really proud, i thought our Villa boys did great today. Pre-match, i would have been ecstatic with a draw but to come from behind and win was FANTASTIC.

Although we do have to thank Chelski for some really terrible defending.

Oh my god!


Watch that!

That's hilarious! LOL

;)

It made my night.

Not that my night was good or anything :(

That referee who let the balloon goal stand, has been demoted to a Championship match this coming weekend! :)

Get in.

I think we were the better side today. Fair enough, some decisons didn't go Man Utd's way and some didn't go ours.

Torres is a Legend :)

torres is a cheat, as bad as drogba how many times did he go down like he been shot.

But well done Liverpool Deserved it the better team, we were ****ing awful not for the first time this season either.

Fergie got his tactics wrong playing scholes and carrick was the wrong choose, ando has played the last 4 games and played really well, scholes an carrick dont play well together, i know i play midfield myself you need a blend..also scholes is not the same player of years ago he does it one game then looks shit the next he cant do it week in week out.

am glad at fergies reaction after the game its good to see him being honest for once...
I have to say i thought the ref was a joke AGAIN another clown on the pitch am sure he had a liverpool shirt on underneath, how you can book evra an berbatov in the first half for soft fouls when lucas made about 5 fouls and didnt even get booked, then it carried on an the worse was carragher brought owen down when he would of been one on one with keeper - carragher only gets yellow, should of been red.

Overall though liverpool (hate saying this) deserved their win :(

Hope united hold on untill january were a player short ive been saying it all along if we dont sign a world class player, then we will win nothing, wheres this 80m from ronaldo? its so fking obvious, that left wing creative midfielder an maybe a striker - david silva and david villa .. buy them both

I wouldn't call Torres a cheat. To say he is like Drogba is a joke. Fair enough, he goes down easy, but who doesn't? He was getting kicked everytime he got the ball. Vidic should of got a yellow wayyyy before he did and totally deserved to be sent off. Mascherano did as well.

Lucas wasn't making bad tackles, I found your players went down too easy as well. Evra was lucky as well, first half he was all over the place, bringing down our players. Second half, he seemed to calm down.

I agree about you saying we were the better side. At the end of the day, there are no excuses I guess. Nothing can be changed, nothing will be changed and that's it really.

Results haven't gone our way this season, but I'm not going to make excuses about it. Everyone kicked up a fuss about the beachball incident, but we shouldn't be conceding against teams like Sunderland anyway.

By the way, I think N'gog looks a quality player so far. Seems to score whenever he gets the chance.

Well ok maybe i was over reacting calling torres a cheat,but he does go down so easy.. saying that though hes the worlds best striker I.M.O vidic is one if not the best defender in the world an torres the last few games as come out on top, vidic cant handle him. sign for us please lol.

Lucas made about 5 tackles fouls in first half should of got booked, berbatov didnt do anything an got booked.

Dont know about ngog not seen him much,and that was just about a gimme goal, so cant say much but your strength in depth is weak agaist ours and the other 2 of the top 4

Anyway one team deserved to win today and they did, united didnt turn up but thats not an excuse. Liverpool deserved it overall.
Just hope we get revenge at OT

The thing am getting about this years premiership, is every game is hard theres no easy game, arsenal,man city both dropped points today.

Yeah, Torres does go down easy.

Nah, Berbatov should of got a yellow. He was lucky not to give a pen away.

When was that, dont remember. He got booked for going for the ball near liverpools area.

Btw i went to that old trafford concert in 2003, went with mates for the piss up and cause it was at uniteds ground been a fan since was awesome, ive got dvd of it :)

When he ripped Kuyts shirt!

Nice, Old Trafford is a blur to me, although, I can remember some songs.

Oh yeah but wasnt they both pulling each others shirt if i remember right kuyt was as guilty as berbatov.

