UEFA Champions and Europa League 2015/16 Thread

[Dolphin Ziggler]

First topic message reminder :

It begins for the English today as West Ham face FC Lusitans in front of a sold out Upton Park this evening. The team will be a bit mixed. Randolph, O'Brien, Tomkins, Burke, Page. Jarvis, Oxford, Poyet, Amalfitano. Zarate, Sakho.

[NickisBHAFC]

Arsenal letting England down.

[NickisBHAFC]

Not for long! Theo Walcott actually scoring in Europe.

[Fernando]

Now Chelsea letting England down

[Fernando]

Now everyone letting England down

[NickisBHAFC]

Indeed. Arsenal again now as well.

[compelling and rich]

poor by casillas getting beat on his near post, real pet hate of mine that. whats the point of the wall from that range if hes going to stand behind it anyway

[Fernando]

If you think that's poor go watch the Olympiakos 2nd goal fella Oh dear oh dear.

[NickisBHAFC]

Lovely free kick by Willian.

[Hero]

If you think that's poor go watch the Olympiakos 2nd goal fella Oh dear oh dear.

Ospina wtf

[Fernando]

If you think that's poor go watch the Olympiakos 2nd goal fella Oh dear oh dear.

Ospina wtf

I can see why it happened he feared he was gunna carry it into the goal and dropped it asap, it wouldn't of happened if started with a decent position though.

[NickisBHAFC]

Chelsea's turn.!

[NickisBHAFC]

How did arsenal not score there!

[CFCNick]

I hate that. Steve McManaman saying Hazard should have dived. Yeah, that's gonna teach kids listening a great habit. Muppet.

[NickisBHAFC]

Arsenal

[NickisBHAFC]

Cambiasso is still class. No idea why an English side didn't grab him in the summer. Arsenal could really do with him

[CFCNick]

Matic and Ivanovic can Frak off. Both think they're Frak Superman.

[Fernando]

Ivanovic has made 9 tackles against Brahimi and missed the lot

[Fernando]

Chelsea denied a blatant penalty. Eve Phil Thompson is fuming. Bad night for English clubs

[Guest]

embarrassing from the ref, but really our sides are just pony, have been for a long time in europe.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

3-2 down at home, moment your team needs you the most - The Emirates is half empty.

Arsenal fans stink

[Hero]

It's okay Arsenal, it's only the two games v Bayern Munich next in Europe.

[Guest]

Lewandowski from Bayern Munich has scored another hat trick.  He must be the most inform striker in Europe.  Bayern Munich remain undefeated this season.  Arsenal can't expect to get anything against them on their current form.

[NickisBHAFC]

Best league in the world

[Hero]

3-2 down at home, moment your team needs you the most - The Emirates is half empty.

Arsenal fans stink

Not like they'd make much noise if it was full tbh.

[Hero]

Best league in the world

Most entertaining, probably. Best is debatable.

[Fernando]

Ah well only Man Utd next, If United don't win that they should be ashamed

[CFCNick]

Even when we were winning I was peed off with all the fancy flicks and soft touches when they do not work. I just want this team to play like they used to. Playing defensive and tough works better for us.

[Jermaine2015]

My boy Robert Lewandowski is on fire!!! BVB Dortmund up next!!

[Guest]

There is a suggestion that for the 2016/2017 season there might be only three champions league places available for English teams to play for due to the points system that currently gives England an additional place. So although for this season the "top four" still has meaning, for the following season it might be a "top three" for champions league places.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

There is a suggestion that for the 2016/2017 season there might be only three champions league places available for English teams to play for due to the points system that currently gives England an additional place.  So although for this season the "top four" still has meaning, for the following season it might be a "top three" for champions league places.

Unlikely cos the Italian teams are just as bad as ours

[Hero]

Yeah they only got to the Final last year.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Yeah they only got to the Final last year.

Living in the past - what are you a Liverpool fan

[Hero]

No, just someone that understands how the UEFA coefficient rankings work.

[Hammersmith harrier]

It's actually a straight shoot out between the two countries this year, taking out the 11/12 season they're pretty much level, would imagine it will require Juventus to massively outperform all four English side which seems unlikely.

