Jul 29, 2020

In his prime, he was excellent and unique among modern strikers because of his workrate. In pure ability he was practically complete, plus the numbers speak for themselves as he’s been extraordinarily prolific since he broke through in Palermo. I always had an issue with his habit of sometimes fluffing easy chances in big games though, that’s honestly my only critique.

Right now, Icardi is simply better because of his mobility and ruthlessness in front of goal. Cavani to a different league would make a lot of sense, Atletico could still squeeze a good season out of him. I would take peak Cavani any day over the wife-stealer though.

 

Aug 5, 2020

Today we have our first games in European competitions since March.

1st we have Fc Copenhagen vs Basaksehir - no pressure here for the team from Turkey, eventhough they won in the first leg was only 1-0, they are coming in as champions in their home league which brought them a spot in the Champions League for the next season, so this game will be a bonus for them, on the other side the danish team have finished second in the league behind Midtjylland missing the Champions League qualifiers and they will push harder to win this competition which guarantees you a spot in the Champions League groups. My take here is still for Basaksehir to go through.

2nd game of the day Shakhtar - Wolsburg - After winning 2-1 in Germany, I'm pretty sure the champions of Ukraine will not lose this chance to qualify into the quarter finals. They had a pretty solid performance in the 1/8 finals where they managed to qualify against Benfica, after winning 2-1 at home and a crazy 2nd leg in Portugal where Benfica had a 3-1 lead but Shakhtar managed to score 2 goals in the end. Wolsburg had a pretty decent season in the Bundesliga, barely catching the Europa League qualifiers finishing only 1 point above Freiburg. My prediction here will be Shakhtar to win.

3rd match will be Inter - Getafe - Definetly the most exciting game of the day. After finishing 2nd in Serie A with only one point behind Juventus, having the best defence in the league with only 36 goals conceded, I don't think the Nerazzuri will have any dificulties to qualify against Getafe. They're coming in after 2 great wins, beating Napoli 2-0 at home and winning away against Atalanta 2-0(eventhough they were already guaranteed top 4). Martinez - Lukaku it's the most letal pair of strikers in Serie A if not in Europe at this moment. I'm sure they will go extra hard to win a trophy because it's been almost 10 years since this great team won something which was Coppa Italia back in 2010/2011 season. Getafe had a pretty bad year in Primera Division missing the Europa League in the last game where they lost against Leganes away 1-0. Note : this match, since 1st leg didn't took place back in march, will be one leg of 90 minutes and if it's a draw there will be 2 halves of 15 minutes each and after that penalties if needed. The game will take place in Germany on Veltins-Arena which is the stadium of Schalke 04. I'm going with Inter to qualify.

Last game of the day : Manchester United - Lask Linz - Nothing to say here since the Red Devils won in Austria 5-0 and they most certanly secured their place in the quarter finals.

 

Aug 7, 2020

It’s been an intriguing match, both teams defended atrociously on both goals.

City have done an excellent job at pressing high and making us uncomfortable at playing out from the back. Pep as expected is full of surprises, his man-oriented marking in the midfield (particularly shadowing our 3 mids) has proven effective as it resorts to Real having to hoof the ball and then City winning the 2nd balls. At this point they just need to control possession and really not make juvenile mistakes.

Real’s chances are harder as a result, but there are two tactical adjustments that I could see working: Overloading wings/halfspaces in order to drag players out of the middle where we like to impose our game. The other is simply trying to have our midfield beat their man—it sounds simple but it isn’t since these are the pressing traps Pep loves to do—but it instigates a ton of chaos that in those rare instances of City being on the back foot, they look very vulnerable. We just need to retain the ball, and likewise be very careful we don’t give it away cheaply as City are lethal on transitions.

Regardless, we’re in for a great 2nd half, plenty of weapons on the bench.

 

Aug 7, 2020

Regardless of our blunders in the back, City were the very much better team; more hungry, more driven and overall Pep’s gameplan worked better than ours.

Congrats @Xmipod & @Koolo, I like City’s chances to go to the final. Lyon is a stubborn team but modern football shows it’s a disastrous idea to be defending so deep, even if they have one man attacking force Depay, especially against Guardiola’s press. Bayern is most likely the opponent in the semis and although they’ve played some fantastic football this season, no one in the Bundesliga has punished them, as demonstrated today City is unforgiving. From that point, it’s pretty much holding onto nerves in the final, no other team aside from a healthy PSG really should be too troubling. Wish you guys the best.

