The draw for the knockout stages is today at 11am GMT time, the possible teams we may get for the knockout stages are:
Besiktas
Manchester United
Manchester City
Paris St Germain
Tottenham Hotspur
AS Roma
Let’s face it, none of them are easy by any means, I would choose the lesser of the 6 evils and hope for Roma or Besiktas, we are usually able to hold our own against Turkish opposition while Roma’s form has tailed off somewhat and are out of the title race according to my Inter-following friend. Against these two we may be able to sneak through or at least give a good account of ourselves. If we get the others I would just shut up shop and hope for the best. Not worth scuppering our season and risk losing 4th place on meaningless matches.
Agreed on the lesser of 6 evils for Roma and Besiktas. Roma is in a similar level to us, maybe a bit higher this season (having finished first in a group with Chelsea and Atletico), but we’re there somewhere.
While I think the only team that we’re better than, compared on paper, is Besiktas, but even they could knock us out easily and put 4-5 past us if we’re not at 100%. Meanwhile, I doubt we could do anything vs. Tottenham at this point.
This is our main issue this season, the fact that we need to be 100% with almost every team that can play some football, in order to get a positive result. Serious teams win even by giving 50%, they have a winning mentality, while we need to leave our souls in the pitch to do so, a very negative sign.
I will analyze the team and our play more in-depth by the end of December after the match vs. Sociedad and post a thread about it, to get other people’s comments also.
I don’t agree with the 4th place hope though. Not sure where that is coming from, considering that Valencia is in a great form, has no distractions (CL,EL), has a way more compact team than us and beats weaker opponents way easier than us. Not to mention RM and Atletico… I honestly think the 4th place is long and gone, so to save the season, we need to keep the EL places (5-6-7th), and try to win CDR as a consolation. Going to the quarters of the CL would also be a great achievement, a historical one, so let’s focus on things that would make this season one to remember for good, rather than focus on the 4th place and compete with teams that are way way better than us this season, almost impossible to reach them unless a miracle happens. I don’t believe much in miracles, although a Sevilla fan, but we need to keep it more realistic, as your username suggests
One reason for optimism in the league is that we don’t have a single difficult road match the rest of the season.
As for the draw, Man U was the best matchup for us of the English teams. Not explosive offensively. Although their fans seem to think this will be easy for them.
Some of the most delusional fans of football reside in EPL. They collectively crown a player of theirs as the “best in the world” if they perform good in a match between EPL teams.
De Gea was the best in the world after the match vs. Arsenal, a pathetic team. Stats and football knowledge clearly showed that Buffon, Neuer, Navas were above De Gea, rightfully so.
Then I remember Matic being the best DM in the world last season.
Then I remember Coquelin was the best DM in the world a couple of seasons ago.
None of their claims were facts.
This was one of the toughest possible draws (along with Man City and PSG), and we got it. We can damage Man Utd if the players will leave their souls in the pitch. Sevilla can beat any team in the world if it is their night, so why not? Of course, we can also be humiliated, especially when playing away, but this match should be taken with extreme seriousness if we want to get something out of it.
21st of February looks far at the moment, but will be very near and catch us unprepared if the management will not make the right moves in the January window and the tactics will not get sorted out, especially the defensive system of this very weird 4-3-3 of Berizzo.
i largely agree with shendm. though, of course, its way too early to write off 4th. team form evolves over a season. valencia looking very solid and i would not bet on us passing them, but seasons are long and you never know.
im reasonably happy with the draw. there is no higher profile team we could’ve played. lets see if we step up in the spotlight, or if we get destroyed (like we did in madrid last weekend). we are dangerous on our good nights, and when you’re only playing a two match tie, sometimes thats enough. man utd are rightfully strong favorites, but dont rule us out. we have the quality if berizzo figures out how best to deploy it.
january transfer window could be very very important.
I fear arias and Castro made some more wrong moves in January and get humiliated…
As said by a Spanish website:
Our defensive system is super weak, attackers are not physically strong, only leganes score less then us in top half, all the defender are slow, pressing system is non existent.
Put in simple, defense system is non existent and offense is weak.
I don’t know how much Arana can help
Agreed on his lack of shooting power. I haven’t seen a lot of games this season due to various commitments and timezone differences but have already lost count of how many times Muriel’s control has let him down, it’s as if he and the ball are polar opposites and it just bounces off him to the most nonthreatening places. There was an instance where if he had controlled it half-decently he would’ve been through on goal but instead it bounces off him and our record signing has to run to the corner flag to retrieve possession. Led to me giving an anguished scream at 3 in the morning.
