Official Football Thread

Ball possession and many shots are not exactly equivalent to game's dominance.

This Bayern didn't show any ideias and their football is predictable. Guardiola, out of anyone, should have known of Real dangerous counter-attack. Neur as sweeper didn't convinced me too - not because of him, but because this didn't give anything to Bayern's game.
 
Think you are spot on there Flash. And it does really surprise me that Guardiola of all people would fail in the preparations for a game against his old arch rivals.

Rotam - about the "Neuer as sweeper" thing. I think it wasn't Bayern's plan A at all, it was rather happening out of necessity. His defense let him down big time and left it to him to clean up.
 
Tough battle. Mourinho will fight hard to be European Champion in his homeland.

Besides, he can use any buses, taxis, airplanes, aircraft carriers, as long as he plays by the rules.

In football, the basic rule to win a game is to score at least one goal and not allow one goal from the opponent. It's simple as that.

There are managers complicating much a rather simple sport.
 
That might be true, but I watch the game to be entertained, to see good football. If I want to see a team win by trying all possible ways, I can just watch a couple of kids play on the street. The reason why we (I think) follow the best teams and players in the world is because we expect quality displays from them, not complete boredom.

If there weren't any managers "complicating a rather simple sport", football would a very boring thing to watch and it wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is now.
 
I guess so, we like this conjugation: good football+winning, that is the ultimate achievement.
However, i disagree about your last sentence. Football is not exciting or even popular because of complicated managers. Football is popular because it's an universal sport and it's easy to play and you can play it anywhere under all circumstances.

I understand what you mean about "being entertained", but football in my opinion is more than that. A good example in the past is the "total football" of Netherlands in 1974. What Helmut Schon should decide then, in the final? Let Cruyff run freely? Keep attacking all the time or consolidate a strong midfield? Football has proven that sometimes the most entertaining teams can't win (like Brazil in 1950 and especially Hungary in 1954).

So will fans prefer winning or see fine football? that is a good debate. What comes first? The victory or the beauty?

There's also difference between being "complicated" and being "pragmatic". Every manager plays with its weapons; Mourinho, for instance, is known to dominate every kind of statistics and being an excellent sport's psychologist. Reducing its game to a 8-1-1 tactic is a weak argument, in my opinion.
 
Rotam said:
However, i disagree about your last sentence. Football is not exciting or even popular because of complicated managers. Football is popular because it's an universal sport and it's easy to play and you can play it anywhere under all circumstances.
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I didn't say football wouldn't be popular. I said it wouldn't be as popular. Do you honestly think the game would be as popular if it was played the same way it was played in the 30s? Groundbreaking, risk-taking managers made the sport bigger. Football was a very defense based, physical sport when it first started.

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Terrible defensive sequence from Chelsea leads to an Atlético goal. A goal that possibly made it official that I'm now an Atlético fan, because I instantly shouted "Goal!" when they scored. :D
 
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The Flash said:
I didn't say football wouldn't be popular. I said it wouldn't be as popular. Do you honestly think the game would be as popular if it was played the same way it was played in the 30s?
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Possibly. Attendances then were just as big as today - if not higher. Still, I think you're right. It's a good thing football has evolved and still is. But actually, a tight defense and lightning-fast counterattacks is a rather modern invention. At least the way we know it today.

The one thing that has continously gone in one direction is the degree to which footballers are athletes. The kilometres covered by each player today makes 1980s footballers look lazy. The pace of the game as a whole has increased, much because the players can run fast for longer.
 
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The first local matchup in Champions League Final history. Real Madrid vs. Atlético Madrid.

Astonishing job by Atlético. Credit goes to Diego Simeone, who turned an Europa League level team into a contender for championship in La Liga and a Champions League finalist in just three years without any big name signings and actually selling the only big name they had.

Congrats to Galatasaray's old captain, Arda Turan, for scoring the last goal and reaching the final. Go get the trophy, Arda!
 
@Brigantium - well done to Sunderland for winning today. United couldn't create shit despite lots of possession, and today's game was not a good argument for those who thought Giggs would be a good solution on a permanent basis.

Looks like Sunderland will stay up now. Before today's win they also had 4 points from away trips to Man City and Chelsea ... Cardiff and Fulham lost again and Norwich have Chelsea tomorrow.
 
Good job by Sunderland, I have a bet going on that featured them not losing the game. I actually thought of a Sunderland win which had far better odds, but I couldn't trust the win. With Borussia Mönchengladbach winning against Mainz, the bet now comes down to City winning their game now, come on City!
 
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