Champions League Knockouts (12 Aug - 23rd Aug)

fps

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Looks like Pulis' inherent hatred of Arsenal influenced that assessment
Ha. In fairness a player can take setbacks like this in many ways, and Gnabry looks a completely different player and person now. Clearly has a lot of character.
 

MetoTTT

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Good point.

United have been in crisis long enough that this season is actually a bright point and gives hope for the future, especially with a Sancho arrival if at all possible. Barcelona have a crisis by their standards, but like you said it's a very different story and shows just how good they've been for a long time. They're just at the end of an era and it's going to be a difficult transition for them. I don't think they'll go through the same crisis as United because La Liga is a bit weaker but it's still a possibility.
That's exactly what I'm affraid of, giving hope just beacause we've finished 3rd (a little miracle). If Ed don't deliver the players wanted and/or Glazers don't want spend the money, we'll hear soon from OGS "I'm happy with the squad" bs.
 

Cnaiür urs Skiötha

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Despite both games going 3-0 in favor of the huge favorites the 2 semi-finals were very different in character. Leipzig tried hard, but the outcoming was very clear from the get-go and they never really threatened PSG.
Respect to Lyon, and based on clear cut chances this could have ended 3-0 the other way. Very strong on the ball and technically great for large parts, they often bypassed Bayern's pressing in tight areas. A bit of a shame that they won't be in Europe next season at all, no idea how this is possible. So many shit teams especially in the Europa league...
However, Bayern are just so effective and clinical. Not so many chances created out of open play yesterday, but if you do not take your own chances against them you are lost. I personally see them as favorites, as teams like PSG suit them. Although is has to be said that I have been impressed how compact PSG defended and how they dominated the midfield.
I would say this is the perfect final and a worthy ending to a strange season.
 

2ndTouch

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Despite both games going 3-0 in favor of the huge favorites the 2 semi-finals were very different in character. Leipzig tried hard, but the outcoming was very clear from the get-go and they never really threatened PSG.
Lyons midfield was a lot better than that of RB. That made the difference.
 

Cnaiür urs Skiötha

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Despite their missed chances, I doubt Lyon could ever have won this game. Bayern would simply have gone through the gears and have gotten back into the game.

it’s a champion team that knows it’s capabilities and methods very well, and can whip out their play list at any moment.
It would have been interesting if it had been 1-0 or even 2-0 for Lyon. After the 2-0 for Bayern it was definitely game-over. However, Lyon kept fighting and had chances to get back into the game, this deserves respect.
 

OutlawGER

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It would have been interesting if it had been 1-0 or even 2-0 for Lyon. After the 2-0 for Bayern it was definitely game-over. However, Lyon kept fighting and had chances to get back into the game, this deserves respect.
Yeah, Lyon did better than expected. It was an UCL-semifinal after all.
 

Cnaiür urs Skiötha

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Btw I have not really followed Bayern this season but I am wondering why it did not work out with Coutinho? He was easily one of the best players on the pitch against Barca and Lyon when he came on and it seems as his accurate passing and decision making would perfectly suit Bayern.
 

Blackwidow

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Lyons midfield was a lot better than that of RB. That made the difference.
Not better - but more difficult to play against as they are really setup for this kind of play. I was not really surprised by yesterday's match. There is matches like this in the normal run in the Bundesliga, too - probably best to compare them to Frankfurt on their good days. They are just difficult to play against. If you sleep or do some stupid passes - and Bayern had some lapses in the first minutes and sloppy passing that can be punished.

Just found that on twitter - picture of the final 2013 and yesterday (I expect a similar starting eleven Sunday even if I could imagine that Flick starts with Pavard and Süle instead of Boateng and Thiago/Goretzka



It will be the fourth final for Müller, the third for Boateng and Neuer and the second for Alaba (he was suspended 2012)
 

giorno

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PSG are basically playing the beginning of a new season right now. Meaning with every game, their fitness levels improve

Something to keep in mind for the final maybe
 

hasanejaz88

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Not better - but more difficult to play against as they are really setup for this kind of play. I was not really surprised by yesterday's match. There is matches like this in the normal run in the Bundesliga, too - probably best to compare them to Frankfurt on their good days. They are just difficult to play against. If you sleep or do some stupid passes - and Bayern had some lapses in the first minutes and sloppy passing that can be punished.

