2016/17 Soccer/Football Thread

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The Quasar

The Quasar

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Europa League play-off:

Astana (KAZ) v BATE Borisov (BLR)
AEK Larnaca (CYP) v Slovan Liberec (CZE)
Arouca (POR) v Olympiacos (GRE)
Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) v PAOK (GRE)
Midtjylland (DEN) v Osmanlıspor (TUR)
Austria Wien (AUT) v Rosenborg (NOR)
Trenčín (SVK) v Rapid Wien (AUT)
Beitar Jerusalem (ISR)v Saint-Étienne (FRA)
Lokomotiva Zagreb (CRO) v Genk (BEL)
Vojvodina (SRB) v AZ Alkmaar (NED)
Maribor (SVN) v Qäbälä (AZE)
Gent (BEL) v Shkëndija (MKD)
Slavia Praha (CZE) v Anderlecht (BEL)
İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR) v Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Astra Giurgiu (ROU) v West Ham United (ENG)
SønderjyskE (DEN) v Sparta Praha (CZE)
Fenerbahçe (TUR) v Grasshoppers (SUI)
Sassuolo (ITA) v Crvena zvezda (SRB)
Brøndby (DEN) v Panathinaikos (GRE)
IFK Göteborg (SWE) v Qarabağ (AZE)
Krasnodar (RUS) v Partizani Tirana (ALB)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) v Hajduk Split (CRO)

Spotlights:

Slavia Praga-Anderlecht
Sassuolo-Stella Rossa Belgrado
Austria Vienna-Rosenborg
 
No Luck Involved

No Luck Involved

Does anyone else look at the City squad and think wow they have bought a lot of highly rated young players. If they all click under Guardiola then City could easiily dominate for quite a while. Even with the risk that they all flop I still have them down as favourites this year, Mou's Utd coming a close second. If I was a neutral then I'd say Arsenal and Chelsea to fight for third (heck I might even have Arsenal down at 5th behind Tottenham...) but fuck it I'll throw Arsenal into the title mix coz I can! I just don't know what to make of Liverpool and Spurs this season, they've got good managers and decent squads but I just see the other four having that bit more in their squads. I'm discounting Leicester entirely now of course!
 
manodelrey

manodelrey

No Luck Involved said:
Does anyone else look at the City squad and think wow they have bought a lot of highly rated young players. If they all click under Guardiola then City could easiily dominate for quite a while. Even with the risk that they all flop I still have them down as favourites this year, Mou's Utd coming a close second. If I was a neutral then I'd say Arsenal and Chelsea to fight for third (heck I might even have Arsenal down at 5th behind Tottenham...) but fuck it I'll throw Arsenal into the title mix coz I can! I just don't know what to make of Liverpool and Spurs this season, they've got good managers and decent squads but I just see the other four having that bit more in their squads. I'm discounting Leicester entirely now of course!
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For some reason, Arsenal are either title contenders until the second to last part of the season then they collapse and lose the title before storming back and having a decent finish at the end of the season or are completely out of the picture and sneak into a champions league spot at the end. The tricky part is finding what course of action they will take to get to the finish line
 
Random Passerby

Random Passerby

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No Luck Involved said:
Does anyone else look at the City squad and think wow they have bought a lot of highly rated young players. If they all click under Guardiola then City could easiily dominate for quite a while. Even with the risk that they all flop I still have them down as favourites this year, Mou's Utd coming a close second. If I was a neutral then I'd say Arsenal and Chelsea to fight for third (heck I might even have Arsenal down at 5th behind Tottenham...) but fuck it I'll throw Arsenal into the title mix coz I can! I just don't know what to make of Liverpool and Spurs this season, they've got good managers and decent squads but I just see the other four having that bit more in their squads. I'm discounting Leicester entirely now of course!
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Would be fun on FIFA 17. But then, I had them second favourites behind Moaningho's Man Utd just because Moaningho knows how to grind out 1-0 and 2-0s in the EPL.
 

phalanx

I look at City and wonder.. whats the point in buying all these attacking players when your defence is shite
 
detviech

detviech

Random Passerby said:
We had no problems in 13/14 when Suarez and Sturridge just blows any opponents out of the water. OK, in the end, it costs us but yeah, still almost got us a title.
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Yeah but they can't just rely on the strikers, to score thousands of goals. That's really risky in my opinion.
 

latinoheat

is a CAP Contributor Alumnus
That Liverpool side had the best all around striker since Henry in his prime (maybe even better) and Sturridge stayed relatively injury free. They had a more balanced midfield, Gerrard having a mini renaissance and probably better full backs. Less competition as well

City's choice for strikers are injury prone Aguero, Iheanacho or using natural winger Nolito; no chance Bony stays. There only decent midfielders that will actually defend are Fernandinho and Gundogan who has has no premier league experience. They have about 713 wingers for two spots (Pep is an idiot if he doesn't build the team around De Bruyne)

In defence they have an absolute Donkey in Mangala who is so bad he makes a great defender in Otamendi look shit. When Sagna is the best of your 4 over the hill full backs you also have a problem.
 
