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Northern Ireland25875 Posts
On March 15 2025 02:16 Jockmcplop wrote:Show nested quote +On March 14 2025 23:23 WombaT wrote:On March 14 2025 22:13 Jockmcplop wrote:
WTF is that England squad?
Henderson?
Are you having a laugh?
Just a shame for Tuchel that Rooney wasn't answering his phone I guess. It’s a bit odd I gotta say. I heard Adam Wharton wasn’t considered because Glasner requested that of Tommy Tuchs, he’s only just getting back to full fitness. I wonder if there’s a few others in that kinda boat. If I was someone like Conor Gallagher who’s done well without being a world-beater at Athletico, having taken the still relatively rare step of moving abroad, I’d feel a bit miffed. What does Morgan Gibbs-White have to do to get a cap? On the flip side, look you can’t pick 10 number 10s. I’m a bit mystified, equally I imagine there is some rationale at play here too. I just haven’t heard what that is yet! Have you seen the u21 squad? I reckon they'd give the first 11 a proper game. Show nested quote +Goalkeepers: James Beadle (Sheffield Wednesday, on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion), Teddy Sharman-Lowe (Doncaster Rovers, on loan from Chelsea), Tommy Simkin (Walsall, on loan from Stoke City)
Defenders: Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Dennis Cirkin (Sunderland), Charlie Cresswell (FC Toulouse), CJ Egan-Riley (Burnley), Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Southampton), Rico Lewis (Manchester City)
Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Jobe Bellingham (Sunderland), Jamie Gittens (Borussia Dortmund), Archie Gray (Tottenham Hotspur), Hayden Hackney (Middlesbrough), Jack Hinshelwood (Brighton and Hove Albion), Alex Scott (AFC Bournemouth), Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace)
Forwards: Liam Delap (Ipswich Town), Harvey Elliott (Liverpool), Omari Hutchinson (Ipswich Town), Sam Iling-Junior (Middlesbrough, on loan from Aston Villa), James McAtee (Manchester City), Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal), Jaden Philogene (Ipswich Town), Jay Stansfield (Birmingham City)
They’d give a lot of sides a good run for their money I reckon!
Proof will be in the pudding I suppose, I think, or at least hope Tuchel knows what he’s doing! For some of these players it might be better to get a full shift in with the 21s than make a cameo for the senior team.
Morgan Gibbs-White I think is one can definitely count himself unlucky to not get the call up. As good as he is though, would you stick him in a best 11 ahead of Palmer or Bellingham?
There’s defo a few pretty dodgy selections on the face of it, but really Tuchel’s success or failure is going to be determined by getting the best out of whatever squad he does pick and getting the tactical balance right versus the odd selection decision IMO
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Northern Ireland25875 Posts
On March 13 2025 19:01 Harris1st wrote:Show nested quote +On March 13 2025 07:52 WombaT wrote:On March 13 2025 07:42 Liquid`Drone wrote:
lol alvarez. That's a sad way to get a penalty miss. Harsh, especially considering how basically any bullshit runup is fine Oblak was unbelievably close to saving the winning penalty, Llorente’s penultimate one, (think was him, chaotic bar watch filled with loud Madridians from both sides)was a few inches from being a clutch, unsaveable one. Tight margins, but Athletico consistently dig their own grave. They got into a spot in the first leg where they were battering Real, and then they decided to settle for a 1-2 loss. Hell I think I commented on it in here. They do this all the fucking time in big CL games. It’s one thing battling and settling if Real are battering you, ok we’ll survive this leg and pull it back in the second. They had the initiative, CHOSE to cede it and got punished Doesn't matter. Real has plot armor anyway. Can't do anything about it. 8.4. 21:00 BayernInter Inter is good but are they Bayern good? 60:40 for Bayern 8.4. 21:00 Arsenal Real Madrid Depends which Arsenal shows up. 55:45 Madrid 9.4. 21:00 BarcelonaDortmund Barca got this. 80:20 9.4. 21:00 PSG
Aston Villa I don't see Villa getting through. Not even lucky 75:25
I think people sleep on Inter a bit, although I am biased! There’s some real quality there in the squad, but I think one of our real trump cards is Inzaghi. He’s drilled that team bloody well, and Inter rotate personnel more than most, and better than most. So the side is fresher than it really should be given they’re still in Europe and fighting for the league.
