It's that Faith

So, my faith was vindicated. Betis defeated Chelsea, the first team to do so. Lille defeated Manchester United. Ajax scored a last-gasp winner at Thun. Arsenal hammered Sparta 3-0.

Betis 1-0 Chelsea
i told you, betis can play football. even with like 7 regulars out. and it is the perfect way to bounce back from 3 straight defeats(or was it 4?) including a 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Malaga. according to kc, they played like men possessed. even varela, which is nice to note, considering i condemned him after that 4-0 showing which he gave away too many square balls. nice to see him bounce back like that.

Lille 1-0 Man Utd
i bet on a lille draw, after some thought and serious discussion with kwan and kc and wj. i should have stuck to my gut feeling tt lille can win. but the threat from rooney, ronaldo din quite materialise and lille got their first ever goal.

the problem with ronaldo is that it takes 3 men to stop him, but man utd cant exploit that cos he cant get the ball out to maybe rooney. and a bigger problem is the smith-fletcher partnership in midfield taht is really terrible, no drive, mistimed tackles, poor passing, cant win the 2nd balls, losing the balls. and ferdinand din bounce back like varela. he still looked lethargic. which is a shame, considerign how much he is paid. u will laugh when they say he was the most expensive defender. oshea still look shaky. and van niistelrooy was a broken man, totally intimidated by tavilidris, which is a shame. i felt sorry looking at him, haggard. he even looked abused.

but u have to hand it to lille. they played like men possessed, yes thats the word. possessed. every ball, every space. closed down. destroyed. intercepted. tackled. tts wad they did. and if u tink they only put men behind the ball, they stringed together some neat passes and looked like scoring more than man utd. in fact, they had 3 very good chances and man utd had one. if taffereau's freekick had not been tipped away by van der sar, which is a herculean effort, really, it could ahve been one of the contenders for goal of the week. perfectly struck, dipping in to the top left corner at the very last moment. and acimovic's goal is a signal that things have to change. smith and fletcher din check his run. he scored. as simple as that.

towards the end of the game, i realised i would rather lose the money den see man utd equalise. because lille din deserve to draw. they fully deserved to win. and i was very touched by their performance, believe it or not. first time in a long time i see a team fight like that. (but then again, i only get to watch champs league and a few internationals) but inexperience will hinder their progress. they looked too excited when attacking. no nerves. when the whistle blew, i tink the crowd must have been touched, having travelled to paris to watch(lille's metropole stadium was too small by uefa rules) this team pull off such a stunning upset.

Thun 2-4 Ajax
we hit back perfectly. if the strikers cant score, the midfielders and defenders will. sneijder and de jong. anastinou scored the 2nd and boukari the 4th(they are the forwards). last gasp victory. 2 goals in extra time. but the faith carried us through. That faith. i am thankful that i never lost hope when thun equalised for the 2nd time. interestingly, soccernet said thun had the lion share of the chances. ajax had 10 shots on target, thun 4, ajax 58% possession, thun 42%. maybe they meant that their shots were better. but lion share sounded wrong. so maybe the score flattered us in that we are really lucky to have grabbed two goals in injury time and thuns better shots din go in. so we thank God for watching over us.

Arsenal 3-0 Sparta
Henry, van Persie, van Persie. the scoreline flattered us, it appears. but we are through. so lets use the two games we have to plan how are we going to revive our season. blood the youngsters, arsene, blood them!