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Random Passerby

Random Passerby

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latinoheat said:
That Liverpool side had the best all around striker since Henry in his prime (maybe even better) and Sturridge stayed relatively injury free. They had a more balanced midfield, Gerrard having a mini renaissance and probably better full backs. Less competition as well

City's choice for strikers are injury prone Aguero, Iheanacho or using natural winger Nolito; no chance Bony stays. There only decent midfielders that will actually defend are Fernandinho and Gundogan who has has no premier league experience. They have about 713 wingers for two spots (Pep is an idiot if he doesn't build the team around De Bruyne)

In defence they have an absolute Donkey in Mangala who is so bad he makes a great defender in Otamendi look shit. When Sagna is the best of your 4 over the hill full backs you also have a problem.
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Nah, we had a really bad defense at that time. Mignolet's problems is well-known. We don't even have a consistent CB pairing, it was either Skrtel-Sakho or Skrtel-Agger. Skrtel has lots of howlers in him while Agger and Sakho suffered injuries problems (while also prone to howlers themselves). At LB, we have Enrique, who is so bad that he lost his position to an inexperienced youngster RB in Flanagan. The other side (RB) is where Glen Johnson plays. Yeah, our defence was a mess.

In midfield, the goals scored actually papered a lot of cracks. Yes, Gerrard can play passes from there but he isn't good at protecting the defence and simply doesn't have the pace anymore. We try to rectify this by playing 2 midfielders (Henderson + Allen / Coutinho) but this causes us to be very vulnerable in fast breaks.

So yeah, our attack was the main reason we are so threatening.

As for the current City, I have no idea how Guardiola intends to play.
 
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Aurious

Aurious

How do you guys think the top teams will play next season? I don't think Barca (maybe Andre Gomes has a chance on a spot in the first XI?) and Real will change much since they didn't have any major transfers. It's hard to tell how City will play, I'm sure Guardiola will change much there. I think Gündogan will take a spot in CM when he isn't injured and Sané has a good chance on a spot in the first XI as RW too.

Bayern will probably not change too much even if they have a new coach with Ancelotti. I can see them either playing Ancelotti's favorite system a 4-3-3 with Müller as Right Wing, a position he can play very well if he has a linear RB like Lahm behind him. That would look like that:

--------------------Lewandowski--------------
---Ribery-----------------------------Müller--- Costa, Robben, Coman
---------------Thiago--------------------------
------------------------------Vidal------------- Sanches
----------------------Alonso------------------- Kimmich
--Alaba--------------------------------Lahm-- Bernat, Rafinha
------------Hummels-----Boateng------------ Martinez, Badstuber
---------------------Neuer--------------------- Ulreich, Starke

You have 3 Central Midfielders as Ancelotti likes with Thiago, Vidal and Alonso. Thiago plays a bit more offensive on the 10 and brings offensive creativity from there. Vidal plays as B2B and worker on the 8 and can also help out in the offense with his good distance shot. Then you have Alonso on the 6 who works as DLP. Kimmich works as good Backup for Alonso but can also play in the first squad since Alonso will need some breaks due to his age. Sanches can work as Backup for both Vidal and Thiago but also has a chance on a spot in the first XI for Thiago if he does well and Thiago struggles to get consistency into his game. You might think that we lack some CF Backup with that system but Lewy is almost never injured and if he needs some breaks Müller can play the role as only CF well in league games. Then either Robben or Coman (probably Coman since Robben will be injured) take the spot on the RW.

The other system I can see us playing is a 4-4-2 (4-2-2-2) like we played in many games under Pep and which features Lewy and Müller as double CFs. That would probably look like this:

----------------Lewandowski------------------
------------------------------Müller------------
---Ribery---------------------------Robben--- Costa, Coman
----------------Vidal--------------------------- Thiago, Sanches
-------------------------Alonso---------------- Kimmich
--Alaba--------------------------------Lahm-- Bernat, Rafinha
------------Hummels-----Boateng------------ Martinez, Badstuber
---------------------Neuer--------------------- Ulreich, Starke

Since there are no real Backups for Lewandowski and Müller we have to move to a 4-3-3 if one out of them needs a break / is injured which is the problem about that system. I can see us very well rotate between those 2 systems during the season.
 
Random Passerby

Random Passerby

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I think MU will win this unless Leicester somehow manage to prevent the midfielders from getting the ball to forwards Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan and Martial (don't think Rashford will start).
 

phalanx

47.5 for stones.. seriously? based on last season and the Rooney Testimonial that's beyond excessive, guy is error prone.
 
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