The TT Football Club

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Tiki-Taka

Guest
I gave these guys the biggest support I have in the last eight years, attending every home game of the season and even going to the occasional trip. After tonight, I am not sure I want to go to our last game of the season against Getafe. They had a great chance this season to make up for the last year collapse against Roma, yet they ended up being on the receiving end of something even worse. It will take a long time to forgive the team for this catastrophe. Just like last year prior to our game in the Italian capital, Valverde said the team will approach the 2nd leg like the 1st leg result didn't even happen. And once again, I didn't see that. Personally, I don't want him here anymore, and I just want Copa final and my vacation in June to arrive as soon as possible now, to get away from this disgrace...

Congratulations to Liverpool on another historic European night and a second consecutive appearance in the final. They have earned it more than anyone. The entire Europe can take a lot of notes from them regarding this season, no matter if they don't win either title or accomplish the double.

Visca el Barca i visca Catalunya...
 

Red Rick

Bionic Poster
They deserve it today. Historic comeback. But don't think this means I'm rooting for Liverpool in the final, pretty.

Go Ajax lol
I'll be on the fence.

Have rooted against Ajax domestically for 25 years now.

I'd just get drunk enough to give no ****s, root for Liverpool and if Ajax wins I'll forget I rooted for Liverpool instantly and pretend I was rooting for Ajax all the way.
 

Sysyphus

Talk Tennis Guru
I know how you feel.
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Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
It usually is an anti Liverpool thing for me but I oft find myself rooting for Messi against anyone not named United. I just like the way they play. But this Barcelona of the last few years has not had the same ruthlessness of its previous iterations. The Barcelona of "old" and I mean the ones just a few years ago would never have just sat on a 3 nil lead. They'd have kept attacking and found ways to score.

The past 2 yrs they have just tried to sit on leads. Really not used to seeing Barcelona operate this way. Very disappointing.
 

TheAssassin

Legend
I will listen to you from now on, Uncle (I have too many Dads).

I truly thought Barcelona had learnt their lesson from last year.

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Believe me nephew, I am not glad I was proven right. Barcelona screwing up on a rare occasion when I support them... Clearly it's not going my way recently football-wise. :cautious: But Liverpool have been stunning, got to praise them for that.
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
Believe me nephew, I am not glad I was proven right. Barcelona screwing up on a rare occasion when I support them... Clearly it's not going my way recently football-wise. :cautious: But Liverpool have been stunning, got to praise them for that.

Well we did both point out the Dembele miss immediately as it happened being potentially costly. So I think we both knew Liverpool was more than capable of bagging 3. Which we both said as much. So we were both right there.

I did NOT, however, envision Barcelona getting clean sheeted. Anfield or not. The most disappointing part of Barcelona was they didn't even show up today.
 

TheAssassin

Legend
I gave these guys the biggest support I have in the last eight years, attending every home game of the season and even going to the occasional trip. After tonight, I am not sure I want to go to our last game of the season against Getafe. They had a great chance this season to make up for the last year collapse against Roma, yet they ended up being on the receiving end of something even worse. It will take a long time to forgive the team for this catastrophe. Just like last year prior to our game in the Italian capital, Valverde said the team will approach the 2nd leg like the 1st leg result didn't even happen. And once again, I didn't see that. Personally, I don't want him here anymore, and I just want Copa final and my vacation in June to arrive as soon as possible now, to get away from this disgrace...

Congratulations to Liverpool on another historic European night and a second consecutive appearance in the final. They have earned it more than anyone. The entire Europe can take a lot of notes from them regarding this season, no matter if they don't win either title or accomplish the double.

Visca el Barca i visca Catalunya...
Commiserations man. I myself am disappointed, can't even imagine how you are feeling right now. :X3:

You really did let a great CL opportunity slip. I imagine you will strengthen more next season and become better, but this one will still hurt.
 

Poisoned Slice

Bionic Poster
It usually is an anti Liverpool thing for me but I oft find myself rooting for Messi against anyone not named United. I just like the way they play. But this Barcelona of the last few years has not had the same ruthlessness of its previous iterations. The Barcelona of "old" and I mean the ones just a few years ago would never have just sat on a 3 nil lead. They'd have kept attacking and found ways to score.

The past 2 yrs they have just tried to sit on leads. Really not used to seeing Barcelona operate this way. Very disappointing.

Yep. They tortured us but I said I wasn't scared of them like I was before.
 
That Dembele miss in the final minute last week and all the chances in the 1st half tonight... They paid the price.
Well, Liverpool themselves had plenty of chances they didn't convert. What Barca really paid the price for is their inexplicable lack of spirit and absence of a proper game plan. Wanted to defend the lead and create chances on counterattack but when it became obvious this wasn't working they just seemed clueless as to what to do.
 

