| QUOTE (McNamara That Ghost... @ Apr 15 2009, 08:41 PM) |
| These were posted at the same time. I have made an executive decision to keep this one because it has the date in it. :good: |
| QUOTE (tigerthesmurf85 @ Apr 15 2009, 11:05 PM) |
| Sweet. I take it the second leg will be the week after on Tuesday. 12th March? 2 days after Chelsea at home :faint: |
| QUOTE |
| Wayne Rooney has told Sky Sports News he is eagerly anticipating Manchester United's UEFA Champions League tie against rivals Arsenal. The Premier League giants will meet in the last four after they both negotiated tricky quarter-finals on Wednesday evening. United claimed an impressive 1-0 second leg victory at Porto, while the Gunners saw off Villarreal in comfortable style. Rooney was delighted with his side's display at Estadio do Dragao and is now looking forward to locking horns with Arsenal. He said: "We just had to come here and win the game. Once we went 1-0 up we defended very well and never really looked like conceding." Of the clash against Arsenal, he added: "It will be a difficult game. They are a good team of course. Hopefully it will be two exciting games. "It [retaining the trophy] is something we are really focused on. It is a great opportunity for us to do that, having reached the semi-finals." Red Devils full-back Patrice Evra added: "It will be a difficult game because Arsenal have a lot of big players back and they are in great form." |
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| Kolo Toure has begun the mind games between Arsenal and Manchester United by claiming their opponents are the favourites to progress from their UEFA Champions League semi-final meeting. The Gunners booked their place in the last four of Europe's elite competition after a 4-1 aggregate victory over Spanish side Villarreal. United, meanwhile, claimed a hard-fought 3-2 aggregate success against Porto, with winger Cristiano Ronaldo netting the decisive goal in the second leg. Toure is now eagerly anticipating Arsenal's clash versus the European champions, having defeated their rivals in the Premier League earlier this season. He said: "We are in the semi-final. We have fresh players. We played with a new defence today [Wednesday] and we did very well. "Now we need to get ready for Saturday against Chelsea. We will have to face (Didier) Drogba, who is always good against us. "For the Champions League, I think we are not favourites as United are the champions. "However, they know we can beat them, so we are looking forward to it. Bring them on." |
| QUOTE (McNamara That Ghost... @ Apr 16 2009, 11:25 AM) |
| Mind games?! My word The Sun are pathetic. |
| QUOTE (Gary the Gooner @ Apr 16 2009, 06:33 AM) | ||
In the Sun, stringing a coherent sentence together is akin to mind games. |
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| ONE of the great disappointments of recent seasons has been the calling of a truce between Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. It descended to such unacceptable levels last year that both managers appeared on the same podium answering questions as they hosted an LMA event. It has further deteriorated over recent weeks with Ferguson and Wenger actually AGREEING with what each other had said. Is there no end to this appalling love-in? Hopefully, yes. The two Champions League meetings over the next month may just be enough to rekindle the old animosity that was box-office gold before Rafa Benitez became Ferguson’s new best friend. Those were the glory days of Wayne Rooney conning a penalty out of Mike Riley at Old Trafford, thus ending Arsenal’s 49-game unbeaten run and prompting Pizzagate. The days when Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira eye-balled each other in the Highbury tunnel, when a near-demented Martin Keown was one of four Arsenal players banned after jumping all round — and nearly on top of — Ruud van Nistelrooy. The days when Rooney so abused Graham Poll one day that the FA were forced to introduce their futile Respect campaign. All this and Nigel Winterburn too. Then came a Ferguson interview — at a time when he regularly went out of his way to wind up the North London club — in which he slaughtered Arsenal saying he’d never received an apology for the pizza-chucking. A furious Wenger, unable even to mention Ferguson’s name, responded: “I’ll never speak to that man again.” Strangely enough, the improved relations between the two men have coincided with Arsenal’s decline. Fergie obviously felt there was little point in expending energy on them when they no longer posed a threat. The last time the Gunners inflicted any significant damage on United was when they won their last trophy — the 2005 FA Cup — despite being totally outplayed. The old rivalry was replaced by United-Chelsea and, with renewed vigour courtesy of various Benitez rants, the long-running United-Liverpool grudge matches. Now, though, Arsenal are back in the frame via their progress in the Champions League and FA Cup, an unbeaten 18-match league run and an overall sequence of just one defeat in 24. Wenger now has the luxury of players fighting for a place in midfield and attack. What a change to the dark days earlier this season when Wenger carried the worries of the world on his shoulders. Yet, incredibly, they still beat United and Chelsea. The question now facing Ferguson and Wenger is: Who will blink first? Who, over the next fortnight, will break ranks and lob the opening grenade? Will Ferguson make a reference to leopards — and Cesc Fabregas in particular — never changing their spots? Will Wenger come up with a new version of the comment that got under Ferguson’s skin — “everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home”. Arsenal’s main problem continues to focus on the identity of the man to partner centre-back Kolo Toure. Mikael Silvestre is no longer up to the job judging by his display against Villarreal. They may be tempted to rush back Johan Djourou. Arsenal hold the key to so much with an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea tomorrow, a trip to Anfield on Tuesday, those two Euro semis against Fergie’s men plus league fixtures with Chelsea (h) and United (a). All this and the Ferguson-Wenger show back on the road... happy days are here again. |
| QUOTE (Marc Overmars @ Apr 16 2009, 11:06 PM) |
| 2-2 :good: |
| QUOTE (Syn @ Apr 17 2009, 02:35 PM) | ||
As a great man once said, I would splaff my pants if that happened. |
| QUOTE (Let's Twat These Twats™ @ Apr 17 2009, 10:36 AM) | ||||
Which great man said that? :unsure: |
| QUOTE (Syn @ Apr 17 2009, 11:37 AM) | ||||||
MOe. :good: |
| QUOTE (Syn @ Apr 17 2009, 02:42 PM) |
| It does actually sound like something Moe from the Simpsons would say...so probably. |
| QUOTE (Let's Twat These Twats™ @ Apr 17 2009, 11:43 AM) | ||
No, it doesn't. Now find a proper phrase said by a great man or GTFO, tbh. :good: |
| QUOTE (Marc Overmars @ Apr 23 2009, 05:11 PM) |
| Bendtner, your time has come. |
| QUOTE (Elche @ Apr 22 2009, 10:20 PM) |
| Breaking news...United lose both Gazza Neville and John O'Shea for the Semi Final. Surely the balance has tipped in our favour now! |