I'd also include PSG in this. European teams won't sit back and let City do their thing. Like Liverpool did, the top European teams will test City and Barcelona and PSG would beat them
Champions League Round of 16 (13th Feb - 14th Mar)
- Thread starter Samid
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I'd also include PSG in this. European teams won't sit back and let City do their thing. Like Liverpool did, the top European teams will test City and Barcelona and PSG would beat them
0-2 full time, fecking shite. How did the match against Juve go?
Let it go mate. You argue with blindly City's fan.
I struggle to comprehend how bad Serie A is if this team have only conceded 1 goal in their last 15 games in the league.
I cannot comprehend how people can draw conclusions from one game. You wrote the same thing twice already. You didn't get a response?
Why wouldn't they be able to outscore City on a good day?
Barca has Messi and Suarez.
Liverpool put 4 past City.
City would be the favorite, but it's not with ease or extremly lopsided.
60/40 imo
I'm not saying they won't fire a bullet, i'm saying i believe City will fire more and would win the war (tie).
Obviously anything can happen in football, as said any big team can beat City over 2 legs, but for me (on paper) only PSG are comparable to City this season.
On that note you are correct, but I don’t consider Matuidi and Khedira to be very different as players, or in quality to be honest. Marchisio was on the bench, Juve could have played more conservatively with 3 in the midfield, regardless of having Matuidi, so I wouldn’t think his presence would change much tactically. Fair enough Dybala, you’re right about that, but I did concede that. Spurs also missing their best defender to be fair.
Allegri made the same mistake as Jose did, 2CMs VS 4 of Spurs is a death wish. Jose hoped our firepower would get us through, that was smallinged and jonsed. Juve were ahead despite Allegri and not due to his tactics. Had higuain not bottled it, the tie would have been done. Allegri is not having a great season tactically.
Unless Juventus score twice or more, Spurs can go through with a draw.
Imagine what would Liverpool do to Barca.
As has been mentioned several times before, that stat includes Barcelona (not Serie A), Napoli (away vs nr 1 in the league!), Inter, Roma (thrashed Chelsea) and Atalanta (thrashed Everton). It does also include games against a few shit teams, though.
Tottenham did really well in periods today and Poch was well prepared. Credit where its due.
I watched quite a lot of them this season. They’re good side but La Liga sides make Barca better than it actually is, Barca now struggles when put up against high intensity pressing too right now, and can’t play their way out easily as they used to.
Just think City is the worst possible match up for them, they could reach the final if they avoid them.
Getting a draw away from home when Juventus have their best player injured is proof?
It really is if they played next week juve would go out
And again - spurs match up well against juventus
Agreed but Juve really fecked this up, Matuidi missing was huge and there's no way Spurs should have created chances as easily as they did. After they went 2-0 up I was expecting them to control the match, congrats to Spurs but with Juve at their best winning 2-0 at home I wouldn't bet on even the best teams in the world being able to tie the game.
That Higuain penalty felt like Vidal's penalty against Madrid last season, things could have been a lot different.
See thing is Barca no longer a high intensity pressing team these days but rather poor imitation of it. Half hearted attempts at pressing will create enormous spaces for City to exploit imo.
Let PSG get past Madrid first.
Have you even watched Barcelona this season? They are back to their best under Valverde and the old tiki taka style is back again. City would give them a good game but they definitely wouldn't slaughter them. You are underestimating Barcelona.
People all saying Man City won't beat Barcelona, who will win the CL. I would laugh my head of if Chelsea take them out, which is not out of the realm of impossibility.
I was shocked at how many chances Spurs had in the first half, especially after reading how incredible their defensive record is in Serie A.
Is it a mentality issue with Juve in the Champions League.
Barca is very good, and could go all the way if they avoid City, I just think they’re worst possible opponent for Barca given their deficiencies and City’s strengths.
City would struggle for example against the likes of Bayern, Psg, or Liverpool more than against Barcelona but not because Barca is worse than those teams.
Definitely. The result is pretty good and Spurs played much better. A single player wouldn't make a big difference.
I find it funny how several posts in here assume PSG are some kind of sure shot finalists.
I am not even sure they ll get past Real
I am not even sure they ll get past Real
Haven't watched them in a while and have to say I was pretty shocked by how bad Juve were in this game. Kind of hope they just had an off day considering they still seem to be around the best italian football has to offer.
I mean, which game shows the measure of a big teams true strength, Juves biggest games, which consist recently of two comprehensive final defeats, and being outplayed by an inexperienced in the Champions League Spurs side at home.
Or the 15 clean sheets in 16 smaller games.
Spurs conceded in the first minute or something didn't panic played their football conceded the second they fought back real well and got the draw. Good game for Pochettino.
Reaching two CL finals in three years and beating better teams than Spurs regularly isn't wiped out by one game (a draw) where three starters are injured.
Spurs did almost everything right this time and should have credit for it.
Or Juventus missing important players?
That same Juventus came to those finals, didnt they.
You can't draw conclusions on whole leagues based on one game. It's nonsense.
Tottenham were without Alderwiereld and Rose though. All well and good saying Juventus are missing senior players (which they are) but so were Tottenham.
I agree with your sentiment though, it's daft to draw conclusions about league rank based on a single game.
I think(hope) a really good counter attacking team will take out City. Madrid before this years regression would have been a solid pick to expose their mediocre back-line.
Wouldn't be surprised if PSG choke again when it matters.
Wouldn't be surprised if PSG choke again when it matters.
Yup. Last year Spurs went out vs some Belgian team so we could have concluded Belgian league is better than the Prem.
Barça will defend for most of the time because that's what teams have to do against a Pep team. His style dominates possession no matter who the opposition is or even what team he's managing.
I don't think they'll destroy them but I could definitely see City beating Barça easily barring a miracle Messi performance.
Can we please try to sign dembele!? I wanted him when he was at Fulham, he plays like I think Pogba should play ,obviously with a little less flair. He can defend as well. Him on the right of a 3 for us would be class. Levy would demand billions though.
Some curiosity to see if Porto can stop the way Liverpool likes to play, at the same time I don't know what to expect from Real Madrid against probably the strongest version of PSG in this century.
We'll go for it - it's not in Pochettino's DNA to play for a draw.
But this time I expect us to field Son from the start, knowing that Juve have to attack and go for the win, hoping to profit from his pace on the counter. And with any luck we'll have Alderweireld back too.
Most teams do but it's Barca and I doubt they'll defend the whole game. Some serious underrating of Barcelona here.
You’re really looking underrating Barca. Man city are great but they’ve gotten one of the easiest CL draws by far in this round. This team has struggled against Bournemouth and other midtable teams (it happens). Barca’s defense is top 2 in Europe, and man city will definitely concede. Even in today’s match Basel has a shite GK who have a scoreline that flattered city. City were the better team but even city fans will tell you that was a flattering scoreline.
Barca will comfortably get past Chelsea who have been wildly inconsistent but it’ll definitely get tougher in the quarter finals onward.
As for Juve, half their team was injured and they should’ve been up 4-0 at one point but they screwed up after going up 2-0.
BEST LEAGUE IN THE WORLD!
Who is a silly boy then
Matuidi was a big loss indeed. He might be limited in his passing but the Spurs midfielders wouldn't have looked so good if he was fit.