UEFA Champions League 2019/2020

[Wobblz]

Heeeey, by the way... what happened with Zidane being one of the best coaches around?

 

[wera]

A similar question could be asked of Hazard, I guess. Also Real need a new GK, quickly.

 

[Candreva Crosses]

Heeeey, by the way... what happened with Zidane being one of the best coaches around?

The only coach in the world who has won 3 champions league in a row. Some people goes to the best team in a league to just win the league and be called the best manager in the world. While Zidane has to reform Real Madrid after Ronaldo era.

Just imagine Guardiola at Barcelona AFTER Messi retires but that will never happend since Guardiola don't take those kind of challenges.

 

[ChillBro]

The only coach in the world who has won 3 champions league in a row. Some people goes to the best team in a league to just win the league and be called the best manager in the world. While Zidane has to reform Real Madrid after Ronaldo era.

Just imagine Guardiola at Barcelona AFTER Messi retires but that will never happend since Guardiola don't take those kind of challenges.

Agree with everything. Nailed it.

 

[crzdcolombian]

Damn Cuadrado what a goal
The dance tho... Cringe

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Yup.... it’s like man what a player Cuadrado could have been if he didn’t decide to dive anytime he feels the wind near him

 

[thatdude]

The only coach in the world who has won 3 champions league in a row. Some people goes to the best team in a league to just win the league and be called the best manager in the world. While Zidane has to reform Real Madrid after Ronaldo era.

Just imagine Guardiola at Barcelona AFTER Messi retires but that will never happend since Guardiola don't take those kind of challenges.

To be fair he did take over a post Ronaldinho Barca, which at the time was thought to be on a downward trend. Since then he has picked relatively “easier” jobs though.

 

[Choppin Onions]

Zidane got stuck with players he didn't really want like Bale and James. Possibly Isco as well. Then they missed out on Pogba as well.

Their midfield is good on paper but how many of those players are motivated at this point? Modric, Isco, Casemiro and Kroos have won everything there is to win and then some. It's only human nature to rest on your laurels when you've achieved so much in your career. Now it's time for hungrier players who want that success and will give 110% to achieve it. It's inevitable.

 

[K.I.]

Hazard had a shocker as well. To be fair they wont find a better coach than him ever. I would give him free reign for the next 2-3 years to get the personal he wants. This team though should do better, even if they are not motivated if they want to move to other teams they wont find suitors if they continue like this.

 

[phonk]

This is the first CL season in a long time where it’s really difficult to tell who the absolute top contenders are. The glamour of most of the usual suspects has worn off quite a bit. The spanish giants are not the same anymore and Bayern won’t win shit in Europe with Kovac in charge. PSG and Man City are absolute underachievers, Chelsea is trash. This could open up some space for Juventus but even they seem to be struggling right now. Don’t know about Liverpool, but from what I have heard they were pretty bad against Napoli. But I still expect some of those teams to knock out Juventus sooner or later.

 

[clwinterfan]

I think Liverpool have a great chance of winning it again. They lost all their away group games last year and look what happened. If not them it will probably be a Spanish team that wins it.

 

[JJM]

Nope Napoli is gonna win the CL... Heard it here first... Ancelotti is great in CL

Ok, I'm bit delusional...

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[Alex de Large]

With more depth in midfield and fullbacks they could honestly win it. Can be compared to last year's Tottenham.

 

[Kramerica Industries]

Zidane got stuck with players he didn't really want like Bale and James. Possibly Isco as well. Then they missed out on Pogba as well.

Their midfield is good on paper but how many of those players are motivated at this point? Modric, Isco, Casemiro and Kroos have won everything there is to win and then some. It's only human nature to rest on your laurels when you've achieved so much in your career. Now it's time for hungrier players who want that success and will give 110% to achieve it. It's inevitable.

