Segun Oluwaniyi

neither have particularly great goal records mind although think they are mainly wider players than strikers arent they? Andre is a wide player who can also play central. Also, he is a football god among men, one of my favourite players. Jordan Ayew is a rubbish striker.

The last two AFCON final penalty shootouts have been good for this. Wild swings between the two extremes abound. Leverkusen's misses were all just extremely poor. I still cannot believe the defender lackadaisically jogged up to ball and just casually put it in the stands. Ridiculous.

These run-ups are embarrassing.

The last one reminded me of Mensah at WC 2010. Complete rubbish, awful run-up.

I am generally quite lenient about the diving issue, but running directly into the back of someone and then falling down grabbing your face should be an automatic ten match ban. Atletico have done it twice in five minutes. Not talking about the blatant elbow just now, though.

I think ASM can compete with the likes of Juventus/Dortmund, PSG, and maybe Porto. They play rubbish football, but have been effective and successful all season.

What is Kurzawa doing?! Know the situation and just clear the ball properly!

Players should be allowed to hit the ground in the box without receiving a yellow card. There was contact, the player fell, it isn't a penalty, so play on. I heavily dislike the yellow for anything other than dives with no contact. Didn't he grab the ball with his hands as well though? I assumed the yellow was for the dive, I don't have the game in a language I understand, anyway, so it is hard for me to tell. If for a handball, apologies to the ref.

Players should be allowed to hit the ground in the box without receiving a yellow card. There was contact, the player fell, it isn't a penalty, so play on. I heavily dislike the yellow for anything other than dives with no contact.

Have to go for it now though Conceding one goal also has no effect on the the task in front of Arsenal, so there is no reason not to be incredibly aggressive against a side that plays very defensively. As we saw last week, getting to ET away from home in a tie is actually somewhat of an unfair advantage as there an away goal is essentially impossible to overcome.

With Gouffran, he was never a special players, just a useful forward with some good attributes, but it is hard for me to believe that running around in nonthreatening areas pretending to work hard is the best he has to offer in what should be the peak years of his career. He was a better player than Riviere, anyway. Maybe he simply is not a good footballer anymore.

M'bia's dancing is consistently terrible. He should stop.

Santon would have an assist if not for great defending by Rodrigo Palacio.

Played way, way better without him last night. Stick Cavani (even though he seems to be finished) up top and pop Lavezzi on the wing, jobs a good 'un. Not that I think they're better without Ibra but last night they showed they have experience and quality all over the pitch, it's not a one man team. Thought Lavezzi was poor when he came on though, Lucas will be a better option off the bench. I would hate for this poor performance from Chelsea to produce an inflated opinion of PSG. They are an uninspiring side that play dour football (much worse than last night's opponents) despite having no financial competition domestically. They are the best side in France for the same reason, and look in trouble now that l'OM and OL have put together challenging sides despite lack of funds. They are not on pace for 80 points this season, and Blanc might still be sacked. Absolutely, agree with all of that, but do you agree that when you go into latter rounds of the CL experience plays a huge role? Players like David Luiz, Ibra, Motta, Thiago, Maxwell have huge experience and four of them showed that last night. I still don't see them winning this, but if they get Porto, Monaco/Arsenal, Dortmund/Juve or Bayer/Atletico they will stand at least a 50% chance of qualifying to the semi's which in terms of what they have achieved before is huge (even if financially is where they should be aiming for each season). It is more a matter of mentality than experience, imo, though both are obviously important. Chelsea won this competition with their worst side in the Abramovich era because they had warriors with strong mental attributes (who may have been lacking in other areas, esp. going forward) like Terry, Cahill, Luiz, Mikel Obi, Ramires, Lampard, Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, and Meireles to hold their position and a brilliant striker that could make chances out of nothing. PSG can undoubtedly replicate that. Knockout football is nothing like the true test of league football, referees make poor decisions, important players have bad nights/are injured, mistakes are made. A lot depends on the draw obviously. If they are drawn against the winner of Juventus/Dortmund or Porto/Monaco, they are clear favourites, imo.

Played way, way better without him last night. Stick Cavani (even though he seems to be finished) up top and pop Lavezzi on the wing, jobs a good 'un. Not that I think they're better without Ibra but last night they showed they have experience and quality all over the pitch, it's not a one man team. Thought Lavezzi was poor when he came on though, Lucas will be a better option off the bench. I would hate for this poor performance from Chelsea to produce an inflated opinion of PSG. They are an uninspiring side that play dour football (much worse than last night's opponents) despite having no financial competition domestically. They are the best side in France for the same reason, and look in trouble now that l'OM and OL have put together challenging sides despite lack of funds. They are not on pace for 80 points this season, and Blanc might still be sacked.

Africa is behind Blatter as well for similar reasons. Also, the corruption in FIFA and football and general is much deeper than Blatter. He gets a lot of the press because he is the figurehead and a buffoon in his media dealings, but removing him changes very little, imo.

Don't be daft, Barca will destroy city. Arsenal could quite easily turn up to Stade Louis II and get a 3-0 or 4-1 if they play their best football. Despite the previous result and ASM's fantastic defensive record, there is a gap in quality, imo. One thing I will say about the recent performances of the English teams is that excluding Manchester City and their early group stage adventures, they have simply been given tough draws early on and just haven't been able to make it through. Arsenal seem to draw Barcelona or Bayern in the second round every season. In isolation, not too many of the results would really worry me. Obviously, the trend is alarming, but all it will take for a one-time reversal is a change in luck of the draw because the Premiership generally has the most or joint most teams in the second round every single season. That is not a coincidence.

I was thinking the same thing. With MM it's easier to attribute blame and giving people responsibility is a good thing. But does it result in less conceded goals? I wish someone would put the numbers up. Chelsea are the perfect side to man-mark. Terry, Cahill, Matic, Ivanovic, Costa, Zouma, Ramires, and Mikel and Drogba off the bench are all good leapers, strong players, and win the vast majority of their aerial duels. No system was at fault, and no system usually is at fault when conceding from a set-play. It is almost always a great bit of play (first goal) or an individual error (Terry for the second).

When have any of Italy, Portugal, France, or Russia sent three teams to the CL Knockout stage? The teams are not going deep, but they also generally don't embarrass themselves.

Two consecutive nights, one of the most talented teams in Europe with one of its most accomplished managers plays with no energy whatsoever in front its own supporters. Hard to understand. Credit to PSG, great fight. I don't think they will win Ligue 1, but outside of Barca and Bayern they are as good as any team left in this competition.

What a strange football match

It always stuns me when Mourinho brings on Drogba and leaves Remy on the bench. It must be blind loyalty because Drogba has trouble simply locomoting at this point, and is simply the inferior player.

He does get clipped ~90% of the time, tbf. Chelsea look very jaded recently, as though they want to win with the least amount of effort possible. Very poor.

THREE MINUTES?!

Tbf, he has cut inside EVERY single time, and Real do not seem to have noticed.