UEFA Champions & Europa League 2014-15 Season Thread

[Fernando]

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All places to talk Champions & Europa League  football for this season  

Champions League Round of 16 Draw

PSG vs Chelsea
Man City vs Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen vs Atletico Madrid
Juventus vs Dortmund
Schalke vs Real Madrid
Shaktar Donetsk vs Bayern Munich
Arsenal vs Monaco
Basel vs Porto


Arsenal - Monaco
Celtic - Inter Milan
Chelsea - PSG
Everton - Young Boys
Hull - OUT
Liverpool - OUT of CL dropped into Europa League - Besiktas
Man City - Barcelona
Man Utd - Swansea 21st February (It's about as close to European football as your getting this year) 
Tottenham - Fiorentina

[Fernando]

Dortmund 1-0 Arsenal - Immobile

Good finish Poopie defending just let him keep running

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Arsenal defending lolz

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

As for Liverpool, its pretty clear Balotelli isn't fitting at all. Doesn't have the movement of even a Lambert (who's a very intelligent player off the ball and on it)

[Fernando]

Dortmund 2-0 - Aubameyang - Not sure where Chesney was going

#Frak

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Arsenal all over the place at the back, Mertesacker/Koscielny all over the place, all over the place!!!

[CFCNick]

welbeck = special needs finisher

For a special needs club

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Just being completely overrun and out powered

[compelling and rich]

keep being told that we have no chance of top 4 and that arsenal have a great defence, ozil is world class, and that wellbeck will be a great signing. dont half talk some rubbish arsenal fans

[Guest]

embarrassing this for arsenal

ozil isnt world class, not sure who keeps banging on about that.
welbeck isnt a great signing as a striker because he cant hit a barn door or finish his dinner
arsenal have OAP mertesacker who gets ripped to shreds against pace everytime i see him

id rather have united's clinical strikeforce & attacking threats, than arsenal's pretty footballers who are all just clones & do the same repetitive thing game after game.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

To be fair to Ozil here, he is not a right winger and Wenger seems to have got it in his head he can play there

Its like what Utd did with Kagawa. Put him in his proper position

[GSC]

keep being told that we have no chance of top 4

United fans chirping up after beating an awful QPR at home I see

[compelling and rich]

To be fair to Ozil here, he is not a right winger and Wenger seems to have got it in his head he can play there

Its like what Utd did with Kagawa. Put him in his proper position

oh the old i can only play in one position, even though that one position is required to go find space often switching with wide players anyway. any top class attacking player should be able to play across the front three. dont see people moaning about silva playing wide all the time even though he's better centrally

[compelling and rich]

keep being told that we have no chance of top 4

United fans chirping up after beating an awful QPR at home I see

nothing to do with it, more like watching every arsenal game so far and they have looked poor everytime

[Hammersmith harrier]

Ozil is similar to Mata, only in the team in the hope they produce one moment of magic but with respect to our man he has a far better eye for a goal.

[CFCNick]

embarrassing this for arsenal

ozil isnt world class, not sure who keeps banging on about that.
welbeck isnt a great signing as a striker because he cant hit a barn door or finish his dinner
arsenal have OAP mertesacker who gets ripped to shreds against pace everytime i see him

id rather have united's clinical strikeforce & attacking threats, than arsenal's pretty footballers who are all just clones & do the same repetitive thing game after game.

Known in the hockey world as a human turnstile.

[GSC]

At least one turnstile gets turned in hockey

[Fernando]

Scousers 1-0 Ludogorets - Super Mario

[GSC]

Was there a hint of handball there?

[Guest]

As for Liverpool, its pretty clear Balotelli isn't fitting at all

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

As for Liverpool, its pretty clear Balotelli isn't fitting at all

Even RVW scored a goal for Norwich etc etc

[Guest]

John Hartson - "Danny Welbeck did everything right, got it into his feet, rolled Sokratis Papastathopoulos and must hit the target - but again blazes over the bar. But I maintain the goals will come, and he will turn out to be a great signing for Arsenal."

Yeah, okay! Delusional.

[GSC]

Something, something, Liverpool can't defend for crap

[GSC]

I quite liked ITV documenting Balotellis history of either losing or sitting on the bench in big games

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

GET EXCITED FOR SCRAPING PAST BULGARIA'S FINEST

[GSC]

We knew it would be a dramatic night against some Bulgarian team nobody had heard of a few months ago.

[mystiroakey]

Dortmound looked immense..

So strong. Blocked up arsernal all night long.

Could have scored 6

[Fernando]

Dortmound looked immense..

So strong. Blocked up arsernal all night long.

Should have scored 6

2-0 flattered us over 90 mins. Suffering for not buying defensive back up unsurprisingly. Welbeck seemly working on proving my "Better then Sanogo" theory wrong.

