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Other Football - 2019/20


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Guest Alex_K
21 minutes ago, Ne Moe Imya said:

It's actually an interesting question, but I reckon you're underestimating Bayern here.

 

Liverpool certs: Alisson, van Dijk, Salah, Mane

Bayern certs: Alaba, Thiago, Lewandowski

 

I think you could argue about the rest. I'd have it:

 

Alisson

 

TAA  Alaba  van Dijk  Davies

 

Fabinho  Thiago

 

Salah  Muller  Mane

 

Lewandowski

 

but I'm sure a Bayern fan would find a way to get Kimmich in there, either for TAA or Fabinho.

 

It's very close, is my point. It's a shame we got unlucky against Atletico. I would have loved to see a final between Liverpool and Bayern this season.

Alaba has been a career full-back, though. I don't buy that at age 28 he has suddenly turned into a world class centre back- if Bayern do have a weakness its certainly at the back, where we look far stronger. Would take Gomez all day long. The rest I think I agree with - Muller however is very debatable. He has been pretty average for going on 4 seasons now; even this season he's averaging half the number of goals as his mid-00s peak. Him taking that position is probably more a reflection of our lack of world class options in that area - to be honest, I'd probably prefer Firmino there to him but obviously Muller has had a trophy laden career.

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Comparing Davies to Robertson is unfair. Robertson has two and a half seasons of consistent, high level play that Davies hasn't had time to match. Talent-wise though, I'd take Davies over any left back right now. I'm also biased, but he's just so good. He just runs through entire teams. 

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Barca have become a joke. The problem starts with the idiots right at the top making the decisions. Rubbish managerial appointments, shocking transfer policy. They are in a whole heap of shite and nothing less than a total change at the top will stop the decline.

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20 minutes ago, Baltar said:

Barca have become a joke. The problem starts with the idiots right at the top making the decisions. Rubbish managerial appointments, shocking transfer policy. They are in a whole heap of shite and nothing less than a total change at the top will stop the decline.

 

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Barcelona are merely doing what Barcelona have always done. Apart from that 5-6 year spell in the early 90s when Cruyff was manager and the team was a combination of Spanish players suited to his methods, players from their academy and a smattering of foreign players who again suited his methods, and the spell under Guardiola where the team was based around academy graduates and had the best player in the world, Barcelona have generally been a club that can't help but get into a dick-waving contest with Real Madrid, acting with the same classlessness and self-entitlement as the club from the capital despite proclaiming themselves to be something better, something more organic and working class. It's a viper pit full of politicking, back-stabbing and unstructured decision-making. Even in those two spells under Cruyff and Guardiola that I've mentioned above, there was still the same bullshit going on in the background, with the difference being that the team's success papered over the cracks.

 

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I agree to an extent Trumo.

 

I said last night, they’ve been, like the mancs in 1992 and a few Ajax sides, hugely fortunate the way that Guardiola side came together.

 

Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Messi, Valdez, Pique, Busquests, Fabregas, Pedro & a few others all came out around the same time (granted Pique and Fabregas had time over here first). Villa & Alba came from Valencia. 

 

Not only were these great players, some of the best (if not the best) in Barca’s history, they are also some of the best Spanish or worldwide footballers the game has ever seen in a generation / ever. 
 

Then, with that nucleus’s, they add Neymar, Henry, Ibrahimovic, Alves, Eto’o, Suarez, Ronaldinho, Deco, Toure...
 

IMO, that Guardiola side was the best club side I’d ever seen.
 

They’ve been incredibly fortunate (spoilt) with the job Rijkard started, Guardiola continued & ended with Enrique. 
 

Their stars aligned unbelievably. 
 

IMO, players like Coutinho and Griezman are suffering because they’re aren’t as good as say, Iniesta or Villa.
 

Similar to Henderson taking over as captain of us, he got stick purely because he wasn’t Gerrard. Hendo will never be Gerrard but, with time, he damn sure has become the best version of Hendo he could become. 
 

Coutinho & Griezman (and a few more) obviously aren’t bad players. Far, far, far from it. But because they aren’t instantly at the level of Iniesta or Villa fans are on their case and then they get bomded out. 
 

Their current financial situation is poor. They’ve committed to redeveloping the Nou Camp and now COVID19 has hit. It feels it’s going to be a god few years before Barca are challenging for the CL again. Barca will never have a bad side, they will always be an attractive option for players, but expecting every side to be as good as Guardiola’s is fantasy. 
 

I’ll confess, I like Barcelona. As a kid I loved the Kappa kits (especially the orange or green aways), I love they had no sponsor and was always fascinated with the Nou Camp. As an adult, I think it’s a phenomenal city, a place with everything and somewhere people are very lucky to live. 
 

However, some of that mystique qualities have eroded over the years. I still have a soft sport for them & want to see them challenging again (obviously not at our expense). Like us getting to the latter stages of the CL, I think the tournament is better with us in it. Something more romantic.
 

I fear it’ll be a ways back for them challenging for the trophy again. I can see them doing an Arsenal (last 16 and out) for a few years to come.

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