⚽️The Footy Thread: Lock Thread

[rolaholic]

jose on de boer

He ethered that man

 

[Armada]

STERLING TO SILVA!!!

Great passing on that goal

 

[MetalMario]

I had a great meme ready for the Stoke Monday night but ManC just scored

 

[Armada]

Oh Shaqiri don’t have to do Zinchenko like that such a clean meg

 

[rolaholic]

What a terrible last few days for dude,first getting bullied by Rom now this

 

[team91kix]

Although we all agree that currently City is better than PSG, it's funny to think in an alternate reality City could have drawn RM in the round of 16, been bounced, and PSG could have ran up the score on Basel. As Prime mentioned, this RM side literally rewrote history by completely deading the narrative of Juve's goat defense last season in one match.

I get City look great, but when you have 2 clubs that are built on relatively recent influxes of oil money, that have been winning domestic titles and potentially knocking on the door of a CL final just to come up short season after season, there are going to be justifiable comparisons. City are having a great season, but there's still a lot of football left to be played, and being at the big boys table with the likes of Barca and Bayern is to be great year after year, and also have a European title to back it up.

A bunch of your points are very flawed. There are a lot of teams that could say if we had Neymar in year X we would have made a CL final. Besides being a hypothetical, it also means you'd presumably take away €200-300m spent on other players your team actually did acquire instead. The same argument could also be made that PSG were never legitimate CL contenders either and then you can list a bunch of their weaker regulars. Lastly the same point about getting knocked out contenders could apply to them as well. 3 of their last 4 knockouts have been at the hands of RM/Barca.

Both sides are comparable. Both have spent tons of money just to get bounced by the real big boys. Obviously City could finally get over that hump this season. But so far they haven't.

the spiderman meme where two spidermen pointing at one another comes to mind

 

[Armada]

How did no one get on the end of that ball...

 

[Armada]

No idea how either team didn’t get at least one yellow that half especially Stoke...Silva and KDB get taken out on the same break ref didn’t show a yellow for either foul after the advantage..

 

[Armada]

 

[EddieDoyers]

this is cool af

 

[nomadicsole21]

 

[Armada]

THERES THE SECOND JESUS TO SILVA

 

[flyeed]

the spiderman meme where two spidermen pointing at one another comes to mind

I posted this when someone joked about PSG trying to buy KDB and pep earlier this season

When PSG tries to financially bully City

 

[flyeed]

David Silva looking like a better #9 than Benzema on those 2 goals

 

[Armada]

Stafylidis Gonna have nightmares about Sterling.

 

[nomadicsole21]

Sterling so selfish

 

[Armada]

Stering had a great first match back from injury. Got an assist and he owned his wing today doing whatever he felt like they couldn’t keep up with him.

 

[nomadicsole21]

Yes he did, I just feel for Bernardo since hes been integrating into the starting 11 so well. Sterling picking out the perfect final pass is so good to see. One of his weaker parts of his game, hope he keeps this up going into the United match and Champions League.

Also I hope this Zinchenko experiment at LB could end soon. He's great going into the attack and keeping possession but he really lacks the defensive fundamentals and positional awareness.

 

[Armada]

Yea its weird before the season I would've thought Sane's and Sterlings goal and assist output would be reversed (thought Sane would get more goals and Sterling more assists) just cause Sterling overall is less selfish around the box (despite not squaring it to Jesus today for a tap-in ) also has missed a few head scratchers before and Sane used to keep his head down alot and had a more selfish streak in his game last year to try and get his first and he is a pretty composed finisher for the most part.

An unexpected development in their games to me but a pleasant surprise to see Sterling become more composed in front of goal and taking advantage of the ability he always had to get in good areas and see Sane's game become more well rounded (been trusting his right foot a bit more lately too), both have been incredible this year overall.

And I agree about Zinchenko. Love the guy but Shaqiri for sure showed his defense weaknesses today. I feel like he does well against sides that dont press but Stoke pressed hard today and he didnt deal with it well from leftback.

Hopefully Delph will be fit again soon so we can have him moonlighting at LB again (would've never thought those words would come out my mouth before this season ) And more importantly hopefully Mendy comes back at his best we saw before his injury.

 

[Canadian Destroyer]

Bruh...

