This is the one with groups that go all the way to 11… I mean L
Who knew that most of the games were kicking off at 1p ET due to UEFA’s scheduling shenanigans that have games split into two blocks (6p and 9p) in order to appease broadcasters?
Clearly, not I.
Hence, the Bootroom kinda needs to start now, only with no time to hash out a legitimate preview. Oh well. Manchester City-Juve were given a look earlier by Orr, and LFC play FC Utrecht. The rest is for the fates, with a whole lot of Euro minnows and middleweights squaring off.
Just please, show the competition some respect. Though I may have mocked it in the past, I accept that this is Liverpool’s immediate future. And honestly, there are some good-to-decent games on tap.
Let’s check ‘em out, eh?
(all kickoffs 1p ET unless marked)
GROUP A (4.05p ET kickoff)
Lech Poznan v. Red Bull Salzburg
Manchester City v. Juventus
GROUP B (4.05p ET kickoff)
Atletico Madrid v. Bayer Leverkusen
Rosenborg v. Aris Saloniki
GROUP C (4.05p ET kickoff)
AA Gent v. Lille
Sporting Lisbon v. Levski Sofia
GROUP D (4.05p ET kickoff)
PAOK Saloniki v. Dinamo Zagreb
Villarreal v. Club Brugge
GROUP E (4.05p ET kickoff)
BATE Borisov v. AZ Alkmaar
FC Sheriff v. Dynamo Kyiv
GROUP F
CSKA Moscow v. Sparta Prague
Palermo v. Lausanne Sports (4.05p ET kickoff)
GROUP G
Hajduk Split v. Anderlecht
Zenit St. Petersburg v. AEK Athens (already 1-0 Zenit there…)
GROUP H
OB Odense v. Stuttgart
Young Boys Bern v. Getafe
GROUP I
Metalist Kharkiv v. PSV Eindhoven
Sampdoria v. Debrecen
GROUP J
Borussia Dortmund v. Sevilla
Paris St. Germain v. Karpaty Lviv (already 1-0 PSG there…)
GROUP K
FC Utrecht v. Liverpool
Steaua Bucuresti v. Napoli (already 1-0 Steaua there…)
GROUP L
CSKA Sofia v. FC Porto
Rapid Vienna v. Besiktas
Soooo, they split up the matches into two times to appease broadcasters for the Europa League, but not the Champions League? Makes sense.
Two interesting Spain v Germany matches with Dortmund v Sevilla & Atletico v Leverkusen. Oh, and it looks like some club from Liverpool’s playing too.
cash rules everything around me…
didn’t realize Michel was down with the Wu, did you?
Dolla Dolla Bill Y’all!
Over 30 min in and it looks like Utrecht are dominating posession, but no score yet.
If anyone is watching the Liverpool fixture, do you think you could drop a line every once in a while on how Jay Spearing is doing? Much appreciated. It’s freakig 10:30 where I live. I can’t leave work this early.
2-0 PSG v a team I have legitimately never heard of
Steaua Bucharest looks to have taken a 3-0 lead over Napoli, but are now down to 10 men; Hamsik not on the pitch
@ NYK: Never heard of them either, but I assume they have something to do with the Carpathians with that name. Maybe they have a vampire mascot or something.
well, everyone loves a good Carpathian club!
@Anon-pretty sure they do split the CL matches to appease TV guys. They just do those over two days instead.
@Jacob: Right you are. Same reason the first knockout round has been spread out over four match days now instead of two as before.
I meant eight instead of four, or something. Only two matches per day x 2 in a week = 8 teams, and then…. yeah, so four match days instead of two.
Yes, I just typed out the math I was trying to do in my head.
@Shane – now do the formulae for the standard deviation!
This is going in bad direction. Maybe members of Concave’s marketing team can help me with my maths skillz.
Ah, missed the goal; Sevilla up 1-0 over Dortmund; looks like Schmelzer got a yellow and Sevilla scored after a set piece.
