Atletico Madrid (A) Champions League 18/2/20. 20:00

[TheHowieLama]

3 hours ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

Haven't these sumbitches been rock solid at the back.

Think their form has been shit of late.

[ZonkoVille77]

They've lost 2 and drawn 2 of their last 6 games. Not in the best of form but they are still a handful and we should tread carefully.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

28 minutes ago, ZonkoVille77 said:

They've lost 2 and drawn 2 of their last 6 games. Not in the best of form but they are still a handful and we should tread carefully.

 

We tread wear only Gods would venture.

[Ne Moe Imya]

I'm really unsure what kind of tie this is going to be.

 

We are almost impossible to score against. For all Atleti's poor form of late, they're still quite difficult to score against. These facts taken together would tend to suggest a tense, defensive struggle that will be won by the odd goal over 2 legs.

 

However, in previous years we have shown that we are more than capable of turning on the offensive fireworks in a tough CL tie. It's like we save ourselves in the league to explode into action for an irresistible 20-minute spell in the Champions League that will put the tie to bed. I could see a repeat of that, possibly.

 

Fascinating and dramatic. You wouldn't want it any other way. Up the Mentality Monsters!

[3 Stacks]

I don't think this will be fascinating at all. It will be a shite watch. Atletico play the same way against Eibar than they do against Barcelona. Extremely compact and take few attacking risks. I'd say if we score 2 goals total, we'll go through.

[Aventus]

I reckon we'll be sound, we used to have trouble with these sorts of teams but Klopp seems to have sussed them out. 

 

Probably gonna be a shite watch, but we'll win. 

 

Shame the Dortmund Vs PSG game is on at the same time, I reckon that will be a cracker. 

[Butch]

Just like all shite teams we play they'll up they're game against us. We don't usually do well against these but hopefully we'll get something and finish them off at anfield. 

Expect to see shit housing as per with a Spanish side. Cunts. 

[TheHowieLama]

1 hour ago, 3 Stacks said:

 It will be a shite watch. 

Agreed -- they know if we score there, they are fucked. Their strategy probably includes penalties after added time at ours.

[Reckoner]

Here’s the preview from RAWK, I was going to just paste the most pretentious bits buts I decided it was all good. Best read in a squeaky voice.

 

 Hello RAWKites!  Once again we begin another journey following the greatest team in the world in the Champions League.  Welcome back, as it has been just a minute, it seems, as the last tie we participated in was one for the ages.  Another Spanish sports car, this time from the hills of Catalonia, meets its end at the fiery cauldron, abyss of Anfield Road 4-0. 

In the end, our sixth date with destiny’s big ears was memorable for all that this team overcame. All of the pain, tears, and emotion fueled our rise to the top of Europe. What a ride it has been.  
 

But readers, please make no mistake here. The mighty reds are about to return a different kind of 'Wanda’, not the one where so many our dreams were realized, but one, possibly, that could break our hearts and leave us with questions we do not want nor need. 

You might say that "mattress movers" cannot beat us over two legs and that our bunch of red players are even hungrier for a 7th Heaven or what I like to call the “King’s Ransom”, holding the world of football hostage to a permanent red mist of dominance percolating throughout Europe.   

Even more, karma may be on the reds side as well due to a series of events this season that has unfolded to make this much sweeter than anticipated:

1.   Thus far, total and complete league dominance from LFC
2.   The recent ECL penalties against Man City, if upheld
3.   Rivals capitulation  –  competitors bitter about our perch
4.   The way we are conducting our business on the pitch and off, 

From my vantage point here in Washington, DC area, across the pond, I see a team, a club, a group of players, and passionate supporters unrivaled in this sport.  We are clicking, unified and ready to extend this dominance.  The music, the laughter, and blissful play of our boys is a force not equaled in a long time – all pointing to the rosy smell of victory.
 

However, Athleti now is only a few days away, and I remember last years' journey was like a beautiful swan.  What happened on the surface of our success and the work completed below the surface were two very different systems. To beat Atletico Madrid in this tie, we are going to have to, once again, reach into our liverbird souls to pull out the beauty of how we can work together. This OP will examine a few themes for the reds visit back to Wanda on Tuesday:  
 
-   Wanda-Lust or A Fish Called Wanda
-   First Blood – who scores first is crucial

[Trend] Wanda-Lust or A Fish Called Wanda

There have been few happier moments in the last decade than the moment the whistle blew in Madrid.  Thank Fowler!  For many, the enjoyment of what this season has brought us in the joy, mirth, and happiness departments is difficult to put effectively into individual words.  It means more. 
There was even a scouser on a ladder in a g-string sharing his excitement with the parade of events associated with a win at Wanda.
 

However, if we look back for a quick snapshot of the game, we know how crucial the 2nd minute penalty against Sissoko was for us. Mo Salah buries it to take a vital early lead.  Divock puts the final touches at the end by clinching the win and adding to his cult hero worship.  In the final, Spurs were always “swimming upstream” against the current for most of the game.   

For some reason, I am drawn to the fishing analogy for Athleti, as it fits the stadium and the task.  
We cannot get lured into a slow, plodding match, where they dictate play.  We should play to our natural attacking strengths.  This is not the Athleti of old as you will see below.  

Are we going perform as the dominant apex predator that we are?  Mentality monsters hunting Madrid with Wanda lust?  

[Stickman]

After reading that I want us to go out 

[Jairzinho]

Was listening to a podcast today which made the point that they actually create more chances now than they did a couple of years ago. Their problem is that all of their forwards are shit. 45 year old Costa, that little Portuguese gimp, and Morata. 

 

Costa and Felix are injured, with apparently Costa a possibility. Doubt he'll start though. In their last game that I watched they played four holding midfielders behind two wingers. It was like Spurs in Kane's absence under Mourinho.

