Absolutely - but the Chairman doesn't want to give him a new 2 year deal cos he's 35 - so he's royally pissed off and currently being linked with Wigan and QPR. That's what I'm talking about. It works in an asset sheet sense but it's crazy in a football sense.

That would be a shame, because he's the focal point of your attack. His ability to come deep and link up play is easily premiership quality, something which guys like Bednar aren't really capable of doing. Are you loaning Miller again?

@ Mitch:

Yeah. Football, sun and cold beer with mates is pretty much my favourite thing. As far as the footballing side of things goes, group C intreagues me.

Italy
France
Holland
Romania

JUst think of some of the players involved there (Cassano is probably going to go!!!!), think of some of the history. Oh man. I need to calm down here lol

We signed him in Jan, £900k, not a bad deal, fits the chairman's MO perfectly. Has potential to be a very good player but he's a bit of a blunt instrument at the moment, best used as a supersub against tiring legs cos will get found out in the Prem I think.

Prediction time: The Netherlands will finish bottom of that group. More on this in the EURO 2008 thread which I'll start tomorrow.

I'm thinking this is going to be all Man Utd. to the tune of 3-1. SAF is going to go for it & not stick to his usual conservative tactics in Europe. Tevez & Rooney up top will be too much for a Chelsea defense that will have to worry about Terry not being 100%, Cole not being 100% (if he starts) & handle Ronaldo bombing in.

Could be over at the half.

Not sure if Tevez will start, formations like for like I'd guess.

I don't know that he will either. But I think he should. Wonder if Park will start.

Can't wait for the Euro '08 thread! I remember the version 4 years ago being pretty cool w/ everyone listening online or watching the games & posting only last names when a goal went in.

Lineups are in. And I am off. Talk to you gents after the match. I'm taking the lesser of two evils & hoping for a Chelski win.

Man Utd.

EVDS
Rio
Brown
Evra
Vidic
Scholes
Hargreaves
Ronaldo
Carrick
Rooney
Tevez

Chelsea

Cech
A. Cole
JT
Carvalho
J. Cole
Fat Frank
Essien
Malouda
Makalele
Ballack
Drogba

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/u...-league-a-to-z/

Double U Tee Eff

Suprised that Park didn't even make the bench. Covered myself for the draw now and hoping that Scholes scores (9/1)

United playing 4-4-2 with Tevez and Rooney down the middle. Really pleased about this.

And there we go. 1-0.

Superb header by Ronaldo.

United full backs are just raping Chelsea.

wow, this s a MUCH better game than i was expecting

Really should have been

Certainly isn't over now. Really bad goal to conceede. They've been on top all game.

That was a poor lapse in concentration. Good game so far though yes!

Posted this on another board. May as well post it here.

Good half of football.

United the better team, mostly due to United midfield three (Scholes, Carrick and Hargreaves even though he's on the right) who are really controlling the play. Plus, because of how narrow Chelsea are in midfield, both full backs are getting loads of room, which in turn is making it easy for Ronaldo and Hargreaves to get good posession. Individual performances from Rooney and Ronaldo have really helped united as well.

Chelsea got a bit more posession towards the end of half (Ballack is looking very good), but probably didn't deserve the goal.

This game is perfectly balanced now.

Re; Nike ad. Why is a dutch player playing Sunday league football in London?

Don't they have youth tourneys in Europe?

Good game...take it man u fans. Take it.

Chelsea on top that half.

Yep.

This is too close to call. If it goes to penalties, I think I'd fancy Chelsea. BAllack, Lampard, Drogba, Ashley COle. All strong pk takers.

After 90 mins?

Yeah, was still a good bet though. A utd win now would mean 20 up, chelsea break even.

Penalties looks a safe bet.

WTF?!?

Ridiculous. Vidic deserved a second yellow for his part in that.

All the talk is going to be about that now, not the game (unless Chelsea win)

And here we go.

