UEFA Champions League 17/18
- Thread starter Joseph Bianco
- Start date
Liverpool 2-2 Sevilla
(Sevilla took the lead early but Liverpool quickly fired back with 2 of their own. Sevilla ties it back up in the 72nd minute and Gomez (Liverpool) picks up a second yellow in the dying minutes)
NK Maribor 1-1 Spartak Moskow
(Spartak Moskow broke the deadlock early into the second half but NK Maribor tied it up late in the game with a lovely right footed shot to the far post)
Feyenoord 0-4 Man City
(just a dominant display from City. Stones with 2 headers and goals from Aguero and Jesus)
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 Napoli
(Biggest surprise of the day. Napoli underestimated Shaktar and started a mix of their A and B squad. Shakhtar struck early and then doubled up on keeper error early in the second half. Napoli score a penalty to get on the board but werent able to fully recover)
FC Porto 1-3 Besiktas
(Besiktas opened the scoring early on a header from a beautiful cross, but then quickly put another header into their own net. The tie didnt last long though as Beiktas took the lead again 7 minutes later and sealed the deal late in the game)
RB Leipzig 1-1 Monaco
(RBL opened the scoring with a beautiful but somewhat selfish near post shot, Monaco answered back 2 minutes later after some sloppy play in the box from the keeper)
Real Madrid 3-0 Apoel Nicosia
(Convincing win from Real Madrid with a brace from Ronaldo)
Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Borussia Dortmund
(Probably the most anticipated game of the day. Some real early back in forth action had the spurs up 2-1 in just the 15th minute. Harry Kane eventually gets a brace early into second half to seal the win. Vertonghen sent off with a red card for an elbow to Gotze in injury time)
(Sevilla took the lead early but Liverpool quickly fired back with 2 of their own. Sevilla ties it back up in the 72nd minute and Gomez (Liverpool) picks up a second yellow in the dying minutes)
NK Maribor 1-1 Spartak Moskow
(Spartak Moskow broke the deadlock early into the second half but NK Maribor tied it up late in the game with a lovely right footed shot to the far post)
Feyenoord 0-4 Man City
(just a dominant display from City. Stones with 2 headers and goals from Aguero and Jesus)
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 Napoli
(Biggest surprise of the day. Napoli underestimated Shaktar and started a mix of their A and B squad. Shakhtar struck early and then doubled up on keeper error early in the second half. Napoli score a penalty to get on the board but werent able to fully recover)
FC Porto 1-3 Besiktas
(Besiktas opened the scoring early on a header from a beautiful cross, but then quickly put another header into their own net. The tie didnt last long though as Beiktas took the lead again 7 minutes later and sealed the deal late in the game)
RB Leipzig 1-1 Monaco
(RBL opened the scoring with a beautiful but somewhat selfish near post shot, Monaco answered back 2 minutes later after some sloppy play in the box from the keeper)
Real Madrid 3-0 Apoel Nicosia
(Convincing win from Real Madrid with a brace from Ronaldo)
Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Borussia Dortmund
(Probably the most anticipated game of the day. Some real early back in forth action had the spurs up 2-1 in just the 15th minute. Harry Kane eventually gets a brace early into second half to seal the win. Vertonghen sent off with a red card for an elbow to Gotze in injury time)
So in today's episode of Soup procrastination, I put together a spreadsheet tracking the performance of each league in total, as well as how they are performing against the other various leagues as far as record and GD. I am not tracking home/away in this.
Of course this is way too early as this only includes one round of games so far, includes home/away discrepancies, as well as includes some teams having tougher first matches than others, but here is the current breakdown by league:
I'm not going to put in here how each league fares against the other leagues unless someone wants something specific, or until there are at least a few more rounds of games finished to give anything of actual substance.
So go ahead and overreact away.
Of course this is way too early as this only includes one round of games so far, includes home/away discrepancies, as well as includes some teams having tougher first matches than others, but here is the current breakdown by league:
I'm not going to put in here how each league fares against the other leagues unless someone wants something specific, or until there are at least a few more rounds of games finished to give anything of actual substance.
So go ahead and overreact away.
