15

5/3/2007 9:10:07 AM

Start the celebrations!!! Vassell's miss was such a relief!! Im pretty sure some Chelsea fan is going to murder him ....Gunners win tomorrow anyone?

5/5/2007 11:27:07 AM

yes to arsenal!

clint dempsey scores as fulham downs the reds 1-0

5/5/2007 1:54:35 PM

Liverpool drops another, this time to Fulham, 1-0 at the cottage

mostly because Rafa keeps sitting the stars though, which is ok by me, at least for this week

and Arsenal's game in hand is against Chelsea anyways

5/5/2007 4:20:03 PM

most of the time TSO is blowing smoke, but he's 100% right about the reason two teams who are 4th place in their leagues are playing in the Champions League final - its easy to win there when you can't win your own league and can sit your stars

5/5/2007 4:32:25 PM

come now, don't be bitter

Four English teams qualified for the Champions League this past year, and Liverpool even had to go through the 3rd qualifying round as well, which neither Man U or Chelsea had to do

Fact is Champions League play starts well back during most every country's domestic play... it is ill-timed that the final rounds of the Champions League coincide with the last few weeks of most domestic leagues when championships are on the line, but that's the structure everybody's forced to deal with - are your really telling me that one or two matches in which the starters played back in the EPL were the sole reason for United going to the San Siro and getting completely dominated?

5/5/2007 4:50:39 PM

The EPL is easily the most physically demanding of the European leagues, and Man U don't have a stable of capable players like Chelsea and Liverpool do. It's not the sole reason that Man U choked, but it didn't help, either.

5/5/2007 5:09:39 PM

I'm not even talking solely about Man U.



Here's a fact: Rafa rested his best players last week vs Pompey so that they'd have a better shot at beating Chelsea in the Champions League tie. Chelsea couldn't afford to rest anyone against Bolton because they're still chasing the EPL title. That doesn't make Liverpool a better team than Chelsea, it just makes them a more refreshed, well rested team.



United couldn't afford to rest anyone against Everton due to injury woes and because Chelsea was hot on their tails for the EPL crown.



It's easy to play for one cup is all I'm saying, but just because you're playing for it doesn't mean you deserve to be.

5/5/2007 6:40:39 PM

And?

I understand your point, it's just sour grapes.

[Edited on May 5, 2007 at 7:01 PM. Reason : .]

5/5/2007 6:58:32 PM

it's not sour grapes at all


I'm cheering for Milan

5/5/2007 7:06:46 PM

^ Me too. I don't like the Big Four English teams. I cheer for 3 of them to get relegated to the Championship at the start of the year.

5/5/2007 7:55:29 PM

just thought i would point out that milan has been on a tear recently in domestic play thanks to ronaldo and are actually in 3rd place in serie a at the moment, not 4th...and are certainly not sitting their stars...milan's opponents are lucky they are facing a ronaldo-less milan in european play as well...and without the 8 point deduction they are primed to take over 2nd place from roma...remember too that Inter is running through the league with a performance that rivals chelsea's of 2 years ago and arsenal's the year prior

face it...milan IS the best club in the world and have been the past 5 years...doesn't hurt to have the far and away best player on the planer either

[Edited on May 6, 2007 at 1:51 AM. Reason : ]

5/6/2007 1:44:01 AM

I'm just saying the whole argument comes down to one match of extra rest, it just doesn't seem like that would be the be-all-end-all dealbreaker

i realize in Chelsea's case it cost them Carvalho for leg 2 at Anfield, and perhaps since the one match of extra rest is near the culmination of a year-long campaign, maybe it factors in a little more... i don't know why I'm making the points for the other side of the argument

BUT I STAND BY MY POSITION

and in either case, it shows that the Champions League cup is still not the most desirable one, (that teams would sacrifice progress in other endeavors for) for English teams at least - Rooney even verified that with his comments last week

5/6/2007 2:22:24 AM

he says that...but a european cup title is the world cup of club soccer...that's like a college basketball player saying he would rather win an acc championship than a ncaa title...maybe bad example but EUROPE IS THE GOAL AND MILAN WILL BE 1 CLOSER TO REAL MADRID!!1

also...is 1 game of rest when you play 70 games really a big deal?