You have been to other jovi concerts though by looking at your sig.
That was my only one..
I was very pissed,i remember having to down a can of stella in a minute before going in lol the only song i really remember clearly was wanted dead or alive, id never heard most of BJ songs but this one was probably my fav at that time loved it :) been a fan since.

Nope, honestly mate, Kuyt wasn't. Kuyt was running in and Berbatov had hold of him and ripped his shirt.

Hahaha, Old Trafford was brilliant at the time, but I was only 10 so...

Might watch on motd again depends on my mood at 10 lol usually when united lose i dont watch the highlights.

Oh right nice one you went to concerts young :p

18 when i went and only my second following oasis at OT cricket ground year before...good days :)

WHO ARE YA WHO ARE YA


hhahahahahah, "We're as good as Arsenal" Get out Keane you gimp! Pick that one out, Cesc for goal of the season!!!!!!

Just heard there was 2 goals in a minute?

Cesc took them apart straight from the kickoff hehehehehehheh

Hahahaha niceee. This could be were Spurs lose there form for good. They don't look as good as they did at the start of the season.

Awful perfomance.

Why the hell did he play Voronin?

2 reds that really really weren't red cards. Even Zamora said it wasn't.

Absolute joke!

heheh, I really like Roy Hodgson and what he's done with Fulham is great, shame about Fayed (not Al Fayed..he added the "Al" bit himself to make himself sound more royal..its like me adding "Von" to my surname...twat!).. good work by Hodgson!

Yeah, I like Hodgson too. He's done a very good job.

Anyone else think he looks like Mr Duncan from Home Alone 2?

Thierry Henry is a cheating scumbag!!!!!

Maybe now there is an opportunity to campaign for tv assistance for referees in goalmouth situations.

Absoloutly disgraceful!

Ah we would have won on penalties anyway ( ;) ) but yeah, a disgrace allright, and he knows it... **** it's even a double handball.

On the good side, "Cheaters" was the last tag missing - after "lazy", "arrogant" and "crap coach" - on the worst French team in 3 decades.

Now the best way to get any pride and honor back is to bring the cup back home with the whole world against us cheaters :).

Sorry Ireland, you deserved this way more than us.


Ponrauil

Yeah I really feel for Ireland. I was hoping they were gonna make it because they deserve it. Trappatoni has done a great job with them. All respect I had for Henry has just now gone out the window. Cheating bastard! I guess he's got his team to the finals though.

Ireland really should have wrapped up the game before the 70th minute. France were clueless and it was all due to Ireland's tactics, which were spot on.

The players ran themselves into the ground, and for what? Henry blatantly cheated yet funnily enough The Fifa employed Ref and his assitant failed to see it :rolleyes:

Fifa seeded the play offs as they were desperate to see The "Big" teams go to Africa. Now it seems their bias runs deeper than we could have imagined.

Shame on Henry for celebrating the way he did. I used to admire him as well....

France just had to be on the world cup it seems...

PORTUGAL IS THERE TOO! :D

I actually used to think he was one of the few gentlemen of the game. Shows how appearances can be deceptive and true colours come out eventually. :roll:

On the other hand though, don't you think pretty much any player would have done the same?

An Irish defender (Ledger I think) actually said Ireland would have done the same if they'd had the opportunity and that the one to blame is the ref, not Henry.


Ponrauil

We're not discussing the fact that he deliberately handled the ball though, it's the way he celebrated the goal.

He ran away screaming and smiling when he knew very well that he'd just cheated.

He has lost a lot of fans after last night.

Maybe it's just naivety on my part but I'd like to think that deliberately cheating shouldn't be on any players' minds regardless of the stage they're playing on.

As you said before, France may well have had the upper hand in a penalty shoot-out but Henry made the decision to act unprofessionally. It was a despicably selfish act with consequences that stretch further than the simple outcome of France qualifying for the World Cup Finals at the expense of Ireland.

