Tackles, balls and Seaman - The footie thread

[axl_rose_700]

Leeds are gunna go down! The joys!   

[Izzy]

Yeah, that really was a wonderful night.? Gerrard is really amazing for Liverpool - a perfect captain.

Except he continually threatens to leave....losing Owen wasn't great, but Gerrard to would be really hard to take.

[MadmanDan]

Hmmmm... he would be a nice replacement for Roy Keane. Go for it,Fergie!

[Chris Misfit]

It's gonna be the Arse, Chelski or Madrid that get him.

Could you imagine if Arsenal got him and Wright Phillips? Fuck sake!

Who was the Villa fan here?

[badapple81]

Me!

The big one this weekend.. Villa V Birmingham.. we haven't done too well against them since they came into the Premier League. How good is the young Irishman Steven Davis looking! 2 man of the match awards in his first 3 full games!

[Chris Misfit]

I'm interested in the progress of young Davies (or Davis, whatever). I haven't seen much of him. You?

[badapple81]

He got man of match against Spurs although I missed that one. He has been playing in an attacking midfield role occupied by the suspended Lee Hendrie. From what I've seen, he is the first Villa player in a long time willing to take a player on before passing (to another Villa player, which for us, is rare). He looks quite sharp and promising. And has certainly not been left to shame against players like Gerrard in recent weeks, with only a handful of games in the senior team under his belt.

[Chris Misfit]

Good, good.

I think he's just broke into the N. Ireland squad.

[badapple81]

I think he actually got 1 or 2 caps before breaking into the first team at Villa.

[Izzy]

AC Milan and Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko has been named European Footballer of the Year.
Barcelona's Deco and Ronaldinho were second and third with Arsenal striker Thierry Henry fourth.

Shevchenko, who joined Milan from Dynamo Kiev in 1999, said: "I'm very pleased to have received this award."

The 28-year-old has scored 102 goals in Serie A over the last six seasons, helping Milan win the Champions League in 2003 and the Italian title in 2004.

Shevchenko was the first foreigner to top the scoring charts in a debut season in Italy with 24 goals in 32 matches.

And last season he was again top scorer in Serie A with 24 goals.

In last year's poll, he was fourth behind Czech winner, Pavel Nedved of Juventus, and is one of three players in line for Fifa's World Player of the Year award.

The others are Ronaldinho and Henry.

Shevchenko becomes the third Ukrainian to win the award after Oleg Blockhin in 1975 and Igor Belanov in 1986.

[badapple81]

It's going to be a long time until I wear my Villa top in public again 

[Jim]

Three wins on the bounce. We rule!!

[Danny Top Hat]

Missed out on a huugggee chance to gain some ground on Chelski on sunday.  Both teams played really well, but the game was there to be won.

*cough*andweshouldhavehadapenaltyattheend*cough*

[Izzy]

Liverpool are playing like relegation was a certainty, mid table for us methinks - and to think we spent 10 million just to fire Houllier, what clowns we are!

[Danny Top Hat]

Yes!  I am so pumped over today's Champions League draw.  Bayern Munich should be a really great game, as will all the English games, and Real Madrid/Juventus.  With 5 great looking matches on, I have no idea how i'll be able to watch them all!

[Izzy]

Is this the first year they have had the knock out round instead of the second group phase?

I have to be honest - the Champions league always bored me, 2 fucking group phases and then a 8 year break in the middle, yuck worst competition ever, i hope this new arrangement does the trick.

[MadmanDan]

Well we'll have a few great matches in the League next spring!  But I'm afraid that, with all te big guns drawn together, that makes an opportunity for smaller teams to go through and we might have another crappy final like last year.

Bring on Milan!!!!

[Jim]

You won't fool. 

Anyone know the dates?

I'm too tired to look up or work them out, but please please tell me that Chelsea Barcelona isn't the same day as Real Juventus.

The Champions League is alive and well. 

Last years wasw truly awful.

[Jim]

Is this the first year they have had the knock out round instead of the second group phase?

I have to be honest - the Champions league always bored me, 2 fucking group phases and then a 8 year break in the middle, yuck worst competition ever, i hope this new arrangement does the trick.

Hmm. I'm very dubious about everything you said there.

In a one word answer to your question, no.

As far as I remember, there was only one qualifying group when I first started watching. And I'm usually right, so you can take that for gospel.

And also, there wasn't a second group stage last year fool. This is the second year of the 'new' format.

Jebus though. Not liking the champions league, eh? Fucking hell. The only 'bad' competition I can remember was last years. How can you not get an erection when looking at the matches coming in the next round?

Watch some of the Champions League matches from years back on Eurosport if you get it, they're incredible. Champions League Classics I believe it goes by the name of.

Worst tournament ever? Go watch another sport then buddy. Or, the Carling Cup. (We didn't want to win it anyway.........)

I can't believe what I just read. It's almost as bad as that Danny kid not being fond of International football.

[Jim]

After my over the top reply to your post Isabel, I got a bit worried and started to doubt my football knowledge. Me!

But to enlighten you and others interested, I dug this up:

Format
The current UEFA Champions League format came into existence for the 2003/2004 season. This involves a qualifying competition, one group stages and a final knock-out phase involving 16 clubs down to two, and a final, which is staged at a major European venue at the end of the season.

Evolving format
Originally the competition - which began in 1955/56 - was organised on a knockout basis. However, the format was changed in 1992/93 when three knockout rounds opened the competition, to be followed by a group stage involving two sets of four clubs playing home and away. The two group winners then contested the final. A similar format followed in the 1993/94 season, although a two-legged semi-final stage involving the top two clubs from both groups preceded the final.

Competition expansion
The competition expanded even further for the 1994/95 season with one preliminary round required before the clubs divided into four groups of four clubs. Again, the top two clubs in each group advanced to the knockout stage, which meant an additional quarter-final phase was required. The next change came at the start of the 1997/98 season as the competition underwent another phase of expansion. Now two qualifying rounds were required as the group stage involved six groups of four clubs each. The six group winners and the two best runners-up advanced to the knockout stages of the competition. Further change came for the 1999/2000 season when an additional qualifying round was introduced in order to generate two group stages, firstly with 32 teams - eight groups of four - who played six matches apiece in order to reduce the competition to 16 teams for the second group stage, with the eight third-placed teams moving to the UEFA Cup third round. At the end of the second group stage, eight teams remained to contest the quarter-finals over two legs. The winners advanced to the semi-finals that were also played over two legs. From the two semi-final ties, the two clubs to play in the final were decided.

Source: www.uefa.com