Red Star getting thrashed by PSG but still fighting bravely.
CL Season 2018-2019 Discussion
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Chelsea got away with it. Against a better side, like a Napoli or Benfica, they would have been knocked out. Had Chelsea lost, Sarri would have been given the sack.
England hasn't looked this dominant since the early 80s, before the ban from Europe as a result of the Heysel tragedy.
Even Ajax owes their success to their high pressing, high energy play and to do that at a high level of technical capability, it's just too much for most teams to handle. You need young players for this or superhuman fitness levels. As a result, guys at 30 years of age, like Cesc or Ozil, are burning out.
To watch football how it's played today compared to how it was played circa 1994, it's almost like watching a different sport. The game has become so fast. There's almost no time to even think on the ball anymore. Right now, no one plays faster, harder and at a high level of technical play than the English. Only Barcelona and Ajax outside of England play anything like that kind of football. Everyone else plays more conservatively looking to manage games at a certain tempo. These teams look to raise the tempo and atmosphere as much as possible.
International football is the one world where it still played at a more normal pace. But club football is now a different animal altogether.
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Originally posted by Don Giovanni View PostChelsea got away with it. Against a better side, like a Napoli or Benfica, they would have been knocked out. Had Chelsea lost, Sarri would have been given the sack.
England hasn't looked this dominant since the early 80s, before the ban from Europe as a result of the Heysel tragedy.
Even Ajax owes their success to their high pressing, high energy play and to do that at a high level of technical capability, it's just too much for most teams to handle. You need young players for this or superhuman fitness levels. As a result, guys at 30 years of age, like Cesc or Ozil, are burning out.
To watch football how it's played today compared to how it was played circa 1994, it's almost like watching a different sport. The game has become so fast. There's almost no time to even think on the ball anymore. Right now, no one plays faster, harder and at a high level of technical play than the English. Only Barcelona and Ajax outside of England play anything like that kind of football. Everyone else plays more conservatively looking to manage games at a certain tempo. These teams look to raise the tempo and atmosphere as much as possible.
International football is the one world where it still played at a more normal pace. But club football is now a different animal altogether.
The English teams play with such pace, many teams just can't live with them. I have been advocating extending each half to 50 minutes to tire out the players more because modern players are far fitter than previous generations.
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I don't know about extending the halves, as I think that would be interpreted in a way that would eliminate injury time. Maybe it's a good idea to allow keepers to pick the ball up after a back-pass, but unlike before, limit keepers to do so only within their 6-yard box. I think that's something FIFA should look into.
They will need to moderate the pace a bit mainly for the World Cup. If players keep this up, they will burn out too much by the end of the season. We've seen it happen before. The poor quality of the 2002 World Cup was in part a consequence of players, like Zidane, burning out. They're a bit smarter about that now, but even so Iniesta, Torres, Pique, Cesc, and Xavi were carrying injuries into the 2010 World Cup when Spain had won. They almost missed out. In my view, they'll need to change something to ease up the speed of play a bit.
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Originally posted by Don Giovanni View PostI don't know about extending the halves, as I think that would be interpreted in a way that would eliminate injury time. Maybe it's a good idea to allow keepers to pick the ball up after a back-pass, but unlike before, limit keepers to do so only within their 6-yard box. I think that's something FIFA should look into.
They will need to moderate the pace a bit mainly for the World Cup. If players keep this up, they will burn out too much by the end of the season. We've seen it happen before. The poor quality of the 2002 World Cup was in part a consequence of players, like Zidane, burning out. They're a bit smarter about that now, but even so Iniesta, Torres, Pique, Cesc, and Xavi were carrying injuries into the 2010 World Cup when Spain had won. They almost missed out. In my view, they'll need to change something to ease up the speed of play a bit.
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Hmmm interesting video! I am thinking would if like 30 min halfs with clock stopping at outages of 45 min half's with more accurate injury time. I cant see 30 min halfs happening but why not 45 min halfs and the referee has the ability to stop game time when it's excessive, they do that in the NRL and it works well
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What a lousy final. The game was decided after 30 seconds and next to nothing happened thereafter other than Origi's goal. This was disappointing considering both sides were known to play exciting, goal-getting, end-to-end football.
Van Dijk was the one player to standout for me. He initiated the attacking move that led to the penalty. The ball was bobbling about in the early nervy moments of the game, but he intercepted the ball with a deft header while in a midfield position, and that settled the ball and allowed Liverpool to catch Tottenham somewhat off balance. It caught Sissoko unnerved and desperately attempting to wave a teammate into position, which led to his arm getting struck and thus the penalty call. Moreover, Van Dijk was unbeatable at the back and gave Liverpool total confidence despite Tottenham dominating possession for much of the early going. He was a pillar of composure and confidence with which Liverpool built their 6th European champions success, albeit on a rather forgettable night of football.
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