Didn't work hard enough in zone 10 of the pitch and didn't successfully mark Crouch on a corner when leading 4-0 against Stoke in a pre-season friendly.Quote:
Originally Posted by McNamara That Ghost...
Printable View
Didn't work hard enough in zone 10 of the pitch and didn't successfully mark Crouch on a corner when leading 4-0 against Stoke in a pre-season friendly.Quote:
Originally Posted by McNamara That Ghost...
Interesting take from Stelling, English sides unable to get a win between them actually proves how good the league is. :wacko:Quote:
Inevitably, looking back at the Champions League performances in the last two weeks of Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, not to mention Bayern Munich's win against Arsenal and Barcelona's at Man City, people will be asking 'what has happened to the Premier League?'
I've heard people on phone-ins saying: 'All the world class players are playing elsewhere', and when you look at Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, Arjen Robben you can see the point they're making.
But on the other hand I think it would be wrong to think that the Premier League isn't still a huge force in European football.
Nobody can tell me that Sergio Aguero isn't world-class, or Yaya Toure for that matter, and then there's Eden Hazard who has the potential to be a world superstar. Next season it looks like you'll see Luis Suarez playing in the Champions League and in terms of quality Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard aren't that far behind.
We have plenty of top quality players in the Premier League and it's still a fantastic league.
One of the reasons that the English sides suffer when it comes round to this phase of the Champions League is because of the intensity of our league.
Week in, week out we see the top sides being beaten by clubs at the bottom of the table and this doesn't happen in Spain, this doesn't happen in Germany; if you look at the positions of their leading teams they're light-years clear whereas here, Chelsea lost to Stoke who are battling against relegation, Manchester City lost at Cardiff who are second from bottom of the table, Arsenal lost at home to Aston Villa - those sort of results don't happen in the continental leagues.
When it comes to this stage of the season our sides are not at their best any longer simply because of the competitiveness of the Premier League and that intensity.
Our players have picked up a myriad of injuries along the line, while others such as Mesut Ozil are finding it difficult to cope playing week in, week out at such a high physical level. That puts us one step behind.
It's not the only reason, of course. I'm not pretending that Bayern and Real Madrid aren't ahead of us at the moment - because they are, there's no doubt about that - but I don't think the Premier League should be written off.
Bayern broke something like 25 different Bundesliga records last season and it looks like they're going to break a lot of those again this season because they are so dominant which, from the club's point of view is a wonderful position to be in. But if you are a fan of the league, is that what you really want?
Do you really want to see the top teams thrashing sides every week because they've got such a huge squad that they can effectively put out two different teams and still beat everybody in Germany?
Bayern haven't dropped a point at home this season, they're 19 points clear at the top now, and we're not even in to March.
This season they've been to Werder Bremen and won 7-0 away, they've been to Hamburg and won 5-0, they beat Frankfurt 5-0, they beat Freiburg 4-0 and they beat Hannover 4-0 in their last match; I don't think anyone would want the Premier League to be that uncompetitive.
Borussia Dortmund have had a slightly harder time this season but they're still a fine footballing team - but outside of those two clubs you'd expect any of the elite Premier League teams to beat any of the other Bundesliga teams and I think if you take away the top three in Spain you'd say exactly the same thing.
To be honest, if you put a mid-table side in Spain or a mid-table German club up against an equivalent side in the Premier League my money would be on the English club nine times out ten, I just think we are that much stronger in terms of depth.
But that of course doesn't win you European Cups and doesn't win you Champions Leagues.
I'm happy to be watching one of the most exciting Premier League seasons ever with the bonus of seeing four of our sides in the last 16 of the Champions League - that's not a bad effort.
http://www1.skysports.com/football/n...-jeff-stelling
Atletico Madrid: Courtois, Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Filipe Luis, Turan, Gabi, Mario Suarez, Koke, Raul Garcia, Diego Costa.
Subs: Aranzubia, Villa, Rodriguez, Alderweireld, Insua, Sosa, Diego.
AC Milan: Abbiati, Abate, Rami, Bonera, Emanuelson, Essien, Poli, De Jong, Kaka, Taarabt, Balotelli.
Subs: Amelia, De Sciglio, Muntari, Mexes, Robinho, Pazzini, Zaccardo.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (England)
Atleti 1-0 Milan, Diego Costa!
Atleti 1-1 Milan, Kaka!
Bizarre. With of course nothing to do with the channel he works for, oh no....Quote:
Originally Posted by McNamara That Ghost...
Atleti 2-1 Milan, Arda Turan!
BLitW. :bow:Quote:
Originally Posted by Rors
:sick: :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by McNamara That Ghost...
We're making the League look fucking magic tonight.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rors
Atleti 3-1 Milan, Raul Garcia.
Atleti 4-1 Milan, Diego Costa with his second.
At least we aren't Milan
If Barcelona go through, Man City go out.
If Man City go through, Robbie Savage retires.
What a choice.
Come on citeeeh
From watching the Atleti v Milan game, we definitely do not want Balotelli at Arsenal. Complaining and whining and fouling the whole game, we can do without that thanks.
Yeah, he was a bit quiet today. Normally he's a complete loon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralpheroo72
:haha:
Valdés; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Xavi, Busquets, Cesc; Iniesta, Messi, Neymar.
Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany (C), Lescott, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Toure, Milner, Silva, Nasri, Aguero
PSG: Sirigu, Jallet, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Digne, Pastore, Cabaye, Rabiot, Cavani, Ibrahimovic, Lavezzi.
Subs: Douchez, Camara, Menez, Thiago Motta, Alex, Maxwell, Lucas Moura.
Bayer Leverkusen: Leno, Donati, Wollscheid, Toprak, Guardado, Rolfes, Reinartz, Can, Sam, Derdiyok, Castro.
Subs: Lomb, Son, Kiessling, Hilbert, Boenisch, Brandt, Wagener.
Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)
Barcelona subs: Pinto, Pedro, Alexis, Bartra, Song, Adriano, Sergi Roberto.Quote:
Originally Posted by Munchies
Man City subs: Pantilimon, Negredo, Dzeko, Javi Garcia, Jesus Navas, Clichy, Boyata.
Referee: Stephane Lannoy (France)
Negredo. :lol:
^ Song :haha:
The performance they produced at the Allianz left them 2-0 down. not sure that's any good tonight tbf.
Champions League music. :bow:
Don't talk over it Tyler you idiot.
Iniesta. :bow:
What a warrior.
Thought of wanting Citeh to win, so they have more fixtures, then thought fuck it, if they win it improves their seeding next season.
Thrash em Barca
Wow at the stadium tho, looks amazing
Come on you cuntalonians.
David Silva should have hit it then.
Iniesta. :cloud9:
Messi defending against Aguero. :lol:
Did that before when Segrio was at Atleti.
Lescott is a pubber.
1-0 to Leverkusen. Nice passage of play.
Xavi. :haha:
Kolarov. :lol:
Awful.
yep with their seven european cup, countless Serie A Titles etc....yeah what a fucking bind that would be.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
I thought Lescott fouled Messi there. Maybe not.
Fernandinho booked, will miss their next match.
How did Xavi get a foul off Yaya there? :lol:
Hart nearly helped play Messi back in!
Poor shot from Iniesta.