But he's saying torres is better than Ronaldo... Which is laughable.

Luck and experience.

They are the two main reasons why Liverpool are in the semi finals and Arsenal are not. As I have said before, football at the highest levels of the game can be decided by the smallest fractions, be it a lucky deflection, a penalty, a red card etc. In this case, Arsenal can rightly feel aggrieved that the decision to turn down a legitimate penalty appeal in the first leg was not replicated in the second leg. Both were penalties in my opinion, although Hleb's was more clear cut. But the point is made that, all things being equal, then both should have been given.

The second reason Liverpool got through is because of their fantastic resilience and belief no matter what the situation, whereas Arsenal lost their composure. Three times in the tie they surrendered a winning position very quickly:
1-0 up at home then three minutes later Kuyt equalises.
1-0 up away and dominating the tie then 15 minutes later Hyypia equalises.
But most criminally, they were 2-2 and through to the semis then virtually straight away concede a penalty.

At this level, you cannot surrender winning positions like that, especially the last one. How can they concede a penalty virtually straight from the kick off? Surely someone should have been a bit cynical and taken Babel out, much like Aurelio and Mascherano tried to do to Walcott's Maradona-esque dribble? Credit to Liverpool though who came back into the game following Hyypia's equaliser and from then on looked pretty set to run out winners. Before then they looked dead in the water, but their experience shone through whilst Arsenal dropped the baton as the finish line came into sight.

I don't want to talk too much as a lot has already been covered by some great posts, but I will just say that this was one of the most absorbing and emotionally draining top level matches I have watched in recent years.

A fantastic advert for the Premier League and the Champions League.

Spot on with your summary Jo

Fair enough, but I was under the impression that Ronaldo plays mostly on the wings. My mistake then.

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Ok, i don't want to resort to criticising Rooney again, but, he has missed far more easy chances than Adebayor, but he doesn't get the criticism Adebayor gets does he?

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Of course he doesn't,he's British.But in his defense if he's not scoring he's making things happen other ways.
gerrard is another story ,that guy never gets any criticism ever and he disappears in more games than he shows up for.He never did anything as captain when Mascherano went off on one and that's exactly what he's supposed to do.And,where was the critics when both of them blatantly dived in the heat of the diving debate.


Adebayor is who he is ,he's not a Drogba by any stretch and he's not a bad guy.If steven gerrard goes over and shakes the hand of a foreigner then he must be ok. His character is clean and if people want to hold the bendtner thing against him then ok,but tell it like it is.Don't disguise it with his lack of ability ,because he lead the league in scoring for a long time in the league.His problem was having to compete in the African cup of nations and all of Arsenals cup and league matches.That's more gam,es than any of the other top scorers had to play.Give him a break, actually give me a break.

No such position as a winger theses days. Ronaldo plays as a second striker behind Rooney when United play 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1. United's attacking play is SOOOOOOO fluid that I'm not suprised opposition players and their fans get confused about their position on the pitch

You think because J-Axe posted a long defence of Adebayor means I'll retract my statements & change my views on the player? First of all J-Axe said "you look at his goalscoring feat and his conversion rate, it's still pretty good"... You don't actually have to shoot to waste a good chance! Shots to goal ratio's just look at the one's where he actually gets a shot away but ignores times where he misses the ball, mis controls it and allows defenders to get back, poor passes in good positions, too slow to make it onto the end of a good pass, etc, stats are meaningless in this circumstance

This is where I now know to stop taking you serious! What has he done to deem himself better than Drogba, who you almost creamed your pants over last season. Or what about Anelka? Scored for fun at a poor performing Bolton side. Or Crouch, who when has been given his chance, delivered the goods. Or Tevez, who kept West Ham in the EPL ALMOST by himself. Or Rooney, who at the age of 22, is one of the greatest talents in the world with his all round play. Or even Van Persie? On his day, injury free, sh!ts all over Adebayor

Your problem is Sticky, you try and keep to the same side of an argument as the more established members. You need to try and learn to stick to your own opinions and stop waiting for J-Axe to reply so you can add your 'I agree' statments

EDIT: From a thread in the General Football Section




Please refrain from spouting your pish on the forum if your not going to stand by it

Well challenge my comments on Adebayor if you still completely disagree - that was the point of my post, to challenge your views. Instead to try to mock Sticky T.