Tevez 1-0

I said it nine years ago. I'll say it again.

Lucky Cunts.

Said it before...I hate Ronaldo. Stop crying, you showboat pussy.

lol @ VDS interview -

- Edwin, what a moment
- I know, fucking hell, sorry

lol! I was watching Rte (Irish TV) so I missed that.

What a night.

What a terrible night for John Terry and myself.
He misses the penalty, and i google search John Terry and realize i'm one year older than he is.
I wanna die.

???

Seriously give this guy a break.

Vidic/Ferdinand/Evra were great as usual.

The real crybaby was Joe Cole, although he did get some tough calls.

Ronaldo was good tonight, really mature performance. Probably the best player of the first half.

Also, Vidic was in Drogba's head all night. He gave Drogba no space at all.

For Ronaldo it's all got to be about him. Well done for scoring so many goals this season but had he sacrificed his greed and scored ten less, utd would have scored twenty more. He played like a petulant boy in Barcelona and I thought he had shaken that from his game.

Utd's defence was rock solid as ever, midfield dominated first half hour with 70% possesion but after that is was all Chelsea, they had 25 shots to Man Utd's 12 or so.

Did you notice even after the win, he layed on the ground still crying over his miss.
Jeezus, you won....it's not all about little Cristianito (Or is that "Chritianinho" in Brazilian).

That's the other thing, he has a sneer and that cry baby side. A far more arrogant (and better) player like Cantona only had the sneer. Only if he wins Euro 08 and WC 2010 for Portugal can he truly be considered worthy of the true greatness he sees in his head.

He's the kind of player who would take the fifth penalty if Utd took 2nd so he had the chance to score the winner.

But surely you can see why he was like that after the game? He was so relieved because his teammates bailed him out. I don't know, it just gets on my nerves how much people are quick to jump on him. I mean in the whole match, there was literally nothing you could criticise him about. He worked, he tracked back, he made the runs, he wasn't shooting from ridiculous angles, he was passing to his team mates if nothing was on. I don't get it. He basically did the correct thing practically every time and people are still having a go at him because of the way he chose to celebrate.

The guy is a top top player, whether people like it or not.

He was on the ground for the last couple of PKs.
I'm not questioning his ability as a player, I'm questioning his character.
Theres also his off the pitch activities, that lead a lot of people to think he is in fact...a giant douche bag.

Fair enough. I just get confused as to why people care so much about these things, is all.

He had a very good, not great, game and would be a good contender for man of the match I imagine he will win world player of the year baring someone having an absolute barnstormer of a Euro08. He deserves plaudits for what a good player he is. I was as impressed as anyone with the way he handled himself after the world cup. He is an attention seeker though, makes him a great player but also a twat.

If my son played football I'd want him to be more like Scholes than Ronaldo. As a person as well.

I guessing you're not fans of Diouf then

Bocas up 3-Nil vs Atlas in Copa Libertadores.

It's safe to say, they're advancing to the semis.

Boca putting on a clinic, on how to kill a game.

Players with "injuries", passing in front of their own goal, the opponents goal, etc.

Can you say "Ole".

Exactly. Seeing Scholes play through a broken nose, that's a character player. A dying breed these days...

also reaching out to terry. i hate chelsea, but terry didn't deserve this. i'm proud for giggs and scholes, so happy to have seen and supported them through all these years. nothing like seeing abramovich getting beaten in moscow. overall a top game, thank you fucking canadian television for repeating extra time and pens only. made my evening, morons...

Similar feelings. Terry is just about my favorite player and it hurt me to see him miss. I could have accepted just about any result but that one.

I can see a lot of people criticizing the final in the coming days for being quite ugly for large stretches. But it is so rare for finals to be open & attacking. Man Utd. deserved it. Chelsea played their hearts out & were so close though.

i think the final (whatever i saw of it) was amazing. but i would take a tense defensive match over a goal-fest any day