I'm surprised and not surprised about moyes
Utd have been shit this year but I thought they'd give him at leadt a season and a half
especially after the start fergie had

Yeah, surprised but not surprised, although I do think the board was right to act now rather than risk him with a £150m transfer budget in the summer. Man U's problems are bigger than just their manager but it did look increasingly like he was never gonna be the right man for them. Fingers should point at Fergie for choosing someone whose personality and tactical approach was so at odds with what the club were associated with. Nobody expected the transition to be easy but Moyes showed nothing to suggest he had what was needed to take them forward long term. It doesn't suddenly make Moyes a bad manager but this has highlighted his shortcomings - not helped by Martinez's excellent start at Everton - so it'll be interesting seeing where he goes from this. The vogue, even in the mid table, seems to be for young, tactically progressive and quite attack-minded managers. Whatever Moyes is, he's not that.

I'd have expected a sack after they were granted their 7th or 8th position, at the end of the season. A human factor.
Being given the Spanish archer right after losing to his former club must be really hard to swallow - such a bad timing...

Mourinho is fiddling with the idea of lining up a weakened team against Liverpool becuz nobody loves him.
Because his players wouldn't have enough time to recover from that game for their second leg against Madrid (but wasn't the Chelsea squad that parked the bus already a weak team yesterday?).

So... Mr Special One is so pissed at the idea that he's not won the PL that he's decided he'll be the one who chooses who wins it?
What an ego...

PS:
Damn, this is my 1000th post, he's even spoiled that too!

I don't have as big a problem with him fielding a weakened side as I do with his predictably provocative need to tell us he's gonna do it in advance. He wants to discredit a title he won't win. I don't even see him as a pantomime villain anymore. He's just a nasty bastard who can't handle defeat. Although at least he makes it even easier to dislike Chelsea again.

His comments on Saturday about the refs this season show a lack of class too. He used to be pretty classy. Now he comes across like a sulky teenager

Former sulky forward Berbatov's latest goal : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Xr2TFkEik
No brooding, but a bright smile after a lovely lob.

What Mourinho does is fantastic.

Chelsea lost to Sunderland the other day. Mind you, there were players on the pitch.
Is anyone questioning the players' performance? No, they’re [press] talking about Mourinho, because he makes the bullets fly in one direction.

And that’s how you get a grown man like Materazzi to cry like a baby.

or like this!

^haha, yes.

re moyes:
@piersmorgan
Sir Alex recommended Moyes over Mourinho because he feared the latter would eclipse his memory too fast. Harsh, selfish, reality.

I hate Piers but it's an interesting thought.

I'm just praying to the god of a parallel universe that Moyes' replacement is Sven. It'll never happen but pure entertainment. You know he's applying.

I used to enjoy disliking Mourinho. He's not fun anymore. There's a nastiness to him now. I'm starting to understand now why he's so despised in Spain. He's gone from a manager I loved to hate to one I'm now starting just to hate.

Really frustrated with Bayern right now!

it's going to be a fucking uphill battle next week.

was real's defense awesome? or did bayer's attack suck? don't know. it was tight.

but bayern's problem was really in the back. many times fucked, one time too many.

insert picture of beat takeshi in sonatine, shooting himself in the head.

Great defending by Real but Bayern seemed really ponderous. All the bad things people say about Barcelona minus the necessary moments of genius. Lahm was a disappointment but seemed to be double marking Coentrau. Ribery again does that thing where I'm constantly told he's amazing then, when I see him, he does nothing. It was tight though and I think Bayern will be stronger at home. Still think they'll go through even though I hope it's Real.

Ancelotti really pulled an Italian job on Guardiola-- defend hard, counterattack fast--classic. And when his defense was in trouble, Pepe would do a somersault and stop the game with his hysterics (in the end he got really hurt, but only in the end). The one who had an awesome defensive game, I thought, was Xabi Alonso.

Lahm was put in the midfield and Rafinha in his place. But Rafinha sucks! The hole in the defense was between him and Boateng. That got cured near the end when Rafinha went out and Lahm pulled back to his place. But while Rafinha took a spot, Mueller and Gotze and Martinez were warming the fucking bench. Why??? Guardiola fucked up there (but I hear Martinez had some sort of gut trouble-- still… ).

Ribery wasn't on his best night, not sure why-- I'd say probably because Alaba wasn't either, he fucked up a lot of passes-- he used to be more aggressive under Heynckes. And Robben was alone so often it was fucking mind-boggling. Nobody with him!

I don't know why the fuck Kroos didn't attempt more shots from outside the area. That's usually his specialty, and to me it was one of the few ways to get past the Madrid defense. Maybe it's Pep's influence. But again, haven't seen them all year.

