Champions League - Knockout Stage - 17/2, 18/2, 24/2, 25/2

Suedesi said:
I'm hoping Bodo Glimt might do something against Inter?
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They beat City and then Atletico Madrid away, i would say Inter in Bodø in february definitely is possible.
There's -3 celsius and 20cm snow in Bodø today - according to the internetz.
I'd say that's an advantage against Italians.
 
Who's Kissing Cameras? said:
-3° and 20cm snow in Bodo? Just whacked money on double chance Glimt.
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The problem for Glimt is that the season ended a couple months ago, but i'm sure they've played practise games to stay match fit.
If i was a betting man, i'd go for Bodø, i think.
 
hasanejaz88 said:
Olympiakos goalkeeper putting in a masterclass till now, two great saves.
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He's doing so well even his own defenders now try to sabotage the game by running headfirst into each other.

Seriously though, that looked damn nasty.
 
Anyone has an opinion on Leverkusen this year? Second time they play so well against Olympiakos, and they can’t score even one goal with high xG each time.
 
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I’m so happy for Lookman. This was a very good move for him.

I hope more players from the Nigerian NT move up in terms of club football.

This should be Osimhen’s last season in Turkey. Hoping Nnadi can settle in at OM and the likes of Iwobi should be aiming for a top 6-8 club in the Prem that will play at least EL footie regularly.
 
Club Brugge fantastic so far against Atletico.
Shit penalty and corner goal against but came back to 2-2.
 
That Bodo/Glimt coach will surely coach a bigger club next season. They are playing some nice football.
 
ShamrockD said:
Anyone has an opinion on Leverkusen this year? Second time they play so well against Olympiakos, and they can’t score even one goal with high xG each time.
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I don't think we're playing well. The chances were there but we give away the ball far too often. In my opinion it is very obvious Hjulmand needs more time. There are phases in which we play very well but still inconsistent
 
Grylte said:
The problem for Glimt is that the season ended a couple months ago, but i'm sure they've played practise games to stay match fit.
If i was a betting man, i'd go for Bodø, i think.
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Wish i was a betting man...
 
BayernFan87 said:
That Bodo/Glimt coach will surely coach a bigger club next season. They are playing some nice football.
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Not so sure, it's not like he is very young or that what they're doing is THAT surprising anymore, giant-killing time and time again and fairly big clubs have knocked on the door, yet he is still there.
Recently signed new contract just last month, and at the time he was actually out of contract, so that was probably the time to change clubs and he was bound to have alternatives at the time, but he didn't.
 
ShamrockD said:
Anyone has an opinion on Leverkusen this year? Second time they play so well against Olympiakos, and they can’t score even one goal with high xG each time.
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Bang average (as in CL knockout stage level) team aside from Maza and Grimaldo imo.
 
Might need to start giving Spurs a bit more credit for beating this lot last season.
 
Zehner said:
I don't think we're playing well. The chances were there but we give away the ball far too often. In my opinion it is very obvious Hjulmand needs more time. There are phases in which we play very well but still inconsistent
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Olympiakos does only one thing very well, they press man to man aggressively irrelevant of the opponent or the score, they rarely adjust. They do not even against Real and Barcelona.

It is crazy that you keep going with this build up against them, that is why you give away the ball too much. If you play more direct, the space is there to get many more chances. But the issue is that you are not clinical at all, at least in those two games I have watched you. Even today you should have at least 3.
 
It's mad to think 6 of the 16 remaining teams will be English. Likely to be at least one all English tie in the next round
 
Grylte said:
They beat City and then Atletico Madrid away, i would say Inter in Bodø in february definitely is possible.
There's -3 celsius and 20cm snow in Bodø today - according to the internetz.
I'd say that's an advantage against Italians.
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Glad I put some money on Bodo. At 4.30x it was a no brainer
 
Stick a fork in Serie A. It's done.
 
ShamrockD said:
Olympiakos does only one thing very well, they press man to man aggressively irrelevant of the opponent or the score, they rarely adjust. They do not even against Real and Barcelona.

It is crazy that you keep going with this build up against them, that is why you give away the ball too much. If you play more direct, the space is there to get many more chances. But the issue is that you are not clinical at all, at least in those two games I have watched you. Even today you should have at least 3.
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Yeah, our chance conversion has been abysmal against Olympiakos. Poku has been a main factor for that because despite all his qualities he still lacks composure in key moments. That's the main reason he's not a starter for us.

As for the turnovers: Yes, Olympiakos has been pressing us very aggressively but building up play from the back is a key aspect of our system and I think we are pretty good at it, too. We've outplayed the high line with third man combinations very often but we tend to give it away too easily once we broke through. You don't need to play every counter attack to the end. If the passing lanes don't manifest, I'd like us to recycle possession more often and keep the ball moving in the opponent's half more patiently for a bit, like we did under Alonso. I think that has to do with all the new, rather inexperienced players we have.

