English Premier League

Originally Posted by dauls

Unfortunately that usually gets a fan ejected by the fuzz.

No need to throw money at the players - the club have been doing that for years. That's one of the reasons they're in this mess.

[JenniferParisFan]

Well Arsenal beat Stoke 3-1, but now Aaron Ramsey has a broken leg, from very hard but legal tackle by Shawcross. Thats 3 players (Diaby, Eduardo, Ramsey) in 5 years at Arsenal who have had broken legs. Hopefully he has a speedy recovery.

[dauls]

Originally Posted by JenniferParisFan

Well Arsenal beat Stoke 3-1, but now Aaron Ramsey has a broken leg, from very hard but legal tackle by Shawcross. Thats 3 players (Diaby, Eduardo, Ramsey) in 5 years at Arsenal who have had broken legs. Hopefully he has a speedy recovery.

Ramsey's injury looked bad, and by the reaction of players from both teams (who looked nauseated) the break probably sounded horrendous.

Seeing a freeze-frame of the incident it looks like Ramsey will be very luck to be fit for the start of next season. He may not play again in 2010.

Shawcross looked inconsolable after the incident, he was probably hoping the referee would show him a red card.

I agree with you, it was a very hard, but legal challenge for the ball. Maybe a bit clumsy or over-enthusiastic, but definitely not malicious.

Meanwhile stupidity rules at news.bbc.co.uk/sport/, a post match reports states that "Ryan Shawcross was sent off for a tackle which left Aaron Ramsey with a suspected broken leg".

"Suspected?!?" I think everyone knew it was broken the moment it happened. After the game Arsene Wenger confirmed Ramsey had "a bad fracture, that probably requires emergency surgery".

Following the game Fabio Capello apparently delayed (by 40 minutes) the announcement of the England squad for Wednesday's friendly against Egypt. He wanted to have a final discussion with his assistant about whether it would be OK to include Shawcross in the squad following the incident at the Britannia Stadium.

[Kylieam1]

Good win for united today. If young fell down after the shirt pull by vidc instead of keep running vidic would have been shown a red card. I am happy he only recieved a yellow today

[dauls]

The Premier League Clubs' chairmen have decided not to pursue a four team play-off for the 4th Champions League qualification place. The idea was scrapped mainly due to time constraints within the football calendar, especially in World Cup and European Championship years.

But a much stronger argument to stop any plan for play-off should have been; the teams that finish in the top 4 after 38 games deserve to play in the Champions League. Those 38 games are surely a good enough play-off, there is no need to play extra games to determine who qualifies.

However I'm sure the stupid idea of play-offs for a 4th Champions League qualification place, will be recycled at some time in the future.

[JenniferParisFan]

Originally Posted by dauls

The Premier League Clubs' chairmen have decided not to pursue a four team play-off for the 4th Champions League qualification place. The idea was scrapped mainly due to time constraints within the football calendar, especially in World Cup and European Championship years.

But a much stronger argument to stop any plan for play-off should have been; the teams that finish in the top 4 after 38 games deserve to play in the Champions League. Those 38 games are surely a good enough play-off, there is no need to play extra games to determine who qualifies.

However I'm sure the stupid idea of play-offs for a 4th Champions League qualification place, will be recycled at some time in the future.

Well thats good, I recently read an article that they were thinking of getting rid of the offsides rule, but I'm sure its complete hogwash.

[JenniferParisFan]

How about this weekend in the Champions League? First Arsenal destroys Porto 5-0, and Bayern loses to Fiorentina 3-2 but make it to the next round thanks to a wonderful Robben goal. Then Man U beats AC Milan 4-0 and Rooney gets a brace, and then in probably the most shocking upsest of the Champions league so far Lyon ties Real Madrid 1-1 and knock Real out of the tournament. Looks like all that money in summer transfers still doesn't guarantee you a Champions League final.

[dauls]

Originally Posted by JenniferParisFan

How about this weekend in the Champions League? First Arsenal destroys Porto 5-0, and Bayern loses to Fiorentina 3-2 but make it to the next round thanks to a wonderful Robben goal. Then Man U beats AC Milan 4-0 and Rooney gets a brace, and then in probably the most shocking upsest of the Champions league so far Lyon ties Real Madrid 1-1 and knock Real out of the tournament. Looks like all that money in summer transfers still doesn't guarantee you a Champions League final.

I didn't see the Arsenal game, but the result surprised me. I thought the second leg would be a lot closer, but for once Bendtner converted some of his chances, unlike the previous weekend against Burnley when he missed at least three really good ones.

Last night AC Milan were disappointing. Before Man U scored their first goal, Milan had a couple of chances, before Rooney scored his first goal against the run of play. Milan only looked like scoring again once Beckham came on as a sub.

I don't think Lyon beating Real Madrid is as big a shock as people are thinking. Lyon won the French title 7 consecutive seasons before missing out in 2008/09 and they are in the top 4 again this season. They played a really good 1st leg and last night managed to stay in the game before scoring the all important away goal. Real Madrid may have spent 200M Euros on players last summer, but they failed to spend enough on their defence, and if Lyon hadn't beaten them I'm sure Man U, Bayern or one of the other top European sides would have found their way through the Madrid defence.