Futbol 2020-21

[Wombatz]

huh, falling out with your best player (angelino) and fielding a totally absurd offensive line in a final ... school of mou? i must say, in the end i'm not sorry to see nagelsmann go, and i wouldn't bet too much on him succeeding at bayern.

[surfer]

couldnt watch today but Rats didnt look competitive, a bit like the Cup Final for Spurs. I wonder what the disciplinary problem with Angelino was, coldnt find any rumors. Maybe it was about his return from injury and Nagelsmann pulling him at half a few weeks ago.

[surfer]

Also, take note of Barnsley, currently in 6th and occupying the lat playoff position in the Championship. They are part owned by none other than Billy Beane, of Moneyball, and President of Baseball Operations for my baseball team the Oakland A's. Apparently they are (no surprise) a very data driven club, with a soft cap on signings of players over the age of 24. They have a minuscule budget, press like crazy high high up the pitch, and basically make Leeds look like loafing geriatrics. Came very close to beating Tuchels Chelsea in the FA Cup. Unlikely they will win the playoff but you never know. UP THE TYKES!

Well I watched a bit of the first leg of their playoff tie with Swansea, and I cant say I'm very impressed with Barnsley who lost at home 0-1. They are very industrious, but lack even the bare minimum of technical capacity. The American footballer Dike is their target man, and is imposingly large and has pace, but much less skilled than Adama Traore. The second half Barnsley had most of possession but did barely anything with it. Hit the crossbar in the 93' with a flick on from a bounced corner, that was about it.

[Antoine]

French team for Euro
GK : Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Steve Mandanda (OM), Mike Maignan (Lille) ;
Defenders : Benjamin Pavard (Bayern), Léo Dubois (OL), Raphaël Varane (Real), Kurt Zouma (Chelsea), Presnel Kimpembe (PSG), Clément Lenglet (Barça), Lucas Hernandez (Bayern), Lucas Digne (Everton), Jules Koundé (Séville FC) ;
Midfielders : N'Golo Kanté (Chelsea), Paul Pogba (Man. United), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern), Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham), Thomas Lemar (Atlético) ;
Attack : Marcus Thuram (Mönchengladbach), Kingsley Coman (Bayern), Kylian Mbappé (PSG), Antoine Griezmann (Barça), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Karim Benzema (Real), Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco), Ousmane Dembélé (Barça)

[Wombatz]

looks good on paper

so the top 6 bundesliga teams (and 7 out of the top 8) will have a new manager next season. arguably none of them an obvious improvement except of course at leverkusen bosz had to go ... is that some kind of record?

kane to city for their second team and pep guardiola?

[surfer]

kane to city for their second team and pep guardiola?

Hard to see what happens if United are truly not interested (although maybe they are banking on the fact that Harry stays put and they can get him cheaper next summer). I look at Cavani and think Harry could do what he's doing for several years. Because if City really are the only destination (Levy would rather commit seppuku than sell him to Chelsea) then you have to wonder why would Pep want him and not Haaland? Maybe Pep sees Kane as a more versatile and flexible player that could work in a variety of lineups.

BTW, Reguilon is having quite a match today!

[surfer]

Atalanta lost to Juve in the Coppa Italia final 2-1. First half was very even and Atalanta started brightly, but in the second half Juve dominated, and I have rarely seen Atalanta so flat footed, so pushed back and so off key. In the second Atalanta couldnt hold possession or get the ball out of their own end, little interplay and lots of hopeful balls and individual takeons which is uncharacteristic. Atalanta did have a heavily rotated side with Muriel, Pasalic and Illicic all coming off the bench. Best match I've seen Juve play this year by far.

