Champions League predictions - week 1 and pre-season predictions

[Laertes]

Did not pick an overall winner - Real Madrid or top scorer - Ronaldo

[Solver]

Originally posted by Locutus
Why is that a bad thing? Only means more points for you...

On the games where I disagree with you .

[Locutus]

Ah, that explains why I'm 28 points ahead of you then

[Solver]

Nah, you're just using a really good random number generator.

[Locutus]

Yup, it's called a 'brain'

[Kitschum]

I didn't forget.

Winner: Real Madrid CF (ESP)
Top Scorer: Raúl (of Real M)

Group A:
1. FC Bayern München (GER)
2. Celtic FC (SCO)

Group B:
1. Arsenal FC (ENG)
2. Internazionale FC (ITA)

Group C:
1. RC Deportivo La Coruña (ESP)
2. PSV Eindhoven (HOL)

Group D:
1. Juventus FC (ITA)
2. Real Sociedad de Fútbol (ESP)

Group E:
1. Manchester United FC (ENG)
2. VfB Stuttgart (GER)

Group F:
1. Real Madrid CF (ESP)
2. Olympique de Marseille (FRA)

Group G:
1. S.S. Lazio (ITA)
2. Chelsea FC (ENG)

Group H:
1. AC Milan (ITA)
2. AFC Ajax (HOL)

Wednesday, 17-09-2003:
Olympique Lyonnais - RSC Anderlecht 0-1
FC Bayern München - Celtic FC 2-1
FC Dynamo Kyiv - Lokomotiv Moskva 2-1
Arsenal FC - FC Internazionale 2-0
AEK Athens FC - RC Deportivo La Coruña 0-3
PSV Eindhoven - AS Monaco FC 1-0
Juventus FC - Galatasaray SK 3-0
Real Sociedad de Fútbol - Olympiacos CFP 2-0

Tuesday, 16-09-2003:
Rangers FC - VfB Stuttgart 0-1
Manchester United FC - Panathinaikos FC 2-0
Real Madrid CF - Olympique de Marseille 2-0
FK Partizan - FC Porto 0-2
AC Sparta Praha - Chelsea FC 1-2
Besiktas JK - S.S. Lazio 0-2
AC Milan - AFC Ajax 2-1
Club Brugge KV - RC Celta de Vigo 0-0

[Paul]

Rangers FC - VfB Stuttgart 2-1
Manchester United FC - Panathinaikos FC 5-0
Real Madrid CF - Olympique de Marseille 4-2
FK Partizan - FC Porto 1-1
AC Sparta Praha - Chelsea FC 0-1
Besiktas JK - S.S. Lazio 0-2
AC Milan - AFC Ajax 1-0
Club Brugge KV - RC Celta de Vigo 1-1

 1 MikeH              76 (+16)
 2 Zopperoni          73 (+12)
 3 Locutus            72 (+12)
 4 Paul               69 (+12)
 5 Wernazuma III      59 (+16)
 6 Sloth              55 (+14)
 7 Fergus Horkan      53 (+10)
 8 Wille              52 (+12)
 9 Yaroslav           51
10 Kitschum           49 (+14)
11 Solver             46 (+14)
12 OneFootInTheGrave  43
13 Azazel             32
14 Winston            31
15 Giovanni Wine      16 (+16)
16 Eli                13
17 Bas                 8 (+8)

I have uploaded the spreadsheet with all the results.

[Solver]

There, Loc, again I gain more than you do!

[MikeH]

Anyone watch any of the matches last night? Saw the Chelsea game and most of the goals.

Chelsea started with a very defensive formation, only really started playing when they brought on Lampard and Duff, not sure why they rested them. Petit and Geremi are good players but I think Lampard and Duff have been Chelseas best two midfielders this season.

Mutu looked good again but it looks like Crespo might take time to settle.

Shame Palathaniakos' defence didn't bother turning up to play ManU.

[Laertes]

Saw a little bit of Madrid on the highlights. Same as last year - fantastic going forward, all over the place when going backwards. Sloppy goals conceded.

[MikeH]

Yeah, there definitely looks like potential to get in at the back there, even more now Makalele is at Chelski.

They should struggle if they came up against some of the Italian teams with that kind of defensive openness.

[Zopperoni]

Originally posted by MikeH
Anyone watch any of the matches last night?

I saw the Milan - Ajax game live. It was a pretty good match.

I think Chelsea is just cautious in road games.

Shame Palathaniakos' defence didn't bother turning up to play ManU.

Yes, a blowout win, and no goal for my fantasy striker Van Nistelrooij =\

[MikeH]

I think you might be right about Chelsea, he picked a very defensive line-up, although it did have all his experienced Champions league players in it.

I would have liked to watch Ajax - Milan, I think Ajax might do well this season. I was very impressed with them last season and they've had a season to improve. 1-0 loss away in Milan is not a bad result really.

I can't believe Van Nistelrooy didn't get any points either.

[Solver]

I watched Ajax-Milan live, then tried watching Madrid, but I admit I fell asleep .

Will probably watch the replays today.

[Zopperoni]

Ranieri is scared stiff. He can't disappoint Abramovich with the squad he has, so he's being risk-averse, especially against a smart counter-attacking team like SPP. They'll flow more at home.

Ajax will hopefully do well. The team lost key defender Chivu, and Escude is still making some (big) mistakes on coverage.
Up front, Sonck still needs some time to adjust, and coach Koeman also needs time to find ways to fill in new players like Soetaers.

But, a road loss against Milan was "accounted for" so it's no big deal. It's just a pity that Van der Vaart had such a good chance to make it 1-1 in added time =\