No reason why we won't make Europe one day, I remember watching Norwich beating Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium in the nineties and wondering when we would be doing things like that, keep the faith UTT!
I remember watching that match in a bar in Majorca. Am I right in thinking that Norwich are still the only English side to beat Bayern on their own turf?
I think it'd be a mistake to take him this year as well. Even if he goes how likely is he to be the first choice? It'll surely be of more benefit to him to go to the Olympics and getting the experiance of actually playing in a tournament, and playing on the right with Beckham alongside him in central midfield giving him advice can't do much harm for a young winger. It's got to be better than sitting in the stands at the Euros and getting 10 minutes here and there when either the game is won or lost and we're just doing it to blood him.
Most likely, it was a great volleyed goal scored by Jeremy Goss too that won the match, remember it well!
It was very poor John, Arsenal have gone from a superb team to just a good one in just a few seasons.
Yeah, Arsenals Champions League campaign is a bit like Heather Mills....the second leg is just for show!
He must have been the footballing Goss brother Milan definitely were an aging team when you look at their midfield of van Bommel and Seedorf, with Gatusso out injured, Ibrahimovic is getting on, maybe not as aged as when the likes of Maldini were still playing but definitely not spring chickens either
I imagine most Premier League teams have 3 players over 30 in their team, with Ibra just being 30. And Gattuso isnt first choice, he never ruddy plays with Nocerino the midfield stalwart for them now and a by-word for the last minute surprise cheap signing that spectacularly pays off. In Italy they now refer to such signings as 'doing a Nocerino'.
We have a few 'nocerinos' in our team don't we too! I suppose you could look at Man U with the pensioners Giggs and Scholes not to mention Rio, Chelsea have Lumplard and Terry and Drogba so I suppose you are right in some respects.
Thing is, there have been plenty of years when Italian sides have done nothing. There've been years when the Germans haven't done anything (most of the time in fact), there's only really Barca who have been consistently better than the English teams in Europe over the last few years. Just because English teams have had one bad season it doesn't mean we're all suddenly ****. Our 4th-best team Tottenham beat Milan and Inter last season but that doesn't count now because it was a whole year ago. At one point in the Arsenal game at 4-0, the commentators were saying how Milan had worked so much harder than Arsenal and also played much better football. At the same time two stats appeared on the screen: distance covered as a team and passes completed. Arsenal won on both by quite a lot. If people see a scoreline like 4-0 they will see it as a hammering, but it isn't always the case. The game was over when Milan were allowed their preposterously offside second goal. Any team playing away from home in a place like the San Siro will struggle if they go two goals down.
Since we discussed Lampard the other day I noticed he is still Chelsea's top scorer. But past it of course!
Will have to agree to disagree about Lamplard Premier League! He will play in the Euros and will get my full backing of course!
That team of 'invicibles' seems a far cry from the Arsenal team of present. Only Van Persie would get into that team and with more experience Oxlaide-Chamberlain would too. As they've gone backwards, Spurs have gone forwards and look very much the best team in North London now.
Probably because not that long ago Milan lined up as: Dida (no right back springs to mind except Cafu, retired '08), Favalli, Nesta, Jankolovski Pirlo, Seedorf, Gattuso, Ambrosini Ronaldinho Inzaghi People who only follow City or the Premier League might not notice how much it's changed since then, especially when they continue to see the familiar names of Nesta and Seedorf mentioned, as well as hearing of the signings of the likes of Ibrahimovic and (a while ago now but still) Beckham on loan. The average age of the squad was around 32 back then, which I believe has now dropped to 28. Abate at right back looks a very tidy player and is still pretty young.
I'd be pretty pissed off if I was an Arsenal fan mind. I mean, as a City fan it feels like we've never addressed our striker situation for about 10 years, but Arsenal even from the outside are so obviously just lacking a decent back 5. Every single summer Wenger blows yet more money on new defenders who don't work out, then the cycle restarts the next summer. God knows why he doesn't just sign someone even a little bit proven in this country. As for their 'keepers, they're just **** whoever they are. Mannone looks a great keeper for us but even he is **** for Arsenal. They must have a terrible goalie coach or something.
