City in the Champs League

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

This is no assessment of whether we have been good or bad, just some facts, make up your own minds;

played 23
won 8 --- drawn 6 --- lost 9
home wins - 4 out of 11
away wins - 4 out of 12

conceded 1st in the game - 14 times
scored 1st in the game - 9 times

goals scored 38 (1.65 per game)
goals conceded 35 (1.52 per game)
3 clean sheets

goals scored at home - 20
goals scored away - 18
goals conceded at home - 16
goals conceded away - 19

lost from a winning position - 2 times
won from a losing position - 3 times

Interesting post, Shem.

Considering some of the draws we've had it's not terrible.
Pot 1 we've had Madrid & Munich x 3.
In pot four we've had Napoli, Dortmund and Roma.
In the knock out stage we've had 2 games v Barca.

On the flip side 4 of our 5 wins last season were against CSKA & Plzen.

Press keep banging on about our poor form in the competition which doesn't help with how are performances are perceived.
Arsenal have hardly beat anyone decent in the last 4 years, but get away with it by qualifying by defeating weaker teams.

New seeding system will help us out.

It's not terrible. But it's not good either. It's very very average.

We are a miles away from the best sides in Europe.

 

[MeatHunterrr]

This is no assessment of whether we have been good or bad, just some facts, make up your own minds;

played 23
won 8 --- drawn 6 --- lost 9
home wins - 4 out of 11
away wins - 4 out of 12

conceded 1st in the game - 14 times
scored 1st in the game - 9 times

goals scored 38 (1.65 per game)
goals conceded 35 (1.52 per game)
3 clean sheets

goals scored at home - 20
goals scored away - 18
goals conceded at home - 16
goals conceded away - 19

lost from a winning position - 2 times
won from a losing position - 3 times

Interesting post, Shem.

Considering some of the draws we've had it's not terrible.
Pot 1 we've had Madrid & Munich x 3.
In pot four we've had Napoli, Dortmund and Roma.
In the knock out stage we've had 2 games v Barca.

On the flip side 4 of our 5 wins last season were against CSKA & Plzen.

Press keep banging on about our poor form in the competition which doesn't help with how are performances are perceived.
Arsenal have hardly becent anyone decent in the last 4 years, but get away with it by qualifying by beating weaker teams.

New seeding system will help us out.

How exactly? If we are champions by end of this season, then we are in pot 1, but still could draw the likes of Real Madrid/Barcelona, Dortmund, Roma. If we aren't champions anymore after this season then coefficient comes in to play and probably pot 3 by the looks of it.

 

[John.des]

This is no assessment of whether we have been good or bad, just some facts, make up your own minds;

played 23
won 8 --- drawn 6 --- lost 9
home wins - 4 out of 11
away wins - 4 out of 12

conceded 1st in the game - 14 times
scored 1st in the game - 9 times

goals scored 38 (1.65 per game)
goals conceded 35 (1.52 per game)
3 clean sheets

goals scored at home - 20
goals scored away - 18
goals conceded at home - 16
goals conceded away - 19

lost from a winning position - 2 times
won from a losing position - 3 times

Interesting post, Shem.

Considering some of the draws we've had it's not terrible.
Pot 1 we've had Madrid & Munich x 3.
In pot four we've had Napoli, Dortmund and Roma.
In the knock out stage we've had 2 games v Barca.

On the flip side 4 of our 5 wins last season were against CSKA & Plzen.

Press keep banging on about our poor form in the competition which doesn't help with how are performances are perceived.
Arsenal have hardly beat anyone decent in the last 4 years, but get away with it by qualifying by defeating weaker teams.

New seeding system will help us out.

We will be Pot3 next year if we dont win the title. Even from pot 1 Real/Barca/Atletico/Dortmund is possible from pot2. And here we go again...

 

[shemnel]

in those 23 games we've played 10 different teams

i'd say Bayern, Barca and Real Madrid are the top of the crop, the teams we need to compete with;

played 9 won 2 drawn 1 lost 6

other teams; Napoli, Villareal, Ajax, Dortmund, V Plzen, CSKA & Roma;

played 14 won 6 drawn 5 lost 3

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

Our squad is nowhere near good enough. Its not coincidence that we struggle especially against top teams. I think the manager thinks we are better than we actually are. Just so inflexible its untrue.

We have been hampered by the new rules and this is the only excuse I'm giving them at the moment. I do expect that we will improve once we can buy who we want, when we want them.

However, our current squad should be doing better (performance-wise at least if not results-wise) and it is our attitude that is wrong, in my opinion. We switch off and forget we are playing teams that are among the best in their leagues, regardless of where they play. We wouldn't do this against a top Championship team in the FA Cup, we'd expect them to come at us and give us a game even though they might have players whose names we don't recognise. CSKA sat back in the early part of the second half and we didn't cope at all once they raised their game. We need to be able to read the games better. Not sure if the players or the manager is at fault.

Anyway, win the next two and we're probably through.

 

[City Hobgoblin]

The ridiculous seeding system militates against us again...

Don't think we'd have had any trouble seeing off the likes of Maribou Stork Nightmares or whoever.

 

[Blue Punter]

This is no assessment of whether we have been good or bad, just some facts, make up your own minds;

played 23
won 8 --- drawn 6 --- lost 9
home wins - 4 out of 11
away wins - 4 out of 12

conceded 1st in the game - 14 times
scored 1st in the game - 9 times

goals scored 38 (1.65 per game)
goals conceded 35 (1.52 per game)
3 clean sheets

goals scored at home - 20
goals scored away - 18
goals conceded at home - 16
goals conceded away - 19

lost from a winning position - 2 times
won from a losing position - 3 times

Interesting post, Shem.

Considering some of the draws we've had it's not terrible.
Pot 1 we've had Madrid & Munich x 3.
In pot four we've had Napoli, Dortmund and Roma.
In the knock out stage we've had 2 games v Barca.

On the flip side 4 of our 5 wins last season were against CSKA & Plzen.

Press keep banging on about our poor form in the competition which doesn't help with how are performances are perceived.
Arsenal have hardly becent anyone decent in the last 4 years, but get away with it by qualifying by beating weaker teams.

New seeding system will help us out.

How exactly? If we are champions by end of this season, then we are in pot 1, but still could draw the likes of Real Madrid/Barcelona, Dortmund, Roma. If we aren't champions anymore after this season then coefficient comes in to play and probably pot 3 by the looks of it.

Whether we're pot 1 or pot 3, I'd be amazed if we got a tougher group than we have the last few campaigns. One of our biggest handicaps has been the Pot 1 seedings of Arsenal, Chelsea & The Rags. Every year it's been odds on that we get one of the big three of Barca, Madrid and Bayern. This has been bourne out by the draws we've had.

Dortmund although no mugs are nowhere near as formidable as Bayern these days.

 

[jay_mcfc]

The tough group excuse doesn't wash any more, neither does the lack of experience. We are stagnant and tactical errors are proving costly time and time again. When you think we have won the English Premier League two of the past three seasons, our form in europe has been pretty atrocious with no sign of improvement. Of the games we've won, two were against a very poor Villareal who got relegated that season, 2 against CSKA and 2 against Plzen. We also beat Bayern twice in games that didn't really matter (to them at least, until MP got his maths wrong). Basically we can beat the shite of the CL but as soon as we face anyone even half decent we buckle.

4 years in, it isn't good enough.

 

[cibaman]

Its the lack of progress that is the biggest disappointment

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Our squad is nowhere near good enough. Its not coincidence that we struggle especially against top teams. I think the manager thinks we are better than we actually are. Just so inflexible its untrue.

We have been hampered by the new rules and this is the only excuse I'm giving them at the moment. I do expect that we will improve once we can buy who we want, when we want them.

However, our current squad should be doing better (performance-wise at least if not results-wise) and it is our attitude that is wrong, in my opinion. We switch off and forget we are playing teams that are among the best in their leagues, regardless of where they play. We wouldn't do this against a top Championship team in the FA Cup, we'd expect them to come at us and give us a game even though they might have players whose names we don't recognise. CSKA sat back in the early part of the second half and we didn't cope at all once they raised their game. We need to be able to read the games better. Not sure if the players or the manager is at fault.

Anyway, win the next two and we're probably through.

We could buy who we wanted in 2012 and we bought Nastasić Rodwell García Sinclair Maicon and Wright as champions of England, spending around £50m.

We enforced a transfer limit on ourselves back then, for some bizarre reason. We actually had a better window this Summer and we actually did have transfer limits this year. Yet we look no better in Europe than we did in that very first game against Napoli in 2011.

So this is just another excuse in the bank of excuses we as a set of fans and club have for the deficiencies we have as a club. We should be braver to say "we're not good enough".