Apparently Liverpool missed the memo that their colors are black and yellow for this game and not red and white
It’s not just limited to Spurs players. I proved last night that Spurs supporters can be out 2-3 weeks with a groin pull. Fack.
Love the Wu Tang talk above. True story: I waited overnight to get the Enter the 36 Chambers cassette the day it came out.
@Tno: Do not visit Woodgate’s American specialist.
And Pepe now joins the LOLtastic keeping of this year
Is the Liverpool game as bad as the live blog I read made it sound?
and…suddenly there are comments here, and I look dumb.
Dortmund down to 10 men after Schmelzer picked up his second yellow, but Sevilla trying to equal them as Kanoute picks up a yellow shortly after getting on the pitch.
@Phil
True stroy: I was at Rock the Bells this year and saw all of 36 Chambers performed live.
Anyone watching the Liverpool match? How’s Wolfswinkel?/just needed an excuse to type “Wolfswinkel”
We are fookin’ dreadful. This is gonna be a long season.
OM: how timely!
“69 min: Chance for Utrecht. Van Wolfswinkel is in the ideal position in the middle of the box but shys away from challenging the Liverpool centre-halves and takes his eye off the ball. Had he attacked wholeheartedly that could have been a goal.”
@ JT: And I was thinking about poor CM combos other than Lucas & Poulsen: Wilson Palacios and whoever else ‘Arry pairs with him. Wilson’s been so poor at the start of this season, his atrociousness almost wipes out any productivity of his partner.
@OM, the match has equal parts excitment, equal parts awful passing and LOLtastic Pepe keeping. Both teams are missing the final ball though
@ dan: Some Prem club should sign him in Jan, just on name alone; think of the newspapers the English tabloids could sell with that name. He could single-handedly reinvigorate their economy!
@OM
They’re still better than Lucas and Poulsen, a veritable black hole from which soccer never escapes.
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Also, I bought van Wolfswinkel for LFC last night. Cost next to nothing, and he’s been brilliant. #2 ST behind Ngog. Took him one League Cup game v. Leeds to usurp the Frenchman. Also nabbed Wout Brama to anchor midfield. Another diamond in the rough.
@ Brian: Sounds like me playing rec league last night, minus the LOL keeper; our guy’s pretty good, we sometimes put him in untenable positions though…
“76 min: Liverpool have introduced some urgency to their play, but they still have the same players, so Johnson is easily dispossessed on the attack down the right.”
Took him one League Cup game v. Leeds to usurp the Frenchman.
I didn’t even know I was in the game!
@ JT: How about ManU without Giggs & Scholes? Carrick & ?
@OM, perfect description, if any goal will be scored in this game it will come of a Utrecht set piece as Liverpool is constantly unable to mark up properly
@ Brian: Again, my match last night; we lost 2-1 after being unable to clear the ball off the final corner of the match; really irritating
@OM, I feel like your matches may end up becoming a good predictor of Liverpool’s results, you guys wouldn’t happen to lose often?
@OM
I won 6-2 on Sunday so suck it. And thennnn I pulled my groin yesterday so i’m done fr a few weeks.
Wow Utrecht has the majority of possesion.
oooh, Getafe are getting reamed by Young Boys
Sessegnon replaced by Makonda in the 90th minute for PSG.
Tripy!
@ Brian: No, don’t lose often, but we were tired @ the end and just lost focus as that was the 2nd corner after clearing the 1st; we were playing for the tie and, as what happens to teams that play for the tie, you lose.
@OM, in that case I hope your team is not a predictor for LFC as I hope they lose many games, in actual results 0-0 LCF and Ulretch
@ TNO: We’ve got a guy on our team that’s on a 10 minute play limit b/c in times past he’d play till his groin ripped and then we wouldn’t see him for the rest of the season. Follow phil’s advice: DO NOT VISIT WOODGATE’S DOCTORS. Go see what Ledley’s Drs can do for you instead.
