Chelsea were born for Europe.

 

City are going to struggle

Dog,

Good point you made there. Just to add one more thing. Soccer is not new in the US. It has been around for well over 40 years.

Is everyone in England an expert on football?

Experts no...but still have some savy on it

Tempting fate: don't do it :-)

Thanks for the post.

Dog,

One doesn't require to be an English man to understand football. This game is played throughout the globe and many fans do understand the game.

Going to be tough for City to qualify now, them dropping into the Europa League wouldn't be the worst thing.

^ Who has remotely suggested that?

It was a funny clip about US sports presenters!

Chelsea were born for Europe.

 

City are going to struggle

 

 

I was going to ask why City seem to struggle in Europe, that may well be it.

 

If you look at PSG the other 'new money' club, they're already starting to make it to the latter stages of the CL and last night they beat Barcelona

When i hear all those petty excuses that we are new to the CL and that you have to learn the hard way to succeed in Europe blah blah blah, What makes those excuses redundant is the fact Chelsea, PSG and Malaga all who come from the same sort of background as we did made it to the quarter finals of the CL early on, We have been nowhere near, You can no longer blame the players or the managers, It's the club itself who are not taking it seriously, Mind you the majority of our fans still have that small mindset of win your own league and European competitions can f-ck right off. 

 

The worst part in all of this is the struggles in Europe are making people on forums and twitter to come up with replacements for Pellegrini, Whilst some names banded around i've liked some have been outrageous, I read some Liverpool fan say we should bring in Rafa Benitez if he gets sacked from Napoli, He's got CL pedigree and he will get under Jose's skin and make him crack.

As Stim said, City rely on being able to stifle play by periods of constant fouling in the more difficult games. Teams can't build up momentum because it's broken up by mid-field free kicks and eventually players get wary about being on the receiving end of painful tackles and you stop seeing fast attacks.

 

In Europe the refs will start handing out the yellows early on and the totting up is far more damaging for the team so this tactic isn't viable. Without this option they simply don't seem to have enough to offer.

I don't signify to be disrespectful of the PL, but the CL is still the most prestigious trophy to bring home the bacon. Great deal of experience is necessary to win it. Look at Citeh. They still cannot discover a way out of their respective group.

When i hear all those petty excuses that we are new to the CL and that you have to learn the hard way to succeed in Europe blah blah blah, What makes those excuses redundant is the fact Chelsea, PSG and Malaga all who come from the same sort of background as we did made it to the quarter finals of the CL early on, We have been nowhere near, You can no longer blame the players or the managers, It's the club itself who are not taking it seriously, Mind you the majority of our fans still have that small mindset of win your own league and European competitions can f-ck right off. 

 

The worst part in all of this is the struggles in Europe are making people on forums and twitter to come up with replacements for Pellegrini, Whilst some names banded around i've liked some have been outrageous, I read some Liverpool fan say we should bring in Rafa Benitez if he gets sacked from Napoli, He's got CL pedigree and he will get under Jose's skin and make him crack.

 

I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy...you'd be better off getting Sparky back

When i hear all those petty excuses that we are new to the CL and that you have to learn the hard way to succeed in Europe blah blah blah, What makes those excuses redundant is the fact Chelsea, PSG and Malaga all who come from the same sort of background as we did made it to the quarter finals of the CL early on, We have been nowhere near, You can no longer blame the players or the managers, It's the club itself who are not taking it seriously, Mind you the majority of our fans still have that small mindset of win your own league and European competitions can f-ck right off. 

 

The worst part in all of this is the struggles in Europe are making people on forums and twitter to come up with replacements for Pellegrini, Whilst some names banded around i've liked some have been outrageous, I read some Liverpool fan say we should bring in Rafa Benitez if he gets sacked from Napoli, He's got CL pedigree and he will get under Jose's skin and make him crack.

 

His luck against Jose will finally run out, and then (to borrow a phrase) excuses will fall from his lips like crumbs from a Greggs pastry.

When is Pellegrini going to realise that 4-4-2 simply does not work at the highest level, especially when one of your centre-mids has categorically no interest in tracking back? European football is all about keeping a solid defensive shape in midfield and being able to keep the ball. 4-4-2 is completely unconducive to that when quite literally every other top side plays 3 in midfield, or 2 sitting with one just ahead in the whole.

European referees won't let City kick players off the park which nulls a lot of their main strength. They have no clue how to handle European games yet.

 

That's spot on, it was a huge advantage to Chelsea that we where already in Champions League before we where bought. Strange thing is we actually should have won it in our first year under Roman we had a great chance but football is a strange game we ended up winning it with our worst side we've ever had.

 

Pellegrini isn't helping City either, he's gotten a lot of his game plans wrong. Against Barcelona he sat back when he should have grew some balls and actually attacked Barcelona where they are weak and vulnerable at the back, not to mention City where one of the highest scorers in Europe then, why he decided to sit back was beyond me.

 

Pellegrini and Mancini have been terrible in Europe so far for them, although it's not over for City yet, they just better not hope Roma go on to beat Bayern because then they have a real challenge on there hands.

That's spot on, it was a huge advantage to Chelsea that we where already in Champions League before we where bought. Strange thing is we actually should have won it in our first year under Roman we had a great chance but football is a strange game we ended up winning it with our worst side we've ever had.

Well worst side under Roman, I did alwaya use to say that we'd win it when we had one of our worst sides and we weren't expected to.

Well worst side under Roman, I did alwaya use to say that we'd win it when we had one of our worst sides and we weren't expected to.

 

Well that's what I meant, although the side the year before could be worse since we had absolutely 0 creativity and pace at least the year after that we had Mata and Sturridge.

To be fair the comparison i made between City and Chelsea's European adventures is probably wrong, Chelsea were consistently doing well prior to Roman's takeover, I remember the Cup winners Cup etc so therefore they've always had a taste for it, We on the other hands are finally starting to realize what it's all about, First few years our fans were almost giving the players an excuse to under perform, I remember one idiot on blue moon saying something like let's rest Aguero and co against Napoli for the weekend, It should be the other way around, Unbelievable where our mindset has been for this long.

When is Pellegrini going to realise that 4-4-2 simply does not work at the highest level, especially when one of your centre-mids has categorically no interest in tracking back? European football is all about keeping a solid defensive shape in midfield and being able to keep the ball. 4-4-2 is completely unconducive to that when quite literally every other top side plays 3 in midfield, or 2 sitting with one just ahead in the whole.

He's a footballing snob fella, That's why i haven't taken him to the way i took to Roberto, Yes Mancini was a nutter but he knew more than one way, With Pellegrini it's almost a Wenger,Rodgers sort of mentality, 'We are here to entertain, If we lose that way so be it, We play football the right way'. That might have been true had Guardiola not adapted his possession style of football to a slightly more rigid, defensive style this year, The fact he has acknowledged Simeone and Mourinho's style of play means those two managers are clearly onto something.

Potentially difficult CL games tonight for Liverpool (Basel, away) and Arsenal (Galatasary, home). Here's hoping at least one of those teams stuffs up :-)

I hope Liverpool stay in Europe for now, Rodgers clearly cant manage a squad that plays 3 tines within a week so they can get to the last 16, fail miserably and linger around 8th in the league.

I want Liverpool to fail miserably and see Rogers fall flat on his face, it'll bring the c**t down a peg or two.

I hope Liverpool stay in Europe for now, Rodgers clearly cant manage a squad that plays 3 tines within a week so they can get to the last 16, fail miserably and linger around 8th in the league.

Nah, let them go into the Europa League

They should get through, I can't even see Real Madrid destroying them either, Liverpool seem to perform against the top sides. It's a game like this where I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't get a win. They will probably give Real Madrid a good game. 

They should get through, I can't even see Real Madrid destroying them either, Liverpool seem to perform against the top sides. It's a game like this where I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't get a win. They will probably give Real Madrid a good game. 

not w/ the lpuke defense. It isn't very good. I expect Ludogorets to shock the World & advance from the Group stage to the KO rounds. Lpuke will get relegated to the Europa Liga.

If they dropped into the Europa League, I would piss myself.