Real Football (Soccer to you Yanks) Thread

[Joey]

I don't think the current Arsenal line up have the heart to come back from that in the second leg. They don't have enough experience in the team to do so, it's not there missing many first team players. Very disappointing performance but at the same time my hats off to Milan, who played really well.

Actually looking forward to watching Man United on Channel 5 tonight

 

[Zorak]

Actually looking forward to watching Man United on Channel 5 tonight

Sad state of affairs really... With only Chelsea to pin hopes on in the CL. And the 2 supposedly best English teams competing in the channel 5 cup

 

[Joey]

Sad state of affairs really... With only Chelsea to pin hopes on in the CL. And the 2 supposedly best English teams competing in the channel 5 cup

We cant pin our hopes on Chelsea either because quite frankly they are in a rut lately with regards to form and finding goals. If one of the Manchester teams fails to win the Channel 5 Cup it will be a sad day for English football.

Although I support Liverpool so I'm not in a position to talk

 

[Springsteen]

Maybe the Premiership isn't as strong as it once was....It's certainly a fact that the representation hasn't been as strong as in recent years. 2007 had 3 English sides in the semi's, 2008 had the same, as did 2009. Then 2010 had none, and 2011 had one. Italy's certainly got stronger recently and Spain possesses a strong set too.

I wouldn't be totally surprised if Napoli knocked Chelsea out.

 

[Joey]

The Premiership is defo not the toughest league in the world anymore thats for sure! Was discussing this at the pub last night! I reckon Napoli will do Chelsea.

 

[Zorak]

Premiership quality has definitely declined. You only have to see how Fergy reacted to that question a few months back. As a general rule of thumb - if you piss Fergie off, you've hit the nail on the head.

 

[TGLucario475]

I have a feeling that it's because of the foriegn ownership that the Premier League has decliend in quality, sure the money has helped bring in some quality but it's just not been the same really.

 

[skyblue]

Ugh, I wish they'd stop reminding me we're in the Europa league, it's humiliating enough..

football snobbery?

 

[Springsteen]

No, it's just really humiliating being in that second rate competition. I'd rather not be in it and sell our place to Blackburn for £15 and a bag of dicks.

 

[skyblue]

humiliating being in european competition?

 

[Zorak]

It is for a club of man utds stature, I get that.

Maybe not 30 years ago, when the team that finished second would compete in the Uefa Cup... But now it's a bunch of 20th-5th place teams.

 

[Springsteen]

No, humiliating being in the Europa League. The Champions League is great because you play better sides there, and more money. But we were poor this year in the Champions League, and deserved to go out, no use dwelling on it, and we might as well try and win this just to win a trophy. Bring back the Cup Winners Cup, now there was a competition

Game tonight's been fine, performance has been good enough, Ajax sadly aren't the team they were because this could have been something special.

 

[Zorak]

The Champions League is great because you play better sides there, and more money. But we were poor this year in the Champions League, and deserved to go out, no use dwelling on it, and we might as well try and win this just to win a trophy. Bring back the Cup Winners Cup, now there was a competition

I'd like to see the Champions league take 2 teams from the best leagues, and one from the weaker leagues. And then the uefa cup could take the runner up and one cup winner (not worthless league cups though). Get back to the idea of it being the best of the best.

 

[Springsteen]

I'd take 2 each from England, Spain, France, Italy, Holland, Germany, Portugal and Russia, then one each from Ukraine, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Denmark...and other countries to bump it to 32 teams like now. Have the group stage, have it normal. But there's really too much money involved for that to sensibly happen. I still want the CWC back though, that would be a nice incentive for those winners.

2-0 up, Chicarito with the second. That'd be us through.

 

[TGLucario475]

I'd honestly love the above suggested idea's for the Champions League, even though it'd have to be renamed back to European Cup, and I'm all in favor for the Cup Winners Cup to come back and return to Channel 5 while the UEFA Cup goes back to BBC2 or wherever it was originally in the 90's.

 

[Springsteen]

Not really, we'd still have the group stage so the Champions League could remain but it'd just be more Countries represented. I'd have the third and fourth placed teams in the bigger leagues go into the Europa league, and the second team from the other leagues. Have the CWC come back to override the Europa League like it used to (so if you finished 3rd in the Premier League but won the FA Cup, you're going into the CWC) oh and have it just for the FA Cup because the other Leagues just have one domestic cup.

Man City beat Porto 2-1 in Porto which is a very good result and should see them through. Sadly Mario Ballotelli was reportedly racially abused by the Porto fans, something we do not like to see. Valencia beat Stoke 1-0 at the Britannia, that'd be Valencia through then.

 

[Zorak]

I don't understand, I don't know the Porto team right now, but in very recent years they've had a number of black players...

 

[Springsteen]

Yeah they've got a few right now (Hulk, Helton, Rolando, and others) so it's stupid really. I don't hold much hope of UEFA doing much but if it's true they should be kicked out of Europe completely.

 

[Zorak]

Wish I worked in UEFA. Enjoy the Ligurian coast and do fucking nothing all day

 

[TGLucario475]

I wouldn't count Stoke out just yet and if they managed to get a 2-1 win in Spain then that'd be a big shock.