Liverpool Out Arsenal In!!!

[french_og]

I watch a lot of Spanish football and take out Barcelona, valencia and Real and maybe Villareal the football is nothing special. It is a lot slower than the premiership and the players have so much time on the ball compared to the Premiership - Even Nunez the Liverpool reject look half decent in La Liga.

It just luck of the draw, if Chelsea had not of drawn barca they probably would still be in the competition.

[macca]

italian footy pisses on spanish footy, well better league.

italian football is boring as **** no way is it better than la liga

[Will]

Who do you reckon's the best team for Arsenal to draw then? I'm glad the likes of Chelsea, Rangers and Bayern went out, I'd rather play teams who try and play football like Real! I think the teams I'd least like to draw are Barca, Milan and Juve (mainly because they have Vieira now) though there's probably no easy games now, Benfica have seen off 2 english teams already and Lyon have done well and Houllier knows Arsenal pretty well.

Watching Barca the other day, I was a bit surprised, their football didn't seem anything special really, but they seemed to defend better than expected... It was a shame Messi went off early, I wanted to see what he could do, but he didn't look that good from what I saw.

Part of me hopes we draw another big team, like Barca, that the players will be well up for and we'll no doubt be made underdogs again in most peoples eyes... I mean they didn't seem as good as I was expecting, though they didn't need to chase the game of course.

[Will]

Oh, and how anonymous was Lampard? 2nd best player in the world my arse... Kinda seems like you need a Ronaldinho or Henry to make the difference this year...

[french_og]

Will, it is difficult for Lampard to make a difference in that game, Joe Cole, Robben and Duff were playing in the midfield which is unusual for Chelsea as they usually only play the 2 attacking options. It left Lampard with more sitting responsibilities and with Barcalona keeping the ball so well it was difficult for him to make a impact on that game.

Lampard has been one of the most consistent players in the Premiership and for England over the last 2 years and his goal tally is 2nd to none for a midfielder. Of course Ronaldinhio and Henry are exceptional talents but are totally different players to Lampard.

I think Morinhio made mistake with that team the other night, should stick with what works, coud not believe he never brought on Wright Phillips either and brought Huth on Up front.

[Will]

Nah, I don't buy that, they usually have Makele sitting in front of the dfence to let the rest get on with it and Makele was playing and they had to go for it at the end and he still did nothing. I don't think he's played well once in a big game has he? Being consistent is one thing, but Henry's pretty consistent and he's fired us to victory against numerous european giants too.

I'm sure there's many great players who can produce the goods when it matters and rarely have an off day. Big games are the stage for the truly great players to show how good they really are, being consistent against the rabble isn't so hard really.

[french_og]

Rabble?? i'd love to see you go out there and play against them. Chelsea usually have both Makele and Essien sitting and Lampard is further forward.

All you talk about is Henry this and Henry that, yes he is amazing complete footballer but get out his arse for ****s sake.

[macca]

lampard is a decent player but is he **** 2nd best player in the world had a bad game against chelsea an hasnt been playing well since be 4 xmas imo he was awesome then gutted i didnt take him out me fantasy football team new hed have a bit of a bad spell

[macca]

haha i meant against barcelona

[Will]

Rabble?? i'd love to see you go out there and play against them. Chelsea usually have both Makele and Essien sitting and Lampard is further forward.

All you talk about is Henry this and Henry that, yes he is amazing complete footballer but get out his arse for ****s sake.

The majority of the teams he plays against lack any real quality, they are rabble compared to the likes of Barcelona with no real technical ability or skill to speak of. Essien plays a similar role to Lampard most of the time, they play one holding midfielder, usually Makele, or Essien if Makele's not playing, but they quite often play Gudjohnson alongside Lampard and he's a forward really!

They didn't have Essien last season and they haven't changed their system since he arrived. I don't think Mourinho's so stupid to effectively play the player he hailed the best in the world out of position, especially since he was being so anonymous and they have other players who could do that.

It's just the Chelsea-Barca hype machine that means turds like Drogba can be voted 6th best in the world or something stupid and no-one else gets a look in.

[french_og]

Yes but the Euro player of the year which Lampard got voted 2nd in is voted by players, players who play against him week after week and know how good he is. He has scored 14 Premiership goals this season and lots of assists, he has even scored 10 goals for England already which shows he does it in big games.