[Edited on May 6, 2007 at 2:27 AM. Reason : ]

5/6/2007 2:25:50 AM

whooooo..... Essien.


I love some of the Chelski players, but god I hate the fucking team.

5/6/2007 12:31:16 PM

came totally against play too. Arsenal was carrying it for pretty much the entire 2nd half up to that.

5/6/2007 12:32:26 PM

easily game of the season

5/6/2007 12:51:43 PM

i will have to watch the replay...i see there was a red card...still some hangover from the carling cup?

5/6/2007 3:29:49 PM

United are officially the champions after today's Arsenal-Chelsea result I suppose

5/6/2007 11:33:51 PM

This is the only time I'll ever cheer for a team Man U is playing against, because I love West Ham's heart


Tevez!!

5/13/2007 10:51:47 AM

Quote :

"Essien was voted as Chelsea Player of the Year for the 2006/07 season by the fans. His goal against arsenal was also voted as Chelsea Goal of the Season 2006/07."

i know everyone hates chelsea...but essien one of my favorites

5/15/2007 11:57:44 PM

Yeah, i concur, he had a great season and that goal against the gunners was a screamer!!

Here's a question to everyone that posts here :
who do you think should be Chelsea and Manutd's top 3 targets this summer and why?

5/16/2007 1:57:47 PM

rumors have Trezeguet wanting out of juve and leaning towards liverpool

ribery is out of marseille and wants a big club (man u/arsenal/chelsea/madrid) but expressed interest in milan as well so hopefully he will be playing at the san siro next year

would also like to see eto'o in the red and black but it looks as if man u wants to make the move...which would be deadly for the rest of the world, although i don't know how feasible it is

5/16/2007 2:42:56 PM

I'd like to see Eto'o at Man U.... but I dont know if he could make the swap



honestly, all I want is for Man U to sign these three:


Hargreaves
Gareth Bale
Berbatov

5/16/2007 8:48:03 PM

Spurs are trying to get rid of Berbatov?

5/16/2007 9:41:51 PM

^ No, other teams are trying to get him.

EPL isn't the league for Americans, that's for sure. Gooch and Beasley are gone, McBride/Boca/Dempsey are up in the air, Demerit has been relegated, Convey will have to fight for a starting spot on a good team, and Spector has fallen off the map with the Hammers... am I missing anybody else?

5/16/2007 10:13:29 PM

I think the only one from that group who doesn't have anything to worry about is Brian McBride - they fucking love him at Craven Cottage.... everyone else, including Bocanegra, is suspect

5/17/2007 5:42:44 AM

True, but he's getting older

5/17/2007 8:10:08 AM

In Wembley right now.

In the town, unfortunately not in the stadium.

Anyone in the States watching this?

Stalemate thus far. Makelele is the most underrated midfielder in soccer. Chelsea has only allowed Man U one or two real drives into the backfield.

We get some more good players to show up in the MLS (Beckham coming next year), and Soccer will be atleast as popular as hockey.





[Edited on May 19, 2007 at 11:37 AM. Reason : sp]

5/19/2007 11:31:32 AM

[Edited on May 19, 2007 at 11:39 AM. Reason : dp]

5/19/2007 11:35:38 AM

I am. This game is boring as shit.

5/19/2007 12:02:16 PM

Quote :

"Here's a fact: Rafa rested his best players last week vs Pompey so that they'd have a better shot at beating Chelsea in the Champions League tie. Chelsea couldn't afford to rest anyone against Bolton because they're still chasing the EPL title. That doesn't make Liverpool a better team than Chelsea, it just makes them a more refreshed, well rested team."

Here's another fact: JM goes out and spends $Texas on players every year. He always has a ridiculous transfer kitty while Liverpool go out and spend diligently (albeit in larger amounds than most of the EPL clubs outside of the top 4). If Jose had any sense, he'd spend less on big names like Sheva and Ashley Cole and buy more squad players, which is exactly what Rafa has done.

Liverpool has a steady supply of "squad" players and will take their $40M kitty this summer and buy a top-rate striker and left winger, and they'll end up challenging for multiple titles next year.

Bottom line is that Chelsea and MUFC overspend on players every year, and the result is a squad without depth. It's their own damn fault if they're fatigued for UCL or FA ties.

5/19/2007 1:08:02 PM

uh....


