General Football Discussion

[Orange14]

de Vrij did not have a very good club season last year and was amazing other than the conceded penalty in the Spain match. I think the doubt in many minds was how much of his performance was due to his ability vs the system that van Gaal employed. The fact that ManU were not serious about picking him up for what they might consider 'pocket change' indicates to me that it's probably the latter. IMO the modern day footballer is more concerned about financial security than they are about winning trophies which is why they end up moving to second rate clubs.

[afcajax73]

i see Fword crashed out of the Champions League last night, 5-2 in the end. Looks like its just left to us to win it now..

[saddlerian]

i see Fword crashed out of the Champions League last night, 5-2 in the end. Looks like its just left to us to win it now..

It was also a little sad to see Celtic get beaten so badly...looks like the choice of manager and the non-replacement of key players is going to backfire!! Very sad....hope it's not the sign of things to come!!!!

[afcajax73]

i see Fword crashed out of the Champions League last night, 5-2 in the end. Looks like its just left to us to win it now..

It was also a little sad to see Celtic get beaten so badly...looks like the choice of manager and the non-replacement of key players is going to backfire!! Very sad....hope it's not the sign of things to come!!!!

i think for celtic, and more particularly, their new manager... didnt he say in a recent press conference that there was one good team in scotland who were being dragged down by the rest? then they get hammered in the qualifiers.. whoops

[saddlerian]

I agree, it's bad to see such a statement come true, but the cause of this has to be laid firmly at the feet of the board who selected this manager.....why go abroad when one of the most patriotic clubs in UK, (even tho they be Scot/Ireland),have proved that they should be managed by either a Scot or Irishman...that's how the patriotic element and ethos is passed to the players!
Too many "foreign" players have been brought in....I hope that Scotland vote for independence...they will be able to set their own quota then as the EU rules will not affect them!!! Maybe, just maybe, although not in my lifetime, we can have a World Cup containing teams with players JUST from their own country!! Passing through borders is just ruining footballll

[Orange14]

i see Fword crashed out of the Champions League last night, 5-2 in the end. Looks like its just left to us to win it now..

Of course it is the 20th anniversary of our last championship team!!!

[Orange14]

Pot Three again for the CL Draw. Would love to see us get Benfica, Schalke, and any of the pot 4 teams.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW POTS
Teams from the same national association cannot be drawn against each other.

Pot 1
Real Madrid (Spain)
Barcelona (Spain)
Bayern Munich (Germany)
Chelsea (England)
Benfica (Portugal)
Atletico Madrid (Spain)
Arsenal (England)
FC Porto (Portugal)

----------------------

Pot 2
Schalke (Germany)
Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
Juventus (Italy)
Paris Saint-Germain (France)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
FC Basel (Switzerland)
Zenit St Petersburg (Russia)
Man City (England)

---------------------

Pot 3
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
Olympiakos (Greece)
CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Ajax (Netherlands)
Liverpool (England)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
Galatasaray (Turkey)
Athletic Bilbao (Spain)

---------------------

Pot 4
Anderlecht (Belgium)
AS Roma (Italy)
APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus)
BATE Borisov (Belarus)
Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria)
NK Maribor (Slovenia)
Malmo (Sweden)
AS Monaco (France)

[cdnajaxfan]

I would not want just any from pot 4!
Roma and Monaco are in there (Ajax guaranteed
To draw one of them!). I would fancy our chances
With Porto and Benfica from Pot 1 (but we will not
Draw them). Lots if hard teams in Pot 2 which
Includes the biggest cheating club in Europe!!
Other than Juve there are Leverkusen who somehow
Are seeded above us which I don't get. We may
Get Shalke for the return of KJH drama. We did
Well against City last time but I would prefer
To avoid them. I think you would like to
Try Shaktar unless we would have to play
Them in Donetsk! Where the hell are they going to
Play their home games anyways? Kiev?

[Tom_]

I bet we continue our run of stupid draws, e.g. Bayern München, PSG, AS Roma

[SPL]

Real Madrid ,Man City and Roma.We will get the toughest draw as usual.

[Orange14]

Would be cool to draw Juve and exact revenge for them not letting us win the second in a row CL in 1996!

[Orange14]

Screwed again. Drawn into the group with Barca and PSG. Every year Group of Death! Still waiting for the fourth team.

EDIT: Get Apoel from Cyprus as the 4th ranked team in the group. They made it all the way to the quarterfinals a couple of years ago.

[Tom_]

Ha, no way. How does this keep happening? Another "do well to finish third" group.

[Orange14]

At least we get to see two of our great stikers: Zlatan and Suarez in action!

[Amol]

I'm glad we avoided Roma, Monaco and Anderlecht from pot 4. I think group E is probably the toughest one of them all - Bayern, Man City, CSKA & Roma.

[zeux]

At least we get to see two of our great stikers: Zlatan and Suarez in action!

Depends when Barcelona will come to Amsterdam. Do they know the dates already?

[SPL]

Tough top 2 but we could have done a lot worse than APOEL.

[Orange14]

At least we get to see two of our great stikers: Zlatan and Suarez in action!

Depends when Barcelona will come to Amsterdam. Do they know the dates already?

The schedule for the match days has yet to be determined. Suarez ban lasts until October 25 according to one article I read which means he misses the first three CL games. So he misses one of the Ajax games but we don't know whether that game is in Barcelona or Amsterdam.

[Amol]

17 sep: Ajax - PSG
30 sep: Apoel-Ajax
21 oct: Barça-Ajax (Suarez misses this one)
5 nov: Ajax-Barça (Suarez can play in this one)
25 nov: PSG-Ajax
10 dec: Ajax-Apoel

PSG has had a fairly slow start to the season. So we definitely need to win that game and beat Apoel home & away if we want to progress.

[Orange14]

We will win all three home matches, draw with Barca at the Nou Camp, draw with PSG in Paris and beat Apoel in Cyprus. Good chance to win the group depending on how Barca and PSG do against one another!

[rjf1]

Ha, no way. How does this keep happening? Another "do well to finish third" group.

It's a plot, I tell you, it's got to be a plot.

[afcajax73]

why is it that fword, who are supposedly lots worse off than us (financially) are doing way more deals?

they just brought in El Ahmadi from Villa

[aveslacker]

why is it that fword, who are supposedly lots worse off than us (financially) are doing way more deals?

they just brought in El Ahmadi from Villa

I think the two are related.

[aveslacker]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... ons-league

Apparently Man City is facing a £50 million fine that could be reduced to £20 million with money to be shared among the other British clubs playing in Europe this year.

[aveslacker]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... ons-league

Apparently Man City is facing a £50 million fine that could be reduced to £20 million with money to be shared among the other EPL clubs playing in Europe this year.