tmonkey

Was a great match... Damn. They're only a point away from Valencia and they play each other at the Vicente Calderon next week. Big battle for the last CL place. Would be devestating for Valencia if they lose out on the CL place. So here's hoping for Athletico.

Rafael is lucky Man City are a bit shit at the moment. Been raped by Robinho all game long.

Got subbed off and flounced, including flapping the top away being offered to him by a coach. Then sat on the bench shaking his head in a "Oh No He Didn't" manner for about a minute.

Ronaldo clearly thinking to himself "I'm going to show that fucking cunt Ferguson this summer, sub me off will you, wait till I get home and give the Real Madrid President a phone call".

If we weren't such a mess, we'd probably have had a decent chance of attracting Tevez when he leaves this summer. He'll leave for first team football, a decision that is probably down to the next campaign being a World Cup year, but should he go to a CL club he runs the risk of finding himself in the same boat again. We, on the other hand, could guarantee not only first team football to him, but the fact that we'd build the entire team around him. Along with the huge wages that we could offer with Viduka/Owen leaving, he'd also be managed by the Premiership's most lethal striker since from the previous era, on top of playing alongside his compatriots Jonas and Coloccini (should they both be here) - are we the only Premiership team with Argentinian internationals outside of Tevez himself and Mascherano at Liverpool? Shame it's not a remotely realistic possibility. Would like to think though that should we stay up, we'd at least make enquiries and try to sell the place to him, even if he'd likely laugh at the offer.

Good goal from Tevez.

Great attempt from Tevez.

Always disagreed with this viewpoint, mainly because it seems to single out footballers as being undeserving of a high wage when the same applies to other roles within the entertainment industry. If footballers get paid ludicrous amonts to kick a ball on some grass, then actors get paid ridiculous amounts for reading out lines (or in many cases just being good looking), and musicians for singing in a high pitched voice or for plucking a few strings or doing a little dance (in many cases just ripping off earlier work). If footballer's wages should be capped, then why shouldn't actors'and musicians' salaries or earnings be capped?

Anelka.

Di Michele Bah late.

West Brom score from the rebound.

Oh shit.

Impatient bollocks imo. Just like a year or two ago when apparently all the trophies were only ever going to be shared amongst the top four, and it was all "English football is dying because noone else can win anything" self-absorbed bullshit. Portsmouth then went ahead and won the F.A. Cup, beating Cardiff in the final. Naturally, those doom-and-gloom posts went away for a while. The top four is hardly impenetrable. Villa this year and Spurs a few years ago nearly finished in the top four, missing out imo because of their own inability to either strengthen their team by adding real talent to it, or collapsing at the final hurdle. And both of them are/were hardly anything special, just consistently decent. Everton finished in the top four with a pretty average team talent wise, again they were consistent and solid over the course of a season, so maybe there's something in that? They failed to take advantage of that because Moyes' teams have all been aggressive sides that bully the opposition almost, a tactic that won't work in Europe, so they fell at the first hurdle. So it's the incompetence of others, failure to take advantage of the promising situations some of the clubs find themselves in, which is maintaining the top four status quo.

Hope he signs - before the Boro game. Really is the best thing for us right now, giving the guy who'll get the most time from the supporters a chance to stabilise the club.

One of Owen, Martins or Viduka simply have to score. All of them owe us one last performance. They can fuck off if they want to after that, just give us one good performance, that's all. Would be great if it were Viduka who does it, relegating his former club at the same time as keeping us up.

Both Abidal and Alves' suspensions should be overturned too in that case. Alves' yellow came from a nothing challenge that was never a foul in the first place.

No way would Jonas be playing in the Championship when it's a World Cup year, not unless Maradona specifically tells him that it'll be alright for him to play at a lower level for an entire year.

Barca will surely have a suspect defence for this tie (or more suspect than they normally are). No Alves most likely means Puyol playing at right back to nullify Rooney. If that's the case, then who plays in the middle alongside Pique, given that Marquez and Milito are no longer available? Would be risky playing Toure there again, I'm guessing Guardiola only did that to counter Drogba's strength/aerial threat. Caceres is a fantastic prospect, but he's one for the future, so it'd be another big risk to throw him in there (especially since Pique is a young and relatively inexperienced player too). On the other flank, one would guess that Sylvinho will be starting at left back. Can see Ronaldo rubbing as his hands with glee at the prospect of taking on a small, aging left back who'll probably be having to make runs forward given Barca's playing style. Maybe Keita will play there, but again, that's another risk to be playing someone out of position. Stating the obvious, but losing Alves is a major blow for Barca's attack, as he's a key component of what has made them so effective going forward. It means that ManU won't have to worry about getting Rooney or Park to track back all game to nullify the threat from the fullback spot, on paper leaving them with more licence to get forward. Will also mean that Messi gets less support than he's been seeing all season long. Should be an interesting game. Hopefully. Whatever happens, it's unlikey to be as woeful as last season's snoozefest which an exciting penalty shootout glossed over, where ManU and Chelsea played the game like two relegation threatened Premiership sides, i.e. lots of running around and physical huffing and puffing, but no quality with lots of poor first touches and stray, nervous passing, which was shocking/embarassing to see given the names and the talent out there on the pitch. Luckily Barca going through has seen that bullet being dodged.

He took it too far though. Will probably be let off with a small fine though.

Personally think the away goals rule is great, normally the more attacking sides benefit from it as they'll attack away from home too.

No mention of Chelsea being camped in their own half for the entire game at their home ground, the last 35 minutes of which were against 10 men.

Still not showing a replay of the Iniesta goal. Immediately after the goal and one replay, we had slow motion pictures of Essien and Lampard in distress. Pathetic. I want to see that goal over and over again for the next few minutes. Pleaseeeeeeeee.

Can we please see Iniesta's goal again, given that Essien's was replayed 10 times at least?

7 mins of added time! What's this ref doing??!!

That slow motion pic of the ref running away from Ballack.