Xavi Hernández

[KingLeo10]

How about Copa del Rey?

I do remember there were narratives across a few seasons of Real prioritizing CL over other competitions at the time. Also looking at subs.

They didn't give a shit about CDR. We won it like 4 times in a row from 15 to 18.

 

[JamDav1982]

What team were better in the world than Real in the 5 seasons they won 4 CLs and a league title?

Barca? 1 CL and 3 league titles? Maybe as won the leagues but the CL counts also.. it doesnt get ignored when assesing how good a season a team has had.

Birdy burping out nonsense as usual and his awful use of 'stats' to back it up.

Nothing new.

I will indulge you Furby.. who were the top three teams in the world in those 5 years?

Hit me with it.

 

[fergus90]

Real Madrid are always able to dig deep at the Bernabeu in the face of adversity. The Juve last minute Ronaldo pen they got outplayed all game and deserved to be losing 0-3. Same with the Chelsea and City games last season.

I’m pretty sure most of Ronaldo’s hat trick against Munich would have been chalked off in the VAR era.

 

[Birdy]

They destroyed Bayern 5-0 in 13/14 and they weren't a top 3 team in Europe that season?

They beat PSG, Juve, Bayern, and Pool back to back in 17-18 and they weren't a top 3 team in Europe that season?

They beat PSG, Chelsea, City, and Pool back to back in 21-22 and they weren't a top 3 team in Europe that season?

While a team like City who had massive meltdowns in CL to Monaco, Spurs, Lyon and the like during the same time period was probably a top 3 team in Europe all those years for you

lol, beating other elite teams on a consistent basis is fluke. Peak detachment from reality

Dude, seriously? Are you a covert MAdrid fan or what?

- Yes, they destroyed Bayern in a game in which Pep admitted he made the worst mistakes of his career due to an emotional state he was after Tito's death
while in the first leg Bayern looked better than them, and this was a Bayern still in the making
In the final, they were lucky with the Ramos header to take game to extra time

- 17-18 and 21-22 were the biggest flukes ever.
Anyone who is watching games, and not just reading results on a screen knows that
Bayern pummeled them both times in 2018 and they somehow managed to not score 8 or 9 clear goals in front of an empty net
Last season Chelsea outplayed them, City outplayed them, Liverpool outplayed them.

Neither of these two seasons they were top3. In fact they were not even top5

City had meltdowns many times, that's true, but they were far better team than RM all the time the last 6 years, hands down

'beating elite teams on consistent basis' LOOL
that 'consistent basis' part made me LMAOL
You know what 'consistent basis' means? It means that had they played the same teams again the next day they would have won again. And again as many times. That is when you are better on a 'consistent basis'
And what actually happened is the opposite: Last season Liverpool Chelsea City were better than RM on a 'consistent basis'.
Had they played 100 times against RM, these 3 would have won 99% of the time.

You are amusing if you are not a RM fan

 

[JamDav1982]

Who were the top 3 teams in Europe in the 5 seasons Real won 4 CLs and a league title?

Entertain us Birdy.

Let me guess.. will just name some teams that won nothing as impressive as those and use some 'stats'.

 

[JamDav1982]

Real Madrid are always able to dig deep at the Bernabeu in the face of adversity. The Juve last minute Ronaldo pen they got outplayed all game and deserved to be losing 0-3. Same with the Chelsea and City games last season.

I’m pretty sure most of Ronaldo’s hat trick against Munich would have been chalked off in the VAR era.

They were not quite being outplayed all game v Juve. They missed good chances of their own and hit woodwork.

Navas had a howler.

 

[KingLeo10]

Birdy has lost the plot. Either he has a gigantic ego and is incapable of seeing outside his narratives or he is actually retarded. I sincerely hope it's the former.

Beating elite teams on a consistent basis is self-explanatory. They beat PSG - Juve - Bayern - Pool in a row in 17-18 and PSG - Chelsea - City - Pool in a row in 21-22. Even a ferret would be capable of comprehending this is what is meant, while this guy conjures up some hypothetical scenario where if RM of last season played City of last season 100 times, then they wouldn't have won the majority of those 100 games or whatever. There is absolutely no way to test this, and it has 0 (ZERO) grounding in reality.

If there isn't a way to test this, why should this entirely hypothetical scenario be considered the representation of the truth over what actually DID transpire. Especially when what DID transpire happened to transpire in 8 actual, real CL ties back to back (17-18 and also in 21-22). 8 CL ties (14 CL games) is a huge sample size in the real world.

 

[Birdy]

Birdy has lost the plot. Either he has a gigantic ego and is incapable of seeing outside his narratives or he is actually retarded. I sincerely hope it's the former.

Beating elite teams on a consistent basis is self-explanatory. They beat PSG - Juve - Bayern - Pool in a row in 17-18 and PSG - Chelsea - City - Pool in a row in 21-22. Even a ferret would be capable of comprehending this is what is meant, while this guy conjures up some hypothetical scenario where if RM of last season played City of last season 100 times, then they wouldn't have won the majority of those 100 games or whatever. There is absolutely no way to test this, and it has 0 (ZERO) grounding in reality.