Just found that on twitter - picture of the final 2013 and yesterday (I expect a similar starting eleven Sunday even if I could imagine that Flick starts with Pavard and Süle instead of Boateng and Thiago/Goretzka



It will be the fourth final for Müller, the third for Boateng and Neuer and the second for Alaba (he was suspended 2012)
It would be risky for Flick to change the starting eleven on the final after having the same lineup for three consecutive matches.

What was the reason Boateng got substituted? Injury or tactical? Sule didn't look very fit when he came on as well.
 

strongwalker

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That's more complicated than that. Most german players [EDIT : or players in germany] dream of playing for Bayern since it's THE german club with a direct access to the mannschaft. Plus, Bayern has so much influence in germany that basically, players make deals with their club to have a cheap exit when Bayern wants to purchase them. That's part of the reason why other clubs have a hard time competing long term with Bayern, all their best german players go there. Now that's not an reprehensible strategy but it surely weakens the competition. Ask Dortmund how they felt when Lewa and Hummels left for Bayern for exemple (for 0 and 35M).
why would anyone want to sign for a club that is extremely well run, not dependent on sugardaddy money, pays top €, is located in a beautiful city, and playing at the top of europe. I smell moral corruption. There clearly is foul play involved :D
 

dev1l

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I wonder how Bayern would react to being led. PSG could score early if the last 2 Bayern games are an indication
I thought Bayern s tactics in the first 20 mins of the game were a bit kamikaze. For me Rudi Garcia showed he s the better coach.
 

cyberman

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why would anyone want to sign for a club that is extremely well run, not dependent on sugardaddy money, pays top €, is located in a beautiful city, and playing at the top of europe. I smell moral corruption. There clearly is foul play involved :D
But you do struggle to attract the named players to Germany?
Youre great at taking underutilised players and improving them to an impossible standard but its hard to get established stars to the Bundesliga.
 

Acrobat7

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But you do struggle to attract the named players to Germany?
Youre great at taking underutilised players and improving them to an impossible standard but its hard to get established stars to the Bundesliga.
I take Ribery, Robben, Martinez, Thiago, Boateng, Hernandez, Sané et al from outside the Bundesliga, so I think Bayern is doing fine in that regard.
What stars were you thinking of that were transferred lately? Hazard and Ronaldo?
 

cyberman

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I take Ribery, Robben, Martinez, Thiago, Boateng, Hernandez, Sané et al from outside the Bundesliga, so I think Bayern is doing fine in that regard.
What stars were you thinking of that were transferred lately? Hazard and Ronaldo?
Robben was struggling in Spain, Robben signed from smaller club etc.
Unless the star is already in Germany they cant attract the big names. Its not as if its a policy, they just singed Sane for 50m.
Im not saying its holding them back or anything, im just saying Munich being this fantastic, winning machine points that were made isnt that relevent when they cant attract the higher calibre player from abroad so how much more appealing can they be?
 

Pace Abuser

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It may have been a touch of homesickness, just guessing. Some kids struggle to settle
His family threw the towel in after Pulis called him lazy and sidelined him. He was desperate to prove himself at West Brom to get into the Arsenal team. He'd been in England for 4 years so was fine with it. But after West Brom treated him like shit he'd had enough and Wenger was happy to say ok, see ya, as it's understood Wenger couldn't see the hype and went for Iwobi over him.

Someone posted him telling his story in his performances thread.
 

2ndTouch

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Btw I have not really followed Bayern this season but I am wondering why it did not work out with Coutinho? He was easily one of the best players on the pitch against Barca and Lyon when he came on and it seems as his accurate passing and decision making would perfectly suit Bayern.
Müller is untouchable in the middle, and true wingers do winger stuff better than Coutinho. He also had quite few poor performances. Nice to see him as sharp he's now.
 

Inigo Montoya

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His family threw the towel in after Pulis called him lazy and sidelined him. He was desperate to prove himself at West Brom to get into the Arsenal team. He'd been in England for 4 years so was fine with it. But after West Brom treated him like shit he'd had enough and Wenger was happy to say ok, see ya, as it's understood Wenger couldn't see the hype and went for Iwobi over him.

Someone posted him telling his story in his performances thread.
Wow
Iwobi>Gnabry :lol:
Everton>Bayern Munich
 

Paula

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Robben was struggling in Spain, Robben signed from smaller club etc.
Unless the star is already in Germany they cant attract the big names. Its not as if its a policy, they just singed Sane for 50m.
Im not saying its holding them back or anything, im just saying Munich being this fantastic, winning machine points that were made isnt that relevent when they cant attract the higher calibre player from abroad so how much more appealing can they be?
i guess they could attract those players but they are not willing to pay high fees. Only exception currently is Hernández.
 
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strongwalker

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But you do struggle to attract the named players to Germany?
Youre great at taking underutilised players and improving them to an impossible standard but its hard to get established stars to the Bundesliga.
players like Havertz or Werner raised attention internationally, which drove their price tags up. Same with de Bruyne, Bayern will consider breaking the bank, but only if a) the player fills a spot where they feel there is need, and b) if they are 100% convinced of his skills, which was the reason Werner wasnt signed.
 

Oly Francis

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why would anyone want to sign for a club that is extremely well run, not dependent on sugardaddy money, pays top €, is located in a beautiful city, and playing at the top of europe. I smell moral corruption. There clearly is foul play involved :D
1st I didn't say it was foul play
2nd, I didn't hear a lot of german bragging about an "extremely well run club" when the players decided to kick Ancelotti out and shit was hitting the fan, Flick happens to be a miracle, he wasn't supposed to stay more than a couple of months. Good for you but we can't say that a club where players decide who's the coach is "extremely well run".
3rd Even if it's not foul play, it weakens your league, the way Lyon did with Ligue 1 in the 00's, taking the best players for a bargain. Ligue 1 was actually a very decent league in the 90's, but bad management + Lyon's recruitments totally crippled a lot of teams.
4th Your management is trying to play the moral high ground card but they were really happy to take Qatar Airways as a sponsor. You actually take pretty much the same amount of money from Qatar than we do now, congratulations.
 
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do.ob

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Robben was struggling in Spain, Robben signed from smaller club etc.
Unless the star is already in Germany they cant attract the big names. Its not as if its a policy, they just singed Sane for 50m.
Im not saying its holding them back or anything, im just saying Munich being this fantastic, winning machine points that were made isnt that relevent when they cant attract the higher calibre player from abroad so how much more appealing can they be?
Is it really so much a case of can't or is it maybe don't want to? Bayern are doing quite well for themselves by following their current transfer strategy, before Corona their readily available cash reserves were quoted at over €200m, they could probably do a lot in the market if they felt the need to.
 

strongwalker

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Robben was struggling in Spain, Robben signed from smaller club etc.
Unless the star is already in Germany they cant attract the big names. Its not as if its a policy, they just singed Sane for 50m.
Im not saying its holding them back or anything, im just saying Munich being this fantastic, winning machine points that were made isnt that relevent when they cant attract the higher calibre player from abroad so how much more appealing can they be?
Robben, Ribery, and Toni were signed when the transfer market was different from now, as was Bayerns transfer policy - they basically were bargain hunting. Rib had the "problem child" tag slapped on his forehead after his Galatasaray antics (which were only minor his fault), Robben was a medical box of surprises, Toni was deemed to be too one-dimansional to be considered by a top team, who were all keen on the small agile false nine Messi clones.
Bayern is wealthy but the pockets are not infinetly deep. The market has escalated faster than the interest rates for their infamous war chest of ~200Mio, which maybe was enough to buy a full team 10 years ago, now it gets you a back 4 if youre lucky. Bottom line, Bayern can less afford to make a costly mistake than PSG or Chelsea. So, in a sense, Bayern are still bargain hunting.
 

