Might as well start a general Footy/Soccer thread

[Woodsy]

Ancelotti better turn this up at halftime...

[SumJongGuy]

Holy CACA!!!

[~mikey b]

Hoooooleeeeey shit

[Woodsy]

What the what?

greatest sub ever?
Rodrygo!

[Woodsy]

Brazil is so the favourite in the WC now that they have multiple goal scorers that Neymar can tee up.

[SumJongGuy]

Shit, I gotta be someplace in 30 minutes where looking at my phone won't be an option. I don't have a dog in this fight but definitely wish I could watch the rest of this...

[dunfree]

That was not the game I expected LFC v RM damn

[Long duc dong]

What the fuck????

Pep is a great manager. He has done some terrific things. But I don't see how he stays at City after this.

Rightly or wrongly he lost to a team which simply did not have the same talent level. He basically got to stoppage time just needing Madrid not to score two goals, and they couldn't do it.

At a certain point you need to change. I'm not saying this is all Pep's fault, far from it. But they had this. In the end it does come down to him, or maybe some different players.

City should really rue the missed chances in the last game, and this one as well. They were clearly the better team in the draw, and they collapsed.

How many times have they lost UCL ties to teams they were better than? Obviously they have been unlucky. But Pepe is paid a ton of money to win these games. He has what is probably the most talented squad in the world, and has for several seasons. When was the last time City was not at least one of the world's 3 best teams?

They had this. They blew it. City did not hire Pep to win the EPL. At a certain time you run out of excuses, even when things are not your fault.

I think Madrid's run ends against the Reds. But I wouldn't put anything past them. They just seem to believe they can win. And they do.

[altacoup]

I absolutely detest Madrid and all their douche fans. Every town in Spain has know it all band wagon Madrid fans that cheer for them because they always have something to celebrate. But that was insane. I certainly wouldn’t bet against them in the final. They seem destined to win this year.

[SumJongGuy]

Is it just me thinking that PK wasn't really earned? I thought the defender did get the ball first (barely). A no call there wouldn't have been any more right or wrong than getting the ball on the spot was.. Not sure I would have called that if I had a whistle. At the same time, at full speed it depends on where the ref was watching from.

Regardless, they shouldn't have been in extra play. City totally blew it in the last 2 minutes..

[getoutside]

Pep is a great manager. He has done some terrific things. But I don't see how he stays at City after this.

stop it. this is different from when pep tinkered with lineups & tactics and they lost to lyon in quarters in '20 and in the final vs chelsea last year. do you know how hard it is to get this deep in the CL consistently? haaland is coming to city next year, plus 3 of the last 4 PL's and possibly another, so he's not going anywhere. this one wasn’t on pep, its on the players. 

they just didn’t play that well in the first half and could have easily been down 1-0 or 2-0 at half. they just couldn’t handle the pressure at the end and courtois was fantastic.





Is it just me thinking that PK wasn't really earned?



not hearing a lot of complaints about it so probably, yes, its just you and all the city fans : ). i do think liverpool’s press is going to be a problem for madrid’s defense but hard to count out madrid after the last three tie’s. if it’s anything like these semifinals, we should all be stoked.

[EWG]

Never bet against Modric.

[The SnowShow]

What an ending. Fucking choke job by City.

[Long duc dong]

stop it. this is different from when pep tinkered with lineups & tactics and they lost to lyon in quarters in '20 and in the final vs chelsea last year. do you know how hard it is to get this deep in the CL consistently? haaland is coming to city next year, plus 3 of the last 4 PL's and possibly another, so he's not going anywhere. this one wasn’t on pep, its on the players. 

they just didn’t play that well in the first half and could have easily been down 1-0 or 2-0 at half. they just couldn’t handle the pressure at the end and courtois was fantastic.




.

I never said it was easy to get this far in the UCL. But the management at MC hired him specifically the win the UCL. They have won the EPL many times. He has said as much this year in interviews, he knows it's UCL or bust.

He did get outfoxed by Tuchel last year. Obviously this one is on the players, they melted down in the end, but at some point the management is going to be sick of hearing excuses. The bottom line is that they have an incredible roster. If this is not on Pep then they have to decide which players need to be moved out. Obviously Haaland would help, but the fact remains that they let in 2 goals in stoppage time. Any way you look at it that is poor game management. While that is on the players, part of coaching is getting your players to do what they are supposed to do at specific times in the game. They have to decide if there are some players on this roster who they simply don't want in big games and move them out. Or maybe they decide this is the roster to do it if they add Haaland. Maybe they decide it is just a bit of a fluke. They seem to have lots of flukes in the UCL. It is always one thing or another.