[surfer]

French team for Euro
GK : Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Steve Mandanda (OM), Mike Maignan (Lille) ;
Defenders : Benjamin Pavard (Bayern), Léo Dubois (OL), Raphaël Varane (Real), Kurt Zouma (Chelsea), Presnel Kimpembe (PSG), Clément Lenglet (Barça), Lucas Hernandez (Bayern), Lucas Digne (Everton), Jules Koundé (Séville FC) ;
Midfielders : N'Golo Kanté (Chelsea), Paul Pogba (Man. United), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern), Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham), Thomas Lemar (Atlético) ;
Attack : Marcus Thuram (Mönchengladbach), Kingsley Coman (Bayern), Kylian Mbappé (PSG), Antoine Griezmann (Barça), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Karim Benzema (Real), Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco), Ousmane Dembélé (Barça)

Maignan was / is on the short list to replace Lloris. Lloris has played very well lately, I cant imagine why Spurs'd sell him unless he too wants to jump ship. Its funny Sissoko still gets a call up, he's really regressed this year, hasnt even been industrious in tracking runners. And forget about offering anything going forward. Antoine do you think the Benzema thing will blow up in Deschamps' face? Maybe because Griezmann hasnt been in form lately he's taking the risk

[Antoine]

Hard to say... Like Jacquet, Deschamps often thinks more in terms of "group alchemy" than "reuniting the best 23 players", it's probably even more true with 26 players now. It explains why Benzema wasn't here for years, but now I suppose that since the last WC, Deschamps has seen the opponents adapt their organizations when they meet Les Bleus and that his system of wild, super fast counter attacks driven by Mbappe, won't work twice. So I guess he's trying to introduce something else with Benzema... But it's really difficult to predict if it's going to work, especially in a Euro, as the competition is more dense (even the group phase is difficult here).
On a related note, the political climate here is disgusting, with the far right penetrating more and more layers in the society. Those racist fucks are obviously criticizing the return of Benzema ("he's french... Well he has the ID card", "he doesn't sing La Marseillaise", the same kind of 1930s shitty rhetoric), so I just hope he can play some good games so they'll shut the fuck up.

[surfer]

Hard to say... Like Jacquet, Deschamps often thinks more in terms of "group alchemy" than "reuniting the best 23 players", it's probably even more true with 26 players now. It explains why Benzema wasn't here for years, but now I suppose that since the last WC, Deschamps has seen the opponents adapt their organizations when they meet Les Bleus and that his system of wild, super fast counter attacks driven by Mbappe, won't work twice. So I guess he's trying to introduce something else with Benzema... But it's really difficult to predict if it's going to work, especially in a Euro, as the competition is more dense (even the group phase is difficult here).
On a related note, the political climate here is disgusting, with the far right penetrating more and more layers in the society. Those racist fucks are obviously criticizing the return of Benzema ("he's french... Well he has the ID card", "he doesn't sing La Marseillaise", the same kind of 1930s shitty rhetoric), so I just hope he can play some good games so they'll shut the fuck up.

He and Cavani (even Jermaine Defoe I would say) have been imo really underrated or not appreciated over the course of their careers. Where would Madrid be without Benzema, Modric, and of course Ramos too. They seem to hold that squad together through thick and thin.

[Antoine]

I haven't really followed Cavani in MU, but I loved him in Napoli & PSG, not only as a scorer, but for his fantastic, rare, defensive work.
Benzema was a bit eclipsed by Ronaldo, but since he has moved to Italy, I think it's easier to see his qualities (had the chance to see him in Lyon before ; he was young but already excellent... and he has really improved since that).

[surfer]

This Croatian squad is a bit like the one in 2002, older, missing a few key players, with the younger generation not quite ready to step up. That being said, this 24 team format is absurd:

If Croatia finish first, we’ll play one of Portugal/France/Germany.

Finish second, we’ll likely get to play one of Sweden/Poland… However, we’ll meet one of Portugal/France/Germany in the following round.

Finish third, we likely avoid the Portugal/France/Germany trio altogether!

[Wombatz]

i don't usually watch press conferences, but nagelsmann's last one was famously cold, so i did, and wow, indeed, good riddance. apart from that he was trying to sell this season as another improvement sports-wise because of statistics (while anyone who followed this knows the numbers are good because a) bundesliga were shite and b) rats dispatched of lower teams with some consistency, yet even potentially heartening cl victories did not form a real challenger for whatever and they always handed over the points when threatened with a race for the title). with this attitude, he won't go far at bayern.

of course i'd want leicester in top 4 but as i don't believe chelsea stand a chance in the cl final if they don't have their spot secured and can't see liverpool blow it now (which would be my favorite scenario), not much fun to be had on the final day. here's to lille holding their nerve and iuve bottling up.

