Champions League Thread 2013/14

[Özim]

Just like counter attacking has failed against teams like Barcelona, which is pretty much every team they have to come up against! I know it's not for you but that means you're predisposed to only seeing the negative in it, there is no definite or absolutely reliable way of playing football.

Eventuallly every team has to change their style, no style keeps winning forever, hence why no team has retained the Champions League - I do reject the notion somehow that Bayern Munich are only possession based this season though that seems to be proliferated in the media; I am fairly sure in terms of average possession they were only second to Barcelona last season and possibly in the Champions League last season only against us and Barcelona were they outpossessed but the quickness of thepassing is the difference.

Barcelona at their best annihilated teams with quick passing and runners from out wide (including the fullbacks), plus they have Messi and Iniesta who primarily are dribblers which helps to create space but unlike say, Robben, they will always look for that incisive pass too.

Counter-attacking is only better to watch if that's what you think. Creating a blanket idea of what is great in football and what isn't is no different to the criticisms Wenger has got for criticising pub teams keeping everybody behind the ball in the past.

Everytime Chelsea played Barca they barely created a chance, indeed the year they knocked them out only a last minute wonder goal saved them, but as I said Barca had great players and Messi one of the world best players and finisher, they were on a different planet, but even then they could be stifled.

I've seen Bayern a number of times this season and I have to say they haven't impressed me, Robben is usually the bright spark but take him out and they lack any kind of real cutting edge (Muller adds urgency but his finishing is inconsistent), sure they have steamrolled their way to the Bundesligue, but we've seen that it's not all that at the moment, Dortmund haven't been that great and the others have been an embarrassment in Europe. Last season Bayern looked a much better team IMO, but they played with much more urgency then.

I never enjoyed watching Barca even at their best, the pass pass pass pass thing just bored me to be honest, so from my point of view I can say counter attacking is better to watch, Wenger had a great winning style, then he changed it and since then he's won nothing so I'd say possession football just hasn't worked for us at all.

[Özim]

It does and it may take Pep a while to get the machine fully oiled. But he may not get the chance. Beckenbauer has already been critical of the style of play and thinks Bayern will become boring like Barca.

True, I just don't think it's enjoyable to watch personally, there's just too much passing and thus the build up is slow and due to the lack of pace lacks excitement. Not good news for Guardiola, but then with them having won the treble last season and playing some great stuff he was always up against it.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I really don't understand how anyone can think Barca at their best were just pass pass pass, I mean come on when they hammered Real Madrid 5-0 that was hardly soporific and just happiness in keeping the ball near the halfway line and let's not forget those sides allied that passing ability with the same pressing that presumably you hope to see from a nominal counter-attacking team. You could argue Barca at their best actually are a counter-attacking team just not starting from their own half, often the turnover was from the edge of their opponents box.

Of course, Chelsea did well against them to an extent and they set up well to as you say stifle them (though not sure that's true in their most recent encounter even though they did go through) but the point I am making is you're just isolating a few instances of when it didn't work for them against the many, many times they have come up against teams who tried to do exactly the same thing.

Bayern have lots of very good players but no truly exceptional players and maybe that's why they will ultimately go out but it is mentally wearying trying to win the Champions League twice in a row. If this Bayern team can't do it then I am not sure any side will.

What I don't get is why counter-attacking is seen as this unyielding style of football that can't be tactically nullified? We found that out. Man Utd found that out. Chelsea found that out. Real Madrid have found that out along with so many others.

[Power n Glory]

It's not called Tika Taka for nothing.

[Munchies]

Bayern should've kept Heynckes, they've been boring whenever I've seen them play this season

[Munchies]

@MesutOzil1088

Another CL-night. Watching a lot of friends on TV. We have to play CL again next season. #championsleague #realmadrid

https://twitter.com/MesutOzil1088

No kidding

[Niall_Quinn]

I think Barca at their best were just pass, pass, pass.

[Niall_Quinn]

So there we have it...

"Clubs won't be excluded from next season's Champions League for breaking Financial Fair Play rules, according to UEFA President Michel Platini
'There will be some tough things... but if you're expecting blood and tears, you'll be disappointed,' Platini told French daily Le Parisien in an interview published Thursday.
UEFA will announce the first sanctions in early-May, and more serious cases will be judged in June."

The talk is to fine clubs who break the rules. That would be fines for clubs with unlimited money - very effective. And so it turns out that Platini and the UEFA mobsters are simply on the make, looking for their cut in the money merrygoround.

[Niall_Quinn]

GETTING HIS CUT

[KSE Comedy Club]

Indeed. Absolute joke tbh.

So the first time that FFP is actually used and brought into force, rather than draw a line, make a stand and show that FFP rules are goin to do their job......they do the opposite and use it as a lucrative opportunity to make plenty of cash.

Fucking twisted, bent, corrupt bunch of cunts.