Champions League Thread

[samzilla 517]

I just heard about this new rule change...team with the most possession wins apparently. Goals are now only used as a tiebreaker at the end of the season if necessary.

[magiczlatan 15]

I am sure PSG has the money, but you are targeting great players that can become one of the best. If they have any ambition they will not go to PSG.

It's already a miracle that they can afford to recruit good players. I can't even imagine the tens of millions of euros that the French government rakes in from PSG. I can tell you that the french teams have a huge handicap in this sector.

I can tell you that money is everything in football. Why did Falcao move to Monaco?

There's no income tax; he earns stupid money (1.2 million a month, ouch!)

I agree with you that the best players do not want to play in the French league. That's why we are forced to pay big wages to attract them, which is only possible by billionaire.

Unfortunately, the FPP could be an obstacle.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Jeez, instead of bickering back and forth. Let's have a scout report on PSG. Since loads of PSG fans joined, let's have a scout report on what your team will be most likely and how do you reckon Blanc will set em up tactically? I'm sure I'm not the only one who hasn't seen PSG outside of a few CL ties this year.

[Dwight Schrute 114]

The most likely formation:

Sirigu

Van der Wiel - Alex - Thiago S - Maxwell

Thiago Motta

Veratti Matuidi

Cavani Lavezzi

Ibrahimovic

Usual formation, I do not think that Blanc might change something. If some of you watched the match, Marquinhos played last friday but he is an usual substitute.

As discussed before, Blanc wants Paris' game to be based on high ball possession. Sometimes (often), Ibrahimovic plays quite low on the field, as a #10. Lavezzi and Cavani may switch during the game, but obviously, as Cavani is not a real winger, his talent is quite wasted (but he remains an incredible player). As I said before, I am a little worried with Ibrahimovic since he is often in troubles during big european games.

Regarding midfielders, Thiago Motta is the defensive midfielder. IMO, he is one of the most important player. He was often injured last year and he is mainly the reason why (IMO) Paris' game has improved so far. And let's be honnest, he can sometimes be a b***h on the field. Then Veratti and Matuidi are the two other central midfielders, they are in charge of "boosting" the offensive game. They are quite different, as Matuidi is not a great player technically speaking but he has a great ability to perforate the defense. Veratti has great technical skills, passing skills (like Thiago Motta) and a great ability to play under opponents' pressure, which can lead him to take a lot of risks when dribbling in his own penalty area ... He also makes a lot of faults and can get nervous quite easily.

Regarding defenders, right-back is Van der Wiel. He is very attacking and defensively, he is far from being great ... Given he will be in charge of Hazard, he is the one who scares me the most. He might be the weakest point of Paris (they've been triying to hire Dani Alves for months). On the other side, Maxwell is never great, but he is never bad ... In the centre, there is nothing to say about Thiago Silva, he is great. As said before, he will wear a mask because of his face injury and I am afraid he might not be 100% in aerian duels ... And Alex is good, a little bit slow sometimes but you must know him as well as we do.

Dangerous free-kicks are all shooted by Ibrahimovic. Corners on the left are mainly shooted by Lavezzi, and, as a left footer, Thiago Motta kicks those on the right.

I let other Parisians add what I might have forgotten or correct me if they don't agree.

[Barbara 15,149]

Willan is an average winger and nothing more, Lucas is better than Willan

some stats

Lavezzi goals 8 assits 2 total successful dribbles 24 turnovers 48

Lucas goals 3 assists 10 total successful dribbles 87 turnovers 52

Willan goals 2 assist 3 total successful dribbles 44 turnovers 38

let a Brazilian settle this for you

Lucas Moura is a flop. He isn't better than any of the many midfielders we have in Brazil, reason why he isn't - rightfully so - going to the WC in his own country.

I hope you have enjoyed your stay.

That aside, the French football fans (at least in this board, Chelsea fans or not) are my fave fans to discuss in forums. They're really special, have a great understanding of the game and very, very polite. You're all welcome here

[lionsden 4,689]

I think I'd behave the same if I'd watch my team troll the likes of Evian, Ajaccio and Sochaux week-in, week-out. Brainwashing: level Qatar. Thank God I'm not following that Mickey Mouse league.

Yeh those teams are so much worse than Cardiff, palace, Fulham. All the teams in the EPL are world class

[BloodIsBlue 291]

Ok, you hate us, you find us miserable, Ligue 1 is the worst competition in the world, ... We get it. What's the point of being that aggressive?

Nobody hates you buddy. You should that you two PSG guys aren't anywhere near as bad the Galatasaray guys from the other week, at least you guys are talking about football very objectively (even if we disagree).

