Champions League — quarter-finals and semi-finals draw

giorno said:
Flo seriously needs to forget Mbappé and throw the kitchen sink at Klopp
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You know it's not going to happen. In case they wanted a coach more protagonist than the players, they would bring back Mourinho.
To beat them we have to run more than them. The mileage statistics leave us in a very bad place.
City created much less than on other occasions. The CB scored the goal of his life but it was because Ancelotti moved the team near the area? or because they simply lacked the energy to block the shot, or maybe beyond organization and tiredness the problem is that Lunin saves 1/4 of the shots.
Even Valverde who is tireless said they prefer to play every three days.

I think that if we sign Mbappe, the version we will find will be infinitely better than this one.
 
Rojofiam said:
I don't see him going to the best team, into a league in which his team already has an enourmous advantage over every other club in the league bar 1, and anyways, what history is there to be written at Madrid? They've just had a period of winning 5 CLs in 8 years, and they don't give a shit about La Liga.

He wouldn't have to build anything there, just continue having successful years. That's the whole culture of Real Madrid. Winning, no matter what, and they've been winning for a decade now.

Klopp doesn't strike me as someone who would be interested in that. I think it would be a soulless project for him. I can see him at the likes of AC Milan, Atlético Madrid, or going back to Dortmund. Or the national team. Not at some overpowered winning machine that doesn't even need rebuilding.
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I'm not saying that he is going there, or that he wants (thought I can't trully imagine any coach not wanting to coach the big white whale)
I'm saying that he is a great coach to have in Madrid, specially now when teams, clubs, NTs like to fluctuate between opposites when they start to feel "tired" of a certain style/coach/idea. Madrid with Carletto is in such period.

PD: "and they don't give a shit about La Liga" that's bollocks, it's just trolling stuff, do not buy that Chiringuito thing :).
They do care a lot, they just saved some years winning the CL and of course once you enjoy the taste of a CL and how it saves everything, specially the real current level of perfomances of your squad, you just take it to the extreme.
More if you built a legacy of winning those more than anyone. Yet is a very dangerous thing if someone in a Madrid really believes it, it was the path of misery for so many clubs in the world to play the "I'm only focus on International Cups". In any case, Madrid never took that path bar fans trolling, they know they need to win the League (at some periods even a Copa like with Mou) and have a regular great display every weekend.
 
DJ Jeff said:
Yes, but its that peak that makes us even mention him isn't it, and that peak was better than anything Mbappe ever produced.
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So far. And I'd even qualify that in terms of overall seasons at club level, at that
carvajal said:
You know it's not going to happen.
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Of course, that's just me venting

In case they wanted a coach more protagonist than the players, they would bring back Mourinho.
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Would be nonsense. It's not about protagonism, it's about how good the team would be. Klopp makes this team the best in the world. Mbappé, I'm not so sure
To beat them we have to run more than them.
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Sprint more. Not run more. It's good to run more but the relevant data is high intensity actions

City created much less than on other occasions. The CB scored the goal of his life but it was because Ancelotti moved the team near the area? or because they simply lacked the energy to block the shot, or maybe beyond organization and tiredness the problem is that Lunin saves 1/4 of the shots.
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City were without Walker and De Bruyne, we were at home with 9 days to prepare this game, and we ended up letting them control us throughout. It'd be one thing if at least we actually shredded them on the counter, but the fact is we didn't. Our goals were a deflected long range shot against a rest defence, and an acceleration after winning the ball through counterpressing in their half. Our counters were few and far between and only 2 of those resulted in real big chances

I think that if we sign Mbappe, the version we will find will be infinitely better than this one.
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For sure, but it still wouldn't be as good as if we had a genius manager who get this team to play to its potential. We've filled the squad with ridiculous athletes, with pace, acceleration, stamina, strenght, etc. We should start imposing that on our opponents
 
I watched the Arsenal penalty...and it was clear as day even if it was stupid as hell. Lot's of plays involves not being focus, being confused, if you do a silly thing like that because you got confused, so be it, hard luck pal, next time don't be stupid.
 
Barcelona are still a better team than Real Madrid. The same way City are better than Arsenal and Liverpool. The league table just doesn't reflect that.
 
JogaBonitoRooney said:
Barcelona are still a better team than Real Madrid. The same way City are better than Arsenal and Liverpool. The league table just doesn't reflect that.
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You could argue that City arnt better than Arsenal and Liverpool though, they have played them both in the league and failed to beat either of them.
 
giggs-beckham said:
His teeth would be offside
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:lol:

Meanwhile, can we say that today's result was one of those typical PSG chokejobs in Europe? I saw the stats, I saw the highlights, and 2 out of the 3 Barca goals could have been prevented with better deffensive efforts.

