Discussing the second legs of the quarterfinals and looking ahead to the semifinals

The Uefa Champions League is down to its last four teams.

1 from Spain: Barcelona

1 from Netherlands: Ajax

2 from England: Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool

The semifinals begin tomorrow but before we get to that, let's discuss what happened in the previous round.

Porto 1 x 4 Liverpool

Porto 1 x 6 Liverpool on aggregate.

After the first leg in England everyone more or less felt like this was a done deal and that comes with no disrespect towards the Portuguese side, considering the roster talent on each side, the level they are currently playing in and the result of the first leg this was the Reds' trip to the semifinal to lose and in a somewhat more pragmatic style of play than the one they employed last year they managed to keep Porto at bay throughout the 180 minutes, Virgil Van Dijk continues his extraordinary run of form that has turned him into undoubtedly the best defender in the world and at least to me a lock to be amongst the top 3 for the Ballon D'or award, Messi is also a lock that goes without saying, he maybe should be even a lock to win it regardless of what happens from now until the end of the season.

Getting back to both teams this seemed like Porto's ceiling and it would take something truly extraordinary for them to go through as for Liverpool accounting for every factor in play I really see them as the favourites to win the competition and also obviously favourites to beat Barcelona in the semifinals, this doesn't mean that there is too much between the two sides and beyond Messi pulling something out ofof nowhere, there's not much more to rely on for Barcelona fans, I just see Liverpool at a higher level collectively, individually it's a coinflip but for anyone that's seen both of them this year it's clear there's a gap there.


Barcelona 3 x 0 Manchester United

Barcelona 4 x 0 Manchester United on aggregate

Before we address anything I have a small rant to go on.

For anybody that follows football closely and even more for all of the Manchester United fans aren't you just sick and tired of hearing about Paul Pogba transfer rumors I mean enough either stay or ask for a transfer, this is a guy that's been there for three years and every other week we get the same stuff whether is Real Madrid, Juventus or even Barcelona is just exhausting.

When Solskjaer came in and they improved their level of performance while still maintaining a counterattacking style of play that's for those of you who said United can't be a counterattacking team because of their history all while praising the job Solskjaer had done, did you see the win at Wembley against Tottenham if that game happened with Mourinho at the helm I can already imagine the headlines and none of this is a knock on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but merely acknowledging that in the end of Mourinho's run as United manager they were a bad counterattacking team that didn't defend well nor was effective while counterattacking and with Solskjaer especially against good to great opponents they became a good or at least a better counterattacking side but getting back to Pogba well for all of his time at United the one big game against a world class opponent where he actually has shown up is the game against City at Etihad last season when United came back from behind 2 x 0 and won the game 3 x 2 delaying Manchester City's celebration of the Premier League title and that game didn't have much meaning beyond pride really. He got sent off in the first leg against PSG which meant he didn't even play in the match at Paris and he was a complete no show for both legs against Barcelona as well as the match against City in the Premier League and several others, okay I'm done.

The actual game it didn't start off in the way you'd assume given the final outcome, if United were by any means going to pull through and reach the next round they were going to have one chance, not one single goal scoring chance but one chance as in there was not much room for error and the first 15 minutes saw United with its chance to pounce on Barcelona and they didn't, the efficiency that they demonstrated at Paris didn't made the trip to Spain and in those moments where things went their way in Paris well they didn't this time, in the first act of the game Marcus Rashford on a beautiful piece of finishing hit the crossbar, De Gea killed any sort of chance they had of coming from behind by conceding that ridiculous second goal by Lionel Messi who once again put the ball in his back pocket and decided the game like he so often has done this season and in his whole career.

Barcelona advances through the quarterfinals with some questions marks and they will most definitely have to improve if they want to go through to the final but they are still Barcelona and Jurgen Klopp's side will do all but underestimate them. Just notice that even in this set of circumstances Barcelona is still widely considered to be the favourite.


Juventus 1 x 2 Ajax

Juventus 2 x 3 Ajax on Aggregate

The dutch side pull off another major upset, if you have been following my articles you know that I didn't share the opinion that Ajax beating Juve was an upset by any stretch of imagination, what they have managed to do in this season is beyond words really, they dominated matches against Real Madrid, Juventus and Bayern Munich in those encounters they've looked like the shot callers, time and time again proving people wrong, they especially in the midfield made Real Madrid and Jiventus look old, Tadic seems to have mastered the art of controlling and dribbling the ball in extremely short spaces and I'm sure you can find individual merits for each player.

Talking about Juventus especially for a moment, in the last 4 matches in the Champions League, the two against Atletico and these two against Ajax no one other than Ronaldo has scored a goal and that's concerning mostly because Dybala is completely out of sync and seems to be playing without a position at least not an effective one he just seems to be in there, Kean is still too young to carry a big part of the load, I really like Douglas Costa but he is always hurt, Bernardeschi is a fine option but not much more than that Mandzukic is getting old and if you look at the midfielders literally none of them have great finishing skills, now Juventus is still a terrific side that should be able to eliminate Ajax and this is more about praising Ajax and Erik Ten Hag than anything else but it'd be negligent on my part to not address those minor issues that the Italian side has.

One last note, despite all the quality they have presented to us in these 4 games, Ajax conceded the first goal in 3 of them including both ones at home so this is a group of players that does not get fazed by the moment even when they get knocked back.


Manchester City 4 x 3 Tottenham

Manchester City 4 x 4 Tottenham on Aggregate. Spurs go through on away goals

A night to remember at the Etihad, 4 goals in the first 10 minutes set the tempo and the rest of the match did not disappoint.

This City side showed an ability to bounce back and be resilient that we haven't seen before, conceding two goals in a span of a few minutes both on defensive blunders by one of your better defenders in Laporte  this could have easily gone sideways but right afterwards Bernardo Silva scored the fourth goal of the game and gave the Citizens some momentum and in the end despite their best efforts Tottenham go through on away goals which is to me a completely arbitrary rule that should not exist but that's a debate for another day.