If there isn't a way to test this, why should this entirely hypothetical scenario be considered the representation of the truth over what actually DID transpire. Especially when what DID transpire happened to transpire in 8 actual, real CL ties back to back (17-18 and also in 21-22). 8 CL ties (16 CL games) is a huge sample size in the real world.

There is no way to test this, but there is a way to calculate the probability of this

This is the xG plot of the CL final last season.
It shows you the probabilities of each team winning the game based on the exact same situations
Replay this game 100 times, and Liverpool wins 67% of the times

Here:

Reverse leg against Chelsea
Had this game being played 100 times, Chelsea would have won 78% of the time

Facts!
And the facts say that Madrid got outplayed and were lucky to not lose
Whether you like it or not, I couldn't care les

Now start with you agenda of the 'mental giants' with their winning mentality
A mentality so big that makes Pulisic and Ziyech put the ball on the stands in front an empty net,
and also make Asensio head the ball intro Rodrygo's head to get into the net

Yeah that's the level of argument you put forward

 

[KingLeo10]

[MENTION=4451]Birdy[/MENTION]

You bring up xG and probabilities when they suit your narrative and turn a blind eye to them (recent example of 538 deeming Argentina the deserved champions, at least based on probability). When these hypothetical scenarios aren't in your favor, you either apply unreasonable criteria or straight up turn a blind eye to them.

Apply it uniformly.

 

[KingLeo10]

Teams should play out the game and then irrespective of score, the trophy should be handed out based on xG calculations based on some statistician somewhere, in Birdy's world

Do us a favor and move to EPL forums and twerk for the likes of Potter full time. You were bigging him up when he took over Chelsea and he's been an absolute disaster.

 

[JamDav1982]

Birdy and his xG where he rewards those who cant finish as being better than those who can and those who won are 'lucky'.

Who were best three sides in Europe when Real won 4 CLs in 5 years?

Guess what xG doesnt tell you? That Courtois was best player on pitch and Liverpool couldnt beat him in that final.. he plays for Real.. he is part of team. Goal dont just magically get saved due to 'luck' and it is on Liverpool to beat him.

But way Birdy applies xG it is all just luck and finishing or GKs dont matter.

Same nonsense in WC.

But anyway back to when Real were dominating the CL.. who were best teams in Europe then?

 

[ajnotkeith]

How well a team finishes and takes their chances also contributes to how strong a team is. xG is only a measure of the chances created but it doesn't factor how good a team is at finishing.

Madrid of course are excellent at finishing so will probably require less xG to win a game than another team.. Their great mentality plays into that and usually converting chances in high pressure situations that others might miss.

If all that mattered was xG Ferran Torres would be a top player. Unfortunately the skill of taking chances also matters and Madrid are great at that.

 

[KingLeo10]

Let me debunk Birdy's clownish hypocrisy:

2018-2019 Barcelona - Liverpool CL semi

https://twitter.com/caley_graphics/status/1123695590196563976?lang=en

https://twitter.com/caley_graphics/status/1125870290989461505?lang=en

Overall xG: Barca (3.9) - Pool (3.8)

Yet, Pool was a great team in 18/19 according to Birdy while Messi and EV were cancers according to him despite actually winning the domestic league and matching Pool (even edging them a bit) in this flawed metric.

The metric is fucking flawed. Yet when it shows EV's Barca was marginally better than 18/19 Pool, Birdy will be nowhere to be found

P.S.: In the real world, anyone with eyes and brain can see 18/19 Pool > 18/19 Barca. But if we follow the almighty xG

 

[JamDav1982]

How well a team finishes and takes their chances also contributes to how strong a team is. xG is only a measure of the chances created but it doesn't factor how good a team is at finishing.

Madrid of course are excellent at finishing so will probably require less xG to win a game than another team.. Their great mentality plays into that and usually converting chances in high pressure situations that others might miss.

If all that mattered was xG Ferran Torres would be a top player. Unfortunately the skill of taking chances also matters and Madrid are great at that.

Nor does it factor in how good a GK is at keeping ball out when that matters to a team.

The result doesnt always show the 'better' team on balance of play either but xG doesnt over ride that either.

 

[KingLeo10]

Birdy wanking himself silly to xG without considering that these xG stats are put up by half baked amateur/hobby statisticians (for the most part, with some exceptions) who probably can't get a serious job in financial markets, healthcare, or tech.

Because, the number one rule of practicing serious statistics is to question the assumptions of the model, not treat the model as infallible. Your xG model can't codify the trauma of going 1-0 down at Anfield (after blowing a 3 goal lead the year prior in Rome), or Alba's tears at HT, or MATS howler on the corner taken early. Same way it can't codify RM's champion spirit in the latter stages of a CL KO tie.