Roiling football blather

[baboon2004]

Hard to think of a set of CL semi-finals with more potential. Only ones that come to mind is that year where it was Bayern-Barcelona and Dortmund-Madrid.

Ajax need to get through to break the Spain-Germany-England-Juventus hegemony. It had been getting boring. Plus Tottenham do not deserve it.

Only two finalists from outside E-S-G-I since Ajax's last final, was the year Mourinho won with Porto, vs Monaco.

 

[IdleRich]

Ajax need to get through to break the Spain-Germany-England-Juventus hegemony. It had been getting boring. Plus Tottenham do not deserve it.

I'm not a Spurs fan but I can't agree with that last bit. After last year when they were very unlucky to lose to Juve (and if they had won who knows what would have happened v Real against whom they were totally superior in the group games) they started terribly this year but somehow effected an amazing and nail-biting escape from the group, then hammered then-leaders in Germany Dortmund before knocking out the best side in Europe* in a truly magical game. Maybe they don't quite have the romance of Ajax but they have a great story of their own.
*I think City are best at the moment but it's always a bit different when you play teams from your own league. In that respect they've been unlucky these last two years.

 

[baboon2004]

I can see the argument for Tottenham, but they were *so* inferior to City for large stretches of that last leg, that it was a miracle City didn't finish the job way before the VAR controversy. I'm probably biased, but I would hate them to take a place in the final at the expense of this Ajax side. (I'd like to see Spurs win another trophy tho - they're very entertaining)

City technically have the best squad, but they get shown up time and again at the highest level when willing teams attack them, rather than cowering -understandably - behind the ball. Probably no coincidence that the only top level KO scalp they have in Europe is PSG. Surely they can bolster that defence with all the money they have? If they get a CD or two of van Dijk's current stature (ok, tough assignment but), it would be hard to stop them.

 

[IdleRich]

I can see the argument for Tottenham, but they were *so* inferior to City for large stretches of that last leg, that it was a miracle City didn't finish the job way before the VAR controversy. I'm probably biased, but I would hate them to take a place in the final at the expense of this Ajax side. (I'd like to see Spurs win another trophy tho - they're very entertaining)

City technically have the best squad, but they get shown up time and again at the highest level when willing teams attack them, rather than cowering -understandably - behind the ball. Probably no coincidence that the only top level KO scalp they have in Europe is PSG. Surely they can bolster that defence with all the money they have? If they get a CD or two of van Dijk's current stature (ok, tough assignment but), it would be hard to stop them.

Well my gut feeling is City are best but sure, they haven't shown it with their results. Yet.
Anyway I will kinda support Spurs tonight- but as long as long as football is the winner I'll be happy

 

[baboon2004]

Yeah, above all I'm hoping they'll be matches to remember.

Could be a bittersweet couple of days for Southampton fans if van Dijk, Tadic and/or Mane turn in matchwinning performances...

 

[IdleRich]

Yeah, who'd a thunk Southampton would be such a rich source of world beaters.

 

[baboon2004]

I bloody missed the first half hour due to a dodgy stream. Sigh. The second half wasn't up to much by comparison, I didn't think (judging from the 1st half highlights). A strangely stereotypically "English" game, with lots of hoofed clearances and much less skill on show than I had expected.

Spurs still in it for sure with Son back in the team, but it's gonna be tricky.

 

[IdleRich]

I bloody missed the first half hour due to a dodgy stream. Sigh. The second half wasn't up to much by comparison, I didn't think (judging from the 1st half highlights). A strangely stereotypically "English" game, with lots of hoofed clearances and much less skill on show than I had expected.
Spurs still in it for sure with Son back in the team, but it's gonna be tricky.

