UEFA Champions & Europa League 2014-15 Season Thread

[Guest]

First topic message reminder :

Messi is no Harry Kane.

[Crimey]

Wouldn't count PSG out of it yet, often 10 men can surprise. 

[Gregers]

Last season they would've seen that out. Less solid this year.

All English sides out before the quarters

Yet apparently we're the best league in the world....

Looking forward to the quarters now, Bayern favourites surely?

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

PSG fully deserved that - Chelsea played it at a friendly tempo just awful

[Fernando]

Jose called them over-physical. Well you just got played off the park this time Jose.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Its funny, cos whilst they say "we're so far off" I do genuinely think Chelsea are a better side and a side who would have challenged any top side in this competition. But they took this far too easy and got punished

[Fernando]

Ibra went off and Chelsea went into Jose Arrogance mode and thought they would coast it and PSG showed their quality and punished them. You'd have thought would of known how good they were when they scrapped past last season.

[Steffan]

Jose will be full of excuses no doubt. Refs fault and that

[Fernando]

Have to admire the Twitterati. Not even calling Chelsea by name just #Rentboys

[Hero]

Fully deserved too if they go through.

They've been very good, deserve to go through. (PS - why are Macclesfield 16/1 to win that league?!)

Odds really should be shorter tbf, managed to drag it back to 2 points difference with 8 games to go.

[monty junior]

Looks like Everton will be the EPL's only hope of European Glory 

[Fernando]

Jose shook all PSG players hands and congratulated them in the changing room and say they were the better side.

Called Chelsea "Not good enough & couldn't cope mentally"

Surprisingly kind by Jose no excuses for once.

[Guest]

If Hazard doesn't turn up, Chelsea are slow & predictable, there simply is not a plan B for when Eden fails to show up. Not sure why they signed Cuardrado either.

English football just miles behind, becoming embarrassing now.

[Crimey]

I don't think it's embarrassing at all. Football is cyclic, Italy and England had their time during the mid 2000's, Spain and Germany are now at the top but it'll come round again almost definitely.

[Gerry SA]

So Cesc Fabregas still hasn't grown a backbone and is once again exposed when playing against better technical players.

Shame it cost us(Barcelona) £35m to discover this, but Chelsea can enjoy him

[Steffan]

Crikey...who would have believed that this racist right wing Tory loving lowlife supports Chelsea...I mean of all the teams init

[Dolphin Ziggler]

And Chelsea are better than PSG. That was a cup upset

[Duty281]

Crikey...who would have believed that this racist right wing Tory loving lowlife supports Chelsea...I mean of all the teams init

I didn't know Clarkson held ideas of racial superiority?

[monty junior]

And Chelsea are better than PSG. That was a cup upset

Not really, similar quality teams who over the last 2 years have played 4 times and are evenly matched. This year especially i can hardly remember Chelsea home or away creating other than the away goal! If Chelsea were superior their quality would have told over 210 minutes of football but despite playing a third of it with a man advantage the supposed superiority never materialized. In reality it was always a pick em tie!

[Dolphin Ziggler]

I think they are, PSG have improved but I'd honestly say Chelsea would have been in the top four of the competition.

[socal1976]

The premier league is down in quality the last two seasons. If this continues EPL might lose that 4th place trophy and have be given to Germany or Spain. The best teams in europe right now are clearly Barca, Real, and Bayern. Well Jose will certainly win the league and he already has the league cup.

[Hero]

The premier league is down in quality the last two seasons. If this continues EPL might lose that 4th place trophy and have be given to Germany or Spain. The best teams in europe right now are clearly Barca, Real, and Bayern. Well Jose will certainly win the league and he already has the league cup.

Spain and Germany both also have 4 entries in the Champions League with England. Italy are the next down on the list and there's quite some distance to them, even Juve winning the CL wouldn't alter it.

[Guest]

I think they are, PSG have improved but I'd honestly say Chelsea would have been in the top four of the competition.

I actually agree with Monty, the last four games between the two have been incredibly close, one 90 min draw, two home wins by a two goal margin & last nights extra time draw. I wouldn't say Chelsea were a guaranteed top four of the competition, that's what arrogant thinking & being top of the PL does to you. Apart from Hazard, don't see many massive game changers at that level in comparison to other sides. Costa was a massive, massive disappointment in the champions league, basically offered nothing all campaign.

