Champion's League 2017/18

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Dr Markus
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Champion's League 2017/18

Postby Dr Markus » 25 Aug 2016, 19:18

Not the worst group in the world for Leicester. It could have been a lot worse, I think they have a good chance of getting 2nd.

Group G: Leicester City (England), Porto (Portugal), Club Brugge (Belgium), FC Copenhagen (Denmark).
Last edited by Dr Markus on 24 Aug 2017, 16:53, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby KeithPratt » 25 Aug 2016, 20:12

Yeah they'll be relatively happy with that. Spurs have a group they could slip up in - Monaco, Bayer and CSKA Moscow.

Arsenal have PSG and Basel - the latter aren't easy to beat either.

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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Penk! » 13 Sep 2016, 19:57

This could be Arsenal's year, it really could!
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby ... » 13 Sep 2016, 20:52

K wrote:I see Manchester excels at being Manchester. Trust me, it was really coming down before. I'm not surprised at all that the game was called off.


Meanwhile the UK media is predictably going on about the rest of Britain (i.e. the non-rainy south) "basking in its hottest summer for 40 years" as the Pathe Newsreels used to say. Cue the inevitable shots of bikkin-clad girls in parks, city-types with knotted hankies on their heads, balding, moustachioed, overweight policemen in their shirtsleeves, eating ice creams, etc, etc

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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Penk! » 13 Sep 2016, 21:17

Cavani is one of those players who has a good record and who has played at the top level for a long time so must clearly have something about him but who, whenever I see him, looks Sunday league standard.
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Penk! » 13 Sep 2016, 21:22

And lo and behold, he could have cost his side two points here.
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Jimbly » 14 Sep 2016, 01:09

K wrote:
fueryIre wrote:
K wrote:I see Manchester excels at being Manchester. Trust me, it was really coming down before. I'm not surprised at all that the game was called off.


Meanwhile the UK media is predictably going on about the rest of Britain (i.e. the non-rainy south) "basking in its hottest summer for 40 years" as the Pathe Newsreels used to say. Cue the inevitable shots of bikkin-clad girls in parks, city-types with knotted hankies on their heads, balding, moustachioed, overweight policemen in their shirtsleeves, eating ice creams, etc, etc

Could be worse. Could be Celtic. ;)


I doubt you'll find many Celtic fans all that disappointed with tonight's mauling. We had a great result at the weekend and up against one of the best teams in the world tonight, we got a complete gubbing. The gulf in talent between Barca and us is enormous. Far better teams than us have suffered similarly. Would've liked to have scored the penalty though.
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Jimbly » 14 Sep 2016, 07:05

K wrote:
Jeemo wrote:
K wrote:Could be worse. Could be Celtic. ;)


I doubt you'll find many Celtic fans all that disappointed with tonight's mauling. We had a great result at the weekend and up against one of the best teams in the world tonight, we got a complete gubbing. The gulf in talent between Barca and us is enormous. Far better teams than us have suffered similarly. Would've liked to have scored the penalty though.

I was being cheeky, which can only end in disaster as we've got to play Barca and yourselves.



Well, st least you don't have Joe Hart in goals now..........
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby ... » 14 Sep 2016, 08:33

Jeemo wrote:

Well, st least you don't have Joe Hart in goals now..........



Surely that should read

Well, at least you don't have Joe Hart letting in goals now*...

* That said, one might be forgiven for assuming he was in Glasgow making a one off appearance for Celtic in last night's match

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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Diamond Dog » 14 Sep 2016, 09:01

The gulf in 'class' (read 'money') between the elite clubs and the others is making the Champions League a travesty. It's sad/wrong to see clubs like Celtic (with huge history and a fantastic European record) being trampled like that - it makes a mockery of the whole tournament.
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Jimbly » 14 Sep 2016, 09:09

fueryIre wrote:
Jeemo wrote:

Well, st least you don't have Joe Hart in goals now..........



Surely that should read

Well, at least you don't have Joe Hart letting in goals now*...

* That said, one might be forgiven for assuming he was in Glasgow making a one off appearance for Celtic in last night's match



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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby KeithPratt » 14 Sep 2016, 11:29

Diamond Dog wrote: - it makes a mockery of the whole tournament.
\

Why exactly? Celtic are champions of Scotland. Barcelona are champions of Spain. So I'm struggling to see why that would be.

