...::[The Footy Desk]::... (Part 2)

[Guest]

3 hours ago, TheSantader25 said:

The amount of bottlejobs at the top 4 race is insane. Tbh none of them deserve a CL spot. Give it to some other league. Might as well give it to Wolves. 

Ahahahah, why not? 

But I'd be scared to think that Wolves - Juve might happen, the only time that this match happened was in 1972 (UEFA Cup Quarter Finals) and Wolves managed to go through!

 

Arsenal and Chelsea have a 2nd chance with the UEL, Tottenham (nah ) have an opportunity to secure an UCL spot by winning the UCL... Actually there could be a maximum of 6 English teams in the next UCL!

United are really throwing away the good second half of the season, they're easilly the best side between them, Arsenal and Chelsea.

 

50 minutes ago, Laker23 said:

Also, I still have a gut feeling Liverpool are going to win the league via City f*cking up against Leicester. Please don't let it happen, City.

Yeah, City MUST win the next one!

 

 

Meanwhile in Serie A Torino has just beated Milan 2-0 and now they're in 6th place at just 2 points from the UCL 

Probably it's the first time that I want to lose the Turin derby, I'd like to help our "cousins" in some way!

Edited April 28, 2019 by Wolver_321

[Eutyphro]

United should get Donny van de Beek. I mean, I hope he stays, but if he goes he would fit well at United in my view. If United would buy Donny van de Beek and Pablo Fornals they would have a beastly midfield.

Edited April 28, 2019 by Eutyphro

[Jason]

Champions League week. I'll have one portion of Messi Masterclass thank you very much Barcalona.

[Lonely-Martin]

Really thought we'd pushed our luck and that West Ham loss yesterday would see the gap close up big time. Phew!

 

The Brighton game last week too, seemed obvious Spurs are distracted by the Ajax game, had Brighton attacked us, they might have nicked something too. Funny to learn tgat West Ham are the first team to win at both Tottenham's and Arsenal's new stadiums too, lol.

 

So looking forward to that game Tuesday and next week though. For me, it's a freebie. No expectations other than we try and give a good showing. #COYS

[Crokey]

Not looking forward to the next game, as I've never liked Monday Night Football.  The only hope is, is that Newcastle already undone us at St James' this season, lightning can strike twice.

[Eutyphro]

1 minute ago, Lonely-Martin said:

No expectations other than we try and give a good showing.

As an Ajax fan, I feel about it the same way. It's already an amazing season and I honestly don't really care how much further we go, as I'm already satisfied. With all the sh*tty football Spurs is playing, and with the injuries they have, I could easily expect us to win, but I don't, because setting yourself up for disappointment sucks.

[Guest]

I've just come back home and in my homepage there's Guardiola's face everywhere... Pep at Juve? Do you have all these rumors in England? Because it's seems like the rumor here in Italy is spreading very quickly, a similar situation happened when El Chiringuito said that Ronaldo was moving from Real to Juve. 

I have to say, I'm very skeptical about this one, Allegri and Agnelli (who have to talk in a few days) confirmed more than once that there won't be any changes on our bench this summer... Plus, how could Pep be interested in Serie A when he's already in (probably) the best team in the Premier League? Yes, bring back to Turin that damn UCL after more than 20 years is a good challenge, but Man City are also trying their best for winning it!

 

Then I read somewhere that Messi could potentially come to us if Pep arrives  

Close Chrome, press Start button, Turn-off the system.

Ok, I think that it's already enough for today...

[Jason]

6 minutes ago, Wolver_321 said:

I've just come back home and in my homepage there's Guardiola's face everywhere... Pep at Juve? Do you have all these rumors in England?

Talk of that has cropped up once or twice in the past few months but none of the English media have given it any credit. Don't think it'll be happening while Pep is under contract, might happen when he leaves them though.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Jason said:

Talk of that has cropped up once or twice in the past few months but none of the English media have given it any credit. Don't think it'll be happening while Pep is under contract, might happen when he leaves them though.

Yeah, that's what I think too, I don't see the reason why he has to leave Man City right now. Isn't him payed something like €24M per year? How the hell can we pay that much for a manager? 

Ohhh, these rumors, and we're not in summer yet.! Italian, Spanish and Portuguese rumors are always the "craziest", very rarely they come up to be true... And this is 95% one of them.

[TheSantader25]

I've been "done" with rumors for 3-4 years now. I still might pay attention to a couple but most of them just waste your attention and time. I don't believe anything until I see the word "Official" before it. 

 

Come on AJAX! Show us how football is meant to be played. 

Edited April 30, 2019 by TheSantader25

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, TheSantader25 said:

I've been "done" with rumors for 3-4 years now. I still might pay attention to a couple but most of them just waste your attention and time. I don't believe anything until I see the word "Official" before it. 