It's obviously a disappointment for Guardiola and his side to once again be eliminated in the quarterfinals but to me this is the most honourable defeat out of the 3, against Monaco despite being the first year they really looked bad in the second leg and after winning the game at home 5 x 3 I expected that they'd qualify for the semifinals but a 3 x 1 caused their elimination also on away goals, last season not so much the elimination but they were embarrassed by Liverpool in the first leg and the duel was pretty much decided there. Overall they probably deserved at least as much as Tottenham to be amongst the last four, Kevin De Bruyne showed why he is one of the 10 best players in the world and Lloris once again proved just how important he can be.

A side note to think about, when Pep looked at his bench he saw Stones, Fernandinho, Sané, Mahrez, Jesus and when Pochettino looked at his bench Llorente was his best option to replace an injured Sissoko unless he wanted to put Skipp in a baptism by fire that gives you an idea of the difference in terms of investment on both sides.

As for the matches against Ajax, Harry Kane will surely be missed and Son being out for the first leg will also hurt Tottenham chances but given what we have seen so far this is as much of a coinflip as it can be, maybe just a slight 52-48 % chance in favor of Ajax strictly because of the aforementioned absences, but what levels the playing field to me is that I see room for improvement in terms of what they performed so far in the Champions League for Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, especially the latter which would give Spurs a huge boost where as for Ajax this is pretty much their ceiling nonetheless it is a very high one.

The fact is we are in for two great matchups that I can't wait to watch.

See you all for the next article debating the first leg matches.

Spread the word, comment, share your opinion let's get some discussions going.

Reviewing the first leg of this year's Uefa Champions League Quarterfinals

The second leg of this year's Uefa Champions League Quarterfinals are fast approaching and I'm here to breakdown and discuss all four matches that occurred last week for the first leg.

Liverpool 2 x 0 Porto

The result that all home teams seek, a 2-0 win at home is a realistic objective for any side that's remotely competitive in comparison to their opponent and it's practically irreversible mainly because of the away goal rule, not to say that Liverpool was by any means desperate to get a good result at home fearing Porto's strength at home after all they won there 5-0 last year, but the reason why a comfortable win was so important was the encounter Liverpool had against Chelsea yesterday.

The Reds are in a title race for the history books, two teams with outstanding campaigns fighting toe to toe for the right to call themselves Premier League Champions and to call the match against Chelsea this weekend a crucial one is an understatement, given what happened a few years back in a very similar situation against this same Chelsea side well they needed all of their strength and knowing the Champions League duel is pretty much done well it definitely helps.

Now talking especifically about the game itself as far as the result it was pretty much what we expected, a comfortable Liverpool win but there were some shaky moments after that second goal when Porto could've easily and probably should've scored, Moussa Marega had three very real goal scoring chances and on most days he puts at least one of them in the back of the net. To be fair Mo Salah missed a goal that you just can't and Liverpool created chances to score a third, maybe a fourth goal.

In the end the big takeaway from the game was that the back five that Sergio Conceiçāo prepared for the game didn't really achieve what it set out to, denying space for Liverpool's fast paced line of attack, Corona and Telles didn't produce much offensively and overall you get the feeling that this is quite certainly Porto's ceiling and it would take something way, way out of the ordinary for them to go through unlike any of the other three matchups, at least in my opinion.


Tottenham 1 x 0 Manchester City

The first Uefa Champions League match at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was a very big one, an encounter that put together the only two teams left in the competition that have yet to win it.

On one side Pochettino's Spurs that despite all the compliments it has received there's always the no titles dig by some pundits.

On the other side Guardiola's side the best team in the world since the beggining of his second year in charge, breaking all sorts of records but there's always the no Champions League success dig from the same pundits and some also point out that he only won the top club competition in the world with Barcelona and Lionel Messi.

No matter what, one of this morronic narratives will manage to go on for another year and that's a shame but at the same time those who agree with such notion will manage to find another absurd theory support.

The match itself was a very intense one with both teams taking turns at pressing the opponent and trying to force a mistake, both teams did a good job especially Tottenham taking into account City's ability to create opportunities at limiting the opposition's chances, there weren't many clear ones.

City controlled time of possession like it was expected but Gundogan and David Silva didn't really perform like they can which handcuffed the Citzens in terms of getting inside the box, especially with David Silva who has mastered that skill, the German midfielder actually plays more in a creative role and doesn't get inside the box as much as he once did. Aguero obviously missed the penalty and really was a non factor in the game, Mahrez had a bad game and Sterling was the only one who actually produced something which is really not a surprise, he elevated his game to another level this year.

Also don't be quick to dismiss or underestimate the fact that Bernardo Silva was out and De Bruyne hasn't really been on the field this entire seadon, subbing him in alongside Sane with 88 minutes already played was a bad move by Guardiola but overall this wasn't your classical "fiasco" by a rich team with no traditions a la PSG against United or Barcelona, this looked more like a team more pragmatic than usual conceding a goal on a defensive blunder and being really self aware as to what they can do at Etihad.

Obviously they wanted to win and Tottenham did a great job at keeping City in check but without Kane at Manchester, the Citzens are still favorites to go through and what that means is that it will take something surprising in the second leg for them to be eliminated, granted the away goal gives Tottenham the ability to lose 2x1 or 3x2 which keeps things even more interesting but like I said City are still the favorites just not by much.

Looking ahead to the second leg something to look out for is how will Guardiola handle the fact that in some way not conceding a goal is even more important than scoring one, 0x0 keeps City closer to advancing than 1x1 or 2x2. A wide open game with lots of chances is definitely not what City wants, 1 goal by Tottenham forces City to score 3 which needless to say it is a tough task.


