As regards the refs the rules of the game are the same world wide but how they are interpreted varies from country to country ie no contact.plenty of contact.no diving .diving rewarded time wasting the norm .we expect the ref to ref in the English style he will ref it in his own league style.Marvin said:Champions League games can be incredibly tight games, where match officials have a much bigger role to play than in domestic games.
Think back to last season. We had a very experienced ref for City v Barcelona but he was incredibly biased towards Barcelona not allowing us to tackle them. He gave a penalty which was incorrect.
There seems to be a lot more cynical play and pressurising of refs in these games. You watch for example players like Ramos and Pepe in a Champions League game. They bend the rules. They don't do this in League games unless its against Barcelona.
Do we copy what they do? Similar to Man Utd and Liverpool players in the penalty box. One touch, one hand on a shirt and down they go. I am afraid to say that if everyone else does it, we are mugs if we don't do the same.
Hung said:I think the general lack of interest from some of us is borne out of the indisputable fact that the governing body clearly do not want us to compete in the competition on an equal footing to the ‘established order’. As somebody said earlier, this competition was created in our absence and we do not feel a part of it. Our squad is reduced, we are not allowed to spend the same amount of money as others, inflated ticket prices and, until the latter rounds, pretty sterile football, is it any surprise that we are losing interest?
Can't we hire the "Jackal" to take out Platini?alib said:Hung said:I think the general lack of interest from some of us is borne out of the indisputable fact that the governing body clearly do not want us to compete in the competition on an equal footing to the ‘established order’. As somebody said earlier, this competition was created in our absence and we do not feel a part of it. Our squad is reduced, we are not allowed to spend the same amount of money as others, inflated ticket prices and, until the latter rounds, pretty sterile football, is it any surprise that we are losing interest?
hence the ever decreasing home gates and quieter atmosphere
kenzie115 said:I'm not a huge fan of the competition, there's a lot more diving and play acting, the refs clearly favour the established elite, it costs a fortune to attend the games and we're continually playing the same teams over and over again.
However, there will come a point in the next few years when we win this competition, and I want to be there when we do, so I'll keep going.
Plus, regardless of the football, the away days are fucking brilliant.
liamctid said:Not read through the whole thread, but I wrote this yesterday about the Champions League:
<a class="postlink" href="http://liamwright1987.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/city-and-champions-league.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://liamwright1987.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... eague.html</a>