Owen Hargreaves magically becoming fit almost as soon as he left United, but luckily for me I noticed that the 1 injury at Man City is, ironically, Hargreaves (hamstring)...

TonnageVT: Rooney played great in the attacking midfield role. It was too bad Berbatov decided that his hurt feelings would come back to hinder any sort of eagerness to make plays. Anderson is just not having the year we all thought he would. He looked great the first few games, and then just fell off. Evans is a complete knob.

Given the number of strikers available and the dearth of creative midfielders, I'd be happy to see Rooney continue to play that role.

And yes, Evans is a complete knob. As somebody put it last week "you always feel like he's got a big mistake in him". It's a mystery to me what Sir Alex sees in him.