The European Competitions Thread

[CHOULO19 24,332]

11 hours ago, BlueLyon said:

I wonder why they always pull some turkish, polish,... refs who are quite unknown. Why not go for Proenca, Clattenburg etc. While they arent great, at least they are big names. 

With refs like today, it almost feels they are picked because no one would give a shit if they never judged again but they would help barca continue for this particular game.

I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, but the link between atrocious refereeing and Barcelona matches is just too consistent. 

[CHOULO19 24,332]

56 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

And whilst Pogba is at home getting another fancy hair cut ready for tomorrow his old team were taking apart Barcelona.

I really like Pogba, but Juve have not missed one bit this season.

When I said last season when we were linked to him that he is a good promising prospect but that he wasn't a finished product or even crucial for Juve some people here attacked me. 

[OhForAGreavsie 6,073]

1 hour ago, communicate said:

Are you saying they are similar to city or when they played city? 

I'm saying that the description of Barcelona which you gave here sounds like you could just as easily be describing Man City. That's probably no coincidence.

This plays into an argument I often gave in defence of Jose when his brand of football was being attacked by people expressing opinions which I felt were 'illiterate' in a footballing sense. When people railed at Jose to play full on front-foot football with our squad, I would point out that there was no way our players could win playing like that. I argued that you can only win championships that way if your players are miles better than everyone else's, that otherwise tactics were necessary, and that it was tactics which make football interesting. Antonio has a better squad than Jose did but he's no fool, he uses tactics.

Pep is "so so happy" that his players dominated possession against us. Lot's of pleasure for him, not so many points for his team. He won everything playing his way at Barca because he had a great team, some say the greatest team ever. It was an extraordinary collection of players but, now that Barca are slipping back from those superhuman levels, they are going to have to play smarter if they want to continue winning titles. City, of course, have not approached those levels yet. Let's hope they never do, and that their coach never mends his ways. Let's hope that we will be able to trust in Pep for as long as we have been trusting in Arsene.

Edit: We may not get our wish because City's owners, unlike their Arsenal counterparts, are determined to collect the very best players. If they manage it, then Pep will deliver trophies by the bucket load. If they don't however Pep will have to learn to give more thought to to the way he sets up his team, and to the qualities he looks for in his players. I'm not sure if Pep has yet suffered from the fact that it's less easy to attract the tip top players to Manchester City, and to England in general, than it is to entice them to Barcelona. If he hasn't yet, he will soon enough. Maybe we can put our hopes in that.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,073]

3 hours ago, CHOULO19 said:

I really like Pogba, but Juve have not missed one bit this season.

When I said last season when we were linked to him that he is a good promising prospect but that he wasn't a finished product or even crucial for Juve some people here attacked me. 

Some because, as you rightly imply, they thought he was already the finished article. Some of us however just didn't, and don't, share your view about his promise.

He will undoubtedly sharpen up his game but I can't see him ever reaching and maintaining £89m performance levels. I'm not saying he won't do extraordinary things from time to time, every footballer does, but to justify the expectations he needs regularly to be a decisive factor in the biggest games. If he has that potential then I have missed it so far.

[communicate 2,703]

17 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

I'm saying that the description of Barcelona which you gave here sounds like you could just as easily be describing Man City. That's probably no coincidence.

This plays into an argument I often gave in defence of Jose when his brand of football was being attacked by people expressing opinions which I felt were 'illiterate' in a footballing sense. When people railed at Jose to play full on front-foot football with our squad, I would point out that there was no way our players could win playing like that. I argued that you can only win championships that way if your players are miles better than everyone else's, that otherwise tactics were necessary, and that it was tactics which make football interesting. Antonio has a better squad than Jose did but he's no fool, he uses tactics.

Pep is "so so happy" that his players dominated possession against us. Lot's of pleasure for him, not so many points for his team. He won everything playing his way at Barca because he had a great team, some say the greatest team ever. It was an extraordinary collection of players which made their miracle football possible but, now that Barca are slipping back from those superhuman levels, they are going to have to play smarter if they want to continue winning titles. City, of course, have not approached those levels yet. Let's hope they never do, and that their coach never mends his ways. Let's hope we will be able to trust in Pep for as long as we have been trusted in Arsene.

