UEFA Champions League Knockouts draw

Casciavit wrote:Atletico played a 5-5-0 in the first leg and had zero shots.

Good for them! That's how they play. City didn't have any shots either bar the goal. Neither in this game either come to think of it

KDB was subbed off due to injury.

bet he would've been subbed anyways. He added nothing useful to this game. A walking mannequin

Fernandinho coming on to form a double pivot for more defensive solidarity is something any coach would do.Especially given his experience in dealing with these situations.

i hope you're proud at his "defensive performance " the only time you ever saw him was when he fell at every touch wasting 1-2 minutes every single time. Surely can't have been improvisation by him. Clear instructions by the bald fraud

Were City supposed to keep the 4-3-3 getting overrun and build from the back regardless?

like I said above, i have absolutely no problem with a team going full cattenacio to see out a game. I never criticised their style of play. Because frankly i dont give a shit

They did what they could to see out the game in the last 30 minutes.

You got that one right, alright pathetic

Atletico played like scums over 180 minutes.

You only just found out Atleti is a scum team. You probably needed a Ronaldo in there to stick it to them the footballing way and not the non footballing way

https://twitter.com/squawkanews/status/1514356100883271682?s=21&t=oxrIRKzANCNnn0VlhgGsCg

Thugs gonna thug

Casciavit wrote:

farfan wrote:

Casciavit wrote:So good to see this scum ass team get knocked out

City were the scum in this game tho.

It was typical Atletico when the going gets tough they start kicking out. Savic should’ve been sent off.

Good to see City mess with them. Foden rolling on to the field and Fernandinho going down 2-3 times was nice karma for all the bullshit Atletico’s been doing for years.

It felt like Pep was too scared to choke in CL again and resorted to anti-football tactics. Today was a whole package of anti-football. Snoozefest sideways passing, defending diving to death, rugby tackling etc.

I don't really think it has anything to do with Atletico in particular. Sometimes you gotta play dirty to win. Maybe Pep has finally realized that he needs to park the bus to win CL

I guess we can finally cut Pep's 'philosophy' crap now. The only philosophy that matters is winning.

This game looked like when you play on PES (RIP) and all the Atlético players were on form and City players were all off form. I saw quite unusual scenes, from Kondogbia and Lemar playing some of the best matches they've played since their early 20s to players like Bernardo and Gündoğan looking like 2nd grade footballers.

I also realised I much prefer playing a high block against City rather than a high press or park the bus. A high block is very much marking high up the field and blocking the passing lanes, and City really had trouble doing anything of note tonight. Once in a while you might see City struggling to create dangerous chances against a team, but they usually have control on the game, just missing some speed and creativity in the final third. Tonight however, they didn't have control on the game either. It was pretty much an even game and out of the two teams I fancied Atlético scoring more than City.

I also think City will have an easier ride against Madird because they are nowhere near as organised at the back as Atlético are. But playing the second leg at the Bernabéu will be to the advantage of Madrid so the fate of that tie is far from done and dusted.

Our tactics will be survive for 70 mins make the most obvious subs and wait for Modric, Vini or Benz magic

Carlo knows this team cannot play the way he wants. We fell back nearly side to side with Tibu against both Chelsea and QSG.

We cannot press high either because we literally have the slowest midfield 3 in world football. And Kroos ot all peoplr throwing a strop when he got subbed out tells me he is too scared to lose the dressingroom if he permanently benches one or two of KCM

Benz and Vini will be the only ones pressing high. We'll be pinned back and will rely on last ditch tackles and Tibu. Carlo will go "oh crap my tactics aren't working for the umpteenth time" time to make the most obvious sub (will happen in the 75th minute mind you) we'll start to dominate and will hope Benz takes the one chance that might come his way

The Bernabeu and Modric + Benz doing the last dance might give us and chance. Otherwise I have City as the ones going through

halamadrid2 wrote:Our tactics will be survive for 70 mins make the most obvious subs and wait for Modric, Vini or Benz magic

Carlo knows this team cannot play the way he wants. We fell back nearly side to side with Tibu against both Chelsea and QSG.

We cannot press high either because we literally have the slowest midfield 3 in world football. And Kroos ot all peoplr throwing a strop when he got subbed out tells me he is too scared to lose the dressingroom if he permanently benches one or two of KCM

Benz and Vini will be the only ones pressing high. We'll be pinned back and will rely on last ditch tackles and Tibu. Carlo will go "oh crap  my tactics aren't working for the umpteenth time" time to make the most obvious sub (will happen in the 75th minute mind you) we'll start to dominate and will hope Benz takes the one chance that might come his way

The Bernabeu and Modric + Benz doing the last dance might give us and chance. Otherwise I have City as the ones going through

You already played City 2 years ago with arguably a better (Ramos, Varane, Isco) and less ageing squad and lost both legs fair and square. Vinícius and Benzema are in better form than those games but the rest of the squad is worse.

