Champions League 2014/15 | Group A

Of course when they're off the ball they are going to be compact and have the numbers behind the ball. It's a 100% guarantee. As will we at times.

my secret wish is that Atletico to crash out of CL at some early stage and retain the La Liga title.

farfan wrote:the worst one was that scrub mitroglou doing the drogba celebration.

he should be fined imo

just saw the goals here.

Wow, haven't seen Atleti defend so poorly for over a year....the defending for Olympiacos' 2nd and 3rd goals were sooooo un-atletiesuqe

they take some pressure off the forwards against the lesser teams Tom... those guys aren't asked to defend as much as Simeone wants them to be in position to transition into the attack better. It's only in certain games that you see that level of defensive commitment from the forwards at Atleti.

as I saw the highlights, Simeone underrated Olympiakos a bit for this game.
But imo in the end they will do enough to finish at the top of the group

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:as I saw the highlights, Simeone underrated Olympiakos a bit for this game.
But imo in the end they will do enough to finish at the top of the group

He clearly did not underestimate Olympiacos , neither his team did. He even said before the game that this will be the most difficult game in the group stage for Atletico . It's one thing to show respect , but saying this when there's Juventus in the group says a lot .

I honestly chuckled when i read that , but once Olympiacos scored the 3rd goal , i remembered his words. It shows what a coach he really is.

Godin: Buffon must be worried about me.

Atleti vs Juve should be pretty intense because the Calderon is going to be on fire.

For those of you who don't know Atleti fans are currently outraged that there has been this notion in the media that the fans are not behind the team. They wanted to prove the opposite against Sevilla and I bet they will do the same tonight. Juve could find themselves is a tough situation.

Personally I think that Atleti vs Juve should be pretty intense because the Calderon is going to be on fire.

For those of you who don't know Atleti fans are currently outraged that there has been this notion in the media that the fans are not behind the team. They wanted to prove the opposite against Sevilla and I bet they will do the same tonight. Juve could find themselves is a tough situation.

quite creative I would say!!!

It will come down to game speed between Juve and Atleti... if Juve can adapt to the much faster pace that Atleti play compared to Serie A, then they'll be ok. But otherwise, Juve will have a big problem.

Good news is that Evra is used to that kind of speed since he was in EPL. So if he plays, he should be fine on his side. Lichsteiner... i don't know. Other than Serie A, i only saw him at the WC against France and he got absolutely molested. So he's a ? to me.

you didn't watch Lichtsteiner at Lille sports ?

farfan wrote:you didn't watch Lichtsteiner at Lille sports ?

That was 6+ years ago dude. He's not the same player... he's better tactically but lost athleticism obviously.

Juventus XI vs #Atleti: Buffon; Chiellini, Bonucci, Caceres; Evra, Pogba, Vidal, Marchisio, Liechsteiner; Llorente, Tevez

Atleti: Moya, Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Ansaldi, Tiago, Koke, Saul, Arda Turan, Raul Garcia, Mandzukic

No Morata no party

There is just nothing to fear with Juves attack, its so old fashioned and made only to break down Serie A teams. Llorente is strong up front but should require pacy wingers to threaten a catenaccio team like Atletico.

Juve is just passing the ball around trying to build confidence while failing to realize that Atletico dont need the ball, they just need 1 chance and are extremely confident in their playstyle.

No point in having world class midfielders if the attack isnt CL worthy. What a waste of star powder.

Juve got #ATLETI'ED

Llorente

what a waste of space .

Seeing as we're not going to play Llorente in between two wingers (Nor should we, Tevez is better than he is) we need to find an upgrade next year.

Fed up of his shit instincts in the box, his stupid fouls on the opposition, his inability to make a 5 yard pass in open space and despite being the tallest and/or strongest player on the pitch in 99% of the games he plays, he always backs into people and gets put on the floor LEGALLY, he's a turnover machine.

Sure he's fine in Serie A but we really don't need help in that area.

Tomwin Lannister wrote:Seeing as we're not going to play Llorente in between two wingers (Nor should we, Tevez is better than he is) we need to find an upgrade next year.

Fed up of his shit instincts in the box, his stupid fouls on the opposition, his inability to make a 5 yard pass in open space and despite being the tallest and/or strongest player on the pitch in 99% of the games he plays, he always backs into people and gets put on the floor LEGALLY, he's a turnover machine.

Sure he's fine in Serie A but we really don't need help in that area.

You're not understanding how much this role is actually limited LOLrente.

Yes, he had success under Caparrós back when Athletic played like Stoke under him yet that was because they had pace on the wings and the team was built around him.

His biggest curse (and gift) is his size to which has had Conte and now increasingly Allegri use him in a role similar to Peter Crouch and Stefan Kießling not only which will limit Juventus but LOLrente as a whole.

His best times for Athletic came when within a 4-3-3 to which Muniain, Susaeta, De Marcos, Toquero etc all occupied the box while he had the freedom to drop deep and then calculate his runs, rather than his current role to which he has to remain in the box primarily and hold up the ball for a lay off to which never was his strength. Where his bodily strength came into play were on/off balls runs from deep charging into the CBs, navigating horizontally for link up play, passes down central from deep and crosses from wide areas.

Problem is with him when played out of tangent he will not perform yet in the correct system he will, which is having players with more movement playing off of him rather than having Bonnuci ping long balls onto him as lateral crosses from the wings won't do anything either.

He never was a strong finisher as his goals came from him and smaller targets creating space for him and shooting it in from any angle.

Serie A teams have figured out that since there is no link from the midfield onto him (since he is deliberately placed in the box) that crowding him will limit his movement and ability to create chances for himself. It will never work as there is no coincidence that LOLrente had his best games under Juve when it was 4-3-3 with actual fluid team movement rather than him being a plain reference point. Its the exact same thing Guardiola did with Ibra at Barça.

Problem is he's not good enough to justify us moving Tevez around and investing in 2/3rds of a new attack to help him perform to his absolute best

We'd be so much better off cashing in on him and replacing him with a less limited striker. Or hell, give Morata a chance and use the Llorente money elsewhere.

Tomwin Lannister wrote:Problem is he's not good enough to justify us moving Tevez around and investing in 2/3rds of a new attack to help him perform to his absolute best

We'd be so much better off cashing in on him and replacing him with a less limited striker. Or hell, give Morata a chance and use the Llorente money elsewhere.

He'll never be good enough because you haven't seen if the tactics were at least suited to him outside the chances he receives to start. If Juventus can maximize how to fit around him outside just link-ups from Tevez then there will be a devastating partnership to which would be similar to LOLrente carrying Athletic for years and that year in the Europa League.

Tevez position is fine, its what LOLrente is told to do in correlation with the team that is the problem. Juventus attempting to play too vertical and narrow will limit not only him but the team as a whole as there is no coincidence he never scored under the 3-4 times Bielsex played a 3-5-2, hence his consistent use of more modern formations such as 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 and LOLrenty's fave, 3-3-1-3.

3-5-2 already in Europe is obsolete and limited, to which will not further help a striker's cause who is being wasted. Españole media and Athletic fans who hate his guts are baffled to how he is being used.

That shows how useless Allegri is - just carried on with Contes useless 3-5-2 which only works against sides like Catania.