Champions League Round of 16 (15th Feb - 16th Mar)

The Madrid game was a real disaster. As @giorno has said, we have to start thinking about a right back, but if I'm not mistaken, both Carva and Lucas have recently renewed.
In the midfield, the problem of the CKM (Case, Modric, Kroos) is that they have such a great status, relevance and track record that it is practically impossible to separate them. Nobody imagines any of them on the bench in a match of this relevance.
Nowadays our tactical options are summarized in the CKM or the CKM+Valverde.
I see la liga, a great Modric game and I support his renewal. Then I see a serious game like this and say, "what the hell are we doing renewing a 37-year-old guy".
We need a super mega top signing for midfield, sell Casemiro and ask ourselves if Camavinga can even remotely replace Kroos and if not, sign someone to give him a break.
Ancelotti has made the mistake of yesteryear and seems willing to burn them, while in February he underutilized Valverde, he gave Camavinga minutes from the trash, and nothing is known about Ceballos or anyone from the academy (last year Antonio Blanco had some games where he did decently).
I really like Ancelotti but it seems increasingly difficult that he will be the coach next year.
 
Regarding City winning the CL. It's not written in stone (I mean this time next week the Earth might get destroyed by a meteorite), but with Barca and Real both going through the process of rebuilding, there are not many teams who are able to stop them. Chelsea needed about 10 years, City are doing very similar thing - win the league, establish themselves as the main force in the PL, then go for European trophy. Only then, we were strong enough to prevent the Chavs from becoming so powerful, plus there were Arsenal (both off the radar now). Only Liverpool are near them domestically, and Bayern and maybe PSG in the CL. Yes, Monaco, Spurs and the other similar instances happen, but how often, and for how long will they be happening considering the strength of City's squad?
 
carvajal said:
The Madrid game was a real disaster. As @giorno has said, we have to start thinking about a right back, but if I'm not mistaken, both Carva and Lucas have recently renewed.
In the midfield, the problem of the CKM (Case, Modric, Kroos) is that they have such a great status, relevance and track record that it is practically impossible to separate them. Nobody imagines any of them on the bench in a match of this relevance.
Nowadays our tactical options are summarized in the CKM or the CKM+Valverde.
I see la liga, a great Modric game and I support his renewal. Then I see a serious game like this and say, "what the hell are we doing renewing a 37-year-old guy".
We need a super mega top signing for midfield, sell Casemiro and ask ourselves if Camavinga can even remotely replace Kroos and if not, sign someone to give him a break.
Ancelotti has made the mistake of yesteryear and seems willing to burn them, while in February he underutilized Valverde, he gave Camavinga minutes from the trash, and nothing is known about Ceballos or anyone from the academy (last year Antonio Blanco had some games where he did decently).
I really like Ancelotti but it seems increasingly difficult that he will be the coach next year.
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Would you have Pogba in the midfield for either Kroos or Modric?
 
carvajal said:
The Madrid game was a real disaster. As @giorno has said, we have to start thinking about a right back, but if I'm not mistaken, both Carva and Lucas have recently renewed.
In the midfield, the problem of the CKM (Case, Modric, Kroos) is that they have such a great status, relevance and track record that it is practically impossible to separate them. Nobody imagines any of them on the bench in a match of this relevance.
Nowadays our tactical options are summarized in the CKM or the CKM+Valverde.
I see la liga, a great Modric game and I support his renewal. Then I see a serious game like this and say, "what the hell are we doing renewing a 37-year-old guy".
We need a super mega top signing for midfield, sell Casemiro and ask ourselves if Camavinga can even remotely replace Kroos and if not, sign someone to give him a break.
Ancelotti has made the mistake of yesteryear and seems willing to burn them, while in February he underutilized Valverde, he gave Camavinga minutes from the trash, and nothing is known about Ceballos or anyone from the academy (last year Antonio Blanco had some games where he did decently).
I really like Ancelotti but it seems increasingly difficult that he will be the coach next year.
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Is Carvajal not good enough anymore, or just his constant injuries?

And how come you'd sell Casemiro?
 
Imagine how deluded the leadership (looking at you Perez!) of Real Madrid must be to put this out...

