General Football Thread

[Adam]

Yeah, I just realised I haven't yet said that it is a great achievement Well done to Montpellier, it really is a terrific achievement for them.

[Matt]

Maybe, French football doesn't really have the same big club dominance like we do, West Brom is probably a better analogy than Hull though.

[Adam]

I shall stick with West Brom then!

Didn't Lyon win the title 7 years running? Seems pretty dominant to me that

[Matt]

Well yeah, that aside.

[IAceI]

Yeah, Lyon's dominance was pretty formidable but seems to have ended recently and they've had four different champions in the past four years, and hopefully something similar continues over the next few seasons.

[The Quasi Juice]

Lyon's dominance was unusual for French football. The most French league wins comes from Saint Etienne believe it or not at with 10; it's really a fun competition with a lot of different champions over the years. Lyon's dominance really came from the right manager and signings, and once they started performing in the CL every year they were financially so much further than the rest that nobody could keep up until they slipped. Also, I think Everton or Aston Villa winning the Premier League would be a better analogy for Montepellier winning

[IAceI]

I'd say both of them are far too big in terms of club stature. In fact Andy Brassell, who knows more about French football than we could ever even forget, tweeted a while ago "Suggestions from fellow tweeters include Southampton, Norwich, West Brom but all bigger than MHSC, even acknowledging Fra/Eng divide."

It really is that big of an achievement.

[Matt]

They've tended to be a yo-yo side over the last few decades as far as I can see, so maybe comparing them to Wolves or something would be appropriate. They don't appear to be a club that have barely ever been in the top flight, just one who've never really been particularly successful in it.

[Lineker]

But the real issue here is whether Montpellier could do it on a cold, rainy Wednesday night in Stoke!

[Thrilla]

Champions League standings for the draw are based on final league standings right? Not coefficents? So Montpellier will be a Pot 1 team and PSG will be a Pot 2 team?

[Matt]

Nope, everyone knows that quality footballers forget how to play when it's cold and raining in Stoke. Unless they're English.

Edit: NBT, I thought it was coefficients but I'm not sure.

[Thrilla]

Apparently it is the UEFA Team Ranking system that sorts the teams out into pots. Montpellier are ranked #132*, so will probably be in the last pot. I guess that is better for them financially as they'll likely get two big home ties out of the group stage.

* - http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/trank2013.html

[The Quasi Juice]

There are going to be some good teams in the last and third pot, like Juventus and PSG who both have sucked internationally last few years for various reasons.

[stokeriño]

Jose Mourinho has signed a two year extension at Real Madrid, taking his contract to 2016 and surprising virtually no one at this stage.

[Colly]

Apart from Liverpool fans who listen to Talksport.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Barcelona are on the decline, Pep is gone and Real Madrid have the younger, fitter team.

Of course he'll want to stay, he could easily win more titles than Barcelona over the next five years.

[Dingle]

Barcelona are on the decline, Pep is gone and Real Madrid have the younger, fitter team.

Of course he'll want to stay, he could easily win more titles than Barcelona over the next five years.

Please tell me we aren't having a 'decline' discussion again with a team that had a bad season.

Major sigh.

[Colly]

I don't think there's a big issue with people having an opinion on how things could go. Peps gone, they were heavily exposed as having no plan B more than once this season and Real Madrid do look very strong. Could they kick back next season? Of course, but its no foregone conclusion.

[Dingle]

I don't think there's a big issue with people having an opinion on how things could go. Peps gone, they were heavily exposed as having no plan B more than once this season and Real Madrid do look very strong. Could they kick back next season? Of course, but its no foregone conclusion.

Nahh I agree they were heavily exposed in certain areas and need to address that. But to say they are "on the decline" is silly. It's all semantics with word usage anyway but I think we have to see how Barca change over the summer and how they'll go about things next season. They do still have Dani Alves, Xavi, Iniesta, Alexis, Pedro, Villa, Valdes, Piqué and plenty of youngsters coming through the ranks. Even without Pep I still think Barca are going to be very much up there.

Oh and did I mention they have Messi? 72 goals and 29 assists speaks for itself. If the rest of the team perform anything like they did in 10-11 season then they'll be absolutely fine.

[EddieG]

To be fair, Barca being on the decline just means they'll finish 2nd for the next few years as Madrid win the league over and over again.