I think we may see a match of the better gameplan, against the better players and that could be very interesting indeed!
I do broadly agree with all your favourites, although I think Dortmund and Villa are slightly less clear underdogs than you have them.
All it takes is Barca’s high line to malfunction once or twice and Dortmund hanging on. I think Villa have to hope that the PSG we saw in the first leg against Liverpool doesn’t show up to play them. Emery’s been good at doing preparation for cup fixtures for years, he’s definitely going to have to pull something out of the hat for PSG
Quite a fun lineup for the round of 8 overall.
Can someone please beat Real Madrid at some point though? I’m not sure I can stomach them winning another one with a side that’s good, not great. It feels like all the CLs that some great sides could/should have won have all been redirected to Real Madrid haha.
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I think Arsenal has at least some potential to be an UCL upset. Depending on their priorities, the PL title race may be pretty low focus at this point and if Saka gets back on track healthy, maybe they can actually start building some momentum in the UCL.
The attack still looks pretty thin, and I wouldn't put my money on it in a league run, but at the same time Saka has had some pretty crazy numbers in chance creation and such. Maybe it's enough to win a handful of knockout games.
... Or the Real Madrid tie comes too quickly and they'll crash out with a whimper.
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Starting to think Slot's football is not suited to knockout matches...
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Northern Ireland25875 Posts
‘Mon the Toon like!
I intensely dislike the ownership but can’t really begrudge those long-suffering fans
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Someone should have told Slot that Endo bossed the midfield single handedly with "kids" in the final last year.
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On March 17 2025 08:16 sharkie wrote:
Someone should have told Slot that Endo bossed the midfield single handedly with "kids" in the final last year.
Agreed
Liverpool's players look exhausted. He needs to rotate more
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United States10213 Posts
I think our performances are a result of 2 main issues:
1) players are tired. We're dead on our feet playing the same 11 every time out with basically no changes. No swapping Jota for Nunez (even though Jota hasn't even played that much, he's been so bad this season), no swapping our midfield out at all.
2) Slot's system is getting figured out and there hasn't been much tactical changes from him at least in possession. Newcastle is the best at exploiting this, compacting the midfield by playing a flat 5 centrally to prevent any through balls and forcing us to play to our wingers who are inefficient at the moment.
Elliott and Chiesa looked the only two players up to trying to win the game, they deserve more playing time.
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Doesn't bode too well for Liverpool for next season does it?
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United States10213 Posts
On March 17 2025 23:51 sharkie wrote:
Doesn't bode too well for Liverpool for next season does it?
Well, I think we were playing way better with Gakpo out wide and Diaz through the middle, since Diaz's linkup play is better than Jota this season (though honestly anything is better than playing Jota this season). That's where our success was, and it seems like being really flexible with player positioning is a big asset at the moment where you can rotate players around to pull defenders out of position.
We desperately need some transfers this summer though, idc if we overpay on Kerkez, I really want him, same with Isak if Newcastle don't make UCL. Ideally we would spend somewhere around 300m this summer to make significant upgrades to the team, while selling Nunez for a decent price hopefully.
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Northern Ireland25875 Posts
Liverpool have rotated alright, I just think they’re having a general blip only it’s at a terrible time. Indeed some of their ever-presents are some of their better performers recently, to my eye anyway.
They’ve reasonably rotated up top for example, but Jota’s not doing it at the minute, Gakpo has dropped off his earlier form, Nunez will always blow hot and cold, Diaz is lively but unproductive lately despite a strong start to the season and Salah’s had a few games doing nothing. I feel Chiesa is a bit underused he’s looked quite good the games I’ve seen him in. Sadly I don’t think he’ll ever be the player he was before the injury, I haven’t seen evidence of that for a few seasons now, but he does look decent, and he’s the kind of player who’ll try something even if it’s not the drilled-in, percentage play.
Yeah they don’t have European football but Newcastle haven’t hugely rotated this season. So I don’t think it’s purely a rotation thing.
