Who?? I was in favour of lukaku this summer, but not even I called him elite...lol. And Matic is a bottle of average and was before joining us.
He who shall not be named but is most commonly known for having a record number of inclusions on people's ignore list and for saying that Vidic was better than Rio because he was captain. Now he's going to chime in about how I predicted Miki would have a big year because that's all he has. Wait for it...
Juventus vs Spurs: Juve Basel vs City: City Porto vs Pool: Pool Sevilla vs United: United Real Madrid vs PSG: PSG Shaktar vs Roma: Roma Chelsea vs Barcelona: Barca Bayern vs Besiktas: Bayern The only real toss ups here are Juve v Spurs and Real v PSG. Picked Juve and PSG but it easily could go either way. PSG and Spurs have youth and exciting, top quality players, but the experience of Juve and Real could come into play. But PSG came close to eliminating Barca last season, safe for an amazing collapse on the return leg, which hopefully they've learned from. Plus they have Neymar now. Plus, for Real you simply can not overlook the fact they're 2x defending champs and this is all they have left in their season. Chelsea v Barca might have been a harder pick because I believe in top form, Chelsea would have been a matchup and tactical nightmare for Barca. But unless they experience an incredible surge, can't see it happening. Could see surprises in other ties obviously, but on the face of it, they appear to be relatively straightforward.
Sadly the biggest toss up there besides Madrid v PSG is United vs Sevilla. On our current form, Sevilla might walk all over us.
Lolol I literally posted that then deleted it, as i didnt want you to think i was having a go at you.
I suspect our mental side will be markedly better. Probably not enough to knock out a big boy, but enough for a Sevilla.
I like that he thinks that a wrong prediction of mine is a good comeback for him being wrong about things that already happened.
One would hope so, but this team has shown to be pretty mentally fragile. In big games or when up against a wall, we tend to crumble.
I think we've lacked against big teams due mostly to balance, strategy and tactics. But we're not awful either. We just haven't been especially focused or committed lately. For example, the goals we're giving up are mostly concentration or effort based imo. Assuming we're all fit, our talent alone with maximum effort should be enough to overcome Sevilla. Until we get turned over by a team with comparable talent.
Getting Alexis should have meant a lift, however because of Mou tactics we are carrying some poor form into this game. Need to sort out the tactics or get some players back from injury. If we put in Spurs/Newcastle performance with the same formation/players we will be out of the CL.
Sevilla are not in great form, 2W, 2D 5L in their last 9 in La Liga. However, we're playing shyte as well. It doesn't matter much if we win, we'll get knocked out in the quarters anyway.
And not to be dismissive or disrespectful of Sevilla, but a) they're not the same team of recent years under Emery or Sampaoli and b) they're just 6th in La Liga. As previously mentioned, they can't be overlooked and even if they've done a little better since Montella took over, there's nothing to be terrified over. Still trust Jose to get the measure of that team, even at this time... In other news eventhough they're pretty much all mitigated one way or another, not having Dybala (Bernadeschi), Cuadrado (Douglas Costa), Barzagli (Rugani) and Matuidi (Marchisio) are significant losses for Juve ahead of their meeting with Spurs (who only have Alderweireld missing). Great depth though on that team still... Also, it appears Sane has travelled with City to Basel. Interesting how he's already back (or close to it at least), when he was supposed to be out for well over a month.
It's not that I rate Sevilla as a great team, I just don't rate us very highly. We're tough to break down but we're a slow, predictable team going forward.
My point really is that, as poor as we've been especially as of late, Jose is still a manager I'd bet on more often than not in Cup, 2 legged ties. The key will be to avoid getting completely turned over in Sevilla. Fully expect a pretty boring and mediocre game there, which will end up in a scoring draw or a one goal defeat at most. And that will setup the return leg, with the plan of finishing them off, ideally with a white hot European night OT crowd behind them. Really can't see that team surprising Jose: he'll be ready for them.
Last year if Juve were without Dybala, Cuadrado, a starting CM, and Barzagli against a team as in form as Spurs, they would have little chance of processing. I'm not sure if a depleted Juve will have enough to eliminate Spurs over two legs, but the depth they added make this 50/50. It still feels like this many injuries may be tough to overcome. With Matuidi out and Marchisio half fit, will Allegri stick to 3 CMs or revert back to a 4-2-3-1 with Higuain, Mandzukic, Costa, and Bernardeschi all starting?
The lineups for Juve vs Tottenham: Juventus: Buffon, De Sciglio, Chiellini, Benatia, Sandro, Khedira, Pjanic, Bernardeschi, Costa, Mandzukic, Higuain Tottenham: Lloris, Aurier, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Davies, Dier, Dembele, Eriksen, Lamela, Alli, Kane
Champions League semi-final draw:🇩🇪 Bayern Munich vs. 🇪🇸 Real Madrid 🏴 Liverpool vs. 🇮🇹 AS Roma#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/Muj9lIcGzJ— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) April 13, 2018