On 8/5/2016 at 3:33 PM, Syria said:

I don't know if you know this but Steaua won the trophy in 1986. After a final with Barcelona. Steaua's goalkeeper made history that day after he saved all 4 penalties. There are only two east european teams that won this competition. The other one is Red Star Belgrade and it's sad to see that Red Star hasn't played in UCL in 25 years.

I don't know much about Rostov but if they knocked out Anderlecht I don't see why they can't do the same with Ajax.

 

I don't remember the 1986 competition first hand, but I do miss the days when the Champions League was wide open and relative outsiders like Steaua, PSV and Red Star were in with a chance of winning. Since Porto in 2004 and at a push, Rafa Benitez's Liverpool, the whole thing has been dominated by teams you'd expect to win it.

On 8/5/2016 at 4:31 PM, SympathysSilhouette said:

Roberto Martinez is an incredibly underwhelming choice.

Apparently Prandelli, Ragnick, Rudi Garcia and Advocaat were the rest of the seriously considered candidates and I honestly think I would have preferred all of them over Martinez.

 

That appointment was as leftfield as they come, although I can just about see the logic. In theory a manager like Martinez, who can inspire teams to excellent cup runs but appears to struggle with imposing his philosophy over the course of a full season in the league, should be quite well suited to the international game.

Back with a whimper. Second half was okayish, keeper was good until he made precisely the same error our last knucklehead keeper used to make. How very Villa. I know we can't logistically get rid of the entire self-satisfied loser brigade of last year but we certainly have moves we need to make, preferably before the Jim White-th* of August.

 

*Did I actually just type that? 

 

 

West Ham eliminated by Astra Giurgiu for the 2nd year in a row 

What a pity Rubin Kazan can’t see the hand gestures I’m making at them right now.

 

Sunderland seem to do transfer windows like we do Premier League seasons. Sack them off until it looks beyond us and then, when everyone has just about given up hope, we finally decide to show some urgency. There's no doubting that the squad has been left paper thin in some key areas, but I've no immediate plans to join the angry mob. In fact, I actually think we'll have the makings of a really strong side when everyone is fully fit, particularly with Kone (you can bog off as well, Everton) somehow still on board. The next four months will of course decide whether or not it's all been worthwhile, I'm just praying that we can scrape a few wins in the meantime, and that we've invested in enough cotton wool to keep Jermain Defoe wrapped up in until January.

Managed about three hours of the Gormless Blokes Standing in Barely Lit Car Parks Telling Us Things We Already Know fandango before self-respect made a late bid for my services. 

 

On 9/1/2016 at 6:53 PM, Frederick said:

Managed about three hours of the Gormless Blokes Standing in Barely Lit Car Parks Telling Us Things We Already Know fandango before self-respect made a late bid for my services. 

 

Honestly, the whole thing was tedious enough when Harry used to lean out of his Range Rover declaring that no deals would be done before making the inevitable signings of Niko Kranjcar and Peter Crouch, but some of the stuff on Wednesday really made me cringe. I've come to suspect that even Jim White realises what a load of old nonsense it is. These days, although he's aware that whipping himself into a frenzy over Halifax loaning somebody out to Forest Green is the only niche still available to him at Sky, you can almost see his eyes saying 'help me'.

15 hours ago, Syria said:

 

Quite an intriguing set-up in Group B there, any one of Benfica, Napoli, Besiktas or Dynamo could conceivably end up topping it. Spurs, Arsenal and Leicester got off pretty lightly, but are all capable of screwing up at any given time.

 

I see Chelsea managed to avoid all the big teams as well.

7 hours ago, Michael* said:

I see Chelsea managed to avoid all the big teams as well.

   

 

I think groups B and E are the most open ones. I'm really excited to see Leicester, Dortmund, Gladbach, Tottenham and Napoli. It's hard to predict how Leicester will look but IMO Porto should win that group.

16 hours ago, Syria said:

   

 

I think groups B and E are the most open ones. I'm really excited to see Leicester, Dortmund, Gladbach, Tottenham and Napoli. It's hard to predict how Leicester will look but IMO Porto should win that group.

 

Hard not to feel for Gladbach though. Last year they were placed in a group with Juventus, Sevilla and Man City. This year it's City again and Barca. Guardiola's record against them for Bayern was strangely poor, but still, what a tough break.

WHAM BAM GOODBYE SAM

20 hours ago, Frederick said:

WHAM BAM GOODBYE SAM

 

A slot on the next series of 'I'm A Celebrity' surely now beckons for Big Sam.

 

I suppose it's no real surprise to find him conforming to the dodgepot standards of the game, but I thought he would have had enough sense to realise that keeping one's nose clean and one's gob shut is a prerequisite for the England job. Presumably, the FA now do what they should have done after the Euros and go for a manager with actual experience of tournament football, because I doubt even Gareth Southgate wants Gareth Southgate.

Thorgan Hazard, Carrasco and Mertens all shine in the CL.

Of course one of them will still have to give way to Eden Hazard in our upcoming qualifiers.

 

On 9/27/2016 at 8:02 PM, Frederick said:

WHAM BAM GOODBYE SAM

Saw BIG SAM'S BIG SHAM / BIG SHAM earlier. Brilliant. The English fuck it up again.

 

I didn't get to Glasgow for the Man City game (I'm still bitter with Pep) but what a fucking game, no?

Clinging to the hope that Celtic will advance so hard my nails are splitting.

On 9/29/2016 at 0:16 PM, HitchcockBlonde said:

Saw BIG SAM'S BIG SHAM / BIG SHAM earlier. Brilliant. The English fuck it up again.

 

Bring back Sven, I say. He's already been implicated in every kind of scandal and embarassing controversy I can think of, so there’s nothing that any tabloid could reveal about him that would make people bat an eyelid. It'd all be old news.

On 9/29/2016 at 0:16 PM, HitchcockBlonde said:

I didn't get to Glasgow for the Man City game (I'm still bitter with Pep) but what a fucking game, no?

 

Storming game. End-to-end, no bookings, raw passion on the pitch and in the stands. All in all, a pretty good advert for why the Champions League would be better off staying as is. The proposed new format for 2018 will push the so-called 'outsiders' further away and make qualification that much more difficult.

Off the bottom for a day, what a time to be alive!

New owner, almost entirely new players, new manager, new division....same old distinct Villa putridness. 

Goodbye Roberto. Thanks for the uh, the, hey, your cab's here.