CL Semi-Finals 13/14 - April 22,23,29,30

Guardiola said they didn't have enough of the ball...

http://m.fifa.com/world-match-centre/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid/232/601/8/index.html

"Of course, we have to consider whether we have the right players to play this style of game," said Guardiola. "I like to have possession and we lost because we didn't have the ball, simple as that.

"I can only say we have to reflect on this and gather our thoughts. We have to talk about this as a club."
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69% is apparently not enough. Did he think Real would only have the ball at kickoff?
 
Balu said:
That was shit. Not sure what went wrong there, we really deserved a smashing. Dante and Ribery could have been sent off, Neuer had his worst game in ages. God, we were shit and then Sergio fecking Ramos scores the first two goals, what a shit night. Felt like everyone was drunk, I certainly was at the end of the game, probably still am.

Credit to Ancelotti and Real though. They were awesome again, they clearly are a significantly better team than any of Mourinho's Real sides were. Alonso will miss the final, right? Thought he was excellent against us, despite having not that great of a season before. Best player on the pitch in the first leg.
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1. They most definitely are. Don't know if it's down to the manager, or down to the players bedding further together.

2. Alonso was fantastic in the first leg, but Ramos/Pepe and Modric were mega as well.
 
To be fair he recognized his biggest mistake -

But Bundesliga champions Bayern are more concerned about their record defeat as Guardiola said he made a mistake by selecting Bastian Schweinsteiger alongside Toni Kroos in the defensive midfield.

Things improved after the break when Guardiola moved Schweinsteiger into the attacking midfield with Javi Martinez taking his place alongside Kroos.

"I told the players during the break that I had made a mistake," said Guardiola. "We knew how Real played, so we always wanted to have a lot of possession and players in midfield.

"We couldn't control the defensive midfield in the first half and didn't put in a good performance, because the coach made a mistake. The players ran and tried hard, as they always want to do, but we didn't have the right players in the right positions at the end of the day."
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Martinez should have started with Schwein with Kroos in front of them. Proper 4231
 
Balu said:
Like I said, it felt like everyone was drunk, that of course includes the manager. The high line is one thing, our organisation when defending set pieces was another. We had about a million corners in the first leg and didn't create anything dangerous with it. Yesterday Real scored twice from set pieces early in the game and it was game over. We can discuss the high line vs defending deep vs whatever tactics for hours. If you feck up the basics in a CL semifinal, you can't win :(.
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I agree, but there were so many instances where Real caught you napping and you were outnumbered at the back with Benzema, Ronaldo, Di Maria and Bale attacking and you only having your 2 CBs back and the rest trying to scamper back in position.
Also was hilarious to see Neuer having brain farts almost every 10 minutes and he would have been absolutely embarrassed if one of Ronaldo's or Bale's long range efforts gone in. And his distribution was shit yesterday which I noticed in our match as well. The moment he has to hit long, his accuracy seems to go awry.
 
crappycraperson said:
I think you mistook my remark. It is not about a single act, I was talking in terms of the context of that red card and sly kick. You have United fans still reciting stories about Keane lifting the whole team in Turin against Juve when he knew he won't be playing the final. And here you have your captain getting sent off because he wanted to knee someone. Then he had the audacity to lift the trophy in full kit.
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You keep calling it a kick, why? To make it sound worse? Of course it was a shitty thing for a captain to do. Does that make him a bad captain? Sure. Does that make him more of a cnut than a reckless or dangerous player? Not in my eyes.

And FFS, still with the kit nonsense? The non-playing players had their kits on, it's part of the sponsorship deal for all the media coverage. Take a look at the United title presentation from last year, you'll see a plenty of full kit wankers there as well.
 
Well, apparently I wasn't having a nightmare last night, it was all real..

Looking forward to tonight, from a neutral point of view I hope Atleti score early on so it makes the game more interesting.
 
I don't like finals with two teams from the same country but need a Madrid derby for the final. Can't stand the thought of Chelsea having the chance to move one behind us in European cups. That would be criminal.
 
One thing that struck me the most last night was Bayern's absolute lack of discipline, I know Real (among others, not just them) are known for a bit of play acting, time wasting and gamesmanship, but the way the Bayern players were acting was absolutely shocking.

