Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

Arsenal typically are struggling in Europe again.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

:woot:

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

Bit lucky one must say.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

The state of English clubs in European competition is frightening, The strength of the Premier League really is falling apart.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

Or it could be that a lot of the other teams in Europe only have two or three really hard matches all season.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

We are becoming the laughing stock of Europe sadly as our teams can't defend and are rather spineless.

---------- Post added at 20:46 ---------- Previous post was at 20:45 ----------

Well we coped in the old days old boy.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

Hilarious.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

Never mind the Premiership, a certain La Liga side is not exactly firing on all cylinders.;)

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

They would still beat the PL sides though. Pathetic showing thus far.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

Our clubs are totally shambolic as l have seen The Keystone cops defend better then these so called pampered over paid millionaire footballer's.

---------- Post added at 21:17 ---------- Previous post was at 21:16 ----------

The thing with Barcelona is take out Messi and they are quite average.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

Doesn't seem to affect their ability to humiliate us each year though.

Losing to PSV.
Losing to Dinamo Zagreb and now Olympiakos.

English Football is really slipping away from the elite. It's not simply a case of the 'lower' clubs are getting better, it's also a case of the top clubs are getting worse.

Liverpool fell away some time ago, United are in recovery mode from a meltdown. Chelsea won a one horse race last year and are now falling to pieces, City couldn't buy the Champions League.

Years ago, The English top four would give Madrid, Barca, Bayern and co a run for their money and go above and beyond... Can't tell me English Football's not in decline, just because the moneys there doesn't mean the strength and quality is.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

That's what you get when top English sides squander huge amounts on distinctly average players instead of getting players who fit into a cohesive and tactical team ethic where the team comes first rather then the individual.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

That La Liga team appears to have found it's cylinders.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

I don't think it's the players or the managers. There are plenty of both in the Premier League who are easily Champions League standard. Chelsea, Arsenal, United, City should all be qualifying from their respective groups on paper.

I do think we might be suffering from the overall strength of the Premier League. The German and Spanish leagues have gimme games. Games where anything other than a win for the elite would be a massive shock. This used to be the case to an extent 3/4/5 years ago in the PL but over time the 'smaller' teams have improved considerably. You get teams facing relegation with talented players who would be mid-tier players a few years ago. The mid-table and bottom of the league teams have got stronger as a result of the massive increase in money they get from the TV deals.

There are few shocks in the PL anymore. Even if Arsenal lose to West Ham (or everyone loses to West Ham) or Chelsea draw against Newcastle. We're at the stage where Arsenal winning at Leicester was a decent result. Teams have to play these games and then play CL.

I don't think that's the only reason, there might be other factors too, but it's not that the quality isn't there.

Re: Football Season 2015/2016
 

If the PL sides are suffering from the strength of the PL then why try so hard in the CL? Arsenal being overintricate during tough times doesn't make sense?