Why didn't we win at least one CL from 1998-2006?

[Jury]

I’ve said this before in the unpopular opinions thread, but as good as we were, we lacked belief in certain situations. Wenger was responsible for making us great, but I feel he lacked that special something when it came to the crunch in Europe and it rubbed off on the players. There’s a fair sized sample to support that theory imo.

 

[<<reed>>]

1998-2006: Why didn't we win the CL?
2019: Why did we get battered by Olympiacos in the EL?

Merci, Arsène.

 

[Mo Britain]

The big difference between then and now was that then we believed we had a chance of winning it and now we don't really believe we have much chance of even qualifying for it.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

1998-2006: Why didn't we win the CL?
2019: Why did we get battered by Olympiacos in the EL?

Merci, Arsène.

Sure you don't mean 'Gracias Mikel'?

Arsène would never have got dropped out by Olympiakos, we would have waited for at least a team that's better than us.

 

[<<reed>>]

Sure you don't mean 'Gracias Mikel'?

Arsène would never have got dropped out by Olympiakos, we would have waited for at least a team that's better than us.

I meant that under Wenger our fans expected Arsenal to compete in the CL, now with Arteta at the wheel we get embarrassed in the EL by some Greek amateurs.

Levels.

 

[Rex Stone]

For me I think the Champions League is a massive lottery.

It’s easy to look back in hindsight and say “we were missing X & Y or didn’t have the mentality” but in reality with two legs and away goals counting for so much the margins are that much thinner.

Take Ferguson for example, he’s won two Champions Leagues but if not for the jammiest final minute of all time and John Terry slipping he ends up with none.

Same with Mourinho, Utd had an onside goal ruled out against Porto in 2004 and Barcelona had a winning goal ruled out in 2010 for a very soft Yaya Toure handball.

Even the most dominant European side I’ve ever seen in Barcelona wouldn't even have made the finals in 2009 and 2011 if not for two of the most disgraceful refereeing performances of all time with the Stamford Bridge disgrace and the RvP red card in the Nou Camp.

In fact almost every winner in CL history has rode their luck massively to win it. The difference between success and failure is often the width of a fag paper in the CL but it’s just if you’re a bigger club like Barcelona or Man Utd you’re going to have more rolls of the dice.

 

[Riou]

For me I think the Champions League is a massive lottery.

It’s easy to look back in hindsight and say “we were missing X & Y or didn’t have the mentality” but in reality with two legs and away goals counting for so much the margins are that much thinner.

Take Ferguson for example, he’s won two Champions Leagues but if not for the jammiest final minute of all time and John Terry slipping he ends up with none.

Same with Mourinho, Utd had an onside goal ruled out against Porto in 2004 and Barcelona had a winning goal ruled out in 2010 for a very soft Yaya Toure handball.

Even the most dominant European side I’ve ever seen in Barcelona wouldn't even have made the finals in 2009 and 2011 if not for two of the most disgraceful refereeing performances of all time with the Stamford Bridge disgrace and the RvP red card in the Nou Camp.

In fact almost every winner in CL history has rode their luck massively to win it. The difference between success and failure is often the width of a fag paper in the CL but it’s just if you’re a bigger club like Barcelona or Man Utd you’re going to have more rolls of the dice.

That's the most annoying part really...all the other big teams when at their best got that luck, we never did...will piss me off until the day I die.

 

[Notorious Big]

That's the most annoying part really...all the other big teams when at their best got that luck, we never did...will piss me off until the day die.

Yeah,think that Real rode all their luck to win Champions League in 2016 and 2018.In first case,they had very easy draw and weren't probably in top 4 favourites to win it and in second case they had help from ref in two big matches.It's just one of those things that will go your way or not.

 

[Rex Stone]

That's the most annoying part really...all the other big teams when at their best got that luck, we never did...will piss me off until the day die.

Chelsea is a peak example of this. In the prime years of Lampard, Ballack, Drogba, Terry, Cole, Carvalho, Makelele and Cech they couldn’t win it.

Then in 2011/12 they had the jammiest run of all time, they changed managers half way through the season and finished a distant sixth in the league.

The squad was a shambles, relying on borderline washed up versions of Drogba, Terry, Lampard and Torres. In the final they started Ryan Bertrand, Bosingwa and Salomon Kalou.

The ties against Napoli, Barcelona and the final were unbelievable. Play those three ties a hundred times and they’d get battered 99 times. Even though they were dominated for all of the final and semi-final they still had Messi then Robben miss game winning penalties.

Honestly was a one in a million run, the year after they won it they didn’t even get out of the group stage.

 

[Riou]

Chelsea is a peak example of this. In the prime years of Lampard, Ballack, Drogba, Terry, Cole, Carvalho, Makelele and Cech they couldn’t win it.

Then in 2011/12 they had the jammiest run of all time, they changed managers half way through the season and finished a distant sixth in the league.

The squad was a shambles, relying on borderline washed up versions of Drogba, Terry, Lampard and Torres. In the final they started Ryan Bertrand, Bosingwa and Salomon Kalou.

The ties against Napoli, Barcelona and the final were unbelievable. Play those three ties a hundred times and they’d get battered 99 times. Even though they were dominated for all of the final and semi-final they still had Messi then Robben miss game winning penalties.

Honestly was a one in a million run, the year after they won it they didn’t even get out of the group stage.

Similar to our 2006 run in some ways...except we actually played significantly better than Chelsea did in 2012, yet ended up losing when we deserved to have won...when you really look at it, **** football

 

[Oxeki]

If we had another GK in goal instead of Almunia we probably have won the 2006 CL.

A question always at the back of my mind is Would we have won if Lehmann had allowed Etoo scored and wasn't redcarded?

I believe we would have.

 

[Oxeki]

That's what so sad about Cup competition. The best team most times don't win it. If the 2006 CL was a league competition, I believe we would won, by some distance