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*Shakes head* Everton again.


Fugitive

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They go on about moshiri investing £300m into their club, but they’re loans. He’s pissed away all of their family silver (player sales) and those loans on shit signings, shit managers and shit sketches of stadiums.

 

Some fucking owner, why would usmanov want to pitch in to a club deep in debt with a wooden hut for a stadium and an ageing team. Surely he’d just buy Newcastle. 

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59 minutes ago, Jarvinja Ilnow said:

That's definitely got to be from the "You don't have to be a winner to be a winner" school of science?

Don’t small clubs consider staying up to be success?

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Inside the mind of a Blue over the Champions League, a competition dying on its arse
 
 
 
Saint Domingo

Saint Domingo

Player Valuation: £70m

Spurs being in the final with them has completely punctured the build up to it this year for them. It’s completely different from last year where every outlet was banging on about the final since the first leg of the semis. No one seems arsed this year. Two premier league teams who everyone knows aren’t as good as City having a kick and rush fest in the final after seeing off a team of Ajax kids in the semi and an over the hill Barca. 
Uefa need to reshape the CL if they want to retain interest in it as at the moment it’s being ruined by too much weighting on home advantage in two legged ties and away goal rules. Teams can get to the final having lost every single away game they play in the competition. There’s no other competition in football you can do that in.

We’re starting to see a trend more and more though of teams winning titles in the top leagues being unable to go the distance in the CL. The CL semi finals are no longer bringing together the best 4 teams in Europe. In fact it’s turning into a lottery of which team doesn’t have any major domestic distractions and gets lucky with injuries/fixtures/ the placement of the tie come March/April. City and PSG would have beat any of the semi finalists at a neutral venue, and both went out via away goals having not even been beaten outright over two legs. It’s just a glorified European version of the FA cup now.

In any competition you want to see top teams playing each other at the business end. No one I. Europe would have Europe’s 4 best teams without City in it. Liverpool and Spurs both lost numerous games in the group stages and the knockout stages but a team potentially unbeaten in the tournament can go out on away goals after drawing a tie whilst a team that has lost up to 6 games and hasn’t won away from home at all can get to the final. It’s bizarre and doesn’t occur in any other competition.

Being domestic champions shows that over 38 games against all opponents home and away in different conditions you have prevailed as the best. Spurs can lose their last x number of games in the league, focus solely on the tie with City, still be outplayed tactically but can scrape past them on away goals. That wasn’t tactical naivety by City. They suffered by having to rotate for the first leg at Spurs due to having so many key games. We’ve seen Real do the same recently, sacking off their league games in order to raise their game for one off fixtures in the CL. Liverpool did the same last season. If Kompany hadn’t of scored v Leicester and Liverpool had the league in their hands I doubt very much they would have gone all out for that 4-0 win instead potentially resting players for their must win game against Wolves to be champions. 
No one is saying that the CL isn’t a big trophy but it’s no longer delivering the best team in Europe as the winner. In fact the teams regarded as the best on the continent are struggling to make the latter stages even now. No one is denying that the CL isn’t entertaining but like anything the European elite will not allow a format that does not deliver the major European powers to the top on a regular basis to persist for long. The CL was built on prestigious games between Europe’s top teams not scrappy under dog stories. They’ve entertained a few like Mourinho’s Porto or your run in 05 but if they continue to see Porto Roma Spurs Ajax Liverpool Sevilla proliferating in the latter stages of the competition whilst Juventus Bayern Barca PSG United are being knocked out early doors regularly then change will be inevitable.

 



It’s great viewing once we get to the ko stages, I do enjoy watching it but it’s been a long time since the runners have been acknowledged as the best team in Europe. I couldn’t tell you the last time a team won it who actually managed to win there own domestic league.



Like the FA cup I do think it’ll die a death soon if it doesn’t get revamped. 
This year it seems not as relevant as it did in the past, even last year. I don’t know if that’s down to the English european dominance or 2 teams contesting the final who lost 9 games between them en route and haven’t won a league for a combined 90 years. It just seems to be getting bit Mickey Mouse but I do think they’ll change the format soon.

