Aug 26
Group E
Arsenal
Panathinaikos (Greece)
PSV (Netherlands)
Rosenborg (Norway)
I believe Arsenal punished PSV in Eindhoven two years back. Overall, a good draw for Arsenal.
21 Responses to “Champions League Draw”
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August 26th, 2004 at 10:37 am
I thought the 4th in the group was Rosenborg. . .
Either way it would seem to be avery favorable draw!!
August 26th, 2004 at 10:44 am
I like the draw…. simply because we are not flying to Russia in Winter…!!! and the trips are not toooooo far. If we can’t make it out of this group, we don’t deserve it!!
Gotta see the schedule… see if a Champs League roadtrip to Greece? Netherlands? is possible!!!
August 26th, 2004 at 10:45 am
Bremen was in our group, and then they took them out and put them in another group. Didn’t Bremen win the Bundersleigh last year? Ok, not a big loss to have them move.
At least we aren’t going to ex-commie countries this time around. Greece and Norway are tough trips I suspect, but I feel better this year than I did last…
Schedule should be up at Arsenal.com by this afternoon. Roadtrip plans after that…
August 26th, 2004 at 10:48 am
Boy are you fast Rick!
My first impression is that it’s a good draw. A few long trips to Greece and Rosenborg, but at least Dennis can play in the Eindhoven away match.
August 26th, 2004 at 10:52 am
Unbelievably fortunate! There are a couple of groups of death and we’ve missed them for once! Poor Celtic don’t have a prayer - Barca and Milan - and Group C, with Bayern, Juve, Ajax, looks hard. The Manure as ever will be fine (a Turkish side, Lyon and Prague), as will Chelsea unfortunately (PSG, Porto, Moscow).
PSV is brilliant as Dennis can play. Not sure about Rosenborg: they’re not good but perhaps hard to play against - cold, lumpy pitches, lots of long balls.
August 26th, 2004 at 10:54 am
PSV has played well recently in their qualifiers, and new American signing Demarcus Beasley has opened his account and assisted in a 5-0 rout of Red Star Blegrade to qualify. Hate to say it, but as good as Beasley is, shopping in the states is not something that generally annouces that you’re ready for Europe. Of course, T. Howard is at ManU, but who knows for how long?
Don’t know much about the others outside of PS2, but Panathinaikos won the Greek League double last year and seem to be on the up and can’t say much about Rosenborg.
Funny business, however, in Group H, huh?
August 26th, 2004 at 11:26 am
However, after that pleasant five minutes of amazed relief . . . the crucial question is who we play next? Assuming we top the group, it’ll be the runner-up of which group? F (that’ll be Barca, I reckon - pretty hard) or G (which could be Valencia, Inter or Bremen)? Anyone remember how it works?
August 26th, 2004 at 11:34 am
Miranda…
if we are gonna win this thing… we gotta play the best anyway… Barca? Inter? Bring’em on!!!
August 26th, 2004 at 11:38 am
It is not set in advance - see http://www.uefa.com/uefa/news/Kind=49152/newsId=182714.html
August 26th, 2004 at 12:10 pm
Looks like most of the English teams got off pretty light, it’ll be interesting seeing Porto and Chelsea duke it out.
Groups C and F are NASTY though…
August 26th, 2004 at 12:27 pm
The dates have just been published
Matchday 1
Tuesday 14th September 2004
Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven
Matchday 2
Wednesday 29th September 2004
Rosenborg v Arsenal
Matchday 3
Wednesday 20th October 2004
Panathinaikos v Arsenal
Matchday 4
Tuesday 2nd November 2004
Arsenal v Panathinaikos
Matchday 5
Wednesday 24th November 2004
PSV Eindhoven v Arsenal
Matchday 6
Tuesday 7th December 2004
Arsenal v Rosenborg
August 26th, 2004 at 12:37 pm
I don’t agree. Knock-out comps are at least 50 percent luck. Millwall in the FA Cup final, for instance: they’re weren’t better than the average EPL side; they just never met them. The same could said of Porto in the CL, whose path was pretty easy. Injuries, fixture congestion, etc. means the draws are going to be crucial. It really matters that we don’t have to play, say, Real or Milan three days after meeting Chelsea in the League or ManU the Cup. We can’t avoiding ALL the big sides, but avoiding at least some of them will be a great help. I notice we’re favourites, or joint favourites with Real. Seems nuts to me when we don’t yet know who we’re going to have to play when.