Later, I was TERRIFIED of Bale. I wonder what can happen if he and Cron-Aldo line up together. *shudder* They'd gut any defense like two sharp blades.

I am not as sure as you are that Bayern will go through to the finals. They now have zero away goals, so they will need 2 goals difference if Madrid scores next week-- I don't like the fucking odds. And I haven't seen previous matches, but judging by today alone, Madrid looks waaaay deadlier, whereas Bayern seems to have gone back to the year they lost the final to Chelsea-- possession without scoring, or "all balls, no dick." I want Bayern to win, but I'd put my money on Real Madrid right now.

you know if madrid win the champions league mourinho is going to try to take the credit for it, "it was the team that I put together" kinda shit.

i'm praying we don't have a real vs. chelsea final. when 2 counter-attacking teams meet, boredom ensues.

I wonder if Bayern might not've lost a bit of intensity since winning the league so early.

that's what pep just said in the post-match interviews but i call BS

last year they won by far and away and beat all records and still kicked ass in the champions and loved a good kill.

i blame pep. pirlo may shit flowers but when pep shits real turds come out. his bizarre formations are fucking bizarre-- i remember the preseason experiments (yuck) and while i skipped the actual season i just read THIS.

why he props up rafinha i don't know.

Thought Bayern were lucky to get out only one-nll. Real did great keeping the lines tight and closing spaces, Coentrao probably the man of the match.

Interesting to see figures like Beckenbauer and Kahn openly criticising possession. Wonder what will happen to Pep if they fail the final.

Hard to top Moyes, comedy-wise.




Football might not be the right sport for you.

I'm sorry but Chelsea bores the daylights outta me when I watch em.

The best you can usually say about a Mourinho team is they're successful. There's invariably more excitement in the press conferences than on the pitch.


They aren't as sharp as they were but that's almost inevitable given the transitionary nature of this season - not just for Bayern but most of the big sides. Maybe Pep does experiment a bit too much but the press are going a bit ott in their criticism of them the other night. Real are a top side who defended v well. Bayern's road to the trophy last year wasn't that great either. Everyone remembers them thrashing Barcelona but they very nearly went out to Arsenal in the quarters and some would say Dortmund were unlucky not to win the final.

@demonyo - sure no team is perfect but pep waited way too long to make changes when his weird scheme flopped.

anyway, i was waiting for ZM's writeup which hasn't appeared yet, but found this elsewhere:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...-bayern-munich

^^ great article as usual by michael cox.

oh shit fuck poor tito vilanova is dead.

Very sad about Vilanova.

Agree about Pep's reluctance to change things during a game. It was also true at Barcelona. He gets away with it because he rarely has to. I do wonder though how some of the bigger Bayern players feel about his constant tinkering between games. I don't follow the Bundesliga but it almost seems like Pep's still looking for his best side/formation. Still, when you win the league so early in the season it's obviously not that big a problem.

It's been a few days since you posted that pic and I still can't look at it without pissing myself laughing.

No shit, Michael Jordan is sitting on the Bobcats bench in the corner, its who Lebron is staring at as he goes up for this dunk. You should have seen Jordan's reaction!

Oh yeah, I saw Manchester United destroy some team or another, I don't remember which, it was early this morning.

And so, for one week, every Liverpool fan becomes a rabid toffee.

???

Haha. Everton's nickname is the toffees. Next week Liverpool fans will be in the weird position of desperately wanting to see Everton win against Man City to help secure them the title.

I think everton might cause city some problems. They've been appalling recently so will have had a massive kick up the arse. And they're still in with a shout of champions league so will have a lot to play for

Hope el symbols has found a local bierkeller for Bayern v Real in a minute. Gonna be great.

i got a legal stream but it's not coming through due to my slow internet. so i'm gonna have to follow on a live blog and watch the replay later when i have a good connection.... but thanks for the good wishes!

i'm a bit nervous.

You're no doubt happy that Pep's decided to drop Rafinha and put Lahm back in defence.

not with the current score :/

Fucking hell. This is mad. I honstly thought Bayern would do it but they've disintegrated!

Should say that, while Bayern have imploded, Real have been brilliant.

a comment from the guardian live blog:

Nicholas Matatu sums up why many people think Pep Guardiola is a busted flush. "Set pieces, a bit of physicality and turbo-charged counter attacks. Isn't that the very same strategy Bayern used last year to tear apart the Catalan masters of tiki-taka?" notes Nicholas Matatu

also:

"The man who will pay the most for this result is Jurgen Klopp," reckons Krishnan patel. "Expect Bayern to shamelessly bully Dortmund and take away Subotic and/or Hummels."Personally,I think Hummels is over-rated.