He thinks he's vindicated himself by admitting it after the game and trying to say it's the ref's fault as he should have spotted it. What was he going to say after the game? "I didn't touch it, I don't know what you're all going on about?" Come on. :roll:

What that can be interpreted as is, "It's OK to cheat so long as you don't get caught and, if you don't get caught, you can't be held responsible." That's absurd.

Players receive bans for diving and attempting to deceive the officials so this case should be no different. It was deception whichever way you look at it and not just for gaining undeserved points in some mid-season league match but in costing a nation qualification for world football's greatest prize. The celebration was just rubbing salt in the wound and a lesser issue to the initial deliberate handball(s) in my eyes.

I can't see the game being replayed, despite the fact that by rights it should be, so that's that and we just have to accept it. What message does it send out when the rewards for cheating at the highest level of the game far outweigh any consequences that may come of it though. They'll never eradicate it from football because they simply don't have the balls to enforce severe punishment on those who try to pass it off as some sort of acceptable gamesmanship.

I agree with all of the above. Ireland have been treated outrageously.

1. FIFA decide at the last minute to seed the play offs so the "Big" nations qualify resulting in FIFA making lots more money through TV, advertising etc.

2. The referee and linesman conveniently miss Henry's two blatant handballs.

It's a sad day for football.

I agree man, and I wish he'd have gone to the ref and admitted his foul. All I'm saying is that sadly it's the state of the game and its economical weight that make these things possible. Still I'm pretty sure any player at this level would have done the same.

Think about it, if instead of a handball he had pushed a defender to the ground, which is a foul just the same as a handball, I'm not so sure he'd be called a cheater as he is today, when the problem would be exactly the same.

As for the ref, sure we can believe that he had some pressure knowing that for sponsors and advertisers having France instead or Ireland in the last 32 is better, but we can also consider that he's human and that in the 5 minutes before the goal he refused a penalty for France (he was right but other refs could have called it without being so scandalous), and refused a goal too... it's more than possible that he had doubt in his mind. So I'd say it's a bit unfair to say he was bought in some way.

And about France winning on penalties, I was joking. We were in a dreadful mental state and would have lost... Basically Ireland wanted to qualify while France was afraid not to. We did have a very solid keeper (only positive thing about these two games for France), but we would have missed a couple of pens I'm sure, and Given is a good keeper too.

It's scandalous that a team built around players that play the Champions League every year failed so miserably to get itself together and produced so much technical and tactical waste.

Well... one thing's for sure for next June: at least three boring games. :)


Ponrauil

Your description of France sounds like the England team before Capello took over - unfulfilled potential and I know exactly how frustrating it is. ;)

I don't think that the ref was bought either. To be honest, he could have given the pen as you said and that would have had the same result without nearly as much uproar afterwards so I think we can safely throw that conspiracy theory out the window. The seeding of the play-offs was underhanded and unfair though and for that, FIFA should be ashamed.

Realistically speaking as well, what would the French nation's response have been towards Henry if he had have admitted it to the ref, the goal had been disallowed and France had gone out? There would have been similar uproar that he should have just kept his mouth shut. The simple answer is he just shouldn't have done it in the first place but as soon as he decided he was going to use dishonesty to gain the advantage, he was a condemned man even if he'd then decided to come clean about it in order to put it right immediately afterwards - at least he would have kept his dignity though.

It is a pretty bitter pill for the Irish and must feel like a hollow victory for true French football fans who share the opinion that cheating needs to be seriously dealt with in football.

Penalty shoot-outs are a lottery as well. It's almost a case of flipping a coin to decide who wins so France may well have come through it - we'll never know. I hate shoot-outs when England are in them (cos we lose more than we win) but they're good fun to watch otherwise! :D

I don't think we will get a reply either. But the irish football association has called for it.

There has been nothing but this all over the news today.
From the serious to the funny (I gave my french crossiant back or I was so mad I threw my gillette razor into the bin :D).

Ireland were robbed. And it was the closest they got in ages.

