Barcelona looked very good in first half, and poor in second. What happened there?
Champions League 2022/23 - Matchday 3 - 4/5 October
- Thread starter TheGame
- Start date
what
Liverpool completely battered Ajax
And Napoli completly battered Liverpool. But Liverpool has learned of that game and will probably win at home against Napoli. Like Ajax (build up team) will learn from the game against Liverpool. And will play another match at home against them. The truth is, after tonight (Rangers vs Napoli) you can't say anything about this group yet. That's what he's saying.
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Allegri at his the-end-is-nigh very moment tonight: with losing vs in-form Benfica, his position becomes untenable already… yet we are skint and cannot afford another revolution. Great entertainment ahead!
I don't think that they were poor in the second. Bayern played a lot better and Barca's performance dropped noticeably after the two goals. They still created a few good chances. Their pressing in the first half was insane so maybe they started to tire at some point. Additionally Bayern stretched the pitched a lot more in the second half, while playing narrower in the first half. This made it easier to transition the ball forward, while in the first half Bayern struggled to get the ball out from the back. I'd say Barca should be extremely happy with their performance. Its so hard to disposes Pedri, Gavi, Lewy, Dembele and Raphinha in 1v1 situations. If these players are in form, they are a threat to any team.
Bayern can be happy with the result, the second half and individually some players had good performances. There were already questions about Mazraoui and he did well. Overall all the defenders had good games. Musiala was also great. In the middle of the park, Bayern couldn't match Barca's quality which is a bit worrying. Busquets can certainly be a lability at times, but overall he can still add so much quality.
I will never hate another club more than the vermin. How many more times can they get lucky? When will it finally run out?
I always seem to have a different opinion of Musiala compared to others
I thought he struggled a lot in the first half to get any control in midfield while in the second things opened up a bit more, overall though I wouldn't say he was good. Even in the recent Germany England game, where I was in the stadium, I thought he wasn't great but then came back to see rave reviews for him in the press
imo the problem in the first half was, that Bayern couldn't deal with barca's press. Barca pressed with 6 players: Gavi pressed the CB and Lewy cut off passing lanes to the other side while all of Dembele/Rafinha, Pedri and Busquets pushed up to play 1v1 against the 4 defenders + the two central midfielders of Bayern. Bayern had to play long balls over the press into Mane and Müller but both lost almost every single duel against their defenders. I think this is one of the situations, where Bayern is missing a "traditional" CF like Lewy, who is much much better at securing these balls. On paper Bayern should have been able to punish Barca either by playing balls behind or by getting Sane in 1v1s with Alonso. Neither of these things happened or worked. Musiala was imo the best of the front 4 at securing balls and turning.I always seem to have a different opinion of Musiala compared to others
Even in the recent Germany England game, where I was in the stadium, I thought he wasn't great but then came back to see rave reviews for him in the press
What’s gonna be the most watched game tonight then? Who’s watching who?
Hernandez out for around 6 weeks
Feck. Our best defender.Hernandez out for around 6 weeks
Time for de Ligt to step up and Pavard will get his wish to play CB. Mazraoui will get more playing time which is a good thing.
De Ligt looked a bit sus in the last game I watched over the weekend.
Bayern just got better, Nagelsmann subbed Goretzka on. But even then it was an even game until they scored a free goal from a corner. That was a bummer and Bayern used those weak 5-10 minutes to score the second goal. After that we had a really good chance to make it interesting again, but Pedri hit the post and from there it was over.
Our team is still in the learning phase, so there will be setbacks of course. First we need to stop giving our opponents free goals like the first one. Hernandez was completely free in front of ter Stegen. Then we need to be more clinical ourselves. Bayern would have scored 4-5 goals with those chances we had. We didn't even score once.
Yep this was a big thing missing yesterday and what made Bayern so strong.
The thing is Bayern don't have particularly great playmakers in the middle, in the fold of Thiago/FdJ, who can resist the press well. For these matchups, especially against Dortmund, having Lewandowski was key because you could just avoid the press by lumping the ball to him and he can hold it and pass it to on-rushing wingers and midfielders. With guys like Mane etc, you have to try and pass through, which is going to be difficult with Kimmich/Goretzka/Muller.
The best tactic, like what was used by Heynckes in 2013, is to sit deep and press the opposition midfielders (disregarding the CBs), win the ball and race forward. Having Goretzka for Sabizter really helped with that, Barca lost control in the middle with his energy.
Looking at the fixtures today it's a question of who I want to see get embarrassed, Dortmund or Leipzig? Might go with Leipzig since I can't bare to see City do well.
They only looked poor in the 10 minutes after the 1st goal really. They were way better than bayern the rest of the game, even in the second half
Pretty much this. This Barca team will learn to manage games better but they only really were second best for ten minutes yesterday. On another day, Lewandowski scores Atleast 3.
How de ligt has been so far for you ?
Hart seemed to duck away from that goal
Koulibaly on the bench, it's new
Silva and Azpi as CB in a back 4..is a choice
That Chelsea defence is honestly horrendous. What is he thinking there…
Hire the one guy to make your 3-4-3 work and he switches to a back 4 immediately
I love it, it's different. Made a few big calls there.
Plan is obviously to unleash their attacking potential - 3 CBs on the bench, that's bold. Guess they'll be pressing like mad? Will be very interesting to see how it goes.
Edit - or out-tucheling Tuchel with 3atb and Sterling wingback?
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How were we lucky. We were all over them and missed a slew of chances. None of our goals were lucky so how you come to this conclusion?
Did I just see a "feck the crown" banner in the Celtic end?
Training routine. Your players covered Müller and Upamecano who made the hole for Lucas... But yes, the ball from Kimmich had to come like this and Lucas score.
We score from set-pieces pretty good lately despite being relatively short and not really having a heading specialist.
feck me Celtic just missed a gilt-edged chance to win it
Celtic could have 3 or 4
feck me they've fluffed another chance. Basically an open net. FFS
I can see Leipzig doing well against Real in the group stage. Real only do as much as they have to in these kind of games, while Leipzig might benefit from the new manager bounce. I am not saying that they win, but I wouldn't expect them to get embarrassed. Real is also playing without Benzema, Kroos and Militao.
In contrast that Dortmund without 4-5 starters are going to suffer. They should be happy if they don't lose by more than 2 goals.
Funny how some in here thought Sesko should be our main striker this year for £65M yet he can't get into this Salzburg team ahead of Fernando and Okafor.
3 goals in 8 Austrian league games...
3 goals in 8 Austrian league games...
Pep's outfit
You weren’t simply lucky. Definitely an improvement from your recent games in terms of how well you controlled the game. The problem is it will literally kill some united fans on here to give credit where it’s due to a rival team, especially Liverpool.
It’s the long term outlook. He’s got Haaland potential.
City starting Mahrez ahead of Alvarez is a head scratcher
Emptihad only looks about 2/3 full. How can they not fill UCL nights?!
Daleks commentating at Chelsea?
Are Salzburg decent?
Drew against Milan and were rather comfortable, Seiwald is a midfielder to watch