The European Leagues & Competitions Thread V2

[hamad138 190]

People thought bayern will stand against Barcelona but the team with the better attacking quality won.

When you have a poor attack compared to your rivals, attacking them by making the game open and end to end for the sake of football is stupid. The higher quality attackers will always win in this situation. Only defend and counter can win most of the time.

All of a sudden, guardiola has no messi in attack and no robben and he can't get a shot on target. If we want to challenge the top four teams, we must have 3 high quality goalscoring players in attack while the midfielders must be quality passers with technical quality.

Maybe Gary neville was right, we may need bale on our right and Koke in midfield to put our team in the Champions League elite and scare the life out of teams with

Hazard - costa - bale/reus

Coming at their defense in full force.

And no ribery, he only had muller and a szanced lewamdowski

[kellzfresh 7,229]

And no ribery, he only had muller and a szanced lewamdowski

Guardiola shouldn't have played with such a high line when he didn't have the quality to almost match messi, Suarez, Neymar in bayerns attack. If he had robben and ribery, them they would have probably scored.

See how Juventus stayed deep in the 2nd half against Madrid and attacked them on the counter, that's what you do when you don't have the same level of attacking quality. Any other way is a big risk that leads to trashing 75% of the time except for luck.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

If juventus win against madrid, I expect them to win champion league.

Kind of tradition anyone who beat last season champion in semifinal will become crown champion.

Very unlikely. Juve's Achilles heel is that they HAVE to build from the back with the CBs having the major share of possession. Barca's high pressing will kill them. And I say this as a Juve fan as well.

This Barca side have a lot more to prove before comparisons with Pep's Barca can be made. They dominated football, winning a ridiculous amount of trophies.

Pep's Barca dominated every match. Opponents barely had the ball. They conceded a very low amount of goals. Pep's Barca had a better defence and midfield imo. Puyol and Abidal over Mascherano and Alba for me. Prime Xavi over Rakitic. Iniesta and Alves in their prime.

As for being more effective... I think you're forgetting how often they scored. I think it's pretty evenly matched. I'm sure Messi alone scored over 200 goals under Pep.

12-13 and 13-14 Barca were a lot less effective, yeah.

I'm not comparing trophies, or even who is better overall. I'm just saying that this Barca are capable of adapting and changing when needed. If they played each other, I'd back this current team.

Im not sure I agree, while this Barca are a lot more exciting the sheer amount of control on games the 2011 side had was borderline illegal.

In midfield is where the game will be won, 2011 Busquets, Xavi and 2011 Iniesta >>>>> current Busquets, Rakitic and current Iniesta.

Midfield is of course settled but this team can actually defend, while with 2011-13 Barca, every attack they conceded looked like a dangerous chance. I think if they played each other this team can defend fairly well again the old team and still create a lot of chances on the counter.

[mikeholiday 209]

Very unlikely. Juve's Achilles heel is that they HAVE to build from the back with the CBs having the major share of possession. Barca's high pressing will kill them. And I say this as a Juve fan as well.

I found that rather strange tbh. Buffon just doesn't hoof the ball up at all times. I guess im just not used to it.

[Special Juan 27,424]

What a game that was, and what a player Messi is.

An absolute joy to watch.

[DYC. 7,542]

Letting Jupp go was the worst thing they did IMO. They weren't fully concerned about having the ball for the sake of it, but making the most of it when they had it. They were lethal on the counter.

In addition, their squad has only improved since then, but they have gone backwards along with rivals improving.

Heynckes was a loser in 11/12, and the best thing to happen to Bayern in 12/13. That sums up football.

There's no telling how Heynckes would've done if he stayed. You don't win trebles on the regular. Staying on top is harder than reaching the top. That's what made Barca special in 2008-2012. Mourinho left Inter after they won the treble. Brilliant move. Inter crumbled immediately.

Guardiola wants to be too clever. He has these grand ideas, but they require perfect execution. When that doesn't happen, you could be heavily exposed. To his credit, he wasn't too stubborn to change. Barca should've scored a goal, but Neuer saved them and it stayed 0-0 at half time. The game looked like it was going to stay 0-0 in the second half, the game was very evenly balanced. But Messi went into god-mode for the last 15 min and won the game.

Bayern created just 1 opportunity. Lack of creativity hurt them, but Barca also defended expertly. Fantastic pressing and Mascherano was brilliant at the back. Snuffing out any possible danger.

[hamad138 190]

Problem was also that bayern reached final 3rd many times but they didnt shoot and lacked offensive power.

U cant blame guardiola, with his injuries its difficult.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

sometimes you can not expect the manager to do everything for the team. The players play an equal role and the individual brilliance of some can decide the match.

[Special Juan 27,424]

Bayern offered fuck all going forward, they were hit by a wall when they did. I think Lewandowski is still running around the Nou Camp now like a fucking lost rabbit.

[HRiver 1,512]

Pep found out after two semi finals?

So what has Mourinho done then?

Semi final against Atletico and eliminated to PSG.

So they both have not done that great.

This is actually his third semi-final in four seasons (remember 2012), but yes, it's two semis in a row and the matter in which he is getting knocked out of both speaks volumes.

