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Originally Posted by demonrail666
What I meant is stereotypes about the Prem are truer of the lower level teams than of the league as a whole. The increasingly international exchange of players, managers and ideas at the top end of all the major leagues means the bigger clubs in all the top leagues are now playing in a broadly similar style. But what I do think remains unique about the Prem is the regularity with which established top teams will be beaten by much lower ranked ones. That obviously happens in other leagues too but hardly a week goes by in the Prem when at least one of the 'big 4/5' teams isn't beaten by a side usually ranked far further down. Or if they do win made to work really hard for it, weekin week out.
I saw an interview recently with Mourinho saying just that. He confessed to being bored while at Real, when the only game he really knew was always gonna be a challenge was against Barca, and the same at Inter when (with Juve relegated) he knew the only games he really had to work for was the Milan derby.
Edit: found the interview. It's a good one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJtGya305l4 |
yeah i believe you. i think h8kurdt misunderstood my post because i never said the prem lacked speed & physicality and on reread i think that's what he believed i said. but no no no. anyway, it's not a court case.
re: competition. the bundesliga is pretty much the same in terms of competition once you take bayern out of the equation. the league is pretty tight-- a very strong "middle class" to to speak. very dynamic, teams go easily up & down. la liga doesn't have that i think, they have some real weak clubs at the bottom-- no?
because of this dortmund with all their prior sufferings could still conceivably qualify for the champions, ha ha ha. 20 games to go... = 60 possible points = who knows? but anyway, bayern doesn't win *every year* (they are trying though).
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Originally Posted by demonrail666
Given Bayern will finish top even if they lose, he'd be mad to play anything but a 2nd string side. I'd expect lots of unknown names and plenty of tactical experiments.
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exactly. now the russians want to score a suprise win & qualify, they'll probably play rough.
i'd field the whole bench, but the bench is pretty shallow due to injuries, i don't think there's a full 11. besides teh long-termers (martinez, alcantara) there's also lahm, alaba, even pizarro (who at his age only plays for 10' at a time) out injured. schweinsteiger is just recovering & hasn't played a full match all season. the idiot benatia out on red-card suspension.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Baye...#Current_squad
so, i'd start hojberg & gianluca gaudino (just turned 18). plus, pepe reina needs to see some action. shaqiri should start as well. i think gotze might play because he was subbed out around halftime this weekend-- i hope it was not due to injury but just to rest him. lewandowski should play because he needs practice-- hasn't been scoring like he did at dortmund. rafinha is already a starter with lahm out. i think there's only 4 defenders available: dante, bernat, rafinha, boateng. maybe he'll try a 3-3-3-1 ha ha ha.
if i were to minimize risk, i'd play:
starke/reina
rafinha - dante - bernat (boateng on bench can cover any spot)
gaudino - hojberg - rode (schweinsteiger, alonso, etc)
weiser - scholl - shaqiri (robbery* & gotze)
sinan kurt (lewandowski, muller)
bunch of 19 year olds that need some experience in that lineup! some haven't played all season i think (scholl, kurt, weiser) some have played a little.
ha ha ha, i had fun putting that fantasy team together.
* robbery = robben + ribéry