Football Season 2012/2013

[-Dem0-]

They can be beaten. I hope more teams have a go at them now.

 

Indeed. It's not that they're getting worse, but the fact that they're not improving at the rate they once were. We're talking about club football at its peak this time 2 years ago.

Barca were by far and away 'The Team' to beat and now more opponents are finally coming around to their play style and producing good results. Also I've noticed that their overall play has slowed down, before they would put the opposition team under constant pressure creating chance after chance while pinging the ball around very quickly. I've noticed that their game has also slowed down, now they pass the ball around in the opponents half but a lot slower and more predictable, they may have more possession but they're not creating as many clear cut chances as they use to. The only attacking football team that I've seen pass the ball around quickly nowadays is Dortmund.

 

Bayern put 7 past Barca home & away. That says it all.

[bob]

 

Bayern put 7 past Barca home & away. That says it all.

 

I keep thinking this makes it all the more unbelievable that Arsenal beat Bayern...

[Jon]

Ahem.

 

 

Celtic 2-1 Barcelona.

 

 

It can be done.

[Charlie]

Ahem.

 

 

Celtic 2-1 Barcelona.

 

 

It can be done.

 

And only a narrow loss at the Nou Camp, Barca scored in the last minute.

[ipaul]

Although it would have been hard to predict that Bayern would defeat Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate, you could see the defeat coming. Lost to Celtic, lost to Milan, only squeezed through against PSG on away goals...

 

They really don't look as good as they did in 2011.

 

However, I did not foresee Bayern looking quite as good as they did. With all respect to Dortmund, it will be a horrendous choke if Bayern contrive to lose their 3rd final in 4 years.

 

Also, if Arsenal can beat that team 2-0 away from home and Man U only just lose out to Madrid following some bad refereeing, I don't think English football is quite in the perilous state that seems to be suggested by an absence of quarter finalists.

[Ellmeister]

Another final for Chelski! Suck it Wenger.

[Kav]

A cracking goal by Luiz!

 

 

Almost as good as his hair!

[Ramar]

Another final for Chelski! Suck it Wenger.

 

A final you shouldn't even be in. What's it got to do with Wenger though?

[Jon]

Another final for Chelski! Suck it Wenger.

 

 

Congratulations for buying the Europa League.

[MadDog]

Congratulations for buying the Europa League.

 

And the Champions League.

 

And those league titles.

 

And those FA Cups.

 

And those plastic flags.

 

[Blade]

Just came back from Bramall Lane. A lucky win on our part I feel. Roll on Monday for the 2nd leg of the playoffs! UTB!!!

[Eightbit]

Also just came back from Bramall Lane, as the away support!

 

Good game of football, very unlucky not to get anything out of the game, but i think if we play like that at home, we will easily score past that snail like defense.

 

SMOKE BOMBS GOING OFF? CRAZY SHIZZLE!!!

[Blade]

Defence was shocking. It has been for the entire season. They just flap about. Keep your act together and you should really get through.

 

Good win at home for us though. I thought we showed some passion which has been missing as of late. Its like they could actually be arsed to chuffing move around which is an improvement. We are extremely slow at moving and making decisions which is frustrating. We have had extremely poor home form but our away form has been a lot better. I am more confident about monday than I was this evening.

 

The smoke bomb was laughable. However the 30 man pitch invasion was just plain embarrassing.

[Ellmeister]

I knew you guys would get annoyed at Chelsea doing something that you can only dream about.

 

So easy to wind you up.

[Jon]

I knew you guys would get annoyed at Chelsea doing something that you can only dream about.

 

So easy to wind you up.

 

 

Sacking 100 managers in 3 months?

 

Spending more money than the current deficit?

 

Trying to turn Battersea Power Station into a stadium?

 

 

Both teams I follow have been in the same European Final not a million years ago, so it can't be that.

[Ramar]

I knew you guys would get annoyed at Chelsea doing something that you can only dream about.

 

So easy to wind you up.

 

What you on about we'd won the Cup Winners Cup well before Chelsea were even relevant.

[-Dem0-]

So far so good. Arsenal playing better overall, good possession and pressure early on but now it seems the game has slowed down. At least Theo scored after 20 seconds. Not watching the game by the way.

[ipaul]

So we got a draw away at West Ham, a good result at any other time of the season but...

 

Wigan went and won at West Brom. Looks like a fight between us, Norwich, Sunderland and Wigan to avoid that final relegation spot. For the time being it's technically out of our hands, as if all of those teams win their remaining games, we go down. I just want to stay up and for this season to be over. Massive game against QPR next week.

 

Don't enjoy the prospect of hosting an Arsenal chasing CL qualification on the last day of the season either...

[-Dem0-]

Arsenal held on to that 1 goal lead for the entirety of that match, but I got the feeling their performance wasn't as clear cut as that. At least the 3 points are in the bag.

[Caris]

Hiya Championship.

[Emerald Emblem]

 

Tottenham would be out of the Champions league fight without him.

[Ramar]

Tottenham would be out of the Champions league fight without him.

 

Can't really complain. It was similar for us last year with RvP.

 

All we can do is what we did today, win our games and see where we end up. Everything hinges on that Spurs v Chelsea match.

[Ellmeister]

By dream about, I mean at this moment in time. Stop reliving your history and face the fact that right now Arsenal ha e been a let down for yet another season!

 

Not confident about either of our games this week which is worrying because we'll then be left behind in the race for fourth!

[Jon]

By dream about, I mean at this moment in time. Stop reliving your history and face the fact that right now Arsenal ha e been a let down for yet another season!

 

Not confident about either of our games this week which is worrying because we'll then be left behind in the race for fourth!

 

I don't exactly know many Arsenal fans who've talked about the previous few years positively. It's not exactly news to us that we aren't where we want to be.

[Fierce_LiNk]

It's all a bit boring now talking about Arsenal and Liverpool underachieving. That's the only way I can describe it. It seems like we've had the same conversations and debates about Arsenal for the majority of the last decade. All it shows is that, really, Arsenal aren't underachieving. Judging by their team and squad, they are exactly where they should be, as are Liverpool. The reason why they're not higher is that other teams such as City and Chelsea have pumped more money into their squads, whereas Arsenal's squad and brand of football isn't as strong as it was.

 

Same for Liverpool. Both teams are where they should be. Neither are playing truly bad football or are excelling themselves. Give or take a place or two. It's the same as Everton, they can only go so far because of their squad and the type of football that they play. Yes, they can play out of their skin and they might get fifth, or sneak it into fourth if others have a bad season, but on the whole 6th place is where they are. You can have a bad season or a good season here or there, but if you're consistently finishing 6th or 7th for 5 or so seasons, that's where you are.