[CL] Champions League 2014/15 (35 Viewers)
- Thread starter Dostoevsky
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Agree that Bayern are less 'otherworldly', which is why I would prefer to play them in a Final than a team with Cristiano, James, Bale or Messi, Neymar, Suarez. For semifinals though, I fancy our chances against Madrid; they are struggling for form with injuries et al, if Juve peaks in the right time I think we got this.
What Conte did last season was make us doubt the actual quality of our team. I recall discussing with you and a few others before our match with Benfica that perhaps we shouldn't be favourites and we were just overrating our players...
At the time, with how poorly our European campaign was going, it was starting to seem like this was the case... now, I think Conte's lack of tactical acumen, his stubbornness, and the constant degrading of our team's capabilities in the press was making our players look much worse than they actually were in Europe.
At the time, with how poorly our European campaign was going, it was starting to seem like this was the case... now, I think Conte's lack of tactical acumen, his stubbornness, and the constant degrading of our team's capabilities in the press was making our players look much worse than they actually were in Europe.
Yeah,the likes of Morata and Pereyra have added another dimension to our team.I didnt think our counter-attacking would improve greatly as it did this season so a lot of the credit goes to the signings we made as well.
We should've done way better last season but tbf to him ,Conte lacked the kind of dynamic pacy players the team desired hence we were restricted to being a largely one-dimensional team.Still though,Allegri has done well in fine-tuning the team which was lacking in some aspects and we are reaping rewards of it as a result.
We should've done way better last season but tbf to him ,Conte lacked the kind of dynamic pacy players the team desired hence we were restricted to being a largely one-dimensional team.Still though,Allegri has done well in fine-tuning the team which was lacking in some aspects and we are reaping rewards of it as a result.
Pereyra is the shocking one for me. I never would have guessed he would improve our team so much, especially playing as an attacking mid. That diamond shape, when we have everyone fit, is brilliant. We have so much athleticism in the midfield and attack without Pirlo in the lineup.
It would have been interesting to see how Conte would have utilized Morata and Pereyra, or if he would have just had them as rotation players in the 3-5-2.
It would have been interesting to see how Conte would have utilized Morata and Pereyra, or if he would have just had them as rotation players in the 3-5-2.
That's what I was saying too.
If Juve win both legs in the semifinal, as well as the final, we'll get 2+2+1 bonus+2 = 7 points.
Lets say Napoli wins both rounds in the semis (4 points+1 bonus) and wins the final (2), that's also 7 points. Fiorentina can win 5 points from the semis and they can't also win the final if Napoli wins, so the most they will get is 5 points.
Juve (7) +Napoli (7) + Fiorentina (5) = 19 points. You divide that with 6 (the number of Italian teams in Europe this year) and you get additional 3,16 coefficient points that Italy can add till the end of the season. Even if you discount 11/12 season, Italy still won't be ahead of England.
If Juve win both legs in the semifinal, as well as the final, we'll get 2+2+1 bonus+2 = 7 points.
Lets say Napoli wins both rounds in the semis (4 points+1 bonus) and wins the final (2), that's also 7 points. Fiorentina can win 5 points from the semis and they can't also win the final if Napoli wins, so the most they will get is 5 points.
Juve (7) +Napoli (7) + Fiorentina (5) = 19 points. You divide that with 6 (the number of Italian teams in Europe this year) and you get additional 3,16 coefficient points that Italy can add till the end of the season. Even if you discount 11/12 season, Italy still won't be ahead of England.
Yeah, Italy has a chance to overtake England next season, but in my original post I was going with the more possible outcome, which is winning that third place after 2 seasons. I think that after this season (and after discounting 10/11) Italy will be some 2/2,5 points behind England and some 3,5/4 points behind Germany. I doubt that Italy will have another superior season next year. I find it more likely (after also discounting season 11/12) that it can happen in two years. For that to happen, Italy will need to do just as good as one of Germany/England in the next 2 years.
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This is what I'm saying...
http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/crank2017.html
These are the standings for the last three seasons. The Italians only need a draw this year and they'll be better than England. They might even surpass Germany. That means that they "only" need to do just as well, or even slightly worse, than one of these two in the next two seasons, and they get the third place back.
It's possible Italy to overtake them by the end of next season, but for this to happen the Italians will again have to do (much) better than one of Germany/England. It's possible, but not very probable.
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This is what I'm saying...
http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/crank2017.html
These are the standings for the last three seasons. The Italians only need a draw this year and they'll be better than England. They might even surpass Germany. That means that they "only" need to do just as well, or even slightly worse, than one of these two in the next two seasons, and they get the third place back.
It's possible Italy to overtake them by the end of next season, but for this to happen the Italians will again have to do (much) better than one of Germany/England. It's possible, but not very probable.
