Football 2013/14 season
- Thread starter mjo
- Start date
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...ivals-says-Arsenal-manager-Arsene-Wenger.html
Something tells me the bloke isn't quite right in the head. Already making excuses in case he doesn't win the title?
Something tells me the bloke isn't quite right in the head. Already making excuses in case he doesn't win the title?
There is some truth in what he says, and to be fair to him he has said it in past seasons I think, but it can also be applied to the summer transfer window which overlaps with the start of the season. You can say anyone who played Arsenal before they signed Ozil on the 2nd September (Aston Villa, Fulham and Tottenham) has an unfair advantage for example.
sushifiesta I disagree.
Advantage, possibly. Unfair, no.
Advantage, possibly. Unfair, no.
I'm not saying I think it's an unfair advantage, but by Wenger's interpretation of transfer windows it is. If you have transfer windows that overlap the season you will sometimes have major players moving one way or another during the season (Bale is another one that left after the season started). There are arguments for only having a transfer window in the summer and having it end before the season starts but otherwise you can't really moan when teams follow the rules.
OK, Jos.
In the Champions League away goals are counted at the end of normal time at the end of the two fixtures.
In the League Cup (and play-offs etc.) away goals are counted NOT at the end of normal time but at the end of extra time.
This means that the Champions League does not recognise that goals are equal, causing teams to play defensively at home rather than offensively away, thus not improving the spectacle. No longer is away play the disadvantage it was in 1955 when the rule was codified.
Last year, Arsenal were knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern, having won 2-0 away from home. Can it be honestly said that they had performed poorly away because they had kept a clean sheet against the European Champions? Arsenal had faced equal periods of time (in theory) home and away against Bayern, scored an equal number of goals and been arbitrarily eliminated.
However, after extra time a team has had more time away thus has a disadvantage. The introduction of away goals here nullifies that home advantage for the extra half hour. It works - how much better as a spectacle was Manchester United vs Sunderland for the extra period?
The Champions League away goals rule is unfair - it gives two teams with equal opportunities to compete and who finished equal an unequal result. The League Cup one negates extra opportunities with a counter-balanced advantage.
Put it this way, FC Bayern won last year's Last 16 Champions League match, and thus took the opportunity to win the competition as a whole, because they could not attack at home as effectively as Arsenal could, from the other point of view.
nenoste95
Test Driver
One month ago I went to London to see Spurs-City, I'm Italian, but Spurs are my favourite English football team 
Unluckily the match wasn't good for us. In my opinion City will win the League. Gunners are going to drop fit, Blues are a good contender, but Touré & co. are better this year.
Unluckily the match wasn't good for us. In my opinion City will win the League. Gunners are going to drop fit, Blues are a good contender, but Touré & co. are better this year.
Maybe El Classico isn't good benchmark but the theory that English football is "fast and furious" but Continental football plays out slowly from the back looks like complete bollocks to me. They may not be playing kick and rush, al la Tony Pulis or Sam Allerdyce, but the pace is fantastic.
Bayern win the Bundesliga after 27/34 games. Of which they've won 25. And drawn two.
Bloody hell.
Bloody hell.
Similar threads
- Article
- Poll
