UEFA Champions League 21/22

[GMI]

Madrid killed that second half of extra time just by feigning injury and time wasting tactics. It was crap to watch but that is sometimes what you need to do to kill the match when you are leading.
Grealish and Foden looking around not believing what was going on.they seem quite naive in these big games. Not that Fernandinho can’t get involved in this sort of thing.
Would have been an interesting shoot out as all the best players had been taken off.
Bale was conspicuous by his absence from celebrations. Was he even on the bench.

I remember an FA Cup semi final we were involved with a few years back against Jose’s Man Utd. Once they got ahead the whole second half was stop start and they killed the match dead. It’s not fun to watch but does the job.

 

[spurs mental]

Bale was conspicuous by his absence from celebrations. Was he even on the bench

Hes injured. Back spasms.

Too much golf.

 

[1882andallthat]

I think the problem is who else could they realistically replace him with? The only one really is Klopp and he's not going there. Anyone else and they are gambling with their domestic status in pursuit of the CL.

They are now at a crossroads in terms of the fact that their oil money has won them everything domestically but time and time again and under different managers they have failed to claim that prize that their owners so desperately crave. Will Erling Haaland be the last piece in the jigsaw that takes them to that place ? The jury will be out, because he will have to emulate his success here and at a club with an embarrassment of riches at the very highest level.

They had numerous opportunities in the first leg to put that tie out of sight, and it seems obvious to me that if Kane or Salah had the chances to stick some of them away that they spurned they would most probably have made it with much room to spare. They had a golden opportunity to stump up the readies that they have to get that missing piece with Kane last year and were not prepared to part with the extra money that Levy was demanding. That's on them and they will live to rue that mistake as to what might have been. Our gain and their arrogant stubbornness and loss is not something I'm going to feel sorry for them for, it serves tham right.

 

[glacierSpurs]

If it had happened to us it would have been 'spursy'

We need a word for them. They have been bottling the CL for far too many times. Like PSG, they failed to clear the hurdle when it really matters.

 

[1882andallthat]

To be fair to Pep, I don't think that's on him. I think that's Txiki.

Nothing has been more consistent for City than buying over-priced bench warming HG players. Scott Sinclair, Rodwell, Ake. I never know exactly where Stones fits in tbh - they seem to blow hot and cold over him.

They don't really seem to spent as much as some teams on their first 11 - it's mostly crappy squad players like Bony and some of the above. I just don't see Pep being behind transfers, otherwise he'd have signed Kane and Messi - two players he hasn't stopped being thirsty over since he joined them.

If Pep had been really insistent enough and said Kane's clinical finishing and goals are the probable difference between CL winners medals rather than not instead of another wasteful £100m on a bench warming attacking midfielder I reckon they would have relented and given him the money. That's on him for being not insistent enough and them on their stubbornness and stupidity.

 

[1882andallthat]

The answer is so blindingly obvious that it's staring them in the face and everyone in football can see it but they're too stupid to see it or too stubborn to admit it.

For all of the home grown players they've wasted money on, the purchase of 2 HG players would get them exactly what they want, but they won't splash the cash. It really isn't rocket science. Declan Rice, to replace Fernandinho and our own Harry Kane and they sell a few overpriced bench warmers and Jesus. They could stump up the money and I sincerely hope they don't and I safely predict they won't......

 

[GMI]

We need a word for them. They have been bottling the CL for far too many times. Like PSG, they failed to clear the hurdle when it really matters.

Shitty?

 

[TheChosenOne]

We need a word for them. They have been bottling the CL for far too many times. Like PSG, they failed to clear the hurdle when it really matters.

"Advercity"

 

[sausage]

If Pep had been really insistent enough and said Kane's clinical finishing and goals are the probable difference between CL winners medals rather than not instead of another wasteful £100m on a bench warming attacking midfielder I reckon they would have relented and given him the money. That's on him for being not insistent enough and them on their stubbornness and stupidity.