There appeared to be a complete lack of leadership on the pitch to me.

Just wanted to put that out there.
 
crappycraperson said:
And here you have your captain getting sent off because he wanted to knee someone. Then he had the audacity to lift the trophy in full kit.
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Oh the audacity! :lol:

It's funny how it's always rival fans who seem to care so much about it, while the Chelsea fans were delighted to have their captain in his rightful place lifting the cup. ;)
 
Looking at the heatmap for the game, you can see what Pep did wrong. We penetrated their defense too easily IMO.

real-bayern-ucl.png

:devil: Sorry Balu
 
Raul Madrid said:
Is it possible for Alonso to appeal his suspension? It is a pity for so many reasons that he has to miss the final. He is very important for us and over the last 5 years has been our second best and most important player after Ronaldo. He definitely deserves to play in the final for that alone imo.
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Why? It was a deserved yellow card. On what basis would you appeal? Plenty of players in that past have missed finals because of that (Keane for example). Unfortunately for Alonso, it´s part of the rules.
 
Raul Madrid said:
Is it possible for Alonso to appeal his suspension? It is a pity for so many reasons that he has to miss the final. He is very important for us and over the last 5 years has been our second best and most important player after Ronaldo. He definitely deserves to play in the final for that alone imo.
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Not sure if serious. The rule is harsh, but why should he be able to appeal? In 2012 there were about 3-4 players suspended from each Bayern and Chelsea and couldn't appeal. Scholes and Keane both missed the 99 final as well. No way can he appeal.
 
Raul Madrid said:
Is it possible for Alonso to appeal his suspension? It is a pity for so many reasons that he has to miss the final. He is very important for us and over the last 5 years has been our second best and most important player after Ronaldo. He definitely deserves to play in the final for that alone imo.
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Nah, no right to appeal. As much as you have to feel sorry for anyone missing such an important match, it's about time Xabi Alonso got punished for his reckless tackles. He's got that van Bommel like tendency to avoid clear yellows but it was always going to bite him in the arse eventually.
 
Raul Madrid said:
I know its the rules, I just think that its unfortunate that him of all people would have to miss the final. Id need to watch it again but I get the feeling it was harsh and a lot on this were saying it was too.
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I see. I don´t have the same opinion. The veridict is almost unanimous in the press regarding the yellow card. It was a reckless tackle. And you can see Alonso knew what was coming by his reaction before even looking at the ref. It was unfortunate for him to get the yellow card and i felt sorry for him but the ref just followed the rules.
 
Sly said:
I see. I don´t have the same opinion. The veridict is almost unanimous in the press regarding the yellow card. It was a reckless tackle. And you can see Alonso knew what was coming by his reaction before even looking at the ref. It was unfortunate for him to get the yellow card and i felt sorry for him but the ref just followed the rules.
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Maybe it was a deserved yellow, like I said I would have to see it again.
 
Raul Madrid said:
Maybe it was a deserved yellow, like I said I would have to see it again.
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To tell you the truth i didn´t even see the ref going for the pocket, as soon as i saw Alonso´s tackle i knew he would be booked. Too many years watching Proença ref portuguese league games and i already know his criteria.
 
Yep, I know Alves and Fletcher didn't play. By "almost 100 % sure" I meant all over the years everytime players were booked for the next game or final, it stayed that way. Even if they appealed I can't remember any appeal to have turned successful.
 
united_99 said:
Yep, I know Alves and Fletcher didn't play. By "almost 100 % sure" I meant all over the years everytime players were booked for the next game or final, it stayed that way. Even if they appealed I can't remember any appeal to have turned successful.
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OK, my bad then.

I think it's a very harsh rule myself.
 
Sly said:
To tell you the truth i didn´t even see the ref going for the pocket, as soon as i saw Alonso´s tackle i knew he would be booked. Too many years watching Proença ref portuguese league games and i already know his criteria.
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So how did Ramos escape :wenger:
 
peterstorey said:
So how did Ramos escape :wenger:
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Was surprised actually. Same with the Dante tackle on Ronaldo. If it was a non portuguese player in the recieving end, he would have showed the red card instantly. Guess he was thinking of the german media recriminations.
 
