If we are not good enough to win I'd rather not be in it. Likely it will end up in getting schooled. We need to build ourself up to be one of the favorites instead of just making up the numbers.
Champions League Round of 16 (18th Feb - 8th Aug)
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
The same Napoli that beat Juventus and shut out Liverpool.
I’d much rather play a leaky chelsea side.
The times we let them curl the ball across the wide open goal and it just went through our whole defense. A more competent side could have done the same to us what we did to Chelsea today.
Sure. But you should be creating more against them given you have so much more quality.
I've watched Liverpool play a lot this season, they have been quite fortunate in several domestic games and have been beaten in their two toughest European games. Of course they are a great team, but I think in a 2 legged game or a one-off final you would have a very good chance of beating them.
It would have been given in the PL (unless against Liverpool) but I agreed with the decision. He was about a yard away from him and it traveled at speed.
CL refs are miles better than PL refs.
They're given in the CL as well, as shown by Kimpembe against Utd and Sissoko in the final last year. It was a stonewall penalty under the new (stupid) rules.
Ok fair enough. Both horrible decisions, particularly the Sissoko one, hit his armpit IIRC, pretty sure Mane aimed for his arm!
That's far too simplistic. They lost Hazard to injury, they were outperformed by PSG in the group stages, and they are doing so-so in La Liga (they have almost the exact same points per game average as City even though they are in an actual title race). It's certainly 50-50, not the foregone conclusion many paint it to be.
Should be but City always collapse in Europe so I'm fully expecting Real to beat them 2:0 or so tonight.
Bayern were clinical but I thought Chelsea had some good opportunities too which they couldn't capitalize on due to lack of pace. That Bayern defense looked vulnerable at times.
I can't see tonight going well for City but I think we'll get through the tie overall. It'll finish up 2-1 or 3-1 to Madrid tonight, then we'll turn it on in the home leg and creep through on away goals or something.
I mostly hope that Pep tries to play the way we normally do in the league, as opposed to the way he normally approaches away legs of Champions League games, which is to try to contain the opposition and keep possession as much as possible. It never seems to go well. I doubt we'll see another "Gundogan on the right" fiasco but I'm not gonna be surprised if that's what ends up happening.
Hoping for: Ederson; Walker, Fernandinho, Laporte, Mendy; Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo; Jesus, Aguero, Mahrez. We're not chasing the league title anymore and even if we're not banned from Europe next season it doesn't seem like our top four bid is under any palpable threat, so there's no reason why we shouldn't go hell for leather in this competition now.
I mostly hope that Pep tries to play the way we normally do in the league, as opposed to the way he normally approaches away legs of Champions League games, which is to try to contain the opposition and keep possession as much as possible. It never seems to go well. I doubt we'll see another "Gundogan on the right" fiasco but I'm not gonna be surprised if that's what ends up happening.
Hoping for: Ederson; Walker, Fernandinho, Laporte, Mendy; Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo; Jesus, Aguero, Mahrez. We're not chasing the league title anymore and even if we're not banned from Europe next season it doesn't seem like our top four bid is under any palpable threat, so there's no reason why we shouldn't go hell for leather in this competition now.
Fun game tonight. Have been feeling Real to win it, but recent form make me think City might get it.
Reals attack have been weak and not sure they will punnish City enough. Not expecting too many goals anyway.
Reals attack have been weak and not sure they will punnish City enough. Not expecting too many goals anyway.
It's baffling how poor his CL away record is, mostly for that very reason. I understand the appeal of what he tries: keeping possession away from home while not risking much SOUNDS sensible. But, well, the facts seem to show that it doesn't actually work.
I don't disagree about Pep away from home but let's all keep in mind that if Müller converts that penalty against Atleti, Pep most likely faces Real in the UCL final. Depending on the result we all might very well talk differently about him.
That still doesn't change his relatively poor away record (23 percent win rate away from home in the CL knockout stages). You can also turn this around: had they managed as much as a 1-1 draw in Madrid, Müller's miss wouldn't have mattered.
There were obviously several Bayern players who had a great game yesterday, but I nevertheless want to point out Müller and Thiago. Both had a massive presence in that match.
I also think that Neuer (despite the occasional dodgy moment) is still among the best in the world, and still essential to the style Bayern are playing.
I also think that Neuer (despite the occasional dodgy moment) is still among the best in the world, and still essential to the style Bayern are playing.
If thr linesman hadnt have given a ridiculous offside at home to Juve when they were dominated, they wouldnt have made it that far in the first place.
I'm not as optimistic as a few weeks ago. They have received too many goals recently and Benzema is off.
Fortunately Mendy returns and I have full confidence in Valverde and Casemiro.
Without Hazard, I think the standard option would be 4 in the middle and Bale up. An utopian option would be an attack with Jovic and Benzema and try 20,000 crosses, or even supposing that we are not going to have the possession, Vini for the counters.
Fortunately Mendy returns and I have full confidence in Valverde and Casemiro.
Without Hazard, I think the standard option would be 4 in the middle and Bale up. An utopian option would be an attack with Jovic and Benzema and try 20,000 crosses, or even supposing that we are not going to have the possession, Vini for the counters.
Maybe this tells you something about Neuer: I'm 100% sure that since the day he came to Bayern in 2011, no Bayern fan has ever even only considered that there might be any better goalkeeper than him on this planet...
Brexit means Brexit.
Hm, you're talking about fan opinions, so what does it exactly say in your eyes? (I don't agree with that assessment, btw.)
I think Bayern fans know a great goalkeeper when they see one. We arguably have two of the top 10-20 goalkeepers of all time among our club legends and Neuer is on his way to become the third on that list after Meier and Kahn. The standard is really high.
That being said, I think over the past 9 years I'd probably say that Neuer was the best in roughly five of them and in the remaining four he wasn't that far away.
How does that compare to other managers?
I agree with Bazi, but to be more precise: For the past 9 years and until today I and probably all Bayern fans would not swap Neuer for any other goalkeeper on this planet. And that's not because of fan loyalty, it is because he is simply that good.
No disagreement there.
That's pretty much what I meant - I rate Neuer as one of the greatest keepers of all time, I just didn't think he was alone at the top for 9 years straight in the way the user has put it.
I'm especially thinking of the time after recovering from his foot injury, where he was quite far from his best. But it got better, and the DFB cup final against Leipzig that season is among his great big games for me. I saw that as the final indicator that he'll make it again.
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Yeah, if you put it that way I agree. I'm also among those (probably the minority?) who think his #1 spot in the NT ahead of Ter Stegen is still warranted, because his NT performances from 2019 on where at his usual high level.
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Hard to find someone who is directly comparable but Zidane, for example, has a much better record at Real Madrid than Guardiola had at Barcelona. He won his very first away knockout game, for example; Guardiola had to wait until 2011 for a win away from the Camp Nou.
Of course, it's quite hard to win away from home in the CL knockout stages, that's a given. On the other hand, Guardiola lost five out of seven away games in the semi-final, for example. The only one he won was when they played against 10 men. Considering the quality of teams he had at his disposal, I don't think it's unreasonable to say he could be doing better than that. He had a very good record at the Bernabeu as Barcelona manager, for example: five wins in seven games! But in those games he rarely tinkered the same way he often does in CL knockouts.
As most on here strangely favour Real tonight, it's worth mentioning that bookies have City as 65% favourites to progress as well as favourites to win the whole competition
When you try to revive a dead style irrespective of player material that's what happens.
Liverpool and Juventus struggled to create more. Liverpool didn’t get a single shot on target last year and lost to them this year.
We have no wingers right now or a number 9. Teams like Napoli are always going to be extremely tough considering that. Look what happened to Liverpool at atletico’s stadiums. Those teams on the low block are a pain create against.
Not saying Barca played great, but they did fine all things considering. More concerned about not having Busquets and Vidal in the home leg.
I think city will win over the two legs against madrid, I dont see an in form benzema being enough to knock city out now that they have laporte back now.
The la Liga is flattering real Madrid this season with their main rivals like Barcelona being below par and atletico are also nowhere near their the same level they have been for most of the years under simeone. Even though man city dont look as great going forward as they did in the first half of the season i think that is partially down to a lack of motivation knowing they cant catch liverpool, I expect to see the players raise their game to their best for the champions league, especially with the 2 season ban also hanging over their head as well.
I'm sure everyone at man city has even more motivation to win the ucl just so that they can embarrass those in charge of the organisation by walking up the steps to get their winners medals and lifting the trophy in front of them.
The la Liga is flattering real Madrid this season with their main rivals like Barcelona being below par and atletico are also nowhere near their the same level they have been for most of the years under simeone. Even though man city dont look as great going forward as they did in the first half of the season i think that is partially down to a lack of motivation knowing they cant catch liverpool, I expect to see the players raise their game to their best for the champions league, especially with the 2 season ban also hanging over their head as well.
I'm sure everyone at man city has even more motivation to win the ucl just so that they can embarrass those in charge of the organisation by walking up the steps to get their winners medals and lifting the trophy in front of them.
City is probably one of the teams that can stop liverpool and for that reason, I hope they beat Real.
No, I dont consider Real or Barca good enough to beat Liverpool.
No, I dont consider Real or Barca good enough to beat Liverpool.
I wouldn't write them off. For some reason they are hard to knock out when Zidane as manager. In fact they might win it again.
Tough to beat. They can dominate the game whilst defending like Atlético. For example, they've conceded 1 less than Atlético in the league.
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RM and Benzema is in shitty form (1W-1D-2L last four). They got knocked out of CdR at home to La Real, lost to Leganes in the weekend and they struggle to score as much as they used to (Benz only scored 2 in his last 10 matches).
This leg is still very tight though, and is 50:50 in my book.
In a final, 100%, but over two legs I wouldn’t back City to progress past Liverpool more than a side like Real Madrid. We’re utterly useless at Anfield
CL is different from league games. RM could win 3:0 at home. Plus they have a tough defence. Also... Zidane is manager. You could argue that they've been struggling but they've still only conceded 17 and are right up Barca's ass.
Bale will score a hattrick. He always plays good in CL games. Always. See if they let him shoot from range he'll score.
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I wouldn't worry about knocking us out of CL yet. I have a feeling Atletico will go through anyway, they are the type of team we especially struggle against.
Hope RM will progress though, as I see them as lesser threat.
Hope RM will progress though, as I see them as lesser threat.
It's funny because part of that was self-inflicted, the high press worked too well and that's why napoli spent so much time defending so deep
Napoli played against type though, and in the end it showed as barcelona were barely dangerous, sure, but they had 2 huge opportunities as a result of individual mistakes of napoli's defenders(mario rui - who is quite simply inadequate at this level - on the goal, and ospina letting umtiti anticipate him from a corner), while napoli themselves couldn't muster much attack beyond the goal and the huge callejon chance(which was a result of them pressing barcelona's build up for once)
People had this exact opinion the year before last and Liverpool beat City and got to the final where they lost against...Real Madrid.
Albeit, a Real Madrid with Ronaldo. But i don't think he scored in the final anyway. I'd trust Madrid to knock out Liverpool before City.