Need every player to be at their best for both legs, and certainly have a better preformance at home this time.
Who knows? Miracles do happen.
Champions League QF Draw | Manchester United v Barcelona
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Who knows? Miracles do happen.
Is choke/bottle the most frustratingly overused word on this board?
Barcelona had 1 Cl in 2005, now they have 5. They've won 4 CLs in the past 15 years, compared to 4 by Real, 1 by Milan, 1 by Bayern, 1 Liverpool, 1 Man Utd, 1 Chelsea, 1 Inter, 1 Porto.
They also lost none of the finals they reached.
So who exactly are not chokers according to you?
It's a great comeback and achievement since it hasn't been done before, the key part is losing at home.
Still PSG walloped Barcelona 4-0 and lost the return game at the Nou Camp 6-1. That's a stunning comeback.
Also it's worth bringing up to remind us that even we win 2-0 at OT, we face immense pressure if the second game is away.
I remember in 2008 we went to Barcelona first and got a 0-0 and beat them 1-0 with wonder goal from Scholes at OT and then went on to win it.
Clearly what Xavi and Iniesta achieved 10+ years ago are very relevant to the current team.
They have been clear favorites in each QF tie in the last 3 seasons and found a way to lose each one.
2 of those 4 titles were 8 and 4 seasons agoClearly what Xavi and Iniesta achieved 10+ years ago are very relevant to the current team.
They have been clear favorites in each QF tie in the last 3 seasons and found a way to lose each one.
. Xavi didn't even play in the last one, he came on as a sub in the last 10 minutes. They've won 2/3 of Man Utd's total historical haul in less than 10 years and more in that same period than most clubs could ever hope to have. So what has made them suddenly bottlers that they weren't 4 years ago? Do teams just gain and lose bottle like that, instantly over a season or so? If they win this season, do they suddenly have bottle again?
I don’t understand why all Man United fans believe that Liverpool had an easy opponents this season. They survived the hardest group with the likes of Napoli and PSG and then Bayern Munchen. How was that easy?
They played 3 world class teams
Napoli
Bayern
PGS
and Man United only two
Juventus and PSG.
The fact of the matter is, Barca and PSG have failed spectacularly in each recent season given how highly they’re rated and at which stage they went out.2 of those 4 titles were 8 and 4 seasons ago
So what has made them suddenly bottlers that they weren't 4 years ago? Do teams just gain and lose bottle like that, instantly over a season or so? If they win this season, do they suddenly have bottle again?
If Real does what they did again for the next season or two, we can conclude they lost their bottle with the departure of Ronaldo.
Bring it on! We keep saying we are one of the big clubs of the world but a lot of us moan when we pull a club like Barca. It's in our blood to have games like this. The negativity of last 5 years has probably made us a bit unsure of who we are. Bring on the big teams every time for me.
Win or lose, there is so much to gain and learn from playing the best. Our players get to see how good they are against players like Messi. What an experience that is going to be. Young players are going to benefit just being in the away squad. Also, the management and owners can be shown just how far we might be, from being a good side, with the right buys over summer.
Over all it's a win win draw for me,. So i say Bring it on!
Win or lose, there is so much to gain and learn from playing the best. Our players get to see how good they are against players like Messi. What an experience that is going to be. Young players are going to benefit just being in the away squad. Also, the management and owners can be shown just how far we might be, from being a good side, with the right buys over summer.
Over all it's a win win draw for me,. So i say Bring it on!
Whilst they aren't quite the side they were a few years back they are still an excellent team with the best player ever so it is a great measuring stick to see where we stand. I think in a one off game anything can happen and I actually think we seem to do well with the underdog mentality, even under Van Gaal and Mourinho we had some good moments against the teams that were better than us.
If we win this then regardless of what people think of the quality of the current team there will be a mixture of momentum, nostalgia, romance and support (even from the press) that will be very hard to overcome in a Semi Final.
