2017/18 Champions League and Europa League thread

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue 15 Aug 2017, 8:01 pm

First topic message reminder :

Dejan Lovren is hilariously awful

by No name Bertie Wed 14 Feb 2018, 9:32 pm

FC Porto 0 Liverpool 5
Real Madrid 3 PSG 1

In the Portuguese league, FC Porto are unbeaten, so that must have been a shock for them.

by Guest Wed 14 Feb 2018, 10:20 pm

PSG project picard

by No name Bertie Wed 14 Feb 2018, 10:42 pm

Liverpool played 19 year old English footballer Trent John Alexander-Arnold at right-back for 79 minutes and by all accounts he had an excellent game. As far as I can tell he might have very recently replaced Gomez as first choice right back ... and Gomez himself is a 20 year old English footballer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Alexander-Arnold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Gomez_%28footballer%29

by BamBam Thu 15 Feb 2018, 10:00 am

How fascinating

by GSC Thu 15 Feb 2018, 11:26 am

BamBam wrote:How fascinating

by Ent Wed 21 Feb 2018, 9:38 pm

Poopie from united as usual.

Playing for a draw, wonderful.

by compelling and rich Wed 21 Feb 2018, 9:41 pm

mourinho football is embarrassingly bad

by Ent Wed 21 Feb 2018, 9:55 pm

It's just Poopie.

And it's not even shutting up shop and taking a draw home, Sevilla missed many good chances and kept getting into good situations - pure luck we got a 0-0 draw, tiebcould be over.

We will get an arsenal style hiding from the first top side we come across.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Wed 21 Feb 2018, 10:00 pm

Genuinely boring, the least ambitious team in the competition. Portuguese Allardyce

by GSC Wed 21 Feb 2018, 11:22 pm

Not so much a Mourinho performance as a bad performance. Sevilla could and probably should have won this comfortably.

Still got a result that puts them in the drivers seat at home so not a disaster. At some point there has been an improvement though. Europa Cup was quickly painted as a priority when top 4 was out of reach last year, don't think a tame CL exit will work as well.

by GSC Thu 22 Feb 2018, 9:38 am

As much criticism as Pogba gets, Sanchez has found it's hard to be playing below 100% for Arsenal and suddenly hit top form for United

by Ent Thu 22 Feb 2018, 9:40 am

Sanchez hasn't been great, some nice moments at times but nothing more.

Not doing anything martial or rashford wouldn't in that left sides position.

by **Hero** Thu 22 Feb 2018, 10:04 am

Pogba when he came on was for me the only player trying things for Utd going forward, several times he turned and beat a few players.

by GSC Thu 22 Feb 2018, 10:12 am

And as easy as a target Mourinho is, the evidence is piling up that there's an issue at the club that goes higher than the managers office

At what point does Ed Woodward come under pressure. Social media interactions don't win football games...

by Ent Thu 22 Feb 2018, 10:21 am

I dunno he seems to have delivered all the players mourinho wanted.

Clubs in a bit of a mess for the size of it, youth teams have nothing in them and player recruitment has been poor.

by SirJohnnyEnglish Thu 22 Feb 2018, 10:22 am

Didn't think Pogba did much. Yep two nice turns at halfway but ended up taking the ball from too far deep most of the time to do anything. Lukaka didn't get much service but think his general build up play as improved massively from the start of the season. Still the odd dodgy pass but holding it up better now

by **Hero** Thu 22 Feb 2018, 10:52 am

Scott McTominay has also impressed me in each of his performances so far.

by Marky Thu 22 Feb 2018, 12:38 pm

Hero wrote:Scott McTominay has also impressed me in each of his performances so far.

For me he's the next Tom Cleverley. Nothing special, but does work hard.

by compelling and rich Thu 22 Feb 2018, 5:45 pm

i think with other managers we would see a lot more out of the likes of pogba, sanchez martial and rashford. think mourinho kills a lot of attacking instinct in players

do agree our recruitment has been poor, while sanchez is a improvement on what we had we already had 2 players in that role that could do a good job there. yet not a single right winger at the club. we just keep signing players who dont particularly fit into any system although im really not sure what system mourinho is trying for. footballs become a non contact game so i really dont understand mourinhos insistence on big lumps.