Yeah, saying he will be gone is probably overblown. But If they add Haaland and don't win it within the next three years I would say they move on at that point.

He is expected to get deep in the UCL every year with the roster he has.


I might have overstated things a bit in the shock of the loss. And I do think it would be a mistake to let him go.

A choke job, and that was what this was, does not reflect well on the manager, even though that is not really fair. If they think the roster is the problem they will ship some people out, but I don't see that happening.

Looking at his UCL record though.....

Since City really became great under him 17/18 it is impressive, but not great for a team which has been arguably the best in the world during that period.

quarters(Liverpool 1-5)
quarters(Tottenham 4-4)
quaters (Lyon 1-3)
final (Chelsea 0-1)
semi (Madrid 5-6)

Out of those ties, it is really only the Liverpool team in 2018 that was truly in their class. I might put this Madrid team close, but the bottom line is that he has lost to clearly inferior teams the last 4 seasons. I mean, would you really rather have the current Madrid roster over what City has? And Chelsea? Tottenham? Lyon? I don't think I'm inaccurate when I say that given the talent on this team they have not performed up to expectations in the UCL over the last 5 seasons. It is not just that they have not won. For instance, if they have lost to Liverpool in 2019 and Bayern in 2020 I would be singing a different tune. Truth be told if they had lost to Bayern or Liverpool this year I would give them a bit more of a pass. But they seem to consistently lose to weaker teams in the UCL. I don't think Pep is completely absolved of blame.

I guess they have shown improvement to some extent. Making the final is impressive, even if you lose. And Madrid is a good team, even if City are better. But if you tell me that with this team he has done a great job over the last few years in the UCL, conditional on the team they have, I don't agree. I'm not saying you said that, you didn't, but I don't think their performance has been all that impressive given the talent on the roster. With this team they expect this.

[subtle plague]

Let's put it this way. Klopp and ancelotti got a lot further with less money more often.
I like that psg and City fail so consistently. Apparently you can't buy everything.

Same for Frankfurt kicking out Barca. And barca conplaining " uhh those evil Frankfurt Fans tricked our "fans" into selling their Tickets to them" you reap what you sow, dear billionaires.

[~mikey b]

thought this was interesting…

[MarcusBrody]

I absolutely detest Madrid and all their douche fans. Every town in Spain has know it all band wagon Madrid fans that cheer for them because they always have something to celebrate. But that was insane. I certainly wouldn’t bet against them in the final. They seem destined to win this year.

Hey! I resemble that remark. I lived in Salamanca for a year in college. I knew nothing about soccer going over really, playing or watching. I only knew of Madrid via discussion of Beckham in US celebrity gossip, so I didn't want to root for them but I was open to whatever else. i started going to UD Salamanca games, who were in the second division at the time (they got relegated the year I was there and later dissolved for debts) and became a fan. But I lived in a flat with people who all read the Madrid-based sports paper dreck and so learned football terminology. The lady I rented a room from when I got there always had Telemadrid on, and so again, every day I'd get Madrid updates. Everyone would go out and watch Madrid games in bars together. The pull was too strong and I've now followed them compulsively for almost 15+ years.

Ironically, the first division team that I really tried to become a fan of was Betis, who still are probably my second favorite team in Spain. The year I was there was the really good 04/05 season with Joaquin and Ricardo Oliveira. I also thought their spandexy, Diadora jerseys were cool. But their wasn't the collective effervescence in the town surrounding them and then when I went back to the states, I could rarely find their games on the crappy illegal streams that I watched on (and usually had the Madrid games). With la Liga moving to ESPN+ this year, I probably watched more Betis games than any season since I lived in Spain, which has been fun given they've been quality. I'm really hoping that they can pip Atletico (or Sevilla) for the last Champs League spot.

[MarcusBrody]

I absolutely detest Madrid and all their douche fans. Every town in Spain has know it all band wagon Madrid fans that cheer for them because they always have something to celebrate. But that was insane. I certainly wouldn’t bet against them in the final. They seem destined to win this year.

