The Ongoing Serie A, La Liga, All English Football, Champions League Thread - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 55

[Iceman]

1-1 at end of normal time, extra time incoming.

 

[Iceman]

Pens incoming. I forgot Chris Smalling was still at Roma.

 

[Iceman]

Sevilla win for a 7th time with the winning pen being a retaken missed one. They are so hard to beat in this competition.

 

[B]

With Kane I'd want to have his replacement/cover bought at the same time, and £65-70M should be maximum we pay for him, if we could get him for that fee and also buy Ferguson from Brighton or Hojlund from Atalanta as his deputy, otherwise we're back to relying on Martial who can barely stay fit for 5 games in a row.

Somehow I can't see Maguire leaving the PL, he's a meat, twomveg and Yorkshire puddings type of guy, I could see Everton or maybe even Aston Villa going for him.

City's depth is on another level without a doubt and we absolutely need two midfielders, Ten Hag has wanted a ball carrying #8 since we failed to get De Jong so that is a priority this summer, and then we need to get real cover for Casemiro as like you say the McTominay farce can't continue. It looks like Mac Allister is going to Liverpool and I hope we don't spend another summer chasing De Jong, Bellingham would remain my prority followed by Barella, after that it starts to look a little bleaker.

Agreed, we have plenty of options for that #10 spot, which is kind of a hybrid #8/10 under Ten Hag, as you say we have 3 senior options in Bruno, Eriksen and Sancho, and like you I'd love to see Amad get a chance, although I think he'll probably be on the RW for now. I really don't want Mount in general but the price being talked about is £60M+ which would be throwing money away when so much needs doing.

Exactly, I just want them gone, it's been excruciating watching the incompetence at the club see us slide further away from the top, and I want to see Ten Hag with proper owners and a proper football structure above him to help.

Couldn't agree more, the max I'd pay for Kane would be £70m, if they want more than that, it would have to be based on goals, individual/team success & I'd lower the guaranteed money. Martial for me is unquestionably someone who we should be shopping, struggled with injuries last season & even when he is fit he can't be relied upon to score. Not to mention is he really ten Hag's sort of forward given his low defensive/out of possession workrate..? He's basically Ronaldo, just not as prolific a goalscorer in that respect.

Perhaps, I'd try to basically give him away none the less or make him a part of any deal we might be involved in.

After the nonsense with de Jong last summer I'd try to move on, it seems like he's got no interest or his interest is directly tied to Champions League football alone.. so does that mean if we fail to qualify next year he'll be crying for the exit? At this point I'd honestly take a couple of signings to over a singular big deal. They seem to rarely work out or live up to the pricetag for us anyway.

£60m is way to much for Mount, I was thinking more like under £20m. However I bet ten Hag could unearth someone from Holland of similar calibre for under £20m that would probably fit his system better. But I think we have reasonable cover that can fill in for a run of games, maybe not weeks/months to the same level but good enough for minor injury/suspension or rotation so it's not a massive priority for me.

The sooner they're gone the better, maybe the next owners will actually put the people in place to help the manager as opposed to hinder him. Have to wait & see, I've no clue what will happen or when, wouldn't shock me to see it drag on until September.

 

[B]

https://www.skysports.com/football/...tain-at-roma-after-europa-league-final-defeatMourinho fumes at referee Anthony Taylor after Roma's Europa League final defeat

Can understand Mourinho's frustrations, the officiating was atrocious. The main decision or non-decision being the reason not to award a penalty to Roma 10 minutes from time for handball. They are given all season long, even more so when reviewed by VAR but somehow between them all they decided in this particular instance, it wasn't a penalty.. which even to a neutral is infuriating. If I was a Roma fan I'd be pissed.

Lionel Messi to leave Paris Saint-Germain, confirms head coach

Ultimately his time at PSG has been a failure, it seemed to me when he joined he was primarily doing so as it was hoped by PSG he'd push them over the top in the Champions League & from his own personal perspective I'm sure he wanted to at least draw even in the number of CL wins as Ronaldo.

He probably thought he'd get an easy ride to at least one, however in reality his arrival probably created more problems than it solved as you then had 3 players up front, who really aren't really going to help your pressing game or ball recovery.

 

[Zantera]

Bad refs or not, Mourinho hiding in the parking lot to confront them after comes off like a Fast & the Furious villain. I get being frustrated by decisions not going your way but Mourinho always takes it a few steps further.

 

[BlackFox]

Mason Mount: Manchester United to approach Chelsea over transfer deal this week

 

[B]

Bad refs or not, Mourinho hiding in the parking lot to confront them after comes off like a Fast & the Furious villain. I get being frustrated by decisions not going your way but Mourinho always takes it a few steps further.

When you see decisions like that though, especially nowadays with VAR at your fingertips & you're given multiple chances to look at the incident again as many times as you please & you still can't make the correct call, I mean well it's either gross incompetence or corruption.

