Maximo's Take

Liverpool finally lost a match in the Premier League, how did it happen? As I listened to Klopp's interview after the match there was something very interesting that he touched on. When asked how would the team react after losing, he mentioned that the Reds lost matches this year in the Champins League and that the feeling of defeat while rare isn't something that they haven't experienced this season. He isn't really worried about that. To be honest with you there are a lot of teams in this battle against relegation that play an interesting brand of football, clubs like Brighton and Southampton with an interesting philosophy as a whole. Watford's management is the most impatient in the Premier League with little to no believe in continuity, but as much as that can disappoint me as an analyst, the fans of the club aren't really responsible for it and ultimately they are the ones that suffer the most when the club underachieves. While Pearson has done a...

Picks 21-30 Mock Draft 1.0 #21 Pick Philadelphia Eagles: WR Justin Jefferson School: LSU.   Year: Junior Carson Wentz broke records in 2019 with the amount of yards he got with minimum contribution at the WR spot. Based on his performance at the Combine, Jefferson jumps a few spots and gets himself into the first round. #22 Pick Buffalo Bills: WR Tee Higgins School: Clemson.  Year: Junior This is the Draft if you are looking for receivers and that's the case for the Bills who'll look to surround Allen with as many tools as possible. #23 Pick New England Patriots: QB Jordan Love School: Utah State.   Year: (RS) Junior I believe Eason could go here and I understand that Love isn't the type of QB prospect Belichick usually goes for but baed off what I am hearing in terms of rumors and the lack of weapons Jordan had in his final year. I could see this happening. #24 Pick New Orleans Saints: CB Kristian Fulton School: LSU.  ...

Picks 11-20 #11 Pick New York Jets: WR Jerry Jeudy School: Alabama.  Year: Junior Robby Anderson is a Free Agent and there have been a few rumors linking the Jets to Jack Conklin. A signing that would help address the hole in the o-line. If that happens getting Jeudy here really bolsters their offensive firepower. #12 Pick Las Vegas Raiders: WR Henry Ruggs School: Alabama   Year: Junior Back to back Alabama receivers off the board. The Raiders need a lot of help on defense and a guy like Javon Kinlaw would be a great pick here, but I just don't think Gruden will resist the tentation of taking the speedster from Alabama. #13 Pick Indianapolis Colts: DT Javon Kinlaw School: South Carolina.   Year: Senior Chris Ballard gets a big powerful force to plug in as an interior defensive lineman filling a need with one of the best available players. #14 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: OT Tristan Wirfs School: Iowa.   Y...

As we are going through the Combine I decided to bring you my first Mock Draft. There is a long way to go before the actual Draft and a lot will change in that time, nevertheless let's have some fun. I won't be including trades in this Mock. #1 Pick Cincinnati Bengals: QB Joe Burrow School: LSU   Year: Senior (RS) It hasn't been the smoothest ride from backup in Ohio State to Heisman Trophy winner and National Champion in LSU for Joe Burrow. While there are a few rumors about the Ohio native possibly pulling an Eli. There's still no information that leads me to believe Burrrow won't be a Bengals come Draft Day. #2 Pick Washington Redskins: Edge Chase Young School: Ohio State   Year: Junior With the change at the Head Coach position and Ron Rivera now calling the shots it's likely that Dwayne Haskins won't get as much leeway as most QBs do from the organization that drafted them. Because of that, I'm not entirely convinced the Reds...

As the sequence of blunders by Manchester City occurred leading up to first goal of the match from Isco, putting Real Madrid at a point where the English side was beginning to dominate the match it felt like deja vu, once again under extraordinary circumstances against the balance of play a Pep Guardiola team was headed towards an early exit in the Champions League, but then something happened. The team that was actually performing better and creating more chances (Man City) continued to do so despite the setback of conceding the opening goal and in a well placed cross from the best player on the pitch Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus made it 1-1. Not much later Sterling suffered a disputable penalty and finally we saw De Bruyne taking it, in a time of doubt in that area for City, the Belgian stepped up and scored with ease. The first half actually surprised me to a certain extent, Real Madrid had around 58% possession for the majority of it and that's just not something we ...

