Champions League Last 16 Draw (16th Dec) 11am.

[Ollie the Optimist]

oh sorry i forgot that being drawn against a big team means we have no chance whatsoever, no point in even looking for any glimmer of hope and that its much better to be drawn against the shitter teams like bayer levakusen and lose anyway

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

Look at the draw Man Utd, Chelsea and Dortmund got.

Then try telling me finishing second is okay.

[Letters]

I'd rather get a big draw too Ollie but let's face it: Bayern are better than us. Much better than us.
That doesn't mean it's impossible for us, if I thought that then why watch?
But we're 2nd favourites by a distance.

[JonasTC]

Didnt Man City just beat them 3-2 after being 2-0 down and had pellegrini read the rules they were one goal away from us drawing someone else. So i dont think we are the only team to make them look normal. However, like we did against Napoli they fact that bayern didnt need to win either game took something from them. So despite beating them 2-0 did we ever really look like knocking them out.

Group stage is different from the knockout stage, in the knockout stage you take no chances, even if you lead after the first game, so you cant really compare those. But okay, us and a team that has spend a billion+ on their team over the last couple of years have made them look human.

[Ollie the Optimist]

I'm not saying finishing second is ok. what i said was, we aren't going to win the thing so i would rather go out facing a big team.

chelsea won't be happy with that draw either. you seen how they defend? drogba will have a field day

[Ollie the Optimist]

I'd rather get a big draw too Ollie but let's face it: Bayern are better than us. Much better than us.
That doesn't mean it's impossible for us, if I thought that then why watch?
But we're 2nd favourites by a distance.

i don't think I've said we are favourites for this so i don't get the laughter. they are better then us but we are better team then we were last time and we went out on away goals. all I'm saying is that we have some hope. you never know what might happen, we could win the home leg and suddenly you never know. are we likely to win and go through? no. will we give it a good go? i bloody hope so. can we win and go through? you never know, it is a cup competition after all

[Marc Overmars]

oh sorry i forgot that being drawn against a big team means we have no chance whatsoever

That is usually the case when it comes to CL knockout football unfortunately, our track record is average to say the least.

[Letters]

I just like how optimistic you are. It's quite sweet really although sometimes I think you veer into delusion.

[Niall_Quinn]

This is the ideal draw.

To win it we'd likely have to beat this lot at some stage. If we win it we'll be feared by the rest and it will give us a massive confidence boost and start to build one of those "name is on the cup" scenarios. If we lose, it is expected, provided we play well it won't be such a big downer plus it will free us up to concentrate on the PL.

So win-win, much better than getting Gala and fucking it up.

Provided we don't get a cheating ref we can at least give this lot a game.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

I'm saying finishing second is ok. what i said was, we aren't going to win the thing so i would rather go out facing a big team.

chelsea won't be happy with that draw either. you seen how they defend? drogba will have a field day

Rubbish. If that's the case then you might as well give up in every competition. 'Might as well face the big teams in the FA cup and Carling cup early, we aint winning the trophy'.

You try to enhance the chance of winning a trophy by mitigating the probability of facing the big teams. Of course you need to play a big team at some point, but getting to the champions league semi's then losing to a big team would be much better than losing in the round of 16. Trumping out in the early stage will do nothing but dampen the confidence amongst players. On the other hand, getting a bit of luck and reaching the semi's, then losing against a big team, would improve the morale of the team knowing they reached a respectable position in the competition. Players dream of playing in the semi's and finals of big competitions, not the round of 16. Not to mention the increased revenue for the club.

We worked so fucking hard to get top 4 last season and celebrated the achievement like winning a trophy. What's the point of all that hard work if we're content with losing in the round of 16 to a big team?