That's a different argument. Pep seems like a reasonable laid-back guy when he's not pitch side, and so he might ultimately not worry that much about it.

It doesn't mean that he has made any decisions about players they've actually bought, though. As I say, there's other people responsible for that at modern clubs - especially those with City's model

 

[ikky]

 

[shelfboy68]

I think the problem is who else could they realistically replace him with? The only one really is Klopp and he's not going there. Anyone else and they are gambling with their domestic status in pursuit of the CL.

I agree there is a shortage of managers around who would fit the bill.
I wonder whether they would move ancelotti if he wins the CL.

 

[spursfan77]

Sterling killed every attack in extra time just like he did in the euros with england yet Grealish who conjured up their best chances and gets all the grief. Weird.

 

[nidge]

Sterling killed every attack in extra time just like he did in the euros with england yet Grealish who conjured up their best chances and gets all the grief. Weird.

Sterling was poor last night but he at least has contributed across the season more than Grealish has so I guess people will cut him a bit more slack.

 

[Thewobbler]

Sterling killed every attack in extra time just like he did in the euros with england yet Grealish who conjured up their best chances and gets all the grief. Weird.

Scapegoat because he cost 100m and the reason they didnt go all out for kane..

 

[Spursmatty87]

CL semi finals are better than the final most years.
Cant see the match being worse than our final though. Christ what a stinkfest that was. Coming out in goosebumps just thinkig about it. One of the worst matches ever. Ref ruins game after 2mins. Not 1 yellow card in a final!!!
Takes some beating

We let the ref ruin it, we’re weak. We had 90mins of football to get back into it.

 

[ajspurs]

We let the ref ruin it, we’re weak. We had 90mins of football to get back into it.

It was a very strange match, felt like it never really got going but I think Liverpool were as guilty as we were in that respect, they just had something to build on (or defend) with the early penalty.

I still can't believe we were in a CL final to be honest. I just remember watching the Ajax highlights on the BT Sports YouTube channel about 200 times between then and the day of the final, to the point where the Ajax chants from the fans before the 3rd Lucas goal is ingrained in my memory

 

[bubble07]

Madrid will win

 

[C0YS]

I said this after the final last season when Guardiola fucked it with his team selection but if he fails to win the champions league again after their outlay I just can’t see how he can keep his job.

I personally would absolutely love them to sack guardiola. I think it would cause city all kinds of problems. City were not spending less before him (in fact they were spending more) and real Madrid's best team on paper won naff all.

On the CL I think Guardiola does overthink and has lost as a result of that. But I don't think that's what happened the other night. I think what happened was pretty simple though did uncover systematic flaws of this city side. But not flaws you can easily iron out. If city become more adaptable and situational as a team then you have to coach for that and will probably render you less effective in other ways.

But the CL is also really hard to win and despite many teams trying to buy themselves the CL it rarely, if ever, works. It's the same with any other team, you can't really expect any team or manager to give you the CL. Because ultimately you have factors like momentum but also a whole lot of luck and small moments. Football is just too random for that. So, while I think it's fair to say guardiola has a relative weakness in the CL since leaving Barca, I don't think getting in a new manager with the expectation of CL works, because the odds are always against you regardless of who is in charge.

Maybe the only exception is Real Madrid, who have won it an awful lot despite never looking a side capable of winning it in any of those CL wins apart from ancelottis first. But Real Madrid's ability in the competition sort of shows that what helps win that is just a belief that you will. And it's not even a winning mentality you can teach or learn.

Real Madrid as a club feel the CL simply belongs to them and the players do too but it's beyond anything a manager has done. It's a whole club culture. Real Madrid fans, before the game, knew they would turn it around: why? Because that's what they do.

 

[BorjeSpurs]

Madrid fans leaving the Bernabeu and trying to get back in after the two Rodrygo goals. What's the worse example of that at Spurs - the Arsenal 4-4 game at the Emirates?

 

[cwy21]

If there is one time to not leave a stadium early it would surely be Real Madrid in the CL. They literally do something like this every year.