Futbol 2017-2018

[Antoine]

well, pretty good on the management side too

[Wombatz]

yeah not bad from a team that used to blow 3-goal leads as a habit earlier in the season

they still have no chance whatsoever

[Antoine]

Heh yes, with an away goal, I'll start to believe! With the same energy, they can!

[Antoine]

+ http://www.zonalmarking.net/2018/04/05/ ... n-30-mins/

[Antoine]

So, Lutz, what about this 1st half between the rats and marseille? Found it pretty fun to watch... with some pretty crazy last minutes

[Wombatz]

couldn't really watch at leisure as the boy fell sick yesterday ... the result is ok, of course ... but right after the real/juve and liverpool/city games, except in that first overtime this one lacked a bit of everything ...

[Antoine]

promising semifinals in both competitions...

[Antoine]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... maths-prof

[Antoine]

[Antoine]

...and what about the ROMAntada!

[roger.haddad.]

Been gone a bit but WOW.

What a day for the underdogs.

[Wombatz]

what a relief, liverpool were so chickenish ... interesting how pep continues losing the plot at this point in the season after securing the league early, just like he did with bayern (which was what i didn't really dare hope for this year, but lo and behold)

[Antoine]

so who is your favourite now... real madrid for a third in a row? (can't believe that, but seems really possible)

[Wombatz]

Sevilla, obviously

[surfer]

...and what about the ROMAntada!

“There are two or three sides in the Champions League where we'd definitely be beaten before we even began."

- Daniele De Rossi


The power of negative thinking!

[surfer]

what a relief, liverpool were so chickenish ... interesting how pep continues losing the plot at this point in the season after securing the league early, just like he did with bayern (which was what i didn't really dare hope for this year, but lo and behold)

Under seige that first half, incredibly desperate defending. The defensive job Alexander-Arnold did on Sane over two legs was incredible. And his counterpart Robinson was amazing too. Its one of the reasons they won the first leg, the defended very narrowly denying Silva/KdB/Jesus space, and left A-A to deal with Sane 1v1, which is usually a recipe for disaster but he did an incredible job. Otoh, Walker was dismal going forward and back both legs. His service is so bad, it really hasn't improved at all. Otomendi was inconsistent, Kompany decent positionally but slow and has lost a step (but not his heart, reminds me of Ledley King). Gundogan was completely lost in the first leg, and tonight added nothing. Ederson should have swallowed that first goal but spilled it right in front of Salah. I will say that Sane's goal (who btw was constantly offside this game, like 8 times) should have been allowed, he was not offside. and Salah's goal in the first leg was offside and should have been disallowed, but luckily they didn't matter because Liverpool would have gone through anyway. If their defense VvD and Lovren, particularly, continue to play like this, there is no reason they can't win it. Liverpool play a very similar high tempo style to Spurs, and Madrid had a lot of problems with the high press and intensity. This is not a vintage Madrid side, I think Liverpool will beat them if Klopp can continue to get these kinds of performances out of them.

The Manchester derby on the weekend was so bizarre, I don't think Ive ever seen such a schizophrenic match in my life. What a weird end of season for City, two trophies and yet such a bitter aftertaste

[Wombatz]

What a weird end of season for City, two trophies and yet such a bitter aftertaste

that's pep for you. (i did not foresee it happening again, but i think i did mention a few times over the season that that's how it was at bayern.) some things have changed: while they still want to dominate, city don't play classic tiki taka, they go for goal. for a time at bayern, a striker was something like a dirty word for pep, it's a bit different now, and yet while i don't know if aguero should have played on current form, of course pep would never pamper a striker into the necessary level of killer self-confidence. (also while e.g. sané is brilliant, he depends on a tightly functioning system, as you can see from his lackluster performances for the national team.) maybe other small things were typical. last week the level of sportsmanship was amazing, i thought, no dirty fouls and no dives. this time of course the reds were too slow and sometimes fouled, but while city didn't dive on the average level of juve or some such team, still they unnecessarily took the game to the referee, it looked like a conscious strategy to get liverpool into foul trouble, half of the yellows were due to city theatrics more than to actual contact, of course pep blaming everything on the referee not just afterwards but already at half time when his team might still have pulled that out. they should have played football instead. like zlatan says, a very small man (german commentators would have disallowed the first goal for the bodycheck, but i don't think you'd have to. still, even if you count the disallowed second gaol, city did not craft one proper goal that wasn't gifted thru a horrible mistake over two legs.)

i kind of fancy bayern now. they are actually "objectively" less good than under pep, but heynckes will do what it takes to win. (it would be kind of nice if he won the cl with the hardly functioning leftovers of pep's team.) real are both more frightening and more vulnerable (same goes for liverpool, i guess), but i think bayern have the tactical edge now.

[surfer]

Been gone a bit but WOW.

What a day for the underdogs.

Congrats Roger! and welcome back its been a while

[surfer]

i kind of fancy bayern now. they are actually "objectively" less good than under pep, but heynckes will do what it takes to win. (it would be kind of nice if he won the cl with the hardly functioning leftovers of pep's team.) real are both more frightening and more vulnerable (same goes for liverpool, i guess), but i think bayern have the tactical edge now.

Klopp is Pep's kryptonite, but maybe a Bundesliga side and players are more familiar with Klopp's style. Btw, I dont think I've ever seen Klopp so nervous as last night after the City goal, it looked like he was desperately trying to stop from vomiting in his own mouth. The thing with City, especially in the first half of the first leg, was that they seemed to come out with a mind to manage the game in a tactical way, as if they had so many instructions in their head from Pep about what they were and werent supposed to do, that it sapped their natural instinctive energy. (also their bus had been attacked by lunatics . . . ) And when Liverpool came out with a really energetic press and were winning 50/50 and second balls, City couldnt quite match that energy. As I said earlier, and it seems exceedingly obvious to say it now, but City is vulnerable if you can get at their back line, but most teams are psychologically scared of being overexposed, and naturally want to sit back and absorb pressure and hit them on the counter. That never works, and as Klopp says, you are basically inviting your own demise. I do think Madrid is a similar type team that can be quite exposed if you can pressure their back line and not allow them lots of time on the ball. I do not think Madrid wins a third, even though they have little else to play for at this point. (caveat: if Ronaldo keeps executing bicycle kicks 8 ft off the ground, then all bets are off . . . . . .)

[surfer]

some things have changed: while they still want to dominate, city don't play classic tiki taka, they go for goal.

They have a goal differential of +66. 90 goals scored, and 24 conceded. That's 15 more goals than the next highest (Liverpool with 75, and third is Spurs with a paltry 64), and the fewest goals conceded (1 fewer than Mou's United, 3 fewer than Spurs). And yes there are some minnows in the EPL, but overall, the league middle to bottom (certainly at the top) is probably at least as solid as other European leagues. So yeah, the issue is not scoring goals or a killer instinct I dont think. I actually think the aggregate score was not reflective of how close this tie actually was, offside decisions, Bernardo Silva hitting the post, scrambles in the box where City defenders couldnt clear the ball, etc. Narrow margins, two evenly matched teams. I'm not saying Liverpool didnt entirely deserve to go through, almost solely on the basis of having defended with more discipline and organization, but it could have easily gone the other way imo.

I just resist knee-jerk narrative 180s where the greatest team in EPL history suddenly becomes a complete fraud. The only narrative that is true in this case is that a) City's defense is not that good when put under pressure (whatever happened to John Stones, I thought he was their CB of the fuuuuuuture) b) Liverpool has learned how to defend under pressure (VvD has settled, and helped Lovren) and c) no one seems to acknowledge how much luck is involved in these ties . . . . .