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Europa League Round of 16 Draw

dbig

Well-Known Member
Here's my "power rankings" for the remaining teams. Ones in bold to advance.

1. Atletico
2. Arsenal
3. Dortmund
4. Lazio

5. AC Milan
6. RB Leipzig
7. Lyon
8. Marseille
9. Bilbao
10. Sporting

11. Lokomotiv
12. Zenit
13. Dynamo Kiev
14. CSKA Moscow
15. Salzburg
16. Plzen
Some pretty decent teams left here.

Looking forward to winning this.
 

bingobob

A-M’s Resident Hunskelper
Trusted ⭐

Country: Scotland
Glad we drew Ac Milan. A real team with history as opposed to the fake plastic teams that people cream themselves over and want to play against in the Cl.
 

CaseUteinberger

Established Member

Country: Sweden
AC Milan. Another mid table club, just like us. They have 41 points from 25 games and we have 45 points from 27 games. We are in sixth place and they in seventh place in their league. We should have a shot...
 

Arsenal in Aus

Active Member
You're still missing the point Rimaal. I didn't miss anything! It was a wry comment on your continual anti-Wenger posts. You're normally sharper than that!
 

ArtetaCognition

Granit Xhaka Enthusiast

Country: Ireland
Atletico pick us off with ease :lol:

You disagree?

They would definitely pick us off with ease. They are well coached and very astute defensively. On the other hand, we just conceded a goal kick.

Absolutely deluded to think we have a chance against Atleti - they've been to 2 CL finals with this manager and much of this squad.
 

mavelous

Tinfoil hat aficionado
at this stage, you have to admit that Atleti are the clear favorites by a mile over everyone else.

after that, it's a pack of 5-6 with no clear standout for me. honestly can't see our chances being higher than Dortmund or Leipzig, and even the french/italian teams could have a long trajectory.

don't really know much about Bilbao. anyway, we'll see after the game in San Siro about where we stand. Shame we don't have a striker or a manager.
 

dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
Goes without saying but i'm much less confident now than I was when the draw was made. Our new signings have had more time to settle, we didn't have many players out injured and yet we still performed hopelessly in a big game.

On paper we have more quality than Milan, but how can any of us trust the team to turn up? One thing we can be sure of is that Gattuso will motivate his team and they'll turn up. He'd cut off their balls if they performed like we did yesterday.
 

Brown Gooner

DoN'T ceNsOR maH FreE SpEecH
LOL At users who think this is a nice draw.
This is one of the worst teams Arsenal could have drawn. Only Atletico, Dortmund and Lyon would’ve been worse. Even Leipzig, Lazio, Sporting, Marseille, the Russians and Bilbao would’ve troubled us. That Czech team would’ve been the best draw!

Milan are hitting form right now. They just beat Roma away and won on penalties yesterday against Lazio. If they win the Derby against Internazionale this Sunday, they’d be favourites to eliminate Arsenal.

I am afraid that this is gonna be an eigth successive Ro16 elimination in Europe for Wenger.

Even if we can someone put Milan out Atletico, Lyon and Dortmund will be waiting. Atletcio (since they got Costa back) and Dortmund (since Reus has comeback) have been hitting decent form lately. Arsenal need a miracle to win the EL!
 

BBF

Real name: Ragip Xh...

Country: Netherlands
Can't believe we're playing dat fraud welbz against one of the best defences in their league this year.
 
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dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
Someone correct me if i'm wrong but are we already guaranteed Europa League football next season from reaching the League Cup final? Cos I was gonna say y'know it might not be bad to go out of the Europa League and just have no European football at all next year, would allow us to have a sort of rehab year.

We're all talking like we have to win the EL we have to win the EL etc. And yes financially it would be massive for us. But just footballing-wise, what good would Champions League or Europa League do us next year?

Whatever happens with the manager, next season is not going to be a huge success. If Wenger somehow stays, it will not be a success. If a new manager comes, we're not going to see an immediate turnaround in results and the general culture of the club immediately. Even if the new manager is a success it's not going to be instant. It might be good if the 18/19 season was dedicated just to resetting and recovering, rather than any false expectations.

Also, why the f*ck do Arsenal deserve European football anyway? My understanding is that European football is a reward for domestic achievements. Sure just give a spot to Burnley or someone, we sure as f*ck don't deserve Europa League let alone Champions League. It'd be almost embarrassing if this Arsenal team somehow made it to the Champions League next year.
 

Jae

Well-Known Member
Someone correct me if i'm wrong but are we already guaranteed Europa League football next season from reaching the League Cup final? Cos I was gonna say y'know it might not be bad to go out of the Europa League and just have no European football at all next year, would allow us to have a sort of rehab year.

From my understanding, theres a maximum of three places which are:

The fifth-placed team in the PL.
The winners of the FA Cup.
The Carabao Cup winners.

Exceptions:

a) If the FA Cup winner finishes in the Top 5, their place will go to the next-highest ranked team not already qualified

b) If the Carabao Cup winners finish Top 5 (or top six if (a) happens), their place will go to the next-highest ranked team not already qualified.

So if Chelsea finish 5th they'll be in, City have won the Carabao Cup so their place gets handed down to 6th (most likely us) and if anyone of Chelsea, Sp**s or United win the FA Cup (highly likely judging by the teams left in it) then whoever ends up in 7th (most likely Burnley) will qualify as well.

That means we'd have to finish 8th to be guaranteed not to be playing in the EL next season.

I could be wrong but thats the way I understand it.
 

dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
From my understanding, theres a maximum of three places which are:

The fifth-placed team in the PL.
The winners of the FA Cup.
The Carabao Cup winners.

Exceptions:

a) If the FA Cup winner finishes in the Top 5, their place will go to the next-highest ranked team not already qualified

b) If the Carabao Cup winners finish Top 5 (or top six if (a) happens), their place will go to the next-highest ranked team not already qualified.

So if Chelsea finish 5th they'll be in, City have won the Carabao Cup so their place gets handed down to 6th (most likely us) and if anyone of Chelsea, Sp**s or United win the FA Cup (highly likely judging by the teams left in it) then whoever ends up in 7th (most likely Burnley) will qualify as well.

That means we'd have to finish 8th to be guaranteed not to be playing in the EL next season.

I could be wrong but thats the way I understand it.

So basically we'd have to do f*ck up on a monumental level to not get in it? Jesus sake, I really see no benefit to it next year. It's not even a case of needing to re-learn how to walk before we can run, it's a case of re-learning how to get out of bed and dress ourselves. This club needs a system reboot.
 
So basically we'd have to do f*ck up on a monumental level to not get in it? Jesus sake, I really see no benefit to it next year. It's not even a case of needing to re-learn how to walk before we can run, it's a case of re-learning how to get out of bed and dress ourselves. This club needs a system reboot.
And what would be the benefit of not going? You could certainly use the money, the confidence boost of going through the first rounds and the possibility of attracting better players and coaches.
 

Penn_

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
With the teams we’ve been fielding haven’t we esstentially had a year without European football? Can’t see any benefit from going out completely.
 
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