Just how overrated is PSG?

And never compare Ibra to CR again. The Kommander is in a different league

sportsczy wrote:And Serie has made 2 finals in that span...  no other semis.   Ligue 1 made a semi and a final.  Your point is?  Do you not consider Serie A a top league?  And other than Bayern and Dortmund recently, no Bundi team had made it either (PSG are basically building up to be the Bayern of Ligue 1).  Is Bundi not a top league? I don't any Bundi team other than Bayern having a realistic chance going forward either.

Clear that Ligue 1 is struggling financially overall... but PSG is not and will compete every year.  4th quarter final in a row.  They'll break through.  Have too much talent not to.  Just need a bit of luck.  It's eluded them so far...  this one was truly disappointing.  But no the others.  First time they've underachieved.

Do you think PSG should continue with Blanc or get someone else?

sportsczy wrote:And Serie has made 2 finals in that span...  no other semis.   Ligue 1 made a semi and a final.  Your point is?  Do you not consider Serie A a top league?  And other than Bayern and Dortmund recently, no Bundi team had made it either (PSG are basically building up to be the Bayern of Ligue 1).  Is Bundi not a top league? I don't any Bundi team other than Bayern having a realistic chance going forward either.

Clear that Ligue 1 is struggling financially overall... but PSG is not and will compete every year.  4th quarter final in a row.  They'll break through.  Have too much talent not to.  Just need a bit of luck.  It's eluded them so far...  this one was truly disappointing.  But no the others.  First time they've underachieved.

For the sake of correctness. In that time Serie A has had 4 semifinalists, 3 of which made the final (Milan, Inter, Juve), 2 of which won the tournament (Milan and Inter). Bundesliga is doing well too, Bayern and Dortmund have been in the mix, Wolfsburg just got as far as PSG.

PSG will be stronger without Zlatan next season. He's having a great season in Ligue 1 where they're so massively better than anyone else that they can afford his luxury. But at the top level in the CL where you're evenly matched against other top sides, it's pretty clear you cannot play the way Zlatan plays nowadays. His playing style seems to literally be a walk in the park for him nowadays.

sportsczy wrote:

Turok_TTZ wrote:I have severely overestimated blanc and psg if they were beaten by pellegrini of all peeps.

Guess PSG was overrated after all.

Motta-Verratti-Matuidi were all out due to injury/suspension

That's like Madrid playing without all of BBC or Barca playing without all of MSN...  they're that dependent on the middle 3.  The entire setup of the team depends on them.

They can survive with one of them missing... but when you get to 2, or all 3 in this game mostly, then the struggles were very predictable... at least to me who watches them.  

Matuidi is absolutely irreplaceable.  At least Rabiot can cover Verratti relatively OK.  Motta is also irreplaceable.

You say this but PSG still should've steamroll 3rd rate city. Its not like Blanc was facing Ranieri's leicester or Guardiola. Getting the better of that tactically inept pellegrini should have been no problem even with the injuries. City are not a good team. Whoever draws city will have a free ticket to the next round for certain.

Though I will admit, Ibra really let psg down and is main reason why they got knocked out. Ibra is fine for the league but come cl, it seems he and higuain share a similar path.

Turok_TTZ wrote:

sportsczy wrote:

Turok_TTZ wrote:I have severely overestimated blanc and psg if they were beaten by pellegrini of all peeps.

Guess PSG was overrated after all.

Motta-Verratti-Matuidi were all out due to injury/suspension

That's like Madrid playing without all of BBC or Barca playing without all of MSN...  they're that dependent on the middle 3.  The entire setup of the team depends on them.

They can survive with one of them missing... but when you get to 2, or all 3 in this game mostly, then the struggles were very predictable... at least to me who watches them.  

Matuidi is absolutely irreplaceable.  At least Rabiot can cover Verratti relatively OK.  Motta is also irreplaceable.

You say this but PSG still should've steamroll 3rd rate city. Its not like Blanc was facing Ranieri's leicester or Guardiola. Getting the better of that tactically inept pellegrini should have been no problem even with the injuries. City are not a good team. Whoever draws city will have a free ticket to the next round for certain.

Though I will admit, Ibra really let psg down and is main reason why they got knocked out. Ibra is fine for the league but come cl, it seems he and higuain share a similar path.

Exactly, City is not blowing people away like they did at some point. Getting to the quarter finals is a good outcome in general, its just that even the PSG bench is better that City. Di Maria, Pastore and Rabiot are surely good enough to go against Fernando and Fernandinho. Plus, PSG had Motta and Matuidi for the first leg in Paris and they went 2-2. 62% possession and half the attempts than City, thats the clearly wrong gameplan.

