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Post by McBlake on Aug 29, 2013 9:58:17 GMT -5
Group A: Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad
Group B: Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, Copenhagen
Group C: Benfica, Paris St-Germain, Olympiakos, Anderlecht
Group Dee: Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, Viktoria Plzen
Group E: Chelsea, Schalke, Basel, Steaua Bucharest
Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli
Group G: Porto, Atletico Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg, Austria Vienna
Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic
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Post by Mike Giggs' Munchies on Aug 29, 2013 10:14:15 GMT -5
Had a huge argument with my Dortmund-supporting mate yesterday over who would qualify in a group of Barca, PSG, Dortmund and Napoli. I said Dortmund would find it difficult but may come 2nd; he said they would be heavy favourites to beat PSG. I pointed out the bookies thought PSG were more likely and that Dortmund were 9th favourites for the CL; he was not happy.
Hope we avoid Juve, PSG, Dortmund, Atletico and Napoli. Ideal group would probably be Marseilles, Olympiakos and Anderlecht.
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Post by McBlake on Aug 29, 2013 10:19:12 GMT -5
Dortmund would destroy PSG in that group.
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Post by Mike Giggs' Munchies on Aug 29, 2013 10:39:39 GMT -5
Bookies disagree. Not saying they're always right but Dortmund lost arguably their best player and their 2nd best (again arguably) has no motivation to play there other than impressing their rivals.
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Post by Hammersmith Hardman on Aug 29, 2013 10:56:49 GMT -5
PSG have been shocking domestically and most of that is down to hiring Blanc as manager. Don't think they'll do well in this competition either.
Bet Real Madrid and Ajax get paired together again.
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Post by McBlake on Aug 29, 2013 11:15:16 GMT -5
Gotze was replaced well and Lewandowski given a pay rise. Aubameyang is a brilliant signing too.
Also, that was by far the best pot 1 draw I have ever seen.
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Post by Noza on Aug 29, 2013 11:34:38 GMT -5
Things are shaping up very nicely. Can see Arsenal having a hard time, and United don't have it easy either.
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Post by Mike Giggs' Munchies on Aug 29, 2013 11:41:57 GMT -5
Gotze was replaced well and Lewandowski given a pay rise. Aubameyang is a brilliant signing too. Also, that was by far the best pot 1 draw I have ever seen. You seriously think Bobby will stay past this season? Who replaced Gotze? Know you love Dortmund but you seem a bit blind to their failings. I'll take our group, no easy games but we avoided all the teams I wanted to avoid.
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Post by Noza on Aug 29, 2013 11:44:05 GMT -5
Group A: Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad
Group B: Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, Copenhagen
Group C: Benfica, Paris St-Germain, Olympiakos, Anderlecht
Group D: Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, Viktoria Plzen
Group E: Chelsea, Schalke, Basel, Steaua Bucharest
Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli
Group G: Porto, Atletico Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg, Austria Vienna
Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic
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Post by Noza on Aug 29, 2013 11:45:04 GMT -5
Celtic are going to get 3 points (Ajax at home). That's it.
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Post by McBlake on Aug 29, 2013 11:48:41 GMT -5
Celtic are going to get 3 points (Ajax at home). That's it. You love the odd sly bash at Scottish football, don't you?
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Post by McBlake on Aug 29, 2013 11:48:57 GMT -5
off Charlie Nicholas! Haha.
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Post by Himmy! on Aug 29, 2013 11:49:28 GMT -5
Goodbye Arsenal and Celtic. Can see United having a hard time too. Chelsea will be comfortable and I fancy City to scrape through.
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Post by McBlake on Aug 29, 2013 11:50:40 GMT -5
Gotze was replaced well and Lewandowski given a pay rise. Aubameyang is a brilliant signing too. Also, that was by far the best pot 1 draw I have ever seen. You seriously think Bobby will stay past this season? Who replaced Gotze? Know you love Dortmund but you seem a bit blind to their failings. I'll take our group, no easy games but we avoided all the teams I wanted to avoid. Did you mean to quote Noza there? I like Hamburg from the Bundesliga. Henrikh Mkhitaryan replaced Gotze. Was amazing in pre-season and been brilliant already in the league.
