Hmm, no one's started this? I'll take first bite.

For fucks sake that 2nd goal tonight by Arsenal against Standard Liege couldn't be more obviously illegitimate if someone put a stretch of tape across the whole pitch where the offside line is supposed to be when it got to Vermaelen.

The goal was NOT offside. It didn't touch anything before Song's arm, which fair enough, was a blatant hand ball. However their penalty was almost as dubious. All in all, when we went 2-0 I saw our season hanging over the toilet but we showed good spirit to pull it back. Last season we would've probably lost this game.

Well at least there was some excitement during this first round...(aside from Madrid scoring 5 yesterday that is).

There seems to be a few newboys this year. Am I right in saying Apoel Nicosia, Unirea Urziceni, Rubin Kazan and Debrecen have never reached the Champions League proper before?

+ Standard de Liege

I wasn't home last night. Have only seen Besiktas - United and absolutely nothing else. You have to give credit to the Besiktas crowd. With all due respect, but this talk of "best supporters in the world" about Liverpool or Celtic or whatever gets kinda ridiculous when watching those Besiktas fanatics. Unbelievable. They didn't deserve to lose. But I'm glad they did.

Leige have been in before,we've (liverpool) had them,knocked them out and handed them down to everton in the uefa........

And yes,we were awful last night,a win is a win but we need the AAA in the team,Agger,Aurelio,Aquilani....then you will see the full force of liverpool fc.......

Those were just the qualifiers though. You can't really consider them to have played in the Champions League when all they did was get knocked out in the most undeserved fashion I've ever seen.

Aye,maybe but all im saying is they do have champions league experience,be it only a qualifier but Everton claim champions league experience too and look at them? the same boat.

what do you class as champions league teams then? group/knockout phase only?

Of course. You're not a CL team just because you won your own league in eg Estonia and got knocked out in the 1st round of qualification.

But correct me if im wrong this isnt qualification?! this is group phase..... and the point i was making was to answer a question regarding CL newbies,leige are not newbies to the CL.....they have experience,now can we please stop this childish finger pointing and talk some football boys,its getting dull in here already.......

Yes, but you're saying Standard has CL experience. I don't agree with that. They were knocked out by you lot in the qualifiers. Not in the group stages. So yesterday was their first ever game in the Champions League. You see?

Ok,ill agree.....

Now lets talk about how barca will win it again this year,wouldnt it be ace if united got to the final again and got yet another lesson in football from the masters! haha,id laugh my tits off........

Liverpool were awful last night. It will never cease to amaze me how we constantly fail to deliver a decent cross or corner.

I know,god speed the return of Aurelio,we miss him quite badly......Johnson is playing blinding attacking football,just his defending and passing in his own half is atrocious.......

Aquilani should make some difference and if lucas keeps getting better i might actually begin to like him!!!

why would you laugh your tits off? because it would mean once again you end a season without a trophy because a cup competition is your only decent chance at silverware?

As a United fan (and Messi fanboi) I had no problem at all losing last year's final. the best team won, the team that deserved to go into history as the first treble winning side in Spain won (as opposed to Franco FC), the team that plays with lots of Catalan players, the team that plays super attractive football, the team that has excelled all season long in scoring fabulous goals, playing fabulous football and so called couldn't do it against English sides. I bet you were jealous as hell we had the honour to play them in the final.



(And for the rest of my life, I can say I saw thát Barça team in thát year in person twice play at Camp Nou. )

cos id rather lose in a semi than a final,ac milan the 2nd time around was hard enough. we have as good a chance as you do this season,in this and the league,both have weakened squads,but you have more ageing players in your team now. i think you lot will struggle this term,i really do and that isnt talking as a scouser,as a football fan. come christmas fergie will lose it,giggs and scholes will be knackered and you will be left with a midfield that has no clue what they should be doing and a strike force that has one slightly misfiring striker and a lazy bastard,oh and mikey owen,mwahahaha!!

and you can see all you want,i saw that team come back from 3-0 down in istanbul! nothing will ever top that,the greatest game ever........ i was there......... we won........ my god we won.......... still brings a tear to my japs eye..........

that bits easy. STOP LETTING STEVIE G TAKE THEM RAFA!!!

