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DropBear
Australia4359 Posts
The anti-pep counter-culture movement in football this year has been glorious. Seeing his disciples fail is just as sweet. I sincerely hope they fail to return to the summit again next year, the poison is slowly being drawn from the wound. Praying for Arsenal to get humiliated by PSG. Never ever thought I'd say that | ||
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KobraKay
Portugal4231 Posts
On April 19 2025 07:13 WombaT wrote: Incredible! Surely, surely someone will snap up Knutsen sooner rather than later? Hate to be a Debbie Downer I’m really loving the Ro4 lineup in the Europa, Athletic came so close and were fantastic under Bielsa a while back, and I dig the Basque policy. Bodo/Glimt is an underdog story for the ages. Spurs haven’t won anything in ages and I have a soft spot for Ange and there’s even some romance with United being so shambolic but coming together for a Europa charge, plus I quite like Amorim as well. CL is pretty tasty as well! Barca are absolutely fearsome but I think stylistically they might actually be the best matchup for us Interistas. Arsenal are pretty resolute defensively and quite good at controlling games and nicking tight ones, PSG just zip it around so rapidly when they’re on song that I think we’d struggle there. Not that Barca don’t but it feels they are very quick and vertical, with a crazy high line so if Inter can stay disciplined and counter well it could be very interesting Hoping for PSG to take it all to be honest. It would be great for the portuguese young players to experience that. I would love to see Vitinha and N Mendes being recognized as elite in their positions, and being part of that winning team might get them that. I had PSG as my CL prediction for this year but edited into Real because....well its real and CL. To be fair, that and Barça getting La Liga might be the good picks on my year start prediction list. I think i had City to take the league as well so the rest of the picks were garbage ehehe | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland25493 Posts
On April 20 2025 20:59 KobraKay wrote: Hoping for PSG to take it all to be honest. It would be great for the portuguese young players to experience that. I would love to see Vitinha and N Mendes being recognized as elite in their positions, and being part of that winning team might get them that. I had PSG as my CL prediction for this year but edited into Real because....well its real and CL. To be fair, that and Barça getting La Liga might be the good picks on my year start prediction list. I think i had City to take the league as well so the rest of the picks were garbage ehehe I think most savvy followers recognise the quality of those two players. They certainly should be anyway! I find the team itself quite likeable but I really do hate the whole PSG project, so I can’t root for them :p I mean I don’t like Man City’s either but at least that’s in a league where other sides can still be competitive despite Abu Dhabi’s cash. PSG have just ruined Ligue Une at the title challenger level, IIRC their wage bill is higher than something like the current 2nd to 5th sides combined. | ||
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Harris1st
Germany6934 Posts
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Bacillus
Finland1942 Posts
Partly it's probably that we don't really have dominant teams this season, but it also feels like we may have hit the limit on number of games the current rosters can handle. | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland25493 Posts
On April 22 2025 17:58 Harris1st wrote: I hate everything about PSG with a passion but at least in international football, Arsenal paychecks should be on par with PSG paychecks I guess. Arsenal are at least competing domestically with a whole bunch of sides with similar, or in some cases higher wage bills. I think to some degree, prestige and glory don’t equalise, but do mitigate budgets across leagues. There’s only so many top players to go around after all, and only so many teams in the Champion’s League, or with a shot of winning it. Or domestic contenders in big leagues. For all the flak they get from some quarters for being money-obsessed, a lot of footballers do care about such things. Thank fuck for that too, we’re already at the stage where bog standard mid-table Prem teams are out-earning and out-spending the Italian traditional giants, non-Bayern German teams, Spain outside of the big 2/3. But aside from that I dunno, say Lautaro Martinez would rather be at the business end of Serie A and the Champion’s League for one of the world’s prestige clubs than say, earn more money at West Ham or something. The glory pull get’s annoying when Real come calling for one of your club’s players mind :p But I’d rather have it than not! On April 24 2025 13:15 Bacillus wrote: Feels like none of the teams, maybe aside from PSG, currently handle the UCL + Domestic league juggling smoothly. Barcelona and Real have been looking very pedestrian, barely escaping with 1 goal victories and Arsenal and Inter are dropping quite a lot of points. Partly it's probably that we don't really have dominant teams this season, but it also feels like we may have hit the limit on number of games the current rosters can handle. I think you’re onto something here, it just feels too difficult to compete on both fronts for a whole season, especially in the Prem. There’ll be a dip at some point. For Arsenal a few injuries and a bad run earlier the season and they were effectively done, such was the pace Liverpool set. But then Liverpool had their dip, and boom lose a cup final and are out of Europe in short succession. I’m sure unless they actually win the CL nobody at Arsenal will admit it, I’d imagine they privately conceded the league long ago and started focusing on the CL. I’m not sure you see the dismantling jobs Arsenal pulled off last 2 rounds if they were really trying to chase Liverpool down and believed they could do that to quite the same degree Inter I’d sorta give a pass from this trend, Conte is doing Conte things. Take a club with no European competition, win the league. It’s not really a calendar congestion issue there, I was lazy and just asked Chat GPT but between Europe and Inter going deep in the Coppa Italia, as things stand Inter have played 48 games to Napoli’s 29. | ||
