I think after such a close game City are more likely to be @100% concentration. Sort of a silver lining. Speaking of the next round...QF opponents. Werder Bremen Hamburg Udinese Dynamo Kiev Shakhtar Donetsk Marseille PSG Who would you prefer? Draw is tommorow @ 8am (EST) I think.
I'm still lost for emotion, feel nothing but relieved and still emptiness. My heart is delighted, lost for words and ecstatic but my head is still a wreck trying to calculate how we were so tactically inept and in terms of performance easily one of the worst of the season. That penalty shootout was a Russian roulette for Hughes' future, never again in this competition can we rely on luck to such a dangerous level. Over the 120 minutes Aalborg's goal was never under much threat and given the attacking options we had, we desperately needed creativity from somewhere and it was obvious the starting eleven had been sent out to contain Aalborg and sit back and see the aggregate scoreline through. I felt we needed change a lot quicker than it happened, Shelton was literally running rings around us and reacting quicker to everything. The first half was seen through professionally and comfortably, in hindsight most likely only because Aalborg were extremely poor but in the second half we were lost. Starting the match ultra-defensively to protect a fragile 2-0 advantage (admittedly I would have started with a similar lineup), the team failed to create match-winning chances and the substitutes never altered the course of the game - but whatever Hughes had up his sleeve somehow paid off, my head's still spinning by everything that has gone on! After the Copenhagen win I was ecstatic and on cloud nine, after tonight its impossible not to be cautious because it was a horrorshow, but my word it was a beautiful finale. But we did it, the aim was to progress and it was achieved so congrats are in order for the team, first European quarterfinal in 30 years and could destiny finally be on our side? Bring on either French team or Dynamo Kyiv, bring on anybody.
I don't think it matters. Honestly, we could beat or lose to any of these teams. We have a better squad than pretty much all of them but that doesn't seem to mean a lot much of the time. A match against Shakhtar would be interesting as Elano (if selected) might actually show up, with them being his former club, while a match against Hamburg would be a return home for Kompany (and if he wasn't cup-tied, de Jong) If fate is with us, we'll be the last ever UEFA Cup winners before it becomes the UEFA Europa League. Wouldn't it be nice if we could win the last UEFA Cup, win the first UEFA Europa League, then qualify for the Champions League in the same year?
YES! I only watched the 1st half of the game and the PK... so I guess I missed all the bad stuff! I hate PKs, but hell our players came up big. Who knew Dunne had such accuracy!
QF's (April 9) Hamburg v Man City PSG v Dynamo Kiev Shakhtar Donetsk v Marseille Werder Bremen v Udinese SF's (April 16) Werder Bremen/Udinese v Hamburg/Man City PSG/Dynamo Kiev v Shakhtar Donetsk/Marseille
Some quick facts on Hamburger SV - They finished 4th last season in the Bundesliga. - They are currently 4th again but locked on points with 2nd and 3rd (Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg), trailing leaders Hertha Berlin by 4pts. - They are coached by former Spurs manager, Martin Jol. - Leading goalscorer is Mladen Petric on 10 followed by Ivica Olic on 7. Both are Croatian international forwards. - Captained by 29-year-old David Jarolim, who played for Czech Republic at Euro 2008 and became club captain after Rafael van der Vaart joined Real Madrid. - Sport a very multicultural first team squad with players from Germany, Brazil, Cameroon, Holland, Peru, Czech Republic, Denmark, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Venezula, Cape Verde, Namibia, Morocco, and Turkey! - We signed both Vincent Kompany and Nigel de Jong from this club, and both were considered key members of their team.
I'm affraid that the first 45 minutes was not the home team being poor, but actually going according to the Aalborg game plan. AaB had been troubled by injuries and a few minutes before the game the AaB assistent coach was on Danish TV saying that their game plan was to take it slow the first 45 minutes, mainly to keep City from scoring, then for AaB to really turn on the pressure as the match progressed, no doubt because Citys otherwise very quick counter attacking would not be quite as lethal when the City players got more tired. City also took a defensive minded approach from start, so the first 45 minutes became rather uneventful... When the Aalborg players finally turned on the pressure in the second half, it seemed like City were not able to respond, neither on the pitch or tactically on the bench, so the Aalborg game plan almost paid off, if not for the fact that they themself grew too tired to really make the final push in the 30 minutes extra time... In the break just before extra time, the assistent AaB coach said that the players were very tired, so they were going to return to a 4-5-1 formation... Hamburg... Almost like going to Denmark one more time .
Perfect time to play hamburg, they have decent chance to get CL and possibly even win the championship, maybe they will do what villa did and just give up the uefa cup and focus on the league
This match is a great example of why our team drives us to distraction - not just this season, but seasons long ago. Aaaaargh. How on earth did we not score? Ah, Bellamy wasn't playing! For all of us that complained about Bellamy coming into the team, we can eat humble pie. The team seems to collectively improve when he's on the pitch. Dunnie taking a penalty and scoring! What a captain. He must surely have been feeling the pressure. A win is a win, but I doubt Hamburg are quaking in their boots.
I would be if i were Hamburg. I wouldn't know what the hell to expect. The team that humbled Arsenal, Schalke (away from home), Aston Villa and numerous other team and is favorite to win the Uefa Cup, or the team that falls apart. We'll be getting some key players back in the next few weeks, Michael Johnson and Sturridge should be back from injury soon, Bojinon is finally 'match fit', and Petrov should be back on the 22nd. Speaking of humble pie, anyone want to take back what they said about Shay Given ?
Two questions: 1) What is that song that Alborg played right before the kickoff? Fulham uses it too. It is some sort of classical battle theme. I think it is from a movie. Perhaps even a horror film. Anyone know? I asked months ago on the Fulham boards and nobody responded. 2) Did the Alborg fans sing a song to the tune of "Karma Chameleon"?!?! I think they did!!
well I found out that Villa does one: "Gabby Gabby Gabby Gabby Gabby Agbonlahor. He's fast as f@ck" (sung to Karma Chameleon)
I believe it is O'Fortuna from Carmina Burana, but I might be wrong. I heard it too but only for a few seconds or so, and that was what came to mind to indentify it when I did. The Russan Red Army choir put at an amazingly intense version of the piece awhile ago that my community club used to play to warm-ups.
MC, you are SO RIGHT! I wanted to play this tune so badly this season for the high school team I coached, but never knew what it was (had to settle for "Hell's Bells" ala FC St. Pauli.. which they loved. 'Specially when we played the Catholic school team.) O'Fortuna: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuERh0jBjh8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuERh0jBjh8[/ame] Best atmosphere in Germany... FC St. Pauli: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YSkoXrabIk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YSkoXrabIk[/ame]
Yes they did, we sing that song at my local club too. Come on come on come on come on <team name> come on <team name> coooommmmeeeee on <team name>