Latest posts of: Velvet78

Bayern Munich surprised me in the Copenhagen game a lot. I was expecting a comfortable game for them honestly. But after seeing Copenhagen scoring first I really doubted Bayern Munich about the win. They finally scored the winning goal in the last ten minutes of the game but they must also be not satisfied with their performance.

I assume they didn't prepare well for this game. Maybe they underestimated their opponent I don't know. Because they didn't play like this against Manchester United in Allianz Arena. I'm confident about one thing that they will get more prepared for their next Champions League game.

Quote from: Zlantann on October 04, 2023, 08:56:44 AM

Too bad for André Onana. A goalkeeper who was one of the best in Europe is now a burden to his club. He has suddenly lost confidence and his performance is nothing to commend. He usually falls before any strike and has failed to make important saves. I have always complained when goalkeeper engage in risky passes close to their goalpost because a slight mistake can be disastrous. Although Galastataray lost the penalty it resulted in a red card against Casemiro which led to more pressure on the Manchester team. It is a shame to see if the best clubs in the world at the bottom of Group A that have low-rated teams like Copenhagen and Galatasaray. I don't know how long the Glazers will keep Erik Ten Hag as coach of the club. But we saw Højlund showing that the money invested in him was not a waste with a brace but his efforts were not well celebrated due to the loss.

It is just difficult to understand Onana right now. He is a very inconsistent goalkeeper in his career. I mean his performance at Inter was amazing in the previous season. He was one of the players who were talked about because of the number of saves he made in the Champions League. But he is desperate now.

He was like the most responsible player for the loss last night. That misplaced pass cost them too much. If it didn't happen maybe they couldn't have lost the game at least. Now I'm curious about whether ten Hag would give Altay Bayindir a chance in his place. ten Hag is also under pressure these days of course and he needs to try everything he can.

The Napoli - Real Madrid game met my expectations by far. Napoli tried their best to stand still against Real Madrid. But unfortunately they couldn't answer their third goal. I must admit that Real Madrid showed a great performance in Naples. Bellingham got on the stage again and became the man of the match as well.

Thanks to his performance of one goal and one assist Real Madrid managed to win here. Vinicius Junior also scored a goal and he is just continuing from the point he left after recovering from his injury. This win was critical for Real Madrid in terms of finishing this group as the leader.

Monaco are doing really great this season. They are very productive when it comes to scoring goals as well - 18 goals in 7 games. But their defending is not as solid as their attacking side. Therefore Monaco should focus on improving their defending more from now on. Because it won't be easy to keep being consistent during the season.

You need to stay solid in multiple areas to play bigger. This would be the only way to benefit from PSG's inconsistency. Lens missed the chance last season but I'm curious about whether it will be the same for Monaco as well. Monaco or some other team it would be nice to see a different champion.

Juventus weren't like on the pitch in the second half of the Atalanta game you know. But they still managed to get one point somehow by 0-0. Juventus aren't in bad condition this season. They are following the first two teams in the standings by only a few points. It looks like they will become more competitive than last season.

However as long as Inter and Milan go on like this I don't know how much longer Juventus can keep up with them. Especially Inter reassure me more than Milan about consistency. At least one of them would make it to the end as it seems.

Onana is just horrible at the moment. It is like this isn't the same goalkeeper in the previous season. You know how incredible he was back then. He was even the goalkeeper with most saves in the Champions League. But after increasing his market value and joining the Red Devils his performance started to drop very much.

It feels like this was the footsteps of Erik ten Hag's getting sacked. In addition to that Onana's time might not be that long at the same time. Because he is damaging the team rather than being beneficial. Apart from that congrats on the win for Galatasaray. It was totally deserved.

Things are still going on badly for Sevilla in the La Liga. It was like there was some progress in the Barcelona game. They managed to stand strong against Barcelona for a long time. But that unlucky goal prevented them from getting a point. I'm curious about whether Sevilla will maintain the same effort in the other games as well.

Their fixture is really challenging these days. PSV, Vallecano, Real Madrid and Arsenal are their next opponents respectively. I'm not very positive about especially the last two games but maybe they can do something good against PSV and especially Vallecano.