AlexanderTheGreat08

Hall of Fame
Well we did both point out the Dembele miss immediately as it happened being potentially costly. So I think we both knew Liverpool was more than capable of bagging 3. Which we both said as much. So we were both right there.

I did NOT, however, envision Barcelona getting clean sheeted. Anfield or not. The most disappointing part of Barcelona was they didn't even show up today.
Dembele wouldn't had done shet , Barcelona had their chances
 

Feña14

G.O.A.T.
Those who are shocked by this result? You haven't been paying attention..

I had my doubts when there was no Firmino, Salah, or Keita.. then Robertson getting kicked out the game.. but I said Liverpool would handle Barcelona convincingly, and over the two legs, that turned out to be the case.

20 minutes in they showed Vidal looking like he'd ran a marathon with a look of utter shock on his face. It was only 1-0, but the intensity, swarming, physicality, pace that Liverpool have honed in the Premier League going up against sides who try to out-do you week in, week out was something Barcelona weren't ready for.

Even the winner, Barcelona took the chance to switch off for a second whilst the corner was being set up. Big mistake. When I say pace, it also means speed of thought. When games are being played at 100mph in England, you develop it pretty quickly.

So yeah, pretty fitting that the winner was a metaphor for what I was trying to tell everyone after the semi finals.

Congrats to Liverpool though. I still don't think Barcelona knew what hit them.

I like Liverpool in the Champions League, a lot. I’m on record as saying they’ll handle Barcelona convincingly. Probably not what you want to hear, jinxing it and all that! Looking forward to it though..

...The intensity, physicality and pace of the game were what Barcelona struggled with. Liverpool are the modern version of that, plus they have far more talented players than Chelsea did during that era. Those characteristics were all Chelsea had, this Liverpool side have skill and technique that the Chelsea side could only dream of.

Barcelona and Juventus are both top teams, but if Liverpool are on? I don't think they can cope, personally.
 
T

Tiki-Taka

Guest
Commiserations man. I myself am disappointed, can't even imagine how you are feeling right now. :X3:

You really did let a great CL opportunity slip. I imagine you will strengthen more next season and become better, but this one will still hurt.
The last few seasons in Europe have been infuriating as the team has been expected to regularly compete for the title. Not only that, but it has been blessed with having a once in a lifetime phenomenon playing his entire career here. Now, 1 of the last 8 Champions League titles is very poor for the team of our quality and ambition.

But, I will get over it. There were times when I would have been satisfied with just seeing Barcelona in the last few teams in this competition. I don't live in the past in order to lower the expectations, but as a guy who is grateful for his club rise to one of the greatest in the world, I never forget it either.
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
4-3 aggregate win after needing a mother of comebacks is a win, but not handling someone convincingly. Barcelona could have had more goals themselves, it was a tight tie all things considered.

Yeah I think we can give credit to Liverpool without completely taking a dump on Barcelona. All things considered it was still a razor thin close tie. Barcelona didn't show up today but they did in leg 1 and it was almost enough even without showing up today.
 

Poisoned Slice

Bionic Poster
Those who are shocked by this result? You haven't been paying attention..

I had my doubts when there was no Firmino, Salah, or Keita.. then Robertson getting kicked out the game.. but I said Liverpool would handle Barcelona convincingly, and over the two legs, that turned out to be the case.

20 minutes in they showed Vidal looking like he'd ran a marathon with a look of utter shock on his face. It was only 1-0, but the intensity, swarming, physicality, pace that Liverpool have honed in the Premier League going up against sides who try to out-do you week in, week out was something Barcelona weren't ready for.

Even the winner, Barcelona took the chance to switch off for a second whilst the corner was being set up. Big mistake. When I say pace, it also means speed of thought. When games are being played at 100mph in England, you develop it pretty quickly.

So yeah, pretty fitting that the winner was a metaphor for what I was trying to tell everyone after the semi finals.

Congrats to Liverpool though. I still don't think Barcelona knew what hit them.