@Phil, TNO:I was at the Roots Picnic this summer, and saw Massacre (Ghost, Mef and Deck) backed by the Roots. Including a riDICULOUS version of “Daytona 500″
@ NYK: Yes, Young Boys Degen’d Getafe/felt a response was called for and Degen’d sounded slightly appropriate
@Keith
That’s sick. I was here- http://stupiddope.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/rock-the-bells-2010-lineup-1.gif?w=500&h=843
_
I <3 Wiz Khalifa
That’s ridiculous in Bucharest. Steaua, which went up 3-0 in 16 minutes on Napoli, got a red card on the 31st. Napoli stormed back to draw, including a 90th minute goal.
@ TNO: Tribe’s “Midnight Marauders” is good stuff.
Of interest in the Citeh/Juve match: Boateng’s starting for Citeh along with Viera; Ade & Tevez up front.
Of interest in the Atletico/Leverkusen match: Bayer with a 4-1-2-3 with 5 players that are defenders
GOAL JUVE!
@Outside Mid
World’s gone mad with a formation like that. Never thought I’d see the Xmas Tree again…
eh? wouldn’t the X-Mas Tree be a 4-3-2-1?
I guess so. I’m thinking of the 4 as the bottom of the tree, with the 1-2-3 as the trunk and base.
@ NYK, JT: Yes, that’s what caught my eye; they started Reinartz sitting in front of Hyypia & Friedrich; the Rangers’ CL away strategy of employing 5 defensive players seems to be in vogue!
@JT – well you’re wrong, now, aren’t you.
and goal for Man City!
Get in there AJ! City have been playing pretty well since I turned the match on 5 minutes ago. Coincidence? Yes, I think so.
Goal Bayer! Suck it Tylenol!
@TNO: Here’s how it started: Criminology/M.E.T.H.O.D. Man
I guess Jozy’s missed a few really good chances in the first half for Villareal.
Off topic, but following FSC on twitter and they’ve got Warren Barton answering viewer questions. A quality insight on who’s winning the Prem: “I’m going with United. After spending some time with Sir Alex, he kept mentioning to me that he wanted to win the league…”
@OM Oh, just rub some horse placenta on it and play.
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@Ryan Jozy has been terrible with the final ball.
@ Bill: He must be; not able to watch it but Gamecast shows 3 shots on target for the young Emile Heskey/ducks as things are thrown
Gah, penno to Atletico & they convert, all square @ the Vicente Calderon
The keeper for Bayer’s keeping this one from getting out of control for the Germans; their five man defensive set-up is not stopping the shots
OM, to be fair, he’s not played poorly other than his finishing. To be even more fair, he’s paid to finish.
Also, I erred- it was Raekwon, not Deck. I don’t know why I had Deck on the brain.
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Ghostdini, the Chef, and Mef. Gyeah
@Bill: I’d contest that he’s paid to hold up play, but that would imply an ability to effectively distribute.
@ Bill: We’re you talking about Jozy or Heskey?
This Rossi character isn’t half bad, though. Wonder when Bradley will hand him an international debut. /painful sarcasm
OM, Jozy. I get that he’s a hold up forward but he’s got to be able to finish sitters and score on the turn if he’s a hold up striker.
I guess this is the default for when a player is substituted other than injury: Bayer Leverkusen makes a sub: Patrick Helmes enters for Eren Derdiyok. Reason: Tactical; They’re both forwards and it’s a 1-1 match. Tactical?
@ Bill: Agree. I wish, as many USMNT do I’m sure, that Jozy finds a way to take those turns and finish off shots or use his strength to power his way through a defense to score more goals. I kind of dread him going down the hold up forward path.
Well, Felipe Melo just entered, so that’s good for a couple bad fouls around the area and at least +1 goal for Citeh.
Jozy Altidore has a case of the Pavlyuchenkos. If this lasts longer than four hours, he should see a doctor.