And, yeah, Mbappé is more invisible than Casper the Friendly Ghost. He did nothing, not even in a highlights video.
 
Lack of away goals makes the CL knockout so much less interesting. What will they come up with next to make the game worse?
 
Offside said:
Lack of away goals makes the CL knockout so much less interesting. What will they come up with next to make the game worse?
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With away goals rule 3 out of 4 ties would be pretty much already over. And two of them involved draws
 
JogaBonitoRooney said:
Barcelona are still a better team than Real Madrid. The same way City are better than Arsenal and Liverpool. The league table just doesn't reflect that.
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I'm sure Liverpool or Arsenal will be devastated at this fact if either of them win the league. Absolutely crushed.

And yes of course the league table reflects that. They've all played the same teams. If either Liverpool or Arsenal win the league, they are better than City. How would you even refute that?
 
giorno said:
So far. And I'd even qualify that in terms of overall seasons at club level, at that

Of course, that's just me venting


Would be nonsense. It's not about protagonism, it's about how good the team would be. Klopp makes this team the best in the world. Mbappé, I'm not so sure

Sprint more. Not run more. It's good to run more but the relevant data is high intensity actions


City were without Walker and De Bruyne, we were at home with 9 days to prepare this game, and we ended up letting them control us throughout. It'd be one thing if at least we actually shredded them on the counter, but the fact is we didn't. Our goals were a deflected long range shot against a rest defence, and an acceleration after winning the ball through counterpressing in their half. Our counters were few and far between and only 2 of those resulted in real big chances


For sure, but it still wouldn't be as good as if we had a genius manager who get this team to play to its potential. We've filled the squad with ridiculous athletes, with pace, acceleration, stamina, strenght, etc. We should start imposing that on our opponents
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I don't know, I can't find the tweet now but it's in sprints where we did win the comparison.
Look how Bellingham was, about to die on the field (even if he always has that face of smelling a fart), maybe he misused his efforts but there was a physical problem, beyond Ancelotti's mistakes to use the team.
In any case he lost la liga , lost 4-0 in the Champions League and continued because he was supposedly the best option.
We've gone from "he can't play with Modric" to "look how good he is at 39". Hopefully Xabi in the future will be the kind of coach you are talking about.
 
Setting aside the logic of the argument, the points gap in the top of the PL is practically nonexistent. Barcelona are 8 points behind Real Madrid in the league table.
 
Barcelona were a lot better than I expected. There's a lot of quality in that team and I agree with the commentator who said he's missed seeing Barcelona light up the knockout stages.
 
Offside said:
Lack of away goals makes the CL knockout so much less interesting. What will they come up with next to make the game worse?
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The away goals rule led to loads of return matches being absolutely dreadful defensive affairs. Now everyone has to play to win, and that's a good thing.
 
AdamColeBebe said:
I'm sure Liverpool or Arsenal will be devastated at this fact if either of them win the league. Absolutely crushed.

And yes of course the league table reflects that. They've all played the same teams. If either Liverpool or Arsenal win the league, they are better than City. How would you even refute that?
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Because you can obviously get unlucky in some games or don't win games you absolutely deserved to win. Agree if we're talking about a 10-point gap or something like that but if team A wins the league over team B with a (very) small margin, it doesn't immediately mean team A is better, at all.
 
RobinLFC said:
Because you can obviously get unlucky in some games or don't win games you absolutely deserved to win. Agree if we're talking about a 10-point gap or something like that but if team A wins the league over team B with a (very) small margin, it doesn't immediately mean team A is better, at all.
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I'm afraid it does. It's 38 games. Luck is irrelevant by then.
 
AdamColeBebe said:
I'm afraid it does. It's 38 games. Luck is irrelevant by then.
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It very much isn't, but agree to disagree if you really think it is.

We are currently not a better team than City even if we better their points tally in the league.
 
RobinLFC said:
It very much isn't, but agree to disagree if you really think it is.

We are currently not a better team than City even if we better their points tally in the league.
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...well, yeah, because we're not, so we won't.
 
Dortmund with the late goal has a good chance to go through as Atletico are poor away.
55-45 Atletico.

Barcelona was the better side overall, but PSG can definitely beat them in the second leg. They need a great Mbappé to do so. Barca's defense is shaky. However PSG has yet to win an away game in the CL this season.
60-40 Barca.

City to go through comfortably, unless Madrid's key players can make miracles. De Bruyne and Walker will be back. Real will play with the aging Nacho at the back.
80-20 City.

