Jonathon Pearce there, trying to make out that was a 'risky tackle'... twat! If he'd have left it and they'd scored he would have been slaughtered by his manager.
Well if the Courtois to Real stuff picks up steam we could do much worse than throwing a shed load at Atletico for Oblak. Willian killed/fluffed some great changes. Admittedly only watched the second half but Bakayoko was poor. Pedro did very well when he came on.
Baka was fine in the first half. Honestly we were the better side. Oblak was outstanding, plus we missed some great chances. A lot of those were uncontested headers straight at Oblak too.
Definitely need to work on finishing. Oblak was fantastic but that’s more than a couple matches this season where our play was much much better than the scoreline suggests. Would rather see Barca than PSG
I never said he was great. Just that he was fine in the first half. Pretty telling he was the first to be yanked.
I thought he struggled a bit mate, frankly. TBH I think we've got several players who have been in and out of the side in centre midfield, (for various reasons, including injury), and he's one of the ones whose form has suffered. DD is another one although, again, he was injured. They mentioned that in the commentary. I think Conteh's not sure who's the best across the midfield and is trying various combinations, usually revolving around Kante and Cesc.
Kante and DD are best in a 2 man mid. Kante, Cesc and Baka have the best skillset for the 3 man mid. Kante, Cesc and DD are likely the best combo for the 3 right here and now.
I think we can give Barca an even match unless Messi becomes Messi and dismantles us. PSG will spank us.
On paper, PSG has a great team, but they can be gotten. We seem to raise our game for bigger clubs and I think we don't regard our players as highly as we should. I know I'm guilty of that.
The only side I'm leery of is PSG. They already have a 10 point lead and will likely have an even bigger lead come February when the ties are. They're most certainly beatable, but we'd have to play our best two matches against them. Even bigger concern would be we'd have to finish our chances which is an issue.
this is about where i stand. right now i have more faith in DD than Baka, DD's technical skillset has impressed. Baka has a LOT of raw elements to his game he needs to start polishing soon. personally i think RLC has the capability to come back next year and beat both out unless something changes.
DD has impressed me as well. He's a solid player and still shaking off rust. He will be a very useful player going forward as squad rotation is key. RCL may beat them out as a 3 man mid but DD can also give cover as a 6. Something RCL can't. But between Kante, Cesc, Baka, DD and RCL I think we will have great competition for 3 spots. With each player bringing different skillsets to the table. Baka has the raw potential be a lot better than all of them. He needs to work on his game and his comments about feeling he's as good as the rest of the French midfielders for the national team concerns me. He needs to worry about himself and his game and the rest will come.
Interesting to see the %... not to thrilled that we have over 40% chance at Barca. Also this doesn't account for their cash exchanges Manu will have 50/50 at Shahktar/Porto