GWT: Champions League Semifinals

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

I won’t say the Coutinho transfer isn’t worse than that of Hazard, but it’s really close. @Duchene2MacKinnon is right that some of the things being brought up are irrelevant. What Liverpool did with the money or how good they were or were not before their respective moves doesn’t matter. It’s about how they’ve panned out and Coutinho has been better. I’d also add that that Barca got some money back and saves on his wages when they loaned Coutinho out. And Hazard wasn’t in great fitness from day one and he’s not been much to write home about regardless of that. At the end of the day both transfers were bad and both clubs could have done much better with their money.

On a side note, and I’m not going to say much about it, but the Hazard comparisons to Neymar haven’t aged well.

As bad as the Bale to Neymar comparison?

 

[S E P H]

Lol this CL is just magical and probably the worst Evilo has had to go through. PSG getting their arses kicked, PSG firing their manager just to watch the club who hired him get into the finals lol, and another pro-EPL year showing the mighty league is still mighty. I gotta give Chelsea some credit though, finding their way stumbling through Europe to their second CL deserves some credit from me.

With all that said. We gotta be all honest with ourselves now, the real CL final was between PSG and Man City because Pep is going to wipe the floor with Chelsea. It's going to be a Liverpool vs Spurs 2.0 where one team shouldn't have ever reached this stage.

 

[Blender]

Lol this CL is just magical and probably the worst Evilo has had to go through. PSG getting their arses kicked, PSG firing their manager just to watch the club who hired him get into the finals lol, and another pro-EPL year showing the mighty league is still mighty. I gotta give Chelsea some credit though, finding their way stumbling through Europe to their second CL deserves some credit from me.

With all that said. We gotta be all honest with ourselves now, the real CL final was between PSG and Man City because Pep is going to wipe the floor with Chelsea. It's going to be a Liverpool vs Spurs 2.0 where one team shouldn't have ever reached this stage.

Third CL final. They lost in 2008 to Manchester United and won in 2012 against Bayern Munich.

 

[The Abusement Park]

If the price of Hazard and Coutinho was the same I would definitely say Hazard was the worse transfer. But that isn’t the case and Couts cost 45mil more. That’s a huge difference in price and one that one injury riddled season doesn’t overcome.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

If the price of Hazard and Coutinho was the same I would definitely say Hazard was the worse transfer. But that isn’t the case and Couts cost 45mil more. That’s a huge difference in price and one that one injury riddled season doesn’t overcome.

Where did you get the number 45 million more?

also what one injury riddled season? For hazard? That’s not the case at all

 

[The Abusement Park]

Where did you get the number 45 million more?

also what one injury riddled season? For hazard? That’s not the case at all

Sorry 40mil. That difference in price is massive.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Sorry 40mil. That difference in price is massive.

I see 20 million and 2 shit years.

 

[The Abusement Park]

I see 20 million and 2 shit years.

It was 102 and 142? Neither have been good at all since the transfer but Couts price makes his worse.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

It was 102 and 142? Neither have been good at all since the transfer but Couts price makes his worse.

Which is why I asked were are you getting those numbers. I see 20 million difference

 

[Starat327]

Third CL final. They lost in 2008 to Manchester United and won in 2012 against Bayern Munich.

Yup, 3rd CL Final.

2 players leaving to hope for something better getting knocked out by their former team.

A manager fired for not being able to take the next step actually taking the next step.

 

[Evilo]

Lol this CL is just magical and probably the worst Evilo has had to go through. PSG getting their arses kicked, PSG firing their manager just to watch the club who hired him get into the finals lol, and another pro-EPL year showing the mighty league is still mighty. I gotta give Chelsea some credit though, finding their way stumbling through Europe to their second CL deserves some credit from me.

With all that said. We gotta be all honest with ourselves now, the real CL final was between PSG and Man City because Pep is going to wipe the floor with Chelsea. It's going to be a Liverpool vs Spurs 2.0 where one team shouldn't have ever reached this stage.

I don't think PSG got their asses kicked.
I love the fact Tuchel was fired because Tuchel ball is not only boring but the team wasn't responding anymore. Also much less whining in press conferences.
I don't care Tuchel wins the CL it was still the right decision.
PSG had one of the toughest route to the final ever and was still close to making it.

As for the EPL, la liga has been weak, Serie A has been awful, BL was cleanly beaten too.
The EPL, as I said at the time had the best draw in the QF, getting the easier opponent left and not a single epl/EPL confrontation.
That was a long shot but they managed. No Bayern, no PSG, and no EPL/EPL.
How incredible, right?


Finally I'll add two things :
1/ City was suspended from the CL.
2/ City should have lost to BVB with fair reffing.


Nope.

 

[Live in the Now]

Hazard has literally not shown up fit to play a single game. It's not just injuries either. He showed up fat and has never not been fat since the transfer.

 

[YNWA14]

Hazard's fee (105m) was for a player who had been consistently the best player in England for over half a decade. He's had a brutal time with injuries since he arrived and that's why he's barely been on the pitch and has barely settled in. But the fee made sense at the time and it's largely (not entirely, but largely) due to bad injury luck that he hasn't come good on it.