The fact that you admit that Adebayor's shot to goal conversion rate is still pretty good shows that you are blinded by a short viewed opinion that you have generated from only a handful of games & perhaps more MOTD highlights.

Adebayor scores enough to be good enough and he doesn't miss anymore chances than most other Strikers - at least not to the point where he's "not good enough". The fact that 95% of Arsenal fans will disagree with you, a large proportion of non-Arsenal fans will disagree, Thierry Henry will definitely disagree and so will Wenger.

Adebayor is good enough - it's ludicrous to say he's not. Anybody who says he's great, top class or World-class could be argued as Adebayor is not yet refined and still has a lot of negatives in his game. But this season has been an advert for Adebayor's heavy positives more so than his negatives. He's young & improving and has stepped up to a new level since travelling from a decent Monaco side to a European Giant in a tougher League. To come to this level, at that age, with that lack of experience and sit among the ranks of Ronaldo & Torres in the scoring charts as a lone Striker is pretty amazing mate - no two ways about it.

Ballack and "the best" in a sentence? MY TIME MACHINE WORKS.

Hello 2002.

Your missing the point. What I said is that shot to goal ratio doesn't tell the full story. John O'Shea had the best ratio last season, does this make him the best striker in the league? He wastes chances that doesn't get recognised by the staticians. If he loses the ball at the edge of the box, it won't affect his shot/goal ration. If the ball is played to him, 2 yards from goal, open net but it goes through his legs, it won't affect his stats. the only way his stats change, is when he actually shoots.

''To come to this level, at that age, with that lack of experience and sit among the ranks of Ronaldo & Torres in the scoring charts as a lone Striker is pretty amazing mate - no two ways about it''....the same ranks that the regularly blasted Benjani sits pretty amoung?

What has Henry or Wengers views got to do with anything? It's not asd if either are going to come out and say 'he's not good enough for Arsenal' no matter how bad he was. He wastes a lot of the ball and alot of Arsenal attacks breakdown through him. unfortunatly, I don't beleive that is covered in stats and certainly not covered it MOTD so you can keep your sly comments to yourself. I would say I've watched Arsenal more than any other team in the World this season bar Celtic, for the sheer fact that I love how they play football. That's what I'm basing my opinion on. As for MOTD, I'd rather watch RTE's The Premiership, that should indicate how much I despise the show.

Mocking Sticky T in what way? The way he reckons Adebayor is the cream of the crop bar Torres yet in other threads he contradicts this by saying Droba & Torres are the best two in the entire league? If he's going to make comments and not stand by it in other threads, to me, makes it look like he's either, a) debating with me for the sake of or b) agreeing with you to stay in your good books. If seen him agree with other 'established members' aswell as one of the many that seems very eager to jump on the 'MontyMagpie bashing bandwagon'. I'd prefer if he would come back at my post with his own views rather than dismiss my opinion...

Sticky wrote:
'Well said J-Axe. Hopefully that will put and end to the Adebayor bashing and save me time trying to defend him.'...

To me that looks like he's gald you posted your side as he's doesn't know how to argue his veiws himself

Hahaha did he really say Terry was one of the best technically, and Malouda WTF?

I never blasted Benjani. I rated him quite fairly.

Benjani is good enough, like Adebayor. This is the simple point we're discussing - you think he's not good enough and I'm telling you that he is.



Henry and Wenger's views mean a lot. They don't describe Eduardo or van Persie with the same interest - both Wenger and Henry back Adebayor's qualities and have done so before & since he has been at Arsenal. That may mean jack-s to you obviously, but it's still a compliment that has been backed by Adebayor's product this season. Wenger's view on the player especially means a lot. Wenger has criticised certain players before and has dropped players before when they haven't been good enough or haven't yet delivered - Adebayor has delivered and Wenger is over the moon with his contribution.

You're extremely harsh with Adebayor's ability still. Even when Adebayor has a poor game, he makes up for it by doing something special or unique that either lifts or helps the team massively. Look at the game at St.James' Park where we were caught on a bad night. We threatened Shay Given very little and never really looked like breaking them down at all except for the one special moment where Adebayor plucked a high cross out of the sky on his chest and expertly volleyed it past Shay Given despite being locked right in the middle of the two CBs - it was absolute class. It was a truly World-class finish! And he has done it plenty of times this season. That's just another indication that he is good enough to play at this level and lead the Arsenal line.

