Monaco 16H45 london GMT.
Any bets?
Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund are the unseeded teams everyone wants to avoid.
Discuss!
i like our group, i think we got a good one. not as good a one as manu, but what can you do. if i'm honest i've never even heard of genk. hopefully that's a good thing. haha i think we'll be alright. though i'm still of the mindset that lamps needs to be shuffled into an almost cuatemoc blanco position in the last world cup. he's getting a bit old to be genuinely effective. really wish we coulda got modric. but the rest of our new signings seem to be good. we'll see how it pans out. the season hasn't gone as well as i'd like it to so far, but we're two games in and its a long year. maybe this group we've got is a sign, maybe its chelsea's year. don't quote me, i'm sure we'll get knocked out
also i hope citeh get slaughtered.
i'd say mata just proved himself this weekend. as did lukaku. both of them were lighting up their part of the pitch when they got ahold of the ball. lukaku looked huge in the box, and even though it was against norwich with the way he was ready to get stuck in and start shooting he'll be scoring sooner rather than later. and mata got that important game sealing goal in the end in his first match in a blue jersey i think these guys might be what was needed to help inspire our front line. torres can't do it on his own. drogba as much as i like him, and think he has become a legend for the club should probably look into retiring. same with some of our more complacent players. kalou, lamps, anelka, and even JT i really hope this new blood can inspire and enhance the talent we have.Mata is a better player than Modric, who probably wouldn't do well on a big team. Plus the signing of Mata is better for the PL than pilfering Modric from lesser known Tottnum, who are truly a small club when Mata says "arsenal? Yes they are a great club. Tottenham? I don't know what that is."
I personally think that bringing in top talent from other leagues is what makes the PL the strongest league in the world.
i'd say mata just proved himself this weekend. as did lukaku. both of them were lighting up their part of the pitch when they got ahold of the ball. lukaku looked huge in the box, and even though it was against norwich with the way he was ready to get stuck in and start shooting he'll be scoring sooner rather than later. and mata got that important game sealing goal in the end in his first match in a blue jersey i think these guys might be what was needed to help inspire our front line. torres can't do it on his own. drogba as much as i like him, and think he has become a legend for the club should probably look into retiring. same with some of our more complacent players. kalou, lamps, anelka, and even JT i really hope this new blood can inspire and enhance the talent we have.
anyways speaking of new talent. fuckin arsenal need to bring in some. did you see them get gutted by the mancs? it scares me a bit because we gotta play manu in a few weeks. and its kinda scary to watch arsenal implode. but then again wenger's plans to spend little, bring in youngsters, and do fuck all else aren't going to fit with this season. i think if they don't do some good signings, quick, they're gonna wind up like liverpool a couple seasons ago finishing mid table, and looking like a pack of clowns. i don't know who any of their targets might be, but they need to buy a few gooduns by wednesday.
sturridge has been turning it on quite well. i like the direction we're taking. no more of the "untouchable" players in the line up. that front three of torres, sturridge, and mata is pretty damn solid, and would be even better when torres gets on form. at the same time though i think the experience of the older players is still needed to help these new kids break into the team.
i am however a bit worried about united on sunday. how's roma been treating you so far this season? stekelenburg is a good keeper, but based on some of your results i don't know if he's been playing, or playing as well as he can.
shame you guys got rid of mexes, he to me seemed to have great potential. and see that's the thing about a new coach. faith has to be vested in him for a while as he breaks in new ways and strategies, but he's gotta start delivering at some point. and there's a huge difference between running the barca youth team in division 3 of la liga, and running a huge club like roma. he's definitely got his work cut out for him. though good on getting rid of raneiri. other than buy players who we then got rid of over the years he wasn't the greatest. though he did get us back into the champion's league.
its a long season though, and you guys have made some good signings, and have a solid squad you're certainly good enough to get back into the champion's league next season. when napoli got good enough to get back in there i'll never know, but after seeing them play man city, in manchester, and pull a point out of it, they got some quality. not maradonna quality of the 80's, but some quality.
i dont think roma can play better season like 2 years ago when the tinker man (claudio ranieri) lost the scudetto with them in the last week ) : actually many thing has been change since they win it back in 2001 .now you need the multi millions of $ for ultra signing to compete otherwise nothing will help youMexes was on his way out and signed with Milan before Luis Enrique came in. Vucinic, who was a great forward for us, was on his way out as well, knowing that he could get more money at Juve or Tottnum. Retention of veteran players only applies to De Rossi right now. If Totti says he wants to leave, Sabatini and De Benetto would wave goodbye and say farewell. Roma is done with older players.
Look at Chelsea - if you're 30+, you only get a season to season contract. That's the way to do things. Don't budge on that. Pay players handsomely for what they do, and nothing for what they don't.
Manchester City played awful last night in the second round of CL matches..... it wasn't helped by the dumbness of Carlos Tevez refusing to come on as a sub.... I believe this is one hell of a tough group.... and City may not qualify... especially after last nights performance....
Man Utd were lucky to escape with a draw.... from what looks like a relaitvely weak group... they're making it look difficult to qualify....
Chelsea and Arsenal are playing tonight....
As a Liverpool fan... i hope they lose and suffer at least 6 long term injuries each...
xROTx
1 of the first reason manchster city lost against bayern munich in the allians arena (my personal favourite stadium ever) was the champion league experience its the first time for them so they cant compete against the bayern (who usely on cl) anyway i put my money on napoli for the second cardManchester City played awful last night in the second round of CL matches..... it wasn't helped by the dumbness of Carlos Tevez refusing to come on as a sub.... I believe this is one hell of a tough group.... and City may not qualify... especially after last nights performance....
Man Utd were lucky to escape with a draw.... from what looks like a relaitvely weak group... they're making it look difficult to qualify....
Chelsea and Arsenal are playing tonight....
As a Liverpool fan... i hope they lose and suffer at least 6 long term injuries each...
xROTx
1 of the first reason manchster city lost against bayern munich in the allians arena (my personal favourite stadium ever) was the champion league experience its the first time for them so they cant compete against the bayern (who usely on cl) anyway i put my money on napoli for the second card
1 of the other reasons is that Mancini is the manager. The guy isn't very good at this level.
Quoted... for truth....
How can a manager spend close to £300Million over 3 years... AND still not win anything major? Mourihno at least won the Premier league with some Russian Ogliarchs money...
xROTx
PS. Everton vs Liverpool on Saturday.... I like derbys... but tbh.... I'm not a mad fanatical Everton hater... I think Moyes is a great manager... look what he has to spend ... fook all... and the guy still competes... I'd like him as the Liverpool manager if king Kenny wasn't already there...
I get the feeling that old school derbies aren't as heated with the new lads as they used to be. Look at the Spurs and Gunners this weekend - it's not treated as a major rivalry anymore. Arsenal fans see liverpool and man utd as their rivals.
C - This is a pretty boring group. United to coast. In fact, so beneficial is this group for United that they probably won't even worry about managing league matches against the CL matches.