Champions League Group Stages

First topic message reminder :

The draw is tonight and we could have some potentially crazy strong groups, Manchester City have a 50% chance of being in the same group as Bayern Munich or Barcelona.

What is the tie everybody wants to see in the group stages?

im sure a section of fickle chelsea fans will be chanting benitez tonight & why mata does not start. negative chelsea or negative jose aswell i expect. he needs to start sorting this team out now and getting a regular, effective formation in place.

Marseille got a late consolation goal. 2-1 FT

Napoli beating Dortmund 2-1

Ramsey and Giroud have quite literally improved in leaps and bounds... With Ozil in the mix... its going to be interesting

Mourinho will get a lot more slack than Benitez, I think they could finish 15th, and The fans would still back him. Cult

Chelsea got what they deserved, there 2nd half performance was rubbish.

Celtic very very unlucky. 

Arsenal with a superb victory, the easiest trip they will have in the competition though.

Just listening to a Chelsea fan on the radio pining for Benitez.

murat yankin is one hell of a coach. He will be targetted over here soon. He hurt united as well.

Really good coach and understands how to play english teams.

#JOSEOUT

2nd coming's never work

Will Chelsea fans possibly accept that the "fat Spanish waiter" was actually a bloody good manager for them, and that they'd probably be better off with him than the "special one"? #negative #souldestroying

So going by last nights criticisms of Bayer Lev.... We have to wonder if Chelsea could deal with FC Zurich??

Overall, pretty decent matchday 1. Bayern and Real Madrid looked the part, and Messi-Ronaldo seems like it will continue to be the story.

It's 1-1, you're at home v Basel and you need to press on for the win.

Obviously you turn to Obi Mikel?!?

you could see the difference graf. its not hard. united could have scored 9 goals yesterday, bayer were very flattered with the 4-2 in the end. This was a great game of football with a tactically sound team and one that has a new coach getting to grips with what to do.

basel deserve respect, chelsea showed us what they are capable of, united also did.. Bayer looked like a championship team

Defensively, probably... still took an offside goal, and a ridiculous v Persie strike to break them... The Rooney goal was Champioship I admit... but Really the gap isnt as big as you make it out.

We haven't seen one game so one sided in the prem yet. The gap was huge on the day anyway. I am sure they are better . But on that performance no. Maybe it was just rooney on fire. Time will give us more of a clue

Sunny old England will have more clubs in the Champions League last 16 than the Germans, or the Spanish, and the Italians. They'll also have more than the French , Portugal and Russia too!

And why is that? Because the English Premier League is the best in the world.

People like Duty need to be carbon copied!

Mourinho just does not suit the playing personnel at the club. Young, inexeperienced and not fully tactically aware of their jobs and positions. Plus David Luiz, who is completely the opposite type of player Mourinho usually uses because he too much of a liability and has no fixed position in the usual 'Mourinho machine'. Mourinho works and gets the best out of old, experienced players. He's being forced to work with players he just does not understand yet. Not sure why Abramovic bought Mourinho back, if he wanted the attractive play and goals, just was not going to happen.

kingraf wrote:People like Duty need to be carbon frozen!

Fixed that for you

yep, clearly sooooooooooooo far ahead of United

Absolutely gutted about the result tonight, no complaints though, we didnt take our chances, no-one to blame but ourselves, poxy goal to lose though, I'm not saying we can't or won't get a result in the Dam but I doubt we'll ever have a better chance of picking up something away than we did tonight, extremely disappointed. 10 mins to go at 0-0 and we had 4 attackers on the field, I dont think our subs made an impact at all while I felt Milans did.

They got lucky tonight but we weren't unlucky, if you don't take your chances then you cant complain when you get punished

TopHat24/7 wrote:yep, clearly sooooooooooooo far ahead of United

Are you going to post the same comment every time chelsea loses? Should we just look at the EPL table now and say that the best team in the EPL is Liverpool then Arsenal cos they are top 2?