It’s difficult to put a finger on really, but hey these things happen.
Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona is the best side I’ve ever seen relative to their competition, they weren’t winning everything every year, hell Inter managed to grind out a tie while at 10 men for the majority of it, en route to our CL win for one!
I wouldn’t be fretting too much, 2nd league title in 30-odd years and a cup final isn’t too bad!
If PSG can keep that level, and they’ve basically caked the league so can prioritise, in terms of level of play I’ve seen I’d have them up with Barcelona for the CL. Real have god writing their scripts of course.
But I can 100% see Liverpool having lost to the eventual champions which ain’t too bad
And I don’t think anyone wants to be playing Newcastle in another final while they seek to break their now-broken trophy duck going back to 68/69
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On March 15 2025 03:24 WombaT wrote:Show nested quote +On March 13 2025 19:01 Harris1st wrote:On March 13 2025 07:52 WombaT wrote:On March 13 2025 07:42 Liquid`Drone wrote:
lol alvarez. That's a sad way to get a penalty miss. Harsh, especially considering how basically any bullshit runup is fine Oblak was unbelievably close to saving the winning penalty, Llorente’s penultimate one, (think was him, chaotic bar watch filled with loud Madridians from both sides)was a few inches from being a clutch, unsaveable one. Tight margins, but Athletico consistently dig their own grave. They got into a spot in the first leg where they were battering Real, and then they decided to settle for a 1-2 loss. Hell I think I commented on it in here. They do this all the fucking time in big CL games. It’s one thing battling and settling if Real are battering you, ok we’ll survive this leg and pull it back in the second. They had the initiative, CHOSE to cede it and got punished Doesn't matter. Real has plot armor anyway. Can't do anything about it. 8.4. 21:00 BayernInter Inter is good but are they Bayern good? 60:40 for Bayern 8.4. 21:00 Arsenal Real Madrid Depends which Arsenal shows up. 55:45 Madrid 9.4. 21:00 BarcelonaDortmund Barca got this. 80:20 9.4. 21:00 PSG
Aston Villa I don't see Villa getting through. Not even lucky 75:25 I think people sleep on Inter a bit, although I am biased! There’s some real quality there in the squad, but I think one of our real trump cards is Inzaghi. He’s drilled that team bloody well, and Inter rotate personnel more than most, and better than most. So the side is fresher than it really should be given they’re still in Europe and fighting for the league. I think we may see a match of the better gameplan, against the better players and that could be very interesting indeed! I do broadly agree with all your favourites, although I think Dortmund and Villa are slightly less clear underdogs than you have them. All it takes is Barca’s high line to malfunction once or twice and Dortmund hanging on. I think Villa have to hope that the PSG we saw in the first leg against Liverpool doesn’t show up to play them. Emery’s been good at doing preparation for cup fixtures for years, he’s definitely going to have to pull something out of the hat for PSG Quite a fun lineup for the round of 8 overall. Can someone please beat Real Madrid at some point though? I’m not sure I can stomach them winning another one with a side that’s good, not great. It feels like all the CLs that some great sides could/should have won have all been redirected to Real Madrid haha.
I'm not sure a team in the Ro8 gets really slept on :D
The games Bayern will probably possession vs counters and it can go either way. Most of the time the possession team will batter the defense until one slips through and then will make it 2 or 3.
On the other hand, if an early counter is scored...
Dortmund is pretty shitty these days. Not really sure why but they are.
PSG vs Villa is for me actually less about Villa and more about PSG. If PSG does bring anything close to what they brought vs Liverpool it doesn't matter what Villa brings.
Real beeing Real. I kinda expect a second leg overtime winner for Real after both games in regular time were tied
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Northern Ireland25875 Posts
On March 18 2025 17:48 Harris1st wrote:Show nested quote +On March 15 2025 03:24 WombaT wrote:On March 13 2025 19:01 Harris1st wrote:On March 13 2025 07:52 WombaT wrote:On March 13 2025 07:42 Liquid`Drone wrote:
lol alvarez. That's a sad way to get a penalty miss. Harsh, especially considering how basically any bullshit runup is fine Oblak was unbelievably close to saving the winning penalty, Llorente’s penultimate one, (think was him, chaotic bar watch filled with loud Madridians from both sides)was a few inches from being a clutch, unsaveable one. Tight margins, but Athletico consistently dig their own grave. They got into a spot in the first leg where they were battering Real, and then they decided to settle for a 1-2 loss. Hell I think I commented on it in here. They do this all the fucking time in big CL games. It’s one thing battling and settling if Real are battering you, ok we’ll survive this leg and pull it back in the second. They had the initiative, CHOSE to cede it and got punished Doesn't matter. Real has plot armor anyway. Can't do anything about it. 8.4. 21:00 BayernInter Inter is good but are they Bayern good? 60:40 for Bayern 8.4. 21:00 Arsenal Real Madrid Depends which Arsenal shows up. 55:45 Madrid 9.4. 21:00 BarcelonaDortmund Barca got this. 80:20 9.4. 21:00 PSG
Aston Villa I don't see Villa getting through. Not even lucky 75:25 I think people sleep on Inter a bit, although I am biased! There’s some real quality there in the squad, but I think one of our real trump cards is Inzaghi. He’s drilled that team bloody well, and Inter rotate personnel more than most, and better than most. So the side is fresher than it really should be given they’re still in Europe and fighting for the league. I think we may see a match of the better gameplan, against the better players and that could be very interesting indeed! I do broadly agree with all your favourites, although I think Dortmund and Villa are slightly less clear underdogs than you have them. All it takes is Barca’s high line to malfunction once or twice and Dortmund hanging on. I think Villa have to hope that the PSG we saw in the first leg against Liverpool doesn’t show up to play them. Emery’s been good at doing preparation for cup fixtures for years, he’s definitely going to have to pull something out of the hat for PSG Quite a fun lineup for the round of 8 overall. Can someone please beat Real Madrid at some point though? I’m not sure I can stomach them winning another one with a side that’s good, not great. It feels like all the CLs that some great sides could/should have won have all been redirected to Real Madrid haha. I'm not sure a team in the Ro8 gets really slept on :D The games Bayern will probably possession vs counters and it can go either way. Most of the time the possession team will batter the defense until one slips through and then will make it 2 or 3. On the other hand, if an early counter is scored... Dortmund is pretty shitty these days. Not really sure why but they are. PSG vs Villa is for me actually less about Villa and more about PSG. If PSG does bring anything close to what they brought vs Liverpool it doesn't matter what Villa brings. Real beeing Real. I kinda expect a second leg overtime winner for Real after both games in regular time were tied
Maybe not so in Germany, or Spain. Certainly in the UK, Inter are slept on.
People think of them as a kinda dangerous banana skin/dark horse, rather than one of Europe’s absolute top teams. Final 2 seasons ago, unlucky to lose Ro8 with a better side the season after to Atletico, who themselves kinda blew it against Dortmund. Serenely through groups and Ro16 this time.
They’re like the football team equivalent of a Trap. Not quite a Serral or a Maru, but absolutely a consistent top contender. Whereas people think of them like a Gumiho, dangerous and awkward but outside of the odd miracle run, never really considered a contender for the crown in a stacked tourney.
Dortmund kinda Gumihoed their way last season. They may do it again! Especially given they’ve fucked up their domestic season and can salvage it if they peak for just a handful of matches.
That said, it’s this Barcelona. I swear to fucking god, I was chilling at a bar with a pal watching them versus Athletico, no sound on. 2-1 down just seen Gallagher lay one on a plate. I managed to miss ALL 3 SUBSEQUENT GOALS. There’s so much classical La Masia quality in that side, but Flick has like, turbocharged them. I thought nothing much is happening, good time to take a surreptitious glance at the barmaid’s rather nice arse. Nah, goal missed. Check the time? Look if you don’t want to miss goals WombaT, you cannot look away at any time.
If Pep’s football is patient, probing midfield control, like a 3 act opera, . Well, Enrique’s was a 15 minute long classical piece building to a speedier crescendo, getting the ball more quickly to MSN, not a bad idea. Hansi Flick’s football is like a two minute long punk anthem, gone almost as quickly as it’s begun.
