2020/21 UEFA Europa League: Galloping to Gdansk

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post-Domer
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One of my favorite SOSH posts of all time was TB sharing that BSC Young Boys made it to the semifinals of the European Cup in 1959 which he regretfully found out by googling "Young Boys in Europe"
 

Vinho Tinto

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One of my favorite SOSH posts of all time was TB sharing that BSC Young Boys made it to the semifinals of the European Cup in 1959 which he regretfully found out by googling "Young Boys in Europe"
I’m going to assume Newell’s Old Boys don’t get as many google hits.
 

DJnVa

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Dele playing well, Bale scoring---it's like my preseason dream come true!
 

cromulence

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Weah starting for Lille, Richards for Hoffenheim, and Aaronson for Salzburg. Not sure who to watch.
 

Titans Bastard

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One of my favorite SOSH posts of all time was TB sharing that BSC Young Boys made it to the semifinals of the European Cup in 1959 which he regretfully found out by googling "Young Boys in Europe"
I don't remember this, but it explains the FBI van parked outside my house right now.
 

Titans Bastard

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Speaking of Young Boys, they completely choked away a 3-0 halftime lead, but then got a late goal to win 4-3. Their second and fourth goals were scored by French/American/Cameroonian forward Jordan Siebatcheu, who has been in good form as of late.

Weah (Lille), Richards (Hoffenheim), and Aaronson (Salzburg) are all starting at 3pm.
 

cromulence

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Slick backheel nutmeg from Aaronson. First time watching him outside of compilation videos and been impressed so far.
 

Titans Bastard

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Slick backheel nutmeg from Aaronson. First time watching him outside of compilation videos and been impressed so far.
He's a newer, more talented Alejandro Bedoya. He can play in CM, or he can play out wide as more of a wide playmaker than a real winger. He has a good defensive workrate. At best he's probably an "8.5", a hybrid between a traditional box-to-box mid and a true attacking midfielder. But these days, a lot of teams use a 4-3-3 that basically calls for two "8.5" type midfielders — including Berhalter's current system.
 

cromulence

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Switched to Lille vs. Ajax after Aaronson came off only to see Weah nicely put away a chance handed to him from a defender. Their first shot on target in the game.
 

cromulence

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Wow, terrible penalty call, VAR tells the referee to go look at it, he does, and he's too damn stubborn to change the call. Ridiculous.
 

Kliq

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Dele with a gorgeous ball to set up Carlos Vinicius on a platter.
 

67YAZ

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Have to say the most frustrating part of European football is the number of great, fun to watch players who get buried on the bench. Imagine Dele with say Crystal Palace, running the attack along side Zaha & Eze. That would be so entertaining week in and week out.

Really, it’s a reflection of how out of whack the business model is. Players on the high revenue clubs often have prohibitively high wages for even middle table sides. And the mega-clubs generate so much cash that they can put a huge price tag on back ups to create squad depth. A salary cap would help make the sport more entertaining.
 

coremiller

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Have to say the most frustrating part of European football is the number of great, fun to watch players who get buried on the bench. Imagine Dele with say Crystal Palace, running the attack along side Zaha & Eze. That would be so entertaining week in and week out.

Really, it’s a reflection of how out of whack the business model is. Players on the high revenue clubs often have prohibitively high wages for even middle table sides. And the mega-clubs generate so much cash that they can put a huge price tag on back ups to create squad depth. A salary cap would help make the sport more entertaining.
I agree with your general principle, but Dele isn't being kept out of the Spurs side by other high-wage super talented players, he's being kept out the side because the manager is an idiot who always has to pick a top player to feud with.
 

Kliq

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Have to say the most frustrating part of European football is the number of great, fun to watch players who get buried on the bench. Imagine Dele with say Crystal Palace, running the attack along side Zaha & Eze. That would be so entertaining week in and week out.

Really, it’s a reflection of how out of whack the business model is. Players on the high revenue clubs often have prohibitively high wages for even middle table sides. And the mega-clubs generate so much cash that they can put a huge price tag on back ups to create squad depth. A salary cap would help make the sport more entertaining.
Lingard so far with West Ham has looked great.

The problem with Dele isn't that he is being butted out by expensive, world-class players, it is that Jose doesn't like him.

Dele totally bossed this game, Bale came on and was brilliant. Spurs did a great job pressing and forcing Wolfsberger into mistakes. Now on Sunday against Burnley, Jose will sit both of them and park the bus.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Dele totally bossed this game, Bale came on and was brilliant. Spurs did a great job pressing and forcing Wolfsberger into mistakes. Now on Sunday against Burnley, Jose will sit both of them and park the bus.
To be fair, Wolfsberger is a midtable side with a negative goal differential in a very mediocre Austrian league. So while there is plenty of reason to point fingers at Mourinho, I wouldn't blame him for refusing to draw lessons from this tie in terms of player selection or tactics in the Premier League.
 

67YAZ

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I agree with your general principle, but Dele isn't being kept out of the Spurs side by other high-wage super talented players, he's being kept out the side because the manager is an idiot who always has to pick a top player to feud with.
But then why not sell him or loan him out? If he's not in the plans at £100,000/week, why keep those wages on the bench?
 

fletcherpost

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Morelos nets after a nice cut back frm Kent. Antwerp now need 3 goals as Rangers have 4 way goals. 5-3 agg to Gers.

PS: Any Prem team supporters would do well to look at Joe Aribo of Rangers. Regular for Nigeria since joining the club. I love his game. Great feet, strong on the ball, can pick a pass and score a good goal. Could be a bargain.