Sanchez for me has shown he can deliver that pass to open up a tough defence when were struggling (something that neither rashford or martial can do), did it last night to lukaku only for him to blast over. pogba can do similar but lacks the brain to play deep without protection. he needs two next to him to cover when he just wanders around not getting back. these two need licence and protection just to go forward as they are far and away our best two outfield players (if played correctly)

by No name Bertie Fri 23 Feb 2018, 12:11 am

Since the sacking of David Moyes it seems the whole philosophy of Manchester United has changed - a succession of high cost purchases of super-star / star players from elsewhere, with a large number of them apparently failing and being sold on. Louis van Gaal and now Mourinho.

I thought van Gaal was perhaps the most entertaining of all managers in his post-match and pre-match interviews as well as some of his touchline antics.

Mourinho is just dour in comparison but he has got Man Utd silverware and they now look like strong candidates for a top four position. However at the moment something looks to be not quite right at Man Utd - could Sanchez and his enormous wages be a destabilising factor in the team?

by Ent Fri 23 Feb 2018, 6:50 am

Well he's only been there a month and they regularly played crap before he came so I'd say no.

"Star players" and big name signings but no full backs, below average midfield and no right sided attacker. Squad and team are unbalanced and that's as much of a problem as anything.

by GSC Tue 06 Mar 2018, 9:31 pm

Real have eased PSG out, going to be hard for Emery to stay on now you imagine, rest of the season is largely a write off

by Guest Wed 07 Mar 2018, 9:51 pm

Tottenham knocked out by Juve. City advance

by Ent Wed 07 Mar 2018, 10:22 pm

Spurs gonna spurs, best team over the 2 leg and they are out.

Most consistent (hard to say best) over the last 3 years and no trophies - not even close.

Just so spurs to be the best they've been in decades and achieve nothing.

by Ent Wed 07 Mar 2018, 10:24 pm

GSC wrote:Real have eased PSG out, going to be hard for Emery to stay on now you imagine, rest of the season is largely a write off

When you complement your record goal scorer with over £300 million of forwards (including the best money can buy) and you achieve nothing you are bound to lose your job.

A few decent midfielders and defenders might do well for psg...

by No name Bertie Wed 07 Mar 2018, 10:46 pm

Juventus scored two goals in 7 minutes in the first match and two goals in 3 minutes in the second match. Many tipped Juventus to come through when the draw was made - the experience of having reached the final in the past three years. Spurs did well but suffered mini collapses in both games (beginning of the first match, second half of the second match when the Juve boss changed the system and made two quick substitutions).

This season with the move to Wembley many predicted Spurs were unlikely to make top four - however it looks like Spurs will beat both Arsenal (certainly) and Chelsea (likely) to top four. Spurs are improving their infrastructure and expanding their stadium with the aim of being able to compete regularly for a top four spot. Yes they need to think about putting more of an effort in winning a home trophy.

by GSC Wed 07 Mar 2018, 10:47 pm

They badly need somebody to build them into a team.

Problem is Neymar pretty much runs the club so it's going to have to be a coach he likes building a team around him. Imagine Cavani is gone for sure.

by GSC Wed 07 Mar 2018, 10:49 pm

Not much between Spurs and Juve, Spurs may well have been better but Juve know how to close out these situations, Spurs don't have the same experience.

by Ent Wed 07 Mar 2018, 11:51 pm

Which you get from winning trophies.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Thu 08 Mar 2018, 10:54 am

Which don’t just happen. Think the denigration of their progress has been ridiculous

by Nathaniel Jacobs Thu 08 Mar 2018, 1:35 pm

Spurs still playing for fun I see...where did Harry 'overrated' Kane go missing last night? Spurs are never gonna win the big trophies

by Ent Thu 08 Mar 2018, 3:19 pm

Kane is world class, thought he played well last night.

by GSC Thu 08 Mar 2018, 4:41 pm

I mean there are 4 trophies on offer, 2 that are backup priorities, 1 requires you to be the best team in England for 9 months, the other in Europe. Would you rather finish top 4 or win the Carabao cup?

by Ent Thu 08 Mar 2018, 6:12 pm

Winning trophies gets you that experience, gets you used to the occasion etc.

Spurs are going to end up having had this very good side for 4/5 years - win nothing and their top players will leave.

It is very difficult but resting your players in completions you can actually win to try and ensure you come 4th seems pointless to me.

by sirfredperry Thu 08 Mar 2018, 6:44 pm

I was at Wembley last night. Some talk of Spurs being naive, bottling it, being tactically outfought etc.
Yet they were by far the better side and lost simply because they did not take their chances and Juve did. Juve never looked like scoring - then got two in three minutes!
Spurs were rightly lorded for beating Real Madrid earlier in the season. But having watched that match as well, I reckoned they played better, and were more on top, against Juve than against Real.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Thu 08 Mar 2018, 9:46 pm

Coming consistently 4th is better for your club than a league cup or even an fa cup, sadly. That’s why they’ve also ensured any winter break is just before the CL knockouts and will sacrifice fa cup replays for it.

by Ent Thu 08 Mar 2018, 9:48 pm

From a financial point of view yes.

