The Round Ball Game

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Zach Clough ? He's a Manchester lad and not related to THE Cloughs

I did wonder.

[cloughie]

Ah - I thought the name had been trademarked.

No

[johncorrigan]

Zach Clough ?

...risen from the ashes, has he?

[jayne lee wilson]

Arsenal-Bayern was a bizarre mirror-image of the first 5-1 drubbing, Gunners exceeding expectations (admittedly against a VERY relaxed Bayern...) until that one false move... unfortunately this one was the referee's!
Walcott should have been given a penalty earlier on; then in the 2nd half- that moment - Lewandowski was offside when he received the ball, Koscielny did foul him and it was a penalty - but the yellow card from the ref was changed by the assistant to red, for a first bookable offence, and not an especially violent one! An even worse double-injustice than the Saints' disallowed goal in the EFL final.... no wonder they fell apart, most teams would have struggled to restrict this Bayern side to 1-3 in such circumstances...

On to Barça - PSG tonight, I'm hoping for a coupla quick Barça goals, and then....light the blue&claret touch-paper....

[teamsaint]

Small club stitched up by FA.

3 games for the Ibrahimovic , 5 for Mings.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39210644

bloody typical.

I can see IGI losing it when he reads this news.....

[EdgeleyRob]

Arsenal-Bayern was a bizarre mirror-image of the first 5-1 drubbing, Gunners exceeding expectations (admittedly against a VERY relaxed Bayern...) until that one false move... unfortunately this one was the referee's!
Walcott should have been given a penalty earlier on; then in the 2nd half- that moment - Lewandowski was offside when he received the ball, Koscielny did foul him and it was a penalty - but the yellow card from the ref was changed by the assistant to red, for a first bookable offence, and not an especially violent one! An even worse double-injustice than the Saints' disallowed goal in the EFL final.... no wonder they fell apart, most teams would have struggled to restrict this Bayern side to 1-3 in such circumstances...

On to Barça - PSG tonight, I'm hoping for a coupla quick Barça goals, and then....light the blue&claret touch-paper....

Barcelona 6-1,Well Jayne,did you ever see such a thing,incredible.
Can't remember ever watching anything quite like that.

[EdgeleyRob]

Phew,in Forum news

unmentionables drew 0-0 at home to Stoke City and missed the chance to go 2nd
St Mirren lost 2-0 away to Raith Rovers,the goals came in a 6 min spell towards the end of the game,5 points adrift at the bottom

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Barcelona 6-1,Well Jayne,did you ever see such a thing,incredible.
Can't remember ever watching anything quite like that.

Unbelievable

[jayne lee wilson]

BARÇA 6 PARIS SG 1

................ !!!!

Even at 3-1 and 85 minutes it never seemed over did it? Barça forced you to keep wondering, keep hoping, turn devotedly, fiercely allegiant Catalan...

Neymar the hero, but the Suarez penalty....? Hmmm.....don't know if I feel or or ... or... about that one. I guess you could just say: they needed it, he won it.
But those last five minutes.... closest thing I've seen to a FairPlay free-for-all in such a high-level match; the ref seemed to say: OK, look you two, I'll just stand over here, wave on advantages and - just settle it will you?

Sometimes there's just a feeling, isn't there?.... remember that Liverpool 4 Borussia Dortmund 3 a coupla years ago, the last goal in injury time? Even at 0-2 and 1-3 down to such a strong team, we always felt we had a chance. A collective will floating in the Liverpool air.
And yet, and yet: 2005, half-time in Istanbul, 0-3 to Milan, it really did seem game over. A non-believer, I'm afraid I actually did walk into the (very quiet) avenue, looked at the sky and prayed at that point. At 2-3 I was genuinely worried about my heart-rate! At 3-3, I relaxed & gathered myself: OK, game on....

On such a night as this, these are the things you remember...

[johncorrigan]

St Mirren lost 2-0 away to Raith Rovers,the goals came in a 6 min spell towards the end of the game,5 points adrift at the bottom

Big OUCH!

[teamsaint]

Big OUCH!

Good to see Stoke tweaking the tail of a financial giant last night.

[zola]

Barcelona 6-1,Well Jayne,did you ever see such a thing,incredible.
Can't remember ever watching anything quite like that.

A curmudgeon writes...whatever happened to the art of defending ? My enjoyment of the goals of the last two nights has been lessened by Arsenal's impersonation of the training cones and PSG's headless chickens. Maybe Juve will show us how it is done ? And it does leave a bit of a sour taste how Suarez's blatant dive, that should have resulted in a second yellow for simulation and a sending off instead of being rewarded with a penalty, seems to have been shrugged aside.

[EdgeleyRob]

A curmudgeon writes...whatever happened to the art of defending ? My enjoyment of the goals of the last two nights has been lessened by Arsenal's impersonation of the training cones and PSG's headless chickens. Maybe Juve will show us how it is done ? And it does leave a bit of a sour taste how Suarez's blatant dive, that should have resulted in a second yellow for simulation and a sending off instead of being rewarded with a penalty, seems to have been shrugged aside.

Party pooper

Europa League,last 16,1st leg

Manchester United got a vital away goal in the 1st half and drew 1-1 in Rostov,conceding the eqauliser early in the 2nd half

[teamsaint]

A curmudgeon writes...whatever happened to the art of defending ? My enjoyment of the goals of the last two nights has been lessened by Arsenal's impersonation of the training cones and PSG's headless chickens. Maybe Juve will show us how it is done ? And it does leave a bit of a sour taste how Suarez's blatant dive, that should have resulted in a second yellow for simulation and a sending off instead of being rewarded with a penalty, seems to have been shrugged aside.

Spot on, Zola.
He should get a retrospective red, and a ban.

[johncorrigan]

Spot on, Zola.
He should get a retrospective red, and a ban.

I think the ref should get a red card and a ban from all future games - a shocking, and worse, horribly inconsistent performance throughout the match...even if it did lead to high drama. If Leicester had gone out in such circumstance the media would have gone totally radge.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=radge (just in case sainty)