Simeone owned Mourinho last year and we all know what happened this year, but the point I was trying to make is that unlike Mourinho, Pep actually got spanked pretty badly. After winning in 2013 with Heynckess and then getting Pep shortly after it looked as though Bayern were going to dominate Europe, especially considering the signings they made and the form they were in, but no, leave it to Pep to get embarrassed by Real Madrid 5-0 on aggregate and then get thrashed by Barcelona the following season in pretty much the same style. Pep was brought to Bayern precisely because the Germans wanted to dominate against such direct rivals, and in that regard, he and Bayern have failed miserably. Pep is too predictable and I'm glad we have Mourinho and not him at Chelsea.

[hamad138 190]

Bayern offered fuck all going forward, they were hit by a wall when they did. I think Lewandowski is still running around the Nou Camp now like a fucking lost rabbit.

Well lewandowski had 2 chances one he missed and one fouled by alves. And he was playing with mask and broken jaw

[Special Juan 27,424]

Well lewandowski had 2 chances one he missed and one fouled by alves. And he was playing with mask and broken jaw

Aww Poor lad.

[LAM09 6,744]

Heynckes was a loser in 11/12, and the best thing to happen to Bayern in 12/13. That sums up football.

There's no telling how Heynckes would've done if he stayed. You don't win trebles on the regular. Staying on top is harder than reaching the top. That's what made Barca special in 2008-2012. Mourinho left Inter after they won the treble. Brilliant move. Inter crumbled immediately.

Guardiola wants to be too clever. He has these grand ideas, but they require perfect execution. When that doesn't happen, you could be heavily exposed. To his credit, he wasn't too stubborn to change. Barca should've scored a goal, but Neuer saved them and it stayed 0-0 at half time. The game looked like it was going to stay 0-0 in the second half, the game was very evenly balanced. But Messi went into god-mode for the last 15 min and won the game.

Bayern created just 1 opportunity. Lack of creativity hurt them, but Barca also defended expertly. Fantastic pressing and Mascherano was brilliant at the back. Snuffing out any possible danger.

Their style didn't change much during the two seasons, but they improved and brought in reinforcements. No one knows if Jupp would have continued dominating on both fronts, but they put in place deals before he had even left to make them even stronger.

Pep is too set on keeping possession and that is one of the reasons they lose that cutting edge. If they don't have width, they will be found out easily. They have now lost 3 games in just over a week.

[Fernando 6,455]

This is actually his third semi-final in four seasons (remember 2012), but yes, it's two semis in a row and the matter in which he is getting knocked out of both speaks volumes.

Simeone owned Mourinho last year and we all know what happened this year, but the point I was trying to make is that unlike Mourinho, Pep actually got spanked pretty badly. After winning in 2013 with Heynckess and then getting Pep shortly after it looked as though Bayern were going to dominate Europe, especially considering the signings they made and the form they were in, but no, leave it to Pep to get embarrassed by Real Madrid 5-0 on aggregate and then get thrashed by Barcelona the following season in pretty much the same style. Pep was brought to Bayern precisely because the Germans wanted to dominate against such direct rivals, and in that regard, he and Bayern have failed miserably. Pep is too predictable and I'm glad we have Mourinho and not him at Chelsea.

But Mourinho is also predictable in that we always expect him to play defensive against bigger team.

There's not that much difference when it comes to Europe for both managers. They both under perform but have done well in their respective leagues.

[HRiver 1,512]

But Mourinho is also predictable in that we always expect him to play defensive against bigger team.

There's not that much difference when it comes to Europe for both managers. They both under perform but have done well in their respective leagues.

Well to some extent every manager is predictable, this season even Diego Simeone was predictable. But the difference between Mourinho and Pep is that Mourinho is way more flexible when it comes to the opponent's tactics - even if defensive football is his trademark it's hard to know what he has up his sleeve (I'd rather we played defensive football than get humiliated by 3 or 4 goals anyway).

Pep is more stubborn and simply not as adaptable as a manager. Mourinho may have been eliminated before the quarter-finals by PSG but I fail to see how this makes a statement, unlike the Pep situation. Pep just got humiliated by two of the biggest clubs in Europe within two seasons. If he loses 5-0 on aggregate to Real Madrid and then gets knocked out by Barcelona the next year in similar fashion, how can you expect him and Bayern to recover? You cannot know for sure that we won't be able to beat Barcelona and Real Madrid and reach the final next year, whereas this Bayern side simply can't.

Pep's high line defence last night was lolworthy, you will never see that from Mourinho.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

But wait, like @Lionsden said, at least Bayern stuck to their true philosophy! Yeah, its not like they were missing Robben/Ribery and Alaba... I wonder if Bayern Munich won a moral victory yesterday? Because that match easily could've ended 5-0.

Lets flashback to last year Semi-final First leg: Real Madrid v Bayern Munich. Where the future champs had 28% possession AT HOME. I wonder if the Real Madrid fans enjoyed that victory?

[obiwan92 217]

But Mourinho is also predictable in that we always expect him to play defensive against bigger team.

There's not that much difference when it comes to Europe for both managers. They both under perform but have done well in their respective leagues.

When was the last time Mourinho lost 3 games in a row?

And how many times have their "superior side and system" lost compared to our's this season?

Like I said before, how many goals do you want before you admit he's just overhyped?

[Fernando 6,455]

When was the last time Mourinho lost 3 games in a row?

And how many times have their "superior side and system" lost compared to our's this season?

Like I said before, how many goals do you want before you admit he's just overhyped?

But he continues to win the Bundesliga.

He just been getting stuck at the semis like it has been happening to Mourinho for the last couple of years.