23/24 UCL Knockout Stage

Clutch wrote:You guys let me know if im being biased madrid fan or not but clearly mbappe has to play CF when he come to Madrid. There isn't a better LW in the world right now. Stark difference between the two from their most recent games

I think he will play on the right!

titosantill wrote:

Vibe wrote:CL nights are the best

Also many of us certainly sent Carlo into retirement at Everton. I did.

All the so called great coaches are only as great as the talent they have. A coach can play around with formations, chalk boards, tactics that sound interesting, and all that jazz. If they don't have the talent its moot. Phil Jackson doesn't become Phil Jackson without the talent

Thank you! I know I’ve been beating a dead horse by saying this very same thing for years now, but it really does seem like the vast majority of fans believe it’s the other way around - great coach makes great teams. And when the great coach’s team isn’t great anymore, he’s just past it. Never made any sense to me.

I say it’s combination of both. First off I agree with you both, you have to have the players to make it happen. The better coaches adapt their strategies based on opposition AND the capabilities of the players they have.

Even amongst the best coaches, having the best players doesn’t always work aka Guardiola and Luis Enrique, overplaying their hand and not using the talent they have.

Clutch wrote:You guys let me know if im being biased madrid fan or not but clearly mbappe has to play CF when he come to Madrid. There isn't a better LW in the world right now. Stark difference between the two from their most recent games

Vinicius is the main man on this team and that will not change when and if mbappe does arrive.

I fully expect him to play CF. If he really wants to be a stinger, he best start learning how to on the right side as Vinicius long secured his spot on the team. And because that I know that mbappe doesn't defend his flank, I've no doubt Don Carlo will simply play him CF one and done.

Balanced football must be maintained according to Carlo tactics. Mbappe out wide means the other wide guy must track back to defend. And if you ask me I'd much rather have Vinicius being one of the 2 forwards that stay up when we field our 2 rows of 4 than the turtle. Obvious answer would be Vinicius and mbappe being the 2 up top while everyone else defends and that only happens if Mbappe plays CF. I like rodrygo but CF needs to be the tallest and Mbappe is taller than Vinicius and rodrygo. Rodrygo tracks back when wide by default so I don't want him off wide either.

Which in the end it all goes back to: Turtle plays central whether he likes it or not. Carlo allows freedom but not at the cost of defensive balance.

futbol_bill wrote:I say it’s combination of both. First off I agree with you both, you have to have the players to make it happen. The better coaches adapt their strategies based on opposition AND the capabilities of the players they have.

Even amongst the best coaches, having the best players doesn’t always work aka Guardiola and Luis Enrique, overplaying their hand and not using the talent they have.

Oh, for sure - it’s clearly a combination of both, but like Tito points out, a great coach amounts to very little without the right amount of talent to work with.

In Luis Enrique’s case, I suspect the truth may be quite a bit more complicated than the common suggestion that he simply doesn’t know what he’s doing.

We can all criticize him or Xavi or Ten Haag for making the wrong subs, using nonsensical tactics or behaving like baffoons in the media when the pressure is put on them, but I imagine they have plenty of shit to deal with behind the scenes that goes beyond the talent of their squads.

Opinions in football strongly tend to boil down to black or white, and I do believe managers are both burdened and strongly benefited by that view on things, depending on how well things fall into place for them. No one cares about the things that are outside their powers of influence, or the things we can’t see.

Thimmy wrote:

futbol_bill wrote:I say it’s combination of both. First off I agree with you both, you have to have the players to make it happen. The better coaches adapt their strategies based on opposition AND the capabilities of the players they have.

Even amongst the best coaches, having the best players doesn’t always work aka Guardiola and Luis Enrique, overplaying their hand and not using the talent they have.

Oh, for sure - it’s clearly a combination of both, but like Tito points out, a great coach amounts to very little without the right amount of talent to work with.

In Luis Enrique’s case, I suspect the truth may be quite a bit more complicated than the common suggestion that he simply doesn’t know what he’s doing.

We can all criticize him or Xavi or Ten Haag for making the wrong subs, using nonsensical tactics or behaving like baffoons in the media when the pressure is put on them, but I imagine they have plenty of shit to deal with behind the scenes that goes beyond the talent of their squads.

Opinions in football strongly tend to boil down to black or white, and I do believe managers are both burdened and strongly benefited by that view on things, depending on how well things fall into place for them. No one cares about the things that are outside their powers of influence, or the things we can’t see.

Thimmy, I know Enrique very well. He’s from the same province as I (Asturias). He is very arrogant, egotistical plus he has a bit of guardiola in him in insisting it has to done his way. I suspect you are right thought in that there are likely things behind the scene that he had to deal with. In that regard, you have credit Carlo for man management. The  no egos family togetherness of this current version is unbelievable. In all my years with this team, I never have seen a team so together and supporting. Did you see how Güler was treated when he scored his first goal! Just an example of how no-one is excluded in the “family”.  It will be interesting to see how Mbappe fits in.

If I wanted to illistrate what bad luck looks like to a neutral fan, Id have them take a look at the 2nd half of PSG vs Dortmund. This was so unreal... Defenders and GKs all beaten only for the posts to save them. Never have I seen a team more unworthy to pass on to a CL final than this Dortmund.

Dont get me wrong, I like Dortmund and I like watching a team that can use whatever theyve got to fight a game to the very last but this wasnt a defensive masterclass either... this was clearly luck here.

Actually, pretty far from never, Real does what Dortmund went through every season in the CL? So Real have done this like 10+ times b4 Plus ref the often ref favs... no excuse for Bayern, but all the major channels concluded De Ligt goal was good n ref mistakenly flagged offside. They wouldnt have won in ET anyway, but u get the point.