To be honest though I don't take too kindly to any of the new rich teams, I know the fans are the same guys that have given our club a hard time over the last decade. So many clubs are doing the same thing we did by getting lucky with a wealthy investor and none of the supporters have the slightest clue how much hate we've received over the years. If it wasn't for Abramovich and Chelsea pioneering the whole thing the clubs that did it after us would not have known what to do so soon, and they wouldn't have the social protection of walking behind the wake of all the abuse we Chelsea fans endure. Chelsea fans can be like a dog that's been abused a lot, its as friendly as the other dogs just take special care not to tease it (I too am guilty of this).

You're getting these 'cocky' response because this year everyone if feeling confident, if this was last year we would have been much apprehensive. This year I feel like we can take on anybody and at the very least we won't get destroyed, next year should be even better. Me confidence personally comes from the fact that PSG haven't faced any of Europe's best defenses and we are arguably Europe's defensive juggernaut (in our current form and not our record over the season). All season long teams have wilted in frustration at the vice grips that come from our constant team-wide pressure. We won't role you over, if Blanc plays Motta, Matuidi and Veratti it will be a very safe Mourinho like approach and it won't be easy to break hrough. With Ibrahimovic and Cavani up front anything can happen but we have firepower too albeit our guns aren't as big.

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

Chelsea was owed by Corinthians and Juventus

C'mon sport

Why did we face Corinthians??

Oh...

Knocked out by Juventus?

LOL NO PROBLEM XD

Meanwile in Paris...

Cup winners' cup and an Intertoto cup... Really?

[didierforever 7,349]

and again

Lione-tottenham(top 5 in EPL) 5-3

LOL.

did you see what happened to marseille in CL this year.

[ZOS 580]

What's up mate

Cabaye won't play, he's not top 11

Nor Marquinhos

Hazard is gonna crush van der bitch

Torres won't be able to win a heads up

Verratti will make you crazy

Motta wil mock you

Matuidi will bite you

Eto'o is still a killer player

Ibra will destroy you

and Chelsea will go through

don't wast your breath bro, we've heard it all ... ask barca fans for some pointers

[NishC300 1,865]

Reading the last couple of pages. There have been some cancerous posts....

What has the strength of the League you play in got to do with any of this? PSG is a brilliant side and I must say if anything our reputation is the main reason we're being fancied ahead of them. Anyone saw how they hammered the 'Mickey Mouse' teams in the Group Stages (While we lost twice to Basel)?

They are a top class team even though I think because of our 'big game' strength etc.(which we saw in our heroic performance against Bayern/some of the League games this season such as at the Ethiad). We might edge them in a pretty close game.

EDIT: If the French Leagues are so terrible then why do PL teams buy so many players from them?

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Ok, you hate us, you find us miserable, Ligue 1 is the worst competition in the world, ... We get it. What's the point of being that aggressive?

Should I be a moron, I would say that you look like you forget that your home league is Liga I, not Premier league, that your biggest clubs are Steaua and Rapid Bucharest, not Man U, Liverpool or Chelsea. But, as I am not a moron, I won't.

I don't mean no disrespect, but you've taken this out of context. Just have a look at the posts before and you'll figure it out. It was meant for your buddy who was bragging about that Quarter-final against Barcelona, Paris having the best players in the world and all this shit.

And do I need to explain once again this "English team/English fans" thing? Only a guy like you, who supports a team with a National reputation, can think like that. Football is a universal language, Chelsea is supported all over the world, I don't really see what's wrong being a Romanian/German/Chilean fan supporting an English based club... Don't want to get involved in a useless discussion, but right now, Chelsea FC is far away from Paris in terms of world recognition.

And if you are really interested in why I don't support any club in Romania (and there are millions like me here) it is because you can't call yourself a football fan/human being and support a corupt to the bone football. There ain't no football here, it's all about fixing games, mafia controlling everything, politicians filling their accounts, a rotten football system, poor footballers, a very poor national team, no youth system, every 17-18 years old "footballer" in this country only thinks about fancy cars, what broad to fuck next, what's the newest hairstyle and I can go like that all day long.

Things have changed a bit in the last months as all the big sharks have been imprisoned. After years of investigations, the big sharks were all sentenced to prison. And when I talk about sharks, I talk about the most important people in Romanian football and some of the most influential Romanians. This are Steaua Bucharest's owner, Becali, Steaua's general manager, Stoica, ex-Barcelona captain, Gica Popescu, ex-Dinamo owner, Borcea, ex-Rapid owner, Copos and the two most influential agents in this country, Becali brothers (Chivu's agents, Chiriches, Stefan Radu and all the other important Romanian players). They have all been sentenced to at least three years in jail. There were others too, but they are not that influential. I can write an essay to you about the corruption here, but I think you now know why a level-headed Romanian won't watch a single game in this league.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

@Dwight Schrute, will Silva be fit for the first leg?

