Bayern München

[FC B]

If they play like they played in the 2nd half against Real on Tuesday, I'm not worried. Hope, this gives the guys some momentum, especially Robbery.

Guardiola, yesterday: "I know that my philosophy is different from the typical German one. But Bayern wanted me because of my style. I've won titles here too now - we won the Bundesliga in March, for example - so I believe that we are not so bad. We must keep the passion we offered in Madrid. We have to react, though, as we are 1-0 behind. We need to attack more and I need to find a balance between my ideas and the footballing culture in Germany.".


Nice idea but imo difficult to put into practice at least now in such a short span of time till the return leg.
For the moment the biggest problem Bayern seems to have is the lack of confidence and not such a strong mental state globally as it was prior to winning BL in march in such a convincing manner...
Then Pep needs to make adjustments to his tactic if he wants to break the bus of Ancelotti. At Bernabeu it seemed to me as if rm shamlessly parked the bus of the club in front of the goal in the first half and I'm sure he'll try the same shit tactic in the return leg.

If pep does fix those issues and figures out a way to make them more dangerous in front of the goal while they don't leave their defense exposed anymore I see them progress to the final.
It also requires a bit of luck in order to do so but it is time rm luck finishes because otherwise it will be unbearable to see that plastic club going in the final.

 

[DonAK]

Pep managed to find a balance before, it's only lately they have struggled.

Im sure and hopefull that he will find the perfect balance and tactics and kick Real Madrid out of the competition.

 

[FC B]

As far as I know Bayern never lost to rm at their home but still they need a convincig win to go through.
I wouldn't mind at all an extra time qualification nor a penalty one. Anyhow it will be hard to watch.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Bayern has not reached the zenith of us back in 2009-2011. This season is nothing. I have a feeling that next season Guardiola's tactics will be battle-tested and proven and becoming more mature, together with Lewandowski joining, they will truly be unstoppable and reaching new heights.

 

[barcafan89]

Neuer and Bayern's defense must be joking, they're reminding me of FCB lousy defending against setpieces.

 

[Neymessi]

I have to be very honest here. Bayern was always overrated.What it did was beat us 7-0 and everybody thought they are the new superpowers.With a deteriorated dortmund they won the champions league.Look at their gameplay today.Complete crap. Neur has been a laughing stock.For god sake real beats teams like osasuna 4-0 on their home and they are beating bayern 3-0 at allianz.Pep does not know how to handle counters and set pieces. I am going to stop watching football altogether before the world cup.This year has been terrible.

 

[Alarcón]

Guardiola, yesterday: "I know that my philosophy is different from the typical German one. But Bayern wanted me because of my style. I've won titles here too now - we won the Bundesliga in March, for example - so I believe that we are not so bad. We must keep the passion we offered in Madrid. We have to react, though, as we are 1-0 behind. We need to attack more and I need to find a balance between my ideas and the footballing culture in Germany.".

This is precisely the reason why Bayern are so bad at the moment, for some reason Pep decided to discontinue the playing style he brought in at the beggining of the season and instead move more towards the football they played last year. I wrote a lenghty comment on this very subject in the Champions League thread which I won't bother reposting but in short, any compromise to tiki-taka (which includes both players and tactics) inevitably results in what we see right now from both Bayern and Barça. Either you play tiki-taka the right way or you let it go altogether. Something in between will always be a failure.

 

[El_e8]

More proof that the Germans are good at fighting wars, just not winning them.

 

[Mitchell1978]

In 6 months time bayern went from being like barca 10-11 to barca 13-14.

 

[MrXavi_The_Midfield_King]

Dante killed of Bayern's chances with his poor marking in the space of 4 mins, but the third goal may have been the worst of the lot middle was completely open from Madrid's own half, ridiculous defending by Bayern

 

[Andrew M]

I posted this on the 12 March:

I think this Bayern is inferior to last year's.

How wrong you were, beautifulgame

lol not even close

 

[Ryu Hayabusa]

With all that Tiki Taka pass training and defense against counter-attacks, it seems Pep completely neglected to train set-pieces, defensively as well as offensively. In 2012/13 we have been a juggernaut of ruthless efficiency in these areas as well. Now we are as naive and clueless as in 2011/12.

Also, we obviously now longer possess the quality to adapt our game according to our opponent's style, like we did against Barca, when we basically introduced and immediately improved upon BVB's style.

The juggernaut is finally gone, ripped apart to pieces.

 

[Ryu Hayabusa]

Dante killed of Bayern's chances with his poor marking in the space of 4 mins, but the third goal may have been the worst of the lot middle was completely open from Madrid's own half, ridiculous defending by Bayern

One has to wonder in how far that extremly high pitch counter-pressing is a smart choice at all. Last season we were much more secure at the back due to Martinez and Schweinsteiger as double pivot holding midfielders. Our counter-pressing started lower than it does now and we utilized pressing traps, like Dortmund.
We don't do that anymore and it cost us big time when it counted (at least twice against Madrid)

 

[SEvolution]

Bayern's defense was being ridiculed by Moyes 'The Clueless One' United had Welback been a bit clinical that tie wouldn't have been ended any better for Bayern. There were signs and we all thought bayern will come out better against Madrid but they didn't changed a bit allowing them too much space on counters and Ancelotti came with the trick spot on.

Such likeable personality he is. I hope he goes on to win his third will be far better than Mou getting his hands on the third.

 

[Ryu Hayabusa]

Maybe Atletico somehow manage to do it. I'll certainly be rooting for Atletico for the two remaining matches.