Why did they play like they were winning form the start? only at the very end did they show any urgency. In the first leg as well, 20 minutes of great play and then 70 minutes of nothing. Their displays either tells me that they were sure they would win, or that they didn't particularly care about the CL. Either way, Blanc should have fixed that.

Look at Madrid in the second leg. That team has a bunch of problems yet they came out ready to give everything to win and they did that. Juve went to Munich with a 2-2 and they sprinted out of the gate to take the tie back. I'll bet my house on Atletico leaving everything on the field tonight against Barca. Blanc and the players are far too passive, the league is easy for them and they get complacent I guess. Thats were the coach is supposed to step in and wake them up.

Even though its a much closer contest in Germany and Italy, Bayern and Juve have still been winning for a while, yet Pep and Allegri still get the team firing and set them up to win. PSG could do with someone like Mourinho.

Doc wrote:Thought it was funny when Cruijff kept saying PSG was better than Madrid and considering today's events, it's down right hilarious.

I agree, I made a big miscalculation and must eat a massive amount of humble pie. Here goes:

How did I ever think you knew anything about football? The only poster who approaches your unique blend of immaturity and cluelessness must be Harmonica.

I have said PSG was overrated multiple times and I explained why in another thread. I expected them to lose the second the met someone like Barca/Bayern/Juve. That doesn't change the fact that at the time we were speaking Madrid was struggling to beat La Liga fodder and PSG was playing their best football in the last five years.

It seems like you have this ridiculous notion that football teams don't change. That because PSG lost to Madrid in the group stage they couldn't beat them in the quarters. And that because PSG was playing very well all season they couldn't turn to crap a la Bayern in 2014.

I said this before when we were arguing that you can't know exactly who is better until they play each other. We still don't by the way - as farfan rightly pointed out Man City could well knock you out in the semis.

But when making comparisions between two teams like that you look at their form and the way they are playing and PSG was eating Real for breakfast in both those categories. It's strange, as a Madrid fan I think you'd realize just how rubbish you were a few months ago (and to some extent still are). Why the incredulous reaction to someone suggesting PSG could be better than you?

I didn't watch this game so I really can't comment on what happened. I can tell you that in the first leg PSG was the far better side and Man City was extremely lucky to come away with a point. Does the fact PSG choked last night lower their credibility? Of course. Does it change the reality of what the world looked like a few months ago? Hell no.

Really don't understand the outrage here. If there's one statement I made a few months ago that should be attacked right about now, it was that Real were better than Juve. Now that's rubbish

sportsczy wrote:And Serie has made 2 finals in that span...  no other semis.   Ligue 1 made a semi and a final.  Your point is?  Do you not consider Serie A a top league?  And other than Bayern and Dortmund recently, no Bundi team had made it either (PSG are basically building up to be the Bayern of Ligue 1).  Is Bundi not a top league?  I don't any Bundi team other than Bayern having a realistic chance going forward either.

You can't be serious now. Obviously you can't count Monaco in as it was about how shit the league has become since then.
Maybe he should've put it like that: "Only one french team made it to the semis in the last 10 years (and got embarassed by a german team in that tie)".

The difference between Bundesliga and Ligue 1 is massive, it's not even funny anymore. Fodder teams like Schalke and Wolfsburg made it to the quarter finals and that's the best your "french Bayern" can offer? Like seriously?

People justifying psg missing key names in midfield as something overtly significant to the outcome of this tie should note that City had scrubs like Fernando and Fernandinho in their midfield.

I know Rabiot is a bit shit. And Motta went off injured. But even still they had di maria playing in his best/favorite position in a 3 man midfield and also marquinhos as a holding midfielder. And that is more than enough to beat this petty team.

Its just lame excuses for all I care.

What did Rabiot do yesterday that people are impressed? Turnover the ball to City every few mins?

Who said Rabiot was impressive ? Rabiot was shite.

CBarca wrote:As I said in the chat during the game. I quite like the look of Rabiot.

Talented young player.

Oh okay.

Cruijf wrote:

Doc wrote:Thought it was funny when Cruijff kept saying PSG was better than Madrid and considering today's events, it's down right hilarious.

I agree, I made a big miscalculation and must eat a massive amount of humble pie. Here goes:

How did I ever think you knew anything about football? The only poster who approaches your unique blend of immaturity and cluelessness must be Harmonica.

I have said PSG was overrated multiple times and I explained why in another thread. I expected them to lose the second the met someone like Barca/Bayern/Juve. That doesn't change the fact that at the time we were speaking Madrid was struggling to beat La Liga fodder and PSG was playing their best football in the last five years.

It seems like you have this ridiculous notion that football teams don't change. That because PSG lost to Madrid in the group stage they couldn't beat them in the quarters. And that because PSG was playing very well all season they couldn't turn to crap a la Bayern in 2014.