[magiczlatan 15]

@Dwight Schrute, will Silva be fit for the first leg?

It's safe to conclude that Dwight Schrute said yes.

I'm only half French, but one needs to take a few minutes to find the information on the internet. Google is your friend, and the internet has no borders.

Personally, I like using Google News to get the latest news.

[Rmpr 8,977]

let a Brazilian settle this for you

Lucas Moura is a flop. He isn't better than any of the many midfielders we have in Brazil, reason why he isn't - rightfully so - going to the WC in his own country.

I hope you have enjoyed your stay.

I'm Brazilian and I disagree!

Lucas is not half as good as the "Sao Paulo" fans make out, but he is definitely not a flop...

He is still very raw and in a club that only now is beginning to take shape, but he is hard working and has enough talent to become one of Brazil's best midfielders/fowards (of this generation, of course).

Lucas doesnt deserve to be in the 2014 WC, that's true. But that is because he had a tremendous drop in form once he transitioned to Europe and because he is competing against way more marure players, like Hulk and Willian!

He will never become a Ronaldinho or a Kaka, but I am certain he will do good. He is not only very talented, but he is actually very focused at inproving (which is extremely important, since talent isnt everything).

With time, I'm sure he will change your mind...

[magiczlatan 15]

I'd go along with you there. He's definitely not a flop. There's just one place for 4 players: Pastore, Lavezzi, Menez and Lucas.

He didn't get too many second chances. If I were Blanc, he would start Lucas instead of Lavezzi.

A 4-4-2 formation could be the solution, but Blanc is deeply in love with a 4-3-3.

Lucas needs to score more often. He's got a lot of assists; that's a start.

There are 4 other Brazilians in the team: Silva, Alex, Maxwell and Marquinhos.

Maxwell has been really good, that's why Lucas Digne doesn't play more often.

Marquinhos is still too young; Alex made fewer mistakes.

David Luiz fits the bill perfectly. PSG will try to get him. Please, do sell him!

[The only place to be 11,313]

EDIT: If the French Leagues are so terrible then why do PL teams buy so many players from them?

Why do the players leave then? Why don't players stay in the French league?

[Dwight Schrute 114]

@Dwight Schrute, will Silva be fit for the first leg?

Yes he should play, with a mask. Doctors said he was going to miss next league matches but apparently he will be fine.

Since this kind of injury does not prevent you from playing but is related to a sensitive part of the body, he might just not 100% in some duels ...

I don't mean no disrespect, but you've taken this out of context. Just have a look at the posts before and you'll figure it out. It was meant for your buddy who was bragging about that Quarter-final against Barcelona, Paris having the best players in the world and all this shit. And do I need to explain once again this "English team/English fans" thing? Only a guy like you, who supports a team with a National reputation, can think like that. Football is a universal language, Chelsea is supported all over the world, I don't really see what's wrong being a Romanian/German/Chilean fan supporting an English based club... Don't want to get involved in a useless discussion, but right now, Chelsea FC is far away from Paris in terms of world recognition.

I don't have any problem with foreign people supporting english clubs. To me, you are as good as a british fan. Even a best friend of mine is a big Chelsea fan.

There is nothing wrong with saying that Chelsea is above in terms of recognition and team quality. You could even say "Chelsea is gonna win 10-0", that would'nt bother me. But there is what you say and the way you say it, which is quite aggressive ... and to get back on the foreign supporters issue, I have the impression attacks against PSG and French league come from foreign supporters, which I do not understant. To me, you are as legitimate as a british fan, so no need to be more royalist than the king.

Apparently you were just replying to parisian trolls, so sorry, I might have overreacted.

I mentioned Romanian football (don't have any problem with Romania) because you should know that there are always structural reasons to explain some league's bad level. In Romania, it's mainly corruption. I know that France, as one of largest economy in the EU, should have a better league, but people just don't like football and tax system is a major drawback. That aside, I acknowledge that there are a lot of problems when it comes to French football mentality.

And you must know that Romanian and French leagues have roughly gone throught the same story (as many other european leagues): they had good european results in the late and 80's and early 90's (Milan AC- Steaua in 1989) but both were almost "killed" by the Bosman ruling.

[didierforever 7,349]

David Luiz fits the bill perfectly. PSG will try to get him. Please, do sell him!

Sure mate. Just give us cavani and luiz is all yours. Like u said, u are stacked with wingers/Ams like lavezzi, pastore, menez and lucas. So swap cavani for luiz and both the sets can happily live ever aftwr.

[lionsden 4,689]

Why do the players leave then? Why don't players stay in the French league?

More money for one and better exposure and no one is denying that the EPL has that in abundance but the french league is still one of the best 5 leagues in Europe

La liga

EPL

Bundesliga

Serie A

Ligue 1