Manchester United 0x1 Barcelona

A surprising game with an unsurprising result, anyone would agree that this result is a normal one but on the pitch in the 90 somewhat minutes of game time the one goal Barcelona scored an own goal was pretty much all that they produced offensively, at one point in the second half  attempts were 8 to 2 in favour of United, don't get me wrong Manchester United didn't exactly overwhelmed anyone but the way they contained Messi and the whole attack was quite remarkable.

For all the talk about Pogba he has to show up more often in these big games he really was the low point for me when it comes to expectations being met, even Messi that wasn't at his best was the know responsible for the cross to Suarez that resulted in the game's only goal.

I expect more offensively from both teams at the Camp Nou and Barcelona must be careful and unafraid to be pragmatic. The only way if not the likely way that Manchester United manages to pull off another upset is by catching Barcelona off guard running behind their defenders with Rashford and Lukaku maybe Martial, it's hard to see them patiently creating chances, Valverde side must be clinical in their finishing unlike PSG and the best thing they can do for periods of  the match is to give Man United the ball and say hurt me with ball possession, Solskjaer's side is one likes counterattacking and cab struggle against teams that give them the ball. I don't expect given the talent level of both teams the culture of Barcelona and all that comes with it that they will just sit back and defend but that might not be the worst thing in certain periods of the game.

Any win is enough for United to go through. Ox1 takes us to Extra Time so this is far from over, but clearly Barcelona are still the odds on favorites to go through.


Ajax 1x1 Juventus

The match that I personally looked forward the most to, not only is Ajax the most fun team to watch right now in the world but they are going up against Juventus, a team that with Allegri in charge can behave differently depending upon what the match calls for and obviously they have Cristiano Ronaldo which proved once again to be critical to their result, beyond his goal all that Juventus created was a Bernardeschi shot that was close enough to be dangerous and Douglas Costa showing his skill in a 1 v 1 situation leaving the Ajax defender and finishing with the ball on the post, beyond that there wasn't much. This was a Dutch side that dominated the game, in possession, in attempts, attempts on target, quite literally anything had it not been for the heroic performance of Szczesny this could have been far worse

This Ajax side can play with anybody, they have proven that time and time again, Tadic's skill in short spaces seems out of this world, Ziyech and Neres are both playing extremely well, Van De Been seems to be everywhere all the time and De Jong what is there to say about this class act of a midfielder, we all know it won't happen but to imagine this team sticking together for like the next 5 years, wouldn't that be something.

Juventus need to contain this Ajax attack more efficiently and like City they must and probably will try to keep this from being a back and forth shootout because that's just not good for them, I don't see this being a 0-0 affair so I think in order to go through Juventus must win the match, which is certainly doable given their quality but I really don't see a favorite here. It's as close as they come and although I will be all but surprised with a 2x1 win from Juve, a couple of goals from Ronaldo but if I had to bet I'd say Ajax go through.

This is all I have for right now, the review of the four games alongside a preview of what's to come in the semifinals will come soon so stay tuned, help spread the word and let me know what you think in the comment section, I'd really like to discuss my thoughts with you guys especially if you disagree with me.

Till the next time.

Champions League Quarterfinals are Here!

Today we are here to talk about the Uefa Champions League's Quarterfinals, it has been a week since the matchups have been defined and as it would have been regardless of who plays whom we are in for 4 great football games.

PS: It's really a shame that we only get to watch 2 of them live, given that they will be played simultaneously, 2 on a Tuesday and the other 2 on a Wednesday.

These are the four duels we'll get in the 18/19 edition of the Uefa Champions League:

Tottenham Hotspur x Manchester City

Liverpool x Porto

Ajax x Juventus

Manchester United x Barcelona

This is a very odd season, for a a while now it has been pretty much a consensus that there's no big favourite that stands out ahead of the pack and thinking about it that does make sense but here is a counterpoint.

In the last decade or so the Champions League has been dominated by three teams:

Bayern Munich of Robben and Robert.

Barcelona of Messi.

Real Madrid of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Obviously we saw other teams shine in the competition, Internazionale won it during that time span but they have been a non factor for a while, only this year that they got back into playing among Europe's best.

Chelsea also won it, but they should've won it in any other of half a dozen years when they were significantly better structured, more prepared and it didn't happen, so there are other factors that played a role in that season.

More recently Juventus and Atletico Madrid have been to a couple of finals each, but both failed to beat Barcelona once and Real Madrid three times, so there's always a little bit of skepticism in their ability to go all the way, whether that's a correct perception or not it's another subject.

Think about those three teams and consider that Ronaldo left Madrid and even before they were categorically defeated by Ajax at the Bernabeu, there wasn't a lot of belief that this Real Madrid team could go all the way and the little belief that there was only existed because it's Real Madrid and in an era of great success in the Biggest stage.

Let us not forget that Los Galacticos n this century for a while seemed to always be defeated in the Round of 16, that side didn't have what this one now has, the public belief that no matter what they'll go through and at least be a factor until the very end. With this in mind Real Madrid were never the big favourites this season.

Bayern is enduring the end of an era, a side with aging stars on the decline, Robben and Robert stand out, although Hummels, Boateng, Muller and Neuer are all Declining, thus not playing at a level they once did, which is odd to say the least, taking into account their age.

Bayern with the signings of Pavard and Hernandez (coming next summer) are in the process of replacing or at least trying to replace some major pieces that were cornerstones for a team that was virtually a lock for the Uefa Champions League semifinal on a yearly basis for practically a decade, a bit of a stretch but you know what I mean, a team that probably  should've won more and only didn't because they happened to face two of the 5 greatest players ever and that is undisputable.

Then again they lost two Champions League finals and neither one involved Messi nor Ronaldo, surely that final at home against Chelsea must  be looked at, as the one that got away.

Even with the tradition and blackness of a clear cut favorite, Bayern never threatenwd to take that position.

