you can win the champions league in theory by not playing a single big club. to win the league you have to play the big clubs in your country, it just so happens in ours there are more big clubs as such then in other leagues.Originally Posted by Özim
So why have we never won it if it's easier, please explain, you can't get unlucky 17 years running.
CL is the ultimate club prize, there's no doubt about it, league is very prestigious but 2nd to that.
At this point if you ask me what I want, of course I'd say CL because it is what we haven't won.
But the CL you can play awful and be the worst team and win it. And let's not kid ourselves, Chelsea are arguably the worst team to win the CL.
In which game did they outclass their opponents? They were minutes away from going out in the group stages and were outplayed and outclassed against every knockout opponent they came up against and managed to get one goal in each game due to one of the most powerful and effective strikers and won. Even the CL final was a robbery with Bayern hitting the post, having numerous chances and having missed a penalty.
The Premier League is a tournament of consistency. The champions who win the league are deserved winners as they've won it over a period of 38 games. And you can't fluke winning the Premier League.
Anyway, would love to win both this year.
Mind you our unbeaten season still takes the cake. Every team will win a league or the champion's league every year. How often does a team go unbeaten throughout a season in one of the top leagues. Truly a mark of consistency and quality.
Two absolutely stunning goals won it for them. A very tough place to go and get a result - they clearly put everything into this performance, summed up by Higuain (actually) crying at the final whistle.
Koscielny - what a defender. Glad to see Mertesacker sounding disgusted at the final whistle... he has a winner's mentality. Wasn't a fluent game by any means but Napoli were snapping away at every opportunity and it was difficult for the midfield. Thought we matched them physically.
But where they have a top striker, we do not. After a good opening few games, Giroud is not looking capable as a striker for a team with title ambitions. Don't want to be singling him out - Gibbs and the midfield were also off their game. In Giroud's case, he's obviously trying his best and he's a key player for us to compete physically. But while a few Bergkamp-esque touches in the first few games raised everyone's hopes, there's a reason why he can only do good things through one touch (and lately even that has been off); his lack of agility is a problem. Things are going well - and they can continue to go well, but surely the easiest position to improve on is upfront.
Hope the away support get back safe. Napoli fans seemed quite content at the final whistle - maybe feeling as we did when we nearly turned around the deficit against Milan and Bayern Munich...but with my immense street knowledge I would guess gang mentality won't be too affected by that.
Last edited by Syn; 11-12-2013 at 10:39 PM.
Good post and it's a concern. We're not as direct as we once were and we're starting to look like our old tippy tappy selves. Great passing but lacking in penetration. Wenger needs to play wingers or buy one. I still can't understand why he'd leave Walcott on the bench if he's set his team up to be more defensive. It would have been perfect for counters.
Di Matteo took over from a manager who was having a mare to be fair and he didn't just win the CL he won the FA Cup as well, say what you like about Chelsea but they had players who were winners and a never say did attitude which really works for you (yes they also had luck, but you get that in the league as well throughout a season with decisions going your way and winning games you shouldn't have).
The PL is great, but in a sense it's more forgiving, you can lose games, draw games, go on a bad run and still recover to win it, you can't really do that in the CL.
This is a silly argument, Ollie. Wenger badly wants to win the CL. It's not an easy competition to win. You rarely see the same set of teams dominate or win back to back CL titles like you see in the league.
Some just argue for arguing sake. Juventus, best team in Italy are out. So winning your local league doesnt make you the best in Europe, Beating the best teams in Europe, should by all logic make you the best in Europe......by your logic climbing mount Snowden 10 times is a bigger feat than conquering Everest or K2 once
Good post. Agree with the striker position. The Higuain goal is what I'd love to see Giroud do but he hasn't go the feet or agility even though he has the size and build to hold the ball up in that sort of position.
The flicks and stuff won't be much use to us if their not going to players that aren't great finishers.
No club has in fact retained the CL to date. Bitterly disappointed by the result and I thought it was quite avoidable. Remarkably similar to our efforts against Bayern last season and if we go out in the next round....... OH bah hambug prize numero uno will go to Wenger.
Least we are through and have a tasty tie looming. IF we get through it, it will be a big confidence boost and I have to admit, I have not favoured our approach to less than top quality opposition in the past.
Let us all collectively hope we do not finish the season with nothing..... even if we can look back and say we've made progress. A bitter pill to swallow that will be.
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