Who was worse today Man U, Real or Collina? (R)

I think you are way off base, Collina didnt do a bad job. I would ask which calls he blotched? I cannot think of any, and the game was not out of control.

 

I agree. Collina did a good job in the match. I can't comment on the first half, but it was well refereed.

 

Bend it like Ronaldo and Beckham

Collina definitely let them play and it was beautiful to watch.

Some exquisite goals and sublime 'keeping.

Caution to Figo for "simulation". Stern lecture later in the match when Figo got fouled (called) and continued to try for the academy award.

The other caution was near the end for upending a player at midfield. A foul of exhaustion.

Lots of stuff uncalled, but I saw very few complaints. And you can't say that it hampered the offense.

 

It was a fast-paced and entertaining game. I thought Collina was OK. The caution for the studs up tackle was more than justified no matter what Tommy Smyth says. In general he did let them play and the players seemed to have complete respect for that. Certainly his reputation helps him when it comes to gaining the players' confidence. Very little dissent from what I saw. There were several fouls that could have and maybe should have been called, but I think that's true of every game. He was using advantage all over the place. Nothing seemed to be particularly out of hand to me.

As for who was worse, I'll say Madrid, just because they relaxed too much after they scored a couple of goals and got burned a bit. But they still won the tie which is all that really matters. Barthez looked pretty ordinary on a couple of those goals. He was completely unprepared for the first time shot on the first goal and the 3rd one seemed to take him by surprise also.

 

Yes was it ever an entertaining match. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I recorded the second half. I will say that Collina seemed to apply advantage well, but I rarely even saw the common European practice of the one arm raised instead of our more common "look at you" both arms out with palms facing to the sky.

I will agree that players have a tremendous comfort level with him. They seem to generally play very relaxed and with confidence that Collina will get the fouls and keep the match safe. Even a noted bad boy like Roy Keane wsa not much trouble. I think the thing that speaks volumes about both teams and Collinas performance was that Pier Luigi recognized that these are two very creative attack minded teams that thrive on a wide open free flowing game. His decision to manage the match by allowing play to flow and only calling the tactical and hard fouls added to the beauty of the match and this was a beautiful match to watch.

Tommy Smyth is an idiot. Enough said. JP Delacammera should shut off his mike when he gets inspired to run off with an idle and ignorant comment.

I would like to comment that the one touch passing and passes into space by both teams and most notably Real were an absolute joy. This match and in particular the passing that set up Ronaldos second goal were incredible and sublime. The ball cahnged location so quickly so effortlessly that even though MU was reacting you could see the progress would end up with a quality shot on goal.

I think every youth soccer player in America should be required to watch a high resolution copy of this match to appreciate how to create chances on goal by off the ball movement, timing, vision and the creation of space. Truly it was the beautiful game.

Ronaldo's third goal was just an incredible shot. Barthez had no chance. Also the shot was partially screened by players near the top of the box. Watch the replay at normal and not in slow motion to see that Barthez had no chance.

 

I would just modify this: he's acceptable to me most of the time, but when he starts obsessing on something... THAT'S when he's an idiot. He'll go on for 5-10 minutes about the same thing. And 90% of the time he seizes on some issue that pertains to a referee's decision, and 98% of that time, Smyth's completely, totally wrong. Doesn't matter whether it's an offside judgment, an interpretation of the backpass rule, etc. He'll be wrong. I can only imagine what it must be like for a high-level referee to have to listen to some of those rampages.

 

I have to lose my normally moderate tone and state there are times I wish I could land in the booth gag him and review his insipid remarks and correct the fallacies he helps perpetrate against the game. Idiot is very tame adjective. I find his understanding of the laws of the game to be incredibly frightening, but I don't hold out much for most announcers except Shep Messing and a select few.

 

None of the above. I normally like the commentating of Smyth and JP, but they were just plain bad this game. Smyth made some comment about a player being good with dribbling the ball at his feet. Hmm, don't you have ball at your feet when your dribbling?

Near the end of the game, he goes on about the "heart" of ManU and that they won the game. Is that like winning the battle, but losing the war?

In the end, I was disappointed in Real. Their sloppy defense and two own goals (I don't count Beckham's tap in) were not of champion caliber.

 

I will partially back up Greyhnd on the issue of persistent infringement...I thought Veron crossed the line in fouling constantly to disrupt Real's possession.

Of course he was carrying a yellow at that point, so it was a delicate situation. And in the end Veron got subbed out and Man U didn't have to try and come back with 10 men. So I give collina porops for making wise decision in a game that deserved them.

Now Ferguson, I think he got a little lucky in keeping Veron out there so long but suppose that criticism will take a back seat to some more high profile ones.