Barcelona remains the strongest of the three this year, now that's obvious given that the other two were eliminated, but even before the round of 16 began that was clear, Why you ask?

Because they still have Messi at top form unlike Real who sold Ronaldo and Bayern that's seen its stars decline.

Because despite a significantly worse performance as a unit from what they once were, Messi seems to always decide games in which they've been outplayed and although Xavi and Iniesta are both gone, individually this roster is not worse than those from the Guardiola days at least not significantly worse, some key players like Dani Alves for instance are very much missed but Rakitic to me is a underrated players, Arthur seems to be made in a Lab to emulate Xavi and you undoubtedly have more offensive firepower.

A third reason that's probably more or as important as any is that regardless of how that team compares to the one from a few years back, this team in terms of individual talent is as good as any in the world, you could make an argument that with the presence of Messi that they are the best, and the Messi factor can level the playing field when comparing Barcelona to teams that are better trained, tactically better thus performing at a higher level as a unit, like Manchester City or even Liverpool as an example.

Lastly we have Madrid that especially with Zidane at the helm seemed to always elevate their level of play (which probably was never the highest or as high as it could be) in the big games, it's not that they were often mediocre and happened to win the Champions League three times in a row, there were some great moments especially in that second year but they didn't dominate as often as one would think for a team that accomplished so much, and as we saw this year you can only elude defeat so many times until it catches up to you, clearly there were other factors that played a role in that elimination, no Ronaldo, an even more inconsistent side but you can't deny any of them.

Considering all of that it was and it is clear that this year's edition was about as wide open as it could be, and with the Quarterfinals set, we see something very interesting.

All four matchups have clear favourites that can be identified by anyone, not all will agree but the consensus is that if Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester City and Liverpool go through to the semifinals it will surprise no one, but...

Looking at each game individually you'll see that a lot can happen.

Manchester City vs Tottenham

We had almost this exact scenario last year, Manchester City with an outstanding campaign in the Premier League, already champion of the Carabao Cup facing an opponent from England with a smaller budget, out of the title race, coming with a manager that's been there a while but hasn't won a title, fighting for a top four finish in the Premier League, a significant difference is that City had already won the   League by this time last year, unlike the current season where they are fighting head to head with Liverpool for the title.

Now most of those facts do not play a role in the duel and can be looked at as coincidence, but one cannot overlook the fact that Tottenham despite what they spend can beat any team any time, a big problem that's cost them a Premier League title in the past is that they can be inconsistent and endure too many ups and downs. One of the keys to the game for me at least is can Mauricio Pochettino come up with a gameplan that disrupts City's tempo, it's obvious that Guardiola's side will dominate time of possession and I don't see Tottenham beating them with 2 banks of four, always compacted, looking for one ball, maybe a set piece and then playing the second leg not to lose, they are not equipped that way and I don't see it working, to beat them I believe they will have to look for periods in the match to beat them in intensity and catch them off guard, if they can do that we'll be in for a great game.

Manchester United x Barcelona

Out of all the four matchups this is the only one where we see two teams with equal conditions, two European giants with massive budgets, surely you could make an argument that Barcelona is better but it's nothing alarming and the problem with Man United was never individual quality, putting Messi aside (like that's possible) they stand in the same level as Barcelona. Solskjaer has repeatedly exceeded everyone's expectation, how much of that is linked to the psychological side and how much to the tactical side won't become clear until later on.

It's true that United has declined in the recent games both in performance and result, the only victory since that night in Paris has been a 2-1 win against a Watford that impressed no one, but to keep up the level Solskjaer established when he first got in there was an impossible task, at least for the time being.

I certainly can't and will not argue that this is a 50/50 duel but putting United at 4 to 1 odds as I have seen in a lot of places well that's pushing it.

How many times has Lionel Messi bailed out Barcelona when they had subpar performances, they have a comfortable lead in LaLiga but that's a testament to the lack of another real contender for the title this season as much as anything else, obviously the fact that he has done that so many times means he can do that again but for a team who relies on one man so often due to its inability to perform well as an unit playing against an United side that for all it's issues can be deadly on the counter I just don't see a justification for such a large favoritism.

A lot of people think United is going to sit back and try to absorb pressure as much as possible and rely on quick transitioning to catch Valverde's side off guard and I can see some of that for parts of this encounter but regardless of Barcelona's struggle against that type of opposition if United plays like they did in Paris it will be ugly, especially until Dalot came in and moved Young into what became a back 3, yes they sat back and gave PSG the ball but the key is they were extremely passive, they left a lot of space, PSG just failed to convert chances time and time again, with the quality in the midfield that Barcelona has I don't see that happening.

Solskjaer can do one of two things. He can either sit back as he did but with a much more aggressive posture one that doesn't give the opposition as much space and really do a better overall job at closing the holes and denying chances or he can bw bold pressing Barcelona and occupying the final third of the field at least for periods within the match. We'll just have to wait and see.

As it is with all four games there is a obvious favorite but whatever happens I see this being a close game over the 180 minutes.

Liverpool x Porto

Here we have a repeat of last year's round of 16 encounter one that was decided pretty quickly when the Reds came in and scored 5 at Porto on a 5-0 win, that's a longshot to happen again, yes overall Liverpool is a better side but that clearly was one of those games where the weaker side is keeping it close and thus maintaining itself in the game but once the opposition manages to break through and score the first, the other team then must change it's position which opens up more space for the team ahead to explore and it just piles on from there but when you look back the play over the 90 minutes it doesn't necessarily reflect what you saw on the field.

I really see Liverpool amongst the favorites to win this Champions League, behind no one really and their display against Bayern only helped solidify that theory, they won comfortably without being brilliant in that sense they sort of reminded me of Real Madrid in these last few years.

