I was quite looking forward to see how RM cope with Trent's wanderlust - then he lasts less than three minutes.
Good for Elliott to score. Even better he didn't take a pen and miss. In the end villa are out..oops. there Goes one big part of their season.
Crazy Juve Vs Dortmund match. Dull 0-0 at half time, then 8 goals in the second half. Dortmund are 2-4 going into injury time and managed to concede twice. Some really good goals amongst them.
Ideal start for them. Last year la table had 16th on 13 points and 8th in 16. That was far higher than anyone predicted. 24th was on 11 So the target for any club is 12 points minimum from 8 games. Spurs just best a pot 2 team so they have 2 games v pot 3 and 3 v pot 4 to come. I think this season however we should see thst 24th place team not needing so many points, but we will see.
Last season proved, beyond doubt, that it matters not where you finish in the league, as long as you qualify and ideally avoid the play offs. Hopefully, Slot will not flog his starting eleven to a standstill again….because coming first in the league really didn’t help us one iota. Qualifying matters. That s all. After that, it’s a bit of a lottery.
And there's the main reason I don't like it - we're already talking about pacing ourselves and not going all out. Too many games in a season makes that a necessity, but it leads to poorer games and the danger of coming unstuck through not being fired up enough.
yup, completely agree….but it’s the format we have to (learn to) live with I guess. It’s just about money. The really comp starts at the knockouts. Anyone who is stupid enough to not make it through these stages for whatever reason, most likely deserves to not be at the knockout stage.
No, you can’t make a conclusion based on 1 sample? Thats like saying in the old format it was pointless coming top because Madrid finished 2nd in their group once and therefor you got a harder draw that another team finishing 2nd who maybe got Porto as an example. In a perfect world the team that comes top should get the lowest ranked team left if the teams that finished above win their knockout. In those scenarios it works out well. But anything can happen - a team could have a few bad games - a bad team could have a few lucky wins and finish higher. It’s always going to be luck of the draw but more money and home draw for 2nd leg is a good benefit.
The evidence available so far to us (2024/25) CL Winner 21 8th 16 16th 13 24th 11 Europa Winner 19 8th 14 16th 12 24th 10 Conference league is not really relevant at there are only 6 games and cheslea won all 6 playing 3rd choice (of 7 teams worth) players. 24th had 7 points from 6.games so 9 is a fair estimate Aiming for 12 points which is beating the 3rd and 4th placed teams home and away seems logical to me. Not going all out should mean rotation between first team squad not wholesale kiddie selections. For example Bradley or frimpong Robertson or kerkez Szoboszlai or wirtz Salah or chiesa Endo or gravenberch Macallister or jones Gomez or konate Allisson of marmadashvilli Ekitike or isak There's zero ****ing excuse for Mr slot to not rotate well and keep all those fresh. The only players he will struggle with (barring injury) is vvd and gakpo. Ideally he should be able to do something with ngumoha and Leoni as subs if the side can have a decent lead in some games. Like I am sorry but the thought of not getting those 12 points is unacceptable if he rotates. He should get those points even if he picks a.real reserve outfit. He has the players. They need to step up now. The more they do the more they will play.
I agree, there is a bunch of stuff outside of your control so just qualify. Yes, as high as possible to try to get an easier passage but our only experience proves that it doesn’t matter every time…it can be a lottery. We are in an huge transition ourselves that will take weeks/months to get right…….there is every chance that we will be mid table and starting to peak when the knockouts start….how many other teams are transitioning! its the form and fitness heading in the competition proper that counts. imo it’s enough to get through as long as you don’t burn out your players (as we did).
I would say thst its impossible until the last two games to look at the table and start to guess at your last 16 opponent. Say I am 8th, its all I aimed for right? Then I am going to have to play one of 2 teams. (9th or 10th) thats how it works. 1st or 2nd were seeded to play teams who were 15th or 16th, (or the teams who finished 17th or 18th whoever won in the palyoff) You couldnt avoid it. So if you are say in 8th thinking you are smart as **** for doing it and will be fresher for whatever and you trun around and find say real Madrid, bayern or whoever in 9th then oops. It was bizarre that lfc or barca were in a draw having topped the ****ing table and were facing psg or benfica. Barca got the better draw and the easier side of the whole tournament too. It wont happen again like that for many years. In general this is true. 1. All teams finishing 1-8 get straight to last 16 2. All teams finishing 1-8 get this home tie played last. Which is a distinct advantage.(no away goals/and pens at home? Of course it is) 3. In general you can expect that the higher you finish the more midtable sort of side you will face in the last 16. I mean anyone finishing 15th to 18th in that table are likely do be OK but second their sides. Likely, not assured. The side in 9th/10th is likely to beat the side in 23rd or 24th so if you are 8th be prepared to play a side who have done very much the same as you have. The gap between 1st and 2nd or 3rd and 4th is not so much (in general) So killing yourself to be 1st seems stupid when you can go play those top seed gsmes with a little restraint. Like we killed ourselves v real.madrid last year. Ran them ragged. 2-0 up in last 30 seconds and konate dives in to stop a goal and gets injured. We played city 3 days later. Then newcastle after it and by the time newcastle were played we were wrung out rags. We should just be looking at the game context, the league fixtures around them and managing a few players each time. The squad is there to do it (barring injury)
I didn't watch the game but no way Elliott takes a penalty. He's from the Sterling school of not backing themselves on penalties. Both great at scoring from open play but scared of the spot.
Were there any other managers in their first season at a club in last season's CL? The format was new for everyone but Slot was also maybe thinking of the fan's expectations and playing to maximum strength in each game. Unless he just really wanted to win the league stage, no matter what. Hopefully he's learned from it and will manage each player's minutes to accommodate all the other games we have to play in a long season.
Man Utd received a record financial revenue last year, £666.5m. Sacking Doris the tea lady obviously worked....
