Other games (2022/23)

[KaKa]

4 minutes ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

A bad watch that got to a cup final?

 

Kane and Son also got 74 goals and 41 assists under Mourinho  They were class under him and both loved him.

 

Man Utd have also done impeccably well after booting him. From a European cup win to fuck all.

 

Look, both teams often looked terribly disjointed going forward under Mourinho. It was all very unconvincing.

 

Yes, you can look awful and get to cup finals. If he was so amazing he would still be at one of those clubs.

 

The fans were bored, and ultimately certain clubs are just not going to accept his football unless he is competing at the very top. He was not able to convince Spurs he would have them competing at a higher level, and he wasn't able to convince Man Utd he would have them back where they were under Ferguson.

[Froggy]

9 hours ago, KaKa said:

 

It's not mad at all. It's an awful watch, even when he has quality players to utilise.

 

Yes, he wins and can't knock it, but he has to, otherwise fans just can't stomach the football.

 

I definitely wouldn't want him at Newcastle.

 

I can't believe people are regarding the conference league as a major European trophy now as if it's some kind of huge win for Mourinho. It's a third tier competition that has existed for 12 months. I remember when he won the Europa League with us people were scoffing at is as if it was a minor tournament but suddenly the conference league is important?

 

It's Mourinho's first trophy for 5 years, which he won by scraping past the likes of Leicester, Vitesse and Feyenoord. He finished 6th in the poorest Serie A in years, with their second lowest points total in 9 years. Spent £114m too, the highest in the league. A net spend of £101m, with the next highest being the champions Milan with £65m. His league performance was completely average. 1 point more than Fonseca last season, who also got Roma to the semi's of the Europa League.

 

If you were a Newcastle fan, you wouldn't touch him with someone else's barge pole. 

 

[Groundhog63]

Totally forgot about this fella...

 

 

[Froggy]

8 hours ago, KaKa said:

The fans were bored

 

An understatement. If I had the choice of going back to Mourinho and competing for smaller cups or reliving last season it wouldn't be an easy choice.  He was miserable.

[Froggy]

Just now, Groundhog63 said:

Totally forgot about this fella...

 

 

 

Good guy Chris. Happy for him.

[54]

3 minutes ago, Froggy said:

 

I can't believe people are regarding the conference league as a major European trophy now as if it's some kind of huge win for Mourinho. It's a third tier competition that has existed for 12 months. I remember when he won the Europa League with us people were scoffing at is as if it was a minor tournament but suddenly the conference league is important?

 

It's Mourinho's first trophy for 5 years, which he won by scraping past the likes of Leicester, Vitesse and Feyenoord. He finished 6th in the poorest Serie A in years, with their second lowest points total in 9 years. Spent £114m too, the highest in the league. A net spend of £101m, with the next highest being the champions Milan with £65m. His league performance was completely average. 1 point more than Fonseca last season, who also got Roma to the semi's of the Europa League.

 

If you were a Newcastle fan, you wouldn't touch him with someone else's barge pole. 

 

The main people scoffing at the Europa League where Man United fans, and fans of the club's that regularly get Champions League football. Most clubs would kill to get into and have a run in the Europa League, it's a great competition.

 

Personally love the Conference League too, it allows clubs like Bodo/Glimt to have runs in a major European competition, which allows more revenue into them smaller leagues and clubs. So while it might not be your sort of thing, it's still a major European honour, and carries weight behind it.

[Froggy]

Just now, 54 said:

The main people scoffing at the Europa League where Man United fans, and fans of the club's that regularly get Champions League football. Most clubs would kill to get into and have a run in the Europa League, it's a great competition.

 

Personally love the Conference League too, it allows clubs like Bodo/Glimt to have runs in a major European competition, which allows more revenue into them smaller leagues and clubs. So while it might not be your sort of thing, it's still a major European honour, and carries weight behind it.

 

I love the competition too as it's set up for the smaller leagues and teams like you say. Roma are not a smaller team from a smaller league. They're a big club who were fighting for the league title not long ago.

 

You can't have three major European cups IMO. It might be a major achievement for some teams, but not Roma.

 

[Groundhog63]

21 minutes ago, Groundhog63 said:

Totally forgot about this fella...

 

 

Quoting my own post like but has Smalling had a decent enough season to be in the England squad? I don't watch Italian football or much of Arsenal but Ben White was both unlucky and shite against us. Smalling no?

[Froggy]

16 minutes ago, Groundhog63 said:

Quoting my own post like but has Smalling had a decent enough season to be in the England squad? I don't watch Italian football or much of Arsenal but Ben White was both unlucky and shite against us. Smalling no?

 

Southgate has his guys. Maguire shouldn't be anywhere near the squad given the season he has just had but he was probably the first name on the sheet.

[Kid Icarus]

It's also a tricky one because if you're picking players on their England form, dropping Maguire is just daft.

[ponsaelius]

I don't see why you can't have 3 major European trophies. There was 3 for a long time.

[Froggy]

12 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

It's also a tricky one because if you're picking players on their England form, dropping Maguire is just daft.

 

Yeah. I don't envy international managers. 

[Froggy]

8 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

I don't see why you can't have 3 major European trophies. There was 3 for a long time.

 

What is third one you're referring to after the European Cup and UEFA Cup?

