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?

Not really sure what the discussion is proving. All we know is that Napoli are far better off at home n will be tricky for arsenal. I think benitez will work his magic at the club n try n eradicate the usual bad away form the club has seen over recent years. The Chelsea result, then, to now, can't be compared really, different team entirely now but shows the away form we are talking about historically.

Arsenal just need a striker in my opinion. At the top level you can't expect to tip tap every game playing perfect football to unlock the doors. You need genuine quality & a plan b. I actually think arsenal will get 4 points, 3 vs Marseille n a point at one of the away games, that's 10 ....enough?

"All we know is that Napoli are far better off at home"




been looking over there away and home form over CL's and domestically- there is literally no correlation to suggest napoli are a bad away team.

the one example that CFC gave was chelsea winning at home after napoli won at home- both similar results, You could argue that chelsea are poor away by your rationale.. The game before that knockout fixture- Napoli beat villarreal 2-0 away , they also only lost 3-2 to bayern away and drew citeh 1-1 away!!

nope sorry , you need to actually view the results not just base this on a couple of games!

Roma 2-0 Napoli last week, does that help.  

Most teams are obviously slightly better at home..Napoli are no different in that regard , They are slightly better at home, just as every other team are.

They are not amazing at home and rubbish away! That line of thinking needs to stop tbh

John wrote:Roma 2-0 Napoli last week, does that help.  

the one away fixture they have lost domestically- no it doesn't help at all

Okay we will stop.

As for tonight, fully expect United to win. CSKA game is probably the more interesting game to be honest, real test of City`s improvement under Manuel.

its an early kick off which is great!
 so we can watch them both!

NickisBHAFC wrote:First decent team Arsenal play all season and they lose. Says it all.

What does it say? Dortmund are not a decent team, they are one of Europe's top teams.

And even if they are just decent, then what does it say about Chelsea, City and United, who have all already been beaten by teams who are well below decent.

It's one game. It's not as if Arsenal were completely played off the park like Man City were against Bayern. Dortmund scored when Arsenal were on top and if Carzola's shot had of gone in instead of hitting the post/bar then we'd probably be talking about an Arsenal victory. It was a very close game that could have gone either way.

I think Dortmund are still one of the best sides in Europe though and if they played in the prem I think they'd win it this year so it's hardly a disaster to have lost a very close game to them.

the only team in that group that has outplayed the other of the park is arsenal v napoli.

It was just a close game with two close teams, dortmund edged it. end of story.

mystiroakey wrote:"All we know is that Napoli are far better off at home"




been looking over there away and home form over CL's and domestically- there is literally no correlation to suggest napoli are a bad away team.

the one example that CFC gave was chelsea winning at home after napoli won at home- both similar results, You could argue that chelsea are poor away by your rationale.. The game before that knockout fixture- Napoli beat villarreal 2-0 away , they also only lost 3-2 to bayern away and drew citeh 1-1 away!!

nope sorry , you need to actually view the results not just base this on a couple of games!

They were 3-0 down to Bayern at half time before they completely eased off, Villareal were the whipping boys of the group and never earned a point in the whole campaign before getting relegated from La Liga. I watch Napoli, not just in the CL but domestically, they are night and day better at home, they dominated Dortmund in a way that Arsenal were not even close to, Arsenal will be underdogs when they go there, or should be.

Niall Quinn referring to City as a "great team"  

actually he said...'Man.City aren't playing like a great team'

monty junior wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:"All we know is that Napoli are far better off at home"




been looking over there away and home form over CL's and domestically- there is literally no correlation to suggest napoli are a bad away team.

the one example that CFC gave was chelsea winning at home after napoli won at home- both similar results, You could argue that chelsea are poor away by your rationale.. The game before that knockout fixture- Napoli beat villarreal 2-0 away , they also only lost 3-2 to bayern away and drew citeh 1-1 away!!

nope sorry , you need to actually view the results not just base this on a couple of games!

They were 3-0 down to Bayern at half time before they completely eased off, Villareal were the whipping boys of the group and never earned a point in the whole campaign before getting relegated from La Liga. I watch Napoli, not just in the CL but domestically, they are night and day better at home, they dominated Dortmund in a way that Arsenal were not even close to, Arsenal will be underdogs when they go there, or should be.

Sorry mate but that is just nonsense-- you are now trying to say that napoli are lucky to get results away that are on a complementary par with every other team out there!. And if you watched them domestically you would realise how good they are away!!

mystiroakey wrote:

monty junior wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:"All we know is that Napoli are far better off at home"




been looking over there away and home form over CL's and domestically- there is literally no correlation to suggest napoli are a bad away team.

the one example that CFC gave was chelsea winning at home after napoli won at home- both similar results, You could argue that chelsea are poor away by your rationale.. The game before that knockout fixture- Napoli beat villarreal 2-0 away , they also only lost 3-2 to bayern away and drew citeh 1-1 away!!

nope sorry , you need to actually view the results not just base this on a couple of games!

They were 3-0 down to Bayern at half time before they completely eased off, Villareal were the whipping boys of the group and never earned a point in the whole campaign before getting relegated from La Liga. I watch Napoli, not just in the CL but domestically, they are night and day better at home, they dominated Dortmund in a way that Arsenal were not even close to, Arsenal will be underdogs when they go there, or should be.

Sorry mate but that is just nonsense-- you are now trying to say that napoli are lucky to get results away that are on a complementary par with every other team out there!. And if you watched them domestically you would realise how good they are away!!