I said this before when we were arguing that you can't know exactly who is better until they play each other. We still don't by the way - as farfan rightly pointed out Man City could well knock you out in the semis.

But when making comparisions between two teams like that you look at their form and the way they are playing and PSG was eating Real for breakfast in both those categories. It's strange, as a Madrid fan I think you'd realize just how rubbish you were a few months ago (and to some extent still are). Why the incredulous reaction to someone suggesting PSG could be better than you?

I didn't watch this game so I really can't comment on what happened. I can tell you that in the first leg PSG was the far better side and Man City was extremely lucky to come away with a point. Does the fact PSG choked last night lower their credibility? Of course. Does it change the reality of what the world looked like a few months ago? Hell no.

Really don't understand the outrage here. If there's one statement I made a few months ago that should be attacked right about now, it was that Real were better than Juve. Now that's rubbish

How is that being clueless or immature? Thought it was funny considering PSG never beat Madrid and to see them get KO'd by a team that has been quite pedestrian like for some time, thought it added more wood to the fire.

I didn't call you any names nor did I think anything of it other than a "funny to me" line. I did not claim it to even be logical as Harmonica insists he is. And considering it is not even an attack on you or PSG, not even so sure why you worked your own self up.

If you did consider that an attack, well, sorry?

so we gonna act like city didn't have nasri yaya and kompany out

I really hate to use certain words because I respect everybody here. So please keep in mind while reading this that I meant no disrespect to anybody and I apologize in advance for using those words:

1. PSG are shit.
2. Real Madrid are shit.
3. City are shit.
4. None of the aforementioned teams deserve to be in the semi-final.
5. Juventus should've been in the semi-final instead of City or Madrid.
6. The CL draw is deeply flawed because the path to the final is not the same in terms of difficulty for everybody. And a result, some inferior teams can reach the semis, while other superior and more deserving ones don't.
7. Blanc is a mediocre coach.
8. Pellegrini is a mediocre coach.
9. If Z reaches the final, I'll revisit my opinion of him. But right now? He's a mediocre coach.

Just don't forget that PSG has to play without their starting midfield.
-Verrati , their best mid
- Matuidi
- Motta for 1 game
This trio have been playing together for 3-4 years and you can't replace that easily.
Aurier's dumb case have also hurt them because he wasn't ready to play at this level after 2 months with the reserve.

(Imo Juventus is better than PSG and City )

LeBéninois wrote:Just don't forget that PSG has to play without their starting midfield.
-Verrati , their best mid
- Matuidi
- Motta for 1 game
This trio have been playing together for 3-4 years and you can't replace that easily.
Aurier's dumb case have also hurt them because he wasn't ready to play at this level after 2 months with the reserve.

(Imo Juventus is better than PSG and City )

Logic is lost here. City is talentless apparently and since they have given up winning their league and will surely pass Arsenal as 3rd (better GD and only 2 points behind), they should be considered crap. Forget the fact that they have WC players who probably don't give a crap at this point because they can't win that trophy... and concentrated on CL, which they can win.

And PSG... how dare they not play like an elite team while missing their starting 3 midfield players. Heck, Madrid would have destroyed City without Kroos, Modric and Casemiro. Barca? Who needs Busquets, Rakitic and Iniesta. Same with Bayern... Lahm, Alonso and Vidal would made absolutely no difference. Juve? Marchisio, Pogba and Khedira are completely unnecessary.

All those team would have run over City without their starting midfield. It's clear.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:I really hate to use certain words because I respect everybody here. So please keep in mind while reading this that I meant no disrespect to anybody and I apologize in advance for using those words:

1. PSG are shit.
2. Real Madrid are shit.
3. City are shit.
4. None of the aforementioned teams deserve to be in the semi-final.
5. Juventus should've been in the semi-final instead of City or Madrid.
6. The CL draw is deeply flawed because the path to the final is not the same in terms of difficulty for everybody. And a result, some inferior teams can reach the semis, while other superior and more deserving ones don't.
7. Blanc is a mediocre coach.
8. Pellegrini is a mediocre coach.
9. If Z reaches the final, I'll revisit my opinion of him. But right now? He's a mediocre coach.

Juventus finished below City in the group stage... They deserved Bayern. Besides, Bayern played with bunch of first time noobie center backs and still dominated them in the first leg. Juventus weren't good enough, that's it. Juventus also doesn't have the ability to completely take a tie by balls. In most of the important CL ties Juve plays they always always gives opponents a minimal chance to come back. They won't just score and make it impossible, the minute they are ahead they will sit back. Story of their CL adventure for past few seasons.

