I hadn't time to watch the whole Southampton game, but was surprised to see them so easily score 3 in the first half.
Like most people, I too thought that they'd be found at the bottom of the table, escaping relegation after a horrible season. And I was sorry for Ronald Koeman, who was such a great player that I wished him to get a splendid career as a coach (he's already got titles in Netherlands, mind).
Terrific recruits, plus Clyne is superb and Schneiderlin's as good as he was 2 years ago.

QPR-Liverpool was astonishing.
Liverpool were leading; 3 minutes before the end, Vargas (why did he join that club?) equalised. Then Liverpool scored. Then Vargas equalised a second time (91 minute). Then Liverpool won it (at the very last second).
Balotelli was... terrible... awful... missing so much...
Two own goals in that game too.
They were not as ugly as the one Vergini scored in the 8-0 drubbing though.

In France, Marseille, a team with cash, but probably not as much cash as Monaco and PSG, top the table with a comfortable lead. 7 points clear after 10 games, 8 victories.
Coach Bielsa's results are talked in awe over here. He rejuvenated striker Gignac (10 goals already).
He'd make the French league an interesting one...

I saw him a couple of weeks ago and he was excellent but those kinds of performances seem increasingly to be the exception rather than the rule.


I really wanna see more Marseille games. I'm fascinated with Bielsa. He's not really known in the UK but seems to be a name dropped regularly in the more hipsterish blogosphere, where he's been adopted as some kind of patron saint.

Balotelli's day against QPR :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c8zL5pFn98
Look at Lallana and guess what his thoughts are...
He wasted another one, outside the box, shooting at a high flying pidgeon that was no longer there

To be honest or kind, both own goals came from passes directed at Balotelli. Had the defenders not touched the ball, Mario would have shot. Scored, that's another story, a keeper is more vigilant when an opponent's in possession. But his position in these occasions helped the team.

Bielsa's arrival was a dream come true in the south.
His first games were not a success and he was quickly criticised by former mogul-minister-liar-inmate-club owner Bernard Tapie "who's that man, what has he won?" (3 titles in Argentina Mr Tapie).
A journalist said that he was not the kind of coach who would join a team that's already on top, because such teams presumably don't give their coaches much leeway. True, untrue?

bielsa is legend in south america. i need to see a marseille game. vs. psg on nov 9?

--

ps - 5 days until the return of suárez! im saying it outloud so as not to forget. i'll probably miss it because it's at like 4am my time though.

Do I score maximum football hipster points by ordering a book on Bielsa ... in Spanish? (I can't read Spanish)

mándame los scans y te lo traduzco

(Thanks google translate). I'll send you the book if you like, once it arrives (in truth I didn't realise it was in Spanish when I ordered it)

use the "university press" and scan the sucker ha ha.

Next you'll spouting about how the Swedish league is vastly underrated and name dropping unknowns like a premier manager knobhead.

ha ha ha-- bielsa is not an unknown.

put this on google translate and check it out http://athletic.elcorreo.com/noticia...-20120317.html

Already ordered my Helsingborgs away kit for Sunday's pre-Gastropub kickabout.

Well he kind of is unless you post a lot in football threads.

no, maybe he's unknown in england but england is not all of football, and he's known widely not just in one remote corner.

e.g., my dad does not post on threads but ask him about bielsa and he'll talk your ear off.

and chile? i understand all of chile plays bielsa's system these days.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/12/...elsa-sampaoli/

now before you say "but who knows chile…", remember how they did in the world cup.

sampaoli of course modeled himself after bielsa

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2014-...arcelo-bielsa/

etc.

Will you people stop saying Bielsa so much.

You missed the joke. The last bit was a reference to wankers who play football manager and through that name drop players from far-away no-one-could-give-two-shits leagues and rolling their eyes if you don't know who they are.

only if you stop bringing up that unknown roy hodgson ha ha ha

We'll miss him when he's gone

to be honest i wasn't trying to put down the guy--- he seems like a true gentleman (good rumpled suits, and he sincerely congratulates his opponents when they beat him). i'm just trying to add a little perspective to these claims that bielsa is an unknown when he's probably contributed more to modern football tactics than england's current manager ever did. and yet h8kurdt calls him an unknown. it's kind of like saying that simón bolivar was an unknown because he didn't liberate ireland.

You must spread some Gummy Venus de Milo around before giving it to h8kurdt again.

oh ha ha ha ha

wow, i just saw that (just now, i swear). hours after my rant above.

i thought you seriously were comparing him to those and i missed your follow-up post due to the timing (and i was busy/rushed).

regardless, i'll go jump of a cliff now. a nice one, with sharp rocks at the bottom.

Bielsa's probably too mainstream now for full hipster kudos. I'm switching to Zdenek Zeman.

http://backpagefootball.com/zdenek-z...ns-roma/83988/




He's described as a 'tactical fundamentalist' and chainsmokes in the dugout. Probably plays dubstep in the changing room at half time, too.