 

Come on AJAX! Show us how football is meant to be played. 

Yeah, I should do the same 

 

And yes, go Ajax! You can beat Spurs!

[Jason]

To sort between the good rumours with truth behind them from the sh*t rumours you've gotta follow the journalists and not the papers, there's a lot of journalists out there who are reliable when it comes to stuff like that. Every team will have journalists that are a good source for information, usually because they get briefed by the club its self.

 

Which has potential downsides of it's own, I vaguely remember one time I think it was for Alex Sandro a year or two back when we were linked with him, Juventus were feeding the normally extremely reliable Di Marzio all summer with false information to try and stir up more interest or something.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

To sort between the good rumours with truth behind them from the sh*t rumours you've gotta follow the journalists and not the papers, there's a lot of journalists out there who are reliable when it comes to stuff like that. Every team will have journalists that are a good source for information, usually because they get briefed by the club its self.

 

Which has potential downsides of it's own, I vaguely remember one time I think it was for Alex Sandro a year or two back when we were linked with him, Juventus were feeding the normally extremely reliable Di Marzio all summer with false information to try and stir up more interest or something.

Oh yeah, I remember that! Yes, Di Marzio (who works for Sky) is a reliable journalist, normally what he says then becomes true. Here in Italy Sky is the main sport broadcaster and, considering how dominant we are in Serie A, there are rumors regarding some "deals" between the Pay TV and Juve. Is it true? Idk, but I'm quite sure that we're their favourite team, in the last 16 of UCL Roma (that won the 1st leg) had been basically forgotten after Juve's defeat against Atletico. So this could explain the reason of the fake Alex Sandro's rumors, maybe they were trying to improve a little bit his value on the market.

[Crokey]

5 hours ago, Wolver_321 said:

I've just come back home and in my homepage there's Guardiola's face everywhere... Pep at Juve? Do you have all these rumors in England? Because it's seems like the rumor here in Italy is spreading very quickly, a similar situation happened when El Chiringuito said that Ronaldo was moving from Real to Juve. 

I have to say, I'm very skeptical about this one, Allegri and Agnelli (who have to talk in a few days) confirmed more than once that there won't be any changes on our bench this summer... Plus, how could Pep be interested in Serie A when he's already in (probably) the best team in the Premier League? Yes, bring back to Turin that damn UCL after more than 20 years is a good challenge, but Man City are also trying their best for winning it!

 

Then I read somewhere that Messi could potentially come to us if Pep arrives  

Close Chrome, press Start button, Turn-off the system.

Ok, I think that it's already enough for today...

Sounds like the Italian sports journalists have been at the Marijuana Gin again.

 

From all accounts, any stories and reports I've heard is that the City board and management team are all nicely settled where they are, and that this is probably been the most settled that part of the club has been for decades... and I mean like 1950's decades ago.  Gone are the days of the 90s with Peter Swailes and Franny Lee in the Chair swapping managers every month.

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, Crokey said:

Sounds like the Italian sports journalists have been at the Marijuana Gin again.

Ahahahah, very likely! 

But they could also drink some "standard" alcoholics, we have plenty of them with 50%+ of alcohol.

 

Anyway GG to Ajax, it's really incredible to think they're now close to the final.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Wolver_321

[Jason]

Sometimes Poch and Spurs come out and give a tactical masterclass, other times they come out and within the first 5 minutes you're scratching your head wondering how the hell they thought this would work. I don't know if it's poor decision making on Poch's part or he's simply playing the hand he currently has given the injuries, suspensions and just the real lack of depth, width and pace the squad has.

 

Ajax getting to the final would be a real fairy tale story but honestly, I think they'll get torn apart by either teams in the other semi. Don't think we're gonna get a great final this year sadly, but we'll see.

[TheSantader25]

I really don't think Tottenham beated city because they deserved it. It was a combination of luck and Guardiola overthinking the situation. If Guardiola played his team like any other game they would have torn Tottenham apart but he over thought it. 

 

You don't need two evenly matched teams to have a great final. The last couple of finals have been quite one sided(Barca-Juve, Real-Juve, Real-Liverpool). While the Bayern-Chelsea final was amazing despite Bayern being miles better as a team. Having a great final isn't reliant on having two great teams. It's just one of those things that could happen at any time. 

 

Van De Beek reminds me a lot of Lampard. He has great sense of goalscoring for a midfielder. He is the 3rd jewel of this team after De ligt and De Jong. 

