Losing our 4th CL spot?

[steken1]

The only reason they weren't in the quarters instead of Real was a poor refereeing decision.

I can't believe everybody is acting like the English game is in some sort of decline just because there's no English teams in the quarter finals for one year. Chelsea won it last year ffs

Not really, they were having the better of the game at that point, Real have got five match winners that can change the game in an instant, united have got one or two at that level.

I'm just looking at the relative quality of each side. Only city are right up there in terms of personnel.

Chelsea won it getting battered from pillar to post from the quarters onwards.

There isn't one English side who style of play I like like or admire or that even appears particularly effective. And even if our sides got the semi's they'd get tonked.

 

[Brennan]

Not really, they were having the better of the game at that point, Real have got five match winners that can change the game in an instant, united have got one or two at that level.

I'm just looking at the relative quality of each side. Only city are right up there in terms of personnel.

Chelsea won it getting battered from pillar to post from the quarters onwards.

There isn't one English side who style of play I like like or admire or that even appears particularly effective. And even if our sides got the semi's they'd get tonked.

Chelsea didn't.

You talk about the 'relative quality' of each side, but football doesn't work like that. That's why United are 12 points clear of the only team you say are up with the best sides in Europe.

If anything it's a strengthening of other European sides, not a decline in the British game.

 

[steken1]

Chelsea didn't.

They did.

 

[Brennan]

They did.

Beat Barcelona 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, drew and scored twice at the Nou Camp.

 

[steken1]

Beat Barcelona 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, drew and scored twice at the Nou Camp.

And got battered in both games. We drew with Fulham at their place. Doesn't mean we never annihilated them.

 

[Brennan]

And got battered in both games. We drew with Fulham at their place. Doesn't mean we never annihilated them.

Surely tonked would imply getting beaten ?

But either way, it doesn't matter. They got to the final of the CL and won it.

 

[steken1]

Surely tonked would imply getting beaten ?

But either way, it doesn't matter. They got to the final of the CL and won it.

Tonked, battered same diff I thought.

It does matter when you're talking about their squads respective quality which has taken a turn for the worse considering the one guy who was winning matches has gone, their 20 goals a season midfielder is leaving and their captain is injury prone and a year older.

Those games show, despite lucky victories, that there's much, much better sides out there.

Just like Greece weren't the best side in europe in 2004.

 

[pfim]

There's too much money in the premier league to remove a club from the competition.

The PL isn't waning per se. The quality of the leagues is highly cyclical, and the PL is just in a down cycle. There was a great article I read on this earlier, I can't find it now. But there's too much money here for it to last long, however.

 

[Allezfan]

They will, only a matter of time to be honest. They had pretty much the hardest draw possible in the group stages this year.

Dortmund, Madrid, Ajax. Ouch

Dortmund being a 4th seed was a joke, like.

Mind ajax were 3rd seeds, so they could have got madrid, dortmund & PSG or madrid, dortmund & Juve instead. Now those are real groups of death.