That’s real!!! He was literalyy going to merc tge ref.

Celebrating 20 years of "Bartha" & Nike.

Thought this was for a commemorative new kit or something. Waste of a video

 

[mastamind89]

 

[flyeed]

In the 89-90 La Liga season, the Mexican goat and RM #9 Hugo Sanchez scored 38 goals to tie a La Liga record that stood until CR7 in 2010-11.

What will forever make this fascinating is that the 38 goals were each scored with one touch

 

[champcruthik]

RM tore apart the best defensive club in European football last CL final. Juve’s defense was 3x as much as Paris’ backline and keeper. Despite Madrid having a spotty run leading up to the matchup, you can never take them lightly in the CL. And they made us pay.

This is a lesson that I’m not sure Emery deserves to learn from if a manager of Allergi or Conte becomes available this summer and even considers courting a meeting with the club.

And it’s funny you bring up Cavani operating in mbappe’s comfort zone considering he had to play that wing area primarily when Ibra was still at the club. Cavani was so dynamic scoring goals last season because he moved in more channels since transitioning from a striker converted to playing winger to being moved back to where he belongs.

We need a clear midfield general and a A+ keeper. With Thiago Silva rumored to be leaving this summer we’ll need a leader at the back and also an experienced full back to take over for an expiring dani Alves.

I do feel sympathy. PSG handled their business in the group stage, finishing above Bayern on goal differential (+21 is impressive) and winning Group B. Their reward was drawing the toughest out of all the second-place finishers in group. It could easily be argued that Parisians would have even preferred Juve or Chelsea to RM. No club came close to scoring 20 goals in CL group stage, other than Paris and LFC.

It's funny, on the topic of keeper, Areola is homegrown yet Parisians don't seem to bear him any love. He was really good in the first half of PSG's campaign. Emery's preference for two attacking FB, in Alves and Kurzawa, often forced Areola into many difficult one-on-one saves. I fully get that Areola isn't in Oblak's world-class tier, nor does he flash the level of potential "Gigio" has shown at just 19 years of age.

Al-Khelaifi and Henrique are visiting Neymar in Brasil to discuss his recovery and the future direction of the club. Conte and Allegri are the two obvious names that have been floated to replace Emery. I've also heard rumors of Luis Enrique. Pochettino in Paris would be appealing to me.

That's one thing I give Allegri a lot of credit for: Essentially converting Mandzukic into a false winger. I never thought in my life I'd see the Croatian feature as a successful wide player. Allegri got him to buy into a new role and positional change. I don't know that Cavani always fully bought in or committed to being pushed out wide, appeared to be more a begrudging compromise for "El Matador."

If not Oblak or "Gigio," any interest in Alisson or Lafont? Toulouse is in the danger zone and fighting off regulation against Lille, Troyes and Amiens.

It's interesting to see whether Chelsea will experience a mass exodus if and when Conte leaves Stamford Bridge. Willian has expressed a desire to remain with Chelsea and to extend his contract. But if there's a summer purge, will he, Hazard and Kante all consider departing for greener pastures?

Although Thiago Silva is under contract until the summer of 2020, if he opts to leave after the first-leg CL snub at Madrid, I truly believe Marquinhos is ready to lead PSG's defence. I'm actually quite curious why Emery never experimented with this back four in league, prior to facing RM in CL: Kimpembe-Silva-Marquinhos-Alves or Meunier. In terms of a long-term Alves replacement, I wonder if the Parisians could pry Fabinho from their domestic rival. Or capitalize on Bellerin's mediocre form by wooing the Gunners with a tempting offer. He's only 22 and there's still plenty of room for growth.

Related side note against Metz: Yuri was lovin' and finding that reverse ball to the left edge of the 18-yard box with ease. Nkunku was ballin' outta control, clear MOTM for me.

I'm also tracking Dan-Axel Zagadou, since he came up through PSG's academy. Has played kinda sparingly for Dortmund this campaign. When BVB inevitably sells Papastathopoulos in a year or two, that pivotal moment could open up a window for DAZ to shine.

 

[sonoftony]

it's reasons like this is why I hate Alexi Lalas

 

[Verde Shuttles]

He might be right, being the most competitive league doesn't mean the best quality or best league