FWIW Suarez and Iniesta shouldn't have finished the game.
Champions League QF - 2nd leg - April 12th/13th 2016 - Discussions & Live
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
if liverpool repeat their away performance then there's good chance of that happening imo
Just finished watching the Atletico vs. Barcelona game.
Atletico deserved to go through and Barcelona were lucky to escape some red cards throughout, particularly that Iniesta one because the ref saw it. I was amazed that he didn't send him off because there was a man spare with a free shot on goal, clearly a goal-scoring opportunity. Iniesta didn't need to do it either because a goal wouldn't have been the end for them with just the one away goal needed for extra time. Barcelona left it too late in the end and were strangely subdued in the first half, the pattern of the game was ideal for the home team and played into Simeone's hands. Having said that, the decision not to give a penalty was an absolute shocker, not even close.
Atletico deserved to go through and Barcelona were lucky to escape some red cards throughout, particularly that Iniesta one because the ref saw it. I was amazed that he didn't send him off because there was a man spare with a free shot on goal, clearly a goal-scoring opportunity. Iniesta didn't need to do it either because a goal wouldn't have been the end for them with just the one away goal needed for extra time. Barcelona left it too late in the end and were strangely subdued in the first half, the pattern of the game was ideal for the home team and played into Simeone's hands. Having said that, the decision not to give a penalty was an absolute shocker, not even close.
Weird feeling about the four left. Shame Juve didn't take the chance to knockout Bayern. Real and City no thanks.
Atletico I want them to win and they got so close a couple of years ago although it reminds me De Gea left that club, Madrid born, a club he supported and come through the ranks to come here and he's only got one PL in the five years. He missed out on our Champions League runs to the finals and the last three years have been what they are. Atletico are going great guns and moving to a 70,000 seater stadium soon. With 5th place for United looking ominous it would seem he's best off taking a pay cut back to his old club and shacking up with his girlfriend or even joining Real Madrid.
Perhaps De Gea is one of us? We don't hear much from him so I wonder what he thinks. He could go and suddenly we start emerging once again.
Atletico I want them to win and they got so close a couple of years ago although it reminds me De Gea left that club, Madrid born, a club he supported and come through the ranks to come here and he's only got one PL in the five years. He missed out on our Champions League runs to the finals and the last three years have been what they are. Atletico are going great guns and moving to a 70,000 seater stadium soon. With 5th place for United looking ominous it would seem he's best off taking a pay cut back to his old club and shacking up with his girlfriend or even joining Real Madrid.
Perhaps De Gea is one of us? We don't hear much from him so I wonder what he thinks. He could go and suddenly we start emerging once again.
I don't really mind who wins it so long as it's not City obviously. If I had to preference the other three I'd say Atletico, Bayern then Madrid.
I think City would have been out if they'd faced any of the other semi-finalists. It took an unbelievably poor PSG for them to scrape through. Of the teams left now, Atletico have shown the least weakness. Bayern were shipping goals against Juve and did the same against Benfica tonight, while Real's away game against Wolfsburg was really poor.
I think it will be Atletico vs. Bayern/Real in the final. I'd love to see Simeone and Pep go head to head in the final, so that's what I'm rooting for. Pep vs. Pellegrini in the semis would be great too, but City's tournament needs to end there for the sake of my own mental health.
I think it will be Atletico vs. Bayern/Real in the final. I'd love to see Simeone and Pep go head to head in the final, so that's what I'm rooting for. Pep vs. Pellegrini in the semis would be great too, but City's tournament needs to end there for the sake of my own mental health.
Atletico's defensive record is ridiculous. Simeone is an amazing manager. Hopefully they go on to win the thing.
Atletico didn't just sit back and park the bus hoping to get lucky. They pressed from the front, gave Barca little time and space and were very organized as usual.
Did Simeone play Pep's Barca?
Yes, he did in 2012.
dammit, now I feel bad!Well now I feel stupid
To be fair Lyon has produced great players over the years.Like we did with Griezmann who had to move to Spain because he was considered not enough good to play for Lyon
Many years later, Griezmann (Real Sociedad) played against Lyon in the ECL qualifying in August 2013. What happened?
hoping for this:
atletico-real and bayern-city semis, atletico-bayern final
atletico-real and bayern-city semis, atletico-bayern final
We didn't deserve to go through sadly. Iniesta was lucky not to be sent off but we were denied a last gasp, clear penalty to take the game into extra time. Now, I'm pinning my hopes on Atletico, City and Bayern now.
