Great save by Neuer vs Son at the end there.
CL 19/20 Group Stages: Week 6 (Last Round)
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Yep, realized it a tad late, edited my post. You don't look like a team struggling domestically, this was a very good performance.Don't remind me
Spurs well beaten in the end.
Meh … Spurs are through to the next round anyway, so I don't really care about the result … and some good experience for some youngsters.
We didn't look like a struggling team in our last two league games either, which we lost. ^^ There's definitely improvement all around after Kovac left, just our finishing wasn't really on point in those games.
Higuain with a nice finish for 2-0. Another Dybala assist.
Why isnt Herrera playing for PSG?
Only injuries will stop him from breaking Messi and CR7's record.
Nailed on Liverpool draw them!
Not a given. Messi and especially CR7 upped their goal scoring record later on. Mbappe not only needs to maintain his current output but improve on it. Probably needs a series of a few consecutive 10+ or even 15+ goals seasons. I wouldn't take that for granted, a) he's yet to reach that level and b) he needs to play in a team that goes far in the CL every year. Don't underestimate how lucky Messi and CR7 got with their teams' successes.
He's so far ahead of them already at the same age, it's not even a fair comparison. Yes, they upped it later on, but he's really ahead of them right now for his age, and he's only getting better. He will always be on a contending team because there's only a handful that could afford him, so his prospects at scoring boatload of goals in the competition only decreases through injuries, I don't think it's a hot take to claim he will break their record.
Anyone else that don't like Jan Åge Fjørtoft?
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The world needs Mourinho eliminating juventus from the CL
I just think that both Messi and CR7 upped their output to an insane level and just because hevs ahead of them in this statistic right now doesn't automatically mean he'll reach that level too. If he does then yes, he's got good chances, but that's a big if. It's still a big leap in quality to prime Messi and CR7, even if you just look at output alone, and part of the reason they achieved what they did is also that they many things went their way.
I mean, at how much is Cristiano? 120? That's 10 10+ goals CL seasons remaining for Mbappe and both players will still be scoring goals for another two years. Of course that's possible but a bit too early to say it is likely.
We had 3:1 vs Shaktar 10 mins till the end and all in our hands.
How did Atalanta turn it around? Very impressed, even if it was a weak group.
He's certainly got the talent but how will his goal-scoring look when he joins a top cub in a more competitive league?
Could drop due to tougher opposition, or could improve with better teammates setting him up/drawing opposition apart to leave space. Will be interesting to see his record in ten years.
There's no sure thing about any player progression, but what we can say at this time is the fact that Mbappé already scored agains Bayern, City, Juventus, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Man Utd... So i'm not sure the opposition argument is a good one.
Honestly, aside from the first game against Zagreb they played really well.
Should have beaten Shahktar in Italy. And played against City very well, don’t let the 5-1 in England fool you, thats the game they started believing they could compete in the CL, they had some great spells in that match. Then they came back to San Siro and bossed City for 55 mins in that 1-1 draw.
The last two games were no doubters, they showed their quality and got the wins they deserved. Whether they advance past the round of 16 or not, it’s been a great run for them. They play some of the most exciting football in Europe and are really willing to take it to teams regardless of the perceived difference in quality.
And they did most of this without their best striker.
Diagnosis for Coman: Torn capsule in his left knee and other less serious injuries
I initially did not realize it was strictly CL scoring, was thinking it was scoring in all comps to surpass Messi/Ronaldo. Hence a new league/opposition.
No ACL or meniscus injury apparently. Cause for celebration!
hope the diagnosos holds. From the way it looked on the telly, i'd have thought he'd torn all knee ligaments known to humankind and a few undiscovered until then. I like the lad and really would like to see some day what he's capable of when allowed to play for more than 6 months in a row
thanks.
The whole episode in Sevilla was a bit strange. When he was bought, the team was setup as 361 without wide forwards. He struggled to find a role in the team and was shoe-horned into various positions as backup. It was tough, but he did alright under very difficult circumstances. I really liked his attitude.
This season Sevilla plays a strict 433 and he'd be perfect for the left side. I hope he does well, because he seems to be really great guy.
Luck evened out. They should have won at home vs shakhtar, and were also the better team yesterday on the whole. Take away the first half against dinamo when clearly the occasion got to them and they've been easily the second best team in the group
Better teammates than Verratti, Neymar and Di Maria? What is this magical superteam you're talking about
Best conclusion to this group stage thread is the exhilarating Papu Dance for mighty minnows Atalanta going through?
It's not the output I'd worry about with Mbappe, he is already one of the most productive player in the world, it's whether he can maintain his health to the incredible levels that CR7 and, to a lesser extent, Messi have. That's why I only consider injuries to be a big obstacle.