From a fans and sporting point of view no.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Thu 08 Mar 2018, 9:50 pm

But which matters most?

by Guest Thu 08 Mar 2018, 10:19 pm

Spurs are a funny one. This is the best team they've had since the early/mid 80's and they've nothing to show for it.

A good pal of mine is a Spud and I bet he can't wait to sit down with his grandchildren in 20 years time and wax lyrical about their 3rd, 2nd, 4th place finishes, etc, etc. I suppose he can laugh at Arsenal's misfortune in only winning 3 of the last 4 FA Cups.

Of course Dolph and co are right when they say that CL football overrides everything. It is sad. Probably a good reason why a lot of my generation are turning off and watching other sports.

by Ent Thu 08 Mar 2018, 11:38 pm

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:But which matters most?

Trophies.

by Nathaniel Jacobs Thu 08 Mar 2018, 11:46 pm

Trophies is what a club/manager:players are remembered for. Anyone thing finishing 2nd/3rd/4rd is a noteworthy achievement are delusional.

Laugh all you want at Arsenal but three 3 FA cups are more than Liverpool and Spurs combined

And if Wenger pulls off a miracle and wins the Europa, that also eclipses Spurs.

by Guest Fri 09 Mar 2018, 12:09 am

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:

Laugh all you want at Arsenal but three 3 FA cups are more than Liverpool and Spurs combined

Which is kinda my point. Spurs fans pine for that kinda success.

Especially when they used to claim that the FA Cup was their competition Laugh

The year ending in 1 and all that. I'm showing my age now!

by GSC Fri 09 Mar 2018, 7:26 am

I'd rather be in the CL than win the Carabao cup, and it's really not close. Not sure about the FA cup.

by daraghj82 Fri 09 Mar 2018, 8:50 am

FreekShow wrote:
Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:

Laugh all you want at Arsenal but three 3 FA cups are more than Liverpool and Spurs combined

Which is kinda my point. Spurs fans pine for that kinda success.

Especially when they used to claim that the FA Cup was their competition The year ending in 1 and all that. I'm showing my age now!

very good

, that cycle got broken when spurs lost the semi of the fa cup to arsenal in 01, came across an old vhs of spurs fa cup win in 91 the other day, very good team they had then , spurs have a great chance again of winning the fa cup

by Nathaniel Jacobs Fri 09 Mar 2018, 8:55 am

GSC wrote:I'd rather be in the CL than win the Carabao cup, and it's really not close. Not sure about the FA cup.

We didn't win the League Cup so that's an irrelevant point. We could win the Europa and still qualify for next years CL.

Winning the Europa eclipses Spurs potential fourth place finish.

by GSC Fri 09 Mar 2018, 9:20 am

To be honest for me it's pretty similar. The Champions League is the only reason I'd be that fussed to win the Europa League, which is the entire prestige of a top 4 finish.

In fact if Spurs finish 4th, and Arsenal manage to win the Europa League (let's not pretend this is anything close to a slam dunk), on balance I'd have probably preferred being a Spurs fan than an Arsenal fan this season.

by Ent Fri 09 Mar 2018, 9:24 am

Well arsenal have had a torrid time this year.

One cup final and winning the Europa league is better than finishing. 4th imo, despite the fact you've an inferior team.

Qualifying for the cl year after year but not winning anything is pointless.

by GSC Fri 09 Mar 2018, 9:31 am

Might be a personal view but I find that an incredibly sad way to define supporting a football team.

I would enjoy being successful in the league, playing entertaining football, playing competitive ties with the likes of Real and Juve rather than generally being crap, mass supporter complaints and backing into a 2nd tier cup competition

by Ent Fri 09 Mar 2018, 9:40 am

4th isn't being successful, going out in the first knock out rounds of the cl isn't being successful imo.

by GSC Fri 09 Mar 2018, 9:51 am

4th best team in the country is nothing to shrug at.

Neither is beating the best team in Europe last year and narrowly losing to the 2nd best over 2 legs.

To me as a fan I would enjoy that much more than the garbage Arsenal have dished all year. I watch sports to be entertained.

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