UEFA Champions League 2014-15

[Ode to Django]

I am not sure they are much stronger (Chelsea and PSG) than Juventus, but they are at the very least equal. City are not any worse than Juve either.

They aren't, talking out of his hat as usual

His favorite one "all you have to do is press Pirlo"

as if that hasn't been known for over ten years, yet teams don't do it & it hasn't worked out that well for Germany over the years. Or many other teams for that matter.

On the odd occasions it has, but nobody's perfect every game.

 

[Ryu Hayabusa]

They aren't, talking out of his hat as usual

His favorite one "all you have to do is press Pirlo"

as if that hasn't been known for over ten years, yet teams don't do it & it hasn't worked out that well for Germany over the years. Or many other teams for that matter.

On the odd occasions it has, but nobody's perfect every game.

That's because Löw doesn't know his pressing as well as Heynckes.
Pirlo and also the rest of Juve couldn't do jackshit when they were pressed by the arguably best pressing machine the international stage of football has seen in the past 5 years, or in Pirlo's specific case, by Mandzukic.


And you will see, Juve will be out by at least 2 goals margin, rather 3 or 4, I suspect.

 

[Ode to Django]

That's because Löw doesn't know his pressing as well as Heynckes.
Pirlo and also the rest of Juve couldn't do jackshit when they were pressed by the arguably best pressing machine the international stage of football has seen in the past 5 years, or in Pirlo's specific case, by Mandzukic.


And you will see, Juve will be out by at least 2 goals margin, rather 3 or 4, I suspect.

Bayern Munich were a much better team than Juventus then, and still are. That's not on Andrea Pirlo.

Again "all you have to do is press Pirlo" is a silly comment, i can recall 2-3 times it's worked, over the span of god knows how many years.

PSG/Chelsea aren't much stronger than Juventus, they are all very equal really. & Madrid are nothing special, so we'll certainly see. They could get trounced, entirely possible, but they could also be two very tight games, which i expect.

 

[Patricho]

I don't believe for a second that Paris or Chelsea are "much better" sides than Juventus. Juventus are very well-balanced from top to bottom. They have no glaring weaknesses and can get a result against any team. Yes, they might not be as dominant as the big three in Europe, but still shouldn't be underestimated. Paris have been struggling in Ligue 1 and were very inconsistent in the Champions League. Chelsea, despite dominating the league, have been far from impressive in both the Prem and Europe. They are pretty much parking their bus to the title.

Real are obviously favorites going into the tie, but I believe that they will find it a lot harder than many predict.

 

[Morten]

I think Bayern and Juve might have an advantage in that they dont have to worry about their league. Bayern has won it, Juve practically has won it as well. Barca and Real are fighting on two fronts, as of now, anyway.

 

[Ryu Hayabusa]

As people were complaining about Bayern having no challenge left domestically which would give them the opportunity to rest players (who exactly btw? It's not like we have anybody on the bech really), I looked up your program before and inbetween the two legs: Getafe and Cordoba. Are you for real?
That is as easy as it gets.
Bayern in turn has a DFB Pokal clash with a very hungry Dortmund who can almost single-handedly salvage their entire season by winning said match, potentially even in extra time and penalties (more exhaustion), before eventually facing Leverkusen who are extremly physical as in run their socks off, which will need to be countered.

Obviously, Barca is far more in a position to rest players before and inbetween the two legs, compared to Bayern - and that doesn't even take into account injured players.

 

[Vlom]

As people were complaining about Bayern having no challenge left domestically which would give them the opportunity to rest players (who exactly btw? It's not like we have anybody on the bech really), I looked up your program before and inbetween the two legs: Getafe and Cordoba. Are you for real?
That is as easy as it gets.
Bayern in turn has a DFB Pokal clash with a very hungry Dortmund who can almost single-handedly salvage their entire season by winning said match, potentially even in extra time and penalties (more exhaustion), before eventually facing Leverkusen who are extremly physical as in run their socks off, which will need to be countered.

Obviously, Barca is far more in a position to rest players before and inbetween the two legs, compared to Bayern - and that doesn't even take into account injured players.

Bayern could basically just not show up against Leverkusen and still win the bundesliga...

The only important game is BVB, that's all, after that it's a week's rest for everyone, and instructions against Leverkusen will clearly be "just don't tackle anyone and try not to get injured, we don't give a rats ass about the result" ^^

 

[Ryu Hayabusa]

What they could and what they will are two completely different things. As we've seen last year, a loss of momentum can have devastating effects in that time of the season.

 

[Vlom]

What they could and what they will are two completely different things. As we've seen last year, a loss of momentum can have devastating effects in that time of the season.

I'm just saying that except the BVB game, Bayern have a completely stress free week until they play us, and in between again to prepare the 2leg.

We might be playing "just" Getafe, but we haven't won against them the last 2 games, both ended up in a draw so yeah, it's a relatively easy game but our main players still need to show up to win it and avoid the upset, Cordoba is fighting relegation and we're playing at their home, so won't be that easy either, easy to win maybe, but physically demanding .. also, we have zero replacement for MSN, so at least those 3 won't get any rest at all except the odd 20min here and there for Pedro to play.

I'm not overly concerned though, as we've become masters at controlling games and imposing the tempo after taking the lead early, just hoping all our players will be able to be at 100% comes time to face Bayern, so these 2games can remain as just a stepping stone towards our CL final ..

 

[Ryu Hayabusa]

but our main players still need to show up to win it and avoid the upset,

Well, our main players still have to show up because there is nobody else left.

 

[skn02]

Well, our main players still have to show up because there is nobody else left.

You're biased as hell, it's not even funny. Do you even know what you are talking about?? Any shit teams in la liga can cause an upset, that alone will force barca to play games with high intensity because any slip up, madrid is right there to catch up to barca. By playing games with high intensity with a lot of regular players will risk an injury, physically exhausted and not be 100% on the next game in 2-3 days. On the other hand, Bayern already won the league and they play dortmund in midweek, so that's a FULL WEEK of rest prior to facing Barca, and dont even talk about bayer leverkusen i the weekend as Bayern already won the league, they wouldn't give a shit about the weekend game. They would probably just play all youngsters and even if some starters play the game, they will be instructed to not give it their all and just conserve energy, that alone is a HUGE HUGE HUGE advantage.

 

[Blaugrana Bull]

What do you expect from Ryu?

 

[KingLeo10]

I think Bayern and Juve might have an advantage in that they dont have to worry about their league. Bayern has won it, Juve practically has won it as well. Barca and Real are fighting on two fronts, as of now, anyway.

for once, i agree with you whole-heartedly. it is much, much harder for barca/real to win the treble than their german and italian counterparts. with bayern and juve, a domestic double is almost a formality.

 

[xavi_the_Boss]

I don´t know.We look in great shape right now so keeping up the intensity in the league isn´t a bad thing for me.
It´s very late in the season so i don´t think that Juve and Bayern will have any great advantage in resting their tired Players.

 

[Ode to Django]

There is no advantage, people looking for excuses as usual