AVFC-Prideofbrum

His point is if all refs are biased towards Barca, why wouldn't they have given the two obvious pens in the first leg?

Thanks but this question won't be answered anyway as there ain't no answer for it.

INIESTA!!!!!!!!

Now that looked a penalty, although one replay doesn't help.

Both were stone wall penalties.

Puyol fouled Nesta before Nesta took down Busquets. It's a free kick to Milan, no doubt.

Though shocker, nobody sees the Barca fouls, what a surprise - Nesta/Busquets also wouldn't have gone to ground had Puyol not made the foul. So to give that over the Puyol foul is quite a laughable decision. But this is Barca we're talking about.

Hell, Fabregas even had his arm accross Ambro's face early in the game THEN Ambro won the ball and he still gives Cesc the free kick. No bias from the refs though.

Haha, "no doubt".....err did you just watch the analysis at half-time, pictures are so clear. Nesta has got hold of Busquets long before Puyol fouls Nesta. Puyol DOES foul Nesta but by that time, Nesta had already lost Busquets and was holding his shirt.

Wait the Fabregas one where Ambrosini was pulling him back? LOL. Incredible.

No bias from the refs?

Err what about the penalties in the first leg they didn't get? Wow. :|

referee has well and truly lost the plot, never a penalty. happens 20 times a game and Puyol was grabbing Nesta as well

Wow.

This wasn't just a quick shirt grab, Busquets is away from him and he's just hauled him down.

You're actually unbelievable. I'm sure a Barca player could be kicked in the head and two footed by two different players despite not even having the ball and it wouldn't be anything wrong with it. Jesus Christ.

Er... no yellow card for Xavi?

No yellow card for Ambrosini?

He hasn't booked anyone apart from the penalties and I think Seedorf for continuous dissent.

Both were stone wall penalties.

We went into the 37th game of the season still not 100% safe and managed two fantastic results when houllier physically couldn't be around the first team.

Our defensive record was shocking and while bent scored goals last season i think its a bit of blind faith to suggest houllier would have dealt with losing downing and young and had him scoring just as many this year.

Not suggesting we had a good season at all but the quote I highlight in bold, it could have easily been the other way round.

After back to back wins to beat Newcastle 1-0 and West Ham 2-1, we basically moved safe at that point but then we took just 2 points out of 3 games from Stoke/Wigan/WBA....before as you say 2 great results but do not make it out as if we wouldn't of stayed up comfortably if it weren't for Gary Mac because had GH not gone down ill, who's to say we wouldn't have beat the likes of Stoke/Wigan at home and WBA away and moved mathetmically safe before the 37th game.

Oh and the second one about Bent, I agree that Bent would score less than last year but he has took penalties this year also, so I do believe he'd have him 4-5 more goals. I do think Houllier was far more effective in getting the best out of attacking players, I mean he even somehow managed to make Heskey look useful for a period of time, give him credit there.

Oh and agree the defence was poor but I do think that would have been sorted out along with his own players to at least a respectable level. I think we'd be about 7th/8th about now under Houllier, my opinion though.

Is the right back out again? Abate is it? I like him.

Was he really in charge for 10?!

Thought it was just the last 2 for some reason...

Correction just checked it was about 5

Stoke 1-1

WBA 1-2

Wigan 1-1

Arsenal 2-1

Liverpool 1-0

GEDs last game was a 2-1 win at The Boleyn

after Bent signed, Houllier games saw him pick up 18 points from 11 games (5 wins, 3 draws, 3 losses). I think it's fair to say, had he still been fit, we could have ended the season just as strong if not stronger than in those last 5 games. That sorta form would have us about 7th now

He was getting things right.

I remember being slaughtered in Ashley Young thread on VT when last season I suggested Valencia was a better winger. Not to say Young isn't very good because I love him but Valencia is awesome. Old school winger, nothing is ever over elaborate, just does his job so efficiently and effectively.

United going to win the title anyway it seems now.

The bookies odds aren't there for no reason. We're currently 12/1 to go down. Meaning it's about a 1 in 13 chance of us going down according to the people that make money from these sort of things. People have got to look at this realistically. There's less than a 10% chance of us going down.

Stop panicking people!

Weren't it 25/1 before this weekend or something like that? It's dropping further and further as the weeks go on.

Still, it's gone from a 4% chance to an 8% chance. Still very unlikely we'll go down. Who do you think knows more, the experts or us random punters?

I'm sure Birmingham were similar odds also. 5 points clear with 6 games to go yet they managed to go down.

No one can say for definite whether we are going down or not but it's someones opinion, they are allowed to have that opinion.

If there was a choice between getting relegated but then McLeish being sacked and us getting an exciting youngish manager in or staying in the Premiership but with McLeish, which would it be?

The bookies odds aren't there for no reason. We're currently 12/1 to go down. Meaning it's about a 1 in 13 chance of us going down according to the people that make money from these sort of things. People have got to look at this realistically. There's less than a 10% chance of us going down.

Stop panicking people!

Weren't it 25/1 before this weekend or something like that? It's dropping further and further as the weeks go on.

Anyway Barca get all the decisions.

12 penalty decisions in La Liga which they haven't got; http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/the-12-penalty-decisions-that-have-gone-against-barcelona-in-20112012/

A couple are debatable but definitely 8/9 are stonewallers. We're talking a huge amount, not just 1/2. They dropped a fair few points out of those games with some shocking decisions like Valencia and Villarreal.

