UEFA Champions League 2021-22 Thread

Club Brugge hold PSG to a 1-1 draw. Things you love to see

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Watched Inter v Real Madrid tonight. Really good game but shock Madrid somehow steal it at the death. :roll_eyes::roll_eyes::roll_eyes:

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Atletico stalemate against Porto? Why do i feel like they always struggle in the group stage? That’s one nightmare of a group :grimacing:

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Celtic went 2-0 up against :poop: only to end up losing 4-3

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I was so confused when I put it on and both teams were in change strips. Seems all three Celtic kits clash with Bėtis so they had to wear Blue at Home.

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Football is quite unpredictable and that is a big part on why it is a great entertaining sport.

Wolfsburg had a disastrous pre-season with their new coach Mark Van Bommel in charge. Out of 7 friendlies, they’ve won one, drew one and lost five matches. 2 losses came from sides like Hansa Rostock and Holstein Keil. They’ve also been knocked out from the DFB Pokal in the first round, losing to Preussen Munster, a team in the 4th league (Regionalliga West).

However, everything changed for them once the Bundesliga season started. I haven’t watched any of their matches, but I always watch Bundesliga highlights and goals. Some of the Wolfsburg goals that I’ve seen were quite nice and some lucky ones as well.

Out of their first 6 matches in Bundesliga, they have won four, drew one and lost one (today), while they also drew against Lille away in the first match of CL.

They will surely be quite a tricky opponent for us because as usual, teams with a new coach and identity are very difficult to figure out. They are currently sitting 3rd in the league with only 3 points less than Bayern in the 1st place. What’s interesting is that they have scored the fewest goals out of the top 4 teams in the league table (8 goals) and have conceded as much as Bayern (5 goals), joint best defense. Bayern have scored 23 goals, Leverkusen have scored 16 and conceded 7, Dortmund have scored 17 and conceded 12.

This in my opinion signals that they are quite conservative in their style of play, but know how to beat a team and will do so if given the opportunity. Out of the strong teams in Bundesliga, they have beaten RB Leipzig so it is not that they have played the likes of Bayern, Dortmund, Leverkusen etc. but we won’t have it easy against them, especially as they are playing at home on Wednesday night.

I’d say we should try what worked vs. Valencia this time around, because I fear that Wolfsburg has enough quality and pace in their team to cause us a lot of issues if we field a similar eleven to how we usually do or how we were lined up tonight vs. Espanyol for example. The difference is that Espanyol never had the capacity to do any serious damage so that lineup and those tactics were good enough.

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I’m not a Bundesliga watcher either. But I’ve seen some of the stats of the games they won and I do know van Bommel, as a coach. And If I would have to say what to expect from him. He’s from a similar school as Lope. A boring Lope like defensive and conservative attitude, focussed on scraping wins and getting results more so than improving the footballing aspect of the club. Doesn’t mean they can’t press well as a team and physically you can prepare yourself against any German team. Because they atleast do have a good working mentality and will put in the maximum effort, you don’t succeed in german football if you don’t.

Especially in the preseason when they lost everything, and it wasn’t looking good either. Nothing positive about it, really. V. Bommel also said it, he just hoped when the Bundesliga starts it turned around. And it did, you get a couple of Lucky wins like Lope has done many in the past, and suddenly it looks alright looking at the table. Their recent losses again, just show they have been flipping coins and no luck, no wins basically.

So I would say, they are like us in our lowest baseline level. But we have a higher ability and ceiling if things go well (depending on how we show up on the day).

They will keep us running for the whole game, and don’t mind it to get scrappy either. That’s one thing we need to be prepared for. Don’t get overwhelmed at the start, like in all of our bad games. And don’t make it become a physical battlefield. That’s when we start playing towards their strengths. Our footballing and possession controlling ability is way higher than theirs.

Considering their players, of who to be more weary of. I really don’t think Weghorst should be a problem. He’s big, hard working, and can score if you give good options. but at the Euro’s you could see he really lacks quality just like Luuk de Jong. Hé just visually doesnt make it look as bad as Luuk. He’s really not a Lukaku or anything that gives Diego Carlos problems. I expect DC to control that, since if it’s not a footballing genius besides being big. It’s exactly the type that fits in Diego’s pocket. Their RB (Mbabu) has good forward presence, and they have some big midfield lads like Guilavogui and Arnold (their best player). But except physicality the amount of creative and skillful players is lackluster maybe Nmecha or Brekalo.

We have everything we need to control this game.

Losing it, would be us reverting to old, and van Bommel flipping the Lope coin right on Wednesday.
I can even see both managers be happy/content with a draw here. If Lope prefers to play to not lose, and van Bommel taking a point against the beforehand group favorites, he won’t be dissatisfied.

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Looking at the latest highlights in their loss against Hoffenheim, they were destroyed from the flanks, their defensive flanks are slow, which means we should be able to hurt them with a proper strategy.

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We had everything we needed against Salzburg as well. We just need to tighten things up mentally. We can’t keep making stupid mistakes in the box.

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Just put the Inter game on, Inter in white away kit but minus the snake pattern. Obviously can’t be allowed in the UCL then. :sweat_smile:

Basically this shirt but plain White. Very odd.

Sevilla squad for the Wolfsburg match.

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Nice to see Oliver back in the squad.

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Embarrassing loss for Real Madrid haha! Suarez saves atleti again!

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I watched the last 15mins or so of the R Madrid game.

What a goal that 2nd one was for the Sheriffs. :grinning:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1442954770168172545

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I am so pleased to see Madrid lose at home

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Let’s all laugh at Real Madrid! :joy:

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200w

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Salzburg leading 1-0 vs. Lille at HT.

First Madrid lose now Barça get owned by Benfica? Hope this carried on into La Liga

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Crazy. Don’t know what that says about the current state of La Liga.

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