Villarreal CF vs Futebol Clube do Porto UEFA Europa League SF--2nd Leg: Porto lead 5-1 on aggregate Estadio El Madrigal Thursday, May 5, 2011 21:05 Just have to make sure we don't blow this haha!
List of players called: GK: Helton and Beto; DF: Sapunaru, Maicon, Rolando, Sereno, Otamendi and Alvaro; MF: Fernando, Souza, Guarin, Moutinho and Ruben Michael; FW: Hulk, Varela, Falcao, Walter, James Rodriguez and Cristian Rodriguez. --Moutinho will miss the Final if he picks up a yellow.
Don't even play Moutinho then ------------Helton---------- Sapunaru---Maicon--Rolando---Alvaro -------------Fernando--------------- --------Guarin-------Micael------ ------Varela----Falcao-----Hulk
AVB will leave this season. Where is best place for him Chelsea? Inter? Bayern Munich? Real Madrid? Juventus? Man City(If they don't make top 4)? I think Inter is probably best place for him, I they have funds to get the players he wants. I think Chelsea won't give him the time. Real Madrid fire coaches every year anyways. Juventus sucks but he could help them come back to glory. Bayern is good not great though. Man City will probably make top 4 so he ain't going there.
What makes you think that he's not going to stay? Considering the comments released to the press, I doubt he's leaving. Plus, I know the president too well, highly doubt he's going to let AVB's foundation go to waste next season in the CL.
I'm sorry but what does that have to do at all with this thread? And He doesn't need to go to a big team. The fact is, if he wins Europa, he is in a win-win situation next year if he stays. As long as we don't lose too many players, we still have a team that is far superior to any other in our league, so retaining the title is very likely. The win-win comes from champions league. If he makes it far, which our team is capable of, he looks even better. If he gets knocked out against a big team, people will understand it and say there was nothing he could do about it. Having said that, if we can blow this game on Thursday, we should forfeit the Taca final, and give Benfica the league trophy. We have a four goal lead. Don't play Moutinho either, so he doesn't risk a yellow.
Moutinho better not play. Don't even put him on the squad. Can't risk losing him. All Porto has to do is withstand the first half onslaught. Once the second half starts, expect 5 more goals
He's not leaving. Hypothetically, lets say he were leaving and "to a big team" as you say. If we go based on the iffhs World Club Rankings, that would only leave Barcalona and Real Madrid as a "bigger team". So take your pick. http://www.iffhs.de/?10f42e00fa2d17f73702fa3016e23c17f7370eff3702bb1c2bbb6f28f53512
Regarding tomorrow's match, it's nice to hear AVB guarantee that we'll go to Spain with our favored 4-3-3 to attack, even with the 5-1 advantage. I watched a bit of Villarreal's last league match vs Getafe, and their defense looked suspect to say the least. I just can't see how they'll keep a clean sheet against us. Only real questions seem to be (a) who starts at LW and (b) does Moutinho start?
Villas-Boas: «Vamos jogar ao ataque» - This is good to hear (a) LW -Same as first leg Cristian Rodriguez over Varela to start. I'd rather Varela start. (b) Ruben Michael over Moutinho - Hopefully doesn't risk Mou
Starting XI: Helton Sapunaru-Rolando-Otamendi-Alvaro Fernando Guarin-Moutinho Hulk-Falcao-C. Rodriguez Bench: Beto, Maicon, Sereno, Walter, James, Souza, Ruben Michael.
wow why would Moutinho start? If he gets a yellow, AVB will look like an idiot. No Varela on the bench even?
We've seen that AVB loves Moutinho, always plays him in big games, and just doesn't want to take any chances. He'll just have to be careful not to make stupid challenges, and hopefully we get him off at HT for Ruben. Regarding Varela, he's definitely fallen out of favor lately. James played great during the weekend, so perhaps that played into AVB's mind.
I'm ok with Varela "falling out of favor" for now, he always fights his way back and in maybe this means teams won't be interested in him this summer Moutinho better be super careful. I'd HATE to not have him in the final, especially if its for Benfica
Moutinho just needs to be smart, i.e. avoiding risky challenges and time wasting. I think he'll be fine, he's a smart player. Regarding Varela, this is another example of how AVB encourages competition and gets the best out of all his players. Varela hasn't played well since coming back from injury, while Cristian Rodriguez and James are in form.
1-1 HT 6-2 Agg Probably the worst first half I've seen us play this year. That's a little harsh but we started off more defensive than I've seen us this year. We basically sat back and welcomed there attack and they scored 17 mins in giving them hope. C. Rodriguez was hurt and subbed off for James in the 30th min Luckily we found a goal off a Hulk shot that took an odd deflection and fooled the keeper. That lucky goal basically sets us off to Dublin!
Villarreal score first and look to have dangerous build up, but a deflected shot from Hulk pretty much kills the tie and their momentum. 1-1 HT
Hulk shot have buried it, but just a few millimeters and the goalie wouldn't have been able to stop it.