I agree with you that this barca team look like current city team but I think you underestimate pep as a manager. There is a reason he was one of the most sought out manager in the world. 

He is actually more flexible than most people think. Yes he value possesion football but his team is setup not to just play one way. 

His barca teams has one of the best set of players I have ever seen so let's not discuss about them. But his Bayern team was a machine, they don't play just short possession,  they scored plenty of goals simply from a long ball from Boateng to Lewandowski. His cut in fb tactics was designed to stopped counter attack and to allow their two best players to shine (the two wingers). 

But will his possession philosophy works in England,  I think we will find out next season 

[communicate 2,703]

Fantastic game by Monaco, but not sure how can you play football as dortmund players. They should give them a week break. 

[Johnnyeye 7,509]

26 minutes ago, communicate said:

Fantastic game by Monaco, but not sure how can you play football as dortmund players. They should give them a week break. 

fantastic game from both teams, Monaco are doing wonders this season, but UEFA got this one very wrong, they should have let Dortmund recover from the attack, they had no time to compose themselves from the shock, UEFA should have set an example by postponing the game to next week at least, no football match is more important than human lives, all those players have families, they are not robots, thank God nothing worse happened in the explosions, this will be something that will live forever with everyone involved. Cheers

http://www.espnfc.us/borussia-dortmund/story/3102420/dortmund-defender-sokratis-i-feel-like-an-animal-and-not-like-a-person

[samzilla 517]

19 hours ago, Special Juan said:

And whilst Pogba is at home getting another fancy hair cut ready for tomorrow his old team were taking apart Barcelona.

To be fair, Man U are is old team too, lol.

[cosmicway 1,333]

Juve or Real ?

[CHOULO19 24,332]

 

Twats...

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Also, how in the world was the Dortmund match played less than 24 hours after the explosion?

 

UEFA didn't even ask Dortmund if they  wanted to play. Absolutely disgraceful...

[Laylabelle 9,535]

They didn't even get time to process either ..decision was made so soon after! Surley on list of priorities that shouldve been at the bottom! 

[lucio 5,418]

might as well cancel the champions league, uefa constantly ruining games

[Ledg 643]

This tournament is a joke now.

Glad that Barca is fucked tough. They send the ref to the wrong Spanish city this time.

I hope Atletico and Real will play in the semi-final this time. Won't stand a third final for the past 4 years between the two.

[Special Juan 28,141]

Great officiating again tonight...not. Fucking pathetic. 

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

9 minutes ago, Ledgi said:

This tournament is a joke now.

Glad that Barca is fucked tough. They send the ref to the wrong Spanish city this time.

I hope Atletico and Real will play in the semi-final this time. Won't stand a third final for the past 4 years between the two.

100% Rigged and manipulated rubbish. I'm totally convinced now. If not for the money involved, I won't want our club anywhere near this theatre.

[Henrique 9,133]

11 minutes ago, Ledgi said:

This tournament is a joke now.

Glad that Barca is fucked tough. They send the ref to the wrong Spanish city this time.

I hope Atletico and Real will play in the semi-final this time. Won't stand a third final for the past 4 years between the two.

Specially when we all know whats going to happen: Atletico will be the better side for most part of the game, but will end up losing again...

[Irakozium257 350]

Surely there can be developed an AI that can correctly officiate crucial decisions by video reviewing in quick-time. I'm so sick and tired that incompetent and covertly power-tripping referees always decide the outcome of competitive matches with so much injustice. Bayern would have nicked one more goal if Vidal was still on. They were playing with so much swagger before he got sent off.

[Amblève. 4,995]

Marcelo is fucking amazing.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Bayern Munich the best team in Europe right now gets nothing despite showing their superiority in both legs. UEFA and their cronies unfortunately decided in favour of the other team. Imagine fools thinking any of this is real. Never thought I'll see the day when I'm gotted for Munich of all teams. Hats off to Robben as well. I thought he was the best player in both matches. They seriously need to replace Ribery though. He's done.