IdleRich

IdleRich
Been thinking about away goals.
Under the old system Real would have gone in at half time knowing they needed three in the second period or they were out. Now though, two would earn a draw... far less demoralising... I wonder if that had any effect on how they felt and how they played...
 

jenks

thread death
Watched it laughing at the way PSG frankly imploded with some of the worst defending I’ve seen at this level (and I watch Spurs a lot) Benzema was brilliant and I did love the step over for Mbappe’s disallowed goal.
I do think that once RM play Bayern, City or Liverpool they won’t get a chance to get back in the tie the way PSG let them in.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
PSG are better at collapsing than anyone else at this level. Not only have they produced some of the greatest collapses ever seen - even better than Barcelona's best ones - but the sheer consistency of their collapsing leaves even their closest rivals in the dust.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Havertz scored an amazing goal today as the team built to launder stolen Russian oil money defeated the team recently purchased to provide a fig leaf to the regime that murdered 81 prisoners today.
 
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IdleRich

IdleRich
Did you see the goal though? It reminded me of that famous Bergkamp one against Argentina.
He didn't have to beat the player once he'd sucked the ball into his control but the smoothness of the touch and finish was magical




The thing about the Bergkamp one though is the way that it seems there could not be less danger and then five seconds later it's in the net.
 

jenks

thread death
What I love about the Berkamp goal is his reaction. He covers his face like he can’t believe what he’s just done. It put them into the final, I think. My mate was covering the match for Dutch AP and he said that all the fans left the stadium as a great orange swirl all whistling Perfect Day - it brought a tear to his tough journo eye.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
One of the finest goals from one of football’s very very best

does far more than Havertz - takes it in flight to cushion downwards, makes one defender look a child in a man’s world by skinning him, then takes the piss with the perfect finish

art/10
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
One of the finest goals from one of football’s very very best

does far more than Havertz - takes it in flight to cushion downwards, makes one defender look a child in a man’s world by skinning him, then takes the piss with the perfect finish

art/10
He does do more. The ball is from further out... from nowhere really, just a hit and hope that Bergkamp's moment of genius turned into a sublime pass after the event. After his soft foot has pulled it out of the air then the rest just seemed to fall into place for him, the defender has to commit to getting goalside so when Dennis cuts inside he's almost automatically left grasping at nothing, then after that the outside of the boot thump seems the only option, love the way that the goalie just sort of stays there on his knees with his hand where the ball should have been before finally falling forward, like the final baddie in a film who at first refuses to admit that he's dead - or maybe it's just some sort of acknowledgement or salute to a truly brilliant goal.

So yeah, of course the Havertz one wasn't as good - and, no disrespect to Newcastle of course, but this was hardly a world cup semi final either - but it was still a small thing of beauty in its own right. Again the first touch is one of those ones where it seems as though there must be velcro on the top of the shoe, and what made it special for me was the way he finished it with the same foot without even breaking stride.

And this is the frustrating contrast of football right now, no-one can dispute the artistry on display for that goal, but - I think - it will always be tainted by the fact it was scored by a team that were lifted from nowhere to the very top, entirely by stolen and laundered money. A team entirely created by that money, whose success is almost incidental for the buyer, and whose example opened the door for Man City, PSG and whatever else follows...
 
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WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
- it will always be tainted by the fact it was scored by a team that were lifted from nowhere to the very top, entirely by stolen and laundered money. A team entirely created by that money, whose success is almost incidental for the buyer, and whose example opened the door for Man City, PSG and whatever else follows...

tainted scrote of a club, always
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Certainly Chelsea were the vanguard of the new paradigm in football. Yes it had always been about money - people got involved for money, teams won games cos of money and so on... but not as much as now. Chelsea were different in degree not kind but the degree of their difference was so great as to become a difference in kind. If that makes sense. Yeah, Jack Walker chucked Blackburn a few million and they bought Shearer and, who, Batty? But Chelsea were the first time I had seen somebody throw an obscene amount of money at a team who had never won anything in my lifetime and change them into - quite literally - world beaters. As I (no doubt naively) understood, up to that point teams were rich cos they won stuff and had lots of fans and that brought them more fans and more money and more wins and so on. Of course Madrid were pretty much being bankrolled by the city and there were loads of other shenanigans of which my young mind was blissfully ignorant, but for me, it was the first time a club were elevated suddenly to the top of the game for reasons completely unconnected to football.

There is something cruelly apposite about Chelsea becoming official World Club Champions just before their owner and benefactor was finally sanctioned out of the game. Presumably, at least Abramovich can leave Chelsea happy having taken them to the very top, whatever else happens to him now at least he'll know he achieved his ultimate aim and that he succeeded utterly for his beloved club...
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Did you ever got to their old Shed? Christ, what a hole and nasty with it, in Fulham too. I got battered and monsooned on by Chelsea scum on the underground many many moons ago after leaving a party in a Hoops shirt. You can crack one or two but not enough to matter

Hope they’re playing Notts County inside 5 years, just to go to the Meadows and give any blues cohort a ton of grief from the team that gave Juventus its colours
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
United capitulated as tamely as I expected. Well, maybe I'm being unfair, I wasn't able to catch the whole game, but from what I saw the problem is that they simply have no way to take control of the game and just say "we are gonna fucking do this" - they can knock the ball around, they can create some half chances and every now and again one of them goes in, but they are unable to force the issue. Things happen to them, they don't make them happen.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Annoyingly Chelsea just scored another nicely worked and finished goal. I really thought he'd pulled it past the far post but it nestled juuuuuust inside. When you see the angle and the keeper unmoving you sort of feel as though he might have done better, but it was hit so quickly with so much power into the perfect place that I don't think he stood a chance, it was past him before he knew what was happening.

 
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