If we win this then regardless of what people think of the quality of the current team there will be a mixture of momentum, nostalgia, romance and support (even from the press) that will be very hard to overcome in a Semi Final.
If we ever do the unthinkable and wallop Barca 4-0 in the first leg, I don't think I will sleep or work for days thinking about it. If only...
They aren't as good as they used to be but they have miles and miles more talent in their team than us.
That said, it's football and anything can happen.
That said, it's football and anything can happen.
I'm confident.
1-0 win at OT
2-1 loss at the camp nou
1-0 win at OT
2-1 loss at the camp nou
I was sure we'd get Liverpool... can't see us beating Barca. So fed up with City and Liverpool getting the best draws in one competition or another
As a barca fan, I can tell you you have really good chances of qualifying. We are obviously the favorites but not by as much of a margin as everyone seems to think.
We have been playing very average for our standards whole season and have been pretty lucky at many points too. Our manager is also a retard of the highest order who can't manage the squad for shit.
We have been playing very average for our standards whole season and have been pretty lucky at many points too. Our manager is also a retard of the highest order who can't manage the squad for shit.
Here's hoping I'll learn my lesson in the away leg hey?
Amazing that a side with so much less talent could win a match at the Iceland Arena so comfortably while only playing 20 minutes of football.
It was definitely their pedigree which won them the game tonight.
Nah, it was their talent. Even with their super amazing Premier League players, Spurs couldn't live with the ability of the Eredivise peasants for the quarter of a game they needed to turn up for.
What was it you said about not even Ajax fans thinking their side are even close to being as talented as Spurs? You were scornful of my ability to say I was wrong if you won 5-0 but you can't hold your hand up now that Ajax have turned up and won at the Fish Finger Megadrome?
For shame.
It helps when your best super amazing premier league players are actually available to be fielded. We put out a lot of not good enough players tonight and got punished accordingly.
I don't get what our stadium has to do with anything, not sure why you feel the need to get a dig in about it in every single post.
It just happened to be where you were outplayed tonight. At home. By a side who you said didn't belong in your class
I'm sorry, were the 11 you fielded tonight not Premier League players? I thought you said players for the Eredivise couldn't expect to be compared to those from top 4 in the Prem?
In your arrogant dismissal of the mere notion that Ajax could of a similar standard to yourselves last month, I missed the part where you said Harry Kane was the difference.
Why did this get bumped? 
I've been waiting for this match up for two months and I've never had enough class to resist such a satisfying "I told you so"Why did this get bumped?
You're massively exaggerating everything I said, congratulations.
I said I thought we were a better team when fully fit to Ajax (I still do) and that players performing well in the Eredivisie doesn't necessarily make them PL quality.
I already admitted (a while back, after Juve) that I underestimated Ajax and thought the Madrid result was something of a fluke. They're clearly a very good side.
Harry Kane and Heung Min Son are our two best attacking players and have scored the majority of our goals this season. You think it's a coincidence in a game we were missing them we scored no goals? They're two world class attackers absent from the team, leading to two squad players having to lead the line. It's a problem for any side, their absence has clearly had a significant impact on us. As has missing Sissoko and Winks, who are our two best midfield players. You could see the difference Sissoko made when he came in.
We have very poor depth and struggle when key players are absent, this has been the case for a while and it was brutally highlighted by Ajax tonight. At full strength I would have backed us to get a result tonight but as it happens for a while now I've been saying we will struggle, it was obvious that without our key attacking talent we would struggle to influence the game in the final third, which we did. Ajax were able to play with freedom and without fear because we held zero attacking threat.
That's all I'll say on this till the second leg anyway. I think we'll probably put in a much better performance with Son leading the line, but unfortunately too many absentees and tactical errors for the first 30 of this game will likely cost us over the two legs, that's CL football, I always recognised the serious possibility Ajax could knock us out. City are a far, far better team than we are (and much better than Ajax, too) but we knocked them out because Pep made a tactical error in the first leg and Laporte made a couple of mistakes in the second.
