1 hour ago, coco said:

I sort of hope they do try pressing us, we seem to thrive on it now, the loudest clap i hear from Tuchel is when we beat the press, he loves it.

I wouldn't say that we thrive on it, if anything, we've mostly drawn or lost to teams that press us with intensity and I wouldn't say that the two games against Porto were comfortable (yesterday more since they run out of battery in the second). And Real Madrid will not be missing the chances that Porto had (mostly in the first match) from recovering the ball around our box.

Collective revulsion, the likes of which we saw after the WBA match and which I can’t deny being party to, can be some tailwind, per @DonAntonio. Two consecutive MOTM performances now? Ok the first debatable but still.

3 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Him being in our box or close to our backline really made the difference, made some crucial recoveries but he passed the ball well which is the main thing so he once again did his role.

Oliveira might be a more complete midfielder but he and Otavio couldn't really break our defense, it felt like Jorginho and T.Silva took this game a bit personal and were focused full time.

Real Madrid though, a different beast to slay. It's going to be hard to match Kroos, Modric and Casemiro.

So would being up against Thiago and co to. Lot of you tempting fate by just stating it like Real are through. Trying to jinx them?

 

36 minutes ago, RMH said:

I wouldn't say that we thrive on it, if anything, we've mostly drawn or lost to teams that press us with intensity and I wouldn't say that the two games against Porto were comfortable (yesterday more since they run out of battery in the second). And Real Madrid will not be missing the chances that Porto had (mostly in the first match) from recovering the ball around our box.

We're miles apart here. I don't even think Porto had a clear cut chance the whole game, even their goal wasn't a clear opportunity but just an amazing strike albeit a consolation goal. And the way they pressed us made it easy for us to play out from deep and get quite a few decent counter attacks, but again nothing clear cut created, resulting in a bit of a wet fart of a game, perfect for us.

15 minutes ago, coco said:

We're miles apart here. I don't even think Porto had a clear cut chance the whole game, even their goal wasn't a clear opportunity but just an amazing strike albeit a consolation goal. And the way they pressed us made it easy for us to play out from deep and get quite a few decent counter attacks, but again nothing clear cut created, resulting in a bit of a wet fart of a game, perfect for us.

I agree with you about yesterday, when we started a bit shaky but grew into the game and controlled it very well, but I referred to the first leg when they had several chances after recovering the ball as we tried to beat their press. Only their lack of quality meant that they did not score. And we have generally struggled against other teams that have pressed us with high intensity. So I still don't agree that we thrive under intense press.

We will just have to put it down to do enough to get through, the team does look disjointed to hell, Havertz is not going to stay as a false no 9, but might till next season, still my concern is the middle, need that spark in midfield, defence just tweaking, next round we know what we've got to do against liverpool, Real Madrid, Kroos Modders and Casemeiro, they run their midfield with steel silk?

13 minutes ago, Ballack & Blu said:

next round we know what we've got to do against liverpool, Real Madrid, Kroos Modders and Casemeiro, they run their midfield with steel silk?

I'm happy for us to not be favourites for a change, whoever we play, they will be the favourites, yes i am quite happy with that.

2 minutes ago, coco said:

I'm happy for us to not be favourites for a change, whoever we play, they will be the favourites, yes i am quite happy with that.

Exactly, i have 2012 deja vu, We beat the Scouse or Madrid, the other 2 aint going to be as difficult as Bayern on their own turf, we need to get back to a back 4, Mount,kova, Kante, match anything...

2 hours ago, coco said:

We're miles apart here. I don't even think Porto had a clear cut chance the whole game, even their goal wasn't a clear opportunity but just an amazing strike albeit a consolation goal. And the way they pressed us made it easy for us to play out from deep and get quite a few decent counter attacks, but again nothing clear cut created, resulting in a bit of a wet fart of a game, perfect for us.

They did not have one in either game.

5 hours ago, axman2526 said:

So would being up against Thiago and co to. Lot of you tempting fate by just stating it like Real are through. Trying to jinx them?

 

No, I'm not superstitious I just think that the experience of that trio of Kroos/Modric/Casemiro that won the CL 3 times in a row will be hard to surprise, obviously they don't have Ronaldo anymore but if we just see how someone like Pepe that used to be there in Real Madrid managed to get away with so much in the last match against us... I think it's going to be tough, I've watched the second half of their game vs Barcelona recently and at some point the Real Madrid players were passing the ball around like it was a FIFA video game or something and they could have scored a few more goals from the counter attack as well.

After pretty much showed why he was rated as no 3 player in the world by being the best player for wba against us, he had 2 very2 good games. 

Him and Kante will need to better there displays from tuesday for tomorrow. These are not some above average Porto players they are facing, os an elite midfield with the best offensive midfielder in the world against them.

As much as I am a fan of Jorgi I think he gets slaughtered tomorrow tbh. 

Jorgi dominated today. What a lad.he slaughtered their midfield 

On 16/04/2021 at 11:10, axman2526 said:

Him and Kante will need to better there displays from tuesday for tomorrow. These are not some above average Porto players they are facing, os an elite midfield with the best offensive midfielder in the world against them.

As much as I am a fan of Jorgi I think he gets slaughtered tomorrow tbh. 

NAAAA BUDDY.lol

To be fair i thought KDB would destroy when i saw the line ups

6 hours ago, The Don Antonio said:

NAAAA BUDDY.lol

To be fair i thought KDB would destroy when i saw the line ups

Did not have to face any of them for 90 minutes bit he and Kante coped very well against KDB, Foden and IG

Played very well from a defensive viewpoint and kept possession but I thought he was too safe and conservative with his passing on several occasions when long, early balls over the top were on to Ziyech and Werner.

1 hour ago, just said:

Played very well from a defensive viewpoint and kept possession but I thought he was too safe and conservative with his passing on several occasions when long, early balls over the top were on to Ziyech and Werner.

I think a few of the team were guilty of being a bit too conservative with their passes. 

Werner looked visibly frustrated at times with making runs but no pass being attempted. 

But Jorginho had a really good game. Considering he was atrocious against West Brom to the point where you'd have not wanted him back in the team again for the rest of the season, since then he's probably been our best player. 

 

If he plays I do find it quite fascinating as to how the battle between Jorgi and Modric and Kroos will go.

Will he be partnered with Kante or Kovacic, or will he be left out for them both?

Very poor game last night but he wasn't the only one. 

Left exposed for large portions of the match. Mason playing next to him isn’t the answer and a waste of mason’s influence further forward 

On 18/04/2021 at 16:16, axman2526 said:

If he plays I do find it quite fascinating as to how the battle between Jorgi and Modric and Kroos will go.

Will he be partnered with Kante or Kovacic, or will he be left out for them both?

My best guess would be if everyone’s fit, we’ll see Kante and Kova as the midfield pairing .

Was doing fine till the huge mistake that almost cost us the game. At least now we know that Mount can't play that position.

7 hours ago, just said:

Very poor game last night but he wasn't the only one. 

Had to scroll up to see which thread this was as that can be said for all of them!

40 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Was doing fine till the huge mistake that almost cost us the game. At least now we know that Mount can't play that position.

I think Mount can but he and Jorginho don’t compliment each other when they’re both there. 

9 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Had to scroll up to see which thread this was as that can be said for all of them!

I think Mount can but he and Jorginho don’t compliment each other when they’re both there. 

Could post the same about every single player bar Kepa. All the rest were sh*t.