The European Leagues & Competitions Thread V2

[Mário César 975]

13 hours ago, Johnnyeye said:

Never expected City to win this to be honest, many congrats to them, i always enjoy seeing Barca lose, i hate them with a passion,  this Barca side is miles away from the ones we faced in the past, not saying they are crap, but there is clearly something missing, they wont win it this year tough, Atletico or Bayern for me, but we´ll see. Cheers

@@Essien19

 

Já tentei contactar-te por MP mas dá erro.

Boas.

Gosto de ler o que escreves por aqui e acho que serias uma mais valia para um fórum que frequento há anos. Aborda futebol (seja epl, bbva, e por ai adiante) como outras coisas.

www.cmportugal.com

Dá uma vista de olhos e pode ser que gostes. Eras bem-vindo e pelo menos já não era dos poucos a apoiar o Chelsea. :'(

[Johnnyeye 7,440]

8 hours ago, petre.ispirescu said:

A lot can change until the knockout phase. Iniesta, Pique, Jordi Alba were out injured last night. Busquets is playing the worst football of his career this autumn. Sergi Roberto playing at right back did not help either. And the most suspicious thing about last night's line-up was Andre Gomes. How did this guy end up playing for Barcelona is baffling. Just like Inter's Joao Mario, I'm not sure what exactly these two guys are supposed to be good at.

i understand your views, Andre Gomes was immense for Benfica and Valencia, but the price Barca paid for him is too much, he isnt worth that, i never visualized him in Barca, i don´t think he fits in there, maybe he was bought just for strenght in depth, his Euro 2016 campaign helped, he´s not a crap player by any means, but Barca is not the place for him. Joao Mario is young give him time, and he deserves much better than Inter to be honest, Inter are a shambles at the moment, Joao has a lot of qualities as shown in Sporting in the last 2 seasons, but he needs a team that fits his playing style, La Liga would be great for him, he´s a great talent i have no doubt, i followed his progress in Portugal and he will shine, just give him time.

[Johnnyeye 7,440]

Tottenham really suck in Europe, Legia almost causing a major upset, Real were a mess today, Juventus failing to kill the match and paid for it in the end, Leicester would have gone trough to the next round if they won, still all to play for in the next 2 games.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

7 minutes ago, Johnnyeye said:

Tottenham really suck in Europe, Legia almost causing a major upset, Real were a mess today, Juventus failing to kill the match and paid for it in the end, Leicester would have gone trough to the next round if they won, still all to play for in the next 2 games.

I watched the Spurs match and I was disappointed. Why are they made out to be one of the best attacking teams in England?? They are average in attacking, Chelsea is far more entertaining. 

Is it that they're missing Kane?? because even against Leicester they were all rubbish too

[Essien19 1,415]

8 hours ago, Johnnyeye said:

i understand your views, Andre Gomes was immense for Benfica and Valencia, but the price Barca paid for him is too much, he isnt worth that, i never visualized him in Barca, i don´t think he fits in there, maybe he was bought just for strenght in depth, his Euro 2016 campaign helped, he´s not a crap player by any means, but Barca is not the place for him. Joao Mario is young give him time, and he deserves much better than Inter to be honest, Inter are a shambles at the moment, Joao has a lot of qualities as shown in Sporting in the last 2 seasons, but he needs a team that fits his playing style, La Liga would be great for him, he´s a great talent i have no doubt, i followed his progress in Portugal and he will shine, just give him time.

I liked what Gomes offered against City. He can't compete with Iniesta (tbf, no one can), but he does a job for you, very intelligent player. Sure, with hindsight, Gundogan would tick all the boxes for Barca, but you can do a lot worse than buying Gomes. Yeah, they're different, but i get that someone like Gundogan would have been better. But i think Enrique's idea with players such as Rakitic and Gomes does make Barca stronger. In the end that's all what counts, a flop is a flop, so better avoid one and pay up, penny pinching does you no good.

I can't say much to the comparision between Joao and Gomes, all i can say is that personally, i like Gomes, he's means business (on the pitch). Barca need workers to enable 'el tridente' to do their thing. Gomes fits right in, doesn't he?
 

On 1.11.2016 at 11:51 PM, Johnnyeye said:

Never expected City to win this to be honest, many congrats to them, i always enjoy seeing Barca lose, i hate them with a passion,  this Barca side is miles away from the ones we faced in the past, not saying they are crap, but there is clearly something missing, they wont win it this year tough, Atletico or Bayern for me, but we´ll see. Cheers

@@Essien19

Barcelona have a problem and its name is Sergio Busquets these days. He's miles off form, fecked everything up against City. Barca could've made it 2:0, mistakes were costly. Without Iniesta they're in deep shit, no control. At least Gomes' shot should've went in, in the end that's football.

Atletico peaked early, not sure whether they're able to contain it, happens all the time and Bayern don't have a great winger, which will be a big problem when taking on the big boys. Their game against Atletico showed that they didn't learn a thing so far. Another problem is their fullbacks; Lahm isn't as good as before and Alaba has really regressed, especially when taking a look at his way of defending. Of course, both teams can win it.

This stuff depends on a lot of things, but an energetic Dortmund can go far and i'm sure Juve will be right up there. Hopefully this time around, there will be some huge clashes already in the round of sixteen. 

I still think City are overrated. The first game when Barca took them seriously, they got a real good spanking!


Good hearing from you, mate.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

11 hours ago, Johnnyeye said:

i understand your views, Andre Gomes was immense for Benfica and Valencia, but the price Barca paid for him is too much, he isnt worth that, i never visualized him in Barca, i don´t think he fits in there, maybe he was bought just for strenght in depth, his Euro 2016 campaign helped, he´s not a crap player by any means, but Barca is not the place for him. Joao Mario is young give him time, and he deserves much better than Inter to be honest, Inter are a shambles at the moment, Joao has a lot of qualities as shown in Sporting in the last 2 seasons, but he needs a team that fits his playing style, La Liga would be great for him, he´s a great talent i have no doubt, i followed his progress in Portugal and he will shine, just give him time.

Gomes is that kind of player that is good at many things, but not excelent in anything. And I think he plays in position that demands more. Rakitic is that allround guy and Sergio is DM, but third CM in barca should be creator (which is usualy Iniesta). Gomes is too similar to Ivan. At best he is his backup on bench. I have no idea why barca paid that money for him, because I dont see him first choice unless he massively improves. I never saw him for benfica (or maybe I did, but didnt realy remember it), but in Valencia he was average. He had these good runs with the ball, and decent allround performance, but he was far to inconsitent in anything. Passing, creating etc. Just not decisive at all. Same with Portugal. Far cry from imense IMO.

---

Generaly, you have to love all this wankfest about Pep and City again. They lose 4:0, these people hide, then they win and suddenly ''Pep is the best'' is back. They won 3:1 yes, they deserve the credit, but barca had few players out (I realy dont know why they didnt buy proper replacement for Alves, while Gomes and Digne are ok, but not their quality IMO; and their GK is average too). It should be 2:0 for barca, but this is football. Wasnt their day. Instead of 2:0, barca made that mistake which ended with goal for city. At full strength, Barca would probably do it 3:0 easily. Prior to the match, Barca had 9 points and City 5, it was a game of different level than elimination games. I look forward to see Pep in those rounds, where I believe he will get eliminated as soon he faces Real, Barca, Atletico or Bayern.

As for De Bruyne, he is great footballer, as I said back in 2014 when he was still here we should never sell him, but I expected a bit more from him realy. He is absolutely fantastic on his day, but he has quite many quiet days when the team struggles alot because of that.

[Johnnyeye 7,440]

2 hours ago, Essien19 said:

I liked what Gomes offered against City. He can't compete with Iniesta (tbf, no one can), but he does a job for you, very intelligent player. Sure, with hindsight, Gundogan would tick all the boxes for Barca, but you can do a lot worse than buying Gomes. Yeah, they're different, but i get that someone like Gundogan would have been better. But i think Enrique's idea with players such as Rakitic and Gomes does make Barca stronger. In the end that's all what counts, a flop is a flop, so better avoid one and pay up, penny pinching does you no good.

I can't say much to the comparision between Joao and Gomes, all i can say is that personally, i like Gomes, he's means business (on the pitch). Barca need workers to enable 'el tridente' to do their thing. Gomes fits right in, doesn't he?
 

Barcelona have a problem and its name is Sergio Busquets these days. He's miles off form, fecked everything up against City. Barca could've made it 2:0, mistakes were costly. Without Iniesta they're in deep shit, no control. At least Gomes' shot should've went in, in the end that's football.

Atletico peaked early, not sure whether they're able to contain it, happens all the time and Bayern don't have a great winger, which will be a big problem when taking on the big boys. Their game against Atletico showed that they didn't learn a thing so far. Another problem is their fullbacks; Lahm isn't as good as before and Alaba has really regressed, especially when taking a look at his way of defending. Of course, both teams can win it.

This stuff depends on a lot of things, but an energetic Dortmund can go far and i'm sure Juve will be right up there. Hopefully this time around, there will be some huge clashes already in the round of sixteen. 

I still think City are overrated. The first game when Barca took them seriously, they got a real good spanking!


Good hearing from you, mate.

Joao Mario will come good for Inter eventually, Gomes might have a big impact on this Barca side as the season progresses, minding injuries, he does have the qualities otherwise Barca wouldn´t have bought him, if he can replicate what he did in Benfica and Valencia then Barca are in for a treat. Sergio Busquets is getting too error prone these days thats the reality, far from the dominant trio of Barca and Spain for many years ( Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets ), remember when we faced them many times at their best?, great clashes they were. Atletico with Simeone are always a danger for any top team, they have what it takes to win the Champions League, but the fact is they tend to choke and that´s a big let down, hope they can win it because they deserve it for all they have done in the past years, Bayern are always a contender, but they have fallen short every time in the semis since they won it in 2013, that team for me was the best Bayern team ever, the playing style, players and coach ( Heynckes ), everything ticked, but Pep changed their philosophy and they had to try to adapt, maybe too much, not saying its bad, but i think that they were better before. Dortmund are a mistery, you never know when they will show up, too inconsistent for my liking, miles away from the Dortmund of Klopp era, Juve will go far depending on the draw in the knockout rounds. City are not there yet, sure they had a good run last season, their fisrt, but they should have beaten Real Madrid who for me weren´t that great last season, they had a lot of luck going their way, the 2014 winning side was much better, but they know how to win it tough, City aren´t Champions League winning material yet even with Pep at the helm, but who knows what can happen, football is not an exact science. Cheers mate

[Johnnyeye 7,440]

13 minutes ago, BlueLyon said:

Gomes is that kind of player that is good at many things, but not excelent in anything. And I think he plays in position that demands more. Rakitic is that allround guy and Sergio is DM, but third CM in barca should be creator (which is usualy Iniesta). Gomes is too similar to Ivan. At best he is his backup on bench. I have no idea why barca paid that money for him, because I dont see him first choice unless he massively improves. I never saw him for benfica (or maybe I did, but didnt realy remember it), but in Valencia he was average. He had these good runs with the ball, and decent allround performance, but he was far to inconsitent in anything. Passing, creating etc. Just not decisive at all. Same with Portugal. Far cry from imense IMO.

---

Generaly, you have to love all this wankfest about Pep and City again. They lose 4:0, these people hide, then they win and suddenly ''Pep is the best'' is back. They won 3:1 yes, they deserve the credit, but barca had few players out (I realy dont know why they didnt buy proper replacement for Alves, while Gomes and Digne are ok, but not their quality IMO; and their GK is average too). It should be 2:0 for barca, but this is football. Wasnt their day. Instead of 2:0, barca made that mistake which ended with goal for city. At full strength, Barca would probably do it 3:0 easily. Prior to the match, Barca had 9 points and City 5, it was a game of different level than elimination games. I look forward to see Pep in those rounds, where I believe he will get eliminated as soon he faces Real, Barca, Atletico or Bayern.

As for De Bruyne, he is great footballer, as I said back in 2014 when he was still here we should never sell him, but I expected a bit more from him realy. He is absolutely fantastic on his day, but he has quite many quiet days when the team struggles alot because of that.

Gomes was immense for Benfica that i can tell you from all the games i watched, maybe not so much for Valencia as i didnt watch a lot of their games, he can do the job but not as good as Rakitic like you said, he´s a back up player at best right now, but we´ll see how he does as the season progresses. City are living in dream land if they think they are contenders for the Champions League, they are due for a rude awakening, but we´ll see what happens in the knock out rounds. De Bruyne would be great with us right now, but i agree that he stays quiet many times, thats why i rate Hazard much more than him contrary to what many will say. Cheers mate

[Special Juan 27,424]

Spurs are really loving Wembley

[kmk108 1,186]

not a good start for United. 

[cosmicway 1,323]

Will Mourinho return from Turkey ?

[BoyBlue96 990]

José is absolutely finished as a manager. It's just not working anymore.

But FullTimeDevils and the whole Manc fanbase will blame the referee.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

1 hour ago, kmk108 said:

not a good start for United. 

They just conceded the second goal lol. I've been watching this match and fernabaches keeper hasn't made one save yet. Damn

Mourinho has turned manutd to exactly how we played the season before we bought fabregas. 

[BoyBlue96 990]

1 minute ago, kellzfresh said:

They just conceded the second goal lol. I've been watching this match and fernabaches keeper hasn't made one save yet. Damn

Mourinho has turned manutd to exactly how we played the season before we bought fabregas. 

José has Mata to play there and Mhkitaryan...what else does he needs??? He's done.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Jose doing his famous trick of averaging roughly 0-1 shot on target in 90 mins? Were are the attacking patterns? Were is the movement off the ball? Nowhere to be seen. He doesn't have a special player like Eden to save his ass anymore. No Ronaldo to score goals for him every game either. 

[cosmicway 1,323]

Pulled back one.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

1 minute ago, cosmicway said:

Pulled back one.

Fluke long range rubbish.

[cosmicway 1,323]

game over