Re: Villarreal (r) Barbosa is starting for Villareal, in their most important match, with Viera available. Interesting. Also Guille Franco is starting, alongside Forlan.
Re: Villarreal (r) My best wishes to Villarreal tonight, it would be fantastic if they could get to the final.
Re: Villarreal (r) Well, I hope Barbosa does a better match than the first leg... As for Guille Franco, this guy really sucks...
Re: Villarreal (r) Franco is rubbish, both the long deceased, former fascist dictator of Spain and the donkey playing up front for Villarreal.
Re: Villarreal (r) Well, if you're going to compare him to El Generalisimo, then Guille is not so bad. But he's sure playing like crap today. It looks like he's killing all of Villarreal's chances, when he gets the ball.
Re: Villarreal (r) Franco's missed about 4 really good chances, then when Sorin had a chance of breaking into the box, Franco even though he knew he was yards offside decided to take the ball off him.
Re: Villarreal (r) Villarreal seem to have run out of ideas and steam, looks as if their fantastic run in the CL is coming to an end. Riquelme has been dissapointing, especially in the second half where he has hardly been involved.
Re: Villarreal (r) Guillermo Franco was Villarreals best player to score in this game.Sucks or does not.He deserved better luck cause he fought for everyball,well just about.As for Riquelme a.k.a pechofrio has proven to me once again why I dont want him on the NT I dont give a dam what anyone says.I know VIPNERD will run to his defense.But I know you Marco saw it and so did the whole world.He thinks hes playing FREEZE TAG,they touch him and he stops playing,WTF?! Blah whatever, it was all hype.
Re: Villarreal (r) Franco was garbage. It was nice to finally see Sorin have a good game, it's been a long time.
Re: Villarreal (r) Franco was a total disaster in first half, where he spoiled most of the actions of Villa. Agreed that he improved in second half, being close to score at least 2 times. As for Riquelme, we all know his weak points, but he is an incredible player nonetheless. And if he is surrounded by the right players (Mascherano on the back, Crespo/Messi/Tevez up front) he is prone to deliver. But I think this defeat is a good thing to dispell the overhype around the player in Pekerman's mind. Riquelme as the heart of the NT, Ok. But if he is in off mode, he should be replaced straight away by Lucho or Aimar.
Re: Villarreal (r) bsas, as you say in the national team Riquelme is surrounded by much better players that he is at Villarreal, which means they will not be as reliant on him as Villarreal are, who need a big performance from him in virtually every game. Forlan was also dissapointing tonight, when you think of all the chances Villarreal had tonight the least they deserved was extra time.
Re: Villarreal (r) What do you expect? Franco is shite. Anyone Coming from the Mexican league straight into Europe is going to svck. The Mexican league destroys player potential. As for Riq, even Maradona has missed Penalty kick. bad luck.
Re: Villarreal (r) i agree this bold part. Riquelme has played 2 back to back bad games and boy this was the semi-final in CL, he should have been more influential to Villarreal's play because they really rely on him but he seemed unintrested. Anyway i know his qualities and no matter how he played in those 2 games he should definetly start for us in WC but as Bsas said he should be replaced immediately by Aimar or Lucho if he have the off day as today. btw i was very sad to see him miss that penalty, it made me almost cry anyway he did a lot to take Villarreal in the Semis and he should be praised for that.
Re: Villarreal (r) They should have won that match,when you consider the amount of chances they created but Franco didn't want to win the match.I feel sorry for the other players like Sorin who really wanted to win.Anyone can miss a penalty.
Re: Villarreal (r) It is true that Riquelme didn't work his magic today. But to be fair, Arsenal's whole defensive plan seemed to be to key on him. Get at him in layers, so to speak. Is that the way to stop Riquelme? I'd like to see them try that at the World Cup against Argentina, because I think we have other options which can take advantage of such a setup. Are they going to leave Messi free, or Tevez? Riquelme did not have an outstanding match, and he missed the penalty, but he is world class. He's the main reason Villareal made it this far. Lets not be too quick to dismiss him.
Re: Villarreal (r) Question: why doesn't he smile? Honest question, because, I've never seen him smile in my life.
Re: Villarreal (r) Here you go: But you're right, he doesn't seem to be enjoying himself most of the time.
Re: Villarreal (r) some people just look miserable all the time, roman is one such person, i'm sure he feels joy the same as everyone else. i'm v surprised by the posts in response to the game. villarreal were outstanding. apart from a period in the second-half, let's say a fifteen or twenty minute period towards the end, they completely dominated a good side like arsenal, and they never resorted to hoofing long balls up the park, they just kept playing their game, and creating chance after chance after chance. seldom will you see a game so one-sided, where the dominant team creates so many chances, has a penalty, has a goal disallowed, and still fails to score. bottom line, villarreal were unlucky, and yes franco was unlucky, he had a terrific game. you can only miss chances if you're in a position to miss those chances. he never went missing, he kept poppping up in the right place at the right time, and he was unlucky with his finishing. none of his chances were gilt-edged. he was villarreal's most threatening player. sorin played okay, nothing special. v interesting that barbosa got the nod for such a big game, and when called upon in the last minutes against henry, came up trumps. not bad for a rookie. roman? i can't believe the criticism. he played well, he had quiet periods but he also had influential periods, indeed he was the most influential player on the pitch. he wasn't outstanding but perhaps we expect too much from him. to suggest he had a bad game is pure folly. the penalty? for me he showed a lack of confidence, or nerves, which is understandable. big players however, zidane for instance, put pressure spot kicks away. roman should have gone for the corner, should have kicked an unstoppable shot, instead he went safe and paid the price. for me, this shows a small mentality. perhaps i'm being harsh, anyone can miss a penalty, but for me it was the manner of the penalty, it wasn't a great save on the keeper's part, it was a bad pen. roman needed to step up to the plate and hit a great pen, this may have a bad psychological affect on his ego and thus an adverse affect on the national team. i'm a firm believer that egos win football games. not over-inflated egos, but players who have the utmost belief in their ability. that spot kick might just prey on roman's mind. i hope not.
Re: Villarreal (r) I think it is a mistake for argentina to go with riquelme... not because of the missed penalty or the bad games, but because he is too slow... he totaly stops any fast paced attack..... he pauses and lets defences get back. This is why I have never liked him.
Re: Villarreal (r) Nice "choke" job Bostero. Probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest game of your life and you laid an egg. Absolutely pathetic. Maybe you and Palermo ought to get together and practice.
Re: Villarreal (r) Ignorant. That's all I can say about you Argentina fans. Franco was the only one creating chances for Villareal. He gave Jose Mari and Forlan excellent passes, and both completely messed up. Cut Franco some slack, he's new to the European style of play, and even then, he is still producing. As for Riquelme, you could tell in his eyes that he was going to miss.
Re: Villarreal (r) While Franco did do some good things in the match, I think he was very unlucky. I didn't think it would be Villarreal's day, and I was vindicated.