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/rea...lo-ancelottidani-carvajal-in-psg-loss-sources

They're playing the same midfield as in the final 6 years ago (along with a couple of others still in the team), no proper refresh and rebuild since then, they've got Hazard and Bale on the bench earning a £1m+ a week between them who are basically totally done at the top level along with a half fit Benzema leading the line...

Who is to blame for the state of the team? Definitely isn't Ancelotti, that is for sure!
 
I hope for a no nonsense performance tonight. Shock results like shipping five goals against Gladbach or four against Bochum just last weekend make this tie seem much less of a foregone decision now than when it was drawn.
I do hope we have our shit together for the occasion and do not stumble across defensive experiments or individual brainfarts, both of which are real dangers with our squad not at full strength once again.
 
Boavista said:
Is Carvajal not good enough anymore, or just his constant injuries?

And how come you'd sell Casemiro?
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the injuries as well but he needs serious competition, and I don't think Lucas or Odriozola are good enough.
Casemiro has had a very bad season. He is still a great player but I find it hard to imagine him being an important pillar in the team in the coming years, or being a substitute for anyone.
In any case his exit seems unlikely
 
Mb194dc said:
Imagine how deluded the leadership (looking at you Perez!) of Real Madrid must be to put this out...

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/rea...lo-ancelottidani-carvajal-in-psg-loss-sources

They're playing the same midfield as in the final 6 years ago (along with a couple of others still in the team), no proper refresh and rebuild since then, they've got Hazard and Bale on the bench earning a £1m+ a week between them who are basically totally done at the top level along with a half fit Benzema leading the line...

Who is to blame for the state of the team? Definitely isn't Ancelotti, that is for sure!
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what you say about the midfield is true but his approach was very negative.
If they are going to dominate you, he could add Valverde, Lucas instead of Asensio to pressure, play with 5, move Alaba to the center, not wait until minute 70 to change what doesn't work.
Then they play against Granada, or any other irrelevant game and Modric and Kroos play the whole game. It's normal that they're exhausted afterwards and it's normal that he hasn't been able to develop any trust or plan B with the substitutes
 
Did Real Madrid leave out any players due to their vaccination status? Seems like we'll find out soon enough which of the Chelsea players are unvaccinated, when we see who gets left out of the squad.

 
Chicharo said:
Regarding City winning the CL. It's not written in stone (I mean this time next week the Earth might get destroyed by a meteorite)

…

how often, and for how long will they be happening considering the strength of City's squad?
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City and Guardiola have a long, long history of sudden failures at the very end of the run, like an F1 engine blowing up in smoke after leading the race fair and square. Teams do not win anything for humiliating their opponents in the group or the knockout stages.
 
carvajal said:
what you say about the midfield is true but his approach was very negative.
If they are going to dominate you, he could add Valverde, Lucas instead of Asensio to pressure, play with 5, move Alaba to the center, not wait until minute 70 to change what doesn't work.
Then they play against Granada, or any other irrelevant game and Modric and Kroos play the whole game. It's normal that they're exhausted afterwards and it's normal that he hasn't been able to develop any trust or plan B with the substitutes
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The truth, however unpleasant it is for Perez, is that Real Madrid can't compete on the same level as PSG currently, because PSG have been spending and spending whilst Real Madrid have been in austerity mode. Also made a couple of really poor (or unlucky?) decisions in renewing Bale on £500k+ a week and buying Hazard for £100m+.

Doesn't matter who the coach is or how they setup tactically, going to be a very difficult game against PSG. Ancelotti should get credit for nearly getting a draw! Perez should look at himself and how to refresh the team properly.
 
WeePat said:
Did Real Madrid leave out any players due to their vaccination status? Seems like we'll find out soon enough which of the Chelsea players are unvaccinated, when we see who gets left out of the squad.

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Lille should forfeit the game if we can't field our full team due to their government not allowing our players to play, or at least be forced to hold it in a third country where we can play our full team. How can that be fair, must be precedent for it. Can't believe UEFA would allow such a farce.
 
Mb194dc said:
Lille should forfeit the game if we can't field our full team due to their government not allowing our players to play, or at least be forced to hold it in a third country where we can play our full team. How can that be fair, must be precedent for it. Can't believe UEFA would allow such a farce.
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Lille should forfeit because your team has anti-vaxxers? :wenger:
 
Mb194dc said:
Lille should forfeit the game if we can't field our full team due to their government not allowing our players to play, or at least be forced to hold it in a third country where we can play our full team. How can that be fair, must be precedent for it. Can't believe UEFA would allow such a farce.
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There is nothing extraordinary about players not being willing/allowed into a country. If you want to travel to a country you get a Visa and follow whatever rules that are required.