[Tiresias]

I can't stand how condescending a lot of clubs and their fans are towards conference league, it gives a lot of modest clubs from across europe a chance to play european football, and I worry some big club from one of the big leagues that has been underperforming will win it every year while acting a bit sniffy about it. I hope when we are champions league regulars and we have a spotty season and end up in it we remember that once upon a time same as when we got to the europa league proper we would have jumped at the chance to play in it.

I appreciate the difficulty for clubs playing thursday sunday week in week out, and seen people say how much it has hurt clubs but i don't think it engenders a good mentality to prefer to not play games.

[Yorkie]

11 minutes ago, Froggy said:

 

What is third one you're referring to after the European Cup and UEFA Cup?

 

Cup Winners Cup!

[Froggy]

8 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

Cup Winners Cup!

 

Abolished for being third tier shite. 

[Yorkie]

It got absorbed into the UEFA Cup so cup winners still got to compete in European competition, and so that opportunity for those clubs wasn't lost. 

 

The Conference League is a far better alternative third competition anyway because it expands that opportunity to more. I just wish it didn't have a name which so defines it as a far less prestigious thing than it ought to be. Certainly looked like it meant a lot to Roma, who I see as a pretty massive club.

 

It would be better if it was called the Europa Trophy, or something, rather than the head-patting use of the word 'Conference'. But that might jeopardise the precious branding of the other competitions. 

[Froggy]

3 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

It got absorbed into the UEFA Cup so cup winners still got to complete in European competition and that opportunity for those clubs wasn't lost. 

 

It got absorbed into the UEFA cup because the "big" sides were no longer playing in it, i.e. it became a minor trophy, therefore interest in it massively wained. 

 

We obviously just have differing opinions on what makes a trophy major/minor. In my opinion, a competition made up of teams finishing 7th in the bigger leagues doesn't consitute a major trophy. Fully agree it is a good competition for increasing prize money and exposure for the smaller teams though.

[Optimistic Nut]

Would have taken Smalling a year ago when we were linked. Think we’re onto bigger and better things now though.

[54]

Tell the people of Rome it's a meaningless trophy:

 

[Froggy]

1 minute ago, 54 said:

Tell the people of Rome it's a meaningless trophy:

 

 

I didn't say it was meaningless, I said it was minor, which it is.

 

What are they supposed to do, not support the team?  Was also recently discussed on here about pitch invasions at every opportunity.

[Jaqen]

Mourinho has done a good job at Roma, not sure why people are suggesting otherwise. 

 

Been a really good turnaround since they lost that 4-3 to Juve at the start of January. Only losing twice in the league since then. Changed the system and how he uses certain players, playing Mkhitaryan as a deep lying playmaker for example. Got rid of a lot of the softness and errors they had under Fonseca and has managed to get the full support of the fans over there. They love him and the attendances have been great. 

 

 

 

 

[Yorkie]

22 minutes ago, Froggy said:

 

It got absorbed into the UEFA cup because the "big" sides were no longer playing in it, i.e. it became a minor trophy, therefore interest in it massively wained. 

 

We obviously just have differing opinions on what makes a trophy major/minor. In my opinion, a competition made up of teams finishing 7th in the bigger leagues doesn't consitute a major trophy. Fully agree it is a good competition for increasing prize money and exposure for the smaller teams though.

 

Well for a start, the Europa League was won by a mid-table German side this season. Villarreal were 7th when they beat you the season before. But besides that, the Conference League had a mix of big European teams, some well-known teams and some comparative minnows. I don't see how different that is to the Europa League in that respect, despite that competition also having a sprinkling of elite-level clubs whenever they've shat the bed during their Champions League campaign. How do you define the difference between major and minor?

[Guest neesy111]

22 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

Well for a start, the Europa League was won by a mid-table German side this season. Villarreal were 7th when they beat you the season before. But besides that, the Conference League had a mix of big European teams, some well-known teams and some comparative minnows. I don't see how different that is to the Europa League in that respect, despite that competition also having a sprinkling of elite-level clubs whenever they've shat the bed during their Champions League campaign. How do you define the difference between major and minor?

 

I think Froggy is on about before the expansion of the Champions League in the late 90's, where the 2nd to 5th placed sides would go into the UEFA cup from the big nations therefore making it a much stronger competition and it was gone backwards since then.

[Froggy]

22 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

Well for a start, the Europa League was won by a mid-table German side this season. Villarreal were 7th when they beat you the season before. But besides that, the Conference League had a mix of big European teams, some well-known teams and some comparative minnows. I don't see how different that is to the Europa League in that respect, despite that competition also having a sprinkling of elite-level clubs whenever they've shat the bed during their Champions League campaign. How do you define the difference between major and minor?

 

There's no concrete definition in what determines a major and a minor but the Conference League was set up as a competition for clubs outside out of the elite. It may be major for some teams, but in the wider footballing spectrum it's a minor tournament.

 

You get more money for winning a group game in the Champions League than you do for finishing as runner up in the Conference League. One is clearly at the top and one is clearly at the bottom of the scale. I don't see how someone can call them both major competitions. Most of the worlds top footballers will never play in it.

 

Teams were sacking off the Europa League and fans were calling it a nuisance and suggesting they'd be better off if they weren't in it before they added Champions League qualification as an incentive. I wouldn't have even called it a major before that change never mind the Conference League.