Wide World of Women

Are there any other fans of the English Premier League, or Uefa Champions League here? Was a bit of a shocking result last night with Manchester United holding Bayern Munich to a draw...was hoping to witness a thrashing!

I'd be curious to see if there are any viewers in North America of European soccer...

I certainly am a fan of soccer/football. Must say that Chelsea as well as the British press underestimated PSG before the game. What will Jose do? That will be the question for CFC in two weeks time.

Thankfully the second legs of the Quarter-Finals are next week....no need to wait so long between each game now

Too many people in the British press said that PSG were 'dark horses' for the tournament.......dark horses???!!! Have they not seen the players they've bought?! Every position is covered by quality players.....Ibra, Cavani, Pastore, Lavezzi, Thiago Motta, Marquinhos, Alex, Verrati....I'm sure there are more I can't think of, off the top of the head. And I've not even included the vastly overrated Yohan Cabaye.

Chelsea will find it tough to progress...PSG will definitelt get at least one goal at the Bridge.

O, right. Forgot that and one round earlier you had to wait three weeks too. Yes, that's true. They were boo-hooing Ligue One too. Cabaye used to play for another French team too, Nouveau Chateau, les garcons Geordie.

British sports media are a joke. Just look at the way they worship Alex Ferguson as a god.....he's the most overrated manager in the history of football.

And I can't wait until Moyes and Man United get stuffed this week.....Moyes says that United have a good chance to eliminate Bayern....Man United caught Bayern on an off day. Anyone can see that Bayern weren't up for it, they were hardly trying. They were at 50%, at best.

In Munich they will thrash United. I fully expect at least 5 goals

For me, Clough was the better manager. Took two teams without a long history of winning to championships domestically and one internationally. Don't get me that guff about the +20 years that United didn't win a title. There were cup wins and high finishes in between. Also Clough picked solid players and molded them into even better players. Yeah, they are not going to win at the red dinghy. Do they think they are Arsenal? Bayern still has a lot to play for and will win at home. I wouldn't say 5 though. Maybe 3-1.

http://ilsolocalciogiocato.files.wordpr ... arena1.jpg

Looks like a dinghy to me.

Yeah I think so too, what Clough did was pretty much unprecedented, although there are probably examples in other countries that I can't recall.

I actually believe that Fergie's success was a combination of his motivational/leadership skills, and a lot of luck. Not to mention Man United's financial dominance of the 90's up until the Abramovick era at Chelsea.

Tactically he was very average, at best. There was not subtlety to his teams. It was literally just pace. His philosophy was 4-4-2, and play it at pace. That was fine in the EPL of the 90's...but do you remember how often they were outclassed in Europe against managers and players that had technical nous? And that CL win in '99...they were outplayed by Bayern, they were so lucky to win that.

Also his transfer skills have been very average...in the 90's he had financial dominance of the EPL, so he merely bought the best players in the EPL, there's no real skill in going out and buying the best players in the league. And look at when he tried to go and find a bargain....all of his "bargain buys" were failures.

Plus he got lucky with signing Ronaldo. Arsenal almost had him, had scouted him before etc....United merely played Lisbon in a pre-season friendly, and then the United players told Fergie to sign him because he impressed them. Players doing the manager's scouting for him, what a joke!

And I'd be satisfied with 3-1 at the dinghy, but I'm hoping for more .

Yes, that game against Bayern was a highlight but it wasn't for the first 90 minutes or so of the game. Very lucky to win that. The financial dominance was really quite brilliant though. He and the others found a way to increase revenue quite exponentially and used that to their advantage until the sugar daddies too over. But you're right. Look at Man City. They still had to find a way to get the pieces to work together. It's not enough to merely buy the best players. They have to work together well. Yes, players are often not right about these things. I wouldn't say all of them. Ole Gunnar and Schmeichel come to mind for example but they were hardly playing in the top leagues at the time so they could get them at a cheaper price.

Anyway, for this weekend, I'm predicting Man City to beat Southampton 3-1 and Newcastle is likely to lose to Manchester United. I'll say 1-2 and the Everton-Arsenal match to be a 1-1 draw. Very tight, that one.

Whenever I look ar Ferguson, all I see is luck. I know I'm going to sound biased against him, but I'm sick of people hyping him up . The finance was all about the owners, Fergie just used the owner's money to buy whoever he saw fit. Schmeicel and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were the exceptions.....Blomqvist, Taibi, Bosnich, Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson(a world class holding midfielder who Fergie played at right-wing!), David Bellion, Gabriel Obertan, Jordi Cruyff, Djemba-Djemba, Bebe(£8M on a player he'd never even seen), Berbatov(Did ok, but not worth over £30M), then there were the players Fergie failed to get the best out of, Forlan and Veron, who went on to prove to be world class players at other clubs (Veron already was before Fergie ruined him at United)...then there are the post-Ronaldo buys which have been average, bar De Gea....Antonio Valencia, Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Kagawa, Hernandez, Carrick, all players that are not world class, but who Fergie spent big on(I'll let him off Hernandez, he wasn't too expensive )...and then I come to Nani and Anderson....£40M....these were the two who were supposed to 'pick up the baton' when Ronaldo left...look at them now, what a joke, well played there Fergie.

