Three 10m signings does not equal one 30m signing. That's what separates the man u and chelsea's from Newcastle and Everton. An outdated wage structure policy that makes it difficult to retain or bring in high quality talent foreshadowed this 5 years ago. While clubs like atletico and Porto can't prevent being feeder clubs, arsenal have the size and profits to do something about it... But don't. Being a romantic is one thing, buy being homeless and throwing roses at the girl in the Ralph Lauren dress is another. Lahm was the MVP for me. Great game manager. Still... 1. Barca 2. Man u 3. Bayern 4. Chelsea 5. Milan
I think you are being unnecessarily harsh on Arteta, but otherwise I have to sadly agree. It is our job as fans to hold out hope and we will never stop doing so, but all these patchwork signings are barely good enough to compete for a CL qualification, let alone actually win silverware. We have needed a major change for a long time now.
That's the most horrible power ranking I've seen in a long time. ManU in front of Bayern, Chelsea nad milan in top 5? Wtf homey.
Yeah, like the biggest sport brand in the world, worth more than 3 billions should not be ahead of f***** Milan (who are skint), Bayern (Big fish in a small pond) and Chelsea (who are nothing if not for Abrahmovic money).
I gotta say this even as a United supporter, you have to be crazy to put United ahead of Bayern. Bayern are a better team imo. Chelsea AND Milan but no Juventus? Yeah we can just label the list as rubbish. Might as well put Napoli and City in the top five if you feel Chelsea and Milan are 2 of the top 5 clubs in Europe right now as opposed to Juventus and Borussia Dortmund. GTFO!
Think of united as Kobe, and Bayern as tmac. United are finishers and winners, Bayern are more talented but ultimately chokers. Barca would be lebron.. if he were much skinnier. This is a list of teams most likely to win the champions league this year - which doesn't correlate with domestic success. Chelsea are a high ceiling team - and have a great combination of speed, skill and strength. Milan have an unfortunate match up against barca but I take them over juventus any day - who are easily exposed against teams with quick, sharp passing. As for Madrid, they're a mess. No direction behind all the big names. Not surprised mourinho is dying to bail. Bale would be a typical addition to their roster, a highly talented player who plays as a mercenary. Sorry, I don't rank teams based on expensive jerseys and beating up on weaker comp in domestic leagues.
Are you well man? United are finishers and winners while Bayern are chokers? Are you going by the '99 CL final or by ACTUAL history? Like I said, I'm United through and through and to call United finishers and winners, you'd think their history prior to SAF's Cup Winners Cup Win was all medals and glory akin to that of Madrid or you know, even Bayern. They had some lean spells. Bayern have been a more consistent winner. Both United and Bayern falted domestically last season so in that respect they are similar. Now you make even less sense my dear friend. A list of teams most likely to win the Champions League this season??? Uh, you know you had Chelsea on the list and you mentioned them again right? "A high ceiling team - and have a great combination of speed, skill and strength." This Chelsea- http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/...efending-champs-make-history-with-exit-120512 Yeah, I don't even know if or why I should continue. Juventus are easily exposed against teams with quick sharp passing? Have you watched much Serie A this season? You want to call Milan a team with "quick sharp passing"? Yeah I don't think so. Not this Milan side with Montolivo playing long passes to Pazzini and El Shaarawy. (And I guess Niang and Balotelli now). Add in their defensive issues and yeah, pretty sure Juventus are the better side not just by virtue of their standing in the league table. Absolutely agree with you about Madrid. Yet they still have are a better side than Milan and that other current Champions League side Chelsea.
Where did I stated Milan had those attributes? I said it's pretty easy to expose juve and watching the Roma game last week, as well as the game against Lazio, youf see a ceiling. Sampdoria play an aggressive high line with quick passes and have had success against Juve this season as well. Lol, Chelsea are out but based on team skill set, they were the 4th likeliest to win. Of course you can't put money on it but this is sports and the stronger teams crash out early. You can see they're rounding into form as of late and Torres plays more of an attacking midfield role than striker with ba's arrival. That makes sense to me. Bayern are an amazing talent. Germany are an amazing talent. Buy when its time to show up.. And all that on paper talent is out there.. They don't have that killer instinct. Now you tell me, how can you be king of the jungle when you successfully hunt rabbits but can't knock off a jaguar or cheetah to mark your territory?
Apologies. You didn't say Milan had those attributes. Re. Juve and certain teams in their league "exposing" them. I think one could also say the same for Manchester United when it comes to certain teams possibly exposing them, e.g. Tottenham this season. Samp definitely had success against Juve and Roma seemed to pick on that last weekend. Based on skill set, you say Chelsea were(according to your rankings I take it) the 4th likeliest to win, yet you chose not to include Madrid in your rankings despite the fact that based on skill set, they'd have to be arguably in the top 3 list of teams to win solely on that factor. Now you qualify your thoughts on Chelsea by saying that they are rounding into form(I take it you're using their "impressive" matches against Wigan and Brentford as proof of that?") but yet you said the list you put forth was a list of "teams most likely to win the champions league this year - which doesn't correlate with domestic success." What does Chelsea's improved(not really though) form in England have to do with them being on the list of teams most likely to win the champions league especially now that they're out? Was the list something you made prior to the start of the Champions League last season and you just decided to post it or am I misunderstanding? Bayern and Germany are amazing talents but "when its time to show up.. And all that on paper talent is out there.. They don't have that killer instinct. " Mate, I'd bet it'd be difficult for you to find other United or England supporters that would agree with you on this. Plus, Bayern have sure knocked off their fare share of Jaguars and Lions in Europe over the past couple of Champions League seasons.
