Latest posts of: Velvet78

Milan couldn't even beat Salernitana on the previous week which led them to fall behind Inter and Juventus more. After this they are about to host Sassuolo at San Siro. I'm not very comfortable with Milan to win this game either. Because as you know Inter have only one loss so far and this loss was against Sassuolo home as well.

Thinking how Sassuolo beat the strongest team of the league away I can't really fully trust Milan to beat them. Sad

I'm only confident about both teams to score for this game. Sassuolo could even be the first team to score.

Arteta is keen on strengthening Arsenal squad even more by some transfers in January transfer window.

I really like his mentality. He is very competitive and hungry for achievements. By saying achievements I mean titles of course. Because the titles he has won so far are FA Cup and English Super Cup ones.

He must be targeting to get bigger titles as soon as possible. They actually deserve to achieve a Premier League title in his management. They just need to be more consistent in critical time periods. They are a title competitor this season as well just like the previous one. If they don't mess up on final weeks again then they could really go for it maybe.

Madueke's goal from a penalty in the last minutes was the savior for Chelsea.

He entered the game in the 71st minute to be the hero. Actually there was a goal disallowed due to offside as well like 10 minutes before this goal. It would have been good for Jackson if that goal was counted. Besides I didn't understand why Pochettino put Nkunku behind him.

I mean I know that second striker is also one of Nkunku's positions in which he can play. But he is very effective as a centre-forward as well. While Jackson is having a bad season why wouldn't you prefer Nkunku in his position?

Lens are continuing on their way with the Europa League from now on. They were really impressive in their Champions League group at first. They even beat Arsenal home you know. I started to think about whether they can make it to last 16 as well. But they couldn't do well in the games later on. They at least beat Sevilla the last time to come here.

Freiburg is their opponent now. Freiburg can be a quite tough matchup for them as they are one of the decent teams of the Bundesliga. But they aren't a team that Lens can't eliminate of course. Lens have made a lot of progress in the Ligue 1 recently. If they keep up this performance in the Europa League too then they can get past Freiburg obstacle.

Quote from: Strongkored on December 28, 2023, 09:45:05 AM

I quite doubt that Atletico Madrid and Barcelona still have a chance to be in the title race because the difference of seven points is not a small number when faced with Real Madrid and Girona teams who have been very consistent this season, indeed both of them have lost and also achieved draws but how Real Madrid and Girona were able to recover quickly in the next match, making them a team that rarely loses points.
It's true that this is still halfway through and with twenty matches still to play many things can happen and change the current standings, but once again Atletico Madrid and Barcelona are facing teams that are very consistent while the two of them are the opposite, we'll see how Atletico failed to get full point when facing Getafe and also how Barcelona lost at home to Girona, so my prediction this season will only be a competition between Real Madrid and Girona and I can see a quite pleasant surprise where Girona will become champions.

There is a long way down the road and it is all up to what Real Madrid and Girona will do in the rest of the season. I have really admired Girona's performance so far. They really seem like they are determined to do their best for even the league title. However I still doubt them much more than Real Madrid of course.

In the end Girona don't have a very impressive squad. It is all thanks to their solid teamwork. If this is broken somehow in the second half of the season then they can suddenly fall behind Real Madrid a lot. But I feel like Real Madrid won't have a very bad time period in that part of the season. I expect them to win the title for now.

Dropping down to the seventh position is really bad for Napoli. The last game was a disaster as well. Getting two red cards and a 2-0 loss against Roma... This was their third loss in their last five league games. They need to stand up and fight harder immediately. Otherwise not much time later Mazzarri would also start to be criticized heavily.

Napoli board don't seem very patient as they sacked Rudi Garcia very quickly. Mazzarri must also be aware of this fact and he should find a way to improve this bad form. While there are many teams being competitive for top 4 Napoli are just making things harder for themselves.

I think Lyon have given a nice gift to their supporters before entering the New Year. Because they have started to improve finally by winning their last three league games. Doing this was enough to carry them out of the relegation zone as well. The team are still in a danger zone of course but at least this must be some relief for them.

One of those wins were even an away win against Monaco. You know Monaco are the third team in the standings now so this win was an enormous one for Lyon. Lacazette is also in form these days which is great news for the team. With his big help they can really get to safety.

Manchester City have been the much better playing side in this game all along. Thankfully they have managed to make the needed comeback so far. But there are still at least 13 minutes to be played in the game while the score is 2-1. Manchester City had better score another one to seal the deal. Otherwise Everton might catch them by surprise once again.