(y)
 
T

Tiki-Taka

Guest
4-3 aggregate win after needing a mother of comebacks is a win, but not handling someone convincingly. Barcelona could have had more goals themselves, it was a tight tie all things considered.
Well if the Premier League was the best in the world even when none of their clubs was a factor at these stages, I am not surprised this was totally convincing handling over the two legs. :sneaky: I don't even want to learn the word for what Bayern did to us back in 2013 then. :X3:

I feared this day would come, which is another reason why I am so disappointed that our boys allowed it to happen. And I was totally ready to call out the Madrid clubs for how they embarrassed La Liga this year in Europe, but then look at this.
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
Well if the Premier League was the best in the world even when none of their clubs was a factor at these stages, I am not surprised this was totally convincing handling over the two legs. :sneaky: I don't even want to learn the word for what Bayern did to us back in 2013 then. :X3:

I feared this day would come, which is another reason why I am so disappointed that our boys allowed it to happen. And I was totally ready to call out the Madrid clubs for how they embarrassed La Liga this year in Europe, but then look at this.

The Premier League needs a lot more wins over La Liga competition before they can start claiming to be the best. If it takes mammoth comebacks like these just to barely progress it would stand to reason, logically, that La Liga are still the chased not the chasers. Real Madrid is not going to sit on its laurels for long either.

It was a great win for Liverpool, but the Premier League has a long way to go. Especially teams that are not named Manchester City or Liverpool.

And even City has been a massive disappointment in Europe even with their resurgence domestically this past decade.
 

Poisoned Slice

Bionic Poster
The Premier League needs a lot more wins over La Liga competition before they can start claiming to be the best. If it takes mammoth comebacks like these just to barely progress it would stand to reason, logically, that La Liga are still the chased not the chasers. Real Madrid is not going to sit on its laurels for long either.

It was a great win for Liverpool, but the Premier League has a long way to go. Especially teams that are not named Manchester City or Liverpool.

And even City has been a massive disappointment in Europe even with their resurgence domestically this past decade.

Premier league is the best mate.
 

Feña14

G.O.A.T.
4-3 aggregate win after needing a mother of comebacks is a win, but not handling someone convincingly. Barcelona could have had more goals themselves, it was a tight tie all things considered.

Yeah I think we can give credit to Liverpool without completely taking a dump on Barcelona. All things considered it was still a razor thin close tie. Barcelona didn't show up today but they did in leg 1 and it was almost enough even without showing up today.

Taking a dump on Barcelona? As I said, people really haven't been paying attention..

Liverpool were the better side in the first half last week and they destroyed Barcelona tonight, whilst missing 3 key players and had Robertson kicked out of the game.. in exactly the way it was pretty obvious they would. Harried, pressed, couldn't handle the pace of the game etc..

It's not a knock on Barcelona, i'm pretty sure they would be as good/if not better than Liverpool if they had to play against Premier League sides every week. The point I made in the quarters was Barcelona or Juventus wouldn't be able to cope with the English sides. We didn't get to see Juventus, but the 180 minutes of the Liverpool/Barcelona semi showed that to be the case.
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
Taking a dump on Barcelona? As I said, people really haven't been paying attention..

Liverpool were the better side in the first half last week and they destroyed Barcelona tonight, whilst missing 3 key players and had Robertson kicked out of the game.. in exactly the way it was pretty obvious they would. Harried, pressed, couldn't handle the pace of the game etc..

It's not a knock on Barcelona, i'm pretty sure they would be as good/if not better than Liverpool if they had to play against Premier League sides every week. The point I made in the quarters was Barcelona or Juventus wouldn't be able to cope with the English sides. We didn't get to see Juventus, but the 180 minutes of the Liverpool/Barcelona semi showed that to be the case.

They've been called overrated a lot these past few weeks including today. La Liga getting memed. Premier League being appraised as a superior product, etc.

To that I would say the devil is in the details. Real Madrid and Barcelona have been destroying English sides for years. The result after one leg was 3-0, regardless of the if's and and's and buts. Yes, Liverpool could and should have scored in Leg 1. But you could say that for Barcelona as well. Liverpool did well to control much of the first half but after that Barcelona played very very well and by no means looked outmatched or ill-prepared.

The end product was a 4-3 aggregate in which Liverpool needed to play literally a perfect game to progress. If Barcelona was as overrated as advertised, the tie would have been over Leg 1. Over for Barcelona.

It seems backwards to me that many are putting Liverpool up on this pedestal while simultaneously tearing Barcelona down. Barcelona can be torn down for it's ill preparedness and horrific gameplan today. No doubt about it. But the tie was still close. If they played another two leg tie this year it would be close again.

La Liga has owned the Premier League for years. The Premier League just has better parity. It has a long way to go towards realistically trying to stake a claim as the best league in the world relative to UCL success.

I mean Real Madrid just smacked Liverpool last year in a final. La Liga has pounded United a ton. They've pounded City. They've beaten out Liverpool for trophies.
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
And it's honestly been a flimsy argument to call La Liga a two team league Teams like Atletico/Sevilla have knocked out premier league teams.