For Porto the key really is do not give Liverpool's attacking three room to run, make them create chances from the midfield and do it marking Firmino very tightly he is their most creative player probably in terms of finding passes and creating chances, try and take advantage of the attacking fullbacks that the Reds have, staying away from Van Dijk (easily the best defender in the world right now)

They really have no better option than dropping back and leaving Liverpool as little room to run as possible.

Overall given what Ajax have already proven that they can do against both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in this Uefa Champions League edition I see this rematch of last season as the one with the greatest difference between the odds on both sides.

Juventus x Ajax

This could easily be considered the most interesting matchup of the four especially from a tactical point of view, how will Ajax play, will they keep the same level of boldness, try and be a little more pragmatic, how will Allegri prepare Juve, we all have a general idea of what both teams will try to do but how well they do it will affect a lot of what comes after, whether it's the first 15 minutes, first half or the first game, the adjustments will definitely come.

Whether Ronaldo will even play or not we don't know, a lot of that I think comes from the fact they are playing Ajax not Barcelona maybe that isn't the case, but I really doubt that. Weather it is wise or not we don't know, ask Sergio Ramos he went through a very similar situation but that's a topic for another day.

There are a lot of battles within the war that we can discuss like how will David Neres try to explore the hole left behind by Cancelo that likes to go forward a lot will the Portuguese fullback even start is Tadic going to produce at the same level playing as the false 9 dropping back behind the defensive midfielders, Pjanic and De Jong both control the pace of their team they are the thermometers if you like that sort of thing, how will they be marked, who's gonna get more space to work with, if Blind plays as a centre back will Ronaldo or Mandzukic position themselves behind him in on crosses through the area to try and produce headers on his back, something Juve is known for doing. Both representing different alternatives are Dolberg and Dybala bound to get in on the action and play key parts in this showdown involving two former winners of the Champions League.

Given Ajax style of play and the record Juventus has in the last few years regardless of who wins the first leg this won't be decided until the end of the match in Turin.

For now that is all I hope you all enjoyed this article, I will see you soon with reviews of each match and what to expect for the second leg.

If you enjoyed what you saw, spread the word, also I encourage everyone to interact and communicate with me, comment, leave your opinion and we will certainly talk about it.

Debating the Tottenham vs Man City matchup

Hi everyone today we are here to talk about the match between Tottenham and Manchester City that was played out on Wembley this monday.

It was a match that saw an unusual low number of completed passes from both clubs and that's whar you get from playing on a stadium used for an american football game the previous day, the pitch had damage you rarely pretty much never see.

Both teams had significant players of their iddeal starting XI on the bench still recovering from injuries.

Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen for the Spurs and Kevin De Bruyne for Manchester City.

Right out of the gate City scored on an weird play I still don't know wgat Trippier was doing when that ball was coming down and then he gave Sterling way too much room to find Mahrez penetrating the box and scoring the only goal of the match, the only other real scoring chance in the first half came when Tottenham took advantage of a City side that was positioned really high up the pitch, Lamela got the ball with plenty of space and found Harry Kane wide open and he couldn't quite control the ball it got away from him and that was pretty much all the action for the first half.

The game seemed to be in control for Guardiola's men with his side keeping Tottenham with less than a handful of total attempts through a good part of the second half.

After Harry Winks came in midway through the second half the Spurs became a little more dynamic and with Alli and Eriksen coming in a little bit later on Tottenham improved their play, Dr Bruyne looked put of sync and lost a ball in his own area which created an opportunity for Tottrnham but their best chance came when they recovered the ball with a City defense that wasn't set and Alli fpund a great pass to Lamela that missed a wide open shot and that was the game.

Now assessing a couple of individual topics regarding the Spurs.

With Sissoko, Dier and Dembele all starting the match, the Spurs become a much more physical side.

Lucas struggled to find his way out wide in the left, his natural position is on the right.

Trippier's error obviously cost them the game but there was pretty much no action on the other side, Ben Davies was no where to be found.

I'll see you all later

Como os grandes times brasileiros jogam

Um pequeno resumo de como os grandes times brasileiros jogam

Existem várias pequenas variações em termos de formação e características de jogadores no futebol brasileiros mas analise os times de maior expressão e em 99% dos casos vc encontrará a seguinte escalação

Goleiro

Linha de 4 com laterais q atacam rente a linha de fundo dando amplitude, nunca por dentro


Primeiro volante responsável praticamente só por marcar e proteger a linha de zaga com quase nenhum envolvimento nas jogadas ofensivas (Ex: Cuellar, F. Melo, Jucilei, Ralf etc...)

Segundo volante responsável pelo início das jogadas ofensivas, ajudando na transição ao ataque de acordo com característica individual alguns finalizam mais outros buscam mais o passe, outros marcam mais, mas sem nenhuma diferença tão grande (Ex: B. Henrique, Paquetá, L. Silva...)

Dois meias/pontas jogando pelo lado aqui se vê variações de jogadores q são meias e cadenciam mais o jogo como o Arrascaeta e pontas mais incisivos como o Everton mas tds trabalham fechando a linha de 4 junto aos dois volantes quando o time se posiciona no campo defensivo

Times como o Flamengo tem seus meias jogando quase q exclusivamente por dentro sempre afunilando o q abre ainda mais espaço para os laterais Vitinho pela esquerda e E. Ribeiro pela direita e msm times como o São Paulo com dois pontas buscando mais a linha de fundo

Rojas pela direita e Everton pela esquerda n usam tanto os laterais por dentro, em algum momento do jogo pd até acontecer mas mt por conta das circunstâncias e ambos os times usam seus dois meias/pontas para fechar a linha de 4 quando o time se posiciona no campo de defesa

Além de Flamengo e São Paulo, outros exemplos: Arrascaeta e Robinho, Everton e Ramiro, Dudu e William)


Mais a frente quase sempre vc irá encontrar um meia/meia-atacante e um centroavante mts vezes com o time atacando vc encontrará esse meia/meia-atacante atrás dos meias/pontas