Anything can happen between Bayern and Arsenal.
50-50.
 
carvajal said:
I don't know, I can't find the tweet now but it's in sprints where we did win the comparison.
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Yes, it wasn't a fitness problem, it was lack of organization in pressing that was the problem. That and poor decision making
Iker Quesadillas said:
Setting aside the logic of the argument, the points gap in the top of the PL is practically nonexistent. Barcelona are 8 points behind Real Madrid in the league table.
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Barcelona have been worse overall so far largely because of poor finishing and struggles with transition defence tbf. Their highest potential level has always been higher than ours, and now they seem to be playing at close to it. So, yes, we'be been better so far over the season, but right now they may well be better than us. Wouldn't be surprised if they spank us at the Bernabeu honestly
 
Here's hoping PSG and Mbappe flop in the return leg, Perez finally wakes up and realize Mbappe isn't nearly as good as he thought, and moves on from him.
 
RobinLFC said:
I am a Liverpool fan mate.
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Okay. If you win the league you're a better team than City. You've been better over 38 PL games. Therefore you're better. City would finish beneath you, because they didn't do as well. So they're not as good as you. Because you are better. I'm struggling here.
 
giorno said:
Barcelona have been worse overall so far largely because of poor finishing and struggles with transition defence tbf.
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So they've been worse overall because they are worse at football, got it.

giorno said:
Their highest potential level has always been higher than ours, and now they seem to be playing at close to it.
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In March they've had a 0-0 draw against Athletic Bilbao and two middling 1-0 wins against Mallorca and Las Palmas. Their two good results are a big win against Atletico (who they basically always beat) and this last game against PSG. They're hardly dazzling.


It's not that Barcelona are a bad team. I just think it's funny to say "the league table doesn't reflect that they're better, just like City." It's a ridiculous comparison. City have an extremely strong track record over the last years and are having a slightly bumpy season, they're European champions. Barcelona have won 1 major title under Xavi and they did so while playing like dog shit. This is their first good European in four years! They have a lot to prove yet.
 
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Offside said:
Lack of away goals makes the CL knockout so much less interesting. What will they come up with next to make the game worse?
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I think it makes games and goals feel like higher stakes but I think it's has a negative impact on the football. I think all the ties were good to watch, no tie feels like they are over due to away goals (which previously could put a dampener on the 2nd leg) and teams are more comfortable opening up, which in my opinion aids in producing better games as home teams aren't overly worried about conceding away goals. Similarly for the away teams, wins are now more valuable and away teams won't just settle for a scored draw being a good results due to away goals.
 
AdamColeBebe said:
Okay. If you win the league you're a better team than City. You've been better over 38 PL games. Therefore you're better. City would finish beneath you, because they didn't do as well. So they're not as good as you. Because you are better. I'm struggling here.
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Yeah you are clearly struggling.

They would've done better over the course of 38 games. What about the 38 games prior to that when they were clearly superior with basically the same team? What if they win the CL this year while Liverpool hasn't even been in the competition to begin with? How does that rhyme with "Liverpool are better because they got 1 point more over 38 league games"?

It's way too small a sample size and doesn't eradicate luck from the equation at all. City are objectively a better team than Liverpool whether they finish 5 points above or 5 points below us this season. The last few seasons, the CL, the cups, ... have all proven that and it doesn't immediately change should they have one league campaign worse than Liverpool right now.
 
RobinLFC said:
Yeah you are clearly struggling.

They would've done better over the course of 38 games. What about the 38 games prior to that when they were clearly superior with basically the same team? What if they win the CL this year while Liverpool hasn't even been in the competition to begin with? How does that rhyme with "Liverpool are better because they got 1 point more over 38 league games"?

It's way too small a sample size and doesn't eradicate luck from the equation at all. City are objectively a better team than Liverpool whether they finish 5 points above or 5 points below us this season. The last few seasons, the CL, the cups, ... have all proven that and it doesn't immediately change should they have one league campaign worse than Liverpool right now.
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Okay so it's a problem for you that saying the team that finishes top of a league table, where everyone plays each other twice, is better than the other 19 teams. You literally have a problem with the concept of a league table deciding who is the best team.

So what's your alternative? Make it opinion based? Poll all the football fans who they think is the best team and the winner of that poll gets the trophy?
 
AdamColeBebe said:
Okay so it's a problem for you that saying the team that finishes top of a league table, where everyone plays each other twice, is better than the other 19 teams. You literally have a problem with the concept of a league table deciding who is the best team.

So what's your alternative? Make it opinion based? Poll all the football fans who they think is the best team and the winner of that poll gets the trophy?
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The league table shows which team has gotten the most points after 38 games. That's not necessarily the best team. It's a pretty basic and relatable concept in football that results aren't always deserved and randomness is a huge factor.
 
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