If Madrid manage to win the final, then I have absolutely no problem with Alonso being a full kit wanker after the match. Our best midfielder of the last 5 years and I would also say since the galacticos broke up. I don't think Alonso would have looked out of place in that team either tbh and what a midfield it would have been with Alonso alongside makelele and zidane ahead of them.
 
malappapper said:
I just went though the pre-match and intra-match comments :lol:


People seem to completely underrate how tough is to win one CL, let alone two on the trot. Currently, in Europe, we have at least 2, maybe 3 (even 4) English teams that are to varying degrees, formidable and on their day can beat anyone. There are also the two standard giants from Spain, with now a third contender who are doing impossibly well. You also have two very powerful German teams, plus PSG, plus Juventus (who for some inexplicalbe reason got themselves knocked out from an easy group :wenger:) This fact alone, makes the CL a Russian roulette. If something goes wrong for a team (wonder-goal, own-goal, injuries to key players, missed chances) then the possibilities of you going out rise exponentially.

People saying Bayern were negatively affected by winning the league very early are clutching at straws imo. Wake up people! They were facing Real Madrid, not Eintracht Frankfurt! An opponent with a far stronger defence than any club they faced at home this season, at least as strong (if not stronger than the English teams that gave them serious trouble) and an attack of Benzema, Di Maria, Ronaldo and Bale who can easily twat you on the counter many times over. The possibility of losing against them, and even losing badly, is there for everyone.

Another thing. When you win the CL in a dominant fashion, the everyone else starts taking you very seriously and everyone suddenly becomes ultra-prepared before facing you. They study every facet of your game, your strengths and you weaknesses. It becomes impossible for you to surprise anyone after your initian triumph. Just ask Barcelona for the past few years. The level of opportunism and motivation displayed by your opponents becomes nightmarish.

As for tonight's game, and unlike the game in Spain a week ago, I thought that Bayern Munich were inexplicably sluggish tonight, which is bizarre since they have been resting players for some time now. They looked slow in virtually every passage of play. Ribery was again atrocious (him winning over Ronaldo/Messi, seriously people?) and Kroos/Schweini/Muller offered very little, if anything. They also looked off the pace. Maybe this is a case of exhaustion after almost 2 years of extreme excursion in trying to win everything and also playing for their country at international level, this is another problem that Barca have been dealing with.
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I think the problem with Bayern starts with Pep changing the way they play, in Barcelona they start the short passing when they are kids and they play the same way when reaching the senior level not in Germany. To play like Barcelona did a few years ago they need to clone 3 players - Xavi-Iniesta-Messi
 
Balu said:
That was shit. Not sure what went wrong there, we really deserved a smashing. Dante and Ribery could have been sent off, Neuer had his worst game in ages. God, we were shit and then Sergio fecking Ramos scores the first two goals, what a shit night. Felt like everyone was drunk, I certainly was at the end of the game, probably still am.

Credit to Ancelotti and Real though. They were awesome again, they clearly are a significantly better team than any of Mourinho's Real sides were. Alonso will miss the final, right? Thought he was excellent against us, despite having not that great of a season before. Best player on the pitch in the first leg.
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I think when Mourinho was there the games versus Barcelona was too intense and they couldn't rotate players like they do now, look at Barcelona last year with injuries and the players completely exhausted.
 
barros said:
I think when Mourinho was there the games versus Barcelona was too intense and they couldn't rotate players like they do now, look at Barcelona last year with injuries and the players completely exhausted.
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That's true and I think the team while very expensive was still young and developing when mouinho was there. Mourinho is not getting much credit but he definitely put the foundations in place for this team and we have improved on it in many ways, with the signing of bale being one of them. Selling ozil has not been a loss at all imo as I think the team is more balanced without him.
 
I don't care if it's anti-fooball, park the bus, tiki-taka, counter-attack, high-press, gung-ho, POMO, false 9s or the blood-and-guts English way, just so long as Chelsea lose.
 
peterstorey said:
I don't care if it's anti-fooball, park the bus, tiki-taka, counter-attack, high-press, gung-ho, POMO, false 9s or the blood-and-guts English way, just so long as Chelsea lose.
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I want to see the spectacle of Mourinho facing off against Real and Ancelotti back against Chelsea. Would be a good final.
 
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