Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Apr 05, 2013 10:53 am  

Conroy wrote:

I can see Chelsea winning the Europa League

They'll blame Rafa for winning it too.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Apr 05, 2013 11:32 am  

Guerrier wrote:

They'll blame Rafa for winning it too.

Last night John Champion and Craig Burley were complaining that we were "ungrateful" for what Benitez had done.

Should we be grateful to him for losing a 2 leg semi final to Swansea in the League Cup? Should we be grateful to him for losing to a beatable Corinthians side in the World Club Cup? Should we be grateful to him that we're 22 points behind Man United, when we were 3 points behind them when he took over? Should we be grateful to him for defeats to West Ham, Southampton, QPR and Newcastle? Should we be grateful to him for the draws against Reading and Southampton, when we were winning 2-0?

Because I'm not seeing very much to be grateful for there.

Yes, I want to win the FA Cup and I want to win the Europa League. If we do that Benitez will have redeemed himself a bit. We also absolutely have to finish in the top 4. Given the fixture lists and the amount of matches to play that might not happen. But Benitez has been pretty poor while in charge of Chelsea and even with a top 4 finish and 2 cups I still don't think a single side in the top 6 would spend very long before dismissing him as a candidate.

You know what, I hope Benitez goes to Real Madrid and Mourinho comes back to Chelsea. I hope that Real Madrid are CL holders when he goes there. Then that will be three CL winning clubs that Benitez will have gone to and failed to manage in. But hey, Robbie will still be on here saying how all the clubs were screwed up before he got there and it wasn't his fault.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Apr 05, 2013 5:38 pm  

The Europa League gets an unfairly bad press. Its much more difficult to win than the FA Cup - lots more games, mostly midweek, extra travelling etc but doesn't seem to enjoy any greater status. Apart from wanting the extra ranking points that the EL generates, I dont know any City fans who would have swapped the FA Cup win in 10/11 for the EL, or would rather be in EL now.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Apr 05, 2013 7:36 pm  

I want us to win both the FA Cup and the Europa League. If I had to choose I'm not sure which one I'd want. I want us to continue our great record in the FA Cup, but we'd also be one of the few clubs to have won all of the European competitions.

If you asked at the beginning of the season I wouldn't have wanted to have even been in the comp. I don't want us to be in it next year, I want us in the CL. But now that we're in it, I want us to win it.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sat Apr 06, 2013 9:06 am  

I think that's the EL's problem. It's tainted by failure. Either failure to qualify for the cl or failure to get out of the group stage. Still a very difficult trophy to win

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:57 am  

Cibaman wrote:

I think that's the EL's problem. It's tainted by failure. Either failure to qualify for the cl or failure to get out of the group stage. Still a very difficult trophy to win

I think you have it in a nutshell. The Europa League is a fallout league from the CL qualifiers. Harsh, but true.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sat Apr 06, 2013 1:05 pm  

The Champions League pervades everything in top division football now. The European Cup was still the pinnacle of achievement, but it didn't urinate all over the UEFA and CWC like the CL urinates over the Europa League.

Arsenal will go 8 years without winning anything. But that's okay, because they've qualified for the CL every year, which is the same as winning a trophy.

The loss to Southampton last week made a lot of Chelsea fans very angry. A top 4 finish was the most important thing and if it meant going out of both cups then so be it.

So I don't think the poor reaction to the EL actually has much to do with the EL, it's just the natural side effect of the worship of the Champions League as being the place to be.

I like the Champions League. Some of the most exciting football I've ever seen has been in the CL. It was an awesome thing winning it. And seeing players like Messi and Ronaldo display their magnificent skills around the world so often shouldn't be ignored.

But the CL has many negative factors too. It distorts leagues because the CL teams have such a huge amount of money other sides cannot compete. It has damaged cup competitions to the degree that some sides wouldn't even enter if they could opt out.

The biggest problem the EL has is that it's not the Champions League. That, and dealing with the modern fan (and owner) who demands success yesterday and will throw the toys out of the pram if they don't get it.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:08 am  

Chelsea fans make me sick.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:18 am  

Bang wrote:

Chelsea fans make me sick.

Good. Not sick enough though...

And I don't think we are the only reason you are so sick.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sun Apr 07, 2013 2:29 pm  

Looks like Liverpool won another of those winnable games they had