[monty junior]

Athletico for me are a better side than Chelsea then you have PSG, BVB possibly Juventus as well about the same level. After the top 3 or 4 it's really a tossup but let's face it we aren't missing much in terms of spectacle. Mourinho get's the job done, being an Inter fan he is amazing at what doing at what needs to be done but constantly going through on away or by the odd goals is dangerous. That's why they lack being a really top side that ability to sense blood and go for the win. Plus like Liam said in the last two seasons if you take Hazard away they struggle to create other from set pieces against top sides.

[monty junior]

The premier league is down in quality the last two seasons. If this continues EPL might lose that 4th place trophy and have be given to Germany or Spain. The best teams in europe right now are clearly Barca, Real, and Bayern. Well Jose will certainly win the league and he already has the league cup.

Spain and Germany both also have 4 entries in the Champions League with England. Italy are the next down on the list and there's quite some distance to them, even Juve winning the CL wouldn't alter it.

Indeed the problem for this season even if Juve get to the quarters or semis there are 5 of the 16 teams in the Europa League left are Italian. Two big ones (Fiorentina and Roma) play each other so one will be out. Inter have to play Wolfsburg so there's a high chance we won't make it through. But even if it's just 3/4 standing between both competitions after the next round that will be a serious chunk out of the gap. At the end of the day Serie A need's complete restructuring to really compete for the CL again but if the PL's form doesn't pick up in two years it will be very close.

[TRUSSMAN66]

Good night for "football" last night..

[Hammersmith harrier]

Athletico for me are a better side than Chelsea then you have PSG, BVB possibly Juventus as well about the same level. After the top 3 or 4 it's really a tossup but let's face it we aren't missing much in terms of spectacle. Mourinho get's the job done, being an Inter fan he is amazing at what doing at what needs to be done but constantly going through on away or by the odd goals is dangerous. That's why they lack being a really top side that ability to sense blood and go for the win. Plus like Liam said in the last two seasons if you take Hazard away they struggle to create other from set pieces against top sides.

Borussia Dortmund who have been beyond average this season are a better side than Chelsea?

Bayern, Madrid and Barca are the top three then you have PSG, Chelsea and Athletico then the rest, Chelsea aren't one of the best teams in reality they're just one of if not the hardest to beat.

[Guest]

I'd like to see the effect of Chelsea without Hazard for five months of the season, like Dortmund did with Reus.

[Hammersmith harrier]

I doubt it would see them down in 10th 32 points off the lead.

[monty junior]

Depends how you look at it Dortmund's first team is brilliant but they have a small squad so when over half their first team was injured they were always going to struggle. But in terms of CL pedigree the last three seasons they are right up there, (i never said they were better than Chelsea) they got to the final, the quarters last year (only team to beat Real Madrid) and won their group this year despite being absolutely abysmal domestically due to all their injuries.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

The thing about Chelsea is they can defend better than most teams. Last time was an aberration, they didnt set out to win really yet neither were they in backs to the wall mode. I just dont think they got the game plan right.

To me they needed a Cuadrado or Remy on the pitch at some point to offer some pace, Ramires was a workhorse that they didnt need either.

[Guest]

Jose got it wrong at HT. The game didn't need workhorses it needed an injection of pace & another winger to stretch PSG. Oscar for Willian was strange. Willian is great in a game where Chelsea need to work hard & help the full-back, this game required someone to be another outlet, stretching Maxwell & causing him trouble with pace, therefore Cuardrado would of been perfect. Having Matic, Ramires & Willian (all with great engines & not great offensive stats), in a game whereby you are playing 10 men, was bewildering.

[kingraf]

I enjoyed watching Chelsea lose. I like Mourinho, bit of a drama queen, but I like him. I don't however like his mentality if closing all big games as soon as Chelsea are in a winning position. It's backfired enough times in the last few years you'd think.

[sportform]

I thought Chelsea played not to lose, last night, rather than to win. They were happen at 0-0 and going through on away goals and happy with a one goal lead against 10 men. Very lacklustre. In fact most English teams have been lacklustre in the Champions League over the past few years. We use to attack, counter attack with pace but seemed to have fallen into the same trap as England to try this tippy-tappy football like Barcelona. The difference is Barcelona stilll move the ball much quicker when the gaps appear. Arsenal are the worst for slow football and Man City weren't far behind against Barcelona two weeks ago. By all means keep possession but the idea is to move the opposition about.

Also what has happened to Diego Costa in recent weeks? He should have got a penalty in the first half but seems more concerned with winding up the opposition. Hazard should have been booked late on for a dive in the penalty area and I don't know with John Terry was grabbing Gary Cahill on the second Paris goal.

[Stella]

I thought the Hazard incident was a definite pen, unless you're talking about another penalty claim?