And good thing you can't press high - because you shouldn't anyway IMHO. One of the worst things to do against City is half-assed pressing because they beat it 10/10 times and now you're on the backfoot against them. High-risk low reward. I think a high block works far better than a high press and is better for conserving the energy of your aged squad.

Do we not have a Darwin Nunez thread? What a complete striker. Impressed me both games, his work rate as a target man is better than Liverpool forwards. Looking forward how things move for him, but he did always smash the Benfica badge on his chest even when they are 6-3 down so reminds me a bit about Suarez xD.

danyjr wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:Our tactics will be survive for 70 mins make the most obvious subs and wait for Modric, Vini or Benz magic

Carlo knows this team cannot play the way he wants. We fell back nearly side to side with Tibu against both Chelsea and QSG.

We cannot press high either because we literally have the slowest midfield 3 in world football. And Kroos ot all peoplr throwing a strop when he got subbed out tells me he is too scared to lose the dressingroom if he permanently benches one or two of KCM

Benz and Vini will be the only ones pressing high. We'll be pinned back and will rely on last ditch tackles and Tibu. Carlo will go "oh crap  my tactics aren't working for the umpteenth time" time to make the most obvious sub (will happen in the 75th minute mind you) we'll start to dominate and will hope Benz takes the one chance that might come his way

The Bernabeu and Modric + Benz doing the last dance might give us and chance. Otherwise I have City as the ones going through

You already played City 2 years ago with arguably a better (Ramos, Varane, Isco) and less ageing squad and lost both legs fair and square. Vinícius and Benzema are in better form than those games but the rest of the squad is worse.

And good thing you can't press high - because you shouldn't anyway IMHO. One of the worst things to do against City is half-assed pressing because they beat it 10/10 times and now you're on the backfoot against them. High-risk low reward. I think a high block works far better than a high press and is better for conserving the energy of your aged squad.

oh yh I remembered those games. Varane going all Titus Bramble. Zidane destroying us by subbing Vini out in the first leg and not playing him in the second leg (disciplinary reasons). Good times

You are right, we are far worse now but Tibu, Modric and Benz play like men possessed. They are literally willing us to victories

High block would work if we had quicker players. You saw how Kovacic and Kante just waltzed past our midfielders. The only tactics that work with this midfield is literally to sit back but that's suicide for our defence

I don't remember the tie being that one-sided  IIRC it ultimately came down to Madrid's unusual number of individual errors, ie Varane's 2 gifts and an avoidable penalty in the first leg.

It was the game that completely and utterly destroyed Varane to the point he couldn't come back from it. Bet he still has nightmares about Gabriel Jesus to this very day

Also Zidane was a pos for disciplining Vini in our most important game. I couldn't believe it

But City are better now and we are worse, so there's that

farfan wrote:

Casciavit wrote:So good to see this scum ass team get knocked out

City were the scum in this game tho.

hell no. Atletico are a disgusting team. I was insanely happy to see city give them a taste of their own medicine. Disgusting manager and players. Every single one of them. I’d even support Barca over them. Hope they become a mid table loser team like they always have been before their thug manager took over

Casciavit wrote:https://twitter.com/squawkanews/status/1514356100883271682?s=21&t=oxrIRKzANCNnn0VlhgGsCg

Thugs gonna thug

I cannot explain in words how much I hate that team.

City keeps possession for 85% of the time: boring, billion pound squad play but i sleep

City time wastes because they got a lead: not worthy of billion pound squad

I presume they should be flying  Galaktik Football style?


City were subpar but everyone time wastes when they got a lead, they were just coming off a very demanding game on the weekend also.

That second half gave me lots of mental midget vibes from City but it just goes to show GL will even defend the scumbag team that is Atleti to shit on Pep. In general that 2nd half and especially towards the end was quite bizzare, haven't seen such mayhem since some time.

I'm not peptarding here, admit he was out of ideas again when it mattered but  he can never win no matter what he does. Even if they win the whole thing people will say they shithoused their way to the final and never give him credit.

They were better than Atleti for 3/4 halves and that's that. Gundogan should have buried the tie early on and the talk would be different

Funny nobody is talking about Atlético's penalty shout. Even VAR wasn't interested. I guess add VARdiola the long list of his nicknames

Spoiler:

Because it wasn’t a penalty. Everyone who watched the game knows that. Atletico probably should’ve had half their team sent off by the 70th minute

The PL pundits were too busy talking about how Atleti targeted Foden because "he's too good" after he did his best Neymar impression and Savic going full Pepe. How would they have the chance to even discuss anything else not that they would've mentioned the penalty shout anyways because they never do when it's for them. Only when it's against them

farfan wrote:"Atletico played like scums over 180 minutes." is hardly elite analysis either, and totally not biased at all There was nothing scummy about their performance tonight and they would've definitely scored with better decision-making/finishing. You also know damn well that creating danger goes beyond shots on target. For instance, the two blocked shots from close range in the second half were extremely dangerous and could've ended in the net with some luck.