RooneyLegend

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There's something about this Bayern team I just don't believe in. It would be strange if such a poor defensive side wins the CL.
 

strongwalker

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1st I didn't say it was foul play
correct, you didnt, i did :D
2nd, I didn't hear a lot of german bragging about an "extremely well run club" when the players decided to kick Ancelotti out and shit was hitting the fan, Flick happens to be a miracle, he wasn't supposed to stay more than a couple of months. Good for you but we can't say that a club where players decide who's the coach is "extremely well run".
We prefer that to the other method of stubbornly sticking with a wrong decision in order to keep looking infallible and powerful (japanese WW2 officer style). The team would have little success with their waterglass mutiny if the management had been convinced about Ancelotti and Kovac, but they all played football themselves and they know a coach out of his depth when they see one. Also, while Flick was still standing in, the contact to Tuchel and other candidates was made. I'm pretty sure if the Flick experiment had gone wrong, Tuchel or Nagelsmann would be signed by now.
3rd Even if it's not foul play, it weakens your league, the way Lyon did with Ligue 1 in the 00's, taking the best players for a bargain. Ligue 1 was actually a very decent league in the 90's, but bad management + Lyon's recruitments totally crippled a lot of teams.
That shit doesnt get old, does it. The players who came for free had let their contracts run out. They would be gone to another club if Bayern hadn't made an offer. Or do you think Lewa, with opportunities at all top clubs, would have stayed at BVB? Same with Goretzka.
4th Your management is trying to play the moral high ground card but they were really happy to take Qatar Airways as a sponsor.
yes they do and yes they are scumbags and hypocrites*), but by no stretch of any facts more so than other club bosses *cough* Watzke *cough* Tönnies *cough* Hopp *cough* Kind *cough* Kühne* cough *Mateschitz*
They see a lot of pressure from the more critical fan base for the Qatar thing.

*) this refers to the old echelon of Beckenbauer, Hoeneß, Rummenigge, who are on their way out or have already withdrawn. The current/future mgmt team with Kahn, Salihamidzic etc. until today have only a few traffic tickets and impregnated barmaids to their name but given time, i have no doubt they will prove to be worthy successors
 

Ecstatic

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Robben, Ribery, and Toni were signed when the transfer market was different from now, as was Bayerns transfer policy - they basically were bargain hunting.

- Rib
had the "problem child" tag slapped on his forehead after his Galatasaray antics (which were only minor his fault)
- Robben was a medical box of surprises
- Toni was deemed to be too one-dimansional to be considered by a top team, who were all keen on the small agile false nine Messi clones.
Bayern is wealthy but the pockets are not infinetly deep. The market has escalated faster than the interest rates for their infamous war chest of ~200Mio, which maybe was enough to buy a full team 10 years ago, now it gets you a back 4 if youre lucky. Bottom line, Bayern can less afford to make a costly mistake than PSG or Chelsea. So, in a sense, Bayern are still bargain hunting.
I love the way you rewrite history. Brilliant :D

Summer 07: you recruited Ribéry, Klose, Luca Toni, Altintop, Ze Roberto and promoted a guy whose name is Kroos. Total spending: 92M
Summer 08: only 2 squad players (Donova, Borowski) for free. Total spending: 0 million
Summer 09: Robben (24 millions), Mario Gomez (35 m), Olic, Tymsochuk Total spending: 79.7 million

Your fairy tale does not mention that:

- Luca Toni was the best scorer of Serie A in 2006
- Ribery was the leading offensive player of Marseille, reaching the World Cup final in 2006
- Robben was just a typical known great talent who didn't find the right support/environment in the special club of Madrid
- The club invested a lot of money to recover from the bad season 2006/07. In this period, prices were much lower, which shows that Bayern was a leading investor on the transfers market.

