Arq

I love that jersey. I wish I could find one, I'd pick that up in a minute. ;)

Perfectly said. I was only able to watch the last 30 minutes of the match. Real looked like they were confused. They didn't know whether to attack or defend. That cost them. I was watching on ESPN's gamecast and it looked like the first half was just a firing squad of Real shots on Lloris. And I'm with Westway... Some of the dives and finishes were comical. I believe it was Albiol who had a twisting flop that made me almost spit out my drink. And Lisandro's miss in the 89th-90th minute was just unbelievably shocking. I must say, I'm ecstatic to see Real out. I had a buddy here at work who was convinced that they were going to win it all at the Bernabéu this year. He's going to hear it when he gets in...

I'm going with Germany to win it all. They usually seem to step it up for the International competitions. Spain and Brazil will be dangerous, no doubt. I'm not so sure about England. I believe they will do well but they seem to have injuries piling up. I also believe the Dutch will do well. Just something tingling in my spine that tells me this could be a good competition for them. And I'm hoping for a good showing by the USA team. At least make it to the knockout rounds (where they will probably face Germany since England will top Group C and I'm expecting Germany to top Group D ).

We definitely need to win this game. Yeah, I'm stating the obvious but this is still BC for me (Before Coffee). It's time to put up or shut up. It's as simple as that. I'm predicting a 3-1 result for the Chels.

Alex for me. Ivan was right there as a close second. And a solid performance from the whole team. Very uplifting.

Cheers! Good luck the rest of the season. :P

Spot on Machine. Alex imho was MOTM. Bring on Villa! ;)

Chelsea over Germany (I pull for the Germans). I will say that I find myself rooting for Chelsea players on other teams. I want to see the Ivory Coast do well because of Drogs and Kalou. I'd like to see England do well because of Lamps, JT, and Ash (if he's back). The list can go on. That's how I know it's club over country for me.

I've always liked Deco, but he's done virtually nothing for this team. It's time to go. I wish him the best of luck back in Brazil.

Couldn't have said it better really. I hear newscasters on ESPN talk about how Bridge handled this with "dignity", and I just can't believe how he's looked to be the victim.

As much as I hate to type this, Arsenal do have a chance. We've had a tough run in and haven't been dealt a good hand when it comes to the injury cards. With that said, during the biggest times of adversity isn't this when true champions rise up? I think this team is a championship team. They are the ones that need to step up and prove that point. It'll be tough, they won't get any help, but if they want to be champions they know they need to win the games remaining. The title is still ours to lose. Still keeping the faith here. :unsure:

Got to agree with this... If the team isn't hungry for the title, they shouldn't expect other teams to just lay down and concede with 10 games remaining. They have to want it and fight for it. At times, it just didn't look like they wanted it bad enough. Still, maybe this is the wake up call that they needed. There is still time to turn it around. It's just one match. :unsure:

I don't agree with you on the injuries. I believe if Cech were in at least one of those first two goals would have been saved. The outcome might have been the same but I believe today we saw how important Cech can be to this team especially a Cech playing at the top of his game. That said, you might be spot on with the statement that the JT situation is affecting the team.

Barely. I don't think it was a penalty. Let me say that I've seen more contact not be called. I will agree that Belletti should have never been in that position. He screwed up allowing Barry to get that opportunity.

Good call there. I think... :(

Ah, you heard that too. Yeah, that one hurt. Penalty for Anelka, given by Barry. Too little, too late... Lamps puts it in.

I must say, so far I like the effort the remaining 9 have been showing. That's the bit of good news from the match. All is not lost, it's just one match. There are 10 more to go and anything can happen. Got to keep our heads up!

I've been watching it, biting my tongue, until that utter crap of a penalty. Clear dive by Barry and of course Beletti gets a red. Unreal. Oh nice, Ballack just sent off as well. Ugh, what a day...

7:45AM for me too BigIzz. Coffee and football, woohoo! This game is either going to start my day off grand or set my bad mood for the rest of the weekend. :D I'm thinking Carlo is going to go with a 4-3-3 setup, something like this: Hilario Ferriera Terry Riccy Ivanovic Malouda Lampard Ballack Kalou Drogba Anelka

Not sure if anyone has seen it, but I guess he officially has refused. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/sto...5901&ver=us If I were called to the England squad (or any squad) for the World Cup, I'd go. Especially if it's a dream of mine. I think he's just being a baby about the whole thing...

1. Man City (h) w 2-1 2. West Ham (h) w 3-0 3. Blackburn (a) w 2-0 4. Portsmouth (a) w 3-0 5. Aston Villa (h) w 2-1 6. Man Utd (a) d 2-2 7. Bolton (h) w 2-0 8. Tottenham (a) w 2-1 9. Stoke (h) w 3-1 10. Liverpool (a) d 2-2 11. Wigan (h) w 2-0 I'm sure one of these is going to turn into a loss, I just can't bring myself to predict it. :P Thanks for doing this Butch, looks fun.

Wow, reading some of these posts (from the time I left work), you would think that we've lost everything. Here's how I see it, Kalou may be below average overall (a debate imho to be left out of this thread... this is about tonight) but I thought he did decently. He got us our away goal, lucky or not. And he SHOULD have been awarded a penalty. As far as I'm concerned, he gets kudos for giving it a good go. Also remember, Drogs cracked a 25 yarder off of the bar. That's the breaks, I get it. Who's to say we don't have a bit of luck at the Bridge in a few weeks and we get another crack at a shot like that. We were the more offensive side, and while there were some mistakes, I wouldn't have been surprised to see the result 4-3, 4-2, or 3-2 in our favour. What just gives me a bad feeling in the gut is Cech's injury. Let's hope it's just a minor calf strain and that he'll be back in a couple of weeks. Down 2-1 with the second leg at the Bridge? Bring it on. And imho, Stoke beating Man City is good news for us. I have to admit I'm also thrilled about seeing Adebayor out for the match on Saturday. Go Blues!

Can't wait to watch that when I get home... I'm not even watching it and I'm sick to my stomach. About to make the commute home, going to be listening in the car cheering for the Blues. Go Chelsea!

I hope you're right.

I'm at work following it on ESPN's Gamecast... I can't believe they scored already. :lol: