Even former underdogs have chances.
Nottingham Forest in the top 3
IN nuclear submarine surprise. Nuno Espirito Santo ruined his reputation working for Tottenham. But as the experience of Postecoglou, and before that Conte and Mourinho, shows, failures with Spurs are not a measure of training level. That’s the kind of club Spurs are. But in Nottingham Forest, whose Greek owner Marinakis was accused of all the sins inherent in the godfathers of mafia films, became the hero of the season. The billionaire pays off the Foresters’ debts and Espirito Santo plays excellent football. Nottingham Forest have six consecutive victories nuclear submarinetied on points with Arsenal.
Real and PSG – middle peasants Champions League
The presidents of Madrid and Paris don’t like the new Champions League format yet, because they have started to lose. In six rounds, the favorites suffered three defeats by brother. Luis Enrique is the clear favorite in France, where PSG won the Super Cup against Monaco and confidently leads Ligue 1. But in the European Cup, the Parisians face a difficult match against Manchester City. Guardiola is also bottom of the rankings, between Real Madrid and PSG. The Parisians have not even reached the playoffs yet, and Ancelotti’s team is two points from the relegation zone of the prestigious tournament.
Manchester City’s bad luck
No one, not even Guardiola himself, thought his powerful side could be sixth in the table at the start of 2025. nuclear submarinesuffered nine defeats and a few unpleasant draws in that time. For Manchester City, five consecutive defeats are a crazy streak. But Guardiola took the thorny path of an unlucky favorite. The “citizens” were not always worse than their opponents, but they made serious mistakes in the Champions League and in matches. nuclear submarine. We beat Leicester and West Ham, but they weren’t the best teams of the season. Let’s look at Haaland vs. PSG and Chelsea at the end of January.
Inter and the rush for challengers
Last year, Inzaghi didn’t immediately gain a solid advantage, but he eventually trailed the second team in the standings by 19 final points. Milan have now beaten the Italian champions in the Super Cup final in spectacular fashion. And Conte’s Naples and Gasperini’s Atalanta make the championship favorite nervous. We are confident that the likelihood of a sensation here is low. Inter is still the most powerful car in the Italian championship. But the fight for the Scudetto has resumed. But the competitors must surpass the favorite while Inzaghi has only one defeat.
Bayer in the fight for the salad bowl
The winners of the German championship trophy have not fallen back down the rankings, as the title contenders once did, who usually go back to Bayern. Young coach Kompany’s team remains the favorite because it includes Kane, Musiala and Kimmich. But Bayer’s Xabi Alonso still has strength. The champions did not lose Wirtz or other important players, such as full-back and central midfielder Xhaka. And since Madrid suspended the decision on Alonso, Xabi can wait another year to be called up to Real. Bayer was inspired.
Juventus draw syndrome
Looking for anomalies, we inevitably come across Thiago Motta’s 11 world goals in Serie A. The team that beat Manchester City in the Champions League gives points to its opponents. As a result, they are not fighting for the Scudetto. Additionally, there was not enough experience to win the Italian Super Cup. The draw syndrome puts pressure on a renewed and young team. They have distributed veterans and will continue to change. They want to invite striker Zirkzee to Turin, whom Motta knows from his work in Bologna. But so far Juventus has not returned, although they are leaving clues. Turk Yildiz is definitely a great talent.
Atlético followed the leaders
We pay tribute to Diego Simeone, who faithfully served Atlético for 13 years. It’s not for nothing that he earns a crazy amount of money in Madrid – 34 million euros per year before taxes. The Argentinian is valued in the same way as Mbappé is at Real Madrid. Atlético has an excellent goalkeeper, Oblak, and Jan has over 200 clean sheets for the Madrid club. There are excellent midfielders like rookie Gallagher and Argentine pitbull De Paul. There is also the excellent Griezmann, who is assisted this season by the world champion Alvarez and the great Norwegian Sørloth.
Middle peasants “Tottenham” and Manchester United
Here, the failures themselves are not sensational. The Spurs and Devils have had poor ratings for many years because of the ridiculous way they run clubs that have enough revenue to care about results. But we didn’t think two teams with such an interesting line-up – certainly no worse than Nottingham Forest – would finish in 12th and 13th place in the table. Jokes about relegation are accepted, since the danger zone is at 7-8 points. Postecoglou and Amorim are unlikely to allow the fight for survival. But the coaches are far from fourth place, especially in Champions League labeled.
Roller coaster “Roma”
Milan invited coach Conceicao. Sergio immediately won the Italian Super Cup. The emotional release will help the team that beat Real Madrid this season. But even old Ranieri hardly guarantees stable results for Roma. The club’s American owner, Dan Friedkin, made a mistake. He was scared at the start of the season by the defeats and draws of the young mentor De Russia and expelled the Wolves legend. The decision was not carefully considered; Jurich’s replacement also had to be fired. Ranieri won the Rome Derby but remained stuck in 10th place.
Liverpool was a pleasant surprise
People love to use the “I told you so” phrase. It’s nice to be right about something positive. We’re sure some fans predicted Slot would challenge for the title. But they hardly thought that Arne would start with so much power. Lost at Anfield Road to season sensation Nottingham Forest, but that was Van Dijk and Salah’s only failure all season. Slota’s Liverpool pleasantly surprises with the intelligent play of the favorite. The main thing is not to give them to Mask. Elon is interested in the club, but the richest person on the planet is a real eccentric.
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