Champions League Round 16 Draw

A lot will depend on our transfer activity during the last few days. I did not say Marseille is a better team, i said they are no push-overs.If we do not strengthen then a fatigued Arsenal side could get turned over by Marseille.

Saying "we'll be lucky" implies that our chances are less than the other three sides, which isn't the case when you compare the quality of our squad to Marseille's. Are they a tough side we could slip up against? Of course they are. But nothing about their squad suggests we should need luck to finish above them.

Now...could Chelsea get an easier group? They always get it easy in this comp, just compare our's & there routes to the final the last 5 seasons, very suspicious.

I don't think we're in any position to complain about other teams always getting an easy group, considering our groups the last few years have hardly been difficult.

The champs league its supposed to be difficult, I am happy with our group. Will be some great games and I know we will progress to next round.

Lets just say it will be hard group but we have a chance, we're 1st seed for a reason. The fact that there will be 6 beautiful football games to watch excited me already.

What I want from today draw is that somehow Wenger would see the necessity of real reinforcement if he's serious about us getting out of the group, after all it will net us good chunk of money.

@ Goonerjay.
Mate I think we will need luck if our current squad is not supplemented by reinforcements. Our playing 11 can match all the three teams, but Napoli and Borussia Dortmund has more depth then us Marseille also seems to have decent depth in quantity if not quality.
However the reason I think we will need luck is becoz of the number of matches we will need to play and the fact that in this group we will need to play our strongest 11 in the first four matches for sure and maybe in all six matches, and therefore our players will get little time to recuperate.
Our first champions league match will be sandwiched between a trip to Sunderland and a Home match between Stoke. And we will need to face Liverpool and Manu in November and Chelsea and Man City in December.

If the current squad remains, then it will bea miracle if we  get results in both Europe and EPL ( due to fatigue).

My preference is if we do not get into the UCL knockout stage we hopefully finish last and avoid Europa League, which will hamper our domestic schedule (Spuds and Liverpool are good examples of what the Europa League can do to your chances of finishing in Top 4).

However the reason I think we will need luck is becoz of the number of matches we will need to play and the fact that in this group we will need to play our strongest 11 in the first four matches for sure and maybe in all six matches, and therefore our players will get little time to recuperate.

So will the other three sides. None of those three are in a position where they can change their entire starting eleven and still win a league game comfortably; they're not Madrid or Bayern. They're all going to be in competition with strong sides at the top of their respective leagues, so every point will be as vital to them as it is to us.

I think you're overstating the importance of fatigue here. Arsenal are more than capable of handling three games in a week, and tiredness becomes less of an issue when it's a big game.

we've become really familiar with dortmund in cl.

Klopp take us over when wenger's done plz

Even if our team on paper was stronger than Napoli which is highly debatable, our depth will kill us. If we manage 4 more players who ever they are I think well make it out of the group

I'll be amazed if we get through to be honest.

oh pls have some faith

Aaronak to show Gundugan who is Boss
Flamoney is no Lars but he can mark Hamsik out of the game
Giroud to bang in a hattrick vs those le Boring bunch


and our game vs Dortmund is same night as Barca -Milan?
wasnt it like that in 2011 as well?
Uefa you Corrupted Bleeps* ffs

Can't look at Dortmund games in 2011. Dortmund have come some distance since then. Ask me on Monday at 11pm and hopefully I'll have a bit more faith!  

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Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp: "We have a score to settle with Arsenal & Marseille. It's going to be exciting." http://bit.ly/1drpb6X

OM(A)
Napoli(H)
BVB(H)
BVB(A)
OM(H)
Napoli(A)

Fair to say we should have at least 7 pts from first 3 games

D-ortmund
A-rsenal
M-arseille
N-apoli

tough group.. but not impossible.. i see Arsenal and Dortmund qualifying from our group.. we defeated Marseille and Dortmund easily over two legs within the last 2 years.. and Napoli is also not unbeatable.. COYG

Samuelj29060 wrote:Can't look at Dortmund games in 2011. Dortmund have come some distance since then. Ask me on Monday at 11pm and hopefully I'll have a bit more faith!  

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Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp: "We have a score to settle with Arsenal & Marseille. It's going to be exciting." http://bit.ly/1drpb6X

agree this

Dortmund has improved tenfold and we stayed the same since last time we met and while doing so, made club record profit year by year.

Kopp Dortmund reminds me of early Wenger's Arsenal, not afraid to spend money but wisely to replace & improve the squad, fast paced and attractive football.

Klopp will replace Wenger

This is prob the most balanced and toughest group

Podolski and Chambo will be missed.

I still think we will go through.

I'm waiting for new signings before I book my away ticket at BVB.

http://poznaninmypants.com/2013/07/31/if-dortmund-played-in-the-premier-league/

Just saw our fixtures list.
1st UCL game Marseille away sandwiched between a trip to Sunderland and a Home game against stoke.

2nd UCL game at home to Napoli sandwiched between away trip to Swansea and away trip to West Brom for Carling cup.

3rd UCL game at home to Dortmund sandwiched between home match against Norwich and away trip to Crystal Palace.

4th UCL game is away to Dortmund sandwiched Home game against Liverpool and away trip to Manu.

5th UCL game Home game against marseille sandwiched between a home match against Southampton and an away trip to cardiff.

6th and final UCL match away to Napoli sandwiched between Home game against everton and away trip to Man city.

Game 4 and 6 are gonna be a test of character for this squad.
Talk about tough luck. AW open your eyes and spend.

Guys cheer up...at least we can still get our 4th place trophy from that group

Journalist : " Which Champions League opponent you're happy about the most? ".

Marco Reus : " Arsenal because my idol Tomas Rosicky is playing there ".

come home Reusy

Confidence levels of making it through our tough group almost double after Ozil signing. Way more confident now.

Nice video from BVB there. Those two games against BVB are going to be hard to watch for me.