Yeah Ajax had like a twenty minute spell where they had the ball the whole time (didn't really create that many chances though) but I don't think they can maintain that level for long. When they had that spell against Real or Juve it was enough to kill the tie but against Spurs they only got one and after that Spurs got slowly into the game and then slowly on top. They will be annoyed that they didn't get an equaliser in the second half but their final ball was lacking when they were in dangerous areas and they slashed at the half-chances. Eriksen wasn't as good as usual and they clearly missed Son. But they will definitely feel it is possible for them to win in Amsterdam... and possible to lose of course. It really is one of those ones where when they say "Advantage Ajax at half-time" that actually sums it up pretty well.
Not that convinced by Ajax's defending, or the goalie for that matter (when he came flying out to the edge of the box and got nowhere near the ball just before Vertonghen was injured) - there are goals to be got. I don't get the way that Ajax defended set-pieces with that very high line, it just invited Spurs to put the ball into that area and attack it and the defenders were all facing their own goal. Spurs had two chances out of nothing that way and Ajax still didn't change it... weird.
That said, obviously Ajax can score too so the tie is very delicately poised. In the second half despite hardly doing anything they had the best chance. If that one that hit the post had gone in it would have been very different.

 

[IdleRich]

That looked bad when Vertonghen was staggering from a head injury didn't it? What's the latest?

 

[IdleRich]

Speaking of injuries, Iker Casillas is apparently in hospital after a heart attack in training. Why does this happen?

 

[baboon2004]

Christ, he's only 37. Seems especially mystifying for a goalkeeper, who wouldn't be expected to push his body quite so hard as a box-to-box midfielder. Discussion around it seems to focus on the difference between cardiac arrest and heart attack
Wdnt usually link to the Spectator, but https://health.spectator.co.uk/ugo-ehiogu-why-do-fit-and-healthy-people-suffer-cardiac-arrests/

Spurs medics didn't come out well from the Vertonghen incident, but maybe not their fault if the procedures aren't strict enough

 

[IdleRich]

Christ, he's only 37. Seems especially mystifying for a goalkeeper, who wouldn't be expected to push his body quite so hard as a box-to-box midfielder. Discussion around it seems to focus on the difference between cardiac arrest and heart attack
Wdnt usually link to the Spectator, but https://health.spectator.co.uk/ugo-ehiogu-why-do-fit-and-healthy-people-suffer-cardiac-arrests/

Spurs medics didn't come out well from the Vertonghen incident, but maybe not their fault if the procedures aren't strict enough

I feel that more footballers have had heart-attacks over the last ten or so years than used to happen. Is it a) I'm imagining it b) they are pushing their bodies harder c) they are taking drugs which are adversely affecting their system d) something else?
Call me cynical but I veer towards c) - as far as I can tell drug testing is far laxer in footballer than in most other serious sports and the potential rewards are astronomical. Why wouldn't people take drugs in that scenario? Also, even if individuals don't, there is the chance of systematic doping from teams.

 

[IdleRich]

I'm not normally a conspiracy theorist but the way Maldini played until he was 107 was a bit suspicious wasn't it? And how Shevchenko got so much worse when he left Milan as though he wasn't getting his medicine any more. And let's face it, the Italian teams cheat in every other way known to man, why not doping too?

 

[baboon2004]

I wouldn't discount drug use in some cases, but I also think that the human body isn't necessarily made for the kind of stress that professional athletes have to put themselves through. Also comments some places that extreme fitness can disguise bad overall health - not qualified to say whether that makes any sense or not.

If you're right though, Torres must have had the best dealer of all time on Merseyside.

 

[IdleRich]

I think there is some truth in that. Or simply that fitness and healthiness are not the same thing. Like when distance runners are so fit that their periods stop - again I don't know enough about this subject so I'm willing to be corrected, but if you are exercising so hard and getting so thin that your responds to it in a way that is similar (in at least one respect) to how it responds if you are malnourished or a heroin addict (I knew several addicts whose periods stopped).

 

[IdleRich]

Weird game. Barcelona win 3-0 a lot but they normally deserve it a lot better than that. Can't believe that Salah missed that sitter at the end, would have kept the tie alive.

 

[version]

Valverde's Barca are like that, they tend to go ahead then sit back for a while and absorb pressure before scoring a few more late in the second half.

 

[version]

Messi's scored 600 goals for Barca now. Unreal.

 

[IdleRich]

Valverde's Barca are like that, they tend to go ahead then sit back for a while and absorb pressure before scoring a few more late in the second half.

They were incredibly lucky not to concede. There is absorbing pressure and there is relying on one of world's best strikers to miss an open goal from 5 yards out.

 

[baboon2004]

If Milner had scored, then Liverpool could even have won. Weird game indeed. That first goal was even better than the third, for my money - what a pass, what a finish...

Barcelona-Ajax would be a fitting final though.