UEFA Champions & Europa League Football Thread ** spoilers ** [24th - 26th October 2023]
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We just win the rest of our games. Easy
Works both ways, Dortmund had chances aswell. XG for eg was 1.27 Newc and 1.79 Dortmund
Soldato
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It was always unlikely we were going to get out of the group, the PSG result was adrenaline and there own arrogance. we had chances tonight but as everyone knows, if you don’t put them away you get punished
Although a harder group than you could have got, I think a lot of supporters (in general, not just in this situation) go ott with their perception of how good European clubs are. Milan would struggle to finish top 10 in the PL and I wouldn't say Dortmund are any stronger than Newcastle and if they were in the PL would be a 8th-4th placed side. Even PSG aren't as strong as the top 2-3 PL sided, which Newcastle (as shown) can give a game to.
It wasn't and won't be easy but Newcastle very realistically could and still can qualify, its just been made harder after yesterday's result and the way in which PSG's games vs you and Dortmund fall.
Caporegime
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PSG would struggle to finish top 4 in the PL. Remember they can basically take half the season off in France because the competition is so bad and they've still failed to win it several times and been beaten in the CL regularly.
Just thought we were off the boil and Dortmund showed their experience. Our midfield was non existent.
Hopefully some good news on the injuries.
around 9 points required? 2 more wins or a win and two draws. Doable but as baz said last night just made it harder with the result.
Hopefully some good news on the injuries.
around 9 points required? 2 more wins or a win and two draws. Doable but as baz said last night just made it harder with the result.
Caporegime
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Champions League is a shadow of its former self really. For the past 5 years it has been far too dominated by English teams as we just have too much money. 4 out of the last 5 finals have had English teams in them and 3 of them won by English teams.
No disrespect but teams like Westham, Brighton, Aston Villa would be fighting for titles in any other league including Spain. Barcelona won the league last season at a canter but got beaten by Manchester United in the Europa League who are miles off the top in England.
Like many have said plenty of massive teams historically would struggle to get into the top half of our table. AC Milan, Inter, Juventus, Ajax, Benfica, Porto, Dortmund.
As a United fan in the mid 00's winning the Champions League again was always the dream that the league almost got discounted purely because of the strength of the European giants but now it is the other way around for me at least.
I think part of it was that the CL was exotic and now its all become a little mundane. We have some much information about them and we aren't the underdogs like we used to be.
Caporegime
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When you look at this website the Championship is the 11th biggest league in the world.
Football League Rankings | Analysis of Top Football Leagues
Discover comprehensive rankings of football/soccer leagues worldwide. Analyze league strength, performance, and consistency with our global league rankings.
That means in United's group at least we are playing Championship level teams in 4 matches of our 6 and in the group stages 8 teams are of Championship quality or around 25% of the opposition. That doesn't scream to me of a top tier competition.
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From 2005 to 2010 every final had an English team in it, including an all English final - every country goes through cycles where they 'dominate'
And seville beat you over 2 legs 5-2 and finished in 12th, 40odd points behind barca, does that mean man utd would struggle in la liga?
Currently United would struggle to get out of a wet paper bag so probably.
Caporegime
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This period of dominance is quite different though, there has never been a period of financial imbalance as big as the current one in Europe.
Caporegime
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Also in every one of those finals the English team was the underdog bar 08 because it was an all English final not the clear favourite like the previous 5 years. Even when Liverpool lost to Madrid in 22 they were the favourites.
The Champions League is no different to say the FA Cup and the "Spirit of the Cup" plays into everything. You always get upsets in cup games but still doesn't change the level being played in it. Yes we lost of Seville but that was our own doing who ironically went on to win the competition. We completely threw that tie away but that happens in cup competitions.
We still beat Barcelona 1st, Real Betis 4th, and Real Sociedad 6th. That is a mediocre United side. I fully expect Liverpool who are a lot better to smash the Europa League this year.
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