This isn't even taking into account Premier League against other leagues like Bundesliga or Serie A. Most of the time they are losing those ties too lol.

Hell I'd say the Premier League looks just as much of a two team league as La Liga does. If that's the way we want to go. Plenty of teams in other leagues can convincingly beat Chelsea, Spurs, United, Arsenal etc.
 
Taking a dump on Barcelona? As I said, people really haven't been paying attention..

Liverpool were the better side in the first half last week and they destroyed Barcelona tonight, whilst missing 3 key players and had Robertson kicked out of the game.. in exactly the way it was pretty obvious they would. Harried, pressed, couldn't handle the pace of the game etc..

It's not a knock on Barcelona, i'm pretty sure they would be as good/if not better than Liverpool if they had to play against Premier League sides every week. The point I made in the quarters was Barcelona or Juventus wouldn't be able to cope with the English sides. We didn't get to see Juventus, but the 180 minutes of the Liverpool/Barcelona semi showed that to be the case.
I get that Liverpool were playing well and if they were more effective in front of goal the result might've been really close, but it is just a fact they were not the better side in that match. You don't lose 3-0 if you are playing better than your opponent unless there's some questionable refereeing involved, which there wasn't.
Edit: sorry, interpreted "first half last week" incorrectly. But to that point, being better in the 1st half of the match is not that relevant. Barca were just 1-0 down in the 1st half of today's match, but the match finished with them being destroyed.

Today's match was not an example of Barcelona playing well and struggling because their best was not good enough. They played very poorly actually. But that aside, it would make more sense to judge which league is superior based on the results of English teams vs Spanish teams in the CL and EL, not on single matches which often are outliers.
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
I get that Liverpool were playing well and if they were more effective in front of goal the result might've been really close, but it is just a fact they were not the better side in that match. You don't lose 3-0 if you are playing better than your opponent unless there's some questionable refereeing involved, which there wasn't.
Edit: sorry, interpreted "first half last week" incorrectly. But to that point, being better in the 1st half of the match is not that relevant. Barca were just 1-0 down in the 1st half of today's match, but the match finished with them being destroyed.

Today's match was not an example of Barcelona playing well and struggling because their best was not good enough. They played very poorly actually. But that aside, it would make more sense to judge which league is superior based on the results of English teams vs Spanish teams in the CL and EL, not on single matches which often are outliers.

Exactly, which like I said..the devil is in the details if you want to claim PL is some superior product. Well..based on a lot of data..that is just not true. And one mammoth comeback today does not change that. What it MIGHT change, however, is the belief that these english sides have against spanish ones moving forward.

But no, I do not extrapolate from this one result that suddenly Spain's juggernauts simply cannot handle the Premier League style. Cmon now lol. Many more times than not La Liga has been unperturbed by anything the Premier League sides can throw at it.

Premier League finally got one to its name today. And it needed a 4-0 result to do it by one goal on aggregate.

Like I said, top flight Spanish sides are still the chased not the chasers. That could change, it could not.

So going based off results, La Liga is still the cream of the crop. Even in its 'down' year it still got to the final four of UCL.
 

Feña14

G.O.A.T.
They've been called overrated a lot these past few weeks including today. La Liga getting memed. Premier League being appraised as a superior product, etc.

To that I would say the devil is in the details. Real Madrid and Barcelona have been destroying English sides for years. The result after one leg was 3-0, regardless of the if's and and's and buts. Yes, Liverpool could and should have scored in Leg 1. But you could say that for Barcelona as well. Liverpool did well to control much of the first half but after that Barcelona played very very well and by no means looked outmatched or ill-prepared.

The end product was a 4-3 aggregate in which Liverpool needed to play literally a perfect game to progress. If Barcelona was as overrated as advertised, the tie would have been over Leg 1. Over for Barcelona.

It seems backwards to me that many are putting Liverpool up on this pedestal while simultaneously tearing Barcelona down. Barcelona can be torn down for it's ill preparedness and horrific gameplan today. No doubt about it. But the tie was still close. If they played another two leg tie this year it would be close again.

La Liga has owned the Premier League for years. The Premier League just has better parity. It has a long way to go towards realistically trying to stake a claim as the best league in the world relative to UCL success.

I mean Real Madrid just smacked Liverpool last year in a final.

And a 4-0 hammering in that fashion, when it mattered, with 4 key players not being available.. counts as tight? It's strange how these people who were supposedly putting Liverpool on a pedestal and tearing Barcelona down before the tie.. actually ended up being correct :unsure: just a coincidence, i'm guessing!

