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*Official* English Football Season 2013-14

Uppercut

Uppercut

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Tom Halsey said:
Well compared to Milan (12th in Italy), Schalke (6th in Germany, comfortably worse than Leverkusen), Galatasaray (miles off top in Turkey, hardly the strongest of leagues) they look quite tough.

Zenit probably the only side I'd have as close to as good but then they looked pretty rubbish in the group stages.

I don't think Olympiakos are that good but they're the toughest draw IMO almost by default as everyone else we could have got are worse.
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Hmm but I don't think how well a team is doing at home is a very good predictor of how they'll play in the CL. Past performance is more important, Milan tend to play quite well in the CL even when they're bombing in Serie A. Olympiakos and Zenit have zero knockout stage experience and I reckon that'll really count against them.
 
T

Tom Halsey

International Coach
Uppercut said:
Hmm but I don't think how well a team is doing at home is a very good predictor of how they'll play in the CL. Past performance is more important, Milan tend to play quite well in the CL even when they're bombing in Serie A. Olympiakos and Zenit have zero knockout stage experience and I reckon that'll really count against them.
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I'm not really sure that's true. IIRC the win over Arsenal a couple of years back is the only knockout tie they've won since they last won the CL. And I don't think it's fair to look back as far as them winning it in 2007 to say that we can expect them to do well based on that.

I generally have a different view of things anyway. I don't think looking at performance in a certain competition three years or so ago (for argument's sake) is that helpful. Teams change too quickly for that.
 
Jarquis

Jarquis

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Is Daniel Levy an Arsenal fan? Done a terrific job of absolutely mauling Spuds from the inside out.

We've beat Bayern before, we've beat Pep before. We can beat Pep's Bayern.
 
T

Tom Halsey

International Coach
Separate QF draw has been for as long as I can remember. I wasn't even aware that there was now a separate SF draw though.
 
Uppercut

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Arsenal's games against Bayern come in a two-week period when they also have Chelsea+Spurs away and Citeh at home.
 
NUFAN

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
I feel its a knee-jerk reaction getting rid of Andre Villas-Boas less than half-way through the year with a team which has changed considerably from last season. We've won half our matches and went a perfect 6 from 6 in Europe. Yes, we've been embarrassed 3 times this season, against West Ham, Man City and Liverpool, but we responded well from the first two drubbings so who knows it may have happened again. I do feel as though AVB has had trouble identifying who our best XI is, but realistically you can't really blame him as we've had many players perform inconsistently. Also, while not an excuse as everyone gets them, injuries have caused problems.

Whatever happens, I hope the new manager decides to play Townsend ahead of Lennon and gets Sigurdsson more game time.
 
sledger

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
Being beaten 5-0 at home and not getting a single shot on target is a true nadir in footballing terms though. I'm not saying it was right to sack him over it, but it really was a diabolical result/performance.
 
NUFAN

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
sledger said:
Being beaten 5-0 at home and not getting a single shot on target is a true nadir in footballing terms though. I'm not saying it was right to sack him over it, but it really was a diabolical result/performance.
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Yeah it wasn't great. Not really AVB's fault though that Solado can't hit the target when given an opportunity. I also feel as though we had a decent penalty shout that could have changed things. We also have to remember though that Spurs were down 2-0 when deservingly reduced to 10 man and all 3 replacements had been made. Basically, Spurs only truly looked a shambles once down to 10 man and we didn't handle the loss of Paulinho well at all. Suarez was awesome though and Liverpool easily deserved the win, I just think that if we had 11 man and a capable striker, AVB would still be around after losing say 3-1 at home.
 
Nate

Nate

You'll Never Walk Alone
I'm not advocating that he should have been sacked, but I think you're underestimating exactly how poor you were. While Soldado should have done better once or twice, we really could have scored more, and even hit the woodwork twice. And that penalty shout was bogus.
 
NUFAN

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
Fair enough. I don't blame you actually when I say 3-1, that's way closer than it was overall. I just thought Spurs were very ordinary pre-Paulinho, but pathetic only after his send-off.
 
Jarquis

Jarquis

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Samuel_Vimes said:
Never over both legs.

Never over both legs. Which, I hear, is sort of the point of European cup football.

Marcuss' Arsenal-platitude producing bot mode almost making me sympathetic to Bayern and Uli Hoeness.
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Sorry, next time I'll just saw we've got no hope and might as well not turn up.
 
Furball

Furball

Evil Scotsman
NUFAN said:
I feel its a knee-jerk reaction getting rid of Andre Villas-Boas less than half-way through the year with a team which has changed considerably from last season. We've won half our matches and went a perfect 6 from 6 in Europe. Yes, we've been embarrassed 3 times this season, against West Ham, Man City and Liverpool, but we responded well from the first two drubbings so who knows it may have happened again. I do feel as though AVB has had trouble identifying who our best XI is, but realistically you can't really blame him as we've had many players perform inconsistently. Also, while not an excuse as everyone gets them, injuries have caused problems.

Whatever happens, I hope the new manager decides to play Townsend ahead of Lennon and gets Sigurdsson more game time.
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Given the standard of opponent, that's the equivelant of an EPL manager saying "well my team managed to beat Spurs."

Redknapp finished 4th, 5th and 4th and got sacked. AVB took Spurs backwards relative to Spurs' rivals last season and they're getting worse this season. It's not a knee jerk reaction to one bad result. They were appalling against Arsenal at the Emirates - an Arsenal that let's not forget were ravaged by injury - and were saved from a doing by Hugo Lloris. They got gubbed 3-0 by West Ham at home, and in the last month have lost 6-0 away to Man City and 5-0 at home to Liverpool. And it's not like the last 2 are just little embarassing blips, they've been rubbish all season long. 15 goals in 16 league games is ****ing terrible when you look at the attacking talent Spurs have at their disposal.
 
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