Sure, Celtic don't have the quality, depth or resources of Barcelona. But that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be playing each other.

It also does a disservice to Barcelona, who have one of the most magnificent sides of all time. If they'd beaten Arsenal 7-0 you wouldn't say such a thing.

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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Goat Boy » 14 Sep 2016, 11:51

It’s not just money, it’s the terminal decline in Scottish football that is also responsible for results like this.
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Diamond Dog » 14 Sep 2016, 11:52

Toby (and I'm the aggressive one, apparently) :

I think you entirely missed the point, either by mistake or disingenuously.

The clue is in the opening line of my post - about the gulf in class/money.

The only way any clubs - no matter how great their history or European exploits- can succeed now is to have shedloads of cash. There will be exceptions - but they will be blips, freakish events.

I wouldn't say the same if Arsenal were beaten 7-0 by Barcelona precisely because Arsenal are on a similar footing to Barcelona. Celtic, financially, are not.

The qualifying groups are an utter joke - the chances of a team coming from the 3rd or 4th seed to qualify is extremely small.

What sort of 'competition' is that?

Is that clear enough now?
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby KeithPratt » 14 Sep 2016, 12:08

How would you suggest that these clubs play each other then? I mean, I'm sure Celtic would love to be able to continue to compete in the competition, regardless of whether they feel they can win it, because the financial reward is significant for them.

If you have a look at the history of the European Cup and the Champions League, it is only Celtic, Aston Villa, Nottm Forest (x2), PSV, Red Star Belgrade and arguably Steaua Bucharest who have been "surprising" winners going right back to its inception. That's a total of around 7 winners in roughly 60 finals. So the evidence suggests that the European Cup is a competition for elite clubs and has always been the case.

I accept the fact that the ability to propagate or buy world-class players is difficult for clubs outside of the elite bracket - and that may be beyond Celtic right now. Their victory in '67 was down to a world-class manager and several world-class players, and is tempered by the fact that Scotland entered a golden period in the mid-sixties for producing quality footballers that went on for two decades.

I'm not quite sure either where you got my post as being aggressive. I'm merely trying to point out a different perspective.

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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Diamond Dog » 14 Sep 2016, 12:20

And my point is that the gap is getting wider, each year, by design.
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Dr Markus » 14 Sep 2016, 13:51

No offense to celtic or the Scottish league or any other teams similar, but it is really the case of them not being able to afford the best or they can't get the best to go play in Scotland? It's just a thought. Do you think most players with ambition would take the extra 10,000 or 20,000 grand to play in say Norway (in case youse think I'm picking on Scotland) compared to Spain, Italy or England?
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Goat Boy » 14 Sep 2016, 14:05

I think if you are willing to pay enough you can get good players to your league - look at China - but you'll always be paying way, way over the odds to do so and obviously no Scottish team is remotely in that financial league.

The bottom line is Scottish teams cannot afford to pay anything remotely close to premiership teams and even if they could they would struggle to attract players because the league is of such poor quality. It's a vicious circle and the only way potentially out of it is to start producing quality players of our own.
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby Dr Markus » 14 Sep 2016, 14:45

Goat Boy wrote:I think if you are willing to pay enough you can get good players to your league - look at China - but you'll always be paying way, way over the odds to do so and obviously no Scottish team is remotely in that financial league.

The bottom line is Scottish teams cannot afford to pay anything remotely close to premiership teams and even if they could they would struggle to attract players because the league is of such poor quality. It's a vicious circle and the only way potentially out of it is to start producing quality players of our own.


But who exactly have china got? Pelle from Southampton and Ramirez from Chelsea? How many players have turned down the chance to go to china?
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Re: Champion's League 2016/17

Postby KeithPratt » 14 Sep 2016, 14:58

Dr Markus wrote:
But who exactly have china got? Pelle from Southampton and Ramirez from Chelsea? How many players have turned down the chance to go to china?


Hulk went for £43 million. That's not a reflection of his quality, but shows the financial power that Chinese clubs have. The fact that they are able to attract international players in their prime says a lot I think, bearing in mind that the MLS, usually seen as the nascent footballing power, still can't really pull in the big players until they're 34 or 35.


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