Man U started Manchester derby with aggression and ambition. After two straight 0-0 draws, it is nice to see Fernandez, Martial and Rashford running at defenders. And they led 0-1 at HT with a Fernandez penalty. They really rely on him. City is clearly better, but they have grasped at chances.
I love watching Maghrez work over Luke Shaw on the right wing. He put Shaw on the ground with one of his fakes. But Shaw is trying and so far no goals.
He got dispossessed and out hustled that directly led to the goal. He wasn’t awful going forward, but he didn’t do much.Originally Posted by M2
Shaw is my poster boy for a mostly terrible player who sometimes does something right. He's getting feasted upon by City, but they haven't broken through. And somehow he's scored a goal.
Edit: And ManU wins the derby. For all the glaring flaws on the roster, Ole milks something out of it. If they start buying a better class of player in the future (as opposed to lighting their money on fire), he might lead them somewhere.
Last edited by M2; 03-07-2021 at 01:38 PM.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Betterread (03-07-2021)
And it’s a final 0-2. Good match. Great defending by MnU and nice to see they play positively. Mahrez outscored by Luke Shaw. Shaw may have been outclassed, but he defended well enough and got forward on counters when the team needed it and was rewarded with two really good chances to score, and finished one.
Sterling had the best chances for City but couldn’t convert.
Last edited by Betterread; 03-07-2021 at 01:29 PM.
Eastern Europe enjoyed its trip to the British Isles today. Dinamo Zagreb came back from a 2-0 hole to knock Tottenham out of the Europa League. Slavia Prague put out Rangers. Olympiakos even won at Arsenal, though not by enough to erase their previous 3-1 loss.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Dinamo Zagreb beat Tottenham through a hat-trick from Mislav Orsic, a skinny 28 yr old winger who played more like Gareth Bale than Bale himself.
One goal was a swerving long range shot from just outside the left hand corner of the penalty area, the second goal was a strong but simple finish to close out a multiple pass build up that carved open the Spurs defense, and the tie-winner started on the left wing, where Orsic dribbled past four defenders and beat lloris with a low shot to the keeper’s right.
They won with a new coach (started Monday), because their previous coach, Zoran Mamic, was convicted of stealing a lot of money from the club.
I think this defeat seals Mourinho’s fate. Maybe management will wait until the end of the year, but no longer, before they relieve him of his coaching duties.
Last edited by Betterread; 03-18-2021 at 07:48 PM.
I saw a Twitter comment on the order of, "you always have to watch for that coach-just-got-sent-to-prison bounce..."
Also this morning, CL quarterfinals draw: Man City-Dortmund, Porto-Chelsea, Bayern-PSG, Real Madrid-Liverpool. Pretty solid.
Reading comprehension is not just an ability, it's a choice
Betterread (03-19-2021),BuckeyeRed27 (03-19-2021),M2 (03-19-2021)
Champions League draw:
Real Madrid-Liverpool
Porto-Chelsea
Bayern Munich-PSG
Manchester City-Borussia Dortmund
That list is also the bracket.
Edit: And Island Red beat me to it. So I'll toss in some opinion. Liverpool is the matchup I wanted, partially because I think it's a club made to order for Madrid, partially because it's fun to beat Liverpool. Madrid has got El Clasico with Barcelona sandwiched in between its games against Liverpool. That's one hell of a high stakes week. We'll have to see if I like getting what I wished for.
Last edited by M2; 03-19-2021 at 11:00 AM.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
CBS Sports has been doing this whip around show during the Europa League that I was watching yesterday. They first go to the Spurs game and talk about how the Zagreb coach was sent to prison that week. Then go to Shatkar and talk about how they can't play games at home because of the "on going civil war". The Europa League!
M2 (03-19-2021)
Real will wreck Liverpool. The Reds have had an ok couple of games but that back line is not gonna hold for long.
I really don't want to see an all English final once Liverpool is bounced so hopefully Real can also knock off Chelsea. Man City seems like a force this year.
I hope you're right about the Madrid-Liverpool. Madrid likes playing against teams with a high press, and the Reds certainly don't seem to have the back line or the midfield to cover when their press gets broken. That said, they've always got a puncher's chance thanks to their forwards.
I feel like PSG and Dortmund aren't getting enough love. PSG has got revenge on its mind, and it's getting Neymar back. That's a heavyweight fight. And Dortmund has a lightning counter. That could be a tricky matchup for City. Erling Haaland's like a boogeyman who moves at the speed of one of those 28 Days Later zombies.
And didn't they ban all-English finals after 2019's snoozefest? That's got to be in the UEFA rulebook.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
World Cup qualifiers have started in Europe. Burak Yilmaz has dropped a hat trick on the Dutch, putting Turkey up 4-2 at the moment. Been a blast of a game to watch so far, at least if you're not Dutch.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Alvaro Morata just scored an absurd goal for Spain. Chest, left foot (his off foot), roof. Never touched the ground.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Betterread (03-26-2021)
That was a special goal. The spin he used on the chest trap was amazing.
M2 (03-26-2021)
This is not really European soccer, but US-Under23 falls to Honduras. So, the US will not make the Olympics in Tokyo.
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