Champions League predictions - second round, week 5

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Heh recovery time.... quite nice midweek... 4th again



*did I curse myself now or what?*

[Wernazuma III]

Here I come

[MikeH]

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Didn't see the thread and forgot to look for it.

Hopefully do OK tomorrow.

Wednesday, 12-03-2003:
Real Madrid CF - Milan AC 1-0
BV Borussia Dortmund - Lokomotiv Moskva 1-0
Manchester United - FC Basel 1-0
Juventus FC - Deportivo La Coruña 1-0

[Solly]

man U won't win.

[MikeH]

You are probably right, I'm expecting ManU B team to be playing but even that team is pretty good.

[Solly]

Look for a Basle win at half-time, United full-time if you are into betting...

[Paul]

Real Madrid CF - Milan AC 3-1
BV Borussia Dortmund - Lokomotiv Moskva 3-0
Manchester United - FC Basel 1-1
Juventus FC - Deportivo La Coruña 3-2

 1 Paul              288 (+6)
 2 Locutus           276 (+6)
 2 Wernazuma III     276 (+9)
 4 OneFootInTheGrave 275 (+9)
 5 MikeH             261 (+9)
 6 Yaroslav          260 (+6)
 7 Zopperoni         256 (+6)
 8 Big Crunch (SD)   254 (+6)
 9 Wille             248 (+12)
10 Eli               224 (+9)
11 CyberShy          215
12 Fergus Horkan     214 (+6)
13 Notyoueither      210
13 Sloth             210 (+3)
15 Giovanni Wine     197
16 Fiera             127
17 Lars-E            126
18 Academia           88
19 Azazel (Dalgetti)  83
20 End Is Forever     79
21 Fistandantilus     68
22 Zealot             47
23 Victor Galis       46
24 Sirotnikov         42 
25 Daz                30
26 FrustratedPoet     26
27 Boddington's       21 (+9)
28 Bas                18
29 JohnIII            17
30 Saint Marcus       15
31 Dr. Stiby           4
32 Juggler             2

I have uploaded the spreadsheet with the results. The last matches of the second round will be played next week.

[MikeH]

Damn, missing the first day dropped me 2 positions.

[Kropotkin]

I'm not a player in this thread but a related question for Paul. What are your feelings about Ajax performance with the big boys so far? For some "mysterious" reason the Swedish channel that owns the right to the CL have aired the last three Ajax-games. There seems to be a hell of a lot of talent to me but they still don't got the routine it takes to actually consistently win games against the likes of Arsenal and Valencia (even if it's a good job to turn a loss into a draw against Valencia with their type of tactics). But will they ever get that far? After all, there can't be many a manager in Europe that doesn't want Chivu in their team.

[MikeH]

I watched both the Ajax vs Arsenal games and I was very impressed with that Ajax side. Huge amounts of potential and with the transfer market collapsing they might be able to keep them together for a bit.

[Kropotkin]

Well, we know what happend to Ajax the last time around there was drastic changes in the transfer system back in the days of mr. Bosman...

[MikeH]

Of course, maybe this might make up for it?

[Zopperoni]

I hope they stay together. A lot of the lads are born in the 1980's, and they've developed very well this season.

If Ajax can become a European superpower again I see no reason for them to leave (except maybe the lack of real excitement in the domestic league).

[MikeH]

That's another problem for them, if the domestic league isn't good enough then they get less match practice against really good sides.

[Kropotkin]

Either they'll get a chance to keep them or they'll get a low price for them. Then there's the other way; One of the clubs that hasn't been forced into reality like Real Madrid (even if Barca is more believable due to the traditions) buys one or two for huge cash that with a smart policy can be used to buy and make even more talent.