already forgetting swansea did the double over you as well?
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2014/15 Association Football (Soccer) thread
- Thread starter SuperScizor
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Managers of the year comes down to John Carver and Steve Bruce lol. Burnley QPR and Hull City drop because Hull will somehow lose to Tottenham and United will most likely have to win their final game to confirm 4th place. Danny Ings and Charlie Austin will for sure be in the premier league next season and possible Burnley's manager
Except he didn't shag his teammate's wife. The made up story get retracted. And he was found not guilty regarding Ferdinand.
Ohh darn I thought Bayern were going to win with essentially the same squad against barca lol. But in all seriousness, how on earth could bayern stop messi, neymar, and suarez? Even with robben and ribery providing more attacking options, barca would have probably gotten through just not as comfortable as they did
I feel as though robbery might have changed the outcome of the away leg, feel as though they would have scored had they played with real width. But yeah MSN is a ridiculous front three, Suarez has gelled so well with Messi and Neymar and really stretches teams like we saw against Bayern yesterday - they are all so unselfish too which is really nice, all working for the team.
ya but it's illegal.
An Italian team with a goal advantage from the first leg strikes again. Ohh and Morata>Chicharito, just in case Real Madrid didnt figure that out
I would actually love to see Juventus win the Champions League Final this year. That would be insane if they pull a Chelsea. Will that man be Carlos Tevez?! :O
On the topic of Bayern that was brought up earlier, I think Robben, Ribery, and Alaba would have definitely changed things up for Bayern. Not to mention that Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Thiago, Benatia, and Martinez were still not 100% after recovering from their injuries during the away leg. I think a fully healthy Bayern vs. Barcelona would have probably been the best match and would probably rate Bayern a bit stronger (somewhat biased though).
Assuming fully healthy, the best Bayern squad in my opinion is:
Neuer | Alaba, Boateng, Benatia/Badstuber, Lahm | Thiago, Schweinsteiger | Ribery, Muller/Gotze, Robben | Lewandowski
On the topic of Bayern that was brought up earlier, I think Robben, Ribery, and Alaba would have definitely changed things up for Bayern. Not to mention that Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Thiago, Benatia, and Martinez were still not 100% after recovering from their injuries during the away leg. I think a fully healthy Bayern vs. Barcelona would have probably been the best match and would probably rate Bayern a bit stronger (somewhat biased though).
Assuming fully healthy, the best Bayern squad in my opinion is:
Neuer | Alaba, Boateng, Benatia/Badstuber, Lahm | Thiago, Schweinsteiger | Ribery, Muller/Gotze, Robben | Lewandowski
If that was the line up, I think those two legs would have been unreal to watch. But I think the front 3 of barca along with rakitic and iniesta feeding them might have been just too much for bayern to handle but this would be based on paper, in a real game who knows what could happen. The real tragedy is that we will never see the game
A healthy Javi Martinez was able to completely keep Iniesta in his pocket when Bayern and Barcelona played each other two years ago. He is one of the best defensive midfielders out there and if he didn't sustain that ACL injury against Dortmund in the DFL-Supercup in the beginning of the season, then I think we wouldn't have had to rely on Alonso so much this year. I actually forgot to include him in that lineup which shows how long he has been gone haha. I think rotating Thiago, Schweinsteiger, and Martinez would form a very solid midfield both on the defense and offense.
EDIT LINEUP: Neuer | Alaba, Boateng, Benatia/Badstuber, Lahm | Thiago / Martinez / Schweinstieger | Ribery, Muller/Gotze, Robben | Lewandowski
I would argue that Robben and Ribery's presence would have forced Barcelona's fullbacks Dani Alves and Jordi Alba to play more defensively than offensively because in the away leg, Bayern had barely any attacking presence on the wings without Ribery, Robben, and Alaba. We basically only had Bernat who also had defensive duties too. Robben and Ribery diverting attention away from the Barcelona offense would not have given them as many chances to attack as they did.
Minus defensive mistakes, Benatia and Boateng overall played really well and I think people don't really give credit to defensive players that often, but football is football.