 

 

before i get called bitter blue and all that, it lost all credibility in 2005 when a team not even good enough to finish above a team with marcus bent up front "won" it, and UEFA didn't even have the foresight to have a rule in place for the possibility of a winner not being good enough to qualify for it.



Like you say, it's supposed to be the best team in europe but everyone knows the best team in europe is never actually the champion anymore, it's lost all prestige and to me any romance seeing as you have a core of about 16 teams who are in it every year. It's dull now, you end up with the same teams playing each other every couple of years it seems. Just get the actual champions and a couple of second placed teams in there and have a real competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It’s only a good competition if city and PSG get to the last 4.

 

A team that loses fewer games is clearly better than a team that doesn’t.

 

city only lost because they had to rotate their squad. (Haha)

 

liverpool only won because they knew they wouldn’t win the league.

 

barca are over the hill anyway.

 

jeeez. There’s some nuggets in there.

 

good of him to admit we were more deserving of the league total than city though, because we lost fewer games than they did. Didn’t expect him to conclude that.

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"No one is saying that the CL isn’t a big trophy but it’s no longer delivering the best team in Europe as the winner. In fact the teams regarded as the best on the continent are struggling to make the latter stages even now....

 

The CL was built on prestigious games between Europe’s top teams not scrappy under dog stories. They’ve entertained a few like Mourinho’s Porto or your run in 05 but if they continue to see Porto Roma Spurs Ajax Liverpool Sevilla proliferating in the latter stages of the competition whilst Juventus Bayern Barca PSG United are being knocked out early doors regularly then change will be inevitable."

 

How often has it been obvious that there's a "best team in Europe" in order to be able to judge which team should win it? I'd say not very often at all - Barca circa 2008-ish, Milan in the late 80s/early 90s maybe. And why would it even be desirable that the winners should always unequivocally be the team that's considered the best in Europe anyway?

 

Ignoring the obvious bitterness in the way he categorises the clubs there, the last six winners have come from Madrid, Bayern and Barca - three of Europe's elite teams historically, with the finals including other teams like us and Juve who are also European elite. The idea that it's become some kind of competition that anyone can win isn't true in the slightest. If we win it this year, it's because we're one of the best teams in Europe - I don't think that's even a controversial comment. We'd be worthy winners in the context of the point he's making.

 

Also, Barcelona, the Spanish champions and thus presumably one of the "best teams in Europe" by this measurement, also sacked off their league game prior to coming to Anfield, which allegedly makes a huge difference, yet they were beat 4-0 by a team that had a big league game a few days prior. Weird... It's almost like Liverpool are one of the best teams in Europe and are in the final becuase of that.

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Whilst it is mildly amusing to keep up to date with the mental gymnastics of our neighbours, sometimes I think it would be better if Dave deleted these threads as they genuinely seem to labour under the misapprehension that we are obsessed with them. However, unlike them, I seriously couldn't give less of a shite who their owner is, who they're not likely to slap money on the table for, when their imaginary fucking stadium is going to be built, who they'd like to win instead of us, how we apparently ruined their world fucking domination - none of it. As a matter of fact, it would absolutely boil their piss if we removed all mention of them from the site completely. As Oscar Wilde said, "There's only one thing worse than being talked about, and that's not being talked about".

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3 hours ago, liverpoolsno9 said:
Inside the mind of a Blue over the Champions League, a competition dying on its arse
 
 
 
Saint Domingo

Saint Domingo

Player Valuation: £70m

Spurs being in the final with them has completely punctured the build up to it this year for them. It’s completely different from last year where every outlet was banging on about the final since the first leg of the semis. No one seems arsed this year. Two premier league teams who everyone knows aren’t as good as City having a kick and rush fest in the final after seeing off a team of Ajax kids in the semi and an over the hill Barca. 
Uefa need to reshape the CL if they want to retain interest in it as at the moment it’s being ruined by too much weighting on home advantage in two legged ties and away goal rules. Teams can get to the final having lost every single away game they play in the competition. There’s no other competition in football you can do that in.

