CL matchday 5

[Greyn]

Greyn, I thought this was funny! I hope you will also laugh!

"A Pole goes to an ophtalmologist.
The doctor shows him: CZJWINOSTAWCZ
Doctor: Can you read this?
Pole: Read? I know this guy!"

Another joke from our language/names. Yes, quite funny seso , but I prefer when foreign commentators try to pronounce names of our football players, like Szczęsny for example. I always smile when they "break" their tongue.

As for this combination of letters, it doesn't make any sense in Polish language and I am (almost) sure there is not any person in Poland with this surname. Although I admit, I can read this "word" correctly.

[Greyn]

In the last 3 seasons, Barcelona won only 4 home CL matches (2x vs Dynamo Kyiv, vs Viktoria Plzen and vs Ferencvaros). What a horrible statistic for a club like Barcelona.

It's even worse than that, if you look at EL too, they couldn't win their home matches against Napoli (1-1), Galatasaray (0-0) and Frankfurt (2-3).

Tomás Roncero is saying "Xavi quédate" because while he's in charge Barcelona is harmless.

... and they thought that spending huge sums of money will bring them good results with an immediate effect. Some people in this club forgot that rebuilding team requires not only money, but also some time and idea. I understand that there is a huge pressure from the fans in Barcelona and they are not "patient", but it is not an excuse for people from the club board. Now they don't have nor results, nor money.

[rpo.castro]

... and they thought that spending huge sums of money will bring them good results with an immediate effect. Some people in this club forgot that rebuilding team requires not only money, but also some time and idea. I understand that there is a huge pressure from the fans in Barcelona and they are not "patient", but it is not an excuse for people from the club board. Now they don't have nor results, nor money.

This happens in big clubs: they need a year 0, to rebuild their team but they are too afraid to tell that and the reaction of the fans so they just waste huge amounts of money with no results.

[Club-Mate]

... and they thought that spending huge sums of money will bring them good results with an immediate effect. Some people in this club forgot that rebuilding team requires not only money, but also some time and idea. I understand that there is a huge pressure from the fans in Barcelona and they are not "patient", but it is not an excuse for people from the club board. Now they don't have nor results, nor money.

despite having high debts of about 1,35 bn about the half to banks FC Barcelona possess incredible high assets (tv rights, streaming rights) which will create high income in future. Recently they had to sell 25 % of the long term La LigaTV rights for about 260 mio to cover short term debts. Future incomes are not included in P&L or balance sheets but usually noted as an attachment in annual report.

[SimonB]

If Marseille beats Tottenham and Sporting - Eintracht ends in a draw, Eintracht will be the first ever team to finish last in a CL group with as many as 8 pts.

And even crazier: if Eintracht score one more goal and win in this scenario, they would jump from 4th to 1st. I just hope Spurs get at least a point in France and then at least 3rd place would be safe.

The other thing that is strange about this group is that Marseille are bottom with a positive GD, and it could even end that way if both MD6 matches end in a draw, not the most likely scenario perhaps, but not totally unrealistic either.

[angel_87]

Napoli truly immense, between September and October there are 12 victories in a row https://www.sportmediaset.mediaset.it/c ... 202k.shtml
in this moment he must not fear anyone, we must see in the post-QATAR2022, i think he will have 4 big players in the FWC...

[seso]

Greyn, I thought this was funny! I hope you will also laugh!

"A Pole goes to an ophtalmologist.
The doctor shows him: CZJWINOSTAWCZ
Doctor: Can you read this?
Pole: Read? I know this guy!"

Another joke from our language/names. Yes, quite funny seso , but I prefer when foreign commentators try to pronounce names of our football players, like Szczęsny for example. I always smile when they "break" their tongue.

As for this combination of letters, it doesn't make any sense in Polish language and I am (almost) sure there is not any person in Poland with this surname. Although I admit, I can read this "word" correctly.

Where I read this joke, they had a picture of Wojciech Szczęsny next to it, saying "I don't think that's funny!"

[Dragonite]

@Lorric @mavano

Here's the complete xG for CL from rounds 1 to 5 (source: goalpoint)

Best G-xG:
Paris (+7.1)
Liverpool (+6.2)
Bayern (+4.9)
Shakhtar (+4.7)
Sporting (+3.8)

Worst G-xG:
Atlético (-4.7)
Leverkusen (-4)
Celtic (-3.4)
Copenhagen (-2.6)
Rangers (-2.1)

Best GA-xGA:
Club Brugge (-5.9)
Shakhtar (-2.9)
Porto (-2.8)
Bayern (-2.7)
Napoli (-2)

Worst GA-xGA:
Maccabi Haifa (7.8)
Plzen (7.5)
Rangers (6.9)
Ajax (5)
Celtic (3.4)

[ultra2013]

Since there are 32 teams in CL, having just one spanish team or less in the CL-R16 never happened until now. An outlier.
Portugal deserves praise. Just 4 years during previous 23 seasons they put 2 teams in CL-R16. It' not a country that is loved by CL. Now it's 5 in 24 years OR they could outdone themselves and put 3 teams in CL-R16 for the first time ever. Frankfurt can avoid that outlier.

[Lorric]

@Dragonite

Thanks, I was interested. This place has different numbers for Celtic, 6.4 XG instead of 7.2, but still has them ranked as third worst.

No surprise to see Liverpool up there, they disposed of Rangers and Ajax with brutal efficiency. Need to maintain that to have a chance of overturning that Napoli head to Head.

PSG at the top surprises me though. Wouldn't have expected them to be the most clinical team, the French league you wouldn't think would be an environment to breed that with so much margin for error to still win it.

