2025-26 UEFA Champions League

The EPL is a standalone Super League.

It has all the money. Every transfer window now proves this, with lower level EPL teams outspending all the top teams in other leagues.

There is no reason why the epl should not be dominating the CL for the last few years and the next decade, but maybe its almost as if football isnt a very predictable sport?

EPL teams are mostly losing to a handful of super teams who can match them financially. The list of recent Champions League winners isn't exactly egalitarian.

Does other countries having a winter break hurting the PL teams when it comes into later in the season. We keep hearing the PL is more physical than other leagues so players are more tired. Maybe the PL just isn't as superior as people think.

Well after tonight I hope nobody put money down based on his predictions.

I'd have possession football as Pep's Barca & City, Sarri's Napoli, peak- Wengers Arsenal or latter Klopp's Liverpool amongst others.

All of those teams were very high up the pitch, often with 7,8, or even 9 players in the opposition half but critically they were constantly passing forwards and probing, looking for space. It wasn't over and back. Hleb, David Silva Bernardo Silva, KDB, Iniesta, Xavi etc etc who were all once known as attacking midfielders or wingers now being the 'deep' centre midfielders dictating the play from deep. They weren't dawdling on the ball for sterile possession, it wasn't their nature. They were getting it forwards and doing it quickly.

I like that you mention that horse shoe shape pass map, as it's a big no-no when it comes to teams who don't have ideas in possession. As coincidence will have it, I see it a lot with current Liverpool. ETH had lots of it, and Van Gaal had it more than anyone I've seen it from. Maybe it's a Dutch thing. Latter Wenger teams were this way alright.

It's basically when teams don't have that cutting edge, and no real conviction to pass through the middle.

Wenger, Pep, Klopp et al were not afraid to pass through the middle, not at all.

Edit: sorry, I should say that the above are the good possession teams. It's easy for the poor teams to fall into the trap of the horseshoe type over and back right back to centre back to left back to left winger and back again type stuff. That's horrible, and sterile.

Pep's Barcelona done an absolute ton of just passing it from one centre mid to the next and back.

Used drive me nuts when people would fawn over their passing numbers because most of it was totally no danger 5 metre passes.

Barca did also have plenty of fairly magic pieces of play but that Spain team was tiki taka without the magic. Awful to watch and on top of that David Villa just had a face that was easy to hate.

Couldn't "Celje" a busted docket, could I?

In bad news for you, I said Arsenal would win the league!!!

Deportivo, Barcelona, Roma, Liverpool yeah?

Real Madrid having a 1.9% chance of winning it before a knockout ball is kicked is wild. Doesn't matter who they've drawn, it's like everyone is surprised every year when they go deep in the competition.

real will win eff all this season. They are in chaos and one match doesn’t change it.

I'd say this was factored in

and if you get out of there, to be rewarded with this

Then you are in the final (which, yes, Real would win, because that's what they do.)

That side of the draw is full of the better teams, and why their chances were so low.

Which is the pick of tonight's games - City or Chelsea to mount some sort comeback?