On the topic of summer transfers since that is coming up soon, what players do you think your club or other clubs should target and why?
With so many rumors right now, the only thing I know about transfers is depay. Im waiting until the champions league final before looking into rumors about movement because we still don't know who is dropping and who is moving up which effects a lotA healthy Javi Martinez was able to completely keep Iniesta in his pocket when Bayern and Barcelona played each other two years ago. He is one of the best defensive midfielders out there and if he didn't sustain that ACL injury against Dortmund in the DFL-Supercup in the beginning of the season, then I think we wouldn't have had to rely on Alonso so much this year. I actually forgot to include him in that lineup which shows how long he has been gone haha. I think rotating Thiago, Schweinsteiger, and Martinez would form a very solid midfield both on the defense and offense.
editLINEUP: Neuer | Alaba, Boateng, Benatia/Badstuber, Lahm | Thiago / Martinez / Schweinstieger | Ribery, Muller/Gotze, Robben | Lewandowski
I would argue that Robben and Ribery's presence would have forced Barcelona's fullbacks Dani Alves and Jordi Alba to play more defensively than offensively because in the away leg, Bayern had barely any attacking presence on the wings without Ribery, Robben, and Alaba. We basically only had Bernat who also had defensive duties too. Robben and Ribery diverting attention away from the Barcelona offense would not have given them as many chances
Minus defensive mistakes, Benatia and Boateng overall played really well and I think people don't really give credit
On the topic of summer transfers since that is coming up soon, what players do you think your club or other clubs should target and why?
We won't see Martinez in the midfield as long as Guardiola is our coach. Would have probably started instead of Rafinha in the first leg. But that was basically Alaba's position in autumn 2014.
Also Lahm as right back is not gonna happen anymore.
Guardiola used Martinez as a DM for the DFL-Pokal Final against Dortmund last year and I think he used Martinez as a CB because Badstuber was always out and needed a rotation option for Dante and Boateng. Now that Benatia is here, Pep could always put Martinez back onto DM.
Lahm and Alaba moving into midfielder positions I think are probably for more squad rotational purposes and more free-flowing tactics.
I think Bayern really need to go for wingers, a right back, and maybe a backup CB and Striker for the upcoming transfer window. I would love to see Antoine Griezmann join Bayern to work under Franck Ribery and Pep Guardiola, but man that is gonna be breaking the bank since Atletico won't want to sell (then again, Atletico did sell Costa this year) especially with how well he has played this year. Dante and Pizarro are probably not gonna have much time left to play, so that's an area to look into.
Developing Rode, Hojbjerg, and Weiser (please give him a new contract, Bayern) would be another goal for the next season, but we'll see how that plays out.
Nathan was also signed by Chelsea today from Atletico Paranaense.
According to a fan of that team, this apparently was the situation: http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comm..._sign_nathan_from_atletico_paranaense/cr997f2
According to a fan of that team, this apparently was the situation: http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comm..._sign_nathan_from_atletico_paranaense/cr997f2
i rate this current juventus higher than 2010 inter and inter managed to pull the upset on barca. i think if vidal and pogba play at their best, they will be able to completely overrun barca's pass-dependent midfield.
Its the final nobody saw coming and impossible to judge
you're nuts. inter 2010 was the best team unit ive ever seen. thats the year mourinho cements himself as a genius in world football, one of the all time bests. the dude played fucking samuel eto'o as a defender and it worked, that's almost unbelievable. this juve is good (unfortunately lol) but they just aren't at the level of that inter side i think.
the only comparable team in my lifetime (for that year only, i do think inter was worse on either side of the treble year) was barca the year before, but even while they had a great team structure they still relied on the (consistent, tbh) brilliance of messi, eto'o, henry, xavi, iniesta etc. damn just typing those names out, what a savage fucking team that was all things considered.
Talking about Inter gave me nostalgia. This is a pretty decent video of a couple of seasons ago in PL:
Suarez, Bale, Tevez, Mata and RVP on top form. Wasn't a great season but there were some great players and great moments!
Suarez, Bale, Tevez, Mata and RVP on top form. Wasn't a great season but there were some great players and great moments!
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