Champagne_Socialist wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:yep, clearly sooooooooooooo far ahead of United

Are you going to post the same comment every time chelsea loses? Should we just look at the EPL table now and say that the best team in the EPL is Liverpool then Arsenal cos they are top 2?

Well that's about as sound a basis as the rubbish reasoning for where people were placing Chelsea and City.

Kay Fabe wrote:Absolutely gutted about the result tonight, no complaints though, we didnt take our chances, no-one to blame but ourselves, poxy goal to lose though,  I'm not saying we can't or won't get a result in the Dam but I doubt we'll ever have a better chance of picking up something away than we did tonight, extremely disappointed. 10 mins to go at 0-0 and we had 4 attackers on the field, I dont think our subs made an impact at all while I felt Milans did.

They got lucky tonight but we weren't unlucky, if you don't take your chances then you cant complain when you get punished

Good summary really. I watched the second half and the amount of times Celtic worked themselves into good areas only to waste the ball was the difference between the sides. So many times the wrong choices were made and the nous to unlock a defence wasn't there.

TBH Arsenal look to have 3 new great players, due to ramsey getting into real form and wilshire back from a long injury break!



That would affect any team. Wilshire isn't quite up to it yet. But the other two are!!

Mourinho is going to struggle with the players he has I feel.

Ive heard that Arsenal insider compare Ozil's arrival to a "Dennis Bergkamp" moment, and if Im honest, they may be right. This Arsenal team may reach greatness.

They'll need to add to it to achieve that.

Can see how the significance draws parity, but that Arsenal had the at or near world class striker, defender and goalkeeper that this Arsenal lacks.

Is there many insiders at Arsenal who were there when Bergkamp signed

Arsenal beat a shocking Sunderland & let's face it, a hardly strong Marseille side who joey barton was starting for only last season. need significant investment still next summer, before achieving 'greatness'. #carriedaway

Of course its premature, but Podolski, Walcott, Carzola, Ozil, Wilshire and a reinvigorated Ramsey seem like a pretty boss midfield. Probably the best in EPL, and one of the best in Europe, while Giroud is making the right noises out in front, and post-Villa, the defence has answered what they have been asked.

kingraf wrote:Podolski, Walcott, Carzola, Ozil, Wilshire and a reinvigorated Ramsey

Which one of those can actually tackle and can be trusted to perform at a high level in a defensive midfield position against the top teams. Don't tell me Flamini is the answer or the injury plagued and basically finished Abou Diaby. My issue with Arsenal is balance, it's always been their downfall. Sunderland opened up Arsenal with ease at the weekend but didn't convert the chances because their a poor side. Marseille had countless chances last night, where Arsenal were too open. Agree, the names you've mentioned have fantastic ability but that's only one area of the team. I question the other areas of the team and those weaknesses, which have clearly led to the continued failure of Arsenal over recent years.

Next summer Arsenal need a world class striker to accompany Giroud. Period. None of this, Giroud is delivering this or that, he is not good enough at the top level. Holding midfielder is a must, new GK because Szseceny is an accident waiting to happen, just like that incident last night where Gibbs had to bail him out on the line & possibly a new strong, quick centre back. Until those areas are addressed, Arsenal won't achieve anything that will make the rest of Europe take notice.

Arsenal's defense was the 2nd best in the PL last season

Arsenal had the highest possession sta last season.(the main reason)

Now arsenal have ozil, wilshere and ramsey(the last two back from the dead)!!! - this will only add to their defensive record and possession stat! Defending isn't about just getting top defenders!!!

I would back them to actually win something this year!!

think people are getting carried away with arsenal, always fancied them for top four even without signing ozil due to wenger, the most important signing for them was flamini not ozil as it was a position they really lacked. they didnt really sign where they needed other than that and its still to be seen if flamini can rediscover past form.

apart from midfield, they have shocking depth in defence and attack and still question marks over the keeper. any injuries to these key positions and they'll struggle

Depth and mentality are Arsenal's problem. Mainly mentality. Be interesting to see how they play if they get to a Cup Final

Compelling Arsernal play to a philosphy- why would they bring in a defensive midfielder over an attacking one that would kill there possesion philospohery!

