Benfica post match

[Vermilion]

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I think this picture perfectly sums up how ****ing **** the ref was last night! notice the incompetent ****er of a ref is looking right at the 'challenge'

It does mate, it really does. So annoying..

[Leyton388]

Babel butted his ****ing foot!

Well if thats the case the incompetent ****er should have sent babel off for that!

[el matador]

You may laugh but babel could be the best since barnes. Rafa has not yet brought in and improved a single attacking midfielder. Hes very good in versing a player in his defensive duties, but when it comes to attacking from midfield, his players become stagnant or even worse.

sorry mate but i think you're on your own here.

Babel isnt anywhere the player barnes was. Barnes guaranteed 10-20 goals and 20 assists a season during his heyday. Im sorry but ryan probably has a total of 15 or 16 goals and maybe 7 assists in the three seasons that he's been here.

ryan hasnt had the impact that the hype suggested he would, however I dont think he's a left winger and i would prefer to play him on the right because he cant use his left foot.

but hes been much better recently.

[Redspin]

I thought we done ok until Babel went.

We'd have won that game with 11 men..
We sat to deep in the second half and invited them in.

Agreed. I wasn't really impressed by them, considering they're supposed to be better than the team we played in the CL. I thought we were very comfortable and I couldn't see them scoring apart from the two very iffy penalties. I really can't see us failing to beat them by at least a couple with 11 v 11

[TheElephantMan]

Agreed. I wasn't really impressed by them, considering they're supposed to be better than the team we played in the CL. I thought we were very comfortable and I couldn't see them scoring apart from the two very iffy penalties. I really can't see us failing to beat them by at least a couple with 11 v 11

[Guest]

[Redspin]

I cant believe that people dont see what this player could be for us, and thats the best winger since barnes. The only reason he hasnt developed to his potential is the manager, who doesnt have a clue what to do with an attacking player.

With respect that's absolute bollocks. Babel reminds me of the old joke about Carlton Palmer. Someone said he was the fastest player in the England squad. He had to be, to control his first touch. Babel has about the same first touch as Palmer and couldn't trap a bag of cement. He's ****ing lazy, runs up blind alleys, doesn't know when to release the ball, will shoot - usually badly - rather than pass to a team-mate in a better position. The sooner he ****s off the better

[Norbs]

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I think this picture perfectly sums up how ****ing **** the ref was last night! notice the incompetent ****er of a ref is looking right at the 'challenge'

It looked ridiculously high at the time, that picture needs to signal the end of this ref's career. Absolutely disgraceful. It's the start of a roundhousing ffs!

[Craig_H]

Agreed. I wasn't really impressed by them, considering they're supposed to be better than the team we played in the CL. I thought we were very comfortable and I couldn't see them scoring apart from the two very iffy penalties. I really can't see us failing to beat them by at least a couple with 11 v 11

Cos they didnt miss a good few sitters or anything, eh?

Both pens were correct decisions.

[SK]

Cos they didnt miss a good few sitters or anything, eh?

Both pens were correct decisions.

they were, and we can have no complaints about the desicions that went against us, it's just that the trgd ****ed up everything else. benfica should have finished the match with at least two players sent off.

anyways, well batter them at anfield

[Craig_H]

they were, and we can have no complaints about the desicions that went against us, it's just that the trgd ****ed up everything else. benfica should have finished the match with at least two players sent off.

anyways, well batter them at anfield

I fully agree with you.

[gerbin11]

I've got a sneaking suspicion that in the return leg Johnson will play LB and Carragher Rb. Just going off some of the pre-season games when Johnson played LB

[The Birdman]

I've got a sneaking suspicion that in the return leg Johnson will play LB and Carragher Rb. Just going off some of the pre-season games when Johnson played LB

I think Rafa will bring in Kyriakos to cope with their big striker and Agger will play there for 1 game

[onceared]

You may laugh but babel could be the best since barnes. Rafa has not yet brought in and improved a single attacking midfielder. Hes very good in versing a player in his defensive duties, but when it comes to attacking from midfield, his players become stagnant or even worse.

What is it that gives you that belief?
He averages 1 goal every 7 games, and given that he only plays generally in home games against ****e teams it's not exactly an inspiring stat.
Stats aside though, what is it about his lazy attitude, **** first touch, half arsed effort in the challenge, failure to spot a pass and just general all round mediocre play that could make him our best striker since Barnes?
Could it not be (and I'm just musing here) that he came from an inferior league where his goal return was ever so slightly better and came to one of the hardest leagues in the world and has so far in over two years shown nothing to suggest he will be better than Mark Gonzales never mind John Barnes.
We wait. We wait. We wait. This super player he's going to be must be just around the corner now.

[dww]

I think people tend to ignore the possibility that what babel needed was a reality check to get anything like the best out of him. It has taken a long while to get to what we see now, which is at least a committed player who makes an effort. I'm still far from convinced he will live up to the claims of some (i.e. become the new Henry or Barnes) but he could become a very valuable option.

People always make out as if Rafa is the only top manager who when they buy a young attacking talent doesn't play them all the time. The obvious examples of other players in similar positions treated not disimilarly by their managers when they weren't intelligent or effective enough in the first team are Nani and Walcott. All three seem to be making progress to one degreeor another now but it has taken a long time in each case.