Football Thread 2021: well done, he's 13

[chveik]

lovely stuff!

[bgmnts]

No Barca pen 98'?

[DrGreggles]

No Barca pen 98'?

Nope. Not yet anyway.
I'm aware the game's over, but you wouldn't put it past them.

[Satchmo Distel]

Guardiola's Champions League record has been poor relative to the quality of the squads he's had. For example, losing to Lyon is like a heavyweight losing to a welterweight. They cruised this season because everyone else was knackered by fixture congestion whereas he had 24+ players he could rotate who would walk into any other starting XI.

OTOH I can't deny that I enjoy watching them toy with Arsenal or Spurs like a cat tormenting a one-legged toad.

[Utter Shit]

Guardiola's record at Bayern and City obviously has to be taken in the context of their insane money, but equally it is a bit silly to just ignore the fact that he built the best team of the past thirty years (by which I mean: probably the best of all time given the advances in every area of football, but there's no reliable way of comparing eras) at Barcelona.

He came in when the club was in crisis and immediately sold some of their best players while putting faith in youth, and turned them into an unreal side playing incredible football. Obviously Barca were hardly a small club, but they weren't comparable to Bayern or City - he created their period of dominance from a low starting point and without insane money.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57073085 This article unironically uses the phrase 'liquid football' from The Day Today

[Bernice]

Guardiola is quite obviously an incredible coach, albeit one who has only proven his excellence at clubs with huge resources. The recent fortunes of half the ESL crowd goes to show that success in that area is not a fait accompli.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

You can just as easily point to how well-financed, slick operations still manage to stay at or near the top even when they appoint duds. One of the world's best ever coaches Avram Grant nearly won with Chelsea. It is an incredible advantage being given the best support structure money can buy.

When Guardiola coaches a team that aren't favourite or joint favourite to win the league and outperforms on their budget and expectations we can start talking about him as a great coach rather than just currently one of the best coaches of Global Brands. The fact the thought has never occurred to him betrays a lack of imagination, or is it confidence? - to test himself and risk his own Brand. Join Leicester, Atalanta, Monchengladbach, Lyon, PSV, Sevilla. Join Runcorn. Join Costa Del Dogshit.

[Bernice]

Yeah but he brings well-financed, slick operations to greater heights (certainly in the case of Barcelona and Man City, debatable with Bayern). I'm just judging him on the body of work he has, rather than the one he doesn't.

I imagine he probably will drop down to less well-resourced clubs later in his career. I can see the sense in keeping at the MegaClubs while the going is good.

[DrGreggles]

He took over at Barca after they'd had a bit of a lull under Riikyard.
Obviously they had good players already, but he vastly improved that team immediately (especially the #10) and won everything in that first season.
He's clearly got some coaching ability.

[petercussing]

OTOH I can't deny that I enjoy watching them toy with Arsenal or Spurs like a cat tormenting a one-legged toad.

I enjoyed earlier in the season when Man city toyed with spurs by letting them beat them 2-0

[The Culture Bunker]

I suppose it's almost impossible now to do with a team what the likes of Busby or Shankly did, take they from absolute mediocrity to the top and keep them there. Raineri managed the first part, but was sacked less than a year later.

It'd be fun to see Guardiola stroll into, I dunno, Nottingham Forest one day and insist he was going to top Clough's achievements, but in truth I can't see him ever going to any club that doesn't have a sizeable budget to allow him to amend any mistakes he makes. Equally, I can't see him doing a Mourinho and drifting from club to club despite it being clear the glory days are firmly in the past.

[bgmnts]

I suppose it's almost impossible now to do with a team what the likes of Busby or Shankly did, take they from absolute mediocrity to the top and keep them there. Raineri managed the first part, but was sacked less than a year later.

I mean, yeah, could Guardiola have taken Pearsons relegation battlers and get them to miraculously win the premier league with Danny Drinkwater and Andy King in the midfield? I highly doubt it.

[pcsjwgm]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57073085 This article unironically uses the phrase 'liquid football' from The Day Today

Haha. I googled 'calcio liquido' (which Google Translate sometimes translates to 'liquid calcium') out of curiosity and it seems to be a phrase commonly associated with Pirlo.

[Kankurette]

I would offer Pep sexual favours if he came to Wednesday.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

PSG can't win but still through on penalties. Fuck off, hope whatever Petain Dogshit XI from the Auvergne has made it to the final this year fuck your team Vichy-style

[DrGreggles]

Big win for Atletico tonight.
Pressure on Real tomorrow.

[Mobius]

Tactical genius Arteta beats Chelsea again

[BlodwynPig]

PSG can't win but still through on penalties. Fuck off, hope whatever Petain Dogshit XI from the Auvergne has made it to the final this year fuck your team Vichy-style

Awful stuff. The Man City of french football

[DrGreggles]

Le homme de ville?

[BlodwynPig]

C'est vrai

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Speaking of which, Monaco are playing 'Rumilly Vallieres' in the Coupe de France later.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Was originally coming here to note it's interesting to see how many more goals there are in 'boring defensive' Serie A compared to England.

8 Serie A teams have scored 59 or more goals compared to 4 English teams.

The bottom 8 Serie A teams have scored a combined 345 goals versus 265 in the PL's bottom 8.

Even accounting for Serie A being 1 match ahead (36 vs average of 35 games played in England) that is still a massive gap.

[bgmnts]

Does Serie A/Italian football still have the reputation of being defensive and boring? Assume with Ronaldo in the league now he'd be banging them in.

[imitationleather]

Speaking of which, Monaco are playing 'Rumilly Vallieres' in the Coupe de France later.

Nowhere near as good as 'What Do You Want From Me?' imo.

[druss]

It'd be fun to see Guardiola stroll into, I dunno, Nottingham Forest one day

He'd start well, lose a couple of games and then get sacked within the first 18 months. Same as every Forest manager for the past decade.

[Utter Shit]

United fans have blocked the Liverpool coach. I hope this game never gets played, and it gets replaced with a weekly three-hour long improvised farce with Liverpool's players trying to play football but never quite managing to.

[The Culture Bunker]

United fans have blocked the Liverpool coach. I hope this game never gets played, and it gets replaced with a weekly three-hour long improvised farce with Liverpool's players trying to play football but never quite managing to.

I know plans were in motion for the last few days for another protest and I'm actually surprised they didn't play the game at noon without telling anyone.

[Bernice]

Hope this doesn't ruin anyone's acca.

[Kankurette]

Game is apparently going ahead.