BarcaLearning wrote:Actually, pretty far from never, Real does what Dortmund went through every season in the CL? So Real have done this like 10+ times b4 Plus ref the often ref favs... no excuse for Bayern, but all the major channels concluded De Ligt goal was good n ref mistakenly flagged offside. They wouldnt have won in ET anyway, but u get the point.

Ive seen them get lucky with Bayern actually yeah. But as for all the others ones tho? Usually theyre the favorites coming into a game. Only City have a squad that can give RM a real run for their money currently.

How is DeLigts goal good when nobody moved to intercept/save it

We weren't lucky against Bayern, we dominated the game from start to finish smh.

The only game we were outclassed in was in the second leg against City apart from that game we have been much better than the other 2 teams we played.

It's funny everyone uses that DeLigt opportunistic shot to tell us we were helped by the referee despite being so dominant we would've scored within the next minute anyways. Once we broke Neuer once he wasn't a superhuman anymore and it became easier to rattle him.

Can't wait to hear how lucky we were against Dortmund too

halamadrid2 wrote:How is DeLigts goal good when nobody moved to intercept/save it

We weren't lucky against Bayern, we dominated the game from start to finish smh.

The only game we were outclassed in was in the second leg against City apart from that game we have been much better than the other 2 teams we played.

It's funny everyone uses that DeLigt opportunistic shot to tell us we were helped by the referee despite being so dominant we would've scored within the next minute anyways. Once we broke Neuer once he wasn't a superhuman anymore and it became easier to rattle him.

Can't wait to hear how lucky we were against Dortmund too

Tbh only retards like Barcalearningdisability think it was luck, if you had a functioning and healthy eye you could see how we dominated Bayern for 90 minutes, also Bayern's goal happened totally against the run of play.

Wish that stupid ref whistle didn't happen so mindless cules didn't have any excuses but it is what is ah well lol

Lord Awesome wrote:If I wanted to illistrate what bad luck looks like to a neutral fan, Id have them take a look at the 2nd half of PSG vs Dortmund. This was so unreal... Defenders and GKs all beaten only for the posts to save them. Never have I seen a team more unworthy to pass on to a CL final than this Dortmund.

Dont get me wrong, I like Dortmund and I like watching a team that can use whatever theyve got to fight a game to the very last but this wasnt a defensive masterclass either... this was clearly luck here.

You call it luck/lack thereof, I call it imperfect accuracy, which I assume is why there’s a post there in the first place. The history of football would’ve looked quite different if the posts had been removed

Real madrid can beat you with any type of football. Plus the overall talent makes it extremely hard for any team to outright beat them. Teams speak of real madid like itheyre the boogeyman and that already puts the other team at a disadvantage mentally

Some Real fans dont read properly or just think all cules are biased like themselves I never said Real got lucky in this match overall, I just meant the good goal disallowed scored by De Ligt? Every football show or site talked about it last couple of days? As usual Real fans brushes it aside like its nothing Nobody said Real werent the better team n deserved to go through anyway, 2 separate things, lol?

Pedram is a complete fking dumb shit though so thats a given n just enjoys picking fight n abusing ppl, but hopefully hes the worst example, there are some decent Real fans here

Tuchel was right that on the other side of the pitch it wouldn't have happened. Somehow these 'mistakes' always occur in certain specific environments

Myesyats wrote:Tuchel was right that on the other side of the pitch it wouldn't have happened. Somehow these 'mistakes' always occur in certain specific environments

You mean like how we had a goal ruled out in the CL final last time for bogus reasons. Or Tuchels Chlesea benefiting from this same bias last time we played them. Puhlease, there isn't a single team in world football that Uefa dislikes more than RM given we have a president who is trying to kill it.

If the ref wanted to help Madrid he would've ended the game sooner than he did He added 5 minutes on top of an already ridiculous 9 minutes ffs.

farfan wrote:If the ref wanted to help Madrid he would've ended the game sooner than he did He added 5 minutes on top of an already ridiculous 9 minutes ffs.

That surprised me as well. It only makes things worse that the ref team got that decisive offside call wrong, so deep into the pointlessly excessive injury time. I really can’t blame Bayern fans for feeling that they were wronged by that decision. It would’ve frustrated me also.

Ive officially decided its Barça and for the most part Arsenal fans who above all whining superclub fans, love to talk about refereeing decisions that most;

to which is just a habit of a loser why I like coaches who only vent when the decision is that blatantly bad and sparingly.

Real like most big clubs get away with questionable calls but here its a stretch.

The footballing world is unanimously uniting in praising Real's "inevitability" in the UCL whether we hate them or not,

no point going against the grain,.

Every team that wins gets some questionable calls along the way. Every single one.

Real Madrid wins a lot.

Can't remember a single call that Man City benefited from last season, not even a minor one, let alone one that is so decisive and blatant. In earlier campaigns too. And they win a lot. Would've won more with such calls, methinks.

Myesyats wrote:Can't remember a single call that Man City benefited from last season, not even a minor one, let alone one that is so decisive and blatant. In earlier campaigns too. And they win a lot. Would've won more with such calls, methinks.

Well apart from scoring a goal against us from a ball that had clearly gone out of play.....But that's minor news......Unlike Bayern who didn't deserve to score even one we were excellent in that home game and with a 1-0 score the second leg could've turned completely different instead we got smashed. I would've fancied us to go through if we'd gone to the second leg with a win. Didn't see everyone talk about the referee then

Have you not seen the video footage of it? He was clearly offside. Very clearly lineman was correct, as was the ref’s whistle and the Madrid players stopping pursuit.


And Mueller is another whining Xavi!

Never really looked into it outside of watching it live but it looked like rudigers arm keeps them on

The videos shows him clearly ahead of rudiger