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Post by Noza on Aug 29, 2013 11:57:28 GMT -5
Celtic are going to get 3 points (Ajax at home). That's it. You love the odd sly bash at Scottish football, don't you? Just don't rate the quality of the league. It's the best draw for them, though; some absolutely HUGE games to play in. I can see United having a really tough time in that group. Bayer Leverkusn are not the team they once were, but could still give them a good run around up in Germany. Shakhtar Donetsk may have lost their best players in the summer, but have replaced them well and will ve very hard to beat at home. Real Sociedad are also a very useful side, and could be a potential banana skin. They should qualify, but it'll be much more difficult than last year.
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Y2J13
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Jul 3, 2013 17:02:19 GMT -5
Posts: 248
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Post by Y2J13 on Aug 29, 2013 12:00:27 GMT -5
So....Man Utd, Chelsea and Man City to go through and Arsenal & Celtic to go out.
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Post by McBlake on Aug 29, 2013 12:04:24 GMT -5
You love the odd sly bash at Scottish football, don't you? Just don't rate the quality of the league. It's the best draw for them, though; some absolutely HUGE games to play in. It is shit, yes, but you openly admit to not watching it. So surely the only time you ever see Scottish teams is in European competition, and celtic have been pretty useful as of late.
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Post by Mike Giggs' Munchies on Aug 29, 2013 12:08:59 GMT -5
Our group is definitely not easy; all 6 games will require a good performance from our top players. However, I still think we are the best team there, and should come top accordingly. 3 home wins, 1 away win, 1 away draw and an away game to spare for a total of 13 points should be plenty. You seriously think Bobby will stay past this season? Who replaced Gotze? Know you love Dortmund but you seem a bit blind to their failings. I'll take our group, no easy games but we avoided all the teams I wanted to avoid. Did you mean to quote Noza there? I like Hamburg from the Bundesliga. Henrikh Mkhitaryan replaced Gotze. Was amazing in pre-season and been brilliant already in the league. No I meant you; thought Dortmund were your German team. My mistake. I doubt he's as good as Gotze. May be wrong but for now I think its an inferior replacement. Celtic are going to get 3 points (Ajax at home). That's it. You love the odd sly bash at Scottish football, don't you? To be fair, I'd be surprised to see Celtic get more than that, however impressive they were last year.
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Post by McBlake on Aug 29, 2013 13:09:31 GMT -5
I've been a big fan of Henrikh Mkhitaryan long before he joined Dortmund. Totally different type of player to Gotze, so hard to compare them, but so far he's doing the job. Don't seem to be missing Gotze at all. Why were we talking about this again? Haha. The Scottish clubs quality is always shat on in the Champions League, usually unjustified and brought up by people that watch them maybe once or twice a year (if at all), but quite often they always seem to pull off some big results and still never get praised for it. It's not always about the quality of the players they have anyway, it's the support that usually pulls them through. A good example is Rangers in the 2005-06 season. One of their worst squads in recent history, finished 3rd in the league and still very unlucky not to make the last 8. As for celtic this season, despite selling some of their better players, I still think they'll get more than 3 points. Milan are barely even a shadow of the team they once were (absolutely terrible last season at times). Ajax will probably be a tougher test for them if they manage to keep Eriksen. They're best buddies Barcelona could well lie down for them again as well Fair play to the fans, couldn't have asked for 3 better away trips: Barcelona, Milan and Amsterdam.
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Post by McBlake on Aug 29, 2013 13:21:19 GMT -5
I don't usually do these, but as of now I'm feeling (Champions League, Europa League, Out):
Group A: Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad
Group B: Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, Copenhagen
Group C: Benfica, Paris St-Germain, Olympiakos, Anderlecht
Group D: Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, Viktoria Plzen
Group E: Chelsea, Schalke, Basel, Steaua Bucharest
Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli
Group G: Porto, Atletico Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg, Austria Vienna
Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic
Wouldn't bet anything on it though, they're all quite hard to predict. I've put Leverkusen and Sociedad to go through over Shakhtar Donetsk more out of hope than expectation, but you never know.
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