Isso pq esse jogador tende a ajudar na distribuição do jogo tbm mais ainda para times q usam meias de origem nessa posição mas repare q sempre q o time se posicionar no campo de defesa esse jogador se encontrará 99% do tempo à frente da segunda linha de 4 e atrás ou ao lado do 9

Formando assim um 4-4-1-1 isso quando se defendendo no seu campo, o Palmeiras inclusive usa um volante nessa função, (Reveja o primeiro jogo contra o Cerro e repare no posicionamento do Moisés sem a bola)

Outros exemplos desse meia/meia-atacante: Nenê, T. Neves, Diego, Luan


Mais a frente sempre tem um centroavante com raras exceções aonde se vê um jogador mais leve nessa posição, msm o Corinthians do 4-2-4 no ano passado não fugiu tanto dessa linha, n tinha 9 mas havia outras similaridades

Ex de 9: Borja, Barcos, Uribe, André, D. Souza entre outros

E com isso n se vê:

3 zagueiros

Laterais q trabalham por dentro (Assista jogos do City, especialmente do ano passado)


Meio campo q jogue por dentro assim como o Real de Zidane com o 4-4-2 losango de Casemiro, Kroos, Modric, Isco e 2 atacantes de origem CR7 e Benzema

Claro que nada disso com a mesma qualidade.

Stay Tuned

New article coming tomorrow on group C of the Champions League

Uefa Champions League Group by Group Breakdown Part 2

Hi everyone today we continue our breakdown of each group in the Uefa Champions League.

This is part where we'll discuss Group B.

If you missed part 1 about Group A you'll find the link down below.

This group has some exciting matchups we already had a peak of what's to come in that thrilling 2-1 victory for Internazionale over Tottenham and yet again the Spurs fail to capitalize on a game they should've won and end up with a loss to an italian team allowing back to back goals in a very short stretch as most of you will recall that''s how they were eliminated last season, flatong out dominating Juventus for about 170 minutes counting both matches but allowing in the rougly 10 minutes left 2 goals in each game, a terrible job but we'll get to that in further detail a little bit later on.

PSV is an interesting team but right now facing teams like Barcelona is just too much for them, don't get mr wrong it's possible for them to at least cause some trouble for Barcelona back in their home stadium but the logic indicates something more along the lines of what happened at Camp Nou last week.

Down below is how I predict this group will finish. I'll explain everything.


1, Barcelona

2, Spurs

3, Internazionale

4, PSV



Before I get to why I believe this is the way this group will turn out let me make this very clear:

No one and I mean no one can argue against the fact that the order in terms of talent level in each team's roster is this. You may like internazionale but they are not better than Tottenham the same goes for the Spurs with Barcelona mostly because of Messi in fact I believe the Spurs are closer to Barcelona than Inter is to the Spurs.

Wait a minute, didn't the Nerazzuri beat London's only representative in this year's Uefa Champions League edition?

Indeed they did, so am I nuts no let me explain why.

After years of struggling ib their national competitions enduring a long drougt of consecutive years without a Champions League appearance, Internazionale is back, and they came back only after a thrilling come from behind win in the last game of the season against Lazio, I believe qualifying for the UCL is an achievement to be recognized if not celebrated by the Spurs' fans but that's more about the quality of the Premier League than anything else, so what does all of this mean?

That these are two clubs in different stages, with different expectation levels and their squads show that.

Think about this, take away the centre-.back trio for each team (not regarfing starting 11, just these 3 being the 3 main options at that position)

Skriniar, Miranda, De Vrij.

Vertonghen, Sanchez and Alderweireld.

And also the main striker.

Icardi

Kane

Those postions you can debate which one is better and it's not absurd, in fact some of the answers depend on the team's strategy and form of play.


Everywhere else on the field especially in terms of depth, Tottenham holds a significant advantage, sure Perisic is a fine player and the same goes for Handanovic and Naingollan but each one of the four full-bscls in the Spurs' roster:

Rose, Davies, Trippier, Aurier

They'd all be starters for the Nerazzurri easily.

The midfield options that Pochetino has:

Alli, Eriksen, Dembele, Dier,

Would any see the bench if they were to play for Internazionale.

How about further ahead on the field:

Son, Lamela. Lucad Moura

Anyone that wants to see it will see that the Spurs are better now that doesn't mean they can't be beaten by Internazionale, Barcelona lost to Leganés today, crazy stuff happens.

I'd have trouble to visualize Inter taking points away from Barcelona under other circumstances but I don't see this Barcelona team right now coasting through them, they can it's possible, but Internazionale have a real shot, against Tottenham it's a more evenly matched duel and I do not expect either team coming out with more than a 3 point edge in between both fixtures.

What does all of this tell you, we are in for some great matchups in this group.

A team trying to rerurn to the top of Europe

Another one fighting to reach it

Third one trying to get back to competing amongst the best

And lastly a team with a great history, now working as a bridge, buying promising players, developing them and you know the rest. Achieving domestical glory along the way.

Anyway that's about it, I'l see you all tomorrow, share, comment, discuss, I want to engage with you guys and discuss these subjects knoe what you think of my opinion.

Note: Eden Hazard has arrived.

Once again doing this on my phone, no spelling correction, I apologize for the spelling errors but the important thing is that you understand what I mean and I believe that is pretty clear.

Quick update

Hi everyone it has been a frustating day to say the least, I los5 out on a chance to work for Fansides apparenrly they do not have the appropiate license ro pay a writer in Brazil they are quite simply not allowed to do that without the proper licensing and who knows how long that will take thaf's if they ever actually do it considering that the demand just isn't there. I was planning on posting part 2 of pur UCL breakdown but I just don't feel like writing now, it's about halfway done but there's a lot I want to discuss so i just feel like it's better for me to finish it up tomorrow. Also expect a little review of the Chelsea Liverpool match tomorrow. What a game Derby County against Man United was. Congrats to Frank Lampard, terrific job.