Hi I would like to apologise for not being able to provide the preview of Lyon x Juventus but I'll do my best to bring you the review of the match. All I'll say is that the odds of an upset were diminished by the absence of Memphis Depay and it will be the biggest disappointment of this round if they get knocked out, but anything can happen. Who advances: Juventus

The last two matches of the Chanpions League provide a big contrast. In my opinion today we have the duel with the biggest favorite and also the most 50/50 one. Let's discuss the premiere match of this round of 16 and what we should expect Real Madrid x Manchester City Once again we see Real Madrid facing a tough opponent right out of the gate after finishing second in their group. Pep Guardiola gets a chance for his first signature win in Europe with Manchester City. Oddly enough despite their struggles in the Premier League, the bookies have Manchester City as the favorites to win it all, something that if you saw any of my earlier posts I don't necessarily agree with. What reason would you have to put the Citizens ahead of Liverpool is beyond me. It's hard for me to even say that City is a slim favorite in the round of 16, much less to win the whole thing. Both teams have big absences as Sterling and Hazard won't be able to play but looking at the sq...

Dave Gettleman spoke during the Combine and expressed a willingness to move back in the Draft. The New York Giants sit at the number 4 position in the 2020 NFL Draft and although we are taught not to put too much stock into what GMs say to the media especially not when it's something as generic as we are willing to trade down. After all unless you are the Colts waiting to pick Peyton Manning with the top spot you should at the very least entertain the idea of moving back, but hearing that from Dave Gettleman actually meant something. The former Panthers GM is known throughout the industry for being a guy that doesn't trade down, he didn't in Carolina and he hasn't done it in New York either. In fact he traded up for DeAndre Baker in last year's first round but speaking to the media at the Combine he admitted to that possibility. Giants fans all around the Globe have been adamant that Gettleman should shop around the pick and the reason behind it is n...

The Bavarians travelled to London and got a little taste of revenge against Chelsea winning the match 3-0 and doing as much as any team possibly can to lockdown a ticket to the next round in the first leg. Before we get into how to match unfolded I'd like to highlight a curious stat. With his two goals tonight, Serge Gnabry has upped his total in this year's Champions League to 5 6 goals and they all came in London. That's remarkable in an irrelevant way. As the match reached halftime it was still scoreless but looking at what happened during the first 45 minutes it was clear that the Blues were in trouble. The absence of Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi really hurt the home side because in a match where Bayern dominated the ball, they needed more explosiveness on the counter. Olivier Giroud actually did a decent job holding the ball up but Mason Mount who got the majority of opportunities wasn't fast enough to do anything with it. On the defensive side even with a ...

Traveling to Italy for the first time in the knockout stage of the Champions League since that pitiful loss against Roma, Barcelona will take on Napoli Throughout all of it's inconsistency during the last few years we have been able to count on Barcelona as a nearly unbeatable side in the early stages of the Chanpions League. Even in a season on a tough group, when the manager was fired they qualified as the first place team pretty easily. Barcelona now faces a favorable draw and although they come in at a moment where their confidence is low given their recent struggles, nobody expects to see Napoli advancing. This Napoli team shows how much the quality of your opponents during the group stage can make a difference in whether or not you advance. That seems obvious but if you look at Napoli ever since Sarri elevated them into a higher category, this is their worst side during that span. Last year Napoli was a better team under Ancelotti and they didn't advance in t...

Previewing the first of four amazing matches this week in the Champions League Last week the unpredictability of this competition hit us all with losses from three of the four sides that finished first in their group. A fact that corroborated with mg previous statement that the group stage is not much of an indicator as to how will clubs perform in the knockout stage. Favorites PSG and Liverpool were defeated away from home but remain hopeful of a turnaround heading back to their stadium. Losing by only one goal is a big part of that and they're also better than their respective opponent, but to convert that into a positive result undee these conditions is a whole nother story. Tottenham and Valencia will have to play significantly better in order to advance and it'll be up to Leipzig and Atalanta, a couple of inexperienced sides to close the deal after very strong performances in the first leg. It goes without saying that despite playing on the road the Italian side...

The final review of the first four Champions League matches. In London the Germans were victorious in a 1-0 contest. With so much to discuss regarding this duel let's get into it. Tottenham 0 x 1 Leipzig The amount of pressure that Julian Nagelsmann's side put on Spurs within the first five minutes of the match was unreal and that was a preview of what was to come throughout most of the 90 minutes. The high pressing from Leipzig suffocated Totenham's backline and made for a quick recovery of the ball from the visiting side. Harry Winks and Gedson Fernandes couldn't really get involved in the game and without a target man that could hold the ball it was equally tough to do any damage playing long passes to escape the press. It felt to me like the ideal game for Ndombele because of his ability to retain the ball and get out of tough situations but he hasn't really played up to his own standards in his first season in London, but I still would've pic...