They have been very impressive and taken some big scalps in the UCL. Would love Sporting to knock them out.
Looked like Chelsea were the better team from the parts I watched and the xG, but then PSG did their “we’re playing horse” finishing thing. Agree that’s the likely draw.
Just saw the RM\City highlights, Valverde absolutely cooked O'Reilly for the first half but the tie would be completely dead if Vini Jnr didn't take such a horrific penalty. And watching the PSG\Chelsea highlights and all I'll say is between Spuds and BlueCo why play keepers who can't play out from the back, ask them to play out from the back and then be surprised when they give up easy goals. The interesting thing was how badly Spurs, Chelsea and City got ripped apart by counter attacking football. Spurs obviously a bit poo but City controlled possession and got shredded as did Chelsea. Was a clear tactic from PSG and RM and something I think we will need to be aware of.
From what I saw they gave up a 3 very cheap goals, 2 from GK error and 1 when they got hit on the counter and over committed players. But the Barcola finish was very well taken and the Vitinha goal was excellent. But had Chelsea picked a decent keeper they probably only concede 2 or 3 and the tie is still alive.
Have the PL teams in UCL played more games than their european counterparts? Seems like most temas are running ragged
Same shit as usual, 2-week winter break, less physical league and less competitive games week to week.
That's unlikely. Bodo looked really impressive yesterday, albeit against "only" Sporting. But given their giant-killing expoits recently, I'm as scared about them as just about anyone still left in the bracket. AND we have to take care of Leverkusen first, which is by no means a given.
I think I saw someone post that we've played on average +7 games at this stage compared to other continental teams. Not sure how accurate that "fact" is. I believe it's been discussed for years/decades. And I believe it's all about money. And to some extent tradition also.
That was me. I googled how many games each of the non-EPL teams have played in all comps so far and the average was about 7 games less, to-date.
Especially now that it’s taken seriously. Look at our path this year- Brighton, Palace, Chelsea and City - all playing their best teams available against us. That’s a real tournament, so the top players are playing now.
Generally always nice seeing Pep & Citeh get their hats handed to them. Except perhaps (as I didn't really consider until listening to some pods today) when for the biggest prize on the table (arguably), and the one we seem best positioned for, Citeh are the only ones who are really a threat to catch us, so we really don't want to see games taken off their plate. We should be "rootin" for them to move mountains to come back from this huge deficit, advance to UCL QF's and SF's and then, assuming we're still in UCL ourselves, lose their SF tie. Fat chance!
they had a PL Cup tournament last summer with Bournemouth, Everton, Manchester United and West Ham United. THis is becoming heritage for the US.
Listening to a pod discussing Frederico Valverde, after his exploits in UCL this week. For which he got a perfect 10 from L'Equipe, only the 20th player in history to earn that. Anyway, they said that when he was a teenager he came to train with Arsenal, not long before RM snapped him up. I wonder whether we were at all close to signing him. But in any case, you might argue he slipped through our fingers a bit.