Fletcher is currently our best midfielder. Anderson has been doing great the last couple of games, his goal will have given him the confidence he so badly needed. Carrick has slowly started showing signs of becoming the player he was the last couple of seasons again. Valencia looks very promising and has a great margin for improvement. While obviously this ain't no Beckham-Keane-Scholes-Giggs, I think it's still more than good enough to challenge for the title. Besides, the way Giggs & Scholes are playing and Fergie is saving them, they are far from finished.

That being said, I also think we'll struggle. But we just won 3 titles in a row, reached 2 CL-finals in a row, won one. I don't think the pressure should be on us to finally deliver this year. Chelski are desperate for a CL and a title again. Can Wenger keep Fabregas if they again end up empty-handed? Can Liverpool-supporters honestly keep their faith in the fat spanish waiter if they're out of the title race by christmas again?

Fletcher yes,id agree,is your best midfielder and that would worry me bigtime cos even he cant boss a midfield the way the old guard used to,it should be carricks job but he cant do it either. Anderson is far too young,he is your lucas,eager but a very rough diamond. And i have never rated carrick,you paid far too much for him and he has never really shown what he was supposedly bought for,that was the first hint that old red nose was losing it,buying carrick for stupid money!!
That midfield in the CL would never cut it,not ever. And he is gonna have to keep giggs and scholes fit for just those games if he wants another final appearance cos they wont be able to play 38 games plus CL too,nowhere near that amount.

We will be in the race come christmas,CL and the league,we got over our usual rough start to a season and have begun carving out our usual unconvincing wins and routs against unlikely opponents. and our team willl only get stronger with the likes of mascherano,aurelio,aquilani,agger to come back and that will be some squad to choose from.
I dont see where your strength in depth is for the first time in a long time,and this worries me,yes you have had a good few years but it means nothing if you dont dominate for as long as we did cos thats all fergie wants to do,emulate the great liverpool sides of the 60's 70's and 80's and the 5 time european cup winners and 18 league title holders,he wont rest until he beats this and it will be his undoing as you can already see! he's been retiring for how many years now and adding one more year on each time?! haha!!

Hmmm, he dominated the league for about 20 years now, minus a little 2-year-gap when Abramovich/Mourinho first arrived. So I'd say he's already done far better than every Liverpool-side ever did.
I'm totally not worried about our squad depth. Don't know where you get it, cause our squad is basically the same as last year. The older have got older, the younger got more mature. Rooney replaces Ronaldo. Valencia/Nani replace winger Rooney from last year. Pro's & con's I know.
We'll see come May where we both are. My guess is an easy title for Chelski and a CL for a Spanish side (and my god, I pray it's the good one )

Carrick : since he joined us, we won 3 titles in a row & reached 2 CL-finals with him organising midfield. I really don't know what more you need to prove. He's no Keane, he's no Gerrard, but my god, he's a valuable player for us.

He hasnt done better,5 times my friend,5 times,he wont feel he's done better til he has more title's and more european cups than us! thats why he keeps pushing back his retirement each year by one more year,cos it grates on him that we are the most decorated club in england!

I dunno,maybe i just missed the boat with Carrick,i can admit he is a decent footballer but he is vastly overrated. You won three title in a row becuase of your attacking players,rooney,ronaldo,gigs,berba,hurts my brain too much to think of united players.....but you get the jist. i dont think at all that carrick had much to do with you winning titles,i really dont. the same way that fat frank gets away with murder at chelski. he is one of the worst footballers ive ever seen but his confidence is sky high and he seems to somehow get goals,its beyond me how he gets so many a season cos i really do think he is a shit footballer!

but,come may it will be interesting,chelski are looking good already but again,i think the wheels will come off,we need a few smaller clubs to get stuck in and with the transfer embargo they would be screwed with injuries!! im praying this happens then i think a two horse race like last time with us two would be another cracking season finale.
we defo have to meet in the CL soon,its been too long and i can see us in the final. it would be the final i wouldnt be able to watch,to lose to you lot would be the end of my world and im sure vice versa!
plus im sick of playing chelski,they bore me now!