Hey! I resemble that remark. I lived in Salamanca for a year in college. I knew nothing about soccer going over really, playing or watching. I only knew of Madrid via discussion of Beckham in US celebrity gossip, so I didn't want to root for them but I was open to whatever else. i started going to UD Salamanca games, who were in the second division at the time (they got relegated the year I was there and later dissolved for debts) and became a fan. But I lived in a flat with people who all read the Madrid-based sports paper dreck and so learned football terminology. The lady I rented a room from when I got there always had Telemadrid on, and so again, every day I'd get Madrid updates. Everyone would go out and watch Madrid games in bars together. The pull was too strong and I've now followed them compulsively for almost 15+ years.

Ironically, the first division team that I really tried to become a fan of was Betis, who still are probably my second favorite team in Spain. The year I was there was the really good 04/05 season with Joaquin and Ricardo Oliveira. I also thought their spandexy, Diadora jerseys were cool. But their wasn't the collective effervescence in the town surrounding them and then when I went back to the states, I could rarely find their games on the crappy illegal streams that I watched on (and usually had the Madrid games). With la Liga moving to ESPN+ this year, I probably watched more Betis games than any season since I lived in Spain, which has been fun given they've been quality. I'm really hoping that they can pip Atletico (or Sevilla) for the last Champs League spot.

[EWG]

thought this was interesting…

Very. But I'm still not sure how this applies to Wrexham FC

[subtle plague]

Nice. The German "Soda sheikh Team" is out as well and Frankfurt in the final. Red Bull couldn't Muster 2500 Fans (only 1000 of their share of Tickets were used) for the game in Glasgow, while Frankfurt sent 30.000 to barca. That's the difference between real Clubs and Billionaire toys.

[altacoup]

Rooting for Frankfurt all the way. They took out my Betis and then were nice enough to send Betis congrats after the cup win. Also Betis owes their colors to Celtic (when they went to the hoops jerseys they sent their vertical green and white stripe jerseys to the new team in Sevilla). So by default I have to cheer against Rangers.

[Woodsy]

Rooting for Frankfurt all the way. They took out my Betis and then were nice enough to send Betis congrats after the cup win. Also Betis owes their colors to Celtic (when they went to the hoops jerseys they sent their vertical green and white stripe jerseys to the new team in Sevilla). So by default I have to cheer against Rangers.

When I used to go to Frankfurt every year for a conference I stayed in a hotel near the river with a big courtyard outside of it. On home matches they would put a HUDGE screen out front in the courtyard and 100s of people that couldnt get into the stadium would come there and go nuts. They were solidly mid table or lower then too.

After living in Glasgow, I find it hard to support Rangers or Celtic ( actually where I became a Manchester United fan) but dislike Rangers a touch more due to their fans being more douche baggy

[MarcusBrody]

When I used to go to Frankfurt every year for a conference I stayed in a hotel near the river with a big courtyard outside of it. On home matches they would put a HUDGE screen out front in the courtyard and 100s of people that couldnt get into the stadium would come there and go nuts. They were solidly mid table or lower then too.

After living in Glasgow, I find it hard to support Rangers or Celtic ( actually where I became a Manchester United fan) but dislike Rangers a touch more due to their fans being more douche baggy

Totally unrelated to soccer, but do you have any recommendations for what to do with a day in Frankfurt? I have a trip to india this summer that has a ~30 hour layover in Frankfurt so we get to spend a day exploring the city.

[Woodsy]

Totally unrelated to soccer, but do you have any recommendations for what to do with a day in Frankfurt? I have a trip to india this summer that has a ~30 hour layover in Frankfurt so we get to spend a day exploring the city.

Take a river cruise to Cologne?

Seriously it is one of the most boring cities in Europe aside from a whole community of brothels to cater to the business dudes in Meinhatten.

Never tried the services, but fun/only place to get drinks when the bars all close ( good story for later days)

There is some pretty architecture downtown around the cathedral. Its a trip as a lot of it is reconstructed as the Allies leveled most of it. Stadel museum is worth the time. Depending on time of day Sachsenhausen is def the most fun part of town, good food and drinks there but only really comes alive at night.

[skaredshtles]

Take a river cruise to Cologne?

This. Head for the Rhein and take a boat downriver to Koblenz. Then hop on the train and visit a few of the wine/castle towns on the way back.

If the weather is good.