Maybe Average GD since multiple teams from a single league can skew the total number versus a single team/league? And Avg Points?
Example: If Ukraine goes 3-0-0 with 9pts then that'd be pretty impressive but would look worse that England going 15-0-0 with 45pts even though they're averaging the same 9pts per team.
Solid points, especially the average GD. I'll save those updates for when I'm back at work tomorrow
UpdateSolid points, especially the average GD. I'll save those updates for when I'm back at work tomorrow
Ulrich I've been drinking at the hotel bar here on Long Island and been working on this...Note that I am not tracking Average Goal Differential or points per league against other leagues.
My prediction, which is technically worthless, is that they will not only make it out but they will win the group
I'd think that's the general consensus. This was sort of tongue in cheek and specifically in response to a couple of Napoli fans on here one of whom went as far as to say that not only did he think Napoli would finish ahead of City but that City wouldn't make it out of the group.
What is your reasoning behind them being overrated? As things stand I think they have one of the deepest teams in all of the UCL this year and are the team from England most likely to make a run.
I can see United making a run, they in my opinion have the easiest group out of all the English teams. A fortunate draw in the knockouts can see them deep into the tournament.
i don't think pep is that great of a coach to begin with.
defensively i think they're really lacking. they dont have a solid keeper or back line. kompany is a finished player plagued by injuries, dont see him being that great this season for however long he lasts. otamendi is good, but i think he's gonna find himself struggling with whoever his partner is. stones is a running joke. danilo i like, but i'm not convinced hes gonna be very effective. kyle walker cant defend, but can win a 100 meter dash without a ball. mendy left back not sold on him but only because i havent seen him play much.
midfield is definitely one of the better ones but can be very hit or miss depending on the forward linkup and movements. i like their midfielders minus delph and gundogan whos probably going to miss a lot of games if he isnt already injured.
i love aguero but is streaky and might have fitness issues making him come on as a sub more often than not. gabi jesus needs to stay healthy, if not theyre going to struggle. raheem sterling has no business in a starting 11 at any given time.
while i may have just been talking shit, theyre most likely to get out in reality. but not far. they've played one game against a bunch of nobodies and did as the others will do also (depending on if sarri actually cares when they play napoli)
as a team i saw them play a couple times so far and theyre a really weird team because theyre good but leave themselves exposed way too much for my liking, they miss way too many chances that should be goals then defensively melt down usually early in the game and towards the middle, which could hurt them. playing away at the other two will be tougher for man city.
but like i said before... shakhtar always find a way to pull through. and napoli is one of the strongest teams around
I mean, I get what you're saying - I agree City's defence isn't really strong enough to stand up to a serious threat, I was uncertain about Ederson when we bought him (he seemed to me to be entirely similar to what Bravo was at the time of purchase a year before, and bought for the same reasons) although I'm happy with what I've seen so far, and I think that both Pep and Soriano/Txiki are so convinced that their style of football is morally superior that they can't even comprehend the notion of it possibly not being the right path to pursue at all times.
I do think you're very much buying into pretty much every single negative stereotype that has ever been spread about City though. Stones has been showing all the signs of why he was bought a season ago so far, Walker has been praised by many as the surprise buy of the summer so far, Mendy has also been highlighted as one of the best wing-backs around, Pep has increasingly been trying to work 3 at the back to make the question marks over whether his WBs can play FB irrelevant, and for all that Aguero is undeniably prone to an injury spell, he's still scored minimum 28 goals every season for the last 4 years.
Incidentally, as for your comment on Shakhtar - for all that you say that they "always find a way to pull through", they've only got out of the group stages 3 times in the last 10 years...
They're a good team undoubtedly, but they don't get over the line quite as often as you thought.