Nitpicking here but Hazard was never consistently the best player in England for 5 years. van Dijk, de Bruyne, Salah, Mahrez, Kante...I think he had one season where he was the clearcut best. Definitely one the best players in the PL over his time there though. Still, that doesn't make it any less of a terrible transfer in the way it worked out; in hindsight at least Coutinho did have some contribution...Hazard has been absolutely terrible.

 

[YNWA14]

Second all PL final in three years...I think City finally get their crown, but Chelsea are no slouches.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Second all PL final in three years...I think City finally get their crown, but Chelsea are no slouches.

2nd in 3 years and with 4 different teams, that's the impressive achievement. No other country has done that.

 

[luiginb]

Werner is embarrassing. Even simple passes. The lack of IQ is frightening.

You've got a gift of choosing the best players on a given night and crapping on them.

I do agree that his IQ seems to sometimes hold him back, his body is faster than his mind sometimes. He's thrilling every time he's on the ball though. I just don't think he's a good fit for the EPL, maybe that's why he tends to stand out more in the CL. Not physical enough, not good enough in the air, not careful enough with offsides.

Also surprised that with all the Kante lovefest no one mentioned Jorginho, who was instrumental in getting the win last night.

 

[luiginb]

I don’t think anything will beat the Coutinho to Barca transfer but this is damn close

At least Coutinho seems like he's trying, problem is he's closer to his Espanyol/Inter form, then to his Liverpool form.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Eden Hazard is a piece on monkey shit.

- Does not train hard
- Does not eat well
- Does not seem to care about losing
- Injured all the time
- Playing like shit when playing

I wish we could sue Chelsea for selling us a bill of goods. That's how much I think he sucks.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I just don't understand why people are surprised about Hazard, this has always been known about him. He's always been a tremendous talent, but someone that just enjoys to play the game as opposed to treating it as a business and having that burning desire to win at all costs. When he's on, he's a joy to watch, but he's always been a frustrating player to follow.

Players like him are not meant to be at places like Madrid. Go to a place where the fans aren't as die-hard, and where the players tend to have more power. That's why Chelsea was perfect for him. The blame would always end up on the manager and not directly on him or other players, and the fans really weren't bothered with his just love of the game mentality. Sort of like how it wasn't meant to be with Kessel in Toronto.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

I just don't understand why people are surprised about Hazard, this has always been known about him. He's always been a tremendous talent, but someone that just enjoys to play the game as opposed to treating it as a business and having that burning desire to win at all costs. When he's on, he's a joy to watch, but he's always been a frustrating player to follow.

Players like him are not meant to be at places like Madrid. Go to a place where the fans aren't as die-hard, and where the players tend to have more power. That's why Chelsea was perfect for him. The blame would always end up on the manager and not directly on him or other players, and the fans really weren't bothered with his just love of the game mentality. Sort of like how it wasn't meant to be with Kessel in Toronto.

If having fun playing the game is what interests him, I respect that and there is a spot open in my Sunday league.

If you decide to move to Real Madrid, you know what comes with it. If you don't, well, you are ill-informed. So, yeah, I blame the player.

I also blame Perez for buying him.

 

[bleedblue1223]

If having fun playing the game is what interests him, I respect that and there is a spot open in my Sunday league.

If you decide to move to Real Madrid, you know what comes with it. If you don't, well, you are ill-informed. So, yeah, I blame the player.

I also blame Perez for buying him.

I sort of blame the player, but at this point he is who he is, this is all on Perez. It's similar to the frustrations I have with Chelsea where we'll go through managers like they are candy and the players have little accountability, but at this point if you are still a Chelsea fan, you come to accept it.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

I sort of blame the player, but at this point he is who he is, this is all on Perez. It's similar to the frustrations I have with Chelsea where we'll go through managers like they are candy and the players have little accountability, but at this point if you are still a Chelsea fan, you come to accept it.

What Perez cares about his shiny new toys and shirt sales. So, yeah, I do blame him for buying players without really considering where they fit on the squad or who they are as people.

 

[les Habs]

Well Hazard made sense at the time to a degree because the Hazard you’re seeing now wasn’t the Hazard in the shop window. Still that money could have been better invested as I said yesterday. Not saying Madrid are the only club you could say that about as is evidenced by Coutinho and it happens to every club.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

We're in a UCL Final!

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Well Hazard made sense at the time to a degree because the Hazard you’re seeing now wasn’t the Hazard in the shop window. Still that money could have been better invested as I said yesterday. Not saying Madrid are the only club you could say that about as is evidenced by Coutinho and it happens to every club.

Agreed. He was signed to replace Ronaldo. It made sense from a role stand point.

However, if the guy was always like that as a person and did not have the personality to succeed at Madrid, we should not have signed him. That should be part of the scouting process. Not everyone can succeed everywhere. Does not make them bad players or bad people, just not the right fit.

Perez does not care about that. He cares about marketing. Getting Hazard was going to get a lot of press and sell a lot of shirts, so he did it.

Some with Courtois. Navas was more than fine. Spending on a keeper was dumb. Luckily for Perez, Courtois has been awesome the last two years.