92M in 2007 is - according to your indicators - 450M in 2020 :cool:
 
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RoyH1

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There's something about this Bayern team I just don't believe in. It would be strange if such a poor defensive side wins the CL.
Good point, but similar things were said about that Madrid team that won 3 in a row and 4 out 5. "They're not cohesive enough", "the other team plays better football". Bayern is just one of those clubs that's used to the big occasion. I can see them being more mentally robust in case of adversity than PSG is.
 

RooneyLegend

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Good point, but similar things were said about that Madrid team that won 3 in a row and 4 out 5. "They're not cohesive enough", "the other team plays better football". Bayern is just one of those clubs that's used to the big occasion. I can see them being more mentally robust in case of adversity than PSG is.
That Madrid side was a rather pragmatic side. This Bayern side care little about defending.
 

do.ob

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yes they do and yes they are scumbags and hypocrites*), but by no stretch of any facts more so than other club bosses *cough* Watzke *cough* Tönnies *cough* Hopp *cough* Kind *cough* Kühne* cough *Mateschitz*
They see a lot of pressure from the more critical fan base for the Qatar thing.

*) this refers to the old echelon of Beckenbauer, Hoeneß, Rummenigge, who are on their way out or have already withdrawn. The current/future mgmt team with Kahn, Salihamidzic etc. until today have only a few traffic tickets and impregnated barmaids to their name but given time, i have no doubt they will prove to be worthy successors
Please don't try to excuse what Kalle does with whataboutism. For starters he secretly pushed for a super league, while also being chairman of the ECA with all its small and medium sized member clubs he was supposed to represent. Watzke has his faults and is obviously always on the lookout for ways to make more money, but he actually drew a line under the idea of middle-eastern pre-season camps after their one and only visit met criticism. Rummenigge in comparison is constantly doubling down, selling himself as some kind of civil rights activist, banning critical fans from the stadium and of course getting convicted for trying to smuggle a Qatari gift of Rolex watches worth €200k through customs.
 
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Bepi

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Folks, it is surreal you still keep considering City as a benchmark at European Cup level, hinting that they would dispatch PSG, Bayern, the Klingons and even Godzilla. If the most heavily tapped (and tipped) squad crashes out three times in a row at the QF stage, there are glaring flaws to be addressed in the approach and execution at crunch time. Qatari PSG have finally broken their duck and reached their first CL final after NINE years, right? Call it experience, heritage, luck or anything worse but... they did at last, on their day. On the contrary, City haven’t yet, and how much longer repeating the same pattern is yet to be seen. (Hint: sack guru Guardiola, hire pragmatist Allegri)
 

amolbhatia50k

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Good point, but similar things were said about that Madrid team that won 3 in a row and 4 out 5. "They're not cohesive enough", "the other team plays better football". Bayern is just one of those clubs that's used to the big occasion. I can see them being more mentally robust in case of adversity than PSG is.
It's been a long while since they won anything on the big occasion though. I'm assuming you're referring to the CL of course. They're historical a bigger club for whom winning the CL isn't a hapless desperation which makes a difference.
 

Oly Francis

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That shit doesnt get old, does it. The players who came for free had let their contracts run out. They would be gone to another club if Bayern hadn't made an offer. Or do you think Lewa, with opportunities at all top clubs, would have stayed at BVB? Same with Goretzka.
Come on, it's always the same. Players stay at their club for one extra year, making them believe that they might sign an extension and end up refusing and going to bayern for a bargain (of for free) with a nice signing bonus. It happened with Goretzka, Kimmich, Hummels, Lewa, Sule, Rudy, Wagner... and more recently Gnabry. We all know they carefuly plan their transfers, meddling in the transactions and set their conditions. It's smart, but very deceptive for a lot of clubs that thought they could actually get what they expected for their players. These players were not up for grab for any club with an offer, everything was already settled far before the move.