*Official* English Football Season 2008-2009

[Magrat Garlick]

Haha, nice draw for Anorthosis. Puts out one of the Attika giants and gets the other.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Oh, I didn't even know the Citeh match was going on, oh I'll live.

Anywhoo

Group A: CHELSEA, AS Roma, Bordeaux, Cluj
Group B: Inter, Werder, Panathinaikos, Anorthosis
Group C: Barcelona, Sporting, FC Basel, Shakhtar
Group D: LIVERPOOL, PSV, Marseille, Atletico
Group E: MAN UTD, Villarreal, CELTIC, Aalborg
Group F: Lyon, Bayern, Steaua, Fiorentina
Group G: ARSENAL, FC Porto, Fenerbahce, Dinamo Kiev
Group H: Real Madrid, Juventus, Zenit, Bate

Quotes, comments, jeers?

Don't really see any English clubs having trouble, The Londoners having most trouble I think.

BTW, that Defender, GK and Midfielder of last tournamet, all joke selections for me, especially 'keeper.

Liverpool & us for mine. Although I don't think Kiev are the team they used to be.

Faintly unreal that a team from Cyprus has made the group stages tho. Always good to see the little guys do well. Would hazard a guess they're the smallest country ever to make it (if one excludes Monaco, who're a French team).

 

[Matteh]

Who'd them and Bate beat to get there?

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Liverpool & us for mine. Although I don't think Kiev are the team they used to be.

Faintly unreal that a team from Cyprus has made the group stages tho. Always good to see the little guys do well. Would hazard a guess they're the smallest country ever to make it (if one excludes Monaco, who're a French team).

Kyiv won 8-2 over Spartak Moskva, so must be on the way back up.

Think your guess is right too, only eight smaller UEFA members (Faroes, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Andorra, Iceland, Malta, Luxembourg and Montenegro). Mind, the team only has six actual Cypriots.

Also find it vaguely amusing that they're calling themselves Anorthosis Famagusta despite not having been near Famagusta for 34 years.

Edit to Matteh: Anorthosis beat Olympiakos (won 3-0 in Larnaca), BATE beat Levski Sofia after beating Anderlecht in qualifying round two.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Just couldn't make the grade. Had some promise but he didn't improve sufficiently. No different to countless other young players. And Nike is the one who makes money from shirt sales with Man Utd being paid a set amount for Nike to get those rights. Also, Asia is known to have a thriving fake merchandise industry so if anything more of those shirts would be sold over the genuine ones.

I said you couldn't use "shirts".

 

[BoyBrumby]

Kyiv won 8-2 over Spartak Moskva, so must be on the way back up.

Think your guess is right too, only eight smaller UEFA members (Faroes, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Andorra, Iceland, Malta, Luxembourg and Montenegro). Mind, the team only has six actual Cypriots.

Also find it vaguely amusing that they're calling themselves Anorthosis Famagusta despite not having been near Famagusta for 34 years.

Edit to Matteh: Anorthosis beat Olympiakos (won 3-0 in Larnaca), BATE beat Levski Sofia after beating Anderlecht in qualifying round two.

Ha, I dream of having six Englishmen tbh.

& we haven't been near Woolwich since 1913 & we're still called The Arsenal, so think it's fair enough.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Who'd them and Bate beat to get there?

QR1: Anorthosis 3-0 Pyunik Yerevan (Armenia)
QR1: BATE 3-0 Valur Reykjavik (Iceland)
QR2: Anorthosis 4-3 Rapid Vienna
QR2: BATE 4-3 Anderlecht
QR3: Anorthosis 3-1 Olympiakos
QR3: BATE 2-1 Levski Sofia

 

[Tom Halsey]

BTW, that Defender, GK and Midfielder of last tournamet, all joke selections for me, especially 'keeper.

Tbf, whilst I agree with you about Cech, is it technically supposed to be about how they played in the European Cup last year? If so, can't remember any real foul-ups in Europe.

Terry and Lampard both jokes, agree.