Shit happens. You can't afford for 3-4 of your key players including the two who have the vast majority of your goals to be injured for a CL semi, you just can't.
You weren't missing Sissoko today - he came on and as you say, made an impact (albeit against a side who had well and truly taken their foot off the gas).
I don't think I've even barely exaggerated anything you've said, let alone massively. You totally dismissed my opinion and said you stopped reading after I suggested the two sides were of similar quality. That suggests a bigger gulf than just missing Kane and Son.
They were obviously missed tonight and had they been fit, Ajax would've been forced to play more than 25 minutes of ball. I still think they'd have had the beating of you though and I thought that then.
I never had an issue with you thinking Spurs were the better team, only with your inflated opinion of how much obviously superior you thought you were in typical Spurs fashion.
I don't think I've even barely exaggerated anything you've said, let alone massively. You totally dismissed my opinion and said you stopped reading after I suggested the two sides were of similar quality. That suggests a bigger gulf than just missing Kane and Son.
They were obviously missed tonight and had they been fit, Ajax would've been forced to play more than 25 minutes of ball. I still think they'd have had the beating of you though and I thought that then.
I never had an issue with you thinking Spurs were the better team, only with your inflated opinion of how much obviously superior you thought you were in typical Spurs fashion.
He came on after Ajax got the goal, immediately after which we began to match them. You think Ajax deliberately took their foot off the gas 30 minutes in to a tie rather than chasing more away goals and attempting to put the tie to bed?
We started the game without our two best attackers and without our two best midfielders (Sissoko, Winks) so were completely overrun. As soon as I saw Wanyama's name on the teamsheet I knew we would be in for a tough night, he's simply not up to any game of this magnitude any longer. Sissoko coming in helped to balance that because he actually added some legs and support, but we still had to cope with a passenger in midfield all game.
If we had both Kane's ability to hold up the ball/being a threat in the box and Son's running in behind, from an attacking standpoint it would have been an unrecognisable Spurs' team tonight. Two world class players can make a huge difference, especially when they're coming in for players who are a massive drop in terms of ability. Liverpool are one of the best teams in Europe right now, but take Salah & Mane out of the starting XI and replace them with Origi and Shaqiri and they would look half the team.
Again, I've already admitted to underestimating Ajax, I thought their performance vs Madrid wasn't something they would repeat. I've admitted that several times over in different threads, they're the real deal and some of their players have serious quality. Tonight they were fearless, energetic and technically superb in the first half, but then struggled when we stopped completely playing in to their hands, but were able to comfortably keep us at bay because we simply didn't have the tools to hurt them with our absences.
If our last 3 CL games have shown anything it's that a quality forward can make the world of difference. We were under fire in the 2nd half from City when Son scored out of nowhere, and then he got 2 quality goals at the Etihad, again when we were up against it. We badly lacked a forward that put any kind of fear in the opposition tonight, Ajax were comfortable because our movement in the box was horrendous. Llorente gets credit for holding the ball up but he offered no decent runs in to the box.
Anyway, we'll see about the second leg. The biggest problem for us right now is that we rely on too many players who are constantly picking up injuries, very few of our stars have not had lengthy periods on the sideline. It feels like we've been in a state of injury crisis for basically the entire season.
Taking nothing away from Ajax last night, they are a team where every player knows what to do and when, but they were helped significantly in the first half hour when Tottenham, missing their two most potent strikers played like that, no confidence, no fight, no speed, almost no nothing, if that shot that hit the post
had gone in then it would probably have been all over.
However it didn't and Tottenham get to go again next week. If Spurs show they can score (as early as possible) the young lions of Ajax might just get the feeling that Daniel has entered their den.
Its not over yet Spurs fans, and the fat lady hasn't sung!
had gone in then it would probably have been all over.
However it didn't and Tottenham get to go again next week. If Spurs show they can score (as early as possible) the young lions of Ajax might just get the feeling that Daniel has entered their den.
Its not over yet Spurs fans, and the fat lady hasn't sung!