What's going on at bayern/Roma right now is bananas. 4-0 at 30'!!!!!

--

Pardon me, 5-0 at 35'

And this IN ROME.

Some crazy scores tonight. Chelsea beating Maribor 6-0, Shakhtar beating Bate 7-0 but yeah, Bayern putting 7 past Roma is the biggie.

which one did you watch? i wanted to see ajax-barcelona too but obviously i'll have to wait for the replay-- which should be up soon.

i'm starting to see guardiolo's magick finally--- the way they played the first half was a sort of hallucination.

a chelsea-bayern final would be epic in so many ways-- pep vs mourinho, a chance for a bayern revenge after 2012, schurrle vs. the rest of the german squad (ha ha), etc.

I watched Chelsea, who are looking stronger and stronger. And tonight they were even without Costa!

You're right, a Bayern - Chelsea final would be amazing.

Some great looking games tonight. Arsenal v Anderlecht, Dortmund v Galatasaray, Atletico v Malmo, Juve v Olympiakos. but Real v Liverpool looks like a must. My first proper chance to see James Rodriguez play alongside Ronaldo. Balotelli v Pepe. Already excited.

Aww man am I looking forward to the Madrid game tonight. I wanna see Ronaldo dick Lovren. Slowly at first though.

i think you missed start time. they've been playing for an hour i think (1/2 hour when you wrote). having said that, also missed the start of dortmund-galatasaray but i'm watching now (curious about madrid too but too anxious about dortmund to ignore). REUS IS PLAYING. so are hummels and subotic.

Liverpool-Real started 15 mins ago. Great game so far.

Edit: Ew. Could be a long night for Liverpool tonight.

ohhh… my listings had it starting 45 min earlier than the rest-- i'll watchit in replay. so far dortmund very good. prandelli is now coaching gala.

Watched Bayern v Roma on replay. My God. Roma weren't even that bad but Bayern looked literally unbeatable. What is their system? It's not just a repeat of Barca-style tiki taka. They seem to shift between styles at will.

If they do meet Chelsea in the final that'll be a major problem for Mourinho. He's shown he's the master at neutralising systems, but how will he counter one that seems so fluid and undefined?

I don't know how Mourinho would deal with Pep dominating him with another team.

Let's cancel all CL qualifiers, quarters and semis and jump straight to a Bayern Chelsea final. It's a game that almost needs to happen, on so many different levels ... and probably the only time I'll ever support Bayern.


Bring it (back) on

yes ha ha ha. told you it would induce altered states. roma are 2nd in serie a, only having been beaten (closely) by juventus. so that shit was totally unprecedented. i have never seen bayern play like this. i couldn't figure what was going on. i wish zonal marking was still functioning so i could read an explanation. when gervinho's goal came i could see it coming. but a lot of bayern goals i was like "huh?? was that a goal??". maybe i should go check those 442 stats & see if they can help me decipher.

https://twitter.com/Zonal_Marking/st...39090835484673

--
eta: the pass diagrams for bayern are hilarious:

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone...wrapper-anchor

I'm so lost sure glad its NFL midseason with NBA starting up next week.. I tried to watch some pf these.matches and do some reading and I just couldnt get into it.. futbol is a summer sport for me

I did see some Bayern games and yeah, those guys are playing a multisystem style seemlessly like they were the 2012 miami heat with their positionless style of play

Filthy casual.

Just started downloading the Bayern game. I'll watch in the next coupla days and give highly anticipated thoughts.

618 passes completed out of 689

689

that's almost 8 per minute of the game. but considering they had possession 66.3% of the time (59.67 minutes) that's about 12 passes (11.54) per minute they had the ball--or one every 5 seconds

1, 2, 3, 4, PASS; 1, 2, 3, 4, PASS… for one hour straight (of course, on average).

The dream

Just seen this idea. Now THIS is could get behind.

Pfft give me REAL long ball. Not of this ballet shit.

i fixed/clarified the numbers. please requote/edit

i'm just listing the number of passes because when i went to see the stats it was a solid blue with arrows. more insane was to watch them move on the pitch though. you don't need to download the whole thing, just the first 35 minutes.

i swear i did not understand what i was seeing.

Yeah, stats in this case don't say much. Bayern just clicked, massively. Maybe there was something about the way Roma set up that played into their hands but they made made a very good side look stupid. It sort of reminded me of Barca against Man U in the 2011 final.

Just listening to Michael Cox on the radio saying much the same thing about Bayern's undefinable tactics. He mentioned Holland in the 70s but wouldn't reduce it to that. Seems the consensus is that Bayern were brilliant and Pep might be the genius we all hope he is.

And if you wanna see what Michael Cox looks and sounds like ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeOi_nVxYZA

Quite fun to listen to in its own right.