If Degea plays like he did at Real the rest of the way, United can win the treble. I'll take RVP and Rooney over anything Bayern can put out up front. RVP is finally on a real team where his world class finishing matters. Give me Sir Alex over any of these other managers as well.
The small pond has three clubs in the last 16, who all won their respective groups. Meanwhile, the so called best league in the world might not even have a team in the quarterfinals. T-Mac never saw some kind of finals. Plus, United didn't win way more over the last decade. Chelsea is already out, since they finished 3rd in their group. They play Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday.
So? The fact remains that the current European Champion is from the EPL and that the EPL has way more strength in depth than a league in which a Manchester United reject is among the top scorers. Look, I'm not trying to glorify the EPL. I only have an issue with placing FC Hollywood( a club which has gained sucees by buying its rival's best players- leverkusen in the past, Dortmund shortly) ahead of Manchester United, the biggest sports club in the world with an era of domination ahead now that the threat of Sugardaddies have been culled with FFP coming into effect. Also the only thing between Manchester United and 3 CL titles in the last decade is the man known as Lionel Messi, in an era of outrageous domination from EPL sides.
If the list is actually about who will win the CL (in which case the Chelsea chavs should not be included) then I will again pick Utd ahead of Bayern since Ronney + RVP >>>>> whatever Bayern actually plays up front and Utd defence > Bayern Defence. The only area where Bayern is ahead of Utd is midfield which can be negated if Utd plays the exact same tactics of Chelsea last season: defend deep and catch the joke Bayern defence on the break. Bayern are having it easy, playing in a league where they are not challenged by anyone (Dortmund has shown that it has talent, just not enough to challenge on multiple fronts) and where they can buy their rival's best players anyway (watch out for Lewandoski, Gundogan and Gotze teaming up at FC Hollywood sometime in the near future just like Ballack, Ze Roberto and Lucio did). I would not even discuss Milan because it's a F***** joke to even compare this club in its current state and with its current roster to United.
The EPL has way more strength in depth than the Bundesliga? Are you having a laugh? Plus, if you think FFP has really nullified the threat of so-called Sugardaddies you are absolutely mistaken. You really think City and PSG are done spending money and finding ways around FFP?? I don't think anyone was talking about the "biggest sports club in the world" because if so we know it's us-United then Madrid. The others don't come close. I think you guys are placing more stock in Rooney + RVP. All you need to say really is RVP is >>> than whatever/whomever the other team puts up front. United's defence better than Bayerns? Uh ok, not exactly. The United backline has fared well w/out Nemanja but it's not a greater or better backline than Bayern's right now. The joke Bayern defence? You know 2011/12 and 2012/13 are different seasons right? To my knowledge Dante wasn't starting in the back versus Chelsea in the CL final. Bayern's defence is a bit better than United's right now in my opinion. Bayern are playing in a league where they are not really challenged for the title by anyone-you actually dismiss the ACTUAL team that won the league last season? That they buy their rival's best players? Did you read what you wrote before posting it? You could easily substitute the name Bayern for United and you'd have the exact same crap. The similarities are numerous for both teams. United play in a league where they are not really challenged for the title by anyone but City(as of the past two season- Chelsea haven't shown much of a challenge in the time period), United buy their rivals best players(RVP). We can all at least agree that Milan, regardless of what happens today, don't deserve to be in this conversation and it was silly for them to have even been mentioned.
That doesn't make any other league a small pond. Not exactly sure, who you're talking about. But still, Ron-Robert Zieler ist a United reject as well. Doesn't make him a bad keeper, in fact he's one of our best. And in depth, Germany has the best goalkeepers in the world. The only difference about Bundesliga and Premier League is, they english pay a lot more for mediocre players. But that doesn't make the 10th of Premier League way ahead of 10th in Bundesliga. Utter bull****. Bayern might have bought players from Leverkusen in the past, but don't tell me United didn't go for league rivals as well. By the way, there is not a single player with a Dortmund background in the current Bayern line-up right now. We hear some rumors about Lewandowski, but that's it. In fact, Bayern has developed a lot of quality young players lately (Badstuber, Müller, Alaba, Kroos, ...). In my eyes, they are not top class since Ronaldo disappeared. I don't see any United domination ahead, Goalkeeper and defense are below Top-European average. Premier League WAS dominant, but they are not right now. United failed in the group stage last season, so did Chelsea this time. Meanwhile City failed twice and didn't win a single game as current EPL Champion. Plus, I don't see United being short of winning the big title three times. First off, Messi wasn't a factor in 2006, plus United just made it to the finals in 2011 because they didn't play Barcelona or Real in the semis.
