Matchday 2 (Group C) - Wednesday 27th September, 2017

[carefreeluke]

 

[SirBalon]

12 hours ago, El_Loco said:

As good as Pep is, I think he is too radical at times. It is all or nothing. He doesn´t commit or adapt to the players he has on his hands, a bit like Marcelo Bielsa on that aspect. Conte on the other hand has that italian pragmatism, which ensures he succeeds with different squads. 

Probably why they're extremely good friends hahahaha

 

Where would you place Allegri, Sarri, Zidane and Wenger? (I've only added Wenger because of the status some feel he has)

[Cicero]

2 hours ago, carefreeluke said:

 

This new supporting striker role looks to suit him well. 

[Carnivore Chris]

16 hours ago, Cicero said:

Torres tonight just reminded me the frustration he used to cause. Was useless for Atletico

The sooner Diego Costa and Vitolo are available, the better from Atletico's perspective to be honest. They will be a far better side with those 2 you would expect.

 

Torres has been poor since returning to Atletico(other than in small patches) and it's surprising how he still gets pitch time for them.

 

16 hours ago, SirBalon said:

I don't think it was such a bad performance from them.  Saying that (in any game) takes away credit from the winning side.  It wasn't a vintage performance from them for sure but those kind of games come along rarely.  Put it this way...  Away to Roma they played one of the best games I've seen them play in the Simeone era and that's saying a lot.  They somehow only managed the draw when that should've been a total destruction in the Eternal City.

Chelsea were just tactically superior and against Simeone you rarely outplay his side...  To beat him you do it on the black board (are you still allowed to say that?).  Conte is made for games and nights like these as is Simeone...  It's going to be an interesting fight in this group and none of the other groups will want to be paired up with either first or second from you lot.

It's also got to be noted that this isn't the Calderon now. That was the fortress. It's going to take time before they turn their new ground into the fortress that was the Calderon.

 

[Carnivore Chris]

Chelsea are looking class to be honest and a team capable of going far, even though it's still early and it's not like Conte hasn't taken a side to a final in recent times. They are capable. This is a tough group(other than Qarabag) but I can't see anything other than them topping it now as beating Atletico away(even if it's not the Calderon anymore) is a big confidence booster for them since nobody beats them away under Simeone in the Champions League.

 

Atletico could certainly have done more in this group so far on the otherhand, although I still think they will be the other side to qualify for the knockouts come December. They should easily beat Qarabag in both games, leaving them on 7 points and I think Chelsea will get 4 points from Roma, which would leave the London club on 10 points, with Atletico on 7 points and Roma on 5 going into the Atletico vs Roma game.

 

In the end I think it will be something like:-

Chelsea 14 pts

Atletico 11pts

Roma 8pts

Qarabag 0 points

 

I think the Roma game will be the most important for Atletico, because if Roma are to get 3 points(rather than 1 or 0) from Chelsea in their 2 games, then it could end up going to head 2 head if Atletico fail to get a result from Chelsea in the final game.

 

[Cicero]

19 hours ago, Luis Suarez said:

Has David Luiz EVER been a good defender at any point in his career? I mean, honestly. Never ever rated him as a defender.

The nutmegs that "I" did on him en route -> beautiful goals when he was with PSG sticks out in my memory.

 

 

Didn't Luiz come on for an injured Thiago Silva that night? Even though he was coming back from an injury himself?

 

Que a David Luiz mistake, que the people that undermine him. It's like clockwork, little parasites just waiting all year for him to make an error so they can pounce on him. Did you forget how absolutely solid he was for us last year? Or that he made the team of the season? Or how he had probably his best ever defensive shift in a Chelsea shirt against Arsenal before the red card? 

 

 

 

 

 

[El Profesor]

5 hours ago, SirBalon said:

Probably why they're extremely good friends hahahaha

 

Where would you place Allegri, Sarri, Zidane and Wenger? (I've only added Wenger because of the status some feel he has)

I love Sarri, I'd place him right there with Leonardo Jardim. The man is a tatctical genius. Zidane is a top 10 for me, he didn't impress during his first season, but I'm convinced he's a very good coach. Any coach who brings stability to Real Madrid should rank pretty high, it is one of the toughest jobs in the football world. Allegri is, in my opinion, a bit overrated. Good coach, but I'm not sure he can build a team from the scratch to form a dinasty like Conte did with Juventus. About Wenger, I respect him a lot. He is very intelligent, still has a good eye for talent, but his methods are outdated. I think Marco Silva is a coach who' fit Arsenal. 

[El Profesor]

4 hours ago, Teso dos Bichos said:

Disagree.

any team better???? match- fixing with sienna and he started okay with atalanta but then it went down hill. He had them at the bottom when he was forced to quit. 

with a strong Juventus team ( 12-13) his team got eliminated by bayern aggregate. mourinho won the CL and eliminated the "greatest Barcelona ever" and he won the CL with PORTO. 

 

Mourinho is the greatest coach of this generation and like conte said, hopefully one day i can achieve what he has accomplished  (with chelsea)

I'm not sure if Mourinho is the best coach of his generation, he is certainly one of the best, but in my opinion Guardiola's Barcelona has had a  greater impact to world football than any of the teams coached by José. Also, Atalanta was one Conte's first jobs. It's hard and unfair to compare Conte and Mourinho career at this point, you can compare their moments but not their whole coaching career, after all Conte is younger and had a longer and more successful playing career than Mourinho. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Cicero said:

 

Didn't Luiz come on for an injured Thiago Silva that night? Even though he was coming back from an injury himself?

 

Que a David Luiz mistake, que the people that undermine him. It's like clockwork, little parasites just waiting all year for him to make an error so they can pounce on him. Did you forget how absolutely solid he was for us last year? Or that he made the team of the season? Or how he had probably his best ever defensive shift in a Chelsea shirt against Arsenal before the red card? 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it depends on the manager in his case really. 

The Peruvian national team has 2 defenders who normally wouldn't be able to compete with the attackers South America has (Araujo and Corzo) yet they look something else when they play under Gareca. I've not rated Luiz for the longest time but I have heard great things about him last year. If he continues he does deserve a spot in the World Cup squad as Tite is a coach who can make him work.