Bayern and Shakhtar certainly don't surprise me, Bayern have always been ruthless, and Shakhtar have been very clinical.

Brugge a huge outlier for XG conceded.

[Greyn]

Quite interesting statistics, thanks Dragonite.

Is it fair to say that Copenhagen is the worst team in this CL edition in terms of offensive potential? Rangers are next in line. Copenhagen with 0 goals, Rangers with just 1 and both have the lowest xG.

[Dragonite]

Copenhagen is a case of mismanagement.

Perhaps @Diouf or @Michele can post their opinions about what's happening.

They spent 15.2M€ in imports.

The most expensive was Cornelius, 6M€, started the first match, wasn't even in the subs bench for the second, was an unused sub for the third, wasn't even in the subs bench for the fourth, and this week was a used sub and played the last 18'.

In theory he should be playing every game and scoring goals, but actually he's only the 17th most used player (108').

Second most expensive was Amoo, 4.3M€. Playing time: 0'.

Third most expensive, Mukairu, 1,9M€. Playing time: 42' (21st most used player)

Fourth most expensive, Karamoko, 1.5M€. Playing time: 46' (20th most used player)

Fifth most expensive, Sorensen, 1M€. Playing time: 39' (22nd most used players)

Sixth most expensive, goalkeeper Ryan, 0.5M€. Started the first two matches with manager Jess Thorup, then Jacob Neestrup became the manager and Grabara has been his choice ever since then.


And that's how they spent their money, in a striker that they rarely use, in another player they haven't used yet, in another three players that they barely use, and in a goalkeeper that they're not using anymore.



Maybe this would still be enough to survive Conference League groups with PAOK, Slovan Bratislava and Lincoln Red Imps, but it's not enough to survive CL groups.


EDIT: By the way, they also sold Boving to Sturm for only 2.2M€ and now he's a key player there. Wouldn't it have been smarter to keep Boving and not sign Amoo? They'd end up 2.1M€ richer and with a better player in their squad.

It's because of choices like this that clubs have bad results. It's never just one or two bad decisions, but the combination of several decisions.

[OlliWender]

This is indeed something I've noticed too. With the increasing amounts of money that's brought into the transfer market, especially by the English clubs, the top teams from the likes of Denmark, Belgium or Netherlands have also started to regularly make transfers in the range of 5-10 mio € trying to buy "complete" players instead of solely developing talents. In Copenhagen's case this might have failed, While Club Brugge on the other hand was very smart and successful in replacing de Ketelaere.

Another transfer I didn't understand and that's looking like a total flop, has been Lucas Ocampos to Ajax. Zero goals or assists in the little playing time he got. I know they couldn't get Ziyech, but even back then Ocampos looked like a desperation signing that was totally unnecessary at the same time.

[Lyonnais]

With the increasing amounts of money that's brought into the transfer market, especially by the English clubs, the top teams from the likes of Denmark, Belgium or Netherlands have also started to regularly make transfers in the range of 5-10 mio € trying to buy "complete" players instead of solely developing talents. In Copenhagen's case this might have failed, While Club Brugge on the other hand was very smart and successful in replacing de Ketelaere.

as far as Copenhagen is concerned, their team is very young. I have the feeling - to caricature the situation of course - that the Champions League is an opportunity to have a show room for their young players (in case one of them could attract an English club), a bit like Benfica used to do a couple of years ago.

[Michele]

Copenhagen is a case of mismanagement.

Perhaps @Diouf or @Michele can post their opinions about what's happening.

They spent 15.2M€ in imports.

The most expensive was Cornelius, 6M€, started the first match, wasn't even in the subs bench for the second, was an unused sub for the third, wasn't even in the subs bench for the fourth, and this week was a used sub and played the last 18'.

In theory he should be playing every game and scoring goals, but actually he's only the 17th most used player (108').

Second most expensive was Amoo, 4.3M€. Playing time: 0'.

Third most expensive, Mukairu, 1,9M€. Playing time: 42' (21st most used player)

Fourth most expensive, Karamoko, 1.5M€. Playing time: 46' (20th most used player)

Fifth most expensive, Sorensen, 1M€. Playing time: 39' (22nd most used players)

Sixth most expensive, goalkeeper Ryan, 0.5M€. Started the first two matches with manager Jess Thorup, then Jacob Neestrup became the manager and Grabara has been his choice ever since then.


And that's how they spent their money, in a striker that they rarely use, in another player they haven't used yet, in another three players that they barely use, and in a goalkeeper that they're not using anymore.



Maybe this would still be enough to survive Conference League groups with PAOK, Slovan Bratislava and Lincoln Red Imps, but it's not enough to survive CL groups.


EDIT: By the way, they also sold Boving to Sturm for only 2.2M€ and now he's a key player there. Wouldn't it have been smarter to keep Boving and not sign Amoo? They'd end up 2.1M€ richer and with a better player in their squad.

It's because of choices like this that clubs have bad results. It's never just one or two bad decisions, but the combination of several decisions.

Bad management indeed. Last winter all attackers were sold and new ones acquired. Unfortunately none of them are any good, so that’s a lot of money wasted right there. Injuries play a big part too as Cornelius has been injured almost since his return and Pep Biel who used to play striker and played every match was sold just before transfer deadline. So a direct replacement, but much less available. With all the injuries (Cornelius, Falk, Zeca, Vavro, Boilesen, Grabara, Karamoko and Amoo) and all the bad acquisitions (Amoo, Mukairu, Karamoko, Babacar) playing the youngsters isn’t so much a case of creating a showroom, but rather using the best players available. Fortunately the academy is very good these years, otherwise there would be no bright spots.