Our lads are going to have to get their **** together fast if we want to qualify then - starting with an easy one - an NLD!5th spot almost certainly won't receive a CL spot now

Our lads are going to have to get their **** together fast if we want to qualify then - starting with an easy one - an NLD!5th spot almost certainly won't receive a CL spot now

Surely it should have the best teams in it irrespective of location? They should have changed the name years ago though.5th in any league should never qualify for the Champions league anyway. It’s a farce they’re giving extra spots to nations with multiple teams in it already. Makes it closer and closer to a super league
Not sure we 'blew it'. We just aren't good enough for this level yet, which is understandable. It's our first CL campaign for 7 years & first CL QF for 14 years.
Our lads are going to have to get their **** together fast if we want to qualify then - starting with an easy one - an NLD!![]()
Could be right. It is hard to gauge our real level at the moment. We go from fast exciting football to toothless unadventurous games week by week.I think Spurs will win the NLD (and similarly give
Citeh and the Poool a real game) .
Sadly, after the Fulham/Toon results I also think
that Spurs will fold against vermin FC and the
two relegation candidates.
Could be right.
I've been keeping the faith for 70 years!
Oh, come on, man. Bayern are crap at the moment.Not sure we 'blew it'. We just aren't good enough for this level yet, which is understandable. It's our first CL campaign for 7 years & first CL QF for 14 years. Getting to the semis would have been a huge achievement after such a long time away. Bayern Munich have had a poor domestic season, but they still have tremendous experience & quality within their squad.
I'm disappointed with the way we get KO'd, but it was hardly a European campaign you can say was a bottle job - which, bizarrely, seems to be the narrative every time we lose.
Oh, come on, man. Bayern are crap at the moment.
They've lost to Heidenheim, Lazio and Bochum in recent weeks, plus Dortmund at home.
The bottling comments are more to do with the performance than the result, anyway.
Getting eliminated by one of the regulars isn't that bad.
Utterly failing to turn up for the 2nd leg is, though. Did Neuer make a save in the 2nd half?
This sums it up, really: https://streamin.me/v/47d76b6b
That's something that we've both talked about it the past, though.As we have seen many times over the years, your domestic form does not always translate to other cup competitions. Think about how many times big teams have struggled in their league yet have done well in Europe. It happens.
Look, I’m not saying we don’t deserve criticism or that we didn’t let the nerves/occasion get to us. We clearly did. And Arteta is culpable for a lot of things that went wrong. But a slender loss over two legs to a Bayern team that have been CL regulars, still have CL winners from their 2020 squad and still have lots of talent isn’t as big a disgrace as people seem to be making it out to be.
The second half performance yesterday was terrible, I’m not denying it. But I don’t think it’s because we bottled it.
I think a lot of the core players clearly were tiring and the manager didn’t utilise the squad properly until right toward the end. If he’d worked on keeping the squad fresh and giving opportunities to others on the bench, maybe we’d have seen a different story. But the lack of intensity the 2nd half was clearly due to fatigue.
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The second half performance yesterday was terrible, I’m not denying it. But I don’t think it’s because we bottled it.
That's something that we've both talked about it the past, though.
It's predictable. It's avoidable. It's a fault of the manager.
Half of those players have obvious rotation options, too.
Smith-Rowe's had something like 4 starts this season.
He gets a few minutes here and there from the bench otherwise.
There's no need to run Odegaard into the ground every week.
He'd burn out that striker too, though.Yeah I know we have and, regarding your post, you’re preaching to the converted there lol. But I’m just saying it all plays a part in the decline in our recent performances and results.
It’s also why I’m really not confident playing Wolves away this weekend and think there’s a big chance that we drop points because a lot of these same players Arteta overworks are gassed out. Unless he freshens it up, our season could deteriorate pretty rapidly.
Until he learns to trust his entire squad and not overuse the same 11-13 players every week, we’re going to be facing the same dilemma at the same stage of every season. He has to learn his lesson.
If he doesn’t, the only person he’s making life difficult for is himself.
It’d also help if he recruited better. He said to CBS yesterday that ‘we don’t have a 30-40 goal a season striker’. Maybe we could have got one if you didn’t spend £115m on **** attackers from Chelsea and City? This is the consequence of his own transfer decisions.
Yeah I know we have and, regarding your post, you’re preaching to the converted there lol. But I’m just saying it all plays a part in the decline in our recent performances and results.
Villa might regret not keeping the coefficient as high as possible..Lille 1-0 Villa. English clubs are not having a good week in Europe, so far.