Latest posts of: Velvet78

After a break of two weeks Leverkusen are continuing to win. Even on those weeks they got draws so they are still unbeaten since the beginning of the season. Even Bayern Munich lost once so far. This shows how amazing job Xabi Alonso and his players have been doing until this point.

This time they destroyed Frankfurt by 3-0.

Boniface's finish on the first goal was really lovely. Leverkusen were very dominant in this game. They didn't let Frankfurt do much against themselves. I mean this is the same Frankfurt that demolished Bayern Munich by 5-1 on the previous week. Grin

I refrained from the possibility of Inter to lose points away against Lazio and didn't bet on them as a result. But now I wish I did. Grin

Because they got a nice 2-0 win over Lazio despite their bad away record against Lazio in the recent seasons. It seems like Lazio are really bad this season that they couldn't take advantage of this record against them.

The game was quite balanced actually as you can understand from the statistics of the game as well. But Lazio were really bad at finishing. Immobile couldn't score in the previous two games and this continued against Inter too. If he was able to do so then Lazio would have resisted stronger.

Quote from: Majestic-milf on December 18, 2023, 10:00:34 AM

TBH, Liverpool is not the Liverpool of last season so it's not something that should be surprising about their performance yesterday. You can imagine a club which had less of their good players in action could still hold Jurgen Klopp's men to a goalless draw can tell one a lot. Man UTD are the only club who haven't lost at the Anfield this season and while yesterday was a day to change the record, Liverpool went ahead to flop it.
I also must commend Erik's tactic in the game yesterday as they defended more than they attacked. Infact the best way to describe their pattern was like that of a weak team which when overlooked can turn things around on the head and punish you for it as Liverpool were almost punished for their overconfidence.
This draw means they aren't at the first spot and for me I feel that was what Man UTD was hoping to achieve.

Actually Liverpool were much worse than this in the first half of the previous season. If you remember they started to perform much better in the second half of that season but even that wasn't enough for them to finish the league in top 4. Right now their first half performance in the season is much better. At least the number of points they have collected and their position are.

But it is true that their performance at finishing their goal opportunities was really poor against Manchester United as I also said in my previous post. They are still unbeaten for many weeks though but they had better improve their scoring performance again.

Despite dealing with many injuries Real Madrid are still unstoppable in the La Liga. I mean they got a draw against Betis recently of course but I meant not losing a single game for so many weeks.

This time they played a home game against Villarreal and destroyed them by 4-1. Villarreal were just desperate against them that they couldn't even find much chance to score. 0.68 xG must be telling everything about their performance in the game. Bellingham continues to score and keep his lead in top scorers standings. But I must admit Modric's assist to him was really amazing.

Stuttgart had a really rough day against Bayern Munich. Sad

They couldn't be effective in the attacking line much at Allianz Arena. In the second half they were in much worse condition. We just saw the strength gap between two sides very clearly in short. If the game was in Stuttgart then I'm curious what would have happened.

I think then Stuttgart would be able to play much better and Guirassy would also find more chances to score. But we won't find out about it for a long while for now. The odds were quite nice to bet on Bayern Munich and they didn't prove me wrong thankfully.

PSG have finally got ahead by a penalty goal scored by Mbappe now. Lille have been making difficulties for them in the second half. PSG couldn't maintain their dominance in the first half but they are still 1-0 ahead now. Lille were already a tough matchup especially in an away game. PSG have many missing players at the same time.

But this isn't still a big obstacle for them to continue winning their league games. Despite having some inconsistencies in the league at the beginning they have been on a wonderful winning streak for so many weeks. I wonder which team will stop this streak.

Quote from: Oluwa-btc on December 17, 2023, 01:25:40 PM

Quote from: Velvet78 on December 17, 2023, 09:16:58 AM

It is too early to make such comment in my opinion. Because there are 22 more games to be played for Napoli. Everything can change significantly in this time period. Mazzarri isn't a very successful manager considering his whole career so I wouldn't be so sure about him already. He doesn't have a much different career than Rudi Garcia in the end.

This win over Cagliari was good for Napoli. This would surely improve their morale to play better in next games. But we need to see some consistency from them in the future to be able to trust them more for betting on them as well. For now I will continue to avoid betting on them.

