Beren

6/4 to qualify against Benfica 17/4 to win the away leg 12/1 to win the tournament (5th favourites)

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m240/buffvenis/nwo.gif ...except with really affable Benfica fans.

Fuck sake Tiresias, stop giving away our shit man!

TBH that's good for us, we are much better when we're on the counter attack than trying to break down a deep defence. If you play open against our side I don't see good things coming to your side Maybe you guys have luck in having such a deffensive coach, it's the best way to win the tie against us (My humble opinion) We are very dangerous from corner kicks. Edit: Mainly to us, though.

Well we're biased, but i won't say our players don't dive once in a while. But that's definitely not a trademark of ours, not something to expect from our game. We like to play offensive and score. Very honest of you to say. I imagine your experience in Europe may be a deciding factor in the tie, sadly. Also, unfortunately our manager is very defensive and cannot coach the team to play good football on the ground/keep the ball.

We had some divers in the past. Nowadays I think none of the usual players are a diver.

Benfica fans - do your players dive a lot, or not really?

Felt off then, and it still feels off now. Again, if it was simply because Cisse was out then someone needs shooting. Ah its all a conspiracy. Pards doesn't want him to play in the run in, hence putting Hatem in against Anzhi. There's a lot of putting words in people's mouths on here at the minute. Calling SDBS a twat is bang out of order, 'Polic.

Citeh, Liverpool, Man Utd, WBA DNB and Wigan Mediocre value this weekend

Even Papiss wants Pardew to fuck off

More good injury news:

Out of interest, how many players do you know who have had the opportunity to "start for 60 minutes away from home in sub-zero temperatures on a dodgy surface as their return game back from a lengthy layoff."? Other than of course players who ply their trade in countries like Russia, and therefore will indeed "start for 60 minutes away from home in sub-zero temperatures on a dodgy surface as their return game back from a lengthy layoff." Zero off the top of my head, but you don't need to have experience of a given flame you've not seen before being hot, to know you probably shouldn't stick your hand in it. FWIW, when he returns from injury, I probably wouldn't start HBA for 60 minutes against any opposition we happen to be facing at the time who also happen to ply their trade on any other unfamiliar surface where we know injuries can be aggravated/exacerbated (cf. Jonas/Shola). He played most of the game against Tottenham though at the start of the season and looked excellent, I don't really think it matters about how long you play or the surface if you are physically fit ("match fit" just being how sharp you are)? I'm not a physio therapist like, but that's how I've always seen it, and I don't think a player should be playing AT ALL if he isn't fully recovered from his injury, regardless of the pitch an temperature. To me it looks like we've thought the injury was gone, and regardless of whether he played 60 minutes in Russia or 20 minutes in the Bahamas there was always going to be an unseen risk of him aggravating his hamstring. Mate, it's all a bit of a moot non-argument for me. Like you, I'm no physiotherapist (and I'd be happy enough for someone with the relevant knowledge to stick their oar in and set me straight if need be) and I'd also be in favour of veering on the side of caution in not letting injured players play if they're in the least injured, but even when players recover from injury - starting matches is uncommon. They have cameo appearances off the bench to build fitness in a real-tempo environment, and to recover sharpness. I don't think I'd be wrong to say it's at least uncommon for players to return from injury in such a manner, starting a game. You can't reduce the risk of re-aggravating an injury to nil, but I'd say you could certainly mitigate the chances more than we did. As for the surface, I'm not agree - but again, have no scientific expertise to back me up on this. My friend, who is a fairly serious cross-country runner, told me to run on grass instead of on the pavement around my park because with each step we take, we apparently put three times our bodyweight on our knee-joints when we run on concrete. He may be talking bollocks, it may not be applicable to HBA etc etc,..... but it doesn't seem unfathomable to me that the surface you play/run on could contribute to the wear and tear of our bodies In which case, with my overly-cautious approach, I would probably say "why risk it?" I accept we were possibly backed into a corner by Cisse being injured though. Anyway, not going to bother discussing about it any further, all a bit depressing/pointless mulling over it now.

Out of interest, how many players do you know who have had the opportunity to "start for 60 minutes away from home in sub-zero temperatures on a dodgy surface as their return game back from a lengthy layoff."? Other than of course players who ply their trade in countries like Russia, and therefore will indeed "start for 60 minutes away from home in sub-zero temperatures on a dodgy surface as their return game back from a lengthy layoff." Zero off the top of my head, but you don't need to have experience of a given flame you've not seen before being hot, to know you probably shouldn't stick your hand in it. FWIW, when he returns from injury, I probably wouldn't start HBA for 60 minutes against any opposition we happen to be facing at the time who also happen to ply their trade on any other unfamiliar surface where we know injuries can be aggravated/exacerbated (cf. Jonas/Shola).

Hm. Sounds like the last of our comeuppance from our failure to invest in the summer - and Gouffran's subsequent ineligibility for the Anzhi away trip. Pardew probably didn't want to play him, and given the lack of attacking intent we had - arguably didn't need to, but hindsight is 20-20. Frustrating for all parties concerned

I don't know how the decision tree worked for HBA starting away at Anzhi, or indeed if all possible roads would eventually have lead to him needing further surgery, but... ...I've never seen a player start for 60 minutes away from home in sub-zero temperatures on a dodgy surface as their return game back from a lengthy layoff. I'd love to hear Pardew's explanation, but I doubt we will. Anyway, this fucking sucks.

The four teams I least want us to face all avoid each other and we get the one I wanted least. Excellent. Anyway, I think I'll head over to the HBA thread now and see what his chances are for starting this Sunday...

Chelsea I'm not as concerned by oddly (not with Rafa anyway!). I'd be worried by what AVB could do if he took the competition seriously (which I think he will) and analysed our weaknesses, and sent his Spurs team out to attack those.

What, why? Not even a collaborative effort?

In terms of preference, I'd go: Basel Fenerbache Rubin Kazan Lazio Chelsea Tottenham Benfica

Hilarious and heroic today

Belting. On to win £400 off £15 Will probably hedge the Fulham game though. Ooft, nice one man. Fulham +2 is currently 4/7. So I might just hedge for a guaranteed £150 return. Spurs rarely win at a canter now I think about it.

Now three English clubs are through to the quarters, I fully expect the quality of the teams in this competition to be retrospectively downgraded by fans of other clubs. Full of semi-pro teams from the Faroe Islands and Malta.

This is the kind of luck we never get in cups. We're definitely going to win this then beat Barca in the Super Cup. Definitely. Notice that kind of stuff/pay it too much attention and you end up with a Bradford situation. Don't anti-re-jinx it, man.