Oh and just off last week, Puyol and Sanchez both had definite penalties turned down against Milan.

Oh and not in there was Busquets penalty should have been in their 1-0 loss at Getafe i think it was and Messi disallowed goal which wasn't offside also.

Osasuna as well when they lost 3-2, Osasuna's 2nd goal was offside. Sanchez first half as well was around 2/3 yards onside and finished but was called offside.

but no, all Refs love Barca.....yawn.

Real Madrid were very lucky against Getafe both home and away with some important decisions going their way and Mallorca away.

Can't recall the last time Barca had a player wrongly sent off?

But yeah, there's always going to be one team that gets more decision there way than another team. To say otherwise is to say that either refs are all perfect or that decisions perfectly balance out - neither are true.

Yep that has been true this season and evidence has proven that to be Real Madrid this season.

McLeish.

Get well soon Stan

Tennis between giants like Nadal, Djokovic, Federer are as good as anything.

Boxing is also enjoyable, not a huge fan of anything else. 100m/200m, well Usain Bolt. I think he's incredible.

I'm terrified.

My post above shows we survived a much close relegation fight last season we a similar run in.

We was only 1 point above the drop zone this time last season

We had a (slightly) more competent manager.

We had a style of play that was eventually going to start coming good, which I believe it did towards the end of the season. Whether that was down to Houllier not having control of the team due to health or not.

I always felt that things would eventually come together under Houllier and we'd start playing well. Well enough to stay up anyway.

Either way, we went on a good run.

I don't get that feeling with mcLeish. He's not building anything. he has no style of play that will eventually click and start working. He has nothing. He brings nothing. He gives nothing. He produces nothing. He is nothing. And we, Aston Villa, under McLeish, are nothing.

I don't feel we are capable of having a similar run in this season. We are woeful

Agree with this and weirdly agree with Richard, I struggle to see where we are even going to score the goals. 2 goals in our last 5 games, very worrying but not surprising which is the worst part.

Yeah Nesta and Ambrosini were excellent at keeping Messi quiet, but the way Barca set up was likely to keep Messi quiet. They had no attacking threat down the left at all meaning that when Messi dropped deep Sanchez was isolated. The pitch seemed to be cutting up too which didn't help the game much imo. I think both sides will be happy with the result though.

Definitely, very negative from Barcelona. Main problem was Messi was dropping deep (as he does and how he plays) but no runners from deep, you had Sanchez but that was it, everything else for the majority was behind the ball. Shocked Fabregas didn't start or then at least Pedro to provide down the left. Although Barca score so many goals from controlling the game they are also very dangerous from mini counter attacks, winning the ball in midfield, breaking from there but how many times did likes of Messi pick it up to be faced with 4/5 players behind the ball with only Sanchez in front. Too many.

Milan's midfield and defence did a brilliant job but their job was made easier I think, as good as an individual as Messi is, players of there experience are always crowd out one player. Runners from deeper positions and holding of width on the left could have really opened Milan up and created space for Messi in 1 on 1 situations, more like the group game.

That was my take anyway, maybe Milan were just brilliant but I can't help feel Barca played into their hands.

Guardiola named Bielsa as the best coach in the world, he may not be far wrong.

The only thing about the game that upset me has been barcas complaint about the pitch. it was the bloody same for both teams.

yeah but milan supposedly used the old mourinho trick of not cutting the grass, id say at a guess it was perfectly within tolerance, if there even is one, but it is something that hinders barcas style

are you wenger

people play to there strengths, that's not cheating, its common sense.

To be fair, Milan agreed they would water the pitch before hand and then broke that agreement, a little cheeky.

Don't really care unless it's Blues. Then it matters but West Brom, Stoke? Nah.

Even game, disappointing selection from Barca point of view, everything they did played into Milan's hands. Should of had a penalty but a fair result, will be interesting second leg.

Liverpool and Stoke.

No problem with either. Most people chose a team before they are even into middle school. You can't have a go at people because of what team they support. If the people you know who support say United are dicks about their team, like pretend to stop caring if they have a bad season, only to jump on bandwagon once start winning again then freely criticise.

I know plenty of United fans, I guess I'm not from Brum but the question is still the same really. You can't blame a kid for chosen their favourite players or team that does well. A lot of the United fans I know well basically, their Dads aren't huge on football or only watch it casually without properly supporting a club like say we do. Which when it comes to it, is the most important thing when choosing a team.

If you're a kid and your family/Dad doesn't take you to the football, then all you have is the T.V, you're what 4-8 years old usually when first start liking a team, you see Ryan Giggs, David Beckham etc...doing great things, winning football matches for Man United then of course as a kid you're going to look at them as your favourite players and therefore Man United favourite team. By the time people actually get to make an informed decision on choosing a club based on things such as location, it's mainly too late. They've been watching their particular team (usually a good one) for a number of years and have grown a strong affiliation with them. I do know one person who 2 years ago started supporting West Brom instead of Man United but it's rare.

Maybe I'm wrong but I doubt most people on here could really pick out the moment they decided to support Aston Villa, to me it just happened naturally through my Dad being a huge fan and taking me to games. Some aren't that lucky, they only have the TV. To ridicule their choice as a child is laughable.