And you're still missing the irony of it all. In a vacuum, there is nothing wrong with their performance tonight. But the fact that City players and fans told us many times that they're "better" than these tactics is what makes it deliciously hilarious for us haters

I really feel the irony is going over quite a few folks head. We had to endure a lot of pontification of how the game should be played and yet, Pep and City had to resort to the same tactic/strategy that they looked down on. Perfect, absolutely perfect and I am glad I took this one in.

Also, Atleti is basically the footballing version of the Detroit Pistons so all this thug talk is preaching to a choir that done already sang and is currently heading home.

Now rewatching the incidents I'm shocked how Savić finished the game without a red

He headbutted Sterling, dragged the chav from Stockport by his shirt like a sack of potatas and violently grabbed Grealish by his lustrous hair Also pushed Zinchenko and others. Absolute mad ting. Yugoslavian blood man


Here's Vsarljko spitting in the tunnel

Doc wrote:We had to endure a lot of pontification of how the game should be played and yet, Pep and City had to resort to the same tactic/strategy that they looked down on.

Now that I reflect upon the match, it was the perfect response. Outshithoused the shithouser at their own game in their own stadium.

Doc wrote:

farfan wrote:"Atletico played like scums over 180 minutes." is hardly elite analysis either, and totally not biased at all There was nothing scummy about their performance tonight and they would've definitely scored with better decision-making/finishing. You also know damn well that creating danger goes beyond shots on target. For instance, the two blocked shots from close range in the second half were extremely dangerous and could've ended in the net with some luck.

And you're still missing the irony of it all. In a vacuum, there is nothing wrong with their performance tonight. But the fact that City players and fans told us many times that they're "better" than these tactics is what makes it deliciously hilarious for us haters

I really feel the irony is going over quite a few folks head. We had to endure a lot of pontification of how the game should be played and yet, Pep and City had to resort to the same tactic/strategy that they looked down on. Perfect, absolutely perfect and I am glad I took this one in.

Also, Atleti is basically the footballing version of the Detroit Pistons so all this thug talk is preaching to a choir that done already sang and is currently heading home.

I think it all comes down to our own personal biases. If you can't stand Pep and his fans' arrogant holier-than-thou attitude regarding what they consider "anti-football", then what you saw yesterday was a humbling experience that saw them resort to the same small-team tactics they deride so much. If you like Pep, then yesterday was a show of pragmatism and beating the opponent at their own game.

farfan wrote:

Doc wrote:

farfan wrote:"Atletico played like scums over 180 minutes." is hardly elite analysis either, and totally not biased at all There was nothing scummy about their performance tonight and they would've definitely scored with better decision-making/finishing. You also know damn well that creating danger goes beyond shots on target. For instance, the two blocked shots from close range in the second half were extremely dangerous and could've ended in the net with some luck.

And you're still missing the irony of it all. In a vacuum, there is nothing wrong with their performance tonight. But the fact that City players and fans told us many times that they're "better" than these tactics is what makes it deliciously hilarious for us haters

I really feel the irony is going over quite a few folks head. We had to endure a lot of pontification of how the game should be played and yet, Pep and City had to resort to the same tactic/strategy that they looked down on. Perfect, absolutely perfect and I am glad I took this one in.

Also, Atleti is basically the footballing version of the Detroit Pistons so all this thug talk is preaching to a choir that done already sang and is currently heading home.

I think it all comes down to our own personal biases. If you can't stand Pep and his fans' arrogant holier-than-thou attitude regarding what they consider "anti-football", then what you saw yesterday was a humbling experience that saw them resort to the same small-team tactics they deride so much. If you like Pep, then yesterday was a show of pragmatism and beating the opponent at their own game.

Until Pep re-joins Barca, I am neither here nor there with him. However, while one can say it was pragmatic (and to me, it was), to see him toss all that "Cruijfism" out the window when things really was not looking rosy was lovely to see. Pure footballing irony and I loved it.

danyjr wrote:

farfan wrote:So Kondogbia still exists

Probably the best game I've seen from him since 2012.

Was also excellent against Man United in the first leg

Btw what's the verdict on Darwin Nunez? I've only seen the highlights but his finishing seems insane.

Chelsea and Utd are interested in him