UEFA Champions League 2019/20

[Jimmy]

just a lil blip on our road to wining the champions league

[MDK]

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

just a lil blip on our road to wining the champions league

Its okay you can concentrate on the league

[Baddar]

It was a disastrous result, but by no means the end. A double over Red Star now and they'd be strong favourites to progress.

[Colly]

Silly Coral mangled the "most home goals conceded ever" stat.

Basically only posting because reading the names of those goalscorers is the only thing that makes me happy about football these days.

[lanky316]

Allan Nielsen, what a hero.

[DavidMarrio]

6 hours ago, Jimmy said:

just a lil blip on our road to wining the champions league

I don't think you may have heard but we've conquered all of Europe and we're never gonna stop

One bad result doesn't mean its game over. If you're gonna get tonked do it in a group stage game. We went through last year after 3 away defeats. The knockouts and the group stages are completely different. 

Something isn't right at Tottenham though. I can't put my finger on it but there was periods at the back end of last season as well. Whether it's an issue with management, with some of the players or a bit of both who knows 

(I can't see it being the Eriksen/Kane/Vertonghen rumours flying about though) 

3 hours ago, Colly said:

Silly Coral mangled the "most home goals conceded ever" stat.

Basically only posting because reading the names of those goalscorers is the only thing that makes me happy about football these days.

Coral may have been right about the competitive bit though. One sided drubbing that!

[Lineker]

24 minutes ago, DavidMarrio said:

Something isn't right at Tottenham though. I can't put my finger on it but there was periods at the back end of last season as well. Whether it's an issue with management, with some of the players or a bit of both who knows 

I think you're right. This sort of started last year when Lloris got done for drink-driving. The defence needs a total overhaul, and the midfield is hampered by Eriksen's continued shadow this year despite him clearly not wanting to be there/Alli not playing well at all for a long time. Up-front I am less concerned with Kane and Son.

 

But something has to give in January.

[Szumi]

I big issue is Poch's tactics as well. Apparently a fair bit of the squad hates the 442 diamond. The midfield tires too easily because it's too much of a work load, and the flanks are always exposed. They want to see something different. 

The problem is, I don't really know what works best for Spurs right now. I think honestly they should look at a back 3 again, some version of a 3-5-2, where you can have Eriksen/Alli as the center mid who gets up and attacks more. They have the CBs for it, but the problem is I feel like if you have Son and Kane on the pitch together, you can only have one of Eriksen/Alli/lo Celso on the pitch.

[FLiam]

I would argue that Tottenham's squad is fairly unbalanced and makes it difficult to operate with a more traditional formation like a 4-3-3 for example. Too many players end up playing in other roles than ones they are more suited to. At least that's how I see it sometimes.

[DavidMarrio]

Nice to be back at Anfield for the first time this season. Good half other than conceding a bit of a soft goal albeit a good finish and bit of play from them. 

Think theres another goal in this. Whilst they are quite structured in how they defend off the ball, theres space between the lines or opportunities to switch sides quickly. 

[MDK]

Would be great if Spurs and Liverpool end up playing the Europa League final

[Benjamin]

Eurgh. I was going to go to bed at half time happy. Why did I stay up  

[Szumi]

Fucking disgusting performance. Our midfield is fucking terrible, our defenders marking terribly. 

We don't even deserve to be tied

[FestiveJack]

Never thought I'd cheer for a Haaland tbh.

[DavidMarrio]

Nice of us to give every non Liverpool fan a bit of hope that we weren't gonna win that

[Tigerstyle]

11 hours ago, DavidMarrio said:

Nice of us to give every non Liverpool fan a bit of hope that we weren't gonna win that

Gotta give the lesser teams hope

[FLiam]

 

[Lineker]

Quote

The Premier League faces losing one of its automatic Champions League spots under proposals being floated by the European Leagues.

Clubs in La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga would also be affected by plans to revert to three guaranteed places, with a fourth club having to go through qualifying, which will be discussed at a European Leagues meeting in London next week.

“I think some of the big leagues would be fine if they are all treated in the same way,” said Lars-Christer Olsson, the organisation’s president. “If you are giving four positions to the Premier League and taking one away from the Bundesliga then you have a problem. The big leagues are prepared to participate in this discussion for something new if they are treated the same.”

The European Leagues also want to scrap historical coefficient payments, a system in which clubs in the Champions League get extra money based on past successes. This season Chelsea will get £27.9m and Spurs £17m in such payments but Olsson believes that those revenues should be redistributed outside the participating clubs to improve competitive balance.

“Absolutely it should be replaced,” said Olsson, who confirmed the proposals could come into effect in 2021. “We are saying we should look into the financial distribution as a whole and our message is that the solidarity has to increase.”

Olsson also confirmed that the European Leagues were still solidly against plans by the European Club Association for an expanded and more lucrative Champions League.

However the chairman of the ECA and Juventus, Andrea Agnelli, a driving force behind the project which would lead to a top division of 32 clubs, with four groups of eight teams playing matches, said that stonewalling was not an option.

“Hearing ‘no, no, no’ as an answer, which we have heard from the leagues in the past couple of months, is not really healthy,” said Agnelli. “Whatever changes are brought won’t bring much change for Real Madrid, Paris St-Germain; however you play with it they will qualify.

“What’s important is creating a system where clubs can grow within a system and not just be relegated.”

Agnelli also denied that an expanded league would be a closed shop or that he wanted to kill domestic football. “We want to see more European matches with higher sporting quality,” he said. “Much has been mentioned about wanting to kill domestic leagues, no. What is important is that this is never going to be a closed league because we the leaders in Europe do recognise the value of keeping the open system.”

Agnelli also warned that football’s traditional powerbrokers did not appreciate the threat the sport faced from e-sports. “We have to look at what is the behaviour of generation Z,” he said. “We should seriously start to think that the competitors of the game today are not other sports, clubs next door or in the next countries but League of Legends, esports or Fortnite. Those are going to be the ones who are going to be our competitors going forward.”

[DavidMarrio]

Can't wait to watch in a few years time MOTD analysis of Norwich eFC play Bournemouth eFC in a game of Counter Strike 

[MDK]

29 minutes ago, DavidMarrio said:

Can't wait to watch in a few years time MOTD analysis of Norwich eFC play Bournemouth eFC in a game of Counter Strike 

You joke but I think a few teams have started esports teams