Staying Consistent shouldn't be too much of a big deal for Napoli. They have to play again like they did last season even of that'll be difficult to see. They did yesterday though, I saw togetherness amongst the players and the first half was also filled with chances and entertainment.

Asides them next game against As Roma, the next four games in the league won't be difficult, only if they avoid getting Injured and stay focused. A little bit of fatigue could come up when they begin the second phase of the Champions League round of sixteen. Goal ans assist for Victor Oshime, he's goal was great but have you seen his assist for Khivicha Kvaratskhelia? That was a great game for them.

I have seen Osimhen's incredible assist, yeah. Grin

He told us with that amazing assist that he was ready to rock again. Osimhen's best performance is really needed for Napoli to recover quicker. They need to get better in big games as well in time. They can do this by having a bigger scoring productivity from now on.

That Roma game is really going to be challenging for Napoli next time. It is an away game and Roma would definitely like to win this game to have a morale boost and put an end to their bad streak as well. This is another big test for Mazzarri so let's see what he will do.

Quote from: 3meek on December 17, 2023, 09:40:55 AM

Quote from: Velvet78 on December 17, 2023, 09:14:02 AM

I think this week will end really badly for Manchester City. Because I believe Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa all are in a situation to be able to win their games this week. Liverpool can win against Manchester United home easily while Manchester United are bad at defending. Arsenal should be able to beat Brighton home as well.

Aston Villa are playing an away game against Brentford but Brentford are really bad this season. They were able to win only once on their last 5 game weeks in the league. I don't think they can hold off Aston Villa from winning another game.

Yes, Man City lost points where they should have earned them... Arsenal and Liverpool can really widen the gap in the standings... As for Aston Villa, I think they are really favourites to win against Brentford... But Aston Villa have a bad away record against Brentford... I think they might draw...

It was nearly exactly what I expected from these teams but Liverpool failed among them. I was never expecting such poor performance from Liverpool about finishing.

They literally dominated the whole game. Their xG was 2.66 just can you imagine that? Grin

They should have been able to score a couple of goals and get a comfortable win. It seems like Manchester United were really on their lucky day. Normally their defending isn't reliable at all. But somehow they managed to resist Liverpool from the beginning to the end.

Quote from: Plaguedeath on December 17, 2023, 09:00:25 AM

Xavi think he's Zinedine Zidane, but he's actually Frank Lampard Cheesy

He's only play in 3 teams, he doesn't get a lot experience and good adaption when there's something wrong with his team, so he will keep use a same strategy over and over, he's not dare to make a big movement.

It's time to wait Barcelona get destroyed because of poor management.

I don't know. Actually in his first times Xavi made a really big impact on Barcelona's performance. The team recovered very much after that horrible Koeman period and they won the La Liga title as well. But now it is true that they are inconsistent in the league recently. They have qualified for last 16 round in the Champions League on one hand.

But if they can't be competitive enough for the La Liga title this season then I'm curious about what the board would think about his future. His current contract ends in the summer of 2025. I feel like he would have another chance because of making this team champions in the La Liga previously.

This week is really wonderful for Leipzig. Because they won their game against Hoffenheim first. Dortmund lost two points against Augsburg in the meantime which helped Leipzig get away from them more in the standings. Probably Bayern Munich will beat Stuttgart home today as well which will make Leipzig capture the third place.

But I believe we will see a great competition for top 4 positions among Leipzig, Stuttgart and Dortmund until the end of the season. Maybe Dortmund are 5 points behind Stuttgart right now but I think they will stay in this competition anyway. If they can't finish in top 4 then probably Terzic might get sacked. Sad

Quote from: Belarge on December 17, 2023, 12:45:08 AM

Walter Mazzarri jobs seems to be in safe hands this season, there's absolutely no going back or hesitating, now he will focus on dominating more prime positions and aiming for the best results in Napoli upcoming matches. Next time you put some respect on the name, Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. They're the best players currently available in the club, we watch how everything changes for the club once they've these important players in the frontlines. Winning Cagliari was a little bit difficult for them because the visitors didn't come here to play, they mean business and everything that follows was great and outstanding.