Mourinho was forced into buying Shevchenko. He had no say in that matter at all.


and as for Ashley Cole, he is the best left back in the English game. They also have a "squad player" in Wayne Bridge, who pushes Ashley for both his Chelski AND England place and would be good enough to play every saturday at any other club in the world.


I see what you're trying to say, but both of those players were really poor examples. Also, if you'd been paying attention, you'd know that the whole Mourinho/Abromavic row was over Roman flat out telling TSO he wasn't going to buy anymore high dollar players when John Terry got hurt.

As a result, you see Chelsea buying people like Stevie Sidwell from Reading, and I'll wager they didn't pay more than about 6-8 million quid for him.




and as a Man U fan, I'd like you to point out one player (just one) on the Red Devils roster that was "overpaid" for.

Carrick has proved his mettle, Ferdinand is arguably the best central defender in England, Rooney is a manbeast (and lead all England strikers in goal return), and there's no one else on the current roster that was bought for more than 15 million.

[Edited on May 19, 2007 at 3:25 PM. Reason : .]

5/19/2007 3:23:24 PM

I'll admit that Carrick was a good contributor to MUFC this year, but was he really worth 18M GBP? And Ferdinand? 20M GBP? Perhaps, but you have to admit that when any player is linked with MUFC or Chelsea, the asking price always gets raised. I'm not saying it's the club's fault, but at some point you have to draw the line. I'll be interested to see what they offer for Hargreaves this summer.

Also, Jamie Carragher might have a thing or two to say about who the best central defender in England is.


On another note, I really think that Chelsea's biggest mistake this year was signing Ballack. From what I saw of them (which was admittedly limited) I thought he hindered Lampard more than he helped. Would have been interesting to see what he could have done at another big EPL club.

5/19/2007 3:37:22 PM

the reason why they cost so much is because they are British. Any player in the EPL is way overpriced

5/19/2007 5:56:37 PM

fuck chelski

5/20/2007 1:04:53 AM

ballack is a holding midfielder...he defends great and in one of the premier aerial players in the game...just because he doesnt score doesnt mean he wasn't productive...there is a reason he was one of jose's favorite players...he plays back and distributes

uefa cup final on again...suggest watching extra time

[Edited on May 20, 2007 at 1:46 PM. Reason : ]

5/20/2007 1:45:03 PM

Look I think Ballack has a lot of skill but he was a disaster this season for Chelsea. Yeah you can talk about how he sits back and distributes, but i dont know anyone that can honestly say he hasnt been a shadow of his true abilities this season.

5/20/2007 2:09:21 PM

^^ he also got rated amongst the worst signings this season in the EPL because for the price they paid, the return was paltry!!

5/20/2007 2:10:47 PM

1st year blues hopefully, because he is one of my favorite players ever...hopefully not just a product of only ever playing in the bundesliga

5/20/2007 2:20:05 PM

hopefully, i agree with you, he isnt my favorite player, but at his best he is a joy to watch!! Hargreaves fee agreed ....FUCK YEAH!!!

5/20/2007 2:34:34 PM

did chelsea really sign stevie sidwell? when did that happen?

5/20/2007 2:35:43 PM

i can't imagine he would play anytime soon...can't fight the money i guess

5/20/2007 3:01:16 PM

^^ well it was all speculation for a bit there, but I think they finally announced it in the past few days



he's supposed to fill in when Essien and Obi Mikel go to the African Cup of Nations next year




and actually you know what, they didn't buy him, I forgot his contract was up, so they got him for bloody FREE

[Edited on May 20, 2007 at 11:19 PM. Reason : .]

5/20/2007 11:11:05 PM

Sidwell to Chelsea confirmed on Soccernet front page as of right now.

Sheva is contemplating an MLS move in the future.

5/22/2007 4:48:22 PM

Anderson.......Nani......Hargreaves......????......... Do I hear a quadruple shout???

6/1/2007 7:21:11 AM

nope, not with Malouda/Simao/Villa coming in for the Reds

6/1/2007 10:42:00 AM

is there a online radio stream? i'm always at work for weekday matches...

6/1/2007 10:46:40 AM

sopcast!!

6/3/2007 4:18:47 AM

[Edited on June 10, 2007 at 2:12 AM. Reason : ]

6/10/2007 2:08:45 AM