As I said, leading the line on your own with little support from Midfield and all the pressure on your shoulders to score the vital goals is NOT EASY. Henry couldn't handle it on so many occasions and nor can many players. Great Strikers all over the World struggle in this role. There are some Defences that just lock in on these lone Strikers and get in front of them to stop the supply, which absolutely nullifies their threat. Adebayor isn't so easy to handle and every Defence who has faced him will tell you that. He's great in the air, he's great at dropping off and linking up with neat interplay and he's great over the top or through the Defence with pace.

He's versatile and he's got amazing stamina & energy that makes him a winner. Drogba is much older and more experienced, yet in his earlier times at Chelsea he got absolutely slated for his style, lack of basic technique and general attitude - as he's grown and adapted, he's now rated amongst the best in the World.

Adebayor has a long way to go to reach that stage, but he's already producing and he's growing fast.

I will agree that Adebayor is not great and I will agree that he has negative spots and weak areas. I will agree that he is not always consistent in his first touch qualities or his finishing, but he is improving vasty and all players with that lack of experience at that level will struggle in that way.

The fact that Adebayor deals with all those negatives and keeps digging away to find end product and even more positives means he is easily good enough.



I was simply pointing out that you took the efforts to blast Sticky T for his varying opinions rather than replying to my Adebayor views that challenged yours - you were mocking his views as you said, "he's doesn't know how to argue his veiws himself". That's fair enough and you have responded to me and challenged my views which is good.

I think you're shooting the wrong fella here matey. As far as i'm aware, i didn't even comment on whether the incident was a penalty or not. These are the posts i made in that thread of the first leg:







I have however said, if not on this forum, that Arsenal should have had a penalty in the first leg, by the same virtue that we should have had ours at Anfield - two offensive players being unbalanced by a defensive player, and in doing so sacrificing their chance of scoring inside the penalty area. For me that constitutes both as penalties, that i am indeed adamant about.

first of my i just say there is some fantastic discussion going on in here which is a rare treat on this forum of late. well done and keep it up all involved.

i would like to add my two pence worth on the discussion occuring between CFCBhoy and The Axe Man regarding Adebayor.

i have made my feelings on adebayor quite clear in the past and i most certainly stick by what i have said. Adebayor is a good striker. no more, no less. he is typical of an african footballer. appears great one minute and pathetic the next. a club like Arsenal have had some fantastic players and should look to keep up that standard. is Adebayor a top striker? no he is not. Arsenal's sights should be higher than a player like adebayor. i take your views with a pinch of salt Axe after the constant appraisals of everyone in an Arsenal shirt that Wenger backs such as the infamous Aliadiere which has proven to be laughable, by the same token Mr Wenger gets the same treatment and i prefer to use my own judgement than blindly follow anybody else who is just as capable of mistakes of the rest of us. its also a huge shock to see Henry arselick his afavourite gay dance partner isnt it.

adebayor has indeed scored a few goals this season, of varying styles and against varying clubs. so did John Hartson when he played for West Ham. he was among the top goalscorers of the league also.

i ask you this, would adebayor grace the first 11 of your european rivals? i highly doubt it. and this is the point. technically he is very clumsy and appears to be quite poor at basic things such as composure, control, touch etc.

now his little run of form is long gone we see the same player we saw last season. a good player who was punching above his weight.

You guy's make me laugh.One of you guy's the other day was giving Ronaldo credit for scoring so many goals in the midfield role,and when i brought the fact that he has no assists in the Champions League ,they now claim him to be a striker!

You make horrible generalisations Specnur. Your use of "you", i mean. I suppose "we" are a single unified mind...?

Whoever it was.....it wasn't me United's attack is so fluid with midfield/strikers continually swapping between a midfield and a striking role, but you will find that Ronaldo's starting position fluctuates between right midfield and second striker in a 4-4-2 formation, and even when his starting position is right midfield, you will see Ronaldo continually swap position throughout a game, left midfield, right midfield, second striker, striker

is it me? my bad..

ronaldo's supposed to be a midfielder.. but then.. in some matches.. when fergie plays jisung in his position.. he's always put in the position of a striker along with either Rooney and tevez.. and there's nothing wrong with that.. or is there?..

well.. maybe he's going to be a striker for next season.. since we've already got plenty of midfielders