Atletico don't sit back so often or so deep, but they have struggled to play expansive football against the bottom 17 teams in La Liga. They've only scored 54 this year in the league. Incredibly, they've only conceded 16 goals in 32 matches so are still in the title race, and they'd have probably at least 5 more if Jackson Martinez hadn't been a complete bust as a 9, but they are often quite boring and unimaginative to watch when they have the bulk of possession.
I thought they'd sort of transition to having 2 teams this year with the normal 4-4-2 thing but then in easier games, more 4-3-3, with Koke and even Oliver playing centrally and Griezmann playing wide to give the kind of goalscoring threat from the flanks that Barca and Real get from Neymar and Bale (not going to score 40 from out wide like Messi and Ronaldo, it's basically impossible).
They should still probably look to improve their attack against the bottom 17, though, as it's sort of unrealistic to expect to concede like 13-14 goals (assuming they concede about 5 in 4 against Real and Barca) in 34 games against La Liga teams, though of course they've done it so it is possible.
But they've gone from 77 goals scored in their title win, to 67 last year and probably will get around the same number this year (easy last 6 games and draws are useless at this point, so 13 in 6 seems plausible). I bet they'll look to upgrade in attack this summer, either with a physical striker to replace Jackson or a winger if they trust Correa to form a partnership with Griezmann. Also, they don't really need to add players anywhere else except maybe a new backup fullback.
There were 4, 2 were so blatant (one handball, and the other were someone wrestled Drogba to the ground in stages in front of goal as the cross came in), the other 2 wouldn't have been controversial either but not as obvious.
The red was rubbish too though.
Inter were lucky with the disallowed goal with Bojan (I'm still not sure about it) and an offside at San Siro (blatant) but Motta's red was just as bad as Abidal's.
Against Arsenal there was the terrible RvP red but there were penalties denied to Barca too.
Pepe deserved his red, Mou's reaction was insane.
This tie Suarez should have seen 2 red cards, he got 1 yellow...
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The referee tried harder than Messi in that match.
I want Real vs city and bayern vs atletico in final. So that city are out in semi and real's face is kicked in by one of atleti/bayern in the final.
Sure but please be sure Iniesta & Xavi - younger - would have also been rejected by French training centre of big clubs.
Why? Simply because French training centre tend to focus on players with big physical impact and dream of finding the new Desailly, Vieira and Henry.
If you look at the team of Rennes, you will understand my point
Anyone noticed? We were not so far away from having
Atletico
Wolfsburg
Benfica
PSG or City
in the half finals
Might actually have been refreshing for a change.
Atletico
Wolfsburg
Benfica
PSG or City
in the half finals
Might actually have been refreshing for a change.
The referee for the game city-psg: his name is Carlos Velasco Carballo.
The Spanish referee likes to give a lot of penalties
Curious to see if that is true
True, even Kanté was rejected from academies because not physically dominant.Sure but please be sure Iniesta & Xavi - younger - would have also been rejected by French training centre of big clubs.
Why? Simply because French training centre tend to focus on players with big physical impact and dream of finding the new Desailly, Vieira and Henry.
If you look at the team of Rennes, you will understand my point
Foreign players like Pastore didn't pass physical tests either.Lyon brought up Lacazette and Grenier from the same generation as Griezmann so it's not all bad for them.
True, he plays sideways and backwards a lot. I think he should be more direct, he has all the skills to become a top midfielder. Hopefully he moves this summer or the next so he can be a regular.
I think any time Barcelona/Real/Atletico have met in Europe over the last few years, the intensity of these games goes to a whole new level compared to when they play domestically, with disputed decisions, brutal tackles and histrionics from nearly everyone involved. The one that sticks in the mind most is Barca-Real in the 10/11 CL, sub goalkeeper being sent off in the tunnel, Mourinho ordered away from the touchline etc. To call these ties "controversial" and "hotly disputed" is a bit like saying Charlie Sheen has dated a few women in his time.
Barca are definitely too reliant on Messi both to score and create everything in these kind of games for them. Neymar and Suarez can score when others create(they weren't capable of that either last night), but I seriously hardly remember them creating something for someone else out of nothing. They are both definitely too oriented to just score goals, where is Neymar's ability to actually dribble past players and to make extra space for others? I thought he is supposed to be good dribbler? Same with Suarez, his hold up play was non existant in these past few games. He acored 2 goals in last game but was easily worst player on the pitch.