But it got much better after I wrote that post, IMO. We were at around 48% possession at that point in time and finished with 58%.
 
BayernFan87 said:
That Bodo/Glimt coach will surely coach a bigger club next season. They are playing some nice football.
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Not sure what he'll eventually do, he's had multiple chances to join other clubs during his years at Glimt, even other Norwegian clubs have tried bringing him in when Glimt started doing well, but he's preferred to stay and keep working on this project. People thought he was a bit mental as surely they'd reached their peak, and this was before they actually started doing well in Europe.

He's a clever guy, 10 years ago they were struggling with results and brought in a mentality coach, former f16 pilot, someone who got well integrated into the group and the players could have informal chats with him, performing under pressure etc.

He'd obviously earn a lot more for a bigger club in Europe, but he's not exactly working for free at Glimt either. The trust he has at Glimt isn't something easy to achieve elsewhere, especially in a sport where he can easily find himself sacked after a poor run of matches and not just a disappointing season. Glimt are also building a new stadium, which will be another milestone.

Still think it's piss funny landing at Bodø airport, must be an obscure experience for clubs going there, must feel like a bit of a joke.
 
NoLogo said:
How did Quarabag even qualify for this round? 1-6 at home in a knock out round of the CL is kinda sad.
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Did anyone notice the number of stewards all around the pitch at Quarabag? Not sure who or what they were protecting!
 
NoLogo said:
How did Quarabag even qualify for this round? 1-6 at home in a knock out round of the CL is kinda sad.
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They were in good form earlier in the season (last year), and that was good enough to allow them to punch above their weight for a time, depending on the form of other teams. They already scored an upset against Ferencvaros to qualify, then beat Benfica and Copenhagen and draw with Chelsea early on, which set them up to endure some later losses. The win against a misfiring Frankfurt ended up being enough to see them scrape through as one of the lowest ranked teams, but they've completely run out of gas already by the end of the league stage.

It's not surprising really. Football is so lopsided now that a smaller team from a genuine semi-minnow league doing as well as they have is a good season, but as soon as form slips or they pick up a few injuries, they are always liable to get smashed and for things to end ugly.
 
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BayernFan87 said:
That Bodo/Glimt coach will surely coach a bigger club next season. They are playing some nice football.
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His main goal was to reach the CL, his mission is finally accomplished now so he will most likely leave after this season.

The replacement(who they poached from local rivals Tromsø 2 yrs ago)has been working as his assistant and will take over.
 
NotChatGPT said:
Not sure what he'll eventually do, he's had multiple chances to join other clubs during his years at Glimt, even other Norwegian clubs have tried bringing him in when Glimt started doing well, but he's preferred to stay and keep working on this project. People thought he was a bit mental as surely they'd reached their peak, and this was before they actually started doing well in Europe.

He's a clever guy, 10 years ago they were struggling with results and brought in a mentality coach, former f16 pilot, someone who got well integrated into the group and the players could have informal chats with him, performing under pressure etc.

He'd obviously earn a lot more for a bigger club in Europe, but he's not exactly working for free at Glimt either. The trust he has at Glimt isn't something easy to achieve elsewhere, especially in a sport where he can easily find himself sacked after a poor run of matches and not just a disappointing season. Glimt are also building a new stadium, which will be another milestone.

Still think it's piss funny landing at Bodø airport, must be an obscure experience for clubs going there, must feel like a bit of a joke.
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Thanks for the insights
 
Ole'sgunnarwin said:
It's mad to think 6 of the 16 remaining teams will be English. Likely to be at least one all English tie in the next round
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The way the brackets have lined up, it wouldn't be surprising if it ends up as 6 PL teams in the last 8.

If people believe in fixed draws, then you have to suspect they put Newcastle v Chelsea and Madrid v City in the next round to try and avoid the CL becoming a glorified Carabao Cup.
 
Dave Smith said:
The way the brackets have lined up, it wouldn't be surprising if it ends up as 6 PL teams in the last 8.

If people believe in fixed draws, then you have to suspect they put Newcastle v Chelsea and Madrid v City in the next round to try and avoid the CL becoming a glorified Carabao Cup.
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I think there should be no same league match ups until the quarters unless it can't be avoided. It is super lame that Bayern will be playing either Dortmund or Leverkusen. CL knockout rpunds should be season highlights and not repititons of matches you're playing multiple times per year anyway. We played Bayern five times last season and it would have been six if they didn't lose their second place to Stuttgart in 23/24.
 
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