[surfer]

i don't usually watch press conferences, but nagelsmann's last one was famously cold, so i did, and wow, indeed, good riddance. apart from that he was trying to sell this season as another improvement sports-wise because of statistics (while anyone who followed this knows the numbers are good because a) bundesliga were shite and b) rats dispatched of lower teams with some consistency, yet even potentially heartening cl victories did not form a real challenger for whatever and they always handed over the points when threatened with a race for the title). with this attitude, he won't go far at bayern.

of course i'd want leicester in top 4 but as i don't believe chelsea stand a chance in the cl final if they don't have their spot secured and can't see liverpool blow it now (which would be my favorite scenario), not much fun to be had on the final day. here's to lille holding their nerve and iuve bottling up.

Mixed results for the final day. Foxes indeed blow it, and despite the fact that its one match, and Fofana going off injured probably had some effect, their form down the stretch was abysmal. Two years in a row. They played well in the Cup final which I didnt expect them to win, and they had a lot of injuries, but Im not sure Rodgers is as good a manager as he and others think he is. I'd be pretty wary of him coming to Spurs although he might be one of the few decent options left.

Spurs comeback was fun because it was totally unexpected, nothing indicated it was about to happen. And the last Bale goal had me on my feet; the 1-2 off the post. Also Schmeichel punching the ball into his own net was fantaastic, I still have some lingering bitterness about how he conducted himself at the penalty shootout against Croatia in the WC

Lille hold their nerve, Napoli blow it, and Juve pip fourth. Athleti hold on barely, down to the last seconds. Zidane leaving Madrid for Spurs? Lutz can dream . . . . . .


BTW I reset my KickTipp account so we can set one up for Euros if we get enough people to play

[Antoine]

Kind of crazy to see Emery winning a 4th Europa League (add to this a final with Arsenal...). If Tuchel manages to win saturday's game, NAK and Leonardo could feel a bitter taste...

[Wombatz]

seen parts of the game. if you're much the better team but your central player prefers dropping to the ground and whinging to doing something with the ball and piling on the pressure, then you deserve no better.

what's that rumor of poch back to spurs? is it time for a 2010s revival already? this would make sense for neither party ... (though him at psg also makes no sense ... they let go of pretty much the perfect coach with the requisite mad energy to get some tactics into pampered stars no matter how silly he looked along the way).

cl final will be a massacre, i'm afraid, with the wheels coming off tüchel's team and pep somehow under less pressure to win this than would allow for spontaneous combustion.

my boy invited me to his kicktipp before he noticed he didn't want his dad and friends in the same group ... so we'd be willing to join the party.

[Wombatz]

so the top 6 bundesliga teams (and 7 out of the top 8) will have a new manager next season. arguably none of them an obvious improvement except of course at leverkusen bosz had to go ... is that some kind of record?

conte leaving, galtier leaving, zidane leaving ... quite clearly it's a trend we're looking at, of managers marrying into budgets instead of teams ... and yet i find it doubtful that even half of these managers will be as successful elsewhere, so

[surfer]

Kind of crazy to see Emery winning a 4th Europa League (add to this a final with Arsenal...). If Tuchel manages to win saturday's game, NAK and Leonardo could feel a bitter taste...

Every player who left Spurs in the last four years has immediately won a trophy. Skipp, Foyth, Trippier, Walker, Eriksen, Nkoudou. Capoue. Pretty sure Harry has noticed this trend

[surfer]

what's that rumor of poch back to spurs? is it time for a 2010s revival already? this would make sense for neither party

Yes agree. Nostalgia is such a poison and this would be a completely emotion driven decision which is exactly how you should run a billion dollar club and business. Levy needs to hire a Director of Football and let that person drive the managerial hiring process. He cannot get out of the way of his own ego, this feels like a brazen attempt to get the fans back on his side. or drunk dialing your HS sweetheart after a bad breakup. They want to play progressive football with regressive front office decisions.

[roger.haddad.]

Does anyone else feel like Pep put his money on Chelsea with that team he fielded? Baffling.