Benz being superlative is nothing new. He's one of the best strikers on the planet. Yet have you seen Vini this season? Suddenly he's got composed finishing. He's gone from the world's most erratic final touch to clinical in two months. That young man had himself a montage.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Last edited by MWM; 09-15-2021 at 10:08 AM.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
Betterread (09-23-2021),M2 (09-15-2021)
Karim Benzema just trapped a ball with his back and set himself up to score a goal.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Betterread (09-23-2021),RedTeamGo! (09-25-2021)
He should get more recognition, but so should other forwards like Jamie Vardy, Duvan Zapata, Romelu Lukkau, who are all at the same level.
He’s just not as good as teammates like Ronaldo or Mbappe on the national team, who are special talents and truly some of the best players in the world.
The Brentford vs. Liverpool game is fantastic. Brentford just clawed back to 3-3 in the 83rd minute.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
RM just lost a champions league match 1-2, to Sherrif Tiraspol, the Moldovan Champions. Wild celebrations in Chisinau tonight.
M2 (09-28-2021)
I ran across a Twitter thread from a guy who was born around there and eventually emigrated to America. It was hilarious:
https://twitter.com/SlavaMalamud/sta...39451069509639
The TL;DR version: Sheriff Tiraspol is basically the only real team in Moldova playing in the only real stadium in Moldova, and it exists as a money-laundering business for the mob bosses running a little semi-autonomous breakaway state within Moldova. And this breakaway state came to be because the ethnic Russians within Moldova wanted no part of the rest of the country and have carried on since '91 as if the fall of the Soviet Union never happened.
Reading comprehension is not just an ability, it's a choice
Betterread (09-30-2021),BuckeyeRed27 (09-30-2021),M2 (09-30-2021)
Spain broke Italy's unbeaten streak in the semis of the UEFA Nations League. Real contrast in approach from those two. Roberto Mancini has conducted a master class in managing Italy. His team is put together. Everybody's got a job. They do it. They're more than the sum of their parts. It's like textbook everything you're supposed to do. Italy played most of the game down a man and almost dragged itself back to even after being down 2-0. They even seemed to play better after going down a man. Rarely will you see a better marshaled international side.
Luis Enrique seemingly picks his roster and lineups with a random name generator. He's largely not selecting players from the top teams in La Liga, except for Barcelona, which has been bursting into flames this season. Players come and go on the roster. There's no cohesion. There's no consistency in tactics, except for general ball control. Today Ferran Torres and Mikel Oyarzabal figured it out well enough for the team to win. Spain's got an embarrassment of riches when it comes to talent, so they can win even with an erratic manager.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Oh Belgium. Guess it was a bronze generation.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Benzema had a skillful turn to get free and put a precise finish in the corner for the first French goal. That turned the match around. lukaku’s offside was pretty close and the penalty on Griezmann was also not obvious. Maybe 2-2 would have been fair.
Last edited by Betterread; 10-07-2021 at 08:18 PM.
Real interesting situation shaping up in the Spanish league. Real Sociedad is poised to go top of the table again (they started on fire last season too), though Sevilla and both the Madrid teams could tie them up once they're level on games. Real Betis is hot on their heels too. Conspicuous by its absence is Barcelona, which finds itself hanging around the mid-table with some solid sides like Athletic Bilbao, Valencia and Villareal. Rayo Vallecano and Osasuna are also off to hot start (currently 5th and 6th in the league.
It looks like there's going to be a serious fight for those Champions League slots. And I'm thinking Sevilla might be the smart bet to win the league. If Barcelona, which just canned its manager and looks like a combination of predictable offense with porous defense, stumbles for another month or so, it could be looking at a mountain it needs to climb. I suspect Sociedad and Betis are for real (note the pun), or at least real enough to snag 70+ points. Barcelona's going to have to take 2 out of every 3 remaining points on offer just to reach 70.
This is going to be some drama. The upper mid-table in that league has improved and there's a giant that's going to have to work just to keep its accustomed slot (the Madrid giants are too, but they're on much sounder footing at this moment).
Last edited by M2; 10-29-2021 at 02:57 AM.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
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