Champions League 2013/2014 discussion

Mature performance by Milan, as expected we tired out and got sloppy towards the end. I doubt this PSV side has the stomach to stay composed under pressure away at Milan and defend well for long periods of time.
Not overly impressed by them tbh gungho type of football with little defensive structure and coordination, they rely heavily on their physical ability to cover their defensive frailties. Good if you're playing against cannon fodder every week, but suicidal against european elite.

So they do have a chance in the second game against your lot.

something-red wrote:So they do have a chance in the second game against your lot.

I fully expect PSV to put in a very tough performance and challenge Milan in 8 days. However, I also fully expect that we can overcome anything PSV can throw at us. Despite his poor timing with substitutions and insistence on starting Muntari, Emanuelson and KPB, Max Allegri is a very intelligent coach and I trust him to learn from this and give PSV a sorting out at the San Siro.

something-red wrote:Sorry Arq, and other Milan fans, but I'm rooting for PSV in the second leg.

I want to see the Eredivisie do well, and we can't have the best team in Holland (sorry Ajax fans ) not playing Europe. They do have a very young list though, I think they did okay considering their opposition.

i admit, that PSV really deserves european football. i support milan thru and thru and i want them obviously in CL. thats why i found this CL draw frustrating.

PSV can be another inspiration just like Dortmund. that have really excellent players, even in the bench

I dislike Eredivisie; the Dutch teams are very much overrated. Steaua was better than Ajax last season and now Petrolul Ploiesti from Romania were by far the better side against Vitesse Arnhem and they deserved to qualify further (Vitesse fought for the title until the final games of the last season). And I can tell you that the first division in Romania isn't a strong league, yet it proves that the best teams from Romania can easily compete with the best from Netherlands.

Considering what I said before, I'd like to see Milan outplaying PSV in the 2nd leg. I am a huge Serie A fan and I won't hide this. Italy needs some points if they want their 4th UCL place back. I hope that the Dutch users of Goal Legacy won't feel insulted by this post .

They played some incredible stuff yesterday, we were lucky. Definitely deserved a win

Maher was immense, him, Schaars and Rekik really impressed me from that PSV team

PSV may not be favored to go through, but what a fine and professional looking group of young players they have, fearless, active and tactically conformed. Not to mention their manager, Cocu, who set up his team nicely

Ajax actually were concentrating on the Eredivisie rather than the Europa last season. And they were kicked out on penalties, so it's not like they were destroyed.

@ Milan fans: I'm sure you guys will go through. In fact, it's probably inevitable. But as you guys saw in the first leg, they have a very good team. I do think they deserved to win, but at the end of the day, that's football. PSVs average of the squad is under 22 or something ridiculous like that. They are tremendously talented.

I think Bakkali will be available in the second leg so keep a close eye on him. Definitely one for the future.

Also I want to point out how impressed I was with LaReal tracking back. Especially Griezmann who really helped Martinez on that right side. Real Madrid is probably the only team in this whole wide world who can't get their players to track back

I think the problem with PSV is that they were unfortunate enough to draw Milan. They probably would've beaten every other team in the draw. There are going to be some very average teams going through instead of PSV, which is a shame.

something-red wrote:Ajax actually were concentrating on the Eredivisie rather than the Europa last season. And they were kicked out on penalties, so it's not like they were destroyed.

I didn't say they were destroyed. I said Steaua were better, I didn't say they humiliated Ajax. They won on penalties but they were the more mature team with the bigger capacity of focusing in critical moments. Ajax lacked confidence and maturity which for me, are two very important aspects.

Focusing on Eredivisie isn't an argument. Steaua also focused a lot on winning Liga 1. I was just trying to say that Steaua opponents in the first division in Romania are at least at the same tier as Ajax rivals in Eredivisie. But obviously, the Eredivisie is much more hyped than Liga 1 from Romania. People will find hard to believe that it isn't much difference between those two leagues.

Astra Giurgiu, Petrolul Ploiesti, Pandurii Targu Jiu and Steaua are undefeated in Europe this season so far. Some of the opponents they met are weak teams but some of them like Vitesse, Omonia Nicosia, Dinamo Tbilisi or Hapoel Tel-Aviv are quite decent.

Check this page so you can see that Romania is top ranked in terms of country coefficients ranking in this season.

http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/ccoef2014.html

Credit to both teams, both Milan and PSV played well. A score draw is away is a good result for us and we have to finish the job with a ruthless display at San Siro. Don't write PSV of yet, they could very well snatch a win or a 2-2 draw next week and go through, Milan has to look to score unlike the Barca tie where they tried to play defensive and instead got wrecked. Not that PSV will wreck us, we need to look to score to kill them of. A ruthless display is needed.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/early-doors/fenerbahce-fans-arsenal-fiery-welcome-103547184.html

I hope Arsenal will kick their asses.

[quote="something-red"]Sorry Arq, and other Milan fans, but I'm rooting for PSV in the second leg.

I want to see the Eredivisie do well, and we can't have the best team in Holland (sorry Ajax fans ) not playing Europe. They do have a very young list though, I think they did okay considering their opposition. [/quote]
Understandable of course as I've acknowledged your observations on all things Eredivisie & your support for them. I hold nothing against them as they were a side that was not hard to admire. Their manager was one of my favourite Dutch players while their players are quite eye-catching. Sounds cliched but it would be quite a shame that both teams have had to face off in such a crucial tie, as I would have liked to see PSV further in the Champions League, alongside Milan of course.


OT: Draw a good result for us as I wish Abbiati didn't cost crucial lead to which we needed to take into San Siro. Nonetheless, hopefully we'll be fitter for next Wednesday, in which at least have 1 more match in our belt after the Saturday game vs Verona, compared to PSV's 5 games that they will have played before facing Milan again.

Arsenal team to play Fenerbahce:


Fenerbahce team:

FC Basel 1893

Salah get in there

Safari starting

Well, Marco Streller is injured, so Valentin Stocker, Mohamed Salah and Giovanni Sio have to score the goals ^^

And the defense of Basel is a bunch of kids (Ajeti 19, Schär 21...)

Rosicky is useless. How does he still get so many games for Arsenal?

Fenerbahce team looks good..

ExtremistEnigma wrote:Fenerbahce team looks good..

Looks like a team of average journey men to me.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

ExtremistEnigma wrote:Fenerbahce team looks good..

Looks like a team of average journey men to me.

Newcastle's team on Monday looks stronger.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

ExtremistEnigma wrote:Fenerbahce team looks good..

Looks like a team of average journey men to me.

bit harsh, they were good in their times

Salah best Player in Swiss league.Yes better thjan Sommer RWOO.

Hmm...Chelsea-Villa or possibly seeing the end of Wenger  

@vivabarca

You can't really compare Yann Sommer and Mohamed Salah. Or... In a way... I think Salah nullified almost as many goal chances as Yann Sommer

Gil wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

ExtremistEnigma wrote:Fenerbahce team looks good..

Looks like a team of average journey men to me.

Newcastle's team on Monday looks stronger.

Not quite.