EURO FOOTY COMPS 2015/16

Post by **socksy** » November 25, 2015, 8:38 am

Last nights highlights of Chelsea and Arsenal matches. Ben Haim - WTF? and right in front of the referee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-hTuVhnmqw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=murmlgm6fOw

Post by **BobHelm** » November 25, 2015, 8:55 am

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Barca crush second placed Roma. It is now a three way battle for second & third spot between the others. Bayer L will host the leaders in the final match, while Roma will be at home to Bate.

Good home win by the Gunners while Bayern demolish Olympiakos. Arsenal will travel to Greece in a must win last match for second spot.

Chelsea have a great home win while leaders Porto surprisingly falter themselves. The pair will battle out the last game in London. It probably will not just to see who will be first & second though. In third place & just 2 points behind the joint leaders are Dynamo Kiev. They are at home to Tel-Aviv - who have not managed to put a point on the board!!

Zenit easily win the final group, but their defeat of Valencia drops that side down to third spot as Gent win away in Lyon. Both the sides vying for second spot are at home for the final game, but it is Valencia who have the easier task of Lyon, while Gent must face played 5 won 5 Zenit..

Post by **mathusalah80** » November 25, 2015, 12:27 pm

Mourinho: "Chelsea can still win Champions League"

In the unlikely event there remains anyone who still doesn't believe JM is completely delusional, read the above.

$\:D/$
Wonder if he would be interested in betting his annual salary, against my annual pension, Chelsea do not reach even the semi finals, with his current squad of disenchanted layers. :-"

Post by **BobHelm** » November 26, 2015, 7:30 am

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Madrid all but have Group A sown up with PSG going to finish second. Who will go to the Europa though is up for grabs. Shakt Donsk are probably in the driving seat as they have a 7 goal advantage while Malmö have the dubious pleasure of a last game in Madrid.

United, again, dominated possession but looked totally unlikely to threaten the opposition goal. 2 points separate the top 3 with United away at leaders Wolfsburg for the last game while 3rd. placed Eindhoven are at home to the bottom side, CSKA. So qualification for the main event still very much in doubt - but you couldn't see them progressing against any of the group winners anyway!!!

Atl Madrid & Benfica will qualify for the next stage & will battle it out for top spot with a final game in Portugal.
Galatasaray & FC Astana will battle it out for the Europa spot in Turkey, with the home side only needing a draw to do it.

Juventus & Citi qualify out of Group D. Juve move top of the group as well, by 2 points. Citi face a final home game against 3rd. placed Borussia Mönchengladbach while Juve travel to disappointing Sevilla.

Post by **BobHelm** » November 26, 2015, 7:34 am

Post by **Zidane** » November 26, 2015, 7:38 am

Same old United......plenty of possession but as much penetration as a 90 year old farang in a Pattaya soapy suds massage parlour !

They have to win in Wolfsburg now to be sure of qualification.Eindhoven are at home to CSKA Moscow who are already eliminated and the Dutch have a better h2h record against United in the group.

Post by **pomps** » November 26, 2015, 8:09 am

Football is a funny old game,began watching the united game then a quick switch over to the real madrid game and excitement galore

Good to have options on truemove

Post by **747man** » November 26, 2015, 8:43 am

..plenty of possession but as much penetration as a 90 year old farang in a Pattaya soapy suds massage parlour !

Well YOU Should KNOW, You " Old Codger "

Post by **socksy** » November 26, 2015, 6:27 pm

Just a note that if you miss the Champions League matches due to the time of the kick off's, the highlight's of the Tuesday and Wednesday matches can be seen on Youtube, Just search 'Champions League Highlights'. Due to copyright it may be shown in small screen via BT Sport with Lineker and pundit's all in English.

Post by **Zidane** » November 27, 2015, 10:38 am

Daniel Sturridge injured in the warm up

for Liverpools game last night but they still qualify for the Europa League last 32 after beating Bordeaux 2-1.
They are joined by Spurs who won 1-0 at FC Qarabag but Celtic are out after losing 2-1 at home to Ajax.
The qualified teams await the "lucky" teams who come 3rd in their Champions League groups to join the competition.....maybe Arsenal and Manchester United amongst them !

Post by **BobHelm** » December 8, 2015, 6:56 am

Must win for United to ensure that they reach the last 16. As 1 point behind them in 3rd. spot, Eindhoven, are at home against the bottom side, CSKA, it is probable that they will gain 3 points. I think there is little chance of United progressing very far past the next round anyway. The nightmare scenario for me would be that they slip into the Europa & actually win that, thus inviting another contract for vanG..

Really does not bare thinking about...

Not too much pressure on already through Citi. However they will be hoping for a win & a Juve slip up in Spain so they can qualify in top spot. Although, like United (& the other 2 English teams) they have done little in this competition so far to suggest they are a threat to the serious contenders.

Post by **BobHelm** » December 9, 2015, 7:02 am

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Nothing surprising in Group A. It was always going to be between Real & PSG for the top spot & the games between them sorted that out. You have to think that none of the other group winners will be especially delighted to meet PSG in the next round!!