It is very similar yeah. That coach has been there since 2004 and he still has to come up with a regular starting 11 and a solid central defence 6 months before his 3 major competition. The WC 2006 final he had nothing to do with (players like Zidane and Thuram called the shots), but he's responsible for the desastrous 2008 Euro followed by shameful qualifiers... struggling to finishing 2nd of our group with Serbia as the other "big" team... losing to them and Austria etc...
So another frustrating thing for Irish and French fans is that we're qualified in the worst way possible with no chance at all of doing better than Ireland would have.


Yeah that's so unfair. You don't change the rules during the game.


Having played the game for a while and seen loads of games I believe many players could have had such a move. Things are going so fast at such a level that you can have stupid reflexes sometimes. I remember Richard Gough of Scotland just catching the ball in the middle of the pitch for no reason and being sent off for it... a stupid reflex move.
I don't think Henry actually had the time to think and consider the chances before he touched the ball with his hand, etc... He commited a foul and wasn't caught, happens many times in every game, only this is as unfair as it gets for the other team.

What Henry did after the goal, celebrate like he did, that was shameful... but at least he apologised after the whistle to Irish players, I know it's no relief but I believe other players would not have cared to do that at all (the likes of Christiano Ronaldo or Inzaghi for example).

I'm not saying Irish fans shouldn't be upset, just that it's an every game incident only with the heaviest consequences possible. It's not Henry's fault - again I'm convinced most if not all players would/could have done the same and get away with it - as much as football authorities for doing nothing to reduce refereeing mistakes when the technology has been there for years already. There's video of course, but also just putting a ref behind each goal would have prevented that incident.


What French fans are angry - and shameful - about is that it took such a foul play to qualify, that with a team like ours and with such a perspective as a WC we delivered such a poor and fearful performance. Yet the coach and players don't seem to realise their appalling weakness as a team, even if the Irish did deliver a very solid and intelligent performance. And even when they weren't that good in the first game it took us a lucky goal to come home with the lead.

We do not deserve to go through even if it had ended 0-0 or if we had won on penalties.
Of course we're well aware of what Irish fans must feel, we've been there before (WC 1982 semi-final vs Germany).


Ponrauil

There's no way FIFA will allow them to reply the game. If they did football would become even more farcical than it already is. Suddenly everyone who felt they'd been cheated in a game of football would be appealing for replays. Then all the football associations would be overwhelmed with requests. If those requests were turned down, then the clubs with plenty of cash to burn would be getting solicitors involved and going through the courts, etc and it all stems from there.

Its an absolute disgrace.
Fifa or a joke whats there job exactly ?drinking tea and eating cakes?
This is there chance now to do something.

A replay is fair justice, I cant believe france aint come out and been honest acepting any replay and saying it was wrong, says what the french or about doesnt it.
If they dont have replay then they have to ban henry from playing in world cup..surely
Henry basicaly as admitted cheating, so if this beautiful game as become this way that cheating is allowed, its no longer a sport is it.

I wonder how would it be if it was ireland that did that ..
What nationality is platini?
The playoffs was already fixed for him.

Exactly.

If Rooney had done it for England it would be "clever play" and the "refs fault"

Statement from Thierry Henry:

"I have said at the time and I will say again that yes I handled the ball.

"I am not a cheat and never have been. It was an instinctive reaction to a ball that was coming extremely fast in a crowded penalty area.

"As a footballer you do not have the luxury of the television to slow the pace of the ball down 100 times to be able to make a conscious decision.

"People are viewing a slow motion version of what happened and not what I or any other footballer faces in the game.

"If people look at it in full speed you will see that it was an instinctive reaction. It is impossible to be anything other than that.

"I have never denied that the ball was controlled with my hand. I told the Irish players, the referee and the media this after the game.

"Naturally I feel embarrassed at the way that we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish who definitely deserve to be in South Africa.

"Of course the fairest solution would be to replay the game, but it is not in my control.

"There is little more I can do apart from admit that the ball had contact with my hand leading up to our equalising goal and I feel very sorry for the Irish."