[kingraf]

The fact that at 27 Lewandowski has learnt that he has a left boot is proof that you are never too old to learn

[monty junior]

Douglas Costa's really surprised me at Bayern, he is fantastic!

[FIFA Diva]

The fact that at 27 Lewandowski has learnt that he has a left boot is proof that you are never too old to learn

Tell that to Antonio Valencia.

[Guest]

Be amazed if Ivanovic & Fabregas, the new Chelsea pensioners, are at the club next season.

[monty junior]

For a team that spends hundreds of millions you'd really expect them to have more skill and style that just get everyone behind the goal against decent opposition and hope for a stroke of luck/genius on the counter! English team's are playing dinosaur football, the problem is they are told it's the best league, style etc so i get the impression they think these teams will just role over. What usually happens is that they are just as good as them, then the managers just blame bad luck all the time. 

Some head's need to role as the performances for the money they've spent have to be the worst in Europe. 5 out of 6 losses against mainly dud teams bar Porto and Juventus is so poor.

[Ent]

Got to have some respect for other teams/leagues. They are good sides and are used to winning regularly.

Things go In peaks and troughs, pl is going through a blip currently. It will come back to prominence again.

[kingraf]

I think it's a case of The Law of Diminishing Returns really. If you accept that Barca, Real and Bayern snatch the absolute best talent, then EPL clubs are paying way above odds for players who simply aren't that much better than the ones plying their trade in Europe. Okay, so not exactly the law of Diminishing Returns, but you get the drift.

[Guest]

I think you can call it more than a blip, that it's got to the stage, whereby we're now worried about coefficients. People used to laugh when people started to say coefficients, now it's a reality, thanks to this prolonged, woeful set of performances & results, that our top 4 have consistently produced & continue to churn out. Not sure we can safely say it will come back to prominence, if players like Suarez, Bale & many more exit the Premier League & are replaced by inferior players, who are unable to produce in the group stages of the Champions League.

[monty junior]

I notice a lot of people within the English game just blindly still churn out it's the best league in the world or the most competitive just because they simply no next to nothing about other leagues. The level of knowledge from these "football pundits" when they sum up the CL highlights is incredibly bad, they pretty much know Bayern,Barca,Real and PSG and have absolutely no clue about the rest so don't even comment on the matches. 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34373694

I mean you have Kilbane saying Man City will get out of their group easily when they have lost their first game at home and have two sides as good as them in the group who are both already on 3 points. You then have Lawrenson saying Man United will easily beat Wolfsburg, these things could happen but there is nothing more than blind faith and arrogance in these predictions! Only to blurt out the same drivel at the end when they inevietably go out early and blame it on the toughness and "no easy games of the premier league". I'll tell you if the big 3 played in the EPL they'd have plenty of easy games but the top teams are so mediocre they can lose to anyone. Not that it's unbelievably competitive.

I think it's a great league and watch it all the time but the media, fans and pundits really have to get their heads out the sand, Serie A dominated the 90s and broke world transfer records repeatedly, now look at it.

[Hammersmith harrier]

The Premier League being so strong throughout does make it harder for the top teams to flourish in Europe; the likes of Bayern, Barca, the Madrids, PSG and Juve have far more easy games to play than Chelsea or City.

[monty junior]

Never just figured though that those top teams are just better than the English ones so can therefor dispose of them easier?! I mean if the league is so strong why do the teams do nothing in the Europa League either, to me it's just the constant excuses about physicality, depth whatever with no real proof to back it up over other leagues. Having said that if you play kick and rush football with a lot of running your naturally more tired, that's why the European teams place more emphasis on technique rather than trying to win with power and energy.

[Hero]

Utd carrying on immediately where Arsenal and Chelsea left off last night.

[Guest]

Wolfsburg take the lead, awful defending

[Hero]

Very much shows why Valencia isn't a fullback.

[Hero]

This is looking a mirror of the PSV game, Utd should be ahead but somehow behind.

[Hero]

1-1 Mata penalty

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