Sevilla 3-0 MK Maribor
(Hat Trick for Wissam Ben Yedder)
Spartak Moscow 1-1 Liverpool
(Another disappointing draw for Liverpool, goals from Fernando and Coutinho)
Man City 2-0 Shaktar
(DeBruyne scores early in the second half to break the deadlock and Sterling puts the game away in the 90th)
Napoli 3-1 Feynoord
(All 3 forwards tally goals in a convincing win, clean sheet broken in the dying seconds of the game)
Monaco 0-3 Porto
(Great showing from Porto made Monaco look sloppy all game)
Besiktas 2-0 RB Leopzig
(1 goal early and one goal late in the first half for Besiktas. One from Babel and one from Talisca)
APOEL 0-3 Tottenham
(Hat Trick for Harry Kane)
Dormund 1-3 Real Madrid
(Ref missed an early Sergio Ramos handball clearance on the line in favor of Real Madrid. Bale scores shortly after. Aubamayang picks up a second half goal for Dortmund but a brace for Ronaldo in the second half puts the game away)
(Hat Trick for Wissam Ben Yedder)
Spartak Moscow 1-1 Liverpool
(Another disappointing draw for Liverpool, goals from Fernando and Coutinho)
Man City 2-0 Shaktar
(DeBruyne scores early in the second half to break the deadlock and Sterling puts the game away in the 90th)
Napoli 3-1 Feynoord
(All 3 forwards tally goals in a convincing win, clean sheet broken in the dying seconds of the game)
Monaco 0-3 Porto
(Great showing from Porto made Monaco look sloppy all game)
Besiktas 2-0 RB Leopzig
(1 goal early and one goal late in the first half for Besiktas. One from Babel and one from Talisca)
APOEL 0-3 Tottenham
(Hat Trick for Harry Kane)
Dormund 1-3 Real Madrid
(Ref missed an early Sergio Ramos handball clearance on the line in favor of Real Madrid. Bale scores shortly after. Aubamayang picks up a second half goal for Dortmund but a brace for Ronaldo in the second half puts the game away)
Bit late to the party here.
No offense but just about every single one of your points was very skewed. You talk about the team having, as you said, watched 2 of their games. I'm not sure what you're basing your comments on, last year? Nothing at all? Speculation?
They've given up 3 goals in all competition so far and no more than 1 in a game.
Vincent company hasn't started since the third game of the season. I feel otamendi and stones are a much better pairing and the two have been lights out. Allowing 0 goals in 5 matches when they both start. So the only times we have allowed a goal is 3 matches in which the 2 of them weren't paired.
39 goals in 9 matches across all competitions. That's 4.3 goals a game. Your claim that we miss chances should only add to the threat that City pose to other clubs if they're already averaging 4 goals a game and missing 'way too many' chances. I will agree with you there that due to our playing style and how the players have bought in this season we are playing some gorgeous football. It's because of that we're scoring 4+ goals a game and due to the overwhelming amount of chances created it appears as if we miss 'way too many.' But when you put away 4.3 a game and give up .3 a game you can stand to do so.
Sterling has also scored in all games he's made an appearance. Believe that's 6 after today.
Napoli also lost to Shakhtar. Allowing 11 shots and 4 on target and conceding 2.
City gave up 6 shots, 2 on target and conceded 0.
They've both also played Feyenoord. 8 Shots - 1 on target and 28% possession.
Against Napoli 7 Shots - 6 On target, 1 goal and 44% possession.
Missed chances - take both games played against same opponents.
Shots - On Target - Goals
Napoli 22 - 8 - 3 Goals (1 penalty scored removed from data set)
36% On Frame 37.5% Conversion
City 29 - 15 - 6 Goals
51% On Frame 40% Conversion
Also, as Matt pointed out Aguero is anything but streaky. One of the most consistent strikers there is, 7 goals already. The pairing of Aguero and Jesus has been amazing. Silvia and De Bruyne have put on clinics in midfield with their distribution playing behind them, 12 assists combined already.
As someone who leans toward BVB, I was so pissed about that handball while watching the match, but as emotions have cooled I probably agree with commentators who point out that Ramos was so close to Navas that he had absolutely no chance to avoid the ball. This despite it looking like Ramos was trying to catch it. Sigh. I dunno. Sure as hell would have been nice to get a PK and have Ramos sent off.
That said, Madrid were fantastic and were completely confident in their ability to exploit Dortmund's weaknesses.
Didn't they recently change the rules where if they award the PK the player no longer gets sent off?