Edited May 1, 2019 by TheSantader25

[TheSantader25]

This is a bit late because of the forum issues but anyways:

 

Well pretty even match. Just that we took pur chances and they didn't. I doubt any player has ever guided a club to success this much. How lucky we are to have him and I'm afraid we're gonna experience a crisis after he's gone the same way United are dealing with one after Ferguson. What an incredible generation we had for around 15 years, They've been retiring one by one and and hopefully they can bring the 6th UCL home as their days are getting shorter. Though first of all we have to make sure we don't pull a "Roma" in Anfield.

 

We have to face it. The pundits and the journalists still like to overhype us like we're that unstoppable Barcelona we were back in 2009-12 (+2015 with peak MSN) but the truth is those days are long gone and we're now at the same level of the rest of the big clubs again. We won't be able to dominate matches like before and our performance against United and Liverpool showed that we are a very different side now because the players we have right now aren't suited for that style of play anymore. Barcelona is now a side that has to fight like every other team and win by tight margins and hope for the best. We can still do it in certain minutes of a match when needed because the DNA is always there just like it is in Ajax but right now we have to adapt in certain situations otherwise we'll be murdered.

 

We can comeback to being possession-dominant in later decades when we have another good suited generation with a theorist manager like Guardiola but right now we "need " a coach like Valverde. We have to play a more conservative 50-50 football. Actually this Barcelona side is very similar to Klopp's Liverpool. They don't have a problem with sitting back.

 

Bring the 3rd Treble in BARCA and please don't pull a Roma at Anfield. Bring on a Barca - Ajax Final. Cruyff would be proud. 

Edited May 2, 2019 by TheSantader25

[Eutyphro]

Ajax - Barca would be an absolute dream final, but what concerns me is that Frenkie is a future Barca player, and de Ligt possibly as well. Barca - Ajax here we come though. I hope the boys can keep it together in the second leg.

[Jason]

Despite what fans are saying, Liverpool were more lucky than unlucky that game. The tie should be over already. Their performance wasn't a case of them rolling over and taking the loss but it really wasn't as good a performance as people made it out to be either, they had 3 very good chances but beyond that Barca really weren't troubled. Ter Stegen only really had two or three saves to make the entire game, Pique and Vidal were brilliant, both really really good, along with Suarez, Messi and Alba. All five of those were really up for the game and I can't say the same for a single Liverpool player.

 

Also not to be a debbie downer but that freekick took a deflection :^)

 

As for the potential Barca-Ajax final, it's a fairytale final but a sh*t one on paper IMO. I really hope I'm wrong but I think either Barca or Liverpool would trounce Ajax in the final. That said, given the run in they've had, I suppose I'm being a bit harsh. Juventus, Madrid, potentially Spurs. Any team would be proud of a run to the final like that.

[TheSantader25]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Despite what fans are saying, Liverpool were more lucky than unlucky that game. The tie should be over already. Their performance wasn't a case of them rolling over and taking the loss but it really wasn't as good a performance as people made it out to be either, they had 3 very good chances but beyond that Barca really weren't troubled. Ter Stegen only really had two or three saves to make the entire game, Pique and Vidal were brilliant, both really really good, along with Suarez, Messi and Alba. All five of those were really up for the game and I can't say the same for a single Liverpool player.

 

Also not to be a debbie downer but that freekick took a deflection :^)

 

As for the potential Barca-Ajax final, it's a fairytale final but a sh*t one on paper IMO. I really hope I'm wrong but I think either Barca or Liverpool would trounce Ajax in the final. That said, given the run in they've had, I suppose I'm being a bit harsh. Juventus, Madrid, potentially Spurs. Any team would be proud of a run to the final like that.

The free kick seemed to have taken a deflection in one of the angles but in other angles(even the one that was straight towards the wall) it didn't seem like it did. I really don't know what the hell happened. It seemed like magic. I'm sure Barca - Ajax would be a far better final than any of the other 3 potential finals out of this 4 teams. Juventus deserved to go out but I think City would be a great finalist and yet they f*cked it up again to an average Spurs side. 

 

I hope Spurs don't come up. We already beat them in the group stage and I sense it's gonna be a boring final with them. Barca-Ajax can be an open ended final. Both teams will go for it. It's just that it's so hard to see us fail with Messi playing like this. He seems to really want this trophy this year. Not a good time to mess with him. I've never seen him dribble and dance so comfortably since 2015. He always does but this is "GOD" mode Messi which is a level higher than the regular "World Class" Messi. 

 

Anyways I'd say it was an even match and I knew it would be. Both sides play a very similar football this season. We took our chances. They didn't. Salah once again missed their vital chance. They could be the PL leaders this year if he was clinical but he does not seem to be at certain times this season. Also Klopp f*cked up big time by playing Gini in False 9 and Gomez instead of Arnold. Liverpool's right side was non existent and their left side got sabotaged after we switched to 442.