The ridiculous thing is, Mourinho will be the one who gets in more hot water because of his post-match comments & the parking lot confrontation, fined, maybe suspended. But the officials who basically marred the final with the quality of their officiating will face no repercussions. I hope the Champions League & FA Cup Final have better quality officiating.. unless their shirt decisions benefit Inter & Manchester United.

Some of the Roma & Seville players didn't help the referee admittedly with all their flailing & overreacting throughout to be fair to the officials it should be said.

 

[Iceman]

Bad refs or not, Mourinho hiding in the parking lot to confront them after comes off like a Fast & the Furious villain. I get being frustrated by decisions not going your way but Mourinho always takes it a few steps further.

Guess he’ll pick up a ban for that.

 

[Iceman]

Mason Mount: Manchester United to approach Chelsea over transfer deal this week

I have a Utd friend who absolutely hates Mount. This is going to be the worst news possible.

 

[Iceman]

Mourinho fumes at referee Anthony Taylor after Roma's Europa League final defeat

Can understand Mourinho's frustrations, the officiating was atrocious. The main decision or non-decision being the reason not to award a penalty to Roma 10 minutes from time for handball. They are given all season long, even more so when reviewed by VAR but somehow between them all they decided in this particular instance, it wasn't a penalty.. which even to a neutral is infuriating. If I was a Roma fan I'd be pissed.

Lionel Messi to leave Paris Saint-Germain, confirms head coach

Ultimately his time at PSG has been a failure, it seemed to me when he joined he was primarily doing so as it was hoped by PSG he'd push them over the top in the Champions League & from his own personal perspective I'm sure he wanted to at least draw even in the number of CL wins as Ronaldo.

He probably thought he'd get an easy ride to at least one, however in reality his arrival probably created more problems than it solved as you then had 3 players up front, who really aren't really going to help your pressing game or ball recovery.

If you have 3 up front they can’t all have free attacking roles in today’s game. Off the ball they need to work hard like recent Liverpool at their best before the fall-off, with Mane, Firmino and Salah.

 

[Iceman]

Sam Allardyce leaves Leeds after failing to save club from Premier League relegation

 

[B]

If you have 3 up front they can’t all have free attacking roles in today’s game. Off the ball they need to work hard like recent Liverpool at their best before the fall-off, with Mane, Firmino and Salah.

Yeah you can get away with 1 forward player having a low defensive workrate, but they'd need to be giving you an average of goal a game so say 35+ goals & maybe another 10 or so assists to make you tolerate, I think only Mbappe has met that quota the last few years.

However you can't have all 3, not against good teams anyway which almost all Champions League teams are.

 

[B]

Sam Allardyce leaves Leeds after failing to save club from Premier League relegation

What a useless appointment. I'm sure he probably got £1m for managing 4 or 5 games, winning 0 & having Leeds get relegated anyway.

 

[Iceman]

Yeah you can get away with 1 forward player having a low defensive workrate, but they'd need to be giving you an average of goal a game so say 35+ goals & maybe another 10 or so assists to make you tolerate, I think only Mbappe has met that quota the last few years.

However you can't have all 3, not against good teams anyway which almost all Champions League teams are.

3 players is nearly a third of your outfield team. Very hard to compete against a team where everyone is contributing when you have that many players who are useless off the ball. Also much better for team spirit when everyone is giving everything and there is shared responsibility for both attack and defence. What happens if your DMs are having an off day otherwise - you're not even going to see the ball and those attackers will be contributing very little.

 

[Iceman]

Jose Mourinho charged by UEFA after confrontations with Anthony Taylor during Europa League final
As expected and discussed recently.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

A very normal headline...

UCL final ref sorry for attending far-right event

 

[Breogan]

Anyone watch WC U-20
scroll down for quarter final bracket
https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/tournaments/mens/u20worldcup/argentina-2023

 

[BlackFox]

Big day today then, the FA cup doesnt always gets the love it once did but todays has the extra spices of a Manchester derby final and the treble on the line for City and United able to stop them. Fancy City to win comfortably but you never know in a one off game.

Going to be epic one way or another you feel.

 

[Zantera]

Really hope we can somehow get a win today but City are the favorites.

 

[Iceman]

Good luck all you Utd fans. Stopping City’s treble and winning a second trophy would be a great end to the season, but ahead of time City are of course favourites.

Fred starts in midfield alongside Casemiro and Eriksen to try and put a stamp on midfield (as @Hunter Rider suggested).

 

[Iceman]

Bloody bad place, what a start. Gundogan scores after what, 16 seconds? Great first time strike.

 

[BlackFox]

So much for keeping it tight at the back today, a whole 15 seconds of resistance.

All City at the moment, total dominance from them as expected.

 

[Iceman]

Penalty to Utd after VAR spots the ball brushing Grealish’s hand.

 

[BlackFox]

Penalty to United.

1-1 - Bruno after Grealish played netball in his own area.

Now some crowd trouble as City fans throw things on the pitch at United players, shocking scenes from them.