For now Everton's xG is not far away from zero. But this kind of scores are always dangerous for the better side no matter what. Manchester City have been experiencing really difficult days in the Premier League recently you know. A win is all they need now.

Quote from: Oluwa-btc on December 25, 2023, 02:52:38 PM

Quote from: Velvet78 on December 25, 2023, 08:34:11 AM

The Manchester teams and Liverpool are all targeting to sign Joshua Kimmich as it seems. He has less than 2 years left on his contract at the moment. I wonder when Bayern Munich are planning to make a contract extension offer to him. Because I believe he is still one of the most important players of the team. He is a critical player in the midfield.

His current market value is 75 million euros by the way. I don't think Bayern Munich would drop down from this level. Are those teams really willing to sign him still? Especially Manchester United would make use of a solid defensive midfielder transfer while their defense is in bad shape.

I'll take this to be speculation, Liverpool needs a defender and not Joshua Kimmich. Besides, they're not in the Champions League how do you attract such a player? In the January Transfer Window? This is nowhere near close.
Two years not that bad bit tjis is a player that was integrated from the feeder team by Pep Guardiola. I don't believe he'll leave Bayern Munich for another club. He'll be a legend of Bayern Munich one day.

A move to Manchester United would hinder the development of Kobbie Mainoo, though they'll be needing experience alongside the young. He shouldn't consider the move to Manchester United. They shouldn't end his beautiful career.

Maybe they can attract his attention by the position they are at in the Premier League standings now. Because they are fighting for the league title you know. Even if they don't make it to the title it seems like they will have a ticket for the Champions League group stage at worst. If they make the offer to Kimmich at the end of the season it could be more attracting.

But Kimmich must already be happy at Bayern Munich now. They are winning the Bundesliga title like every season and they can do nice things in the Champions League too this season.

Quote from: Oluwa-btc on December 25, 2023, 12:12:16 PM

Quote from: Velvet78 on December 25, 2023, 08:26:51 AM

Barcelona have lost so many points recently. Their form in their last 5 league games is really poor which caused them to be left behind by Girona and Real Madrid more in points. In addition to that Atletico Madrid also have got ahead of them. Barcelona really need to make a big improvement in this form if they want to be a part of the title competition.

They can start by beating Las Palmas away next week. But I must admit that this isn't an easy task for them. Because if you remember Las Palmas beat Atletico Madrid home before. They have a potential to surprise Barcelona as well.

Xavi Hernandez will try to make things right when the second half of the season begins. Barcelona are good at giving time to their legends. A good example is Koeman who was worst than Xavi Hernandez, regardless of the poor performance and results he was still backed up by the management and given time to fix the club. It was obvious he wasn't the man for the club.

Finishing on top of the league getting doubtful, but finishing top four would be possible to achieve. They're not same club, Barcelona regardless of all these things remains a big club. Real Madrid would win the league or Girona in my opinion.

Koeman was given some more time indeed. However I remember the chairman Laporta said once that they were believing in him but sacked him a really short time after that. Grin

However Xavi's situation is not the same with Koeman of course. At least he made Barcelona win the La Liga title in the previous season.

I don't feel like Xavi will get sacked if they can't win the title again by the end of this season. But they should be able to finish at the second position at worst. As Girona and Atletico Madrid are also creating a big competition I'm curious about how this season will end.

Garnacho was really the hero for Manchester United last night as he scored the first two goals to make the team believe in a comeback. Hojlund put an end to this great comeback and it is nice for him to score his first goal of the season in the Premier League. The guy was able to score goals in the Champions League but it was the opposite when it comes to this league. Sad

Manchester United spent a lot of money for Hojlund transfer so he had better improve his performance from now on. Emery must be really devastated as they couldn't maintain a big advantage. Liverpool already won and probably Arsenal will also win to open the gap with Aston Villa in the standings.

Quote from: Despairo on December 27, 2023, 04:10:26 AM

Barcelona wasn't in their good form, but it's a big joke if they're lose against Shakhtar Donetsk and Royal Antwerp because both of them are in different level. If Manchester United was in this group, I believe Manchester United will able to qualify for knockout stage.

Either Barcelona or Napoli win the match, their next match is against Arsenal which I think they would lose.

Are you sure that the winner of the Napoli - Barcelona matchup will have a draw against the winner of the Porto - Arsenal matchup? Because I can't find any information related to the quarter final draw now. Maybe we might have a brand new draw for that stage. But if this really happens then I also think Arsenal will eliminate Porto first and then do the same for their next opponent as well.

