Champions League Final - The Big Cup Build-Up Thread

[The Long Suffering One]

Away dressing room.. Then perhaps we can wear our lucky green 3rd kit then..

 

[Lighty64]

Away dressing room.. Then perhaps we can wear our lucky green 3rd kit then..

we are still the home team

 

[Krule]

Just cannot believe we have a thread with this title.... Absolutely fantastic !

 

[Lighty64]

You can get into good instincts. Blocking players (legally), how you mark both zonally and man to man, making sure those who are patrolling zones are attacking the ball etc and not waiting for it. There are far, far too many occasions, not just goals, where we don't do a good job. Whether it be a free header, our players not attacking the ball and getting beaten to it, markers losing their men or getting caught ball watching, consideration of the men lurking on the edge of the box/for the second ball...... Most of what we do isn't good enough, especially for what has been a 'big' team in recent times, and whilst you will never eliminate conceding from set pieces these type of goals have had a nasty habit of fucking us at key moments in the last few years. I'd hate for that to continue on the biggest stage of them all.

you can practice every scenario in the book, but on the day it just depends on where the ball falls. the 1 thing I do agree with is the picking up the man on the edge, which should be 1 or 2 of our faster players in hope of hitting them on the counter

 

[LeSoupeKitchen]

Security reasons due to where fans are supposedly. It doesn’t matter anyway, it’s hardly a big deal. The away changing rooms are crap most places we play at I’m sure

So why don't the fans of the "home" team get the access that allows the team to have the home facilities?

 

[mpickard2087]

you can practice every scenario in the book, but on the day it just depends on where the ball falls. the 1 thing I do agree with is the picking up the man on the edge, which should be 1 or 2 of our faster players in hope of hitting them on the counter

You make it sound like there's nothing that can be done about it. Vs. Bournemouth we see Ake with a free header, no one picks him up. Ajax we see De Ligt with a free run at it and then he beats Alli in the air who is waiting and not attacking it. Everton had three free headers in the game before they eventually scored with another. And there are many, many examples from recent seasons, that's just from the last week....

We have players not doing there job repeatedly, it's widespread. That suggests to me they aren't well drilled, and if the practice is being done then something's going very wrong and it's not working.

 

[Lighty64]

You make it sound like there's nothing that can be done about it. Vs. Bournemouth we see Ake with a free header, no one picks him up. Ajax we see De Ligt with a free run at it and then he beats Alli in the air who is waiting and not attacking it. Everton had three free headers in the game before they eventually scored with another. And there are many, many examples from recent seasons, that's just from the last week....

We have players not doing there job repeatedly, it's widespread. That suggests to me they aren't well drilled, and if the practice is being done then something's going very wrong and it's not working.

every corner that's taken by the taker will aim for an area, it doesn't guarantee the ball will end up there. you can practice marking your own players in training, but no one knows how high every player leaps or if that ball will end up at that player.

Ake had a free header because we had 9 players marking 10, they had about 5-6 unsuccessful corners before then that we defended well. on a set piece it's in the lap of the gods. you can position your better headers in the middle, but with the attacking team they get a better launch because they run on to it, where the defenders are trying to jump from a standing position.

if the delivery is good, and it's in an area that the attacker with a good leap, it's all a hope that your defender can get something on it. you can practice blocking off, but you don't know where the ball will go. all we know is we need to have the right players marking Matic, and VVD and hope the service on the night is poor.

we scored from a set piece, from a scramble, there is no perfect way, if the delivery is good, it's a case of being in the right place as a defender, and you can't practice defending something you have no idea where the ball will end up in

 

[popstar7]

There's no Club World Cup this year. The tournament as we knew it is effectively scrapped to be replaced by the new, 24-team version once every four years starting in 2021. Just by reaching the final we probably qualify for that - provisionally it will feature 12 European clubs, those being the Champions League finalists and Europa League winners from the preceding four seasons - but there's an ongoing threat of a boycott from European teams who aren't happy with the scheduling. It'll take place from the 17th of June to the 4th of July, so slap-bang in the middle of the summer break for us.

Cheers for that. I'd read something about a proposed expanded tournament but it a) seemed a long way off and b) didn't look like it would have much to do with us anyway. How wrong I was...

 

[dickieven]

What the hell are we supposed to do for three weeks? Three fucking weeks!

 

[matthew.absurdum]

Actually I think the away dressing room is quite nice. At least better the one in our own stadium.

 

[Matthew Wyatt]

So in what way are we the home team? Is it simply that our name comes up first on the fixture list? Is it about where our supporters sit?

 

[H-man]

 

[Gbspurs]

So in what way are we the home team? Is it simply that our name comes up first on the fixture list? Is it about where our supporters sit?

The former.

 

[Matthew Wyatt]

The former.

Seriously, is that all? Oh well.

 

[JCRD]

By being int he away dressing room im hoping the underdog narrative continues to work and Poch pushes that and drills that into the players.

Teach the world a lesson.

 

[Lighty64]

What the hell are we supposed to do for three weeks? Three fucking weeks!

Slow bike ride to Madrid

 

[mpickard2087]

every corner that's taken by the taker will aim for an area, it doesn't guarantee the ball will end up there. you can practice marking your own players in training, but no one knows how high every player leaps or if that ball will end up at that player.

Ake had a free header because we had 9 players marking 10, they had about 5-6 unsuccessful corners before then that we defended well. on a set piece it's in the lap of the gods. you can position your better headers in the middle, but with the attacking team they get a better launch because they run on to it, where the defenders are trying to jump from a standing position.

if the delivery is good, and it's in an area that the attacker with a good leap, it's all a hope that your defender can get something on it. you can practice blocking off, but you don't know where the ball will go. all we know is we need to have the right players marking Matic, and VVD and hope the service on the night is poor.

we scored from a set piece, from a scramble, there is no perfect way, if the delivery is good, it's a case of being in the right place as a defender, and you can't practice defending something you have no idea where the ball will end up in

So you are saying nothing can be done. Now we know who Poch delegates this aspect of training to....

 

[Lighty64]

So you are saying nothing can be done. Now we know who Poch delegates this aspect of training to....

You can practice them but how can you know where the ball is going to end up.

Have you got tonight’s lotto numbers please

 

[Lighty64]

So you are saying nothing can be done. Now we know who Poch delegates this aspect of training to....

If they are so easy to practice defending why did the Anderson and Sheringham become so successful

 

[Hakkz]

Seriously, is that all? Oh well.

We also get the away dressing room as a bonus