Very happy with the draw indeed, always like to get Celtic or Rangers. Think Liverpool a slight chance of going out, albeit a slight one.

 

[sledger]

Gerrad yea he is plays for liverpool United biggest rivals but fact is he is an English player & along with many others i want to see him do well & ENG to win something, since for me with football it is country>>>>club. England winning something in my lifetime would be wayyyyyyyy better than United dominating the premiership every season..

All of us want to see England win something, again, nobody has said anything to suggest otherwise.

 

[steds]

All of us want to see England win something

 

[Pup Clarke]

Steds = Scotsman

 

[GIMH]

aussie, why do you feel the need to mention the fact that most posters in this thread are white at every opportunity? Tiresome TSTL

Just give it up WRT Gerrard. Some think he should care more about England, some (like me & Halsey) think that club should come first, and others don't really give a **** either way.

The best thing you can do now is to turn yourself to the big Northampton game this weekend. Bit of a grudge match ITBT as a mate of mine tried to run the pitch and back on the last day last season but was accosted by home fans en route. As such, a 4-0 win is required to avenge this.

 

[Dark Hunter]

Tbf, whilst I agree with you about Cech, is it technically supposed to be about how they played in the European Cup last year? If so, can't remember any real foul-ups in Europe.

Terry and Lampard both jokes, agree.

Very happy with the draw indeed, always like to get Celtic or Rangers. Think Liverpool a slight chance of going out, albeit a slight one.

Is that because you think we're easy beats, or because you think we provide a good match?

Fairly happy with our group anyway, reckon we can get through it. Need to beat Utd at home like we did couple of years back, and I reckon we can beat Villarreal at home as well. Worst comes to worse, at least there's no bigger 4th team to steal the Uefa cup spot away.

 

[Craig]

Best bit of business by Citeh. Mind you the money paid by Chelsea is probably nothing for Mr Abramovich.

 

[The Sean]

Oh, I didn't even know the Citeh match was going on, oh I'll live.

Anywhoo

Group A: CHELSEA, AS Roma, Bordeaux, Cluj
Group B: Inter, Werder, Panathinaikos, Anorthosis
Group C: Barcelona, Sporting, FC Basel, Shakhtar
Group D: LIVERPOOL, PSV, Marseille, Atletico
Group E: MAN UTD, Villarreal, CELTIC, Aalborg
Group F: Lyon, Bayern, Steaua, Fiorentina
Group G: ARSENAL, FC Porto, Fenerbahce, Dinamo Kiev
Group H: Real Madrid, Juventus, Zenit, Bate

Quotes, comments, jeers?

Don't really see any English clubs having trouble, The Londoners having most trouble I think.

BTW, that Defender, GK and Midfielder of last tournamet, all joke selections for me, especially 'keeper.

Happy with that draw - neither Celtic nor Villarreal will be pushovers and Aalborg gave a solid account of themselves against Spurs in last years UEFA, but there's nothing for United to be afraid of there. Can't see Chelsea having any real trouble either. Arsenal and Liverpool could both have difficulties - the red scousers have got the toughest group for mine, and a potentially emotional return to Atletico for Torres adds a bit of spice too.

That being said, if I had to bet one way or another, I'd have my money on all four English teams going through.

Terry the best defender in last year's Champions League? Behave. Did they not have enough flood insurance in the room to back them against his tears if he lost?

 

[The Sean]

Ha, I dream of having six Englishmen tbh.

No you don't. You'd be much, much worse.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Is that because you think we're easy beats, or because you think we provide a good match?

Partly because the games against Celtic a couple of years ago (thinking the Old Trafford one in particular) were good games, and partly because it's an easy away to get to, compared with three teams from Eastern Europe, for instance.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Saha to Everton.

City draw Omonia in the UEFA Cup, pretty good draw considering the quality of opponents around.

 

[Agent TBY]

And thus, we continue to buy United failures. Expect two own goals in the tie this season, tbh.

 

[Loony BoB]

To be fair, Saha is a failure in fitness, not goalscoring ability (at the right end). If he stays fit for the season then it's a good buy, if not, well, you know.