Parsley Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I can't see England not sending a single team to the Q/F, so I feel uneasy for our game next week :unsure: Don't be daft, Barca will destroy city. Arsenal could quite easily turn up to Stade Louis II and get a 3-0 or 4-1 if they play their best football. Despite the previous result and ASM's fantastic defensive record, there is a gap in quality, imo. One thing I will say about the recent performances of the English teams is that excluding Manchester City and their early group stage adventures, they have simply been given tough draws early on and just haven't been able to make it through. Arsenal seem to draw Barcelona or Bayern in the second round every season. In isolation, not too many of the results would really worry me. Obviously, the trend is alarming, but all it will take for a one-time reversal is a change in luck of the draw because the Premiership generally has the most or joint most teams in the second round every single season. That is not a coincidence. You don't think Man City have had tough draws early on? They've invariably had either Bayern and Real Madrid in their group as the first seed, and then another out of Roma, Dortmund, Ajax, Napoli and the like. On the two occasions that they have managed to qualify, it's inevitably been in second place because Bayern or Real are simply better. They've then been dealt a poor hand by drawing Barca twice in a row. Arsenal, on the other hand, have had consistently far easier groups because of their top pot status and can have no complaints whatsoever if they f*** it up by finishing second and end up drawing a good team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Man City got cunt draws because of seeding. Same as Napoli have done. I mean seeding is bollocks IMO but it's the same for everybody in that you have to build it up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 3 nights in a row that there's been entertaining games, makes a change Europa League tomorrow Some cracking games on paper. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leffe186 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Nobody said it was, but they played at a higher pace of football when needed. Most notably when Liverpool needed it against Milan. Never mentioned Chelsea, either. But the one time they won it they weren't really playing pragmatic stuff. You're kidding, aren't you? They typified pragmatism, as they were appreciably worse than the other top sides at the time. That final was a great example of maximizing limited resources. The bastards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Maybe a tad against Barca and Bayern but that was to be expected. Anyway, as I said, I wasn't talking about Chelsea and I was going a lot further back than 2012, too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpolic Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Thing is, English sides used to do so well in the CL because they played a higher pace than teams of often superior technical quality. That's completely gone, now. The coaches in charge of the top 4 - except Pellegrini with his shit defence - all promote a slower more patient pragmatic approach. Liverpool and Chelsea both got far in Europe on the back of playing desparately pragmatic stuff. Arsenal got to the final in 2006 by winning 2 legged ties 1-0 on aggregate. Your argument only really works in favour of Man Utd imo, where Fergie really struck the balance well in his latter years. Don't kid yourself, Liverpool turned it up when they needed to under Rafa. Same with Arsenal in 2006. Our teams don't have that Premier League 6th gear to shift up into now. They both played very pragmatic stuff on their runs to the final in 05/06/07, man. I'm not doubting they were in a clearly better state then, but it wasn't on the back of playing free flowing football. Chelsea and Liverpool played 6 games against each other in that period with 3 goals in total. God, that Chelsea-Liverpool cup rivalry was so mind-numbingly boring. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpolic Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Evidence that Brazil would've won the World Cup had Thiago not gotten a yellow card (very wrongly) against Colombia. Absolute legends both of them. http://worldsoccertalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/brazil-germany2.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpolic Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 These days Arsenal have to fight to the last game just to scrape 4th. No wonder they don't succeed at this level of the CL. Arsenal aren't even the best team in London, let alone the entire continent. They'll continue to make up the numbers in the same way we do in the PL -good enough to be in there but nowhere near good enough to challenge for the ultimate prize. How many players away are Arsenal from being a team that would challenge for the title do you reckon? IMO they need 4 players right through the spine of their side. The difference between early Wenger sides and everything since is that they're all puffs now whereas they used to have leaders all over the pitch. It's a shame like, because they play football the right way. Imagine how good they'd be with characters like Vieira on the pitch now. They really need that as they're a total soft touch these days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Their decline from genuine challengers to struggling for 4th can be almost exactly tracked from the moment Vieira left. Never been the same. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest n4e Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Loved Vieira. Those games with Man United when him and Keane would routinely try and kill each other were class. Don't really see that level of hatred and rivalry between individuals (or teams for that matter) these days. In fact there's just a general lack of mental bastards at the top level of European football right now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
U2 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Evidence that Brazil would've won the World Cup had Thiago not gotten a yellow card (very wrongly) against Colombia. Absolute legends both of them. http://worldsoccertalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/brazil-germany2.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinho lad Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Fucking 7, pal. Seven! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deuce Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Evidence that Brazil would've won the World Cup had Thiago not gotten a yellow card (very wrongly) against Colombia. Absolute legends both of them. http://i.imgur.com/VDjowbk.gif Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Evidence that Brazil would've won the World Cup had Thiago not gotten a yellow card (very wrongly) against Colombia. Absolute legends both of them. http://i.imgur.com/VDjowbk.gif That gif never gets old, and doesn't matter when it's used as it will always remind me of Kaiz fantastic NFL knowledge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Evidence that Brazil would've won the World Cup had Thiago not gotten a yellow card (very wrongly) against Colombia. Absolute legends both of them. http://i.imgur.com/VDjowbk.gif Fuck outta here Flip. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Evidence that Brazil would've won the World Cup had Thiago not gotten a yellow card (very wrongly) against Colombia. Absolute legends both of them. http://i.imgur.com/VDjowbk.gif f*** outta here Flip. As if I was serious. Mike I imagine you being the only one who didn't get it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Just seen the Ibra red card If anything it's a Oscar foul ffs. PSG will have to get very lucky with the draw to go any further without Ibra IMO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugazi Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 "Hold iz" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Just seen the Ibra red card If anything it's a Oscar foul ffs. PSG will have to get very lucky with the draw to go any further without Ibra IMO. Played way, way better without him last night. Stick Cavani (even though he seems to be finished) up top and pop Lavezzi on the wing, jobs a good 'un. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Just seen the Ibra red card If anything it's a Oscar foul ffs. PSG will have to get very lucky with the draw to go any further without Ibra IMO. Played way, way better without him last night. Stick Cavani (even though he seems to be finished) up top and pop Lavezzi on the wing, jobs a good 'un. Not that I think they're better without Ibra but last night they showed they have experience and quality all over the pitch, it's not a one man team. Thought Lavezzi was poor when he came on though, Lucas will be a better option off the bench. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roger Kint Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Will Luiz get a ban for his 'elbow' or was it seen? Missed it at the time so only heard later on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 When did they stop doing the draw for the quarters when the draw for the last 16 is also made? Swear its still like that on FM Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Just seen the Ibra red card If anything it's a Oscar foul ffs. PSG will have to get very lucky with the draw to go any further without Ibra IMO. Played way, way better without him last night. Stick Cavani (even though he seems to be finished) up top and pop Lavezzi on the wing, jobs a good 'un. That's fair enough but i'll have to see it for a prolonged period of time before i believe it. Not just his goals but his overall intelligence and playmaking they can't really do without at least from what i have seen in the past. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Pastore was great to watch yesterday. If he can play like that they won't miss Ibra from a creative perspective. He found space time and time again. PSG will have a fair chance against Porto, Juve/Dortmund, Arsenal/Monaco at the very least. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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