I wrote several times here last year about our club needing a pressure washing, and I've felt that Real Madrid need the same, albeit for partially different reasons. And the first two sentences of your second paragraph really do make me wonder about some sort of institutional problem that exists at their club. Think about it - when's the last time a player from Barcelona left the club citing either a "need for new challenges" or needing new motivation or such? Players leaving due to lack of playing time, of course, but that's obviously an entirely different animal. Fucking Ronaldo left the club due to spats with Perez and wanting a new challenge (well, "challenge" anyway) in Italy. I can't think of any Barcelona players who have done the same. Somehow, they keep winning the league every year, win the cup pretty much every year, make deep runs into Europe even when they don't go all the way, and the core of their squad doesn't suffer a loss from motivation. These guys - the club-trained ones and the purchased ones alike - are still motivated to go into the next season, even with their purported-to-be donkey of a manager, and win trophies.

When Ramos had the power to veto Conte being appointed as RM manager after Lopetegui got sacked, that told me all I needed to know about how the player power at that club has grown out of control and become a serious problem, and why, honestly, it might sound like sacrelige to a lot of Madrid fans out there, but if Ramos himself wanted to leave, that might not be a bad thing at all. An aging, reckless, egomaniac who might be the captain of the squad and might be said to have a strong winning mentality, but he must not be that great of a captain if he can't get all that winning mentality influence to translate onto his teammates. You'd think finishing behind Barcelona every season in La Liga, losing to Barcelona at home every time they play (five straight home defeats in league and cup play, being outscored 14-2 in those games) would be the kind of thing that would, you know, fucking bother a team, right? Getting clowned by their biggest rival year-in and year-out. Somehow, even if it is, it's not showing in their performances.

They had such a flashy transfer window for all of about one week, spending out their ass to get Hazard and Mendy and Jovic, but all they have now is an unbalanced squad that can't defend to save their lives and doesn't look like they're any sort of contender at all for any trophies this year. All with a manager that has quickly become a strong target of criticism for not being all that subtle in picking and choosing which players he likes and which ones he doesn't. They're in serious, serious trouble and it might be a while before they can dig themselves out of it. And until they do, as much as many of us hate it, Barcelona is going to run that league until then because their signs of distress and struggle are much less and really only confined to European play.

This is the first CL season in a long time where it’s really difficult to tell who the absolute top contenders are. The glamour of most of the usual suspects has worn off quite a bit. The spanish giants are not the same anymore and Bayern won’t win shit in Europe with Kovac in charge. PSG and Man City are absolute underachievers, Chelsea is trash. This could open up some space for Juventus but even they seem to be struggling right now. Don’t know about Liverpool, but from what I have heard they were pretty bad against Napoli. But I still expect some of those teams to knock out Juventus sooner or later.

Thinking myself that Man City is destined to break through one of these years, but Laporte's injury could make a serious mess of things for them. Their center half pairings are utter shambles without him. Definitely an opportunity for a Napoli or Atletico side to make a run this year, but as alluded to above, Liverpool are probably the favorites of them all.

 

[acroMacho]

I think one of PSG, Liverpool or Napoli will win it.

 

[Wobblz]

Napoli winning it Massive fucking They can't win a fucking Scudetto to save their lives what makes you guys think they have ANY chance of winning a fucking CL title? Outrageous.

 

[brehme1989]

That's pretty much Liverpool you're describing there.

 

[Wobblz]

That's pretty much Liverpool you're describing there.

Yeah, no.

 

[brehme1989]

Yeah, no.

So Liverpool in the 2000s wasn't in an even worse position than Napoli to win the league, yet they made the CL final twice and the semis once more?

 

[Wobblz]

So Liverpool in the 2000s wasn't in an even worse position than Napoli to win the league, yet they made the CL final twice and the semis once more?

Remind me, how many Scudetti and CL titles does Napoli have in their illustrious history. They're a provincial side in a declining league. Top four in England will probably dominate Serie A with ease with Juve battling for CL spots.

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By the way, I was just wondering, is Milano the only city with two CL winning teams?

 

[Il Drago]

Remind me, how many Scudetti and CL titles does Napoli have in their illustrious history. They're a provincial side in a declining league. Top four in England will probably dominate Serie A with ease with Juve battling for CL spots.

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By the way, I was just wondering, is Milano the only city with two CL winning teams?

It is. The only city in the world that can be compared with Milano about its successful football teams is Buenos Aires.