robsblubot

Noni relies a lot on his physicality and Aina was a bit too much for him.

Enzo’s finishing was extremely disappointing when we tried him as a CAM. caicedo can pass — he’s just not great at it. Think about his toolset passing does not come as his #1 quality as it does for other mids.

It’s a bit easier to score goals with better players on the pitch 😆

That was a clever pass by Caicedo

Yup esp considering the opposition.

I’d keep Jackson but move him to the left replacing mudryk with nkunku who would play center. Mudryk has a lot of pace and is very direct which could work in counters but he’s not contributing a whole lot. noni is t winning the duels today but he’s still working hard for the team. the performance isn’t good. Got little going on aside from occasional Palmers moments of brilliance.

Anyone seen 24yo Porto striker Evanilson play? just saw that he got called up for Brazil.

(thanks! on phone and at a happy hour) Heh makes sense top players used to move to Europe a lot later in the 90s.

fun fact-which I've mentioned before but (rotating audience 🙂 ): I was at Olimpico stadium (before Gremio arena was built), and watched Gremio coached by Scolari beat Parmalat (italian milk co) Palmeiras that has a young Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos in that line up. https://www.besoccer.com/match/gremio-porto-alegre/palmeiras/199512896 Mario Jardel was the star of the show, but honestly anyone watching RIvaldo and Roberto Carlos knew they were WC players or ready-to-be one. They were what 19-20 then?

It's a good club and well run esp after Leila Pereira took over. She's really making things happen. I know a little more about them because my cousins in São Paulo are all Paleiras supporters. I'm not sure how they will make the Brasileiro continue without the clubs from the south. It's not like they are getting ready to return to activities; players are with their families taking care of their properties, or rescuing people, or distributing food and water.

hehe I can't remember the last talent that came from their academy prior to Endrik; I think there have been good players, not any real talent. Which is a common tale for most Brazil club academies. It could be that Palmeiras is now a step ahead tho.

That's true, but "calmness and leadership qualities" usually come from experience. Having experienced in-game situations multiple times allows them to remain unfazed by any in-game situations. Palmer is an exception and also not really, considering he came from City. Consistency is also a key factor from experience. Which is another reason sometimes projecting performances from different leagues and/or smaller clubs often lead to disappointment. Gusto for example is an excellent player who switches off at times. Caicedo -- I'm just going to just say who is a good player -- switched off plenty during the season, with some of the unforced errors leading to conceded goals. That's typical from inexperience.

Yup biggest clubs are all going for these types -- extremely high ceiling and super young: more of a gamble with a much larger payoff. Estevao isn't that much of a wait, at least not until he joins. He's just turned 17, so he will ready to join next year in the summer. I hope we have built something a bit more stable by then.

Literally nobody here was talking about champions league. 🤷‍♂️ Reckon some of us merely rather be competing with the other big clubs given that we pretty much outspent everyone else in the league. This whole thing is still about winning matches and getting silverware, not finding out if random kids we can become professional footballers. How do you know the young players will settle or find themselves? maybe there is nothing to be found? 🙂

Terrible call, but I'm not entirely sure there would've been a goal -- truth is that we will never know for sure. Neuer just makes too many mistakes for me; these games are hard enough without the goalie making such a blunder out of nothing. He was playing well until then, but that hardly matters now.

That's interesting... he was a bit iffy on D in the first match. Couldn't watch it/record it as the game was being held hostage by paramount+ PSG always have weaknesses in their team, which gets exploited in the CL. It's usually D, but haven't seen them enough this time around to know for sure.

I honestly could not see PSG not going through in this tie; couldn't be happier for being totally wrong. 🙂 PSG needs to be looked at... it's getting comical.

They lost me at "young". 😆 But fully agreed. Perhaps they are counting that Nkunku and Carney will remain fit and help to cover that side, but it's a lot of ifs. Carney fills the role of young left wing in my book, what we need is a consistent 25ish who will get us a 7 performance on every match.

Regarding the CB discussion earlier, I really dislike PSG Marquinhos. I just don't see enough skill and mentality to make up for his lack of physicality. He's not a CB I would go for even if there was an opportunity.

Diego Costa is a hero! Ex-Chelsea star uses his jeep to help rescue 100 people from devastating floods in Brazil as he springs into action on his way home from Gremio training session There is no training anymore because it's now all under water.

OK, for the sake of argument, I'll concur that Serie A and PL are at the same level; I think CL alone proves otherwise, but I digress. So what? Fact remains that the dominant team in the PL plays in a particular way, which our current crop of players aren't really suited for. Now, you may think that's a detail, and that it may not be true 2-3 years from now, which is a possibility, but I am concerned that we may be going the wrong way.

Is that what you see at City? do you see specialists doing their own thing, or very rounded players in all areas joining the attack at different times? Kante was unplayable in that CL run, but did that team win the league? Was it even close to winning the PL? City's system of total football has been proven very effective in the PL--less so in single-elimination games. The team closest to them right now uses the same system.

I'm not sure Italy counts these days, no. They haven't even been able to quality for the WC ffs. Yes, I'm referring to the absence of such role (ball-winning dedicated mid) in the top clubs in modern football. Declan Rice moved up is just mirroring what Rodri does for City. I find that intriguing, but I don't claim to know the answer. It's something I consider. They tried to get rid of Partey who refused to leave last minute of the window. Rotation/backup player. Jorginho and Caicedo have absolutely nothing in common--and he's rotation/backup. Arenal is trying to mirror City and they are unsuccessful still. Maybe because they don't quite have the right players?

ah good point! guy is likely a "defense magnet." 😁

I agree with the notion were are nowhere near that, so need to focus on rebuilding. There is no choice. Mikel Obi is an interesting example tho: yes, his attacking numbers were close to zero, but his defense numbers weren't that great either. He rarely went to the ground to tackle, and was more like a dedicated short-range passer... a far more limited version of Kovacic (without the dribbling). To this day I'm not sure what he actually did on the pitch eh. I think he wasn't a sure started either -- more like a Rotation/often used off the bench player in our PL wins (he had left before last win with Conte in 16-17). I think Matic and even David Luiz in midfield were closer to a ball-winning mids tbh.