 

EDIT:I rewatched the freekick from a couple of angles with 0.25 speed and I can say it didn't take a deflection. It's just Gomez raising his shoulder because he is realizing the ball is getting past him but it's too late. His shoulder didn't hit it. 

Edited May 2, 2019 by TheSantader25

[Eutyphro]

Messi scores free kicks like that all the time anyway. If it's not luck with any current player then it's with him. I think Messi is the best free kick taker in the world.

As for how Liverpool played, they were good, but it was as if without Firmino their attack wasn't structured. And when Firmino came on, we found out why he was benched, because he was completely invisible. I remember City vs Liverpool in januari, and it remains the highest quality match I've seen this season. Liverpool with everyone completely top fit could beat Barcelona in my opinion. But it wasn't to be, and Barca had those genius moments like between Alba and Suarez. I don't think Barcelona is currently as good as they were in 2015, and I think they can be beaten. Klopp is also dumb for leaving Alexander-Arnold benched. Didn't what happen to City's conservative tactic teach these top coaches that they need to have faith in optimistic attacking football, or they'll pay for it? Ajax is proving this is the season of optimism in football.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Eutyphro

[Laker23]

Let's go Barca. 

 

Liverpool certainly were not unlucky to get anything from the game, but a tad unlucky not to at least get a goal. That Salah miss at the end would have made a huge difference to the second leg, as it stands I really can't see Liverpool pulling off the impossible. I fancy Barca to score one which would mean Liverpool needing five. I highly doubt it.

 

Was surprised Gomez started, but only because he hasn't started a game since getting injured in December. Throwing him in against Barca is a hell of a way to reintroduce him as a member of the starting line-up. 

[Lonely-Martin]

Two reds and how Dier survived the first half I'll never know!

 

Stupid stupid stupid!

 

Fair play to Ajax though, Poch got that game very wrong. Could have been far worse there though with how we set out there to begin with.

[Laker23]

That was a weird old game. Honestly didn't think Bournemouth would score as they barely looked threatening with two extra players.

 

The top four is frustrating to watch at this point. We could easily be in the commanding position, but all four of the teams have been collectively awful at getting over the finish line. At this point I expect Spurs and Chelsea to get 2nd and 3rd, hope Arsenal don't sneak in.

[Lonely-Martin]

1 minute ago, Laker23 said:

That was a weird old game. Honestly didn't think Bournemouth would score as they barely looked threatening with two extra players.

 

The top four is frustrating to watch at this point. We could easily be in the commanding position, but all four of the teams have been collectively awful at getting over the finish line. At this point I expect Spurs and Chelsea to get 2nd and 3rd, hope Arsenal don't sneak in.

Almost stole a point there, lol. Crazy end to the league here but still, far more entertaining than having the same team steam off 20 points ahead or what-not like a few European league's. (Unless ya a fan of said teams that have little to no competition of course).

[TheSantader25]

I'm actually starting to develop some hatred for those 4 teams. They just don't deserve a UCL spot over some of the teams that don't have the opportunity. Disgraceful display from teams that are supposed to represent in Europe next season. WTF is that?

Edited May 4, 2019 by TheSantader25

[Eutyphro]

Ridiculous thing is, Spurs actually played well in the first half. So much bad luck for them. Though at the same time, Dier should've been sent off, and he was lucky to stay on. Would be unfair if they don't make top 4 though. Looking forward to the match on wednesday. Very uncharachteristic to see Son like this though. 'The Bottling Saga continues'..

[Guest]

YEEEEEESSSS again! I knew this would have been the most difficult match, playing against the 19th isn't that easy for us but, after 75 minutes of pain, we managed to break Fulham's defense.

Now we just have to hope in Man City, first Leicester (so we're mathematically 7th) and then Watford.

So... I guess I'm a City fan right now. Go Citizens! 

[Lonely-Martin]

1 hour ago, TheSantader25 said:

I'm actually starting to develop some hatred for those 4 teams. They just don't deserve a UCL spot over some of the teams that don't have the opportunity. Disgraceful display from teams that are supposed to represent in Europe next season. WTF is that?

I am curious as to what teams don't have the opportunity in the Prem?

 

1 hour ago, Eutyphro said:

Ridiculous thing is, Spurs actually played well in the first half. So much bad luck for them. Though at the same time, Dier should've been sent off, and he was lucky to stay on. Would be unfair if they don't make top 4 though. Looking forward to the match on wednesday. Very uncharachteristic to see Son like this though. 'The Bottling Saga continues'..

The Son one surprised me, but Dier is too tough/clumsy in the tackle, not one I'd play in Europe at all, not with VAR.