Futbol 2019-20

[Antoine]

Yes Lyon somehow manage to neutralize the opponent (juventus, city, bayern on some phases, psg during the french league the cup final until penalties). But as you said, a clinical bayern... Maybe they weren't forcing much, though they seem a bit tired in the second half, but the bench is really deep

[Wombatz]

both finalists were not really tested ... and since i'm not yet convinced that neymar/mbappe will still play unselfishly when there's danger of them being upstaged, maybe one of them won't be tested at all.

so how does one plan success in the cl? there were two semi finalists who shouldn't really have been there. bayern still started the season underwhelmingly with a manager who'd been an obvious mistake, then before they could find a better one the no-name caretaker (who will never be a successful coach elsewhere) transforms them into a relentless machine, like some ugly republican equivalent to golden age soviet ice hockey. and with psg the news before the covid break had been that tüchel had completely lost the dressing room, stars giggling sideways when he tried preaching football to them. now that situation has supposedly molded itself into a proper team?

[Antoine]

Sevilla, Sevilla, Sevilla, Sevilla, Sevilla, Sevilla! A team full of resources, quite impressed by their management of the last minutes of the game.
A bit sad for Lukaku

[Wombatz]

cl final was boring. not strictly a boring game, but how it played out between two eminently respectable (yawn) teams was boring. mbappe clearly wasn't quite there yet after his ankle (or simply isn't quite there yet period), neymar made a respectable effort at playing responsibly (yawn) ... the lack of fireworks was not all due to bayern's defending or tactical straitjackets from tüchel, but also simply from these two not quite delivering ...

[surfer]

Missed both finals due to the fact that we were evacuated from our home because of wildfires (we're fine, our home is fine, our town is ok, although neighboring ones didnt fare as well), and we spent the week in a place with spotty internet. Sevilla and Bayern did the business. Professional jobs, both.

As far as the transfer window, one thing I'll say about Spurs signing Doherty regardless of his talent is that he is vocal and, cocky and a bit of a shithouser. I'd say the same for Hojbjerg as a vocal leader and Joe Hart is known as being a character too. I'd say what Jose is doing is improving the grit of the squad but more specifically making Spurs a bit nastier. Take that as you will.

[Antoine]

Beautiful
https://twitter.com/ElevenSportsBEf/sta ... 6871501824

[surfer]

Beautiful
https://twitter.com/ElevenSportsBEf/sta ... 6871501824

Fantastic.

Also I've been meaning to come here and say that if you havent watched the highlights of the Faroe Islands v Malta match from the last Nations League round, what are you waiting for. Unfortunately you can only see them on the UEFA site and you have to register for free, but its worth it for the winning free kick in extra time. Down 2-1 in the 87' Faroe Islands scored two cracking goals to win.

[surfer]

My general feeling is that nostalgia is a toxic poison, almost never good in any context, at best harmless. It is inherently retrograde, and sprung from a vision of an imagined past that is based in fantasy. You pay (in this case, not much but still) for future performance, not past success. So what will Bale offer? He is better than Lucas or Bergwijn, and I'm not particularly concerned with Lucas' development, but Bergwijn is a young player and this will (despite ideas that Bale will "mentor" him) retard his development, I dont think that's debatable.

And I suppose if your primary goal is to win any trophy this year at any cost (and clearly Jose's arc says that year two is when this happens), then it makes a certain about of sense to make decisions with exclusively short term benefits. Jose did this with Zlatan at United and now it all seems like an amusing (and toxic) interlude before the hard business Ole is engaged in of building sustainable success. But we knew this was what we were signing up for when Mou arrived, and this is perfectly in line with that so maybe my unease is more a symptom of the direction this club is going in rather than this particular move.

[Wombatz]

my boy is totally psyched for bale (and immediately wants the jersey ... i've suggested he could have it both ways and get a "bane" jersey) ... of course the only time we saw him extendedly was during the last euros and there he was utterly fantastic but that's some water under the bridge. nevertheless, anything but the gnawing boredom this season promised to be (at least until mourinho was fired.)

ps: also of course for bale it's potentially the easiest way to somewhat redeem his legacy with a couple of nice fresh moments on top of the nostalgia.

[Wombatz]

haha, suarez/costa attacking for simeone ... this can't be healthy for anyone or themselves

[surfer]

my boy is totally psyched for bale (and immediately wants the jersey ... .

Get him the yellow jersey, or even the green one. The home shirt looks horrible. imo

It does look like Levy is backing Mourinho with funds. Smacks of desperation really. It makes me sad because he should have backed Poch instead. Jose has shown that he isnt a great evaluator of talent (de Bruyne, Lukaku, Salah and others all sold under him). But Spurs neeeeeeed CL football for their bottom line, and also I think Jose is going to push for Europa or League Cup trophy. If I were a betting man I would bet against either of those happening, because of how hard it is to integrate players into a squad quickly. And our defense hasnt looked this shaky since the heady days of Tim Sherwood.

Also I could write a whole post about All or Nothing on Amazon Prime, but Im not sure anyone is watching that but me. Has anyone else seen it? Lutz your boy would love it.

[surfer]

Spurs looked coherent against Newcastle on Sunday, that's probably the best they've looked with the football in quite some time. Of course their finishing and it should be said the world class performance of the NUFC keeper kept it at 1-0 until the Dier handball. There was really a fluidity and speed of play and ideas that Ive never seen before under Mourinho. Of course the defense is still extremely shaky and probably the worst backline since Sherwood. But Reguilon and Doherty and whichever CB they decide to buy will go a long ways to fixing that. Its quite astonishing the backing that Mourinho is getting from Levy. Also Dele is done at Spurs. Sad, but he needs a wake up call and its too late at Spurs I think. Also nice win at Chelsea (Werner scored) in the League Cup with a heavily rotated side.

[surfer]

Liverpool, Ajax, Atalanta, wow!

Rats dropped into group of death

[surfer]

Group A: Bayern Munich, Atlético Madrid, Salzburg, Lokomotiv Moscow
Group B: Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter, Monchengladbach
Group C: Porto, Manchester City, Olympiakos, Marseille
Group D: Liverpool, Ajax, Atalanta, Midtjylland
Group E: Sevilla, Chelsea, Krasnodar, Rennes
Group F: Zenit, Dortmund, Lazio, Club Brugge
Group G: Juventus, Barcelona, Dynamo Kyiv, Ferencvaros
Group H: PSG, Manchester United, RB Leipzig, Istanbul Basaksehir

[Wombatz]

half the groups would have been death groups with rats added to the mix start of the season has been ok, it looks like forsberg is out of the slump, which surely would help.

spurs indeed look like things might be picking up, just think what another coach could do with all this attacking talent. (my boy still wants the home jersey, btw, they're all ugly, but the yellow is too out of character and the green one just drab.)

[surfer]

Spurs had better be careful because they are in danger of becoming watchable again, and Mourinho is perilously close to losing his reputation as a negative nelly. Its amazing how settled this team seems with all the new players. Reguilon feels like he's been with the club for ages.

I watched Rats on Sat. They started slowly and without real intent but their discipline was too much. Good ball movement, good shape, theyre just a well drilled side. Forsberg looked OK, it was weird for me to see them without Sabitzer and Poulsen.

Atalanta keeps winning and scoring. They only lost one player from last year's squad. I think Serie A could be wide open this year.