UEFA Champions League Knockout Stage

MANUNITED23":1u8uddyg said:

Doesn't sound like a German team.

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Did I screw up the names?

Tbh I'm not exactly sure if they all are part of the german pool

No you didn't. What I was implying is that some of the players don't even sound German. But I agree with the fact that have a great squad and should be very good for more than just one World Cup. I grew up rooting for England, so I pretty much always was disappointed.

I fully agree that the FA and Premier League need to pull their collective heads out of their arses but kind of disagree about the German onslaught, or at least think that it is overstated. There are only 2 good teams in Germany and while I don't see them getting worse in a hurry I also don't necessarily see Schalke, Werder Bremen etc being able to draw, or afford, big name players in a hurry, just as Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla etc haven't (in any numbers anyway).

I am loving seeing the Spanish giants get thrashed. I don't really care who does it. In fact I love that Dortmund does it, but really, Bayern Munich should be as likely as anyone else with their transfer and wage budget.

The English league really needs to lift its game though. No doubt about it. For me the media is equally culpable. Give me Brock and Danny and some intelligent, thought-provoking analysis rather than yet another conversation about diving/handshakes/poppies/racism/minute's silence/singing the national anthem/Ferguson. Football coverage in England is so dull I've completely tuned out apart from going to Spurs every now and again and checking out the game online whenever I can (about 50% of games).

MANUNITED23":6lvbgehc said:

No you didn't. What I was implying is that some of the players don't even sound German. But I agree with the fact that have a great squad and should be very good for more than just one World Cup. I grew up rooting for England, so I pretty much always was disappointed.

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I'm not really too sure about thew individual players' here but when I was at high school we learned about (some) Germans resistance to Turkish and Polish immigration even back then. There will be a lot of England players with similar names before too long too.

Ozil is hated in Turkey because of his decision to play for the German national team over Turkey.

InSuarezWeTrust":17wjjj8l said:

Ozil is hated in Turkey because of his decision to play for the German national team over Turkey.

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If I were Turkish I'd be gutted too, but he was born in Germany and lived his whole life there. Same with Khedira.

If a player was born in my country and lived there all of his life then in my opinion they should only be allowed to play for that county.

MANUNITED23":13uu2fz8 said:

If a player was born in my country and lived there all of his life then in my opinion they should only be allowed to play for that county.

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Yip.

Interesting timing on this article on ESPN.... obviously the statistical analysis only factors in goal differential and can be argued that increases come at the expense of mediocre teams in the league.

However, I think if you couple it with the teams we saw in the Champs League final 8 (and in turn the players that exist on those teams) we can see a shift, atleast in the top, of which leagues are getting better verse worse.

all speculation, but i dont think anyone can argue that if anything the German nation is overtaking Spain and Holland in producing the worlds very best footballers overall... which league is better is debatable. I will always be aligned with Liverpool, and therefore the PL. However I'm blown away but what ive seen from Bayern, Dortmund and Schalke the last two years.

Love some thoughts... as we go to the summer transfer window, it will be really interesting where the top end players settle in. (with Gotze and Lewandowski shunning Real and Manchester United respectively to move from 2nd to 1st in the Bundesliga)

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/relegationzone/id/755?cc=5901

Whatever the fee for Lewandowski (Bayern or otherwise) is likely not enough.

Echte Liebe! Hopefully tomorrows match provides as much drama and hopefully a little more finishing.