We’re starting to see a trend more and more though of teams winning titles in the top leagues being unable to go the distance in the CL. The CL semi finals are no longer bringing together the best 4 teams in Europe. In fact it’s turning into a lottery of which team doesn’t have any major domestic distractions and gets lucky with injuries/fixtures/ the placement of the tie come March/April. City and PSG would have beat any of the semi finalists at a neutral venue, and both went out via away goals having not even been beaten outright over two legs. It’s just a glorified European version of the FA cup now.

In any competition you want to see top teams playing each other at the business end. No one I. Europe would have Europe’s 4 best teams without City in it. Liverpool and Spurs both lost numerous games in the group stages and the knockout stages but a team potentially unbeaten in the tournament can go out on away goals after drawing a tie whilst a team that has lost up to 6 games and hasn’t won away from home at all can get to the final. It’s bizarre and doesn’t occur in any other competition.

Being domestic champions shows that over 38 games against all opponents home and away in different conditions you have prevailed as the best. Spurs can lose their last x number of games in the league, focus solely on the tie with City, still be outplayed tactically but can scrape past them on away goals. That wasn’t tactical naivety by City. They suffered by having to rotate for the first leg at Spurs due to having so many key games. We’ve seen Real do the same recently, sacking off their league games in order to raise their game for one off fixtures in the CL. Liverpool did the same last season. If Kompany hadn’t of scored v Leicester and Liverpool had the league in their hands I doubt very much they would have gone all out for that 4-0 win instead potentially resting players for their must win game against Wolves to be champions. 
No one is saying that the CL isn’t a big trophy but it’s no longer delivering the best team in Europe as the winner. In fact the teams regarded as the best on the continent are struggling to make the latter stages even now. No one is denying that the CL isn’t entertaining but like anything the European elite will not allow a format that does not deliver the major European powers to the top on a regular basis to persist for long. The CL was built on prestigious games between Europe’s top teams not scrappy under dog stories. They’ve entertained a few like Mourinho’s Porto or your run in 05 but if they continue to see Porto Roma Spurs Ajax Liverpool Sevilla proliferating in the latter stages of the competition whilst Juventus Bayern Barca PSG United are being knocked out early doors regularly then change will be inevitable.

 



It’s great viewing once we get to the ko stages, I do enjoy watching it but it’s been a long time since the runners have been acknowledged as the best team in Europe. I couldn’t tell you the last time a team won it who actually managed to win there own domestic league.



Like the FA cup I do think it’ll die a death soon if it doesn’t get revamped. 
This year it seems not as relevant as it did in the past, even last year. I don’t know if that’s down to the English european dominance or 2 teams contesting the final who lost 9 games between them en route and haven’t won a league for a combined 90 years. It just seems to be getting bit Mickey Mouse but I do think they’ll change the format soon.

 

 

before i get called bitter blue and all that, it lost all credibility in 2005 when a team not even good enough to finish above a team with marcus bent up front "won" it, and UEFA didn't even have the foresight to have a rule in place for the possibility of a winner not being good enough to qualify for it.



Like you say, it's supposed to be the best team in europe but everyone knows the best team in europe is never actually the champion anymore, it's lost all prestige and to me any romance seeing as you have a core of about 16 teams who are in it every year. It's dull now, you end up with the same teams playing each other every couple of years it seems. Just get the actual champions and a couple of second placed teams in there and have a real competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exactly the kind of comment I’d expect from a fan of a club who can’t even qualify.

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Their place in the firmament is established by the fact that European competitions started in 1955 and in the subsequent 64 years Everton have never actually played Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Ajax or PSG   never mind beaten any of them. Their top European scorer is Fred Pickering with 6.

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