Edit: Auba nets for Arsenal 2-1 agg score.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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Pretty pass from Saka that cuts through the defensive line and a great chip finish from Aubamayeng over the keeper to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead and 2-1 on aggregate vs Benfica.

https://streamwo.com/e547262a
I'm watching this game in standard definition in Spanish(I don't speak Spanish) on whatever the fuck TUDN is on Verizon because what the hell is CBS All Access?
 

fletcherpost

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Bloody hell Antwerp get one back. Rangers look by far the better team, but they have to learn how to kill matches at this level.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Ouch, that free kick hurt. The tie ending 3-3 on aggregate and going out on "away goals" seems written in the stars for Arsenal.

This is why you need to press your talent advantage and make it register, which Arsenal haven't done. Benfica have created nothing across 135 minutes of football but shit happens in football and a jammy penalty here, a wondergoal free kick there, and all of a sudden its 2-2 and they have the advantage.
 

fletcherpost

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Gers back in front. Recently forgiven Covid breacher Nathan Patterson comes on as a sub for the booked Balogun and he does a run down the flank, cuts in and scores. 2-1 on the night and 6-4 agg.
 

fletcherpost

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Great move. Morelos beats his man, Kent make a slovely run to the near post, slots Morelos' speedy pass into the box, slots it home... 3-1 on the night.

But now Antwerp get one back. bloomin hell. Kill the game lads.
 

The Gray Eagle

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Ouch, that free kick hurt. The tie ending 3-3 on aggregate and going out on "away goals" seems written in the stars for Arsenal.

This is why you need to press your talent advantage and make it register, which Arsenal haven't done. Benfica have created nothing across 135 minutes of football but shit happens in football and a jammy penalty here, a wondergoal free kick there, and all of a sudden its 2-2 and they have the advantage.
Both teams score, and now it is indeed 3-3, with Arsenal in position to surely be the first team eliminated on "away" goals scored with both games played at a neutral site.
 

fletcherpost

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Barisic scores a penalty. 8-5 agg score and surely this tie is done with under ten mins and stoppage time to go.

I'd like to focus on this gonners match.

edit Typo, but i like it.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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Both goals by Aubameyang set up by fantastic passes from Saka. Amazing how good that kid looks. Seems to far outshine Pepe and Partey.
 

fletcherpost

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Leicester wont be in the draw for the last 16. Slavia Prague up by 2 away goals. I thought Leicester had a chance to win the whole thing so this is a surprise. But i guess top 4 is a priority for Leicester.
 

teddykgb

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Really hard to imagine how Hoffenheim and Leverkeusen seem to be crashing out at this stage. Is the Bundesliga weaker than we think?
 

Kliq

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Leicester wont be in the draw for the last 16. Slavia Prague up by 2 away goals. I thought Leicester had a chance to win the whole thing so this is a surprise. But i guess top 4 is a priority for Leicester.
Yeah, they never quite put it together this year in Europe. They really seem to be a team that plays up or down to their competition.
 

CodPiece XL

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Just a general question, has there been any evidence that lack of home crowds, because of Covid, has neutralized "home field advantage" statisically?
 

fletcherpost

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Just a general question, has there been any evidence that lack of home crowds, because of Covid, has neutralized "home field advantage" statisically?
A couple of weeks ago i was watching a match and they said (at the time) there had been more away wins than home wins in the league. There was one or two wins in it. It was close, but even so i thought it was a good indicator that home field advantage in the Covid wasnae all that. I dunno where to go to confirm that stat though. Or get the up to date one.
 

Tuff Ghost

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Just a general question, has there been any evidence that lack of home crowds, because of Covid, has neutralized "home field advantage" statisically?
Below is some interesting data showing the decline of home advantage in the Premier League (from two weeks ago).
In short, the data show both a "levelling" of home-away advantage and a swing in disciplinary trends. ESPN's Stats and Information Group analysed 288 Premier League games pre-lockdown from the 2019-20 season, and then the 317 matches since the restart (the remainder of 2019-20 and the 20-21 season so far). The resulting stats saw a drop in goals scored at home (from 1.5 to 1.4 pre- and post-lockdown) and an 18% increase in away goals after lockdown.

Away teams have also come away with better results: home wins have decreased by 2%, but away wins are 26% up from pre- to post-lockdown. Away team yellow cards have also decreased from an average of 1.9 per game to 1.5 per game in front of empty stands, even as fouls committed have stayed roughly the same
https://www.espn.com/soccer/english-premier-league/story/4312130/premier-leagues-home-edge-has-gone-in-pandemic-era-the-impact-of-fan-less-games-in-england-and-europe
 

fletcherpost

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The fact that "away" goals counted anything in this tie is beyond ridiculous. UEFA should have just let them play with no away goals rule in effect. [/soapbox]
Totally agree. Away goals were supposed to be deemed more valuable for the single obvious, clue is in the name, reason. Remove that reason there's no cause to weight away goals as per normal.
Just go extra time then pens or straight to pens in the event of a tie in these matches.
 

coremiller

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the1andonly3003

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Leicester wont be in the draw for the last 16. Slavia Prague up by 2 away goals. I thought Leicester had a chance to win the whole thing so this is a surprise. But i guess top 4 is a priority for Leicester.
I don't understand what they're doing. This could have been a legit chance to win a trophy.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I don't understand what they're doing. This could have been a legit chance to win a trophy.
They collapsed down the stretch last year due to injuries and fatigue taking their toll and are now facing somewhat of an injury crisis again with Fofana still out, Justin having suffered a big injury, and Maddison now having a recurrence of his hip problem. They were a bit thin even before those injuries and top four is probably their primary goal so I think Brodge was probably not too disappointed to go out of this competition.