Verratti isn't Jesus. His absence should be managed, specially by a team with the resources of PSG. Every team misses players. City played without Kompany and Toure. Barca destroyed Madrid without Messi. Bayern has their squad destroyed by injuries all the time. Juve played Bayern without Marchisio, Dybala and Chiellini and beat City twice, once without Marchisio, Dybala and Khedira. Most of PSG squad in that game would start at City.

The CL this year feels a little weaker. Next year it should be better I think. The Prem teams will be good + Leicester wildcard. Dortmund back. Madrid will probably improve. Napoli will be interesting. The rest of the big teams are stable.

Adit wrote:

The Demon of Carthage wrote:I really hate to use certain words because I respect everybody here. So please keep in mind while reading this that I meant no disrespect to anybody and I apologize in advance for using those words:

1. PSG are shit.
2. Real Madrid are shit.
3. City are shit.
4. None of the aforementioned teams deserve to be in the semi-final.
5. Juventus should've been in the semi-final instead of City or Madrid.
6. The CL draw is deeply flawed because the path to the final is not the same in terms of difficulty for everybody. And a result, some inferior teams can reach the semis, while other superior and more deserving ones don't.
7. Blanc is a mediocre coach.
8. Pellegrini is a mediocre coach.
9. If Z reaches the final, I'll revisit my opinion of him. But right now? He's a mediocre coach.

Juventus finished below City in the group stage... They deserved Bayern. Besides, Bayern played with bunch of first time noobie center backs and still dominated them in the first leg. Juventus weren't good enough, that's it.

We lost to Bayern fair and square. Doesn't erase the fact that we were going through a crisis during the group stage and still beat City twice. We were better than Madrid last year, now Madrid got worse, hence we are still better.

sportsczy wrote:

LeBéninois wrote:Just don't forget that PSG has to play without their starting midfield.
-Verrati , their best mid
- Matuidi
- Motta for 1 game
This trio have been playing together for 3-4 years and you can't replace that easily.
Aurier's dumb case have also hurt them because he wasn't ready to play at this level after 2 months with the reserve.

(Imo Juventus is better than PSG and City )

Logic is lost here. City is talentless apparently and since they have given up winning their league and will surely pass Arsenal as 3rd (better GD and only 2 points behind), they should be considered crap. Forget the fact that they have WC players who probably don't give a crap at this point because they can't win that trophy... and concentrated on CL, which they can win.

And PSG... how dare they not play like an elite team while missing their starting 3 midfield players. Heck, Madrid would have destroyed City without Kroos, Modric and Casemiro. Barca? Who needs Busquets, Rakitic and Iniesta. Same with Bayern... Lahm, Alonso and Vidal would made absolutely no difference. Juve? Marchisio, Pogba and Khedira are completely unnecessary.

All those team would have run over City without their starting midfield. It's clear.

Totally agree those teams would have destroyed this City team ( their A- team btw) . The thing is, PSG was never at Juventus-Bayern-Barca level. I'd even go as fas as saying Athetico Madrid is better.Obviously people who thought they were are going to call them overrated now but I didn't. That's the reason why when PSG got City, they felt confident.
Anyways, exciting summer ahead for them. Out : Ibra, Motta, Aurier, ( Cavani ? ) In : ? but they would have to do better than their recent deals ( Luiz for 50m and Angel for 60 ). Better try the likes of Reus, Higuain...

Actually no.. Last year you beat a ran down Madrid with Ramos in midfield doesn't mean that you can defeat this Madrid. If this Team can defeat Barcelona then it can sure as hell defeat any team in the world. Not saying we will defeat any body but this Madrid side is so moody you don't know which one is going to show up.

Adit wrote:Actually no.. Last year you beat a ran down Madrid with Ramos in midfield doesn't mean that you can defeat this Madrid. If this Team can defeat Barcelona then it can sure as hell defeat any team in the world. Not saying we will defeat any body but this Madrid side is so moody you don't know which one is going to show up.

What the hell is a "ran down Madrid"? The team is, as the team is. The fitness and rotation of the players is up to the players and the coach. That's all part of football. Where Juve not also towards the end of their season?

Playing Ramos as DM was a choice, you had other midfielders in the bench. And that was only for one game. We played without Pogba in the first leg for that matter and gave a kid his debut (Sturaro).

The games happened and the best team won. Now Madrid are collecting themselves, when they get their stuff together and beat the top teams then you can claim that.

what are the top teams? i wonder

rincon wrote:Verratti isn't Jesus. His absence should be managed, specially by a team with the resources of PSG. Every team misses players. City played without Kompany and Toure. Barca destroyed Madrid without Messi. Bayern has their squad destroyed by injuries all the time. Juve played Bayern without Marchisio, Dybala and Chiellini and beat City twice, once without Marchisio, Dybala and Khedira. Most of PSG squad in that game would start at City.

It's not just Verratti , Matuidi and Motta ( first half ) were out too .