My point was that even for a team who are slightly bad away from home losing a 3-1 lead to the worst Chelsea side since 2001 is a huge red flag. Any team of that level and above would be ashamed if that result.

Also, on your point about watching them domestically being a Premier League fan you should know that domestic and European football are two very different beasts. Man City are the perfect example of that.

Not lucky, just when they come up against any kind of quality away they usually come unstuck, whereas at home they are a completely different team. John mentioned the Roma game on Friday, Roma have won all 8 of their games so far this season and completely dominated the game, but when they play at the San Paolo it will be completely different, man for man there is no gap in quality, just a poor away mentality. I'm not saying Arsenal are going to go there and play the 2011 Barca team but they will play an infinitely better team than they did at the Emirates, having Higuain back will be a big boost for them too, a draw would be a good result.

so they lose one game away to the top team in the league!! and win the other 3 away games and you come to this conclusion!!


 

By the way if all your point is is to say arsenal will have a tough time out there. I have already stated that, But I can't debate amongst incorrect performance interpretations..

And why not state the obvious- Its harder playing away and easier playing at home.

Napoli are no exception to that, but they are also not amazing at home and awful away!!

never a high boot that

That's exactly what they are. They're incredibly difficult to play at their place but once you get them back at home you can walk all over them.

It's already been mentioned they were 3-0 down and Bayern relaxed when Napoli scored twice but Bayern just stepped up a little and held on easily. Those 2 goals were scored in what is known in American football as "garbage time". You can't glean stats and take them too seriously because the side in front weren't really trying too hard.

Good to see City winning. If it stays like this, and Bayern do the expected and beat Plzen, then City will be 4 points clear of 3rd at the halfway stage.

Going to have to agree to disagree on this one mate. It will be a tough ask and i am fearful of both away games, but i think they can pull a result or two off. The proof will be in that particular pudding!

Duty281 wrote:Good to see City winning. If it stays like this, and Bayern do the expected and beat Plzen, then City will be 4 points clear of 3rd at the halfway stage.

Its a decent group for them to navigate out of!!., CSKA have been on a shocking recent run though and man city should have already buried this game!

Since about 2010 when Napoli have become a force again the discrepency in their performances home and away are often glaring, they have a slightly different style now under Benitez but under Mazzari they had a magnificent home record but when it came to away performances despite finishing second in the league Napoli were the third worst performing away side in the whole of the top ten. I'm not making up some rubbish from thin air, statistically Napoli do have a big gap between their home and away performances in comparison to most of their direct competition.

monty junior wrote:Since about 2010 when Napoli have become a force again the discrepency in their performances home and away are often glaring, they have a slightly different style now under Benitez but under Mazzari they had a magnificent home record but when it came to away performances despite finishing second in the league Napoli were the third worst performing away side in the whole of the top ten. I'm not making up some rubbish from thin air, statistically Napoli do have a big gap between their home and away performances in comparison to most of their direct competition.

The problems may be clearer before last season and this one(before benitez).. but thats all. They have clearly been improving and 2012-13 away form was fine,

great finish from the defender there 1-0   

lets hope we dont sit back and defend now, like we have in many of the other games under moyes

Martinez doing a good job impersonating Ian Dowie.

oh my days - 10 out of 10 for the roll!!

wow the man u fans must be ready to orgasm . This team is making them look good!

But if they dont capitalise they could get sucker punched later!

Gah can't stand Real, Juve with all the chances but some corrupt officiating has the Spaniards back in front.

Perhaps just desserts mind you  

what the hell is wrong with this ref in the United. he's so Frak terrible, Griezmann with a beautiful fk off the post there

I loved playing as Sociedad back on PES 2012. The trio of Vela, Griezmann and Prieto was amazing. They'd be my favourite Spanish team if I didn't go to watch Malaga play when on holiday in 2004.

Also, 1-0 at HT is great for me. So long as RVP comes on and scores United's 2nd for my scorecast bet. Got a 7fold on, was too late to get City on it, and only Benfica are letting me down.

CFCNick wrote:I loved playing as Sociedad back on PES 2012. The trio of Vela, Griezmann and Prieto was amazing. They'd be my favourite Spanish team if I didn't go to watch Malaga play when on holiday in 2004.

Also, 1-0 at HT is great for me. So long as RVP comes on and scores United's 2nd for my scorecast bet.

not in the squad nick

Bugger!

they certainly look a lot better with giggs and not rvp in the middle!!

MAN U fans, can you stop singing our song. We dont have much but that is our song! same goes for all the teams that have knicked it!

Its not on

my 5 fold cash out is at 120 take home at the moment!

What song?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic you are ridiculous

What a strike from ibra!

PSG are a real good bet to be crowned champions of Europe this seasonm them vs Bayern final?

we support the palace palace palace , woo woo wooooooo, woo woo wooooooo

Olly wrote:Zlatan Ibrahimovic you are ridiculous

 such a shame we have to lose him or ronaldo from the WC!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORHpaqdwwlQ

from 2:50

It's a good song but not good enough to steal. Certainly isn't Ten Men Went To Mow or F**k 'Em All. Those be quality songs.

The pitch at Benfica is a bit soggy. Stonewall penalty turned down by the ref.

Awesome moment. Normally Olympiacos would be 2-0 up but the ball rolling towards the goal stops in the water. Some hilarious moments.

How good was Rooney's run and footwork earlier! Deserved the goal, but commical defending.

Cracking win for City, they would of lost that last season.

man u loook a different team tonight with giggs and kawaga!

rvp you are going to be benched son!


rooney has linked up well and been dangerous, but probably should have scored a few!

the first goal was basically his but still.