Athletic Bilbao was a really tough matchup for Atletico Madrid as it seems that they lost by 2-0 away. The first half was horrible for Atletico Madrid already. They weren't even close to scoring a goal in the whole half. When it comes to the second half they were better but still no goal. Athletic Bilbao punished their weaknesses really well and deserved this win.

On the same day Sevilla hosted Getafe and got a huge defeat by 3-0. I really don't know how Sevilla will save themselves. Diego Alonso would get sacked soon I assume. I mean maybe there hasn't been much time since he came. But Sevilla are known by replacing their manager very often in the recent years.

Chelsea are said to be after Aaron Ramsdale to transfer him in January due to an injury picked up by Robert Sanchez. However no matter he is injured or not I don't think he is a goalkeeper that is at Chelsea standards. He is prone to make mistakes just like Onana has been for Manchester United. Therefore it would be really better for Chelsea if they get Ramsdale.

Arsenal are already willing to sell him as far as I know. As long as there is an agreement on fee I don't expect anything else to hinder this transfer. Since Raya started to be in the starting lineup Ramsdale must also be keen on leaving the team for more playing time. Sad

Manchester City are a big failure for their fans these days. I mean they are like that at least in the Premier League despite doing good in the Champions League. Without Haaland they are weaker in the attacking line maybe but we are still talking about Manchester City which won the Champions League title without Haaland's score contribution in the semi finals and finale in the previous season. Grin

There is a big problem with their defending seemingly despite having solid players. It was really unexpected that they couldn't keep their 2-0 score advantage against a team like Crystal Palace at Etihad. Guardiola had better figure out what's wrong otherwise the other title challengers can have a quite serious gap with them.

Lens - Reims game has been going on quite interestingly. Reims have had a bigger xG than their opponent so far however Lens are leading by 1-0 now. Actually there is a goal disallowed for Reims side first due to offside. Otherwise things could have been different now. I like the game the manager Will Still makes his players play so I don't expect them to give up easily.

After getting eliminated from the Champions League and moving on with the Europa League Lens had better be focused on the Ligue 1 even more. They couldn't start the season well but now they can still fight for top 4 for a chance to rejoin the Champions League.

Leroy Sane's name has been called with a couple of big teams recently. One of them is Manchester City and the other one is Real Madrid if I'm not wrong. Manchester City want their old player back in the squad as it seems after seeing how he has been performing so far. I don't even know how they were okay with sending him in the first place.

However I'm not sure about whether he would like to go back while he is happy with his performance at Bayern Munich. Maybe his answer could be the same against the Real Madrid option as well if he doesn't have a dream of playing for Real Madrid or so. I think he should stay while he has a great chemistry with Kane.

Quote from: Oluwa-btc on December 15, 2023, 11:16:15 PM

Quote from: Velvet78 on December 15, 2023, 10:08:21 PM

Tottenham started the game week by a decent win over Nottingham by 2-0. This time Ange Postecoglou put Son on the left wing and preferred Richarlison in the centre-forward position. Both of these players showed good performances after that. However Kulusevski was definitely the man of the match as he scored a goal and made an assist.

Now Tottenham are on a winning streak of two games. They really need to keep this streak as long as possible to recover. They need that not to fall too behind the teams at top as well otherwise they might have bigger problems on even finishing the season in top 4.

The big man from Sweden wasn't nowhere to be found when he was right behind Richardlison, that formation did not work honestly. The Injury made his change plans and brought him to his main role for the club. He was free and was allowed to roam freely on his own. With that, he was able to locate Richardlison who was also located in the right spot to receive the ball with the ball with jishead Into the back of the net.

With so much high pressing from Tottenham Hotspur, same man who linked the Brazilian to score was able to track that ball from the poor efforts of the goalkeeper who was trying to clear of that ball. It was powerful shot or should I say poor goalkeeping from Forest goalkeeper. Gald they could hold down forest tonight. The host attacked well in the first half until that goal came in.