Can only get better against Anderlecht & Gala. Play like that again we won't make top 10 PL let alone the round of 32

[Ent]

Thought that was a dive for liverpools winner. Have to see it again.

[mystiroakey]

But it's got to be said. Arteta , ozil and Ramsey were shocking. Dortmund bossed them and got the right side of the player every opportunity.

Welbeck could have scored a hatrick.. But the loss was nothing to do with him. Dortmund bossed the mothers out of Arsenal. It was like the Chelsea game last year . The score line flattered Arsenal big time.

They need huge improvements..

Man U will soon go to odds on for top 4. Liverpool looked shocking as well.

[Mad for Chelsea]

to be fair I was quite impressed by Razgrad. They played some very nice stuff at times, pressed hard all evening, and a draw wouldn't have been undeserved. I wouldn't be surprised to see them pick up a few points in this group.

Liverpool's defence is a real concern though, need to scrap playing quite such a high line IMO, the amound of times Razgrad got in behind was ridiculous. Better teams will punish that (and already have, including Man City). Also, while it may seem obvious, Liverpool miss Sturridge. Balotelli produced a moment of class for his goal, but overall they seemed overly reliand on Sterling tonight.

Also, who brings on Lucas when you need something to happen?

Finally, thoughts on that last pen? I'm watching a somewhat dodgy feed so couldn't really tell if there was any contact, but it looked a little generous to me...

[hampo17]

Was a stone wall pen MFC, just shown a great angle on ITV that shows the contact.

[mystiroakey]

Dortmound looked immense..

So strong. Blocked up arsernal all night long.

Should have scored 6

2-0 flattered us over 90 mins. Suffering for not buying defensive back up unsurprisingly. Welbeck seemly working on proving my "Better then Sanogo" theory wrong.

Can only get better against Anderlecht & Gala. Play like that again we won't make top 10 PL let alone the round of 32

Just lucky Dortmund also don't have a better striker or it would/should/could have been 6... If Welbeck had that many chances he would have scored for them. Just to get at the end of a few chances is something at least, especially when they had so few.. His turn for the last one was nice play at least.

[GSC]

Still think there was a hint of handball in the first goal

[Mad for Chelsea]

Was a stone wall pen MFC, just shown a great angle on ITV that shows the contact.

fair enough, like I said watching a more-than-slightly-dodgy (Arabian) feed, so very hard to tell. My initial thought was he made the most of it, but if you say there was definite contact I'm happy to take your word on it.

Crazy goalkeeping though (not helped by a shocking backpass), should have just booted it into row Z

[Hammersmith harrier]

The sweeper keeper fad is starting to become a real problem, you can only pull it off if like Lloris and Neuer you've done it for years in weaker leagues. The premier league and European football is no time to learn.

[hampo17]

Said that to a mate when it happened, what ever happened to if in doubt, put it out!

[mystiroakey]

By the way nando it's round of 16.

[GSC]

The sweeper keeper fad is starting to become a real problem, you can only pull it off if like Lloris and Neuer you've done it for years in weaker leagues. The premier league and European football is no time to learn.

[Mad for Chelsea]

Meanwhile Olympiacos have beaten Atletico at home. Bit of an upset, probably a good result for Juventus...

[Hammersmith harrier]

Thank you for the wonderful insight as ever but it's true Bayern get it especially easy and come under very little pressure.

[monty junior]

Neuer spent most of his career at Schalke..

[kingraf]

So... uh... Is Wilshere's impressive run of four whole consecutive good games still on, or no?

[mystiroakey]

So... uh... Is Wilshere's impressive run of four whole consecutive good games still on,  or no?

Only arsenal player to come out of the game with any credit at all.

[compelling and rich]

Liverpool fans showing there class with banners about nuking Manchester, these lot the same lot that want respect for hillsborough. hypocrites

[mystiroakey]

Bar Schezney that is.

[Gerry SA]

Arsenal lack quality to be a serious threat in Europe or the BPL. 

Welbeck is a joke signing. His finishing is pathetic. And the lack of a world class defensive midfielder hurts them. 

Wenger should've tried to sign Masherano and Cavani.

[Gerry SA]

Found it rather funny that Liverpool celebrated like they'd won the CL after beating a side that was only formed 13 years ago...


Small team mentality is what Rodgers has instilled.

[kingraf]

I thought we were alright today. 5-1 on balance is about fair. Defense still needs a lot of work. Basel seemed to stroll to Casillas' goal when they did get the opportunities. Still having lost 3 of four. It's a welcome respite.

[mystiroakey]

Basil can be tough or really easy. Strange team.. But good result.

[kingraf]

Might be tougher at home, and will take heart from Liverpool's performance vs that team I can't pronounce. Could cause a bit of discomfort for Pool.

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