2020 Champions League Thread Part II

[Halladay]

Continue

Click to read more...

 

[Chimaera]

Steve Bruce for Barca!

 

[robertmac43]

What match up are people hoping for in the finals?

 

[Live in the Now]

What match up are people hoping for in the finals?

Lyon-Leipzig for obvious reasons. Hopefully no matchup from the same league though.

 

[les Habs]

@Stray Wasp We probably could have used all three yesterday! I was referring to City though.

What match up are people hoping for in the finals?

Barça vs whoever.

 

[robertmac43]

Barça vs whoever.

Might be waiting a couple of years.

 

[les Habs]

Just saw the highlights. Not sure what Guardiola was thinking with that lineup. If it was to respect Lyon of course you have to do that, but IMO that isn't playing to your own strengths. Still though, that Sterling miss, Ederson wobble and was Laporte not clipped on that second goal?

 

[Stray Wasp]

Not sure what Guardiola was thinking with that lineup.

As LITN has alluded to, Guardiola in Champions League knockout games seems to out-think himself. It's like a chess grandmaster who is so consumed with every possible permutation on the board that the first time he needs to move he tries to make the rook travel diagonally.

 

[les Habs]

As LITN has alluded to, Guardiola in Champions League knockout games seems to out-think himself. It's like a chess grandmaster who is so consumed with every possible permutation on the board that the first time he needs to move he tries to make the rook travel diagonally.

In the past he used to be too rigid. Probably needs to find some middle ground.

 

[Stray Wasp]

@Stray Wasp We probably could have used all three yesterday! I was referring to City though.



Barça vs whoever.

I stand corrected!

City could always take John Carver. No compensation to pay, past experience of working with demanding billionaires. A match made in heaven.

 

[Blender]

As LITN has alluded to, Guardiola in Champions League knockout games seems to out-think himself. It's like a chess grandmaster who is so consumed with every possible permutation on the board that the first time he needs to move he tries to make the rook travel diagonally.

He set up a defensive formation with a defensively minded squad despite the squad not being very good playing that way, as they are best on the front foot, and had his best player in De Bruyne playing out of position for the first ~55 minutes. Not only did they not generate very many chances until they made some changes, but they were still vulnerable to Lyon counter-attacking because their midfield got completely out performed by the young guys on Lyon.

 

[Live in the Now]

He set up a defensive formation with a defensively minded squad despite the squad not being very good playing that way, as they are best on the front foot, and had his best player in De Bruyne playing out of position for the first ~55 minutes. Not only did they not generate very many chances until they made some changes, but they were still vulnerable to Lyon counter-attacking because their midfield got completely out performed by the young guys on Lyon.

The year they lost to Monaco he decided to play Kolarov at CB over Otamendi, which led to Kolarov and Stones having a nightmarish performance. Last year was the only elimination while at City where his team selection didn't have some part in the result. It's a chronic overthinking issue.

 

[Maestro84]

Barca is simply not what they were in 2009 or 2011, this is now a slow and injury-prone team relying heavily on a 33-year old Messi. They gotta revamp this entire team ASAP what happened yesterday was the definition of humiliation

 

[YNWA14]

@Cassano I actually mentioned this before but I thought that having a rest before the CL and preparing at their own pace would be an advantage. The fixture congestion that the PL especially came back to after not doing anything for months IMO hurt more than helped.

That said I’m so glad Lyon won. I hope they go all the way.

 

[HajdukSplit]

So based off Twitter logic from ‘fans’ of the game less than 10 years Bundesliga and Ligue 1 are no longer “farmers leagues” (whatever the hell that means)

 

[HajdukSplit]

So based off Twitter logic from ‘fans’ of the game less than 10 years Bundesliga and Ligue 1 are no longer “farmers leagues” (whatever the hell that means)

 

[Cassano]

If PSG wins CL vs. Bayern, will Kouassi get a medal? Lol.

 

[JoemAvs]

There is a reason why I was not one bit mad when Guardiola left Bayern for City...
Auswärtspep is just awful...
Was with Bayern and still is with City..
You really don't want him to coach your team if he is playing away from home in the Champions League..
That has been going on for years..

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

2020 Champions League Thread

The discrimination maybe real but that tweet is fake. I get it's a good time to take shots at Barca but please this is just nonsense. THere's plenty of real stupidity don't need to make up shit.

 

[S E P H]

Oil Money FC just lost to French Dessert FC. Embarrassing if I was a Citeh fan, you lot spend like 60 trillion thousand pounds on the entire squad with probably the third best player in the world and lost to the fake Moussa Dembele. This was Man City's year and they effin' blew it, them not winning it yet again has easily been more embarrassing than Arsenal constantly bowing out of the round of 16.

I thought Pep wasn't the problem and he's still a brilliant manager, but they gotta sack him after the season they just had.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Reading the thread after finally having a computer to type on I cant comment on everything but some of the commentary smh. Ac Milan, blame the leaders for the "collapse" joke all you want but teams have dips in quality, for Ac to be AC there were a lot of external/internal factors that barca won't go through. And how many times do barca have to lose for it be clear that there is no collapse this is there level. 8-2 is overkill but clearly there not a team that can win CL right now. Has nothing to do with leadership and everything to do with quality.

Last point f*** Mueller hope someone kicks his face next game.

 

[S E P H]

Barca is simply not what they were in 2009 or 2011, this is now a slow and injury-prone team relying heavily on a 33-year old Messi. They gotta revamp this entire team ASAP what happened yesterday was the definition of humiliation

You're right on who they're relying on, but lets be honest that they've spent like 300 million on three players who haven't had any sort of valuable impact to the club. If they spent that 300 million wisely, they would've won La Liga and the CL this year. It's just dumb people at the top, nothing else.

 

[East Coast Bias]

CAS appeal still City’s biggest win in Europe.

 

[S E P H]

2020 Champions League Thread

The discrimination maybe real but that tweet is fake. I get it's a good time to take shots at Barca but please this is just nonsense. THere's plenty of real stupidity don't need to make up shit.

Stuff like that happens in probably all sports, it's how good ole Canadian boys Ekblad and Reinhart can go above Draisaitl. I don't think you can call it discrimination though, but them being idiots and not trusting the player because when has Canada ever produced a player as good as Davies or American with Pulisic? These lads are genesis for each respected country and it makes perfect sense that the big clubs in Europe are cautious to secondary countries for football.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Stuff like that happens in probably all sports, it's how good ole Canadian boys Ekblad and Reinhart can go above Draisaitl. I don't think you can call it discrimination though, but them being idiots and not trusting the player because when has Canada ever produced a player as good as Davies or American with Pulisic? These lads are genesis for each respected country and it makes perfect sense that the big clubs in Europe are cautious to secondary countries for football.

Meh the discrimination might be there (stupidly) ala your example or Kopitar but there's a big difference in drafting as opposed to just signing one. The tweet has been fact checked and it is fake.