Last night Simeone's tactics were spot on, they left lot of space on the right and gave Iniesta all the time in the world outside of the box, crowd the space on the left, defend deep and that's about it. I actually think Alba deserves lot of criticism too, people put him in the top bracket all the time but when did he actually make a difference with his attacking abilities? He is nowhere near as good with Neymar as he used to be with Iniesta down that left side. There was lot of space for him last night I thought.
Last night Simeone's tactics were spot on, they left lot of space on the right and gave Iniesta all the time in the world outside of the box, crowd the space on the left, defend deep and that's about it. I actually think Alba deserves lot of criticism too, people put him in the top bracket all the time but when did he actually make a difference with his attacking abilities? He is nowhere near as good with Neymar as he used to be with Iniesta down that left side. There was lot of space for him last night I thought.
Eliaquim Mangala: “This is an important moment in my career.”
Speaking following Manchester City’s qualification for the semi-finals of the Champions League, French central defender Eliaquim Mangala reacted with joy.
“This is an important moment for us, an important moment in our careers. We said that we wanted to make our mark on the history of the club, for the moment we are on the right route and we need to continue in this way. To play matches like this, in the quarter final, against PSG, of course it makes you happy. I enjoyed myself and that is important. We knew that this would be a difficult match. I tried to give my best and that allowed me to succeed.”
“The most important thing was to qualify even if France is sad it can at least say that French players will be playing in the semi-finals. I am concentrated on my club… At PSG, they have a very good team, very good players, but the fact that they became champions quite early might have caused them to let go a little. What is certain, is that in the quarter finals there is no such thing as a good or bad draw. We can say that one club or another are favourites, but only the pitch tells you the truth and that is what we showed over the course of these two matches.”
Speaking following Manchester City’s qualification for the semi-finals of the Champions League, French central defender Eliaquim Mangala reacted with joy.
“This is an important moment for us, an important moment in our careers. We said that we wanted to make our mark on the history of the club, for the moment we are on the right route and we need to continue in this way. To play matches like this, in the quarter final, against PSG, of course it makes you happy. I enjoyed myself and that is important. We knew that this would be a difficult match. I tried to give my best and that allowed me to succeed.”
“The most important thing was to qualify even if France is sad it can at least say that French players will be playing in the semi-finals. I am concentrated on my club… At PSG, they have a very good team, very good players, but the fact that they became champions quite early might have caused them to let go a little. What is certain, is that in the quarter finals there is no such thing as a good or bad draw. We can say that one club or another are favourites, but only the pitch tells you the truth and that is what we showed over the course of these two matches.”
Barcelona's problems were due to their midfield, Atletico completely dominated in that area and you can have the best attack in world if your midfield struggle, you are likely to struggle.
My opinion about Barcelona
1. Unfortunately, there were not authorized to recruit some players last summer. Consequently:
- limited bench
- lack of freshness
2. Barcelona won everything last year so almost impossible to repeat it in 2 consecutive years.
3. Unlucky to play Atletico, the worst team for them
4. They started the season so well they are tired in April like PSG ! Well, PSG has an "average coach" unlike Barcelona.
1. Unfortunately, there were not authorized to recruit some players last summer. Consequently:
- limited bench
- lack of freshness
2. Barcelona won everything last year so almost impossible to repeat it in 2 consecutive years.
3. Unlucky to play Atletico, the worst team for them
4. They started the season so well they are tired in April like PSG ! Well, PSG has an "average coach" unlike Barcelona.
Not sure what these kind of games are but Neymar and Suarez scored and created plenty vs PSG, Bayern and Juventus last season. Not to mention that they nearly murdered Real at Bernabeu without Messi, he came in when the result was 3:0
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There has been talk of Arsenal interest, right? Possible successor to Cazorla?
He seems an Arsenal type of player too - neat and tidy but uncomfortable when pressed.
He's been linked to a few clubs, yeah. He was supposedly unhappy for a while at PSG (not sure what the situation is with him now) and was looking for a move in the last two windows, which I don't find hard to believe.
Definitely an Arsenal player. Good to watch but, at this moment in time, is not giving Blanc a silection dilemma - he's still a level below their other midfielders & I imagine it will take regular game-time for that to change.
Ronaldo will win it all. He is the best player in the world right now, a goal scoring machine.
sake
At what point in time did that seem like a good idea?
More to the point, at how many pints in time did that seem like a good idea?
Not a fan no?
Nope.
Kinda the same. His earlier work I like