 

They still defend well, but they haven't got anyone to put the ball in the back of the net and I doubt they'll create many chances against us.

 

Got fuck all to play for in the league though (they'll finish ahead of one of Sevilla or Getafe eventually so will be top four, but they haven't got a hope of winning the league) so they will be bang up for this.

 

We'll probably edge the tie by a goal or maybe two, but it won't be pretty. Simeone knows they get battered if they try and play against us.

[mattyq]

Rawk is a constant embarrassment 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Never been over to RAWK.

 

I think I've made the right choice.

[Tj hooker]

When is the drowning man popping in to say we've no chance 

[moof]

I expect us to slap our massive cock on the table tomorrow. If some cunt wants this trophy they have to pry it out of our cold, dead hands. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Now that Hendo has acquired Champions League Winning Captain superpowers, his death stare will make Diego Costa evacuate his Simons.

[TheHowieLama]

These last few games have seemed like big games. They weren't.

 

This is a big game.

[Bjornebye]

6 hours ago, Tj hooker said:

When is the drowning man popping in to say we've no chance 

No signal underwater you fucking arl arse 

[Mudface]

11 hours ago, Reckoner said:

Here’s the preview from RAWK, I was going to just paste the most pretentious bits buts I decided it was all good. Best read in a squeaky voice.

 

 Hello RAWKites!  Once again we begin another journey following the greatest team in the world in the Champions League.  Welcome back, as it has been just a minute, it seems, as the last tie we participated in was one for the ages.  Another Spanish sports car, this time from the hills of Catalonia, meets its end at the fiery cauldron, abyss of Anfield Road 4-0. 

In the end, our sixth date with destiny’s big ears was memorable for all that this team overcame. All of the pain, tears, and emotion fueled our rise to the top of Europe. What a ride it has been.  
 

But readers, please make no mistake here. The mighty reds are about to return a different kind of 'Wanda’, not the one where so many our dreams were realized, but one, possibly, that could break our hearts and leave us with questions we do not want nor need. 

You might say that "mattress movers" cannot beat us over two legs and that our bunch of red players are even hungrier for a 7th Heaven or what I like to call the “King’s Ransom”, holding the world of football hostage to a permanent red mist of dominance percolating throughout Europe.   

Even more, karma may be on the reds side as well due to a series of events this season that has unfolded to make this much sweeter than anticipated:

1.   Thus far, total and complete league dominance from LFC
2.   The recent ECL penalties against Man City, if upheld
3.   Rivals capitulation  –  competitors bitter about our perch
4.   The way we are conducting our business on the pitch and off, 

From my vantage point here in Washington, DC area, across the pond, I see a team, a club, a group of players, and passionate supporters unrivaled in this sport.  We are clicking, unified and ready to extend this dominance.  The music, the laughter, and blissful play of our boys is a force not equaled in a long time – all pointing to the rosy smell of victory.
 

However, Athleti now is only a few days away, and I remember last years' journey was like a beautiful swan.  What happened on the surface of our success and the work completed below the surface were two very different systems. To beat Atletico Madrid in this tie, we are going to have to, once again, reach into our liverbird souls to pull out the beauty of how we can work together. This OP will examine a few themes for the reds visit back to Wanda on Tuesday:  
 
-   Wanda-Lust or A Fish Called Wanda
-   First Blood – who scores first is crucial

[Trend] Wanda-Lust or A Fish Called Wanda

There have been few happier moments in the last decade than the moment the whistle blew in Madrid.  Thank Fowler!  For many, the enjoyment of what this season has brought us in the joy, mirth, and happiness departments is difficult to put effectively into individual words.  It means more. 
There was even a scouser on a ladder in a g-string sharing his excitement with the parade of events associated with a win at Wanda.
 

However, if we look back for a quick snapshot of the game, we know how crucial the 2nd minute penalty against Sissoko was for us. Mo Salah buries it to take a vital early lead.  Divock puts the final touches at the end by clinching the win and adding to his cult hero worship.  In the final, Spurs were always “swimming upstream” against the current for most of the game.   

For some reason, I am drawn to the fishing analogy for Athleti, as it fits the stadium and the task.  
We cannot get lured into a slow, plodding match, where they dictate play.  We should play to our natural attacking strengths.  This is not the Athleti of old as you will see below.  

Are we going perform as the dominant apex predator that we are?  Mentality monsters hunting Madrid with Wanda lust?  

Jesus, that's hard to read, it's like it's been put through Google translate half a dozen times.

 

A modern day version of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_as_She_Is_Spoke

 

[Josef Svejk]

Such a short thread on the day of an away knockout match in the Champions League against tier one opponents?

 

I guess we must be good these days...

[Jairzinho]

2 minutes ago, Josef Svejk said:

Such a short thread on the day of an away knockout match in the Champions League against tier one opponents?

 

I guess we must be good these days...

You can only really hope that we concede an early goal to get the forum out the muck.

[El Rojo]

1 hour ago, Josef Svejk said:

Such a short thread on the day of an away knockout match in the Champions League against tier one opponents?

 

I guess we must be good these days...

We're spoilt rotten. There's much more interest on here in Manchester City than in our own game tonight.

 

We need a return to the good old years when you could track the various things that went wrong in a game by scanning the titles of bumped player threads at full-time.

[magicrat]

13 hours ago, Stickman said:

After reading that I want us to go out 

Yep and with Tyler on commentary 

[Arnaud]

This is going to be nasty and trickery, full of comedia dell arte, à but like the WC final vs Flamengo.

 

Athletico will be more agressive and organized though, seeking a good nil nil draw. 
 

it’s vital to score a goal.

[El Rojo]

Hope we've been using a referee crowding/imaginary-yellow-card-waving coach over the last while.