As for Real Madrid smacking Liverpool last season. No. Liverpool came very close and were more than equal to the great Real Madrid side. Karius made two howlers in the final. The Premier League also had 5 teams in the last 16 and were unlucky to have City and Liverpool meet in the quarters, they could well of had half the representatives in the semi finals if one of them didn't have to lose.

I said at the start of the Champions League two years ago that I could sense the tide was turning and the Premier League resurgence was starting. It's been a long road back and there have been milestones on that path, like the 5 teams in the last 16 last season, Liverpool v City in the quarters, a team making the final, City v Spurs this season (it looked like they were playing a different game to the other quarter finalists, with Ajax being an honourable exception), Liverpool now beating Barcelona in the way people said they would, possibly an all English final again tomorrow. Maybe an all English final in the Europa League too.

It's not a knee jerk reaction, it's been coming. All this "extrapolating one result" crap shows is you haven't been paying attention. Didn't see it coming, then when it happened it's still not sinking in.

September 27th 2017

It feels like a few of the elite teams of the last decade are stagnating a bit. Bayern are one of those teams, maybe Barcelona and Atletico. Too early to tell if the English sides are coming back after years of mediocrity, but PSG are certainly rising. Maybe it’s a changing of the guard to a degree, these things go in cycles afterall.

I sure hope the English will be back. As much as I like La Liga too, the days when there 2 or 3 Premier League teams regularly in the CL semifinals were quite stunning. It probably won't happen this season but I am going to be optimistic about the near future. Serie A having another contender besides Juventus would be nice too.
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
And a 4-0 hammering in that fashion, when it mattered, with 4 key players not being available.. counts as tight? It's strange how these people who were supposedly putting Liverpool on a pedestal and tearing Barcelona down before the tie.. actually ended up being correct :unsure: just a coincidence, i'm guessing!

As for Real Madrid smacking Liverpool last season. No. Liverpool came very close and were more than equal to the great Real Madrid side. Karius made two howlers in the final. The Premier League also had 5 teams in the last 16 and were unlucky to have City and Liverpool meet in the quarters, they could well of had half the representatives in the semi finals if one of them didn't have to lose.

I said at the start of the Champions League two years ago that I could sense the tide was turning and the Premier League resurgence was starting. It's been a long road back and there have been milestones on that path, like the 5 teams in the last 16 last season, Liverpool v City in the quarters, a team making the final, City v Spurs this season (it looked like they were playing a different game to the other quarter finalists, with Ajax being an honourable exception), Liverpool now beating Barcelona in the way people said they would, possibly an all English final again tomorrow. Maybe an all English final in the Europa League too.

It's not a knee jerk reaction, it's been coming. All this "extrapolating one result" crap shows is you haven't been paying attention. Didn't see it coming, then when it happened it's still not sinking in.

September 27th 2017
When you need one goal to progress yes I’d call that a tight tie. Never said the game today was tight. I said the tie was tight. Like I said it’s one result. Barcelona still dumpstered premier league teams in 3 of the 4 games. Their 1 blemish was a huge one is all
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
“Too early to tell” - is all you said in 2017. My contention is that it still is too early to tell. An English side winning UCL again is just one of several steps left to getting back to the top.
 
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AlexanderTheGreat08

Hall of Fame
And a 4-0 hammering in that fashion, when it mattered, with 4 key players not being available.. counts as tight? It's strange how these people who were supposedly putting Liverpool on a pedestal and tearing Barcelona down before the tie.. actually ended up being correct :unsure: just a coincidence, i'm guessing!

As for Real Madrid smacking Liverpool last season. No. Liverpool came very close and were more than equal to the great Real Madrid side. Karius made two howlers in the final. The Premier League also had 5 teams in the last 16 and were unlucky to have City and Liverpool meet in the quarters, they could well of had half the representatives in the semi finals if one of them didn't have to lose.

I said at the start of the Champions League two years ago that I could sense the tide was turning and the Premier League resurgence was starting. It's been a long road back and there have been milestones on that path, like the 5 teams in the last 16 last season, Liverpool v City in the quarters, a team making the final, City v Spurs this season (it looked like they were playing a different game to the other quarter finalists, with Ajax being an honourable exception), Liverpool now beating Barcelona in the way people said they would, possibly an all English final again tomorrow. Maybe an all English final in the Europa League too.

It's not a knee jerk reaction, it's been coming. All this "extrapolating one result" crap shows is you haven't been paying attention. Didn't see it coming, then when it happened it's still not sinking in.

September 27th 2017
The old powerhouses are going to go strong in the summer spending money though and us too

So we don't know if it's the start of the PL era in Europe
 
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