GWT: English Premier League: 1/2/2016-1/3/2016
- Thread starter Halladay
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Best game I've seen out of him in a long long time. He needs to string these performances together as well as other players if they are to finally climb up the table.
Top 4 is a big ask. With so many shocks every week, who knows, but they need European football next season. If they had gotten results against teams like Bournemouth, West Ham, Watford and Stoke it would probably be a more realistic target.
Yeah....no. lol
It sucks that this team doesn't have the form to give PSG a good game. A few changes here and there and with certain players finding some form it could be a different story.
Although it would all the more sweeter to screw Spurs out of another CL spot when they actually finished top 4
spintheblackcircle
incoming!!!
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spintheblackcircle
incoming!!!
- Mar 1, 2002
- 66,246
- 12,200
spintheblackcircle
incoming!!!
- Mar 1, 2002
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Dead silence around here when Chelsea put in a good performance. Love it
When more than one player find form, this team is actually good. Shocking, right?
Even blind squirrels find nuts.
Virtanen18
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gary69
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Yeah....no. lol
It sucks that this team doesn't have the form to give PSG a good game. A few changes here and there and with certain players finding some form it could be a different story.
Although it would all the more sweeter to screw Spurs out of another CL spot when they actually finished top 4
Chelsea have 6 games before the PSG fixture, they need to win at least 4 of those to move somewhat safely in the top half of the table.
Arsenal and ManU will be tough ones, but all the rest are quite winnable. 13 points from those games would do them a ton of good.
That would put them in decent position to make an assault for European places, since they have both Leicester and Spurs at home late in the season. Though Liverpool and West Ham straight after the PSG 2nd leg isn't ideal.
Power Man
Grrrr
maclean
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Dortmund? the team that finished second in their Europa League group behind Krasnodar?
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So? They were clearly prioritizing the league and just doing enough to get by in the group stages.
Ceremony
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maclean
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So? You were the one putting them in a group with Barca - Real - Bayern. Those teams could field their B teams and still not lose to Thessaloniki. And I don't recall seeing them even set foot in the Europa League. No disrespect to the team or the league, but come on.
Live in the Now
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Reading is hard I guess. I said they're on par with those teams offensively and this season. They generate numerous high quality chances nearly every match this season, and convert them at a high rate. On the other end, they concede goals at a very high rate given how much they dominate the ball, and how few shots they allow. This is why they're not on the level of Barca or Bayern, who also are great defensively.
Since their participation in the Europa League is due to last season's performance, that is irrelevant to my argument.
Real's performance domestically has been flawed just as Dortmund's EL campaign, but they don't have the excuse that they only stumbled once they had already all but secured the result they wanted (qualification) or were resting players. I don't see you knocking them. Typical selective criticism. Reminds me of the people in Germany trying to disparage Mkhitaryan's performance in the first half because he didn't score enough in the EL, or when Dortmund lost.
No doubt Dortmund isn't as deep of a roster and they struggle to create offense at nearly the same rate when 3 of Weigl, Mkhi, Aubameyang, and Gündogan don't play, but so far that has mostly happened this season due to Tuchel's choices to rest players. Tuchel is by all accounts and all evidence so far also very good at preventing injuries due to his training style, so not being as deep as bigger clubs isn't that big of an issue at the moment.
maclean
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Oh I read that just fine. Add domestically and maybe I'd sign off, but at that point the statement becomes essentially meaningless.
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lol. How is it meaningless when 2/3 of their matches are domestic? Oh right, you prefer to focus on this super small sample size because it better suits your argument.
And there were plenty of EL matches where Dortmund lit up the opposition offensively. Scored more than 4 goals in 3 of 4 qualifying matches, were shut out in 2 of their 6 group matches, but also scored 3-4 in 2 of their 6. They averaged 2.5 goals per game in 10 EL matches. A still respectable 1.66 if you only count the 6 group matches. (But why would you? Your point is they failed to destroy inferior opponents consistently, but their opponents in the two qualifying rounds were also qualitatively inferior, so it's fine to include them.)
I could also pull out the one or two matches where Barca or Bayern failed to crack the opposing defense. Barca were dominated when they played their subs away vs. Leverkusen (similarly to how Dortmund lost when they rested players in the EL). I don't see you questioning their place among the best offenses in Europe because of that.
maclean
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Because the idea of comparing teams based on domestic GF is ridiculous, because the idea that a team scoring as many goals meaning they're in the same category as the creme de la creme is ridiculous and just in general sticking your team in the top 5 by narrowing down criteria until they squeeze in is in ridiculous. By now it's massively off-topic and evidently we are not going to see eye to eye.
