Jump to content

Football: Mo Please!


AncalagonTheBlack

Recommended Posts

Serie A title race sounds well and good until you see the real tile in the Northern Irish Premiership going into the final game of the season:

https://www.nifootballleague.com/danske-bank-premiership/table

Coleraine's final game is away from home against third placed Glenavon. More interestingly, Crusaders' final game is away from home against sixth place Ballymena United - Coleraine's biggest rivals.

Neither Coleraine nor Ballymena are very successful in the Irish League: Ballymena have never won the title and Coleraine have won it once - in 1974.

Coleraine are having a surprise season: they are level on points at the top going into the final game of the season and are in the final of the Irish Cup, so could be on for a historic double. The only thing in their way is their biggest rivals Ballymena United.

Ballymena is my local team, my great Uncle played for and managed them (also played for Derby County under Clough and the NI national team), so I keep an eye out for their results, but wouldn't call myself a proper fan. The hardcore Ballymena United fans I know, though, are hoping Ballymena United practically lie down to Crusaders to hand them the title and keep it away from Coleraine. I'd imagine that they'd even be celebrating if Crusaders score against them, and celebrating with the Crusaders fans if they beat them.

There's your useless information about Northern Irish football for today!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm trying to stay grounded ahead of the game tomorrow.  We've already over-achieved in the CL this year and it's all a bonus from here.  I'd love to see our heroic victory over City carry us further than just the next round, even if it is a semi-final, but Roma have been pretty fantastic in the CL themselves this year against tougher opposition, and the tie could go either way.  I really hope the team makes a strong showing.  I'm OK with winning or losing, but I'd hate to see any player(s) trudge off feeling responsible for a bad mistake or a bad performance.  Even if it sounds a bit Spursy, I'm pretty happy with this season of high quality football and competing at the top, even if we end up without a trophy, I just would hate to see it end on a sour note for these players.

I hate the Liverpool fans who start with "this will be our year" every July, and now confidently predict our 6th CL.  Why do they insist on creating a stick to beat us with?  We're outsiders in the CL; dark horses at best.  Now we've come up against another dark horse team in the semis, with both of us having defeated favorites in the last round, and later we face in the final a European giant of the past decade.  This is no time for acting entitled, just enjoy that we're here and see what happens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there's anything watching and supporting Liverpool has (or at least should've) taught us is that there are no sure things with our team. :lol: 

Sure, Liverpool has a better shot at finals against Roma then against Bayern or Real Madrid, but Roma definitely didn't get this far in the competition by accident or dumb luck. These two legs are definitely not going to be easy for either team.

I'm hoping for a good game and a good result.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Liverpool really should have scored more here.

Interesting formation from Roma. It's letting them pressure Liverpool in midfield but it's leaving a lot of space for Salah and Mane down the channels. Since Liverpool have started just bypassing midfield it really isn't working, they should probably make a change.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Di Francesco'a advice to his players to go one better than against Barcelona was slightly misinterpreted.

Thrashings in the latter stages of the Champions League when one side gets their setup wrong are pretty common these days, but this is particularly bizarre given how obvious the flaw was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...