As for us Madridistas here (spoilers in case you’re curious about my thoughts on the team):

Spoiler

it’s clear we’re still not the finished product yet. Sucks Varane had a really bad day, hopefully the experience gives him a much needed foot in the a--- to step it up, Ramos ain’t gonna be here forever. Modric & Kroos are the greatest midfield pairing we ever had, but all good things must come to an end. Fede & Odegaard will amend our lack of energy and impetus in the middle some day, but we’re far from being the team that dominated this competition, a lot more work needs to be done before we can compete again.

 

Aug 7, 2020

Thanks, it was probably the best tatical UCL matchup Ive seen in a while. Even though Gundogan gave me lots of heart attacks, it was a great game. Im not too comfortable in our chances vs Bayern, but we very much need another world class CB. Maybe Varane will be cheap after today?

This Lyon matchup will be a lot harder than people think, seems like another Monaco tie is in the books to me

 

Aug 7, 2020

They’re very stubborn, they’ve recently been using that d--- 3 man backline that can be exploited through aggressive pressing. The caveat comes with having to defend Memphis on the break, who I repeat is a one man offense lol.
They also have a young press resistant midfield that will try to make City’s life difficult. The advantage is you guys have the line-breaking dribblers & playmakers to crack their shells. The key is limiting their biggest weapon (the counter) by pinning them deep for a counterpress, this is something City do better than anyone.

It’ll be a good one, Lyon are good but not that Monaco side from years ago. They were a rare outlier of very excellent players that all went on to be relevant players at different clubs (except Bakayoko lol).

 

Aug 7, 2020

Juventus disappointing, Madrid not good enough city played better and deserved the win...

 

Aug 8, 2020

d---, Lyon did it
incompetent b---- a--- rudi garcia won't be fired because of this though, so it may hurt Lyon's next season. it's a shame because they have incredible players (Caqueret >>>>>>>> *)

 

Aug 8, 2020

f---ing Varane man... killed the hopes of the entire team. Can't be too upset tho after those recent years of dominating European football and not so bad of a season. Real Madrid will be back stronger than ever next year and the year after when Mbappe potentially joins.

If I'm not mistaken the competition for the new season literally begins next month or in October so... here's for a new beginning.



@Fire Squad

 

Aug 8, 2020

Nervy win for Barcelona, they approached this game much more cautiously than I have ever seen from Setien in my time watching his teams. Very narrow midfield that was getting overrun in the beginning before the first goal from Barca (albeit from a dubious call). Afterwards they unraveled & Leo demolished them in the last 20 minutes before Mertens dived for Napoli’s pk. 2nd half we saw some of Barca’s scarred psyche as they at times looked real shaky in escaping presses & losing the ball in valuable locations. They really need to get it together, the good thing is they will regain Vidal & Busquets, plus Messi didn’t get hurt either.

They will need to do a lot better vs Bayern, as the Bavarians are more relentless at aggressively regaining the ball. The younger legs in Bayern’s midfield might be the key, aside from Lewa’s scorching form. And yet, I wouldn’t count Barca our either; Bayern’s defense is very sketchy if a team puts them on the back foot. They rely heavily on pressure regains up high or overloading their right side with numbers—when it’s matchday, itll be a d-ck-measuring contest to see if Bayern allows Davies to do his dangerous overlaps or will they respect Messi’s presence on that side? Should be a good one!

 

Aug 9, 2020

So uhhhhhh Juventus sacked Sarri and appointed Pirlo. That is huge.

I hope Sarri finds a club, preferably one that can fund Jorginho.

 

Aug 9, 2020

...? yeah obviously they can't, i don't believe even any player from Lyon thinks they can win this

 

Aug 9, 2020

​

THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING ​

 

Aug 12, 2020

I’m not even an Atalanta fan but that was painful as f---

PSG were the worst team for them to be matched-up with, even with that in mind they were doing very well in the 1st half. PSG were not sharp, Atalanta kept complicating PSG’s build-up and were deservedly up by a goal. But the cracks were there, Neymar should have buried his chances vs that risky high line & man-oriented marking.

2nd half is where I think Gasperini made unfortunately the wrong call. I get it, defend deeper to stop Mbappe from running behind your team and make Neymar’s life a living h---. But it also inhibited Atalanta’s strongpoints which are possessional dominance & stretching out their opponents teams wide for aggressive ball progression. The subs defanged Atalanta, meanwhile Mbappe & co knocked on Atalanta’s door until the goals snuck in.

It’s once again a situation where as a coach you wonder how drastic will your alternative gameplans will alter the course of the game. Gasperini will feel hard done, but it shouldn’t overshadow what a remarkable season they’ve had, for me the most fun team to watch in all of Europe. As for PSG, it was a hump they finally hurdled over, the only team that can possibly defend Neymar & Mbappe is Atletico. The question remains, can they finally win it?