CL Matchweek 3

Savant

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Yeah Liverpool. Show those Slovenians who is boss.

All kidding aside Liverpool really needed to stomp a team out after their recent run. Hopefully they have some good momentum going into Sunday.
 

Savant

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You mean Europa League? Dortmund is out of CL

Dortmund would easily be the best team in the EL and Bosz knows how to navigate that. If they go to EL, they are the favorite.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

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When I first heard the name Kyle Walker-Peters I thought it was just Kyle Walkers full name they wrote, same position and all. I found that hilarious when I realized it wasn't lol

They need like a Harry Kane-Smith or something like that for when he's sold to Real. :laugh:
 

Pavel Buchnevich

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Europa League will be fun.

What a calamitous performance.

I'm done defending Buerki, he's made a critical error in every UCL match so far this season that effected the scoreline. That goal was so awful, he made two big errors. He got bailed out initially for his playing out of the back, and then couldn't handle a weak shot. We are going to need a new keeper next season, these performances from him have been shambolic.

We were so poor. We only had a few shots all game, despite having all the possession. The decision making was so bad from all of them.
 

Pouchkine

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May 20, 2015
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There are a lot of better teams in the Europa already and some others would follow as well. This Dortmund is nothing special.
Fantastic win by Spartak that was one fun and quality game. Nice to see a real atmosphere as well compare to all those pathetic boring crowds at Real City and so on...
 

Savant

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There are a lot of better teams in the Europa already and some others would follow as well. This Dortmund is nothing special.
Fantastic win by Spartak that was one fun and quality game. Nice to see a real atmosphere as well compare to all those pathetic boring crowds at Real City and so on...

Europa looks great this year. Man U went through the worst Europa League field I had ever seen last year by comparison.
 

Deficient Mode

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Mar 25, 2011
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There are a lot of better teams in the Europa already and some others would follow as well. This Dortmund is nothing special.

There are a lot of better teams than Dortmund in the EL? lol which ones?

This Dortmund has issues against top teams but no indication the performance today was anything but an anomaly. Players were so slow and sloppy technically. Madrid was the only match this season in which they were thoroughly outplayed. They deserved a point from the Tottenham match.
 

The Abusement Park

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There are a lot of better teams than Dortmund in the EL? lol which ones?

This Dortmund has issues against top teams but no indication the performance today was anything but an anomaly. Players were so slow and sloppy technically. Madrid was the only match this season in which they were thoroughly outplayed. They deserved a point from the Tottenham match.

Arsenal duh ;)
 
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Havre

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Jul 24, 2011
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A lot of better teams than Dortmund? Hopefully Spurs stay in the CL then - sounds like the easier competition.

Dortmund aren’t out yet. APOEL are poor, but Spurs could easily have gone at least 0-1 down in Cyprus. Who knows what would have happened.

Now I don’t believe Spurs will mess this up and I find the comments about “Spursing” it quite ridiculous. This Spurs team is very different from the teams that have given Spurs that reputation. Still no games are given 3 points so...
 

Pavel Buchnevich

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Bosz is really starting to piss me off.

Weigl, Dahoud and Goetze are all fit recently. Okay, Dahoud was ill today, but thats besides the point, which isn't just about today. On many occasions, he has chosen not to play these three together. He's only started them once together in the same lineup, a game we won 6-1.

The excuses for not playing these three together have got to stop. Dortmund can not be at our best when we are playing Sahin, Castro, Kagawa in place of these three. That has to be the strength of the team, there are very few teams in Europe who have a better trio than that, yet we've only seen it once this season.

Imagine Real Madrid deciding Kroos, Modric and Isco are going to split games with Kovacic, Ceballos and Llorente without any defined rotation for these players, a random group of 3 is put out for any particular game, basically just picking 3 names out of a hat.
 

Savant

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Bosz is really starting to piss me off.

Weigl, Dahoud and Goetze are all fit recently. Okay, Dahoud was ill today, but thats besides the point, which isn't just about today. On many occasions, he has chosen not to play these three together. He's only started them once together in the same lineup, a game we won 6-1.

The excuses for not playing these three together have got to stop. Dortmund can not be at our best when we are playing Sahin, Castro, Kagawa in place of these three. That has to be the strength of the team, there are very few teams in Europe who have a better trio than that, yet we've only seen it once this season.

Imagine Real Madrid deciding Kroos, Modric and Isco are going to split games with Kovacic, Ceballos and Llorente without any defined rotation for these players, a random group of 3 is put out for any particular game, basically just picking 3 names out of a hat.

Look at Napoli’s midfield too.

The only guaranteed first choice player is Hamsik. Jorginho and Allan tend to get the big starts, but It feels like Sarri will change it up based on opposition, but not all managers seem to have an obvious direction in this.
 

Corto

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Llorente made some excellent plays.
Sanchez was great.
Modric is still the best midfielder in the world, sorry Pep.
Marcelo is struggling coming back from the injury, needs some more games.
Benzema great in build up play (as usual), but struggling to put away some absolute sitters (as usual).
Kane is a monster and is so much more than just a finisher that some people see him as. Missed a sitter, but he's oozing world class quality.
I love me some Poch, he was bang on with his tactics, the Llorente pick was great - and Sissoko put in his EURO performance and did really well.

Saw the highlights of the other games... Sad to see Monaco struggling, but at the same time, Besiktas is an underrated team filled with serious, veteran players, people should no longer be surprised they just beat Porto, Monaco and Leipzig (two of those in away games).

Missed the Man City - Napoli game, but I can only watch so much football at once...
 

Havre

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Jul 24, 2011
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Agree with most of that. Modric is just sensational. Completely neutralized Eriksen. In possession he almost always picks the right pass. Don’t want to get into that Kroos only passes sideways debate again. I rate Kroos very highly, but you can see when he has a safe option and a risky one he usually leans towards the safe. Modric just naturally picks the best - safe or risky. And he executes of course.

Benzema got to be frustrating for the Madrid fans. Solid in build up yes, but so often the Spurs defenders just let him do his thing. He just isn’t aggressive enough often enough. Obviously I’m not objective, but even if Kane missed that big chance and struggled to find his place next to/in front of Llorente in the first half - you can see how he is so much more than Benzema.
 

Paulie Gualtieri

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May 18, 2016
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Llorente made some excellent plays.
Sanchez was great.
Modric is still the best midfielder in the world, sorry Pep.
Marcelo is struggling coming back from the injury, needs some more games.
Benzema great in build up play (as usual), but struggling to put away some absolute sitters (as usual).
Kane is a monster and is so much more than just a finisher that some people see him as. Missed a sitter, but he's oozing world class quality.
I love me some Poch, he was bang on with his tactics, the Llorente pick was great - and Sissoko put in his EURO performance and did really well.

Agree with everything. Lloris happened to have the game of his life. Aurier was a 10/10 if not for that unlucky tackle. Very happy to see Winks holding his own too. Eriksen deserves a fair share of criticism (he was off his game last weekend too even if he scored), as does Dier who had his usual performance where you wonder what the hell he contributes to the team.

Happy to see that you survived the Bernabeu Havre! :)
 

Havre

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Jul 24, 2011
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Thanks.

Can’t agree with Dier. I usually hate him as a CD, but thought he covered space excellently. Haven’t seen the penalty in reply so can’t say if he should have anticipated that situation better. I thought him playing in the middle made him look much more comfortable then being on the right. Also thought Sanchez looked better on the right. Never understood why Pochettino played him centrally. Should be Sanchez - Alderweireld- Vertonghen with all fit.
 

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