August 26th, 2004 at 12:56 pm
Which of the Premier League clubs has the most work cut out for them, and which will theoratically cruise through the group stage?
My pick - from easiest to the toughest groups:
1/ Manure Scums (Group D)
2/ Gunners (Group E)
3/ Liverpool (Group A)
4/ Chelski (Group H)
Lucky Manure Scums have it easy, well, on paper at least.
We are not too bad either, though no opponent should be taken lightly, as Panathinakos could be the potential banana skin.
I reckon Chelski has some difficult games ahead, as big mouth will have to face the little monster he helped to create in Portugal. Another good thing is that the Moscow leg (always seems to be a miserable experience) will send Roman home at least for a couple of days.
August 26th, 2004 at 1:14 pm
I was reading this in the Financial Times I reckon, but does not Abramovich hold some “interest” in that Moscow club. Sounds shady, no?
August 26th, 2004 at 1:43 pm
Heard that the Moscow team (in Chelsea’s group)’s sponser was from one of Roman A. owned companies…
As for our group, I agree Panathinaikos may be a potential banana skin.
Another issue to watch is how many away games Dennis is able to travel to play? With Dennis there, it would be crucial to our counter attack play which best suited playing away tie. At least it looks like Dennis is able to make it to the PSV tie.
August 26th, 2004 at 4:52 pm
I think ours is the easiest on paper. Group F is terrible - poor Celtic are doomed unless something astonishing happens. Liverpool will probably struggle against Monaco and Deportivo. Group H: definitely politically dodgy but maybe not as hard as it looks at first sight. Porto have shed some of their best players, haven’t they? And PSG haven’t been that strong since they lost Ronaldinho. Pity. I’d like Chelsea to sink. Manure’s group looks middling easy. Not much doubt they’ll sail through.
August 26th, 2004 at 4:58 pm
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=308340&cc=5901
My financial times reference has now gone mainstream. Roman “owns” two teams in the same group. Imagine the controversy…
August 26th, 2004 at 5:15 pm
I am REALLY digging our group. PSV will be a challenge, but guys, Panathanaikos has gotten its ass whipped in the Champs League on a fairly regular basis lately.
And as far as Chelsea/CSKA Moscow….BWA HA HA HA HA HA. Add Porto to that mix and boy does Group H look to be a ***** no matter how it shapes up.
Pity poor Celtic tho. They never do get an even break — now they even have to face off *against* St. Henrik!
— Geoff
August 26th, 2004 at 5:53 pm
Later than last season, Greece won the European Cup. I think it’s a big mistake to write Panathanaikos off…
But this is still a group we should win.
August 27th, 2004 at 2:21 am
i think far before that financial times news, it’s well known that roman has something to do with that russian team.
i remember i mentioned it in one of my comments to certain posting about man u’s downfall by rick.
some even suggest that roman also have something to do with porto, there was some facts supporting that argument, but i forgot already. that also explains why they paid such unreasonable price for porto players. because, afterall, somehow he still control the money.
so that makes 3 out of 4 club in that group which are contaminated with roman’s hands.
August 27th, 2004 at 4:34 am
My predictions are as follows
arsenal v psv einhoven (W)
rosenborg v arsenal (W)
panathinaikos v arsenal (D)
arsenal v panathinaikos (W)
psv einhoven v arsenal (W)
arsenal v rosenborg (W)