See you guys later

Uefa Champions League, Breaking down every group

Hi everyone I am here today to do a complete preview of the world's most important soccer tournament at least in a club level the Uefa Champions League, don't get me wrong I like the World Cup but at the very least they carry the same or close to the same importance.

We'll break it down into 8 parts each one discussing an individual group. I'll do the first one today and the second one tomorrow,  and so on so forth, to create an article relatively simple to understand I'll first list the teams in each group in the order I believe the group will finish, give a small breakdown of the group as a whole and then asess each individual team and why I believe they'll end up in that place. So let's begin.



Group A:

1st: Atletico Madrid.

2nd: Borussia Dortmund.

3rd: AS Monaco.

4th: Club Brugge.


This is a pretty interesting group although most of them are for a guy that enjoys soccer as much as me, in it we find three teams that don't come to mind when we think about the top tier (Barcelona, Juventus, Man United, Real Madrid...) maybe Atletico to a lesser degree than Dortmund and Monaco but as after a brief look back at the recent past will tell you, not only they have been almost a lock to be present in the tournament on a yearly basis they all enjoyed unprecedented success amongst Europe's best.

Simeone's squad has made it to two finals which is remarkable for a side with his investment, they were minutes away from the title the first time around and lost the second one in a penalty shootout, against Real Madrid well that's pretty good, it's heartbresking but nevertheless pretty good.

Borussia Dortmund had it's glory days eith Jurgen Klopp and that phenomenal squad that took the league title from the hands of the mighty Bayern Munchen but falled to the same in the UCL final, since the german coach had left the building the team hasn't been the same, losing key players and with that failing to produce the same results although their group last year was brutal, Tottenham and Real Madrid were and are ahead of Dortmund and it'd be quite a upset, to me at least if the german side were to eliminate them.

Remember when AS Monaco went after James Rodriguez and Falcao Garcia and it looked like just the beggining well that was about the whole it and they kind of slipped under the radar for a while and in that time they did a tremendlus job developing players until a couple of years ago they broke out and with the likes of Mbappe, Mendy, Silva, Bakayoko, Fabinho, Sidibe and others winning the Ligue 1 a shocker 8 points ahead of PSG and also making it to the UCL semifinal, unfortunately ot didn't last as the team saw most of it's key players leave in the following summer window.

Today we can easily put Atletico Madrid significantly ahead of everyone else in the group in terms of investment, expectation and all that comes with it, now that doesn't mean you'll ser them putting up 18 points  but nonetheless it is what is, they are quite simply a level above, while Dortmund and Monaco have seen pretty much all of their star players leave once they reached a certain level, and Brugge is clearly the favorite to finiah the last.

Based on the previous paragraph you can see in my view the first and last place are pretty set. Now the reason I have Dortmund qualifying for the round of 16 is this.

1, Putting Brugge aside for a second. Monaco already lost at home to Simeone's side, it's quite improbable that they'll beat them at Madrid. You can say that this only matters if Dortmund somehow takes points away from Atletico, which is not a easy task. But consider this, the rojiblancos already won one of the four matchups against these two, they can very well win all four but that's not the likeliest of all scenarios and it is far more likely that they drop points in one of the two matches against Dortmund than in the one remaining.

2, Better Home Field advantage, if the scenario plays out as I talked about on the paragraph above, Dortmunf can decide at home against AS Monaco even if they oose the away game, a couple of draws will do the job also.

3, Third and most important, Dortmund to me is a better team than Monaco, they also have better options, just tell mr how many players from Monaco would start in the side from Germany.

Anwyay that's a wrap. More and more content coming. See you guys later and let me know what you think.

Anyone that knows a place hiring writers or if you are looking for one let me know. I'm always available 24/7.

My email is: estevaomaximo_23@hotmail.com

It's 1:41 AM my time right now and I'm using my cellphone so ignore the spelling horror that is this article

I'm Back, and with some Premier League Talk

Hello everyone I apologize for my long absence from now on I'll be writing articles about the world's most popular sport, you'll see a lot of reviews and previews of matches, I'll focus more on the Premier League when it comes to national championships but obviously we'll discuss all the major teams. I have a lot I want to talk about so let's begin.

Today I'll review the Man United vs Tottenham game a very interesting one at that. A few surprises came when the lineups were announced especially with Jose Mourinho's side.

Within a fee minutes after the start of the match you could see a United team that had a 3 man back-line with Ander Herrera, Smalling and Jones, Valencia and Shaw out wide, Matic, Fred and Pogba in the midfield with the latter two advancing more to help the attacking duo of Lingard and Lukaku.

As to the visiting team Pochetino opted for 2 instead of 3 full-backs going with the Belgium duo and leaving Sanchez on the bench.

Trippier as the right back and Danny Rose back as the starter with Davies also on the bench, Dier and Dembele ahead of the defense joined by Eriksen and Dele Alli in the midfield and up ahead another attacking duo with Harry Kane and Lucas Moura the men responsible for all of the scoring in the game. That's how both teams entered the match.

As the match progressed we saw a United team with an high posession something unussual especially against opponents of the big 6 with that the home team also limited Tottenham to very few chances in the first half the best chance for United came when Lukaku intercepted a ball intended for the goalkeeper and missed a wide open goal, overall it was a game with a lot of individual mistakes.

Early in the second half Trippier who is just magnificient with set pieces crossed a beautiful ball on a corner and Harry Kane positioned himself perfectly as he most often does and scored the opening goal after that Mourinho's side went completely off the rails and the second goal showed that.

Shaw leaves his position, Eriksen advances behind him receiving a pass from Lucas who himself goes on to score the goal penetrating United's defense, another mistake in that play is made by Herrera when he doesn't follow the back-line up the pitch preventing Eriksen from being offside. After that even with the changes Sanchez and Fellaini coming in the home side just couldn't produce, not anything
significant at least. The third goal in the end was just the perfect ending for the Spurs and it showed how Kane does a good job of dropping back almost as a midfielder letting Lucas Moura attack the space ahead of him.

