Champions League 2026-27: Page 2 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One more in the Tolly

Champions League 2026-27

awooga83

Don Pacifico this totally, the attraction was the rarity of the games and usually you meet the big teams if you got through to the business end. It's why I think the super league would also be so boring.

lorddulaarsenal

Wake me up when it’s the quarter finals please

USArsenal

I'd kinda like us to kill it in the group stage again though. That set us up for a much more kind draw once we got to the knockouts.

awooga83

USArsenal the team that haa won the new format both times didn't get in the top 8 though worth remembering.

Meatwad

awooga83
why is that worth remembering? their league circumstances are different than ours. imagine us with 2 extra knockout games last season.

Claudius

awooga83 the same team whose Balon d’or superstar is taking leave because he exerted himself at the World Cup? The second place team in France wouldn’t make top 10 in England.

Gunner89

awooga83

Worth remembering that they rest half their squad over the league season because they are so much better than the rest and the ligue 1 body routinely reschedules their fixtures to make navigating europe easy

TambourineMan

Tougher draw than last season.

Burnwinter

TambourineMan Won't do us any harm to take on Bayern away before the knockouts

awooga83

Meatwad because if your good enough you can win either route. We've had 2 "good runs" and still not won so it's not really helped us.

Meatwad

awooga83
so with 2 extra knockout games we would have won on penalties instead of lost. good to know.

QuincyAbeyie

awooga83 this is false. The question is whether it increases our chances of winning, not "does it make us win".

awooga83

QuincyAbeyie it's doesn't increase chances because you have one extra round but it's not such a massive detriment like it seems to get obsessed over. PSG and Atletico came through that path to reach the semi. If the position is no team in a competitive league can win the champions League and only PSG can I don't believe that myself. If that's not the case then it's not the preferred option but it should be achievable for a team that has the quality.
Going into the quarters the probabilities had us favoured for sure but both PSG and Atletico made it through and they weren't odds on whatever we might think of PSG benefits from the league.

Arsenal – 29.95%
Bayern Munich – 18.02%
Barcelona – 14.74%
PSG – 12.15%
Real Madrid – 10.18%
Liverpool – 7.04%
Atlético de Madrid – 4.65%
Sporting CP – 3.27%

Cannon

Jose vs Arteta at the Emirates. 🔥

awooga83

Gunner89 yeah there are advantages but you still have to beat the best teams to triumph and that counts for PSG as well. They won the league by a 6 point margin last year.

We have to find a way to beat that calibre of team more often in Europe.

USArsenal

awooga83 We have to find a way to beat that calibre of team more often in Europe.

I dont know, we've been accounting for ourselves pretty well in Europe the past couple seasons. True, we lost to PSG 2 years in a row (although last season was in penalties only after having a half-fit squad), but we've beat the likes of Bayern, Madrid, Atletico, Inter, PSG (well, group stage). But i would say we're more than held our own. And we've made some upgrades, and perhaps, if we get someone like Alvarez (still not sure it will happen), that could push us over that last hump.

RowJimmy

There is no such thing as "that calibre of team." There is only PSG. In the last two years we have lost one group stage game (against Inter, whom we beat comprehensively in the knock-out round), and lost to PSG in the semis and then in the final (on penalties, I would recall, in a game we certainly could have won). We have beaten all the other teams we have faced, including Bayern and Real.

awooga83

USArsenal we lost to Bayern in the knock out as well though and we've fallen there a few times against those teams and I don't think they were a great side at that point. Unsurprisingly based on what I've said before I don't attach as much significance to beating bigger sides in the group phase I weight the knockout more.

We beat Madrid which was a big statement but also needed 2 outstanding free kicks from Rice to shift the game which looks not something he's consistently been able to repeat. I think we will lack the attacking technical quality in the team that makes those outcomes more likely to fall for us in the knockout. Right now for me it's 3 - 1 for those types of match ups against us right now.

USArsenal

awooga83

Yes, i know that beating teams in the group stage is not as big of a thing, but those games are still significant. And you're right, we also lost to Bayer in the Qtrs a few seasons ago, but we were not a great side yet either (and it was our first time back in the CL after a few years of missing out), and we only lost by 1 goal overall.

It hasnt really helped that our top players have either been missing (a la 2 years ago) or have been run into the ground (last season) and we've still caused problems for all of these top sides. Obviously PSG are the exception since they've beaten us twice in a row, but the margins are not that wide. But we've progressed each season in the CL, first the qtrs, then the semis, then the final.. Even the vaunted Pep took 7 seasons at City to win his first (and only) CL.

Can we use another 1 or 2 quality attacking players? Sure, of course. If we add one in this window, maybe we can get over that line finally. We're not far away and we're definitely a team that other top teams don't fancy playing against.

Bernard Woolley

Agreed. I'd say the absolute Tier 1 teams in Europe are Bayern, Barca, PSG (regardless of what we want to say about the rested state of their key players) and everyone else a step or more below.

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