Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

CL knockouts

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post

    Telepathic shit. Swear blind we were doing one at the back thing (well, one proper centre back, rikjaard/Mascherano slightly ahead as DMs) afore Guardiola. And Giovinco and Di Natale were midget colossus types for us an'a.
    Please tell me you had Adriano upfront and either Kompany or Chivu as your one CB. Those latter two became absolute weapons.
    These days the best tactic is just to flood your forward line in a 4-2-3-1. I've got Icardi (a total shithouse, yeah but he never seems to miss a chance) supported by Hazard, Mbappe and Salah. Filth, pure filth.

    Comment


      Originally posted by Steve GNR View Post
      Ajax winning the CL would put the world to rights.
      My PSV-supporting friend here politely disagrees.

      Comment


        Originally posted by Steve GNR View Post
        Ajax winning the CL would put the world to rights.
        They'd better win it this year because I'm pretty confident seven of them will start next season in England, Spain or Paris.

        Comment


          Plucky minnows Ajax were an absolute joy. They only spent about 25mill in the summer, snigger. Depressingly you just know that half the squad are going to 'bigger' clubs.

          If Ajax win the Dutch league and are runners-up in the Champions League they'll have to get thru two rounds of qualifying to make the group stage next season. The fourth best team in Italy will be straight in though, that's the important thing.

          Comment


            Yeah but on average Ajax have been running a net profit on transfers since the beginning of time. By quite some margin. It was a big risk buying Tadic for 12 million, but he has been worth double that in CL prize money alone. And they had to pay him Southampton level wages, which makes him the highest paid player in Ajax history.

            Regarding qualification for next year: it was in the news last week that thanks to this cup run, the Dutch champion will go straight into the group stages of the Champions League next year.

            Comment


              Originally posted by anton pulisov View Post
              Yeah but on average Ajax have been running a net profit on transfers since the beginning of time. By quite some margin. It was a big risk buying Tadic for 12 million, but he has been worth double that in CL prize money alone. And they had to pay him Southampton level wages, which makes him the highest paid player in Ajax history.

              Regarding qualification for next year: it was in the news last week that thanks to this cup run, the Dutch champion will go straight into the group stages of the Champions League next year.
              Not possible AP, I'm afraid, unless Ajax win the CL, and even then PSV would be in the qualfiers. The country coefficient from this season would only kick in from 2020. The number of spots for each country needs to be set before the start of the domestic season, so in July 2018 it was known how many clubs each country would have in each phase of each competition (subject to fixed rules about CL and EL winners)

              Comment


                Hope wingco doesn't mind me quoting him:
                Originally posted by wingco, elsewhere
                For football connoisseurs there is no greater sight than two great titans of the modern game at the height of their power, almost perfectly matched, pitted against one another, testing their respective strengths. So it was last night with Barcelona's Lionel Messi against Manchester Utd's Phil Jones. This was certainly no case of magician versus hapless plank of wood, racehorse versus confused, arthritic carthorse. This time Messi had the better of the occasion - just - but mark my words, Phil Jones will be ready to reverse the result the next time these two mighty foes meet upon the world stage.

                Comment


                  Last time Ajax got this far, I was twelve years old. Yesterday evening was sweet.

                  Comment


                    Originally posted by seand View Post
                    Plucky minnows Ajax were an absolute joy. They only spent about 25mill in the summer, snigger.
                    That's loads.

                    Comment


                      I read that as heavy sarcasm.

                      Comment


                        Last two seasons, 10+ million transfers

                        Sold
                        Davy Klaasen 27 million
                        Davison Sanchez 45 million
                        Justin Kluivert 18 million
                        Frenkie de Jong 75 million
                        Max Wöber 10.5 million

                        Bought
                        Dusan Tadic 12 million
                        Daley Blind 16 million


                        Comment


                          Yes, heavy sarcasm klaxon. Ajax are obviously a massively strong and wealthy club by Dutch standards or the standards of all bar the top 20-30 rich clubs in Europe and spending tens of millions on football players is clearly a ludicrously decadent thing to do but Ajax's spending is trifling among the grotesque company they find themselves in.

                          Comment


                            It's obviously massively irrelevant now but what do people think about the overturned Barça penalty? Personally I kept changing my mind each time I saw it on replay.