I haven’t watched Barca live much this season, just the highlights mostly but man, when they’re on it they’re bloody good. The others were one of their games versus Real, and their demolition of Bayern so, I’ve got a smattering of basically solely Barca’s better performances but still.
It took forever to get here but there’s really nothing quite like the CL knockouts!
PS - I love Gumiho, not dissing the lad at all.
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United States10213 Posts
On March 18 2025 13:40 WombaT wrote:
Liverpool have rotated alright, I just think they’re having a general blip only it’s at a terrible time. Indeed some of their ever-presents are some of their better performers recently, to my eye anyway.
They’ve reasonably rotated up top for example, but Jota’s not doing it at the minute, Gakpo has dropped off his earlier form, Nunez will always blow hot and cold, Diaz is lively but unproductive lately despite a strong start to the season and Salah’s had a few games doing nothing. I feel Chiesa is a bit underused he’s looked quite good the games I’ve seen him in. Sadly I don’t think he’ll ever be the player he was before the injury, I haven’t seen evidence of that for a few seasons now, but he does look decent, and he’s the kind of player who’ll try something even if it’s not the drilled-in, percentage play.
Yeah they don’t have European football but Newcastle haven’t hugely rotated this season. So I don’t think it’s purely a rotation thing.
It’s difficult to put a finger on really, but hey these things happen.
Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona is the best side I’ve ever seen relative to their competition, they weren’t winning everything every year, hell Inter managed to grind out a tie while at 10 men for the majority of it, en route to our CL win for one!
I wouldn’t be fretting too much, 2nd league title in 30-odd years and a cup final isn’t too bad!
If PSG can keep that level, and they’ve basically caked the league so can prioritise, in terms of level of play I’ve seen I’d have them up with Barcelona for the CL. Real have god writing their scripts of course.
But I can 100% see Liverpool having lost to the eventual champions which ain’t too bad
And I don’t think anyone wants to be playing Newcastle in another final while they seek to break their now-broken trophy duck going back to 68/69
Eh, Salah is never rotated, Gakpo was out for a couple weeks due to injury, so Diaz has either been our "striker" or played out wide the entire time, though ironically he's one of the few that never looks tired. We never rotate our midfield which is why Gravy has taken a pretty bad drop in form recently, Szobo isn't the same as he was in the winter months when he was cruising around doing everything, and neither of those players get much rest with Endo and Elliott not being favored/trusted in a closer/even game.
Truthfully, I actually expected us to lose both games. PSG are very very scary and hungry this season with their shift in mentality, and Dembele is on really good form coupled with the upgrade in Kvara who was absolutely killing us. And Newcastle, yeah it felt like we just didn't care for it as much after winning it last year, basically turned Wembley into St. James Park South that game with how much their fans were into it. Didn't feel like our fans were into it much at all. Also, we need to go back to wearing red at our games, the Newcastle half was really something special while our fans were dressed in whatever they felt like.
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Kinda excited for Nations League today. Not really sure where I stand on Ro8 having two legs. First leg could be a snooze fest but with second leg only 3 days away it might be just fine.
The best teams are all there. Not one is missing 
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On March 20 2025 18:30 Harris1st wrote:Kinda excited for Nations League today. Not really sure where I stand on Ro8 having two legs. First leg could be a snooze fest but with second leg only 3 days away it might be just fine. The best teams are all there. Not one is missing
Agreed. You could make an argument that Belgium got shafted, coming in 3rd in by far the hardest group. But otherwise all the top teams are there!
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United States10213 Posts
Woohoo Japan qualified for WC already!
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On March 20 2025 18:30 Harris1st wrote:Kinda excited for Nations League today. Not really sure where I stand on Ro8 having two legs. First leg could be a snooze fest but with second leg only 3 days away it might be just fine. The best teams are all there. Not one is missing
Well, this didn't go even close to what I expected. Glad I didn't bet.
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51486 Posts
love how waterman just runs up to henry after the goal and yells at his face lol
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Tuchel was the one who wanted to get rid of Kimmich/Goretzka midfield over a year ago at Bayern haha
Now they are crushing Italy
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EPT
