goat gonna goat

in for the lolVAR again

can't fault the checkoslovakians for atmosphere in the synot tip arena or whatever it is called

lolVAR again

legit had a VAR review without actually showing a replay on the feed

well it was lolTV that time I guess for not showing any replays

deserved equalizer for the slavians

been a-comin' for a while

Peach of a goal for Ox's second.

suarez is never going to score an away goal in cl again

Haaland is a freakin' machine

OMG, Karius-level goal yielded by Lopes of Lyon

We'll take it!

well, that was not particularly convincing, or pretty, but 3 points in the bag

slavians deserved a point for sure, but gotta finish your chances

Massive last second goal by Lille, the day goes from good to great for Chels

They can't set the totals high enough in Salzburg matches. This one was only 3.25 and had 5 goals, 1 called back from VAR, and 3-4 great saves forced.

That's now 8, 7, and 5 goals in their 3 matches.

that norwegian kid looks like the real deal. about time norway produce some talent.

Jesse Marsch = Klopp Jr

GOAT

yeah i rode them to glory early on then faded due to "tough matchup" narrative but damn if that offensive isn't matchup proof or what

oh la la

You could say that, but it is the usual lineup.

Blind (currently) only plays left back for Holland and is much better at the type of defending required from a centre back, imo. The idea was that he'd be a defensive midfielder this season, but his great reading of the game and neat passing did not translate into great play there (neither offensively nor defensively), and the defense was left in shambles - both due to his play there and his absence from the back line.

Veltman was actually a centre back when he first debuted for Ajax iirc. Had moved to the right as a stop gap. You can rely on him to be mediocre everywhere, and we clearly needed some more stability in the center. Dest is doing ~okay on the right and young Schuurs was inconsistent in the middle.

Martinez was indeed bought as a centre back but is surprisingly mobile, able on the ball, can keep tempo, usually takes risks at the right moment and even verticalizes play.

Alvarez was also bought as a centre back and has done okay in midfield, but sometimes looks quite slow on the ball plus and can be positionally suspect. Veltman's stability and positioning are why he is currently playing in defense over Alvarez (and the young talented but inconsistent Schuurs).

Marin is probably the reason for all of this. He was bought from Standard Liège for ~12m eu to be a great midfielder (alongside Blind) but he was awful any chance he got and did not link up well with Blind at all. I honestly think that if he had been what Ajax expected, they would now play with Blind+Marin in midfield and Martinez (+Alvarez?) in defense.

Tagliafico and Dest are obviously fullbacks playing as such. Mazraoui who did really well as a starting right back last year, even scoring against both Bayern and Benfica in the group stages iirc, has also been tried as a central midfielder at the start of the year, but did not do too well there and somehow lost his spot altogether.

Somehow this seems to be the norm in (the CL games from) Italy and Spain from what I've seen, not sure why.

Madrid clear favorites to win it this year. Still cant get a goal from jovic, hazard still adapting to the speed of the spanish game, courtois not as good as keylor, and looking to rodrygo as saviour, and still in it. Imagine qhen they get it together.

lol nice

Pretty sure by this logic Spurs are favorites as well. I'm in.

Barca looked trash in the beginning of this game