                            Comment


                              My reaction is exactly the same.

                              Comment


                                It wasn't a penalty,Fred won the ball cleanly.

                                Comment


                                  there's two angles where it looks like fred got to the ball before rakitic, which is what the ref looked at. and then there's the third angle where you see that rakitic endangers the sole of fred's boot, with his calf, in an act of extreme cowardice by the croat. This forced Fred to make contact with the ball with his leg. I don't know if fred even had the remotest idea that rakitic was there. I wouldn't have had any problems with it had it been given.

                                  There were some valuable lessons there for man utd. Don't score an own goal in the home leg. When presented with a chance to level the tie before the opposition have touched the ball, it's best to take it. And when you've conceded the goal that messi has scored at least 100 times (coming in from the right and passing the ball unerringly into the bottom corner at 100 mph, from about 25 yards out) a goal, which hasn't materially changed anything about what you have to do in this game, don't have your keeper throw in another a few minutes later to completely kill off the game.

                                  That opening ten minutes confirmed a lot of the doubts that I had about Barcelona, and the remainder of the game confirmed my doubts about how long man utd could keep that sort of thing up. Liverpool are going to murder barcelona. Liverpool's midfield moves around as a unit and are very well drilled, and they are all players that have either been signed to play this way, or have demonstrated that they can play this way. Man utd's midfield in both of these games have only played together one other time. That showed last night. It was kind of like watching an Ireland midfield under Martin O'Neill, when they would be given almost no instructions and play like strangers. I don't think that there's ever been such a mismatch in preparation and familiarity between two teams at this level.

                                  It's clear the way that solksjaer wants to play and it involves a lot of running around in midfield, and pressing as a unit, and providing the man on the ball with options, and Matic and herrera were able to do that fine for a bit, but it's not really their type of game any more (and it was never Matic's game) and inevitably they started to run out of steam, and then got injured. It's really difficult to go from each outfield player averaging 9.5 km a game for two and a half years to running 10.5 km a game, in the middle of the season. That's really only something you can properly address in the summer.

                                  It just makes me furious about the wasted 2.5 years under mourinho, when man utd went backward, and he deliberately stunted the development of young players, Particularly when aside from Lindelof for blind, Matic for Carrick, and pogba for fellaini, Man Utd's best XI still looks an awful lot like the one van Gaal was picking in 2015-16, and united have to start all over again to develop a system of play with the ball.

                                  Comment


                                    Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
                                    Liverpool will labour to a 2-0 win tonight and then survive a mad helter-skelter ride next week that sees Porto go 4-2 up on the night with a minute to go then hit the bar in injury time.
                                    Still reckon this is how it will play out ... 3-0 Porto at some point (half time?) before someone scrambles one in for an away goal and then it's just end to end mayhem

                                    Comment


                                      Just seen the teams, Guardiola is taking a massive risk here. He has picked a team with the expectation they will be camped 35 yards from Tottenham's goal looking for the perceptive pass.
                                      Hence stacking the midfield with the like of KDB, Gundogan and the Silva's. That doesn't leave many payers to get on the end of these passes and more worrying who in midfield is going to stop the inevitable Tottenham Counter attack as I expect Walker and Mendy would be pushing forward..

                                      I can see Man City effectively having three at the back with Walker being told to hold back and provide the pace to cover the runs of Son and Moura. If Spurs win a lose pass and Sissoko get's it, Man City are in serious trouble and there is only so many tactical fouls before the cards come out.

                                      I can expect Man City to target Wanyama and Trippier for the hard press as they tend to dawdle on the ball.
                                      It will be interesting if Spurs can stop Man City scoring in the first 30 minutes as Pep will get jittery and panic his players like he did at the lane.

                                      I predict Man City to score two early and run out 4-1 winners.

                                      Comment


                                        What on earth is going on with Spurs' socks?!

                                        Comment


                                          Any more predictions? I may follow you.

                                          Comment


                                            Well, that escalated quickly!

                                            Comment


                                              WOW

                                              Comment


                                                No extra time, anyway!

                                                Comment


                                                  FUCK OFF!

                                                  (Not you, DR.)

                                                  Comment


                                                    wow

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X