A lesson for United is to do a better job after you surrender a goal especially when your team is playing relatively well and in control of the game at least to some degree and while they are not bad it's understandable why Mourinho was constantky asking for a top flight full back, just consider that all 3 main full-backs for Tottenham would easily start for Man United and none in United would see the field with the Spurs.

Tottenham shows that they are a top level team capable of competing with anyone the same team that dominated Real Madrid beating them 3-1 in the group stage of the Champions League.

Stay tuned more is coming soon.

Also I apologize for the spelling mistakes. Writing on my cellphone once again.

I Wrote a Book

Hi guys I wrote a book and it has some great poems in it. I give out good advice on relatable subjects in life. Go buy it right now on Amazon

https://t.co/B3eJgRpokY?amp=1

A Walk is as good as a hit or something like that

The phrase that every young hitter hears from Little League all the way to the majors.


Be patient, a walk is as good as a hit.


There are merits to that phrase, but one must contextualize it, before applying it, here is what I mean. A Home Run is better than a Walk correct, and a HR is a hit therefore a walk is not as good as a hit.


The more accurate saying would be a walk is as good as a single with no RISP,. Ptoducing the same outcome, except for a possible 1rst to 3rd, but who's gonna say that, it doesn't sound good it's weird. When a manager, hitting coach, whoever, says that to a hitter their goal is getting the player to be more patient, take the free base when there's nothing to hit, take what the pitcher gives you and go with it.


As you all probably know by now, I'm a big believer in high OBP players, today I want to explain my thought process behind this belief. I always like to start by stating that baseball game has no clock, it's a game of outs, whoever scores the most runs by the 27th out wins the game ansy how do teams score runs? By getting on base it's the only way. There are multiple ways to get on base, but walking is a good, easy one that has little to no interference with your other ways of getting on.

Walking highly benefits power hitters because they usually don't bat for high averages and if you hit .230 and have a low BB% it almost doesn't matter how much power do you have. Now if you have a 15.0 BB% then you are a productive hitter..


For the high AVG hitters as I said, a walk is as good as a single with no RISP which is the situation for these guys most of the time, how many times does Dee Gordon come up with 2nd and 3rd occupied, rarely, so there's really no excuse for a bad BB%, unless you`re peak, Ichiro Suzuki.




My second point and here is where the stats come in. I decided to look back at the last 50 years, which to me is a good number, the game before then in the dead ball era and in the Williams/DiMaggio years was so different that i decided to leave them out, plus 50 years is a good sample size right, anyway, take a look at this.


(Min. 3500 PA)



There are 305 hitters since 1967 with a 10.0 BB%, such mark is the lowest standard for above-average walk percentage, among those 305, guess how many have a career wRC+ below 100?


Only 38.


That's a little under 12.5 percent, the vast majority of them, had low career averages and power who barely scraped the .100 ISO mark, think Robbie Grossman with a much longer career and slightly less power, to name a few:


Wayne Garrett, Mark McLemore, Walt Weiss, Jose Offerman, Luis Alicea and etc.


Looking at it from a different angle, during the same time span, 79 hitters had a career wRC+ of 130 or higher, a really great mark, left for the best of the best, guess how many of them had BB% below 10.0, just 7, them being:

BB% and wRC+


Mike Piazza 9.8, 140

Ryan Braun 8.2, 139

Vladimir Guerrero 8.1, 136

Buster Posey 9.5, 135

George Brett 9.4, 132

Rod Carew 9.6, 132

Tony Gwynn 7.7, 132

And among those Braun's K% at 18.4, Piazza at 14.4 and Posey at 12.0 are the only 3 with K% above 10


Factoring in the league average K% when Piazza played and right now for the other two. those numbers are pretty low. The other 4, all unquestionable Hall of Famers. amongst the best pure hitters in the history of the game, with ridiculous BB/K ratios.


What does all of this screams at you, the certainty that great hitters walk, simple as that, it's so important, and the better hitter you are, the easier it is, the walks are there you just have to take it, can you imagine how great Manny Machado would be if he had better plate discipline.


Closing point, consider this, Votto and Cabrera have very similar career numbers, right.


AVG: Votto .313   Miggy .317

SLG: Votto .541.  Miggy .553

K%: Votto 17.7   Miggy 17.1

ISO: Votto .227.  Miggy .236

wRC+: Votto 158   Miggy 149


Not the best example but I'm a big Votto fan and wanted to do something realistic, none of the statistics above are cumulative stats, but rather career averages, so how can Cabrera possess the higher average, better power numbers and still fall 9 percentage points behind Joey in wRC+?


Basically, because Votto gets on base quite more

.426 to .395.

Walks are almost solely responsible for Votto being ahead of Cabrera as the slightly better career hitter. Joey also better in wOBA

.412 to .400.


My main goal in this article was to empathize the importance of BB, I'm positive, that such goal was accomplished, any doubts, comments, and suggestions you have, express them in the comment section and I will clear them, by agreeing with you, if you agree with me, or by explaining it to you, why you're wrong, if you dare to disagree with me, as a wise man once said, "If I was wrong, don't you think, I would've known it."



Quote of the day, by the great Kenny "The Snake" Stabler: "Throw deep"


It's pure, simple and wise.



Hit me up on Twitter i am @E_Max27

Photos in my backyard

Hi everyone among many things I also work as a photographer. These are just some pictures I took in my backyard these last couple of days. I hope you enjoy it.

Note: If you liked the photos and wish to buy any either express yourself in the comment section or send me a DM on Twitter, I'm @E_Max27 if you generally liked the photos but you're looking for something else let me know what it is I'm sure we can get something done.

Appreciate the imperfection, after all, that's all you see.