I decided to take that risk and placed a single bet on Chelsea to win. Thankfully they helped me win as well. Grin

Chelsea found 2 goals in 2 minutes. This was enough to finish off Fulham already. Mudryk and Broja put on a good show there. But the man of the match was Colwill as he worked really hard in this game.

This was just the win Chelsea needed. Their next game is going to be against Burnley away. I expect another win by Chelsea there. It would be a really important win as well because they are going to face Arsenal in Stamford Bridge right after that.

We are in another race week in Formula 1.

This time we are going to watch the Qatar GP and there is going to be a sprint race as well. They have introduced the trophy that Verstappen will win in Qatar already. Grin

I don't expect any unexpected result here honestly. Verstappen should be able to maintain his high dominance just as he did in Japan.

After the Singapore GP he has started to be even more ambitious. Because that result must be really demoralizing for him even though he is still very comfortable in the lead in the driver standings. I hope we can see at least one Ferrari driver on podium too.

In Group A there is a match between Manchester United and Galatasaray as well in Old Trafford tonight. Manchester United are believed to be the clear favourite for the win of course but it might not be that easy as expected. It depends on whether we will see progress in their performance tonight.

Because they have been really bad in the English Premier League since the beginning of the season. They seemed different in the first game of the Champions League though. But while they are this inconsistent it is hard to make sure of them. If Galatasaray have a good defending here then it wouldn't be easy for the Red Devils to get a comfortable win.

Currently Fulham have 3.55 and Chelsea have 2.08 odds for the win. I would have also expected this gap to much closer than this considering their current look. There isn't much difference between their starts to the season. I have been really indecisive about what to bet on for this game. Because I will make a single bet this time.

I assume I will try my luck with Chelsea this time. There must be a point that they get a win finally. I think this can be it. Not even being able to score a goal for the whole month is also a serious problem. But they need to recover immediately. While Fulham are also in bad condition maybe Chelsea can put an end to this bad streak.

Quote from: JeffBrad12 on October 02, 2023, 01:04:33 PM

Quote from: Velvet78 on October 02, 2023, 08:43:04 AM

Chelsea was so stupid enough to waste a good talent like him. I can't even believe how chelsea was not even using him as the main striker. Chelsea has been treating him so badly and this may also become the main reason why he was not willing to stay in the club.
That's quite an impressive performance from lukaku at this moment. It's caused by he was playing in a new club with a new environment. He needs also to bound with a lot of an unfamiliar player for him.
Lukaku was roma's opponent last season, but he can become team mate. It's unbeleivable thing in the football.

Chelsea were actually using Lukaku as the main striker in the past. But no matter how much they wanted Lukaku wasn't still able to perform well for them. This was the main reason why they sold him first. After seeing his journey at Inter they took a big risk and paid 113 million euros to sign him back.

But after that it was another disappointment. I always believed that it was a really wrong transfer. In the end you have a bad history with this player. What has changed that you decided to do this? Lukaku didn't have good chemistry with Chelsea and at least he isn't there anymore now.

Atletico Madrid are climbing the positions again by getting good results. Their big win against Real Madrid must be a huge motivation source for them that they have been on a winning streak of three games. Cadiz made some difficulties for them by getting 2-0 ahead. I was also surprised to see this as I expected the game to be under control for Atletico Madrid.

However this wasn't still any hindrance for Atletico Madrid to make the needed comeback. This ambition will carry them to the title race if they go on like this. They have a missing game as well so their points might be seen like 19 as I think they would beat Sevilla home.

Napoli - Real Madrid is obviously the biggest game tomorrow. The odds are just too close to each other. Real Madrid are favoured for the win by a small margin. But it will be a very challenging game for both teams that's for sure. Napoli have been a little inconsistent these days. They didn't make the start they exactly wanted.

But they are still a powerful team now. Real Madrid and them both couldn't get comfortable wins on the first week of the group stage. Therefore it is really hard to predict the result of this game. My opinion is that we can see a draw with goals here.

