Rebuilding with the Yutes

Munich are definitely on the up. They’ve been smart in the transfer market and now have a much younger team than they did a couple of seasons ago. As good as Robben and Ribery were, they were holding them back and they look to finally be moving on and have a team for the present/future. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them in the final this year.

Originally Posted by NedKelly

Munich are definitely on the up. They’ve been smart in the transfer market and now have a much younger team than they did a couple of seasons ago. As good as Robben and Ribery were, they were holding them back and they look to finally be moving on and have a team for the present/future. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them in the final this year.

Just lost at home to Hoffenheim...

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Just lost at home to Hoffenheim...

Just how good must Hoffenheim be

Originally Posted by NedKelly

Just how good must Hoffenheim be

Lost at home to Schadenfreude

Originally Posted by NedKelly

Just how good must Hoffenheim be

Them vs Brighton in the final

Originally Posted by Jammy Dodger

Maybe they’ll be good this season. They havent been in recent seasons. Btw, saying last season’s fourth place just had seven put past them doesn’t exactly support your point that there’s no huge drop off in quality after the top two.

English sides doing so well last season is illustrative of the rest of Europe’s biggest club’s not being as good as they have been in the past. Are Munich as good as they have been over the past twenty years? Milan? Juve as good as the 90s team? Barca as good as ten years ago? United? Madrid any good in comparison to a few years ago? Not one of them is in an upward cycle.

That's how it works though. We can mythologise about the past but there are usually 3-4 very good sides with the chance of winning the Champions League realistically. Last year the four were probably Juve, Ajax, City and Liverpool. Probably still the four best sides in Europe as we speak. But even Barca with all their issues beat Liverpool 3-0 (should have been four) last season, which few teams manage.

In '99 you had Olympiakos and Kaiserslautern in the quarter finals of the CL.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

That's how it works though. We can mythologise about the past but there are usually 3-4 very good sides with the chance of winning the Champions League realistically. Last year the four were probably Juve, Ajax, City and Liverpool. Probably still the four best sides in Europe as we speak. But even Barca with all their issues beat Liverpool 3-0 (should have been four) last season, which few teams manage.

That Juve team is £#%&! compared to past teams. Which shows how weak European football is at the moment if you consider them one of the four best teams in Europe.

In '99 you had Olympiakos and Kaiserslautern in the quarter finals of the CL.

Given the quality of teams and structure of that year’s competition, they’d probably have won last years competition.

Originally Posted by Jammy Dodger

Given the quality of teams and structure of that year’s competition, they’d probably have won last years competition.

Mate the Inter side we beat in the quarter finals finished 8th in Serie A and then hired Hodgson as director of football.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Mate the Inter side we beat in the quarter finals finished 8th in Serie A and then hired Hodgson as director of football.

Shows how strong serie A was, no?

What are you trying to say? That European football was a lower standard back in 99 than it is now? That inter team was probably better than the current Juve team. At least as good. And they weren’t anywhere near the best 5 or 6 teams in Europe in the 90s.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Them vs Brighton in the final



That's how it works though. We can mythologise about the past but there are usually 3-4 very good sides with the chance of winning the Champions League realistically. Last year the four were probably Juve, Ajax, City and Liverpool. Probably still the four best sides in Europe as we speak. But even Barca with all their issues beat Liverpool 3-0 (should have been four) last season, which few teams manage.

In '99 you had Olympiakos and Kaiserslautern in the quarter finals of the CL.

So what? I can remember we were all terrified that season about drawing Dynamo Kiev as they were mustard at the time.

At various points since 1999 Liverpool have been finishing below Ipswich and City have been getting dicked at home by Stockport County. All cyclical bruv. We’ll be reet.

Or we’ll be the new Rennes/Notts Forest.

Originally Posted by Jammy Dodger

Shows how strong serie A was, no?

What are you trying to say? That European football was a lower standard back in 99 than it is now? That inter team was probably better than the current Juve team. At least as good. And they weren’t anywhere near the best 5 or 6 teams in Europe in the 90s.

Getting into strange territory here.

Tbh we all get drawn in by nostalgia, but I always come back to the idea that football has never been played to a higher level than it is now. The departure of individuals is a big loss for me, but the standard of the game is always being raised. Players do things in a more organised way, at greater speed and with better conditioning with each passing era. I miss the old foot-on-the-ball playmakers, but there isn't much time for that now.

Originally Posted by Knockers

So what? I can remember we were all terrified that season about drawing Dynamo Kiev as they were mustard at the time.

At various points since 1999 Liverpool have been finishing below Ipswich and City have been getting dicked at home by Stockport County. All cyclical bruv. We’ll be reet.

Or we’ll be the new Rennes/Notts Forest.

Hence me not mentioning Kiev. Very good side and almost knocked Bayern out.

I don’t know why some are getting their knickers in a twist about the idea that football has moved on in a physical, technical and tactical sense from the 90s

That should be obvious and it’s perfectly normal for any sport
Players run much further now than they did back in the 90s so that means there is much less space on the pitch which in turn forces players to improve their first touch and technique

Football was definitely better in terms of personalities, much bigger variety of teams who competed for CL and better fan experience but in terms of the actual football its gone to a higher level

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Hence me not mentioning Kiev. Very good side and almost knocked Bayern out

I actually wanted to see a United v Kiev final

Less than a decade later, we did play them and won both games very easily. Football had already changed significantly.

Originally Posted by Jammy Dodger

Shows how strong serie A was, no?

What are you trying to say? That European football was a lower standard back in 99 than it is now? That inter team was probably better than the current Juve team. At least as good. And they weren’t anywhere near the best 5 or 6 teams in Europe in the 90s.

Yep. Serie A was a ridiculous standard. I still haven't seen a league with that quality of players and probably never will.

The Juve side we went life and death with in the Semis finished 7th that season. 16 pts behind Milan who won the league and 15 behind Lazio in 2nd. Wonder how we would have got on with that Milan side at the time. They had finished 10th the season before

Originally Posted by Coracao

Yep. Serie A was a ridiculous standard. I still haven't seen a league with that quality of players and probably never will.

The Juve side we went life and death with in the Semis finished 7th that season. 16 pts behind Milan who won the league and 15 behind Lazio in 2nd. Wonder how we would have got on with that Milan side at the time. They had finished 10th the season before

You reckon the Inter side we played in '99 was better than current Juve?

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

You reckon the Inter side we played in '99 was better than current Juve?

Was agreeing with him on the strength of Serie A.

In terms of the squad of individuals, Inter's squad was ridiculous around that time. They were a complete basket case of a side tho who didn't deliver week in, week out.

Their squad for that season is below, that is some ridiculous talent to have at your disposal. The seasom after they went and dropped a record fee on Vieri

https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/t/t1998-993008.html

Originally Posted by Coracao

Was agreeing with him on the strength of Serie A.

In terms of the squad of individuals, Inter's squad was ridiculous around that time. They were a complete basket case of a side tho who didn't deliver week in, week out.

Their squad for that season is below, that is some ridiculous talent to have at your disposal. The seasom after they went and dropped a record fee on Vieri

https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/t/t1998-993008.html

Typical Inter. Overloaded in certain areas, neglected the defence. 4-5 experienced, high quality holding midfielders

Ronaldo a huge miss though. Zamorano was alright but not great. Ventola played against us didn't he.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Typical Inter. Overloaded in certain areas, neglected the defence. 4-5 experienced, high quality holding midfielders

Ronaldo a huge miss though. Zamorano was alright but not great. Ventola played against us didn't he.

He scored.