Its hilarious isn't it PNP, I continually ask just to get these pathetic attempts at justification! there's little point in replying, just enjoy the entertainment!
We'll just have to agree to disagree but it won't be long before the Premier League clubs are just a stepping stone to Madrid/PSG/Bayern. I give it 3/4 years max.
Funny that. I thought Spain was practically bankrupt,yet it gives Real and Barca lots of dollar dollar......and they pay Ronaldo a kings ransom and probably many others too! Makes you wonder what it costs to get in the Real Madrid ground!!!! 100 quid for a beer.....maybe? Another thing.Spurs have the best defence I've seen for a long time,yet they have the worst attack (goalscoring wise) that I have seen for a long time. Go figure!!!!!!
Champions League predictions anyone? City can secure qualification to the next round with a win against CSKA tomorrow. I think United will lose in Sociedad and Chelsea will beat Schalke. As for Dortmund v Arsenal I can't see anything other than a Dortmund win, they've lost just two at home in 2013 and are incredible at home. Still don't think Arsenal will get out their group. If they lose on Wednesday and Dortmund draw with Napoli they're buggered.
Key Games, for anyone who wants to predict. NOT part of any league!!! Tue 5 Nov 2013 Real Sociedad 2 1 Man Utd 19:45 Shakhtar Donetsk 1 3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 19:45 Juventus 1 1 Real Madrid 19:45 Man City 2 0 CSKA Moscow 19:45 Viktoria Plzen 1 3 Bayern Munich 19:45 Wed 6 Nov 2013 Basel 2 0 Steaua Bucharest 19:45 Chelsea 2 0 FC Schalke 04 19:45 Borussia Dortmund 3 1 Arsenal 19:45 Napoli 2 0 Marseille 19:45
"Champions League predictions anyone?" Dortmund will beat the Goons and Napoli. The Goons go to Napoli and have to avoid losing to qualify for the KO stage.
Dortmund warmed up for this game with a 6-1 win, a magnificent attacking side with tons of movement and taking away any hate for the goons, on paper if both perform it should be a fantastic game! yet usually one team takes control so am expecting dortmund to run out winners 2-0.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/nov/03/javier-hernandez-future-manchester-united Javier Hernández re-tweets story querying future at Manchester United .......if i was chairman or manager of any club, first thing would be to ban twitter!
HAHA apologies but I don't usually post at this time so i'm afraid i'm not aware of the spoiler rule!
It doesn't matter really, the Dortmund, Bayern and Leverkusen games are usually at the start and I watch them hoping Dortmund and Bayern will slip up Infact you weren't the first to do the spoiler either, the Beeb had an article on the front page where the title talked about Dortmund scoring a big win on the weekend too. Bastards! There was one time I was truly annoyed a few years ago. I was working on the weekend and recorded a game against United(I think it was) and I made it through the whole day without finding out about the result until I called my boss at the end of the day to tell him how much money we did and the first thing he said was "shame about the loss today, eh?". I was gutted as I'd done so well to ignore the game all day
Why? Leagues are invariably weaker when they have dominant teams, who monopolise the top players and make it harder for the rest to raise their standards. This is what you have in Spain and Germany. Two dominant teams in each and the rest are of a lesser standard. Atletico Madrid or Schalke might occasionally buck the trend because they have the resources and can attract better players. The PL has half a dozen top sides. The rest have significant funds (due to TV revenues etc) which enable them to buy a higher calibre of player than their counterparts in other leagues. They have to be better organised to compete, which is why any PL team is capable of giving any other a game. The intensity of the competition raises the standard. It's an all round test for our teams - skill, stamina, intensity, pressure - all the time. No other league has this - or comes close. There is no doubt in my mind that the PL as a whole (top to bottom) is the best in the world. Whether City or Chelsea or Utd are good enough to win the CL is a different argument. Bayern munich are probably the best team around and Barcelona, Real Madrid and (to a lesser extent) Dortmund have a number of top players, but that doesn't make their leagues better, especially as they are not representative of the standard of the rest.
I believe the point DL is making ( and I'm not saying I agree)..... But the overall standard has declined and that has allowed the gaps between top middle and bottom to close and while the league is as highly competitive as it's ever been, in terms of the overall quality there has been a decline.
Well, let's hope so. I'd love the chance of us meeting (and beating Arsenal) in the Europa League. A spot of Thursday night football should be just the ticket for this site's hoard of arrogant teenage Gooners.
The quality at the very top of other leagues might easily exceed their counterparts in the PL. I suspect the basic technical ability of other leagues (passing, bringing the ball out etc) is on average also better than the PL.
This is true, but it won't get Dawson in the World Cup squad, nor will it get Walker ahead of Johnson as the #1 right back. England are always well behind on noticing form, picking from clubs and players that "should" be performing rather than "are" performing. This is why those exciting Southampton youngsters probably won't get near the England team either.
I think it depends on how much time these so-called technical teams are given on the ball. I've always said that the best (indeed, the only) way for an English side to play the top foreign sides is to press for the entire game, force them into errors, rough them up a bit, etc. That's what made Barca so incredible, because none of our teams could get near them (re United, and English football's blackest day when Arsenal were humiliated by them). However, that Barca side was an exception, and most of the top foreign sides are there to be harried. Not sure that Arsenal has it in it to do that to Dortmund for 90 minutes, though. Can see nothing other than an easy Dortmund win.
Chelsea seem to get a lot of success against the best in Europe by defending from the top of their 16 yard area and trying to hit on the counter. It's not pretty but it works.
The cohesiveness of a defensive unit seems lost on the England team, too. When Arsenal were winning 1-0 under George Graham all the time the whole defence was English, yet they weren't all picked together. Were they the best individual defenders in the country? Probably not, but they were a well drilled unit. Lobbing in five strangers and expecting them to do as well was ludicrous, even if they were better man for man.
