UEFA watch 2016-17

The cosmic joker strikes again for the Goons.
Though seriously the quality in both tournaments is rising annually
(which is why you have the likes of Munich second in their group) .

Not an easy draw for Leicester (Sevilla are a UEFA pedigree team) ,
but it could have been far worse.

 

Please let it be Astra Fahkin' GooGoo

 

That is a high chance of a far-out east away leg.

 

Gent.

Our Belgians will enjoy the trip

 

Good draw in terms of travel logistics.

 

5/4 definite west/east European teams will be in the last 16 of the EL.

 

Full draw
Athletic Bilbao v Apoel Nicosia
Legia Warsaw v Ajax
Anderlecht v Zenit St Petersburg
Astra Giurgiu v Genk
Manchester United v Saint-Etienne
Villarreal v Roma
Ludogorets v FC Copenhagen
Celta Vigo v Shakhtar Donetsk
Olympiakos v Osmanlispor
Gent v Tottenham Hotspur
Rostov v Sparta Prague
Krasnodar v Fenerbahce
Borussia Monchengladbach v Fiorentina
AZ Alkmaar v Lyon
Hapoel Beer Sheva v Besiktas
PAOK v Schalke

 

If we go out...the resulting post match discussion might end up in a heated debate.

 

Only 6 countries represented in the last 16 of the CL - none from central or eastern Europe, Scandinavia or the Adriatic states.

Perhaps all the teams outside England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France and Portugal would be better off with their own tournament?

 

Or perhaps (bear with me because this is way out there) ...

UEFA could have a KO format, luck of the draw, just like the FA Cup.
Which would increase the likelihood that said teams would stand a chance of
progressing further than merely being group fodder.

Nah, it could never be done.

 

It's a bit revolutionary but it might work

 

Bayern called it last week.

 

Gent progressed into the knockout stages via this injury-time goal from Kalifa Coulibaly:

Fantastic finish.

 

Number 26 turns his back to the shot. Never turn your back to the shot in the 93rd minute. Block it with the crown jewels if you have to, but never turn your back.

 

Players turn their backs on shots all the time. It does my ****ing head in.
If you get paid tens of thousands of pounds a week, then you can get hit in the midriff by a football, in my opinion.
It's not a lot to ask.

 

The good news is that our former academy centre back William Troost-Ekong is out on loan, so has no chance of scoring against us.

What always drove me up the wall during the AVB era was how often the back four would square passes to one another - especially when Naughton was playing, five seconds later we'd see our goalkeeper either with the ball in his hands as he was berating his back four, or picking the ball out of the net while looking daggers in the direction of his back four.

I simply don't get why we kept doing this, as even when I was playing football at school we had it drilled into us that defenders should never square the ball to one another (although they probably should've told the Flash bastard in every class that his attempts to dribble all the way from full back before nutmegging the keeper would stop other people passing them the sodding ball...)

 

Lots of teams play dangerous balls at the back nowdays, for some reason.
It works well sometimes, but it seems exceptionally risky and dangerous and looks bloody stupid when it doesn't.
City are the worst at it right now, especially as Bravo looks like a complete liability.

 

The obvious question to ask is which defenders do people actually trust to pass the ball quickly and accurately?

The obvious answer is that there's only two in the Premier League that anyone would trust to do this - and we have both of them.

 

If I were paid tens of thousands a week, I'd happily take a kick in the bollocks more than once and I'm not even into that S&M ****.

 

As for the draw, happy with that. After going to Brussels for the Anderlecht game last season, I went Ghent for a couple of days afterwards with some mates. Nice city, wouldn't mind going back and now I have a reason too.