Ozil can hold on to the ball and also deliver the best final ball in world football. When you have players like walcott this is exactly what you want.

People that bang on about Arsenal's defense haven't actually even looked at their defensive record!!

Ozil is 100% perfect for Arsene wenger's style of play! And i think its great he hasn't backed down to pressure from fans or the media that want him to become a run of the mill coach that has no vision or brand of football!

the fact remains that when you haven't got the ball you need to win it back and its been shown plenty in the past that these playmaking arsenal midfielders haven't got the best defensive sense. it was only few games back at the villa game that this was shown quite clearly

i do think arsenals improved stats in defence is more the barca way of defending, that is the opponents cant score if they havent got the ball. every time i see koscielny and mertasacker they look very shaky when exposed. the big games will test there balance because they will get at them, and arsenal record against other big teams hasn't been the best (i dont think, i know we have had a good record against them)

i agree that ozil is a great player for arsenal but he was hardly needed

I respect wenger so much tbh. He was down and out at some point last year then still made the top 4- Then he makes the best signing of the summer after he was down and out in the transfer game!!

He constantly comes back from the dead(to use that phrase again!) and brings home the bacon.

Now he needs the the spoils. -TROPHIES.

I am no Arsenal fan but i am starting to understand wenger and I think he and arsenal combined are great for the PL.

compelling and rich wrote:i agree that ozil is a great player for arsenal but he was hardly needed

2 ways to defend

a. great defenders

b. loads of possession

2 ways to score

a. great strikers

b. great playmakers!

mystiroakey wrote:Compelling Arsernal play to a philosphy- why would they bring in a defensive midfielder over an attacking one that would kill there possesion philospohery!

Because that philosophy has yielded nothing in the best part of a decade, maybe.....???

mystiroakey wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:i agree that ozil is a great player for arsenal but he was hardly needed

2 ways to score

a. great strikers

b. great playmakers!

False.

Great playmakers don't make goals. They set them up. If you've nobody to complete the transaction, so to speak, you don't get very far.

Ozil was feeding the world's best forward who's scored 207 in 204 appearances. He's now feeding Giroud.

Im also a huge Wenger fan. Hope he can get his rewards, he really deserves it.

A lot of things are false in your brain to be honest Tophat. It has no bearing on the truth though!

If you have a player that can provide more goal scoring opportunities to an average striker- that striker will score more goals. End of story.

ozil was a brilliant signing, who can carve defenses in half. They did however want a top striker(suarez), but due to the fact they couldn't get one they got this option and a great option it is to.

Just think about the next window.. What striker wouldn't want to be fed by OZIL!!

Now arsenal have more pulling power to get the best up and coming strikers.

And by the way Ozil fed a fast winger at madrid.

Walcott is a very fast and dangerous winger. TBH giroud is not the player i am thinking about anyway. I think ozil and walcott could have a top relationship anyway!

Ozil is no doubt a world class player and I WISH he was at United. But you're trying to make out he's the answer to all the world's problems when, in reality, Arsenal simply reinforced what was already their strongest area.

I get it, you're an Arsenal fan and this is the first thing in years you've had to get fizzy-knickers about and I agree it will improve Arsenal. But of the 3 things you most needed, Ozil was not it.

I am a palace fan.

there is a lot more to football than you see at face value.

Fair play, much more respect for that than me following a club 200 miles away.

Still think you're getting a little over-excited tho......

Thanks.

However Wenger is refreshingly stubbourn right or wrong... I like this attitude.

Compare him to mourinhio who is stuck in between two styles at the moment. He should have got rid off players like Mata and Luis that probally don't suit his vision of the game.

Mourinho has 2 cls, multiple semi finals and 4 major European league wins - several times.

Wenger has 3 pls, 1 cl final and fa cups and nothing I almost a decade.

Even with ozil arsenal are still a poor side without the ball, they won't win anything.

I love nourinhio ent. And he has made it very clear what he wants to do. He wants identity. He is someone that should get his wish eventually. However there could be a power struggle at Chelsea. Mata had Luis are not his type.