Association Football 2023/2024 Discussion Thread

[Lechasseur]

Saw my first in-person football match today, watching as NYCFC and Charlotte FC battled to a 1-1 draw.

Mine was Crystal Palace vs Nottingham Forest in the 2009-2010 Season at Selhurst Park back when both were in the Championship. It ended as a 1-1 draw iirc.

Now they're both in the Premier League.

[Lechasseur]

Harry Kane has been undergoing his medical today ahead of a move to Bayern Munich, and may be playing for Bayern as soon as tomorrow.

[Lechasseur]

Harry Kane has officially joined Bayern Munich on a 4-year deal.

[Lechasseur]

Bayern Munich lost 3-0 to Bayer Leverkusen yesterday.

I think the league is basically in the bag for Leverkusen now.

And I can't imagine Tuchel keeping his job much longer. The only manager this bad I can remember at Bayern was Klinsmann, and he didn't last a season.

The CEO said after the match that Tuchel's job wasn't in danger, but that's what is always said up until the manager actually is sacked.

[Lechasseur]

And imo, after Arsenal's strong 3-1 win against Liverpool last week, I have an easier time seeing Arsenal win the league this year than Bayern (ftr, I don't think Arsenal will win, it will probably be City again)

Bayern have just been terrible this year, they probably wouldn't even be in a Champions League spot without Kane.

[Lechasseur]

Bayern Munich lost 3-0 to Bayer Leverkusen yesterday.

I think the league is basically in the bag for Leverkusen now.

And I can't imagine Tuchel keeping his job much longer. The only manager this bad I can remember at Bayern was Klinsmann, and he didn't last a season.

The CEO said after the match that Tuchel's job wasn't in danger, but that's what is always said up until the manager actually is sacked.

I actually attended the Champions League match where Copenhagen ended Bayern's group stage winning streak. Boring af and the only interesting thing was the FCK away fans. It is only a 5 point gap, though.

True, it's only 5 points, but I don't see Leverkusen blowing their lead now. They're currently unbeaten and Bayern have already played all of their matches against them. And this Bayern side doesn't look like one capable of capitalizing on that anyway.

I mean, I'm normally the type of person who believes in backing the manager and giving them as much time as they need. I'm not the type who would necessarily expect trophies every season.

But this goes beyond Bayern losing the league to Leverkusen. Xabi Alonso is a brilliant manager, but with all the talent and all the money recently spent at Bayern (for example, 100 million on Kane), Bayern shouldn't be outclassed the way they are. This wasn't an unlucky loss type scenario. Bayern have played horribly all season and it's really just Kane and Sane saving this team.

While there is clearly some deadwood at Bayern, Tuchel's tactics and player selection are horrible and make no sense at all. Plus, it's quite apparent that the players aren't motivated to play for him. This isn't like for example 2011-2012 under Heynkes where the team went trophiless but weren't terrible like this.

While some rebuilding probably will be necessary, Tuchel I do think needs to go.

[Lechasseur]

Bayern Munich lost 3-0 to Bayer Leverkusen yesterday.

I think the league is basically in the bag for Leverkusen now.

And I can't imagine Tuchel keeping his job much longer. The only manager this bad I can remember at Bayern was Klinsmann, and he didn't last a season.

The CEO said after the match that Tuchel's job wasn't in danger, but that's what is always said up until the manager actually is sacked.

I actually attended the Champions League match where Copenhagen ended Bayern's group stage winning streak. Bayern were anemic and the only interesting thing was the FCK away fans.

That said, I think the Madrid-Girona match was far more of a title decider than Leverkusen-Bayern. This Madrid squad is incredible.

Oh I agree this Real squad is very good

[Lechasseur]

Arsenal have continued their good form and winning streak by thrashing West Ham 6-0 away.

[Lechasseur]

Bayern Munich have lost to Lazio in the first leg of their Champions League matchup

[Lechasseur]

Quarter-Finals Predictions:

Champions League:
Arsenal vs Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid vs Manchester City
Paris Saint-Germain vs Barcelona

Europa League:
AC Milan vs AS Roma
Liverpool vs Atalanta
Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham
Benfica vs Olympique de Marseille

Conference League:
Club Brugge vs PAOK
Olympiacos vs Fenerbahçe
Aston Villa vs Lille
Viktoria Plzen vs Fiorentina

[Lechasseur]

Leverkusen officially champions of Germany, still in the hunt for a treble, and 5 league matches from immortality. Sky's the limit for Xabi Alonso.

Congratulations to Leverkusen!

Although I do like Bayern, it's good to see someone else finally win the Bundesliga for once, and frankly if I had to see someone else win, Leverkusen is the team I would have wanted to see do it (beyond Xabi Alonso having done a tremendous job, the Cologne area is the area I know best in Germany, I've been several times so I guess it's the closest thing to a "local" team for me in the Bundesliga lol).

And on that note, I think it's possible that Leverkusen may finally be a more sustainable longer term rival to Bayern than other challengers in my lifetime (Dortmund, Bremen, Schalke, Leipzig, etc) exactly due to the fact that it's a club from the Cologne area. I think part of the reason that Bayern had managed to dominate the Bundesliga so overwhelmingly for so long is exactly because it was the only big city club (and also the only club with a real pre-1990s history) in Germany that didn't go into severe decline in the 1990s (like for example Hamburg or FC Koln). I don't think it was ever going to be sustainable to have Bayern's main rivals be from such smaller cities.

Now finally, for the first time in decades, you have a challenger from one of Germany's main metropolitan areas.

[Lechasseur]

And now for my European semi-finals predictions:

Champions League:
Borussia Dortmund vs Paris Saint-Germain
Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid

Europa League:
Marseille vs Atalanta
Roma vs Bayer Leverkusen

Europa Conference League:
Aston Villa vs Olympiacos
Fiorentina vs Club Brugge

Let's see if I do better with my predictions this round compared to last round (I'm glad that I got PSG right though!)

And at this stage I'll give my predictions for competition winners as well, let's see how it holds up at the end of the season:

Champions League: Paris Saint-Germain (tbf a prediction of the gut and heart moreso than of the mind)

Europa League: Bayer Leverkusen

Europa Conference League: Aston Villa