You won the EL in 2019 against an Arsenal squad deprived of Mkhitaryan for political reasons. UEFA weren't gonna move the final to please one player.
 
Pintu said:
There is nothing extraordinary about players not being willing/allowed into a country. If you want to travel to a country you get a Visa and follow whatever rules that are required.

You won the EL in 2019 against an Arsenal squad deprived of Mkhitaryan for political reasons. UEFA weren't gonna move the final to please one player.
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True. Chelsea once went to Tel Aviv for a UEFA cup game with half the starting line-up deciding against traveling to Israel - something to do with security fears. We lost that game and got knocked out.
 
WeePat said:
True. Chelsea once went to Tel Aviv for a UEFA cup game with half the starting line-up deciding against traveling to Israel - something to do with security fears. We lost that game and got knocked out.
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That is players choosing not to go, not being blocked from entering by the host countries government or being blocked from playing if they're allowed to enter.

In the Mkhitaryan instance, he's also chosen not to travel, not been blocked from entering the country, or being blocked from playing once in the country.

If I was in charge, would bring the players anyway and let the French come and arrest them or block them at the border then refuse to play without being able to field our full strength team.
 
Mb194dc said:
That is players choosing not to go, not being blocked from entering by the host countries government or being blocked from playing if they're allowed to enter.

In the Mkhitaryan instance, he's also chosen not to travel, not been blocked from entering the country, or being blocked from playing once in the country.

If I was in charge, would bring the players anyway and let the French come and arrest them or block them at the border then refuse to play without being able to field our full strength team.
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I hear you, but Chelsea and the players have known about this for a while now and so far haven't lodged a complaint or requested special permission, as far as we know, which leads me to believe our players are either all vaxxed or the club accepts the situation as it is and will leave the unvaxxed at home.
 
Mb194dc said:
That is players choosing not to go, not being blocked from entering by the host countries government or being blocked from playing if they're allowed to enter.

In the Mkhitaryan instance, he's also chosen not to travel, not been blocked from entering the country, or being blocked from playing once in the country.

If I was in charge, would bring the players anyway and let the French come and arrest them or block them at the border then refuse to play without being able to field our full strength team.
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Any Chelsea unvaxxed players are also choosing not to go. I don't see why Mkhitaryan choosing not to travel to a country where his safety was legitimately endangered and an unvaxxed choosing not to do what is necessary to play in the game are really any different.

At the end of the day, its their choice, just like with Djokovic.

Scientifically, there is zero reason to believe the vaccine hurts you or endangers health. The choice is 100% politics and if they want to put politics above their team's sporting success, that's on them.
 
Mb194dc said:
Lille should forfeit the game if we can't field our full team due to their government not allowing our players to play, or at least be forced to hold it in a third country where we can play our full team. How can that be fair, must be precedent for it. Can't believe UEFA would allow such a farce.
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Surely this can't be a serious post :lol:
 
Anyone fancy inter to get something against Liverpool? There going to need to get something tonight if they want to progress because I can only see Liverpool winning at anfield.
 
This is probably the strongest we’ve been in terms of squad depth in a long time. No injuries in the squad at all currently.
 
Since Liverpool have been in the CL consistently under Klopp, it feels like they're the away team in the first leg of a tie 99% of the time.
 
Klopper76 said:
This is probably the strongest we’ve been in terms of squad depth in a long time. No injuries in the squad at all currently.
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Well good to know all those fake LFT's weren't for nothing, eh? :D
 
Phew that's a quite brave lineup in a CL knockout game to say the least...
 
AltiUn said:
Since Liverpool have been in the CL consistently under Klopp, it feels like they're the away team in the first leg of a tie 99% of the time.
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That’s probably because we’ve topped our group in every season if I remember correctly.
WeePat said:
Well good to know all those fake LFT's weren't for nothing, eh? :D
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Yeah right, what a good ide…err I mean what are you on about?!
 
Going to be really interesting to see what Elliot can do out there. Big vote of confidence from Klopp to start him. 18 year's old starting in midfield against inter in a cl knockout tie when everyone is fit to play.
 
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