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sharkie
Austria18418 Posts
When did a club ever do that with a past and present manager? | ||
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Harris1st
Germany6934 Posts
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DropBear
Australia4359 Posts
YNWA! | ||
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sharkie
Austria18418 Posts
They are back to biggest club in England :0 | ||
GTR
51463 Posts
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Bacillus
Finland1942 Posts
Maybe it's just the way the news coverage goes, but Real is still just 4 points behind Barcelona in La Liga and there's an El Classico in roughly two weeks and Barca is busy trying to balance the UCL and La Liga. Win the Classico and you're putting immense pressure on Barca. | ||
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Harris1st
Germany6934 Posts
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RKC
2848 Posts
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cpvrx8mygr4o On April 20 2025 12:35 DropBear wrote: Pep is and always has been boring. He does his best to make football excruciating. The anti-pep counter-culture movement in football this year has been glorious. Seeing his disciples fail is just as sweet. I sincerely hope they fail to return to the summit again next year, the poison is slowly being drawn from the wound. Praying for Arsenal to get humiliated by PSG. Never ever thought I'd say that | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland25493 Posts
On April 29 2025 15:47 Bacillus wrote: I find it a bit weird how deflated the Ancelotti stuff seems currently. Everybody is talking about him leaving, giving him a honorable exit and all that. Maybe it's just the way the news coverage goes, but Real is still just 4 points behind Barcelona in La Liga and there's an El Classico in roughly two weeks and Barca is busy trying to balance the UCL and La Liga. Win the Classico and you're putting immense pressure on Barca. They might pull it out of the bag, but I imagine the working relationship is at breaking point anyway. I think it’s long been a case of does Ancelotti get to walk off into the sunset with some glory or not? I can’t imagine the pressure of managing a Real Madrid at the best of times, but Ancelotti’s got to be the lightning rod for other failings as well. I’d say, if it was an either-or question, there’s basically a 0% chance Ancelotti would have taken Mbappe over refreshing that midfield. But he gets the former and has to integrate him, while still being expected to perform at the very, very elite level. I imagine you take that frustration, put it up against the pressure you’re under all season and Ancelotti was always likely to leave. Like having an awkward manager who demands a project done in a certain manner you disagree with, a real ‘Fuck it I’ll do this to the best of my ability anyway, but then I’m outta here.’ Least how I read it anyway On April 29 2025 16:09 Harris1st wrote: I like how Real blames the ref before the game even started. Sure way to better you chances lol Real’s behaviour this past season or so has been abysmal institutionally. Really poor. I’ve never been a huge fan what with their entitlement, seemingly unending fortune etc etc, but just that regular sporting rivalry and dislike. But nothing particularly actually unlikeable in terms of how they went about their business. This past while though, oh boy. The Ballon D’Or histrionics were embarrassing and they’ve been shocking this season at moaning and putting pressure on referees. Not just on the field either. When a referee breaks down in tears in a press conference, do you release a statement to try and defuse things, or do you absolutely double-down on pressuring referees? It’s appalling behaviour, and what’s more it’s ridiculous. | ||
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sharkie
Austria18418 Posts
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FlaShFTW
United States10170 Posts
On April 28 2025 23:25 sharkie wrote: Oh wow Liverpool most league titles (tied), most European titles, most trophies (tied) in England... They are back to biggest club in England :0 Hell yes we are! | ||
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sharkie
Austria18418 Posts
On April 29 2025 19:04 RKC wrote: Pep’s disciples are faring rather well this year actually lol… https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cpvrx8mygr4o Is even Enrique a disciple? Arteta is definitely one but I really fail to see how Flick and Enrique are | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland25493 Posts
On April 30 2025 16:54 sharkie wrote: Is even Enrique a disciple? Arteta is definitely one but I really fail to see how Flick and Enrique are Enrique 100% is, I’d argue more so stylistically than Arteta is, plus he had the same initial pathway of entry to coaching as Pep, and took over from said same dude. Flick less so, he’s said he’s taken influence from him but I’d say has made too many of his own tweaks to be a ‘disciple’ as it were. | ||
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Jockmcplop
United Kingdom9660 Posts
Amazing individual performances Incredible goals Great defending and team play Clash of styles What a game. | ||
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