Arsenal fans be supporting Manchester United so they could go top of the league. Lol! I'd love that, Liverpool are one of them strongest rivals against Manchester United from way back! ( Liverpool and Leeds United )

Yeah Arsenal fans will definitely be supporting Manchester United at the weekend. Grin

However they must be also aware of the facts now that Manchester United are in big trouble. Liverpool will probably be crushing them at Anfield tomorrow evening. If the match was to be played at Old Trafford then maybe I could have given the Red Devils more chance.

But I assume even in that situation they could have lost against Liverpool. They couldn't beat Chelsea home in the first place. Coming back to the game tomorrow Erik ten Hag needs a lot of luck not to lose the game by a big goal gap. Because their defense is very alarming. Sad

Quote from: Oluwa-btc on December 15, 2023, 11:36:44 AM

Quote from: Velvet78 on December 14, 2023, 10:25:18 PM

Atletico Madrid are technically doing a little better than Barcelona in the league now. Despite having a missing game to play they have the same points with Barcelona now and they are ahead in the standings as well. That loss against Girona by Barcelona was telling us a lot of things. Barcelona are still inadequate in some ways to maintain their title competition comfortably.

In a couple of weeks Atletico Madrid are also going to face Girona so I'm curious about what will happen in that game as well. I don't feel like Atletico Madrid defense would be as weak as Barcelona's then. But first Simeone needs to deal with Athletic Bilbao away. It will be quite a difficult game for them.

That missing gake would be Sevilla and it seems like they'll also defeat Sevilla who are also currently struggling to find balance. They've faced challenges from the Champions League and La Liga. Back to Atletico Madrid, they're going well and like you said are much better position even with one game less.
Barcelona needs to find ways to start scoring goals and also stop conceding too many goals in between with that tjey can be stabilized and start chasing for the league once again.

Facing Girona? Girona needs no introduction and they should already know that they are not the club they want to underestimate anymore. After qualifications for the Champions League knockouts, I hope tired legs and fatigue doesn't affects them in this game.

That missing game of Atletico Madrid against Sevilla are going to be played on December 23 by the way. Sevilla are a big disappointment this season in every tournament so I don't expect much from them in this tough away match either. Atletico Madrid have made a better start this season and I expect a convincing win from them here.

I'm even curious about the possibility of Sevilla to relegate from the La Liga. Huh

Because they are only 3 points above this zone and they have been able to win only 2 out of 15 games so far. This is the worst kind of scenario Sevilla would like to have I assume. Now they are out of European tournaments completely so they had better fully concentrate on the La Liga to reach safety.

Quote from: Oluwa-btc on December 14, 2023, 12:33:32 PM

Quote from: Velvet78 on December 14, 2023, 08:54:12 AM

Maybe Barcelona were already comfortable as they guaranteed finishing the group as the leader. However I still wouldn't have expected them to lose to Antwerp in the last game. Antwerp also had no goal to achieve left in the end. Barcelona should have played better and won this game. Xavi also stated how bad they were in this game.

They lost two games in this comfortable group so I'm curious about their performance in later rounds. If they don't get lucky with the draw I think they would be likely to get eliminated early. But at least there is some progress as they couldn't even get past the group stage in the recent seasons.

That's the only advantage they had last otherwise they'd have been knocked out of the competition ( Champions League ) already. They are going from bad to worst. After losing to Girona over the weekend I was thinking they want to change the cause of them performance and step up but they couldn't. In fact sime fans are already calling out for the sack of Xavi Hernandez that under his watch the club are going from bad to worst.

They have all the time to buckle up if you have to ask me, they'll do better in the league and it'll reflect on how they play during the round of sixteen next year. They have all of the remaining days in December.

If Barcelona don't win the La Liga title this season then Xavi's seat might be really under threat. There is progress in the Champions League as they have reached further the group stage this time. But I have big doubts about them to continue much longer here. It depends on the draw as well of course. If they get a draw against Copenhagen for example then they could reach the quarter finals too.

But the La Liga is everything for Barcelona thinking about their long-running rivalry between them and Real Madrid. Right now things aren't going well for Barcelona there at all. I don't know how much credit Xavi has in the board now. Maybe a good success in the Champions League might be enough to give him another chance for the title in the La Liga next season as well but let's see.