[TRUSSMAN66]

I thought Chelsea played not to lose, last night, rather than to win. They were happen at 0-0 and going through on away goals and happy with a one goal lead against 10 men. Very lacklustre. In fact most English teams have been lacklustre in the Champions League over the past few years. We use to attack, counter attack with pace but seemed to have fallen into the same trap as England to try this tippy-tappy football like Barcelona. The difference is Barcelona stilll move the ball much quicker when the gaps appear. Arsenal are the worst for slow football and Man City weren't far behind against Barcelona two weeks ago. By all means keep possession but the idea is to move the opposition about.

Also what has happened to Diego Costa in recent weeks? He should have got a penalty in the first half but seems more concerned with winding up the opposition. Hazard should have been booked late on for a dive in the penalty area and I don't know with John Terry was grabbing Gary Cahill on the second Paris goal.

Chelsea did the same thing against 10 men City.................They gave us the ball and we nicked an equaliser with Lampard......They also gave us a point at Stamford when we'd been struggling against the bottom clubs and had just lost 0-2 to Arsenal...

Can be too negative at times.......

[Dolphin Ziggler]

They also should have had a pen for a trip on Costa. But I liked seeing them lose so im happy

[Guest]

Although I thought he looked average at Chelsea, you kind of get the feeling Kevin De Bruyne is another Matic mistake from Chelsea.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Man United are linked, but then they're linked to any good midfielder

[Hammersmith harrier]

I don't De Bruyne is a player they're going to miss too much, was a case of them having too many players who could play wide and at the time it made sense to get rid of him. With the exception of Hazard they seem to have kept hold of the 'hard working' but less incisive options which sums up Mourinho I suppose.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

GUSEV CRUSH

[Ent]

Lukaku, there are no words.

[monty junior]

Mancini really is hopeless in Europe, very negative tactics with Inter the first time when they always went out in the 16 whilst Milan who they finished ahead of by 20 points of won the CL. Poor with Man City as well and now today when his team are 1-1 away to Wolfsburg he sends on that clown Vidic for a midfielder after 50 minutes as well as playing the second choice goalkeeper who cost Inter two goals. He may be able to edge his way to titles, but he still has no idea how to play in Europe, Catenaccio football is a thing of the past.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Incredible run Lukaku

[Ent]

Needed to do something after missing the empty goal by more than the width of the goal.

[Hammersmith harrier]

The only pundit who has even bothered trying to defend Chelsea's conduct last night is wait for it, former Chelsea player Pat Nevin.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Neville at the time said everyone else does it so it'd be naive of English clubs not to. I like Neville, he's just realistic

[Guest]

I think the reaction has been ridiculous. Agree with Neville, teams in Europe been doing this for years, shrewd operators in situations like this. souness talking nonsense & so blinkered claiming PSG are a real team this & that, Luiz was play acting the whole game, ran over to Costa in second half, inviting the headbutt from Costa but nothing really mentioned. It's all anti Mourinho garbage, didn't work out this time for him but he knows winning football nowadays is about playing smart, calculated stuff, not pretty eye catching, nice play by the rules football, that souness & co want to see.

[Hammersmith harrier]

Neville at the time said everyone else does it so it'd be naive of English clubs not to. I like Neville, he's just realistic

I hate attitudes like that, just because other countries teams have no etiquette and are scummy enough to do it doesn't mean the English teams should, we're better than and should continue to be better than that. Rooney is one of the worst for it, just like Terry thinks that being captain gives him free rein to hurl abuse at the ref and question his every decision, in future just shut up Wayne and get on with the game, have you ever changed the refs opinion? No you haven't, I can teach a dog to stop doing things but apparently you can't teach a professional footballer to keep his gob shut.

[Guest]

Neville at the time said everyone else does it so it'd be naive of English clubs not to. I like Neville, he's just realistic

I hate attitudes like that, just because other countries teams have no etiquette and are scummy enough to do it doesn't mean the English teams should, we're better than and should continue to be better than that.

You might hate attitudes like that, but that's how the game has gone, unfortunately. Those moments turn tight games, those decisions can determine the outcome of a game & can be influential in who wins a trophy & who goes home early. European sides been doing it for years, conning refs, play-acting.......you name it, they've been doing it. Although not the primary reason why english teams falter, not playing clever or shrewd has cost us & it's not wonder mourinho managed teams get further than most, on average, than others teams. Football games at this level aren't about playing pretty stuff, playing by the rules or being nice anymore, they are about winning.

[Hammersmith harrier]

For me it's about winning the right way, winning at all costs is something reserved for the Chelsea fans and Mourinho's record in Europe with Chelsea is pretty average, worse in fact than Benitez's with Liverpool.

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