Quote from: legendbtc on October 02, 2023, 08:31:22 AM

Leverkusen are confident Xabi Alonso will not accept a potential offer to rejoin Real Madrid in 2024. Perhaps he is still focusing on Leverkusen. The team is off to a good start, and the players are in good spirits. Therefore, he still has a critical mission here, and leaving is difficult.
Leverkusen, under the leadership of Xabi Alonso, is flying high in the German National Championship with an unbeaten record after the first 6 rounds. Bayer Leverkusen is still one of the teams with the most impressive performances up to this point. They continue to lead the rankings. But they must try harder and not be subjective because their strength cannot be more muscular than Bayern.

It hasn't been much time since Xabi Alonso extended his contract with Leverkusen until 2026. However this is football and everything can change in an unexpected time. If he gets an offer from Real Madrid it might be a good example for that. Because Xabi Alonso has really good memories with Real Madrid.

I assume returning to his old home as a manager this time would also honour him. But it is very early to make such assumptions about this situation of course. One thing is certain for now that Ancelotti is leaving Real Madrid to join Brazil by next summer. After that we will see.

I liken Manchester United to Sevilla this season for now. I mean you know what Sevilla did last season. They were horrible in the La Liga most of the time. But on one hand their performance in the Europa League was marvelous after a point. They even won the Europa League title while not doing well in the La Liga.

I don't say that Manchester United will win the Champions League of course. Grin

But despite their poor effort in the Premier League so far their performance in the Champions League against Bayern Munich was really promising. It seems like they can concentrate on that tournament more currently.

Quote from: Woodie on October 02, 2023, 05:13:36 AM

Quote from: Velvet78 on October 01, 2023, 09:10:24 PM

I started to think that Kroos should stay at Real Madrid for 1-2 more seasons at least. He is still a useful player for the team now. Besides he isn't as old as Modric at the moment. Modric is 38 years old now so it would be the right decision to part ways with him at the end of the season. But Kroos should play a little longer.

Kroos is ~33 years old for crying out loud, are we saying these guys should now all be chasing 40 years just because some greats did it , No!
If this is allowed to happen then when do the young stars from Academy Football get a chance to play?? Honestly, with the few years to his name, he better be thinking of a handsome retirement package that can come from Saudi Arabia for starters...

I mean I feel like he can still do something good for Real Madrid for 1-2 years. But I don't mean that he should be in the starting eleven all the time. I also support the idea of giving the young midfielders in the squad more chances. They haven't signed them to make them wait in the substitutes in the end.

Modric should definitely leave considering that he is near 40. But as for Kroos he can be an alternative in the substitutes as long as the young players perform decently. But yeah maybe Kroos would get an offer from Saudi Arabia as well and everything can change.

Since Lukaku returned to the Serie A he has been performing decently again. He scored a goal against Frosinone as well and now he has 3 goals in 5 games in the league. It is good to see him back here rather than getting stuck with Chelsea. Because most probably he was going to continue having problems there.

However there isn't much difference between Chelsea and Roma in their leagues currently. Both of them are doing really bad. Roma need some winning streak to start recovering. Their upcoming games in the league are against Cagliari and Monza until a big game against Inter. They had better win both of those games to be more motivated against Inter.

Such an amazing statistics from Leverkusen so far and their next game is also easy peasy for them on paper - against Koln home. I have started wondering what team can stop them in the league right now. Even Bayern Munich couldn't do that but I assume it will happen in a really unexpected game so it is better to be careful while betting.

But no matter what they are a part of this title competition for real at least for now. But Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen are playing in a really disciplined way. Therefore I don't feel like they would have serious problems on that. Boniface has also drawn the attention to himself with his goals so far. If he goes on like this maybe we can start watching him at a bigger team as of next season.

I really wonder what happened to Rashford this season. I see him being quite unproductive since the beginning of the season. He scored only 1 goal in 7 league games so far. This is really poor statistics considering what he did in the previous season. The bad look of the team must have affected him mentally as well.

He has started to become selfish again as far as I can see. This isn't good at all. Manchester United need a solid team effort these days to start recovering again. Their target must be no less than finishing in top four. This needs a solid and consistent performance.