UEFA Champions & Europa League Football Thread ** spoilers ** [28th - 30th Sept 2021]

adam cool dude said:
Let's face it Villareal are our hardest opponents in the group. They haven't lost a game in la Liga. Yes we have been jammy but 3 points against them is everything. We win our next game we are top of the group.
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**** sake, seriously. I don't dispute that they're a half decent side and I'm fully aware they're hard to break down considering they've drawn majority of their games in La Liga this season. This doesn't justify the god awful performance until the final 20 to 25 minutes of the game. They were much the better team the first half and despite their reputation for being hard to beat, they were more threatening in the final 3rd than we were.

As a fan I want us to win, and to top the group but I'm also not under any illusions that we'll be found wanting as soon as we get into the last 16, unless Ole somehow gets the squad playing considerably better i.e. completely chalk and cheese to how we're playing now.
 
Shamikebab said:
Real are top of the table and undefeated...

I see elite manager Tuchel didn't win tonight, against another team that are in a right state :D
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Early days though, they haven't looked great.

Do you really think we can't do any better than Ole? He had no idea what to do tonight and we won because of overwhelming quality, nothing else; a blind man could see that.
 
We obviously do not look comfortable with that one CDM at the back. We looked a hell of a lot better once Matic came on.

Pogba was lost in central midfield as well. I fear Ole is trying to fit in all these attacking players just because.
 
Robbo said:
Early days though, they haven't looked great.

Do you really think we can't do any better than Ole? He had no idea what to do tonight and we won because of overwhelming quality, nothing else; a blind man could see that.
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I've never said that. But equally nobody out there available is clearly better than him. It's just 'grass is always greener' effect right now.
 
Robbo said:
Early days though, they haven't looked great.

Do you really think we can't do any better than Ole? He had no idea what to do tonight and we won because of overwhelming quality, nothing else; a blind man could see that.
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That is a bit harsh. Once he changed the formation bringing Pogba off and Matic on we were far more stable. As much as everyone hates us playing two CDM's we were far better with Matic on.
 
adam cool dude said:
That is a bit harsh. Once he changed the formation bringing Pogba off and Matic on we were far more stable. As much as everyone hates us playing two CDM's we were far better with Matic on.
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Luck more than planning, IMO.

Let's be straight here - it's good we won, and Ronaldo is marvellous - but we should have been multiple goals down. It was painful stuff.
 
Plus his subs, Fred and Cavani were instrumental in the winning goal. For some reason are just capable of extremes at the moment. Someone is either **** or they're world class.
 
Robbo said:
Luck more than planning, IMO.

Let's be straight here - it's good we won, and Ronaldo is marvellous - but we should have been multiple goals down. It was painful stuff.
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We should have drawn with Young Boys if it wasn't for the back pass. We should have drawn with Aston Villa and be joint top but we didn't. You need to take your chances.

Perhaps the reason why Villareal have drawn 5 of their league games is because they are terrible at finishing.
 
I've always preferred Cavani as our #9, he's a class act in my opinion. Look at the run he made when the ball looked as it was going out, chases everything down, can hold the ball up, can finish and is very strong.

The problem is where does that leave Ronaldo? Not sure he has the legs to play wide left. I know Cavani's positioning in that game was drifting out wide to the left, but he was very much central for PSG after the 15/16 season.
 
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