I'm really not worried about Mbappe's ability to deal with tougher opposition. It's a fair argument in most cases, but he's one of the few exceptions in the matter; as far as I'm concerned he will dominate anywhere he goes because only the best teams with the best players will even be able to afford him, and he'll actually have the main man status for the first time in his career, his ridiculous output so far in his career is while being the second, and at times in the past third fiddle among the forwards on the teams he's been on.
See, injuries is one thing but even if he stays free. You not only expect him to imprpve even further from here on and reach a level very few players in history have ever achieved (Cristiano and Messi were probably the first since Zico or Gerd Müller), you also expect him to maintain that level for more than a decade. Those are very high eypectations.
And you also disregard the situation of international top clubs. Messi and CR7 are incredible players but part of the truth is that throughout their best goal scoring years they played for the best clubs in the world by a considerable margin. For a very short stint, Bayern caught up and it immediately affected their numbers, just like it's been the case last season. As good as Ronaldo was, everything has to go your way to score 17 goals in the CL.
But now you don't have Barca, Madrid and occasionally Bayern in the elite tier. You've got Barca, Madrid, Liverpool, City, PSG, Juve and Bayern, and personally I find it very hard to tell them apart quality-wise.
So those are many and pretty big ifs you take for granted, IMO.
Why don't you guys ever spend big @Zehner? Your club is owned by a pharmaceutical giant after all. I have read stories that sponsors like Adidas et al have a vested interest in keeping Bayern at the top. Is it true?
Leverkusen is a city of approx. 200k. Club and city simply lack the structural prerequisites for a possible ascension into the Bel Etage.
You also have to consider, that there are Cologne, Gladbach, Dortmund, Schalke, all in the same state of NRW.
Attracting a large fanbase has been proven as a difficult feat to achieve, and their deeply rooted status of Germany's eldest plastic club doesn't help either.
Iirc, Bayer pays around 20-30m a year. That's pretty good value for the money,
Thing is, Bayer never spent as much as people liked to pretend. In the early 00s and late 90s it was much but back then even 5m was a huge sum in the Bundesliga and since then the prices have inflated extremely while our financial backing hasn't. The club relies on its own incomes primarily. Until a few seasons ago, 15 million was a very large some for us. I believe Dragovic was our record transfer for 18 million when he arrived.
However, with Havertz likely moving for 100+m Völler and co. are becoming a bit more generous. A transfer like Demirbay for 30m was completely unthinkable for us even 2 years ago. 25m was the absolute maximum and even then only for players with a higher selling value (Paulinho, Diaby).
Anyway, it's always nice to have the safety of a company like Bayer in your back. In contrast to many other Bundesliga clubs it's almost impossible for us to run into an existential crisis and that's worth much, I'd say.
This guy is a bonehead.
Atalanta qualifying is not a surprise. They are a solid top 4 team two seasons in a row now. When you do that in the Serie A you are automatically among the better teams in Europe.
You forgot Düsseldorf and perhaps even Bielefeld and Bochum, who can pull 20k attendances, compared to Leverkusen's 30k.
Fans in Germany just don't like plastic clubs with private owners. Leverkusen can't even consistently sell out their tiny (in comparison to other stadiums) "arena", fans rather watch a "proper" club getting nowhere than Leverkusen in Europe. Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim and Leipzig have similar problems. It's just part of German football culture.
Being BAYER Leverkusen, playing in the BAYARENA, dubbing themselves "die Werkself" (literal translation would probably be "the factory XI". Bayer also takes up all the commercial value of the club: Leverkusen's shirt sponsor supposedly pays them €6m per year, that's less than clubs like e.g. Bremen, Cologne or Hertha supposedly earn. The biggest humiliation perhaps was their Teldafax sponsorship, a corporation which went bankrupt in the middle of their contract, prompting a judge to order the club to give back their sponsorship money.
A couple of years ago Adidas dropped them after 40 year and now their shirt supplier is Jako, a company which apparently has less turnover than the club itself.
Adidas at Bayern and Puma at Dortmund are known to give their clubs a little help here and there, but a) they are shareholders of those clubs and b) they are in the sports business themselves. If they e.g. help Dortmund sign Dembele or supplement Reus' wages they make sure that these players don't end up playing in their competitor's jerseys.
For Bayer incentives might be different, the club already bears their name, every table or fixture list is basically an ad. And since the club has almost zero growth beyond the general "inflation" that comes with TV money etc, the management might just think it's most efficient to pay them €20-30m (or whatever it is these days) per year to get them into top 6 with an eye on top4. Not to mention Monsanto.
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