Disappointing by United. This was not an especially difficult group to qualify out of & they failed to do that. I think that any of the other group qualifiers will not be too disappointed at meeting either of these sides.
United slip into Europa League contention. It is a competition that they could quite easily win, although probably not with the style of football being produced by the current manager.

After a bit of a stumbling start Atlético do the business in Benfica & so top the table. All went very much with form & no real surprises, except for a rather disappointing showing by Galatasaray.

Citi have rather grown into the competition this year after a couple of poor years. Good display & win last night at home after being behind at half time. New boys Sterling & Bony collecting 3 of the goals in a mad 6 minute spell near the end.
That was coupled with a disappointing losing display in Spain by Juve to give Citi the all important top spot.
Citi need to have their top 11 available to be a real menace in this competition though or to really go for it & blitz the opposition as they have a couple of times so far..

Post by **Zidane** » December 9, 2015, 9:12 am

VfL Wolfsburg 3 Manchester United 2
Well,United are deservedly out of the Champions League after failing to convince in any of their games in what was a relatively easy group on paper.
But last night,in contrast to most of their matches this season,it was the defence that struggled badly whereas the attack did OK.
It was actually quite a good game to watch and could have ended up 6-6 on chances but each time United scored they conceded within a few minutes.If it wasnt for de Gea making some fine saves,particularily in the second half,Wolfsburg would have doubled their goals tally.
However,in attack,United looked a lot sharper with Martial and Depay doing well,although Lingard was disappointing.
Arguably Uniteds best outfield player was Mata and why on earth he was substituted by Nick Powell with 20 minutes to go,only Van Gaal knows !

Powells last game was the 4-0 defeat in the Capitol Cup by MK Dons in August 2014 !

Not surprisingly he did nothing.....not his fault.
Also Van Gaal started with Varela instead of Young at full back,then when Darmian was injured brought on Borthwick-Johnson instead of Young.But both young full backs acquitted themselves quite well in difficult circumstances.It was guys like Schweinsteiger and,surprisingly,Smalling who were found wanting last night.
So its the Europa League for United

I hope they give the youngsters a game and play with a bit of passion,not worrying about the result.However,unless they reach the Final its unlikely I will be getting up at 2.45am to watch.

Post by **tataw** » December 9, 2015, 9:42 am

Does Van Gaal have a plan B? or maybe he just needs an exit plan?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blo ... -wolfsburg

Post by **BobHelm** » December 10, 2015, 7:27 am

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Barca rather strolled through this group & it was always about who was going to clinch second spot. Despite Leverkusen doing the business last night with a draw at home against the Spanish side, it is Roma who sneak through. Only 1 point separates the bottom 3 sides in a table that is clearly Barcelona & the others..

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No surprise that Bayern walk Group F either. A magnificent away effort last night in Greece sees The Gunners wrest second spot away from Olympiakos. It really has been feast or famine by Arsenal so far, as their performances have either been woefully inadequate or brilliant. They really cannot afford anything but the best from now on though.

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Chelsea always should have strolled through topping Group G. However in the Premiership they are having a nightmare & so anything was possible. Kiev benefit from second spot as their last game was against the only side in the competition who failed to register a point, Maccabi Tel Aviv. Chelsea will be happy with just about any draw for the next round - except PSG.

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Zenit finally fail to win a game, but still walk the group. Gent justify second spot with that defeat.
Neville loses his first game in charge at Valencia, but, with Gent winning, they were always in the Europa. That gives the possibility of an early clash against his old club, United, if the draw so wishes..

Post by **Zidane** » December 10, 2015, 9:27 am

Excellent win for Arsenal.Well done to them.
They got themselves out of a hole in that group,after losing their first 2 games,quite convincingly in the end.

Post by **BobHelm** » December 11, 2015, 8:10 am

The British contingent...

Celtic get a final away draw in what has been another disappointing European experience for them.
They finish bottom of group A without a win in their 6 games.
Group A rather threw away the expectations, with both Celtic & Ajax failing to qualify with Ole's Molde topping the group.

All draws in Group B means that Liverpool qualify top. While they were undefeated a record of only 2 wins, compared to 4 draws means that it was a working display while hardly setting the world alight. Mr. Klopp will need to work plenty of majic & get a favourable draw (no pun intended

) to push on to the later stages.

Spurs, on the other hand, ended up making light of a potentially difficult group. Topping a group containing Anderlecht & Monaco (although the later do have some off pitch issues) with 4 wins & only the single loss is quite a feat. They certainly looked good in last night's performance to settle the top spot..

All the tables & the qualifiers can be seen here...
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/tables

Post by **socksy** » December 12, 2015, 7:48 am

Not sure if on the correct thread but today at 1700 hours BST is the draw for next years European Championship and there are 4 pots. There will be six groups each consisting of four teams. France as hosts are in Group A.

Post by **BobHelm** » December 12, 2015, 7:59 am

With (due to the rather strange handicapping system) Wales, Northern Ireland & The Republic all in pot 4 it looks like England have a 50-50 chance of 1 of the British Isle countries being in the same group!!!

Post by **socksy** » December 12, 2015, 8:28 am

Obviously with the exception of my lot Bob.