UCL KOs: Megaclubs and Reeling Clubs All Together Now

Zososoxfan

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New thread for the UCL knockouts. Perhaps this isn't all that surprising, but this year it seems like there are pretty much exclusively big name clubs in the KOs, but they're arriving in a wide array of form. Just looking at the EPL sides, MANC is sitting in 2nd but not impressing many with their current form. Liverpool, Chelsea, and Spurs are all in various states of injury and/or calamity.

In Italy, it's not much different. Napoli are still surging and Inter are likely happy with their position, but Milan have fallen to 5th after taking the Scudetto last season.

I can't comment much on the Bundesliga, but Bayern haven't pulled away like they usually have, and Freiburg and Union Berlin have crashed the top 4 party, currently pushing Leipzig and Frankfurt out.

Spain is having a down season, and 2nd place Madrid is the lone representative. Benfica and Porto are 1 and 2 respectively in Portugal.

PSG is in 1st.

Today, we have Bayern-PSG and Spurs-Milan.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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Looks like CBS is airing one match per day on CBS with the alternate game on Paramount+.

Today PSG/Bayern is on CBS and tomorrow we'll get Dortmund/Chelsea.
 

Joe D Reid

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The current-season leaders of England and Spain (Arsenal and Barca) aren't in the KOs, and by the time this round is over the leader of Germany might not be either (if Union passes Bayern). "Reeling megaclubs" really is the vibe this year.
 

tmracht

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Looks like CBS is airing one match per day on CBS with the alternate game on Paramount+.

Today PSG/Bayern is on CBS and tomorrow we'll get Dortmund/Chelsea.
Dortmund and Chelsea could not be in more opposite form, this will be either a blood bath or totally against the run of form. I get the Reyna/Boehly/Pulisic links make it marketable for CBS but it's a weird one for the main channel.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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Dortmund and Chelsea could not be in more opposite form, this will be either a blood bath or totally against the run of form. I get the Reyna/Boehly/Pulisic links make it marketable for CBS but it's a weird one for the main channel.
The alternative game is Brugge/Benfica so this isn't even a close call on which one they should air given EPL and Bundesliga vs two teams from outside the top 5 leagues.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Benfica and Porto are 1 and 2 respectively in Portugal.
Keep an eye on Porto vs Inter. They are in form after a slow start. Tahremi isn't a great forward, but he's physical and a solid pro. They signed Galeno from Braga and he's provides speed wide left. Otavio is very good on the right. Eustaquio from Canada is feisty in the midfield. Conceicao has done a great job of managing Pepe's minutes. He can still put in a high level shift in a big match.
 

Zososoxfan

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Keep an eye on Porto vs Inter. They are in form after a slow start. Tahremi isn't a great forward, but he's physical and a solid pro. They signed Galeno from Braga and he's provides speed wide left. Otavio is very good on the right. Eustaquio from Canada is feisty in the midfield. Conceicao has done a great job of managing Pepe's minutes. He can still put in a high level shift in a big match.
Did they lose any bigtime players in January? IIRC, Enzo came from Benfica, and Porro was at Sporting, but I'm not familiar whether Porto survived the great poaching or not.
 

Kliq

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Spurs with a wacky lineup. Bentancur and Bissouma are out injured and Hojbjerg is suspended, so going with a double-pivot of Oliver Skipp and Pape Mater Sarr. Llenglet in at left back. Perisic appears to be the 10 role, with Son and Kulu flanking him and Kane up top alone.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Spurs with a wacky lineup. Bentancur and Bissouma are out injured and Hojbjerg is suspended, so going with a double-pivot of Oliver Skipp and Pape Mater Sarr. Llenglet in at left back. Perisic appears to be the 10 role, with Son and Kulu flanking him and Kane up top alone.
It seems extremely likely that the lineup sites are being silly and this is the bog-standard 3-4-3.
 

Zososoxfan

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It seems extremely likely that the lineup sites are being silly and this is the bog-standard 3-4-3.
QFT

The only thing I'll add here is that it's worth thinking about using Deki as a 10 in a 3-5-2 to help hold the MF. Skipp's best role is as a destroyer-lite, who can do a bit more recycling possession that a pure destroyer. Sarr I don't know as well, but I have to think his vision and passing would be good as a B2B CMF. Let Deki help them in the MF, and leave Kane further up. This leaves the right side fairly empty though, and likely requires Porro at RWB.

In sum, I agree with Jimy that we're going to see the typical 3-4-3, but that as Conte's 3-4-3 has been figured out (regardless of whether tactically and/or due to squad issues) it's worth trying Deki as the AMF once Porro gets up to speed, game state requires Spurs to chase, or the tactical matchup dictates it.

Edit: I'm getting pretty furious that Richy isn't getting more opportunities to start. He's a terrific player and Son's form has been shit. I saw a rumor of Madrid being interested in Richy, and if I'm the player I'm shooting my way out of town after the way he's been handled this season.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Love that Milan are matching the formation, so rare that Spurs aren't outnumbered in the midfield.
 

Kliq

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Down early again. San Siro rocking; Milan playing with confidence. Big task in front of Spurs.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Reffing looser than the usual CL match. Also a bit worse, but that just might be the deficit talking.
 

Zososoxfan

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Same problem for Spurs as against LCFC--far too much space between the lines. Even more glaring since Spurs got undone by a longball against LCFC as well. Romero loses an aerial challenge, Dier slow to get over, but then the REAL problem is that the CMFs are so far ahead of the play that Lenglet can't cover the 2 guys crashing the far post/pen spot area.
 

allstonite

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I didn’t know a game between giants Bayern and PSG could feel this listless but here we are. Bayern controlling possession but nothing at all dangerous outside of the first few minutes. PSG can’t connect its defense and forwards and just keep turning it back over for long spells
 

67YAZ

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PSG playing it so cool they’re practically passed out here. They can barely break the high press, and when they do, they just nonchalantly knock the ball around without much intention. Bayern need to sharpen their attack and net one or two here because it’s still Messi out there.
 

Zososoxfan

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Down the right Emerson has been more effective than Deki. I'm not saying that as a permanent statement about their quality, but it's a fair representation of their current form.
 

Kliq

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Down the right Emerson has been more effective than Deki. I'm not saying that as a permanent statement about their quality, but it's a fair representation of their current form.
I've thought Emerson has very slowly been coming along with his ability to get involved in the attack. His skill still leaves a lot to be desired, but he has been getting more and more comfortable going forward.
 

Zososoxfan

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I've thought Emerson has very slowly been coming along with his ability to get involved in the attack. His skill still leaves a lot to be desired, but he has been getting more and more comfortable going forward.
On The Extra Inch podcast, they were talking about how Emerson and Sessegnon both put it in a ton of work (and in Emerson's case $) in the offseason to get themselves stronger and more explosive. While Emerson has his shortcomings, he's rarely not the better athlete in his 1v1 duels and he plays like he knows it. He's such a strong defending FB/WB because he's absolutely willing to let the attacker go down the line because he's so confident he'll win the ball from him in that duel, and he's usually right. Meanwhile, Sess for one reason or another still just doesn't look that confident. I've always been Team Emerson, even though I recognize he has a ceiling offensively, and it's easy to see why he'll likely be playing at a high level during his peak years.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Leao is going to disappoint wildly at I assume Chelsea when they buy him for a gazillion pounds.
 

Joe D Reid

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The Parisian derisive whistles are in fine, justified voice, because PSG are butt.
 

Kliq

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An awful lot of reliance on Ben Davies to provide Spurs with an offensive spark.
 

Kliq

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An 1-0 loss in the first leg on the road is a perfect encapsulation of the Spurs season. Completely uninspiring but also not a gigantic disaster.
 

DJnVa

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An 1-0 loss in the first leg on the road is a perfect encapsulation of the Spurs season. Completely uninspiring but also not a gigantic disaster.
Yes. Spurs twitter fans HATE THEM no matter what happens, but a 1-0 away loss isn't the end of the world.

Unless you think a larger loss would have been the final straw and that was what you wanted...
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Yes. Spurs twitter fans HATE THEM no matter what happens, but a 1-0 away loss isn't the end of the world.

Unless you think a larger loss would have been the final straw and that was what you wanted...
I hated watching it with my eyeballs, which colors the opinion. The result itself is totally okay and can be turned over at home. The match was a bummer slog where AC Milan looked exactly as beatable as their recent form indicates, but Spurs were bad to match and then it was just about which team happened to grab a dumb goal.

Twitter fans are probably going over the top as everyone on Twitter does about everything, but it really was the kind of match where I'm like "maybe I should just be doing work instead of goofing off work to watch some soccer".
 

HowBoutDemSox

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A quirk of Chelsea’s January spending spree is that while all their new signings could be registered for Premier League purposes, teams are only allowed three additions to their UCL squads at this point. Chelsea chose Enzo, Felix and Mudryk, which makes sense, but that means they can’t play Badiashile, who has been starting next to Thiago Silva at CB lately in a 4ATB and playing very well there. Without Badiashile, I could see them reverting to a 3-4-3 with both Koulibaly and Chalobah (or possibly Wesley Fofana, but not sure if he’s fit yet) joining the back line and either RLC or Kovacic as the other CM to play alongside Enzo (presumably with Mudryk, Havertz and Felix in the attacking roles, Reece James at RB and either Cucurella or Chilwell at LB). Will be interesting to see how Potter plays this one, especially with Dortmund in excellent form lately.

Edit: looks like I’m wrong, team news has it as a 4ATB with just Silva and Koulibaly as CBs and Ziyech starting as well, so possibly Felix as an attacking mid and with Ziyech in the wide right attacking spot. Should make things interesting.
 
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DJnVa

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I hated watching it with my eyeballs, which colors the opinion. The result itself is totally okay and can be turned over at home. The match was a bummer slog where AC Milan looked exactly as beatable as their recent form indicates, but Spurs were bad to match and then it was just about which team happened to grab a dumb goal.
Yeah--there were moments we looked good and Sarr and Skipp being our best players is both a good thing and a bad thing...

Fact is Kane, Son, Kulu didnt step up. Romero is in a bad spell. Backup keeper (who did fine).
 

cromulence

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Anyone watching Chelsea-Dortmund? Awesome solo goal by Adeyemi on the break after Chelsea almost scored.

In other news, whose idiotic idea was it to put Ray Hudson on the broadcast? I can't begin to describe how much I loathe listening to him.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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Anyone watching Chelsea-Dortmund? Awesome solo goal by Adeyemi on the break after Chelsea almost scored.

In other news, whose idiotic idea was it to put Ray Hudson on the broadcast? I can't begin to describe how much I loathe listening to him.
Really entertaining game, lots of chances for both sides and that solo break for Dortmund was sensational. Anyone watching City/Arsenal should catch the replay of this one when available.