pool96

I don't know if anyone left on here remembers me but I was one of the old gurad of APT I was here when activity was at its height and it was great! I left simply because I developed different interests and hobbies and barely ever have time to play any games anymore but I tend to check on the forums here every couple of weeks to see how things were getting on and it makes me actually quite sad to see how far it's fallen. I remember when we used to spend long nights playing Uncharted 2 or World at War zombies with Knoxie, Chaddad and monkeymoobs and we had threads discussing *cough* arguing about *cough* almost everything. We set up an APT clan and it was a real good community to be part of. I drifted away and it's sad to see that so many of the older generation that I remember did too.

ooh it's all very tight at the top. I'm 3 off the top with knoxie 2 points behind me. It's on haha 🙂 

I'm on 43 I think. Good start but I could have done a lot better. I didn't expect Luis Saurez to start so I had him as first sub and he got a goal so I lost points there. I also had to decide between Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing and I went with Downing and Adam got an assist. I didn't get anything really from my two strikers (Darren Bent and Demba Ba). 

I have no players for tonights game (Manchester City V Swansea) so I'm looking to next week and Shay Given is marked as doubtful 🙁 hope he'll be okay to play I didn't hear what's wrong with him. 

well ouch a bad evening for British teams in the Europa League.

Liverpool went out to Braga after falling to a dull 0-0 draw (losing 1-0 on aggregate)

It's fair to say Liverpool tried hard but there just wasn't enough quality in the team, and the play was too predictable giving long balls up to Andy Carroll all night long. There just wasn't any speed in the game until David Ngog came on glad to see an improvement from him after the Sparta Prague tie, an improvement from Joe Cole overall aswell I think but still a bit from his best.

Manchester City won but lost on aggregate 2-1 against Dynamo Kiev, Mario Ballotelli again in the spotlight for the wrong reasons and Rangers succumbed to PSV Eindhoven (The dark horses for the competition)

Interesting Champions League tie, no Barcelona V Tottenham final though

Champions League quarter finals:
Tottenham Hotspur V Real Madrid

Barcelona V Shaktar Donetsk

Inter Milan V Schalke

Chelsea V Manchester United

Europa League quarter finals:

Porto V Spartak Moscow

Villareal V Twente

Braga V Dynamo Kiev

Benfica V PSV Eindhoven

You would feel Portugal would have a good chance of taking the Europa League with Benfica, Braga and Porto all still with a chance but I am going to go with PSV Eindhoven

As for the Champions League you still can't look past Barcelona

Champions League Semi Finals:

Tottenham Hotspur/Real Madrid V Barcelona/Shaktar Donetsk

Inter Milan/Schalke V Chelsea/Manchester United

Europa League semi finals:

Porto/Spartak Moscow V Villareal/Twente

Braga/Dynamo Kiev V Benfica/PSV Eindhoven

I'm absolutely delighted with the game today! 3-1 Kuyt with a hatrick I wonder what the odds on that would have been??

Not to take from Luis Suarez though, he was absolutely outstanding I mean what he done for that first goal Messi would have been proud of.

It might be one of the best title finishes yet, Arsenal have a game in hand (albeit against Tottenham) if they win they will only be behind on goal difference. I reckon Bolton might take something off United in a couple of weeks.

Champions League/Europa League back again this week

Barcelona V Arsenal, Wilshere has declared himslef fit no Van Persie or Walcott though and Fabregas and Song are doubts, I still think Barcelona will edge it though becuase of Arsenal's famously wobbly defence.

Tottenham V Milan, Bale and Van Der Vaart should be back for spurs, no Gattuso obvously for Milan and you can't see Tottenham not going through to be honest.

Europa League:
Liverpool are away to Portugeuse side Braga, Manchester City are away to Dinamo Kiev and Rangers are away to PSV Eindhoven they're all tricky ties and hopefully will be more interesting than the Europa League has been this season.

Hoping for a Wolves win now against Tottenham.

Liverpool being heavily linked with Celtic's Emilio Izzaguire and Barcelona's Ibrahim Afellay.

I heard a story about Djibril Cisse claiming he was leaving Panathinaikos because fans in the Greek league were extremely racist towards him. Cisse struggled when he was with Liverpool, but he is very, very fast.

Tottenham were reported to have tried to buy every striker going in Spain on deadline day in January, Fernando Llorente, Alvaro Negredo, Sergio Aguero and I cant remember the other one.

Another incredibly boring Champions League game involving Manchester United tonight, you would think they will go through at Old Trafford though. Looks like Inter are out though, late away goal from Mario Gomes, have him in my manager mode team

Arsenal grinded out a win tonight but at a cost it seems, both Francesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott were forced off with injuries. Robin Van Persie wasn't even in the squad because of injury aswell so Barcelona must be counting their chickens.

Europa league tomorrow, Liverpool V Sparta Prague (0-0) Daniel Agger and Jay Spearing are both fit, Steven Gerrard a doubt. Luis Suarez is ineligible, Andy Carroll and Jonjo Shelvey both out injured. Fabio Aurelio went off injured during the game in Prague but I couldn't tell you if he'll be fit or not. My proposed team:

                                               25. Reina

                           23. Carragher  37. Skrtel  5. Agger

                   34. Kelly 21. Lucas 26. Spearing 2. Johnson

                                4. Meireles 12. Pacheco

                                        18. Kuyt

It's important we start quick and don't let Sparta get an early jammy away goal.

Manchester City are also at home against Aris Thessalonika much the same situation as the Liverpool tie it's 0-0 City SHOULD go through but you just never know.

Rangers have on paper the most difficult job, they go to Portugal to play Sporting Lisbon and Lisbon have an away goal it's 1-1 after the game at Ibrox.

I think Liverpool and Manchester City will go through but I really doubt Ranger's chances. They must have been knocked a bit by the 3-0 defeat to Celtic where they were really outplayed.

EDIT: Just found out Theo Walcott will definately miss the Carling Cup final against Birmingham on Sunday.

I773D33MABL3 said:

Well the United v Crawley game was a disgrace. Half the United players were asleep and Rooney made even them look dangerous when he came on. €250,000 a week to lose the ball every second touch? What a joke. 

I was looking forward to the game since it was announced and now I just want to forget it.

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Well as a Liverpool fan I loved the game, Crawley played United off the park and really deserved a draw, I mean even Sir Alex conceded that, I was getting so excited when that header hit the crossbar I was hopping up and down I thought it was in.

I remember a few years ago we were nearly embarassed in the FA Cup by Havant and Waterlooville. We aswell just slipt past them without any real justification from our performance to go through.

Wayne Rooney didn't play well after he came on but he wasn't particulary bad compared to the rest of the players. He showed his nasty side of the game when he kicked that Crawley town player. It's alright to be frustrated, I would've been frustrated in his position, but if he's getting paid the money he is you think he owes it to find a different way of venting his frustration.