the cl is not important relatively. We have achieved our season's aim imo. we've 2 games to go and if we even get through that it's a huge bonus. qf would be amazing so once there we will be the whipping boys so.... well.... just focus on league imo.
I agree to an extent, but the further we go the more we rebuild our profile and get crucial points for future rankings. We should be beating Porto and then as long as the draw is kind to us (no Man City, PSG or Barcelona) then I think we could maybe scrape our way to the semis which would be fantastic for us. I dont want us to do an Arsenal who qualified year after year to just get knocked out without really trying. Just to do it all over again the next year. We may not be good enough to win it, but I hope we go down giving it a fu<king go!
C'mon fellas I'm disappointed, we can beat anyone on our day. When it come to knock out footy there's always a chance that you gain some form and shock teams. No ****er wants us as they know we will score, it's not like PSG are going to put everyone behind the ball and try and WBA us. While we're in it then lets see what happens I'm dreaming of the final already.
Well thats fine but the chances are absolutely minimal and i didn't hear too many say coutinho cost us the CL by leaving. We've a half chance with the draw esp with second leg at home but after that we are int othe real top teams and can't expect to win at that level its a bonus comp when the bread and butter is the prem. Any buys this jan need to be with the aim of improving our shot at 2nd to 4th. We have a strong possibility of finishing 5th. a low chance of 6th by the look of arsenal. we need to up our chances of 2nd/3rd so that 4th is assured imo.. if that means a cup tied player for CL so be it. With karius in goal.... well... henderson or can at no 6... well... We are never defending like utd are going to to 0-0 their way through CL. We would have to outscore the european elite.
Which is why last 16 was a huge bonus based on the group draw because of our seeding so the draw now is giving us a shot at QF. realistically our first most improtant job is to get the non europe years out of our ranking points. The reality is the QF line up could be: Juve/Spurs - prob juve City Us if this matters as a discussion PSG on current form Bayern Barca Utd Roma Your view is we'd have a chance v juve, Bayern, Utd or roma.
Needs to be judged in context. Everton paid £20m to have Barkley sit on the injury table for 4 months.
Might not expect it but that doesn't mean we wont win. Footy isn't about stats and so called big teams winning everything. Anything can happen and as long as we're in the CL I want to win it and to me it's much more important than 4th.
I don't find that daunting I find it exciting, this is why we wanted to be in the CL in the first place.
Your maths just doesn't add up. We had £60m and £50m set aside from last year's budget for VVD and Keita respectively. By all accounts we spent £35m of that on OX. That leaves £75m. That's VVD. Even if we blow ££65m on Keta , that still leaves us with £75m left, hence the haggling over Lemar. But overall you're right in the spirit of a) we filched twice as much (eventually) out of Barca than they were originally wanting to pay last summer when they had the Neymar cheque in their pocket, b) we are having to face a hike as everyone knows we have the Ford cheque now.
BTW, has anyone seen/heard how Barca are scheduling the £105m up front of the deal? I suppose FSG can lend us the cash based upon the contract without breaking any rules. Just hate the idea of Barca getting away with it again as they did over Luis. They only finished paying for him last year, wasn't it?
I remember 2007 and everyone was saying it will be Utd and Chelsea in the final nobody thought it would be us and Milan.
Lost.... not paid. Your point is more about lost opportunity to make money than actually paying anything They paid his wages that's all. They got shafted yes.
And that would suggest that they're reasonably confident about the outcome of the FA investigation re Holgate, I would contend.
Great if we get a smaller team but I'd still be buzzing if we got the likes of Barca, imagine little Phil watching us smash them from the stands.
