⚽️The Footy Thread: Lock Thread

[Kimchi Papi]

My Korean heritage notwithstanding, Poch seems to have a bias against Son. He doesn't seem to fully trust playing him consistently.

 

[champcruthik]

...I'd also love to see Isco make a fool of Verratti again.

One of the most beautiful individual performances I've seen in recent memory. Isco was torturing the Italian all match-long.

Big fan of Isco's as many are, and don't want to see him sold in the summer, but wouldn't have minded Asensio starting up top with CR7 and Benz given Asensio's strong showing against La Real.

Let's see how Casemiro performs after drawing the start. His entire campaign has been lackluster and hate to say, but the Brasilian has regressed significantly.

 

[jape]

 

[Kimchi Papi]

I love seeing them kids dancing in that vid... How kids should be... I have a vid of my son doing them dances but he'd kill me if I ever posted it...

 

[sonoftony]

yooo

 

[Beans]

PSG fans are underrated

Having been to the parc and sat with the ultras I would argue the opposite.One of the worst atmospheres I’ve experienced. but this was before Neymar and mbop.. they probably have more to cheer about now.

 

[champcruthik]

Either Emery is gonna look like a genius at the end of the day or dude is gonna be in the hottest seat he's been in while in Paris

Lass isn't starting in midfield, Lo Celso is. Big match for the kid, been tracking him since Rosario and U23s for Argentina. Lo Celso was working hard and tracking back to help defensively in the first half of the Lille/PSG match, where things ended scoreless at half. Ended up getting a goal late in the second half too.

But the point still stands, not sure what Unai Emery is thinking with Thiago Silva. By all accounts he's healthy, so why drop him from the starting XI so suddenly and shockingly? If Emery felt compelled to start Kimpembe, he surely could have done so at LB over Berchiche.

I thought RM's biggest advantage could be exposing Alves' and Kurzawa's aggressiveness, but obviously the latter is not even in PSG's squad today.

Regardless, Madrid must watch out for those lovely diagonal balls Dani Alves loves to hit out wide to Neymar in space.

 

[flyeed]

yooo

Goosebumps

Body is ready

I was wrong with my lineup projection. Isco with the start. Last time he faced Verratti in the Bernabeu it got ugly for Marco. We should win the midfield battle with the diamond, but the key will be protecting the flanks from the counter. That's what you give up with this lineup. I expect Nacho to sit back more and Case to focus on shielding Marcelo's side.

 

[champcruthik]

Looking back, Real Madrid made a mistake in choosing Benz over Higuain. Say what you want, but Higuain is a goal scoring machine at the club level. He and CR7 also had great chemistry when they were together.

Then and now, Benzema and "Pipita" are lumped together in the same tier of strikers. Which is below guys like Lewa, Suarez, Kane and Griezmann. I can't imagine swapping "Pipa" for Benz would have influenced Madrid's results to the degree you're insinuating.

 

[MetalMario]

Was it just me or lineups being released an hour early was odd? Unless that’s the norm and I forgot

 

[champcruthik]

think people really underestimate how quick defenders need to be, gcahill and jterry showed for years great positional awareness and defensive discipline but their lack of mobility and speed causes the whole chelsea team to play low defensive block rather than a high one.

No matter how good a defender is, as they get older and their speed goes, think they become huge liabilities. Seeing christensen's speed at chelsea and how important he has become to the defence in such a short amount of time has convinced me to prefer speed to defensive experience

From a simplistic viewpoint, experience can be gained or nurtured by a good manager while speed is typically an inherit quality.

Conte made the mistake of being overly loyal to Cahill, starting him by name and captain's armband in the Watford debacle. Cahill is not in a good run of form to say the least. Chelsea really missed Christensen versus Bournemouth and Watford, conceding a ghastly total of seven goals without the Danish defender on the pitch. The 21-year-old displays an ice-cold composure and only gets better in his club's bigger fixtures.

 

[Coupé It]

Pepper your angus Coupé It

Pepper my balls bro....

Today is war....

Trey Bantz i hope you get hit by ice cream truck bro, asap...

@tomdiginson, you can get some of this too....

 

[Belgium]

I'm surprised our thread hasn't discussed more about Poch's decision to start Lamela in place of Son. If the justification was Serie A experience with Roma on the Turin ground, I don't buy that as legitimate reasoning. Perhaps it's not being highlighted more because of Tottenham's ultimately positive result and coming away with two crucial away goals.

Lamela didn't offer much for me in yesterday's match. The hip injury has badly hampered his career and I wonder if we'll ever see the player who flourished for Roma in 2012-13.

This is one of the main gripes I have. Lamela was decent enough yesterday but I think Sonny is capable of a lot more and has proven himself sufficiently. He's my favorite player on the squad. Kind of reminds me of Ronaldinho in a way as he's also always playing with a big smile on his face.

 

[gaiiige]

ALLLEZ PARIS

 

[Trey Bantz]

Lo Celso starting for PSG

 

[spacedoodoo]

Ready to see Mbappe cook

 

[PRIME]

My ***** Neymar faded the curls

 

[ihavemyownopinion]

Here we gooooo!!!

 

[Verde Shuttles]

Isco bringing that energy

 

[gaiiige]

ayo chill real

 

[spacedoodoo]

that's y'alls GOAT?

 

[PRIME]

There were a lot of brazilians in that run

 

[sonoftony]

ref ain't with the sh*ts

 

[Armada]

Them new Mercs looking nice on the pitch tbh

 

[Verde Shuttles]

Great...