Then there are his selling mistakes.....not buying Tevez permanently(over £35M for a two-season loan??? That's crazy), selling Pique because he wasn't getting enough playing time, the same with Pogba. Selling Ravel Morrison for such a small amount of money.....Fergie is the luckiest manager out there. Look at the '08 Champions League final...everyone was saying Man United were going to win, and were favourites....I can understand that, on paper United had just as good a team as Barca...but what did Fergie do? Played Ronaldo as a centre-forward, played Rooney and Park on the wings, and left Tevez, and his record buy Berbatov on the bench. Let's not even get into the playing style they used in that game.....there was none. As usual, Fergie's tactics were primitive, i.e. get the ball forward fast. He got found out. Outclassed, outplayed, and outthought by Guardiola. And yet the media said United were just not at the races that day.....that's funny, that seems to happen a lot to United in Europe...common denominator - Fergie. Failed to progress past the group stages in the last 10 years, twice!

Now he's taken up a role at Harvard......unbelievable. He knows United are in big trouble this season, nice to see he has an exit strategy so he doesn't sink with the ship.

Rant over

Completely agreed on the Man City prediction...although maybe the Newcastle one...I'd say they may get a draw, United may be focusing on the Bayern game. I think Everton will beat Arsenal, Arsenal are very fragile...it's time for Wenger to go I think.

I think De Gea is good but he's still young. He should have bought an older goalkeeper instead of putting in David as the starter right away despite how well he did in Spain. Goalkeeper is one of those positions where the older you are(to a point) the better you are. Schmeichel was 28 when he came to United. That is a good age. Yes, he left the team in bad shape when he left. Didn't buy enough good players for once he left and the ones he did haven't done the job. There has been too much blaming of Moyes for this season. They definitely should have kept Pogba. A great player for the future and he'll be a starter for France too for years to come. Yes, Ronaldo is much better on the wings. In a way too, like Arsenal, they've never replaced their midfield general. Keane or Vieira. Someone to galvanize from the midfield. Arsenal has lacked leaders since Vieira left. Yes, possibly a draw for United but still that away record is good and Newcastle has not been good of late.

I did not see that result coming at Newcastle...I didn't realise they were THAT poor. They were shocking. Shouldn't be surprised really, when you have a manager like Pardew who refuses to play a world class winger in Ben Arfa.

Can't wait for today's games

Arsenal got rightfulyl stuffed today...Wenger is a joke, putting all his eggs in one basket with an overrated player, Ozil. Anyone can bring up his assist statistics, but he is far too overrated. Marco Reus would have been a better signing if he wanted to get another German player in. Ozil has at times looked like Arsenal's worst player on the pitch.

The real sign that Wenger's transfers have been poor is the outgoings - look at every season before the past two, they always had one or two players that other clubs tried to prize away (Fabregas, RVP etc.), but no one wants their players now. Who would Barca, or any top club, want to try and sign from Arsenal now? Walcott maybe....but that's about it.

I would love to see Everton to get into the top 4, Wenger has had his time.

Then Arsenal need to get in Klopp, although I'm not sure if he can speak English, which could be a problem if not...

Go Liverpool and Real Madrid for the major honours!

That's true but this past year nobody left though. There was some stability there and then Wenger panicked after the first game. That being said, they were doing fine until January then they lost Ramsey and the injuries were piling up and they should have spent more in winter transfer market. Yes, he was the choice of the Arsenal fans that I heard before a game last week. Bring in Klopp, they said. He certainly is a contrast from Wenger. Very intense. Perhaps a bit too much at times...

Haha, classic cap of Klopp, would love to see a rivalry between him and Mourinho if he came to Arsenal

Plus Klopp may actually make some good signings....unlike the average players that Wenger brings in. Although Dortmund did sign Ji Dong-Wong in January, which was strange, as Sunderland deemed him not good enough...

Everyone here loves Ramsey. I've always thought he was overrated.....everyone was building him up before the Man Utd v Arsenal game, and even some Arsenal fans phoned into talk shows saying how poor he was....Ian Wright has also voiced his opinion, saying that Ramsey isn't doing much different to what he was doing before, he was just getting a bit more luck with finishes, positioning etc.. However, you can't ignore Ramsey's stats this season....for me, he is a bit like James Milner, a solid, unspectacular player, that may have one amazing season of scoring goals, and then return to mediocrity. If he keeps it up season after season though, he'll shove my words back down my throat!

Can't wait for this weekend....Liverpool v City should be brilliant....plus I don't think Arsenal will have an easy time with Wigan in the FA Cup. I also hope Hull lose to Sheffield United in the other Semi....but I can't see it. I think it will probably be an Arsenal v Hull final