DeBrunye just had a GREAT through ball for sterling who pretty much wasted the chance to shoot or pick a better pass. it was through a lot of traffic.
Sane pulled one back to put city ahead on aggregate and about 10 mins later Monaco scored another to get level on aggregate and through on away goals. 3-1 (6-6)
Like most Premier League clubs Manchester City are about as English as Shanghai. The only English thing in English football are the people watching from the stands, and after my last visit to Stamford Bridge I can report that even that side of the game is becoming more 'foreign'.
i know this was not with any malice, but let's tread lightly here. i know of a certain poster that would LOVE to talk about this a little more.
but not terribly, in my opinion. you have had another strong team emerge from spain (strong meaning repeatably up there and consistent). germany has been making a push. and italy's top teams have done a better job of attracting better players. and Monaco and PSG have emerged as european threats. last year was definitely a down year, but with englands top teams now becoming more of a rotating top 6 and beating up on eachother, and needing to make sure top 4 is a priority, it's hurting the european games some i think. the depth isn't there for Spurs and City right now, and arsenal hasn't really changed at all. last year was weird, this year you saw more re-investment and the continuation of money spreading in to the entire league, not just the big guys, so league games are harder as well. look at utd's squad and manager, they would have certainly done better in CL than say Spurs, but they are having trouble in the league. i guess all i'm saying is there are a lot of factors at work right now. not getting two teams in the last 4 like england did for a while there is due to more than just england being down.
The English league has so much money top to bottom it is not set up to allow the top clubs to focus on Europe in the same way German, Spanish, Italian and French clubs can. Every league game is a potential loss which means Europe is just another game in a marathon slog. For Bayern, Real, PSG, Juve etc, half of their games are cakewalks if not more. The drop off from the best clubs to the worst is precipitous. Plus the winter break keeps them fresh for the knockout stages. There's a reason why it's 80% of the same clubs at this stage year in year out. Having said that I haven't ever maintained the EPL is the best league in the world (sure we've had periods of success and we even used to be the power). But I am invested in the league and find the games on average more exciting. Certainly the highs of La Liga are higher and the top few clubs are better too, I just find the overall continental style a little less exciting than the less cultured EPL. It's my upbringing and I make no apologies for it. My first foreign league experience was Serie A on Channel 4. The best league in the world by far at the time. Epic teams and the best players. But I still found the Endsleigh League games on average more watchable, maybe because it was so much simpler for a kid to follow. 4 4 f***ing 2 and all that The England national team suffers for the same reason. Time was English clubs had English players and this allowed natural groupings of players that carried into the national squad. I am hopeful that the young english players at Spurs will be something like this, though at a much lesser level than when it was the Uniteds of the league providing a core who were dominant domestically and in Europe. And with the money, clubs will pick the best players. How many of the top players in the world are English? Not many. Does this mean top clubs have smaller cores of English players as a result? Absolutely. Does that impact our national team. Yes. Our entire national team structure depends on effective systems as we lack the flair players other talented countries have and we lack the cores that the European superpowers have, it is what it is. Adding DeFoe to the squad at 34? Yep, pretty well sums it up (and I'm not even saying he doesn't deserve his spot)
Well that just speaks to my point further. You get so far in putting names down and you fill in the gaps with any English players on the man utd, arsenal, Chelsea, etc payroll. This squad is as thin as I've seen. Very little for an England fan to get excited about. Personally I'd take a chance and drop a division and look for the young bright talents of the championship and really look ahead but the fa won't even consider that, not en masse.
Pogba picks up a hamstring injury against Rostov. I wonder if he aggravated it after falling out of Kante's pocket?
Yeah, agreed. Has been a workhorse for them this season. If this had happened on that sorry excuse for a rostov pitch, Jose may have literally exploded. Btw, I hope everyone enjoyed the banana incident today. I'm pretty sure the fox commentators were inferring it was a sex toy hahaha
I was really hoping Leicester drew Barca or Real Madrid, or even Bayern, just for the sake of watching one of those super powers playing in little Leicester. Just something the for the memories. But they keep getting drawn against smaller clubs. Sadly, I fear Atletico will succeed where Sevilla failed.
I just don't see them doing it against a team that does what they do but way, way better. But that too.. would have been sweet to see them take on a true giant.
I actually think Atleti is who they wanted in terms of a matchup. Atleti and Leicester don't want the ball. Leicester want it even less. This could be a good matchup for Leicester and I actually think they'll go through.
Really hope Everton can keep him and build around him. They won't but he is a perfect fit there. Great season, great player.
Yes. But that isn't the end of the discussions I'm sure. They won't stop trying because of that. People change their mind all the time though like I said I doubt it in this case.