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Glad to see Real out of the CL. Man City will be laughed out of the room if they don't win it now, though Chelsea are not complete no-hopers.

As I predicted, Columbus got stomped by Monterrey down in Mexico. 3-0 and so ends our (CONCACAF) Champions League dream. Beating Mexican teams in Mexico in the (CONCACAF) CL should be the primary target for MLS in terms of demonstrating an ongoing improvement in the quality of the league. We'll get there eventually, but it's worth remembering that at the moment Liga MX teams like Monterrey have quite a bit more money than MLS teams (Monterrey have nearly twice our budget, for example).
 
Glad to see Real out of the CL. Man City will be laughed out of the room if they don't win it now, though Chelsea are not complete no-hopers.

As I predicted, Columbus got stomped by Monterrey down in Mexico. 3-0 and so ends our (CONCACAF) Champions League dream. Beating Mexican teams in Mexico in the (CONCACAF) CL should be the primary target for MLS in terms of demonstrating an ongoing improvement in the quality of the league. We'll get there eventually, but it's worth remembering that at the moment Liga MX teams like Monterrey have quite a bit more money than MLS teams (Monterrey have nearly twice our budget, for example).
But will it also be an all English affair in the EUROPA league? Hopefully not.
 
Chelsea has enough quality to beat City in the final.

That squad has always had loads of talent and depth. Is Tuchel that good of a manager to unlock their quality, or was Lampard that bad of a manager to squander it for so long?

Don't want to see either Chelsea or City do a double, so Chelsea can win the UCL but needs to lose the FA Cup final.
 
Chelsea has enough quality to beat City in the final.

That squad has always had loads of talent and depth. Is Tuchel that good of a manager to unlock their quality, or was Lampard that bad of a manager to squander it for so long?

Don't want to see either Chelsea or City do a double, so Chelsea can win the UCL but needs to lose the FA Cup final.
who knows, Frankie might have been to green.
but
ChelseaFC never played this functional even in the P Nevin, Terry eras.
Real Madrid never posed a threat or had a scoring chance in the last maybe 20 minutes.
there were times in the past were Anelka ducked, Drogba received a red, Terry slipped and M Ballsack missed from the spot this is not your older brother's club!
 
Chelsea has enough quality to beat City in the final.

That squad has always had loads of talent and depth. Is Tuchel that good of a manager to unlock their quality, or was Lampard that bad of a manager to squander it for so long?

Don't want to see either Chelsea or City do a double, so Chelsea can win the UCL but needs to lose the FA Cup final.
A little of both with regards to Frank and Thomas' respective impacts. I agree that Chelsea can win this, it's a one-off match - but Man City are clearly favorites.
 
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A little of both with regards to Frank and Thomas' respective impacts. I agree that Chelsea can win this, it's a one-off match - but Man City are clearly favorites.

Agreed, but have been very impressed by Tuchel; when Mr Wenger retired, Thomas Tuchel was the manager I would have liked to have seen replace him.

Elsewhere, Manchester United and Roma are having a superb game, exciting, thrilling, competitive, and with several goals scored (and posts and uprights also hit), whereas Arsenal could be playing until the end of recorded time - and beyond - before they would find the net, even with the assistance of metal detectors, GPS, and other direction seeking devices.
 
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Agreed, but have been very impressed by Tuchel; when Mr Wenger retired, Thomas Tuchel was the manager I would have liked to have seen replace him.

Elsewhere, Manchester United and Roma are having a superb game, exciting, thrilling, competitive, and with several goals scored (and posts and uprights also hit), whereas Arsenal could be playing until the end of recorded time - and beyond - before they would find the net, even with the assistance of metal detectors, GPS, and other direction seeking devices.
I for one am not sorry to see Arsenal drop out. Any loss for one of the greedy six is a victory for football in my opinion. Hopefully it effects the shareholders dividend! But knowing Arsenal they will just lay off some of the support staff to recoup costs!
 
But never actually close. Hopefully Villareal offer something in the final, but on today's evidence Man Utd just need to show up, not throw the ball into their own net, and they're probably laughing.
I'm more concerned how they get on in the PL this week. With 3 games it could be a make or break for my fantasy football team. Just thrown in McGuire and Wan-Bissake.

@JamesMike Do you and a few of your mates fancy doing security at Old Trafford this week? Just to make sure the games go ahead!
 
Squad rotation decisions taken in Manchester could end up substantially influencing who makes the top four. Man Utd can't play their first XI against both Leicester and Liverpool, and both games are competitively meaningless anyway. And Man Utd fans would slaughter OGS if he played a B team against Liverpool, though they will likely win that match in either case. So Leicester will get the easier ride, which is good news for West Ham - though in fact West Ham should be mostly worried about Chelsea, who are clearly better than them on paper, in fourth place, and currently in form. It will be a tough nut to crack.
 
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Squad rotation decisions taken in Manchester could end up substantially influencing who makes the top four. Man Utd can't play their first XI against both Leicester and Liverpool, and both games are competitively meaningless anyway. And Man Utd fans would slaughter OGS if he played a B team against Liverpool, though they will likely win that match in either case. So Leicester will get the easier ride, which is good news for West Ham - though in fact West Ham should be mostly worried about Chelsea, who are clearly better than them on paper, in fourth place, and currently in form. It will be a tough nut to crack.
I’ve always seen Chelsea as getting fourth (well since the managerial changes). Yes you can hope that the CL final will lead to key players being rested, but in the end I’d have taken 5th if it was offered at the start of the season.
Of course the nightmare would be to finish 4th have Chelsea 5th and Arsenal 6th both win the European cups and get pushed out. Now they are out of the Europa league that’s okay, but still can’t see us finishing above Chelsea.

Also agree they will play their stronger team against Liverpool. But let’s be honest their B team is still a load of internationals that would walk in to many sides. After all, Jesse Lingard was their C team and look at him! Would love him to stay.
 
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I for one am not sorry to see Arsenal drop out. Any loss for one of the greedy six is a victory for football in my opinion. Hopefully it effects the shareholders dividend! But knowing Arsenal they will just lay off some of the support staff to recoup costs!

Arsenal never looked remotely like scoring, let alone clawing an ill-deserved victory from the game; they simply weren't good enough.

Actually, I have thought - and have already expressed this opinion on this very thread earlier - that qualification for the Europa Cup did us no favours, and merely served as a distraction from the more pressing task of team building.
 
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