I'm saying this no matter which one is their opponent. Because Arsenal are currently more powerful than both of Napoli and Barcelona. But when it comes to making a comment on which one of them to advance to the quarter finals I'm closer to Napoli for now.

Union Berlin are really fighting for their safety in the standings these days. After losing to Bochum really badly they managed to react against Koln and make up for that loss. There is still a gap of 3 points between them and the relegation zone though but they have a missing game to play as well. Hopefully we can see them reaching safety as soon as possible.

Because it isn't nice to see a team in this situation despite being far better in the previous season. They qualified for the Champions League I mean but now they are battling for not relegating from the Bundesliga. Sad

Now they aren't a part of any other European tournament so they can fully focus on the Bundesliga.

PSG are really in quite comfortable position now in the league standings. They are 5 points safe from Nice now. Everything is fine for PSG for so many weeks as well. It has been a long while since they last lost a game here. Luis Enrique should make sure it stays this way for a longer time period as well. No matter what this league is really easy for PSG on paper.

Maybe they started the season inconsistently but now they are impressive in the league. I can't say the same for their Champions League performance but anyway. Winning the Ligue 1 title is always their priority. Because even if they don't manage to win that then something is really wrong with them. Sad

Quote from: abhiseshakana on December 25, 2023, 04:00:23 PM

Chelsea actually played quite well and dominated the match, it's just that they wasted some of the good opportunities they got. The striker does have the task of scoring goals, but if in a situation his teammates have a better position to score goals, then he should be able to put his ego aside and choose to make an assist. I think Wolves deserved the win because even though they lost possession of the ball, Wolves had pretty good teamwork (One thing that Chelsea might take for granted).

Chelsea had nearly 2.00 xG but still couldn't score their second goal. They scored their only goal barely in the last moments thanks to Nkunku. This is his first goal for Chelsea by the way. It is good to see him starting to contribute this quickly because Chelsea could really make use of his contribution these days. Even that didn't help Chelsea to win against Wolves here though.

Chelsea have a really serious defensive problems this season and they still can't make progress. Pochettino should think about this in January and find a way to solve it. Maybe with a transfer or a tactical change but he had better be quick about that.

Arsenal are moving on really nicely in the Champions League. After a long break they are doing a pretty good job in this tournament. They are playing really different thanks to Arteta's management style and I'm sure they will do their best to be one of the title contenders here as well. Of course their priority is to win the English Premier League title.

But I don't expect them to lose their focus in the Champions League either. Because they have a really solid potential to have a good achievement here this season. They can start by pushing Porto out of the competition in this phase. It shouldn't be the most difficult task for them.

Bologna are still moving on determinedly on their way. They faced two tough teams to beat consecutively recently but they still managed to beat both of them - Atalanta and Roma. They are officially a top 4 contender for me especially after these important wins.

They haven't been losing for five weeks in the league.

Until facing Milan at the end of January I think Bologna's fixture isn't much challenging as well. They can continue without a loss until then. But in San Siro against Milan I don't know whether they can keep this up. They lost to Fiorentina away and maybe they could lose another big away game.

Quote from: Ndabagi01 on December 24, 2023, 10:14:42 PM

Quote from: Velvet78 on December 24, 2023, 09:43:13 PM

Arsenal are most likely to end this year at the first position. Because they are going to play a home game against West Ham next time. I don't think they would lose points in this game. I expected them to lose against Liverpool at Anfield but they still got one point at least. I think this will be a more comfortable one for Arsenal to win.

West Ham newly beat Manchester United though but there is a big difference between Arsenal and the Red Devils these days. Arsenal would probably show the difference clearly in this game. Grin

In the same way I expect Liverpool to beat Burnley as well.

I'm not going to proclaim Arsenal as league champions just yet, despite their one-point shared with Liverpool in their last match. Liverpool is also in a better position to win the league, and with how these two teams are currently performing and playing, we will see a very tight and fierce race between the two of them. Arsenal's next game against West Ham will be crucial because West Ham is not a team that can be underestimated, but I am still confident that Arsenal will win. Similarly, I believe Liverpool will easily defeat Burnley.

I meant 2023 by saying end of the year. But I must admit that it had two meanings. Grin

Winning against West Ham at Emirates would be a wonderful gift to their fans before the New Year.

But if we talk about the end of the season it is really early